The Awakening

by Shakir Rashaan

  “Why the hell would she say such things? You have a reputation within the community. she’s got to be aware of that.” My anger was boiling and mounting with each passing moment and with each word I spoke.

  “Something spooked her. I know it.” Amenhotep regained his composure. “Either that, or she’s pissed about something. But what was it? I treated her like I treat all My girls.”

  Yeah, every one of the girls was treated the same way, except for paka. The green-eyed monster was on the loose. Damn.

  “I’ve got some tough questions for You, Sir, and I need straight answers.” Ramesses took over inside of me, and it was needed. “How old is safi?”

  “You know better.” Amenhotep didn’t like my tone, but I really didn’t care at that point. We were family, yes, but there was no time to look at things with rose-colored glasses. “I taught You, remember that.”

  “What…was…her…age?” I commanded. I didn’t back down like I normally did when He asserted Himself and didn’t want to answer questions. Too much was at stake.

  “Nineteen. Confirmed,” Amenhotep replied. “Next.”

  “What was her status?” I stated, moving on to the next point of fact I needed. By status, I wanted to know in what capacity safi was supposed to serve. In His House there were two categories: sexual and domestic.

  “Sexual and domestic.” Amenhotep again answered in a monotone voice. “Next.”

  “Did You corrupt her station?” In asking that question, I meant did she begin to think that she was more than what her station dictated…and more importantly, did He give her the impression she meant more than her station suggested.

  “I decline to answer.” Amenhotep shut down, pulling His ear away from the receiver.

  “Not good enough, Sir,” I warned. I motioned for him to place His ear to the receiver. “Rumors will run rampant, and I need ammo to combat things until You post bond.”

  “How long have we known each other?” Amenhotep asked, pushing His face closer to the glass.

  “Sir, You are My mentor, and I love You like a father, but I need and I will get full disclosure.” I was blunt about my intentions, even if the answer would hurt.

  “Yes, I did!” Amenhotep stared me straight in the eyes, suddenly convinced of His own innocence. “I did nothing wrong, Ramesses. You, above all others, should know that.”

  “Have You lost your mind?!?!?!?! You may have violated Your core rules, Sir,” I scolded. “This will make things extremely messy.”

  “her state of mind was solid, Ramesses,” Amenhotep said, getting more demonstrative by the minute. “she belongs to Me, in any manner I see fit. Who are You to judge Me, Sir?”

  “What did she do to You for You to act this way?” I asked Him again, getting as close to the glass as he was. This was a showdown, whether we liked it or not. Time to throw down, and whoever backed down first, lost. I saw the fire in His eyes, looking at me like I was some cut-rate novice challenging His kingdom.

  “You would never understand, and You never will! she…” And all of a sudden, He simply shut down. “None of the other girls betrayed Me the way she did. So, I dismissed her from the House.”

  This look of pure shock raced through me as I heard those words. In the fifteen years I had known Amenhotep, He had never dismissed a collared slave from His House. That was not to say that there hadn’t been a few who no longer wanted favor from Him or wanted release from service, but once the collar was placed, something severe would have to go down to have the collar removed.

  “she tried to meet with another Dominant. she even called Me to lie about being at work late,” Amenhotep began. “What she failed to realize was that once she fucked him, he called Me to try and humiliate Me. Rubbing it in My face, saying I was washed up as a Dominant if He could take one from Me.”

  Things were becoming clearer, but they were about to get messier.

  “After I punished her, I don’t know what came over Me, but I used her like a Midtown whore. In My mind, she was damaged goods, and no longer deserved to be in My House.” He finally finished His account.

  He had done it. He broke one of His core rules a Dominant swears to: He must be in control of Himself at all times, to do no harm. In that split-second that night, Amenhotep had reduced Himself from a regally respected Dominant to nothing more than a jealous pimp on the street.

  paka and two of the service slaves arrived, paka tapping my shoulder to alert me of their presence behind me. I gave paka the receiver and stood close by in case He needed to speak to me again. The smile on His face as they spoke let me know this part of the nightmare was soon to be over. The other two girls found an open table to sit as they awaited paka and the conclusion of the conversation.

  “We’ve posted bond for You, my Master. You may leave with us as soon as possible,” paka stated as she spoke through the receiver to Him.

  I saw the connection between the two of them, and another piece of this puzzle became clearer. Whether He wanted to admit it or not, Amenhotep and paka had fallen for each other.

  I left them to their conversation, as I didn’t feel it was my place to intervene or eavesdrop on the exchange. After all, there are things between a Dominant and submissive that were not for public consumption. I sat with the other slave girls to keep the leering inmates who were in the area from making them too uncomfortable. It was the least I could do to keep my urges at bay to find out what the conversation was about.

  Still, despite all of the years paka served at her Master’s feet, this could have been the only logical conclusion, the culmination of all of those years of being with Him.

  I wasn’t blind, but I guess I chose not to see.

  At the end of the day, I guess I should have seen this coming a mile away.

  17 RAMESSES

  As I had suspected, the mailing lists were abound with news of Amenhotep’s arrest.

  Some were upset about it; others were venomous in their criticism of what He had supposedly done to “poor” safi—not to mention the haters that got on their soapbox about how “this would never have happened if she were a black submissive” bullshit. Sooner or later, the race card would be put out there.

  I was in a quandary of sorts. What the hell should I do, knowing what I knew? My mentor was in the wrong, even though the situation did call for dismissal, according to protocol. With safi gone into hiding, so to speak, it would make finding the truth much more difficult.

  Neferterri got home with the kids and was surprised to see enough IM windows to cause stimulation overload.

  “What the hell happened this time?” she asked as the kids headed toward the family room to watch TV. “I expected turnout for Amenhotep’s Halloween party, but damn.”

  Before I could get the words out of my mouth, our oldest ran into the kitchen to where I was working, shouting, “Uncle Amen’s on the TV!”

  My worst fears had been realized. We rushed to turn on the TV in the kitchen in time to see the cameras showing Amenhotep, paka, and the other two girls leave in the SUV.

  “Honey, go in the other room and watch a movie with your sisters, okay? Mommy’s got to get some answers,” she told our daughter.

  Once they skipped out of sight, Neferterri turned to me with a confused look on her face. “Okay, what was that about?”

  As I broke the whole story down to her, detail by detail, I saw my wife’s face turn to stone before my eyes.

  “He’s going to get crucified in the media for this,” she stated. “No one will touch Him for fear of getting burned themselves, baby.”

  “I know, baby. The only way to get this out of the way is to find safi and hopefully get her to drop the charges,” I stressed. One thing I knew for sure, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. As long as the vanilla world didn’t know about it, the community as a whole could continue to function without the microscope.

  Neferterri closed her eyes before she quietly uttered, “Do what You have to do, just as long as it doesn’t affect our famil
y or our House. This is important. If the information in Amenhotep’s computers comes out…”

  She didn’t have to say anything more to get her point across. A lot of people would be exposed, including us, and a lot were nowhere near ready to be brought out into the light. This was going to take a lot of finesse, not to mention built-up goodwill and some luck to get this done.

  But first things first…I needed to find safi.

  18 RAMESSES

  See…this was why I didn’t want to be a cop in the first place.

  I went through every low-lying, sneaky, down-right ugly source at my disposal to get a location on safi.

  When all of this drama went down, she literally tried to drop off the map, but fortunately she was sloppy in her disappearance. I began to pick up the clues that eventually led me to her.

  It took me a few days, but my digging eventually turned up gold. It turned out safi was the daughter of a well-to-do businessman up in Dalton, north of the Atlanta area, and word began to get back to him concerning the activities of his little girl. That wasn’t what set him off, since he was also a swinger up in that area. What got him going was that she had become a part of a “harem,” as he was told, and of course he couldn’t have his daughter be a part of such a thing. Put two and two together, add the call to the mayor, and there’s the instant newsworthy story.

  The next bread crumb came in the form of safi’s former roommate, emphasis on the “former.” She was more than happy to help out since safi’s father had cut off the money flow, and safi ended up leaving her high and dry with a condo she could barely afford.

  What was it they say about burning bridges?

  This child was about to end up on an island with no one to turn to for help. The information the roommate gave me eventually led me to an unexpected source: the Dom safi was messing around with.

  Now, this guy turned out to be what I like to call an M.I.D., or “Master of Internet Domination.” The ones who have no references to speak of and no one to vet for them, but they are a Dominant in their own mind. These dudes usually are married to a vanilla woman who “would never understand” WIITWD, so they hide it from them and live this other life as an honorable Dominant.

  What a joke, and the funny part was, he fit the profile to the letter.

  Upon further inspection of this “Dom” through some of my connections to the Dominants that knew of him—some who were and some who were not too fond of him—I found out he held a grudge against Amenhotep because he did not prove himself true to the teachings of his Mentor, who happened to be very good friends with Amenhotep.

  Like Amenhotep wasn’t going to check him out first?

  Going a little deeper, and “Master” Judah, as he called himself, runs one of safi’s father’s businesses, an auto body repair shop in Dalton. Now, I’d bet you a night’s worth of table dances at Liquid as to who I think dropped a dime on Amenhotep?

  I figured out the best way to handle things without getting too caught up was to catch ol’ boy at his job. It’s easier to be civilized when your job’s on the line. Besides, if I played my cards right, I had a trump card that would get me the information I needed without getting hostile. So, I called in a favor from a friend within the swinger community who takes pictures at parties. The information he provided me and the pictures to prove it were jaw-dropping, to say the least!

  I only hoped to play this information to my best ability. A lot of lives depended on it.

  He saw me coming in the door of the shop and approached me like I was some lost tourist who had no business in his shop. He tried to sound congenial, but I felt the suspicion in his voice. “Hi, sir, how may we help you today?”

  “Yes, I have business with Mr. Ronin, safi’s father,” I replied, using her submissive name to get his attention. I didn’t have time to mince words with this dude, especially when he regarded me as inferior the moment I stepped into his world.

  Judah’s face turned red for a moment, and then he replied, “You’re not getting your friend off, bro. He fucked with the wrong girl.”

  “Is that a fact?” I kept my cool as I said it. I was in enemy territory without backup, and I needed to be smart. “Well, maybe you might have the exact same problem yourself, huh? You know, someone fucking the wrong girl?”

  I massaged my chin to let the message sink in.

  When Judah heard that comment, he froze up. “Wha…what do you mean?”

  “Well, let’s see, I had a P.I. friend of mine do a check of the phone number safi used to have her new ‘Dom’ call my friend to inform him of what His safi was doing,” I said, starting my smokescreen. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a trace on the number.”

  I saw Judah relax, figuring he hadn’t been busted. But once I pulled out the manila envelope, his eyes got wide. “What’s in the envelope, man?”

  “Well, while he wasn’t able to get an exact trace on the number, he was, however, able to triangulate the location of where the call came from, which led me to you. He also managed to get me something that I think you might be interested in seeing disappear. So, consider this your version of Let’s Make a Deal: you give me safi’s location, and I don’t send this to your wife and boss. By the way, when’s the baby due?” I tapped the envelope to prove I was serious. “I’m sure Mr. Ronin wouldn’t want to see the contents of this folder, now, would he?”

  “You’d destroy me over some pussy, man?” Judah tried to call my bluff. “You ain’t got the balls, man. Besides, he won’t believe someone like you over me.”

  “Well, I guess when you get home tonight, you’ll find out, huh?” I wasn’t too thrilled at the “someone like you” comment, but I had to remember I was in North Georgia as well. I turned around to walk out. “Take care.”

  “No!” Judah reactively grabbed my arm to stop me. I looked at him like he was two steps shy of catching a beat down if he didn’t let my arm go. He finally relented. “Okay, dude, you win. She’s at her girlfriend’s house. I’ll get You the address.”

  He headed over to write the information down, still shaking as he wrote.

  And he’s a Dominant? I kept saying to myself.

  “Alright, a deal’s a deal. Give me the envelope,” Judah angrily demanded.

  “For someone in your position, you sure are hostile,” I joked, even though he didn’t find it all that funny. It was wild to see him squirm though. It almost made me forget about that dumb-ass comment he made toward me earlier. “I thought the customer was always right?”

  I took a lighter and set the envelope on fire. As it slowly began to burn, I told him, “Now, I’m going to assume you’re a man of good faith, in that you gave me what I wanted. But if I find out it is bogus information…”

  “I gave you what you wanted, dude. My wife will miscarry if she gets any stressful news.” Judah pleaded with me, his eyes fixated on the burning envelope.

  “Okay. I guess I can believe you, since you put it that way.” I dropped the envelope in the trash can outside so that it would burn itself out. “As far as I am concerned, your wife knows nothing about your late nights working overtime, right?”

  “Alright, damn.” Judah slumped in a chair, looking like he had been through a couple of rounds of boxing. “Just leave. I have customers to attend to. You being here is bad for business.”

  “Perhaps I should stick around, just to see how bad I am for business.” I looked at a couple of women who were quite enamored with seeing a six-foot-seven black man looking like he stepped out of GQ magazine. “Ladies, do you think I’m bad for an establishment such as this?”

  The ladies started to giggle, which really upset Judah. But I knew he couldn’t say anything derogatory or else those same ladies might’ve told their husbands the manager was a prick.

  So much for “bad business,” I guess.

  Heading back to my car, I glanced at the Marietta address on the slip of paper, realizing I had been to that house before. I kinda felt bad for ol’ boy though. I mean he never took t
he time to see the pictures of his wife…his pregnant wife…having sex with, of all people, Mr. Ronin himself. Oh well, so much for her being fragile, especially considering the flexible positions she was able to do in those photos.

  No wonder his job was safe.

  19 RAMESSES

  “How did you find me???”

  safi panicked when she came home to find me sitting on her front porch, chatting with her friend, chastity. Then, she smirked. “i should have You arrested for stalking me. i left Your precious Mentor, and He got what He deserved for treating me like a whore.”

  Now, in my younger days, I probably would have strung that little girl up by her ankles and whipped her within an inch of her life for the lies that she’s told. Her body language alone let me know that she didn’t tell the whole truth to the police about what happened that night. My guess was that she had to lie to keep herself out of the fire. But that didn’t matter. I needed to keep my calm in order for this plan to work. If I didn’t, she could’ve easily charged me with assault, even with chastity there as a witness.

  “Well, I actually didn’t find you, love. you see, chastity is a collared submissive of My friend, Master Altar, or had you forgotten that?” I sort of lied, but she didn’t need to know the truth about her new “Dom” dropping a dime on her to save his own skin. “I gave Him a call and told Him I was in the area, and He wanted Me to stop by and check on His property for Him. Running into you was an unexpected bonus.”

  I tried to warn her the community was very small.

  “Whatever he told You, he’s lying,” safi lashed out. I had a feeling Judah might have punked out and warned her I was in the area, but she would have never come home if he had tipped her off to my whereabouts.

  “Sorry, girl, but you knew better than to file a false report,” chastity scolded her. “It’s not my fault that your dad found out and threatened to disown you. your lies have caught up with you.”

  “you did what?!?!?!” I couldn’t keep my composure any longer. My suspicions were confirmed, and I was ready to rip her to shreds.