The Ninth Night

I stood shivering from the blustery cold wind on a small desolate island. Both my hands were tied to the rocks on the beach. I was completely naked awaiting the arrival of Cetus, the sea monster.

“Andromeda. Princess of the kingdom of Aethiopia,” Poseidon’s voice crackled above the clouds, overshadowing the sound of thunder and lightning coming out of his staff. “You are to atone for the crimes of arrogance, a crime punishable only by death,” spelling out his final judgment for the whole world to hear.

I tried to plead to the God of the Seas, “please my lord spare me your punishment. This is not off my doing.” The crime that I am to be punished for is that I am said to be more beautiful than all the creatures of the seas.

Suddenly Cetus, the sea monster arrives. He emerged from the ocean with his tentacles swirling about. His body morphing into a snake like figure with its red and green scales glittering in the sun as the sea waves foamed around him. His lavish mane hiding his face whirling in the wind in every direction. He approached me and looked deep into my eyes freezing my heart in its cage. I’ve seen these eyes before. They were those of the man I used to love, a man more of a monster than I had imagined. His soul was trapped inside the beast and I could not do anything about it.

“You are mine,” he growled but I recognized the voice. How can this be? He swung me around, parted my legs and thrust his penis inside my anus. As it penetrated deep inside off me I moaned out in pain as well as of pleasure. I wanted him. I wanted him inside of me, yet I knew he was tearing me apart. He rode me with the point of his spear like the monster he is, possessed, yet trying to be gentle as a lover who knows he was slowly killing the one he loves. As he thrust with all his might, plunging ever deeper, his tentacles were rapping themselves around my body, pinching on my nipples, clutching at my breasts, sucking, pulling, almost tearing them apart.  

As I was slowly ravished by this monster my rescuer emerged from the sky. He was riding Pegasus, his winged stallion, flying like an eagle between the clouds. He jumped down and stood in front of me trying to pull me away from the clutches of the beast. That is when I noticed his face. The same face as that of the sea monster. Those same eyes with almost the same features were looking at me with lust. A feeling he could not hide.

“You are mine,” Perseus said. It was the same voice again. The son of Zeus embraced me to his chest and thrust his penis inside of my vagina and I screamed louder this time. Both my killer and my rescuer were inside of me. Both giving me the pleasure and pain like I’ve never experienced before. Only they were the same person. Two different men yet they were one and the same and I was trapped between the two as they ripped me apart with their passion.

“MURAD!!! Pleeeeease…” I begged them…..

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I woke up from this dream startled out of my wits. I was saved by the sound of my door bell. I’ve never seen such a nightmare before. I saw myself as princess Andromeda and Murad as Cetus. He was the sea monster who comes to ravish the beautiful princess as she is chained naked on an island in the sea. Then I saw Murad again as Perseus, the demi god who comes to rescue Andromeda from the clutches of Cetus. Murad once told me of this strange Greek myth. It was so powerful a tale that it was ever represented by the stars in the night sky; the Andromeda, Cetus and Perseus constellations. But what does that have to do with Murad and me? My life was torn apart by this man and now I was seeing myself being fucked up in every way imaginable.

The bell rang again and I scrambled out of bed to see who was at my door this time of night. I looked through the peephole and was surprised to see Ayesha, Murad’s sister. She was one of two people I had been trying to hide from for the past couple of weeks. After that day at the Moritz hotel Murad tried to get a hold of me. He tried to call me day and night but I did not answer. He even came to my flat, rang the bell and stood outside for an hour but I did not open the door. I was afraid to see that man again. Every time we did I ended up in his bed somehow. Only he had lied to me and I could not forgive him this time. Knowing he was a drug dealer just rocked my world to its core. He was no ordinary drug dealer at that. He was the Mr V, the number one drug lord of New York. How could he not have told me that? Ok maybe I understood some of his reasons for keeping such a thing from me but still I felt used. He could at least have given me a clue.

Now he was sending his sister to do his bidding. Doesn’t this man ever give up? “I might as well get this over with,” I thought to myself. It is better to confront the sister then the boss himself. I can give her a message to give to her brother. “Go to hell,” and that is saying it nicely.

I opened the door and stood with my hand on the door frame blocking the way into my apartment. I wanted to give Ayesha the impression that I did not want her nor her brother in my life anymore. What I failed to remember was that I was not wearing any panties and the pullover I had on went up revealing my nakedness.

With her hands crossed on her chest Ayesha smiled at me and said, “he told me you don’t wear panties to bed anymore. I guess he wasn’t joking.”

“Oh Shit,” fumbling to pull my sweater down to hide what I had revealed by mistake. I blew this one big time. From then on Ayesha was in control. She just barged into my flat and sat herself on my couch waiting for me to follow her and I did. Who the hell were these people? Can I ever get one over them?! Just once. First it was the brother and now the sister. I really wanted to throw this woman out of my apartment as quickly as possible.

“He didn’t send me here, if that is what you are thinking,” and all my plans went out the door. Now I was eager to know why she was here.

“He tells you everything then?” I asked her, shocked she even knew what I wear or don’t wear to bed. “So why are you here then?” adding another question.

“Ok first of all I wanted to see you myself since we haven’t really been introduced properly. I guess it is my fault. I like you and I wanted to get to know the woman who my brother is so infatuated with, the only one he ever called his fiancée,” she explained, “and yes he tells me everything,” as if I didn’t figure that out already.

Murad had told me that he was very close to his sister but I didn’t expect he’d tell her everything down to my underpants. “He is not my fiancée,” I swung back at her, “see I have no ring on my finger,” raising my hand in the air to emphasize my point. Murad had never given me any ring, another reason to add to the hate list.

Ayesha smiled again and said, “yes, he told me about that as well. Unfortunately you ran away from the hotel before he was able to give you the ring.” Strike deflected. “He paid a fortune for that ring. It is beautiful I might add.” Another point to team Vanlian. 

I remained quiet for some time until I finally managed to squeal, “what do you want from me Ayesha?” Almost whimpering as I said that, “what do you both want from me? I can’t be involved with you. I can’t be part of your family knowing who you are.” I finally said it hoping she would leave me alone now. Only she didn’t.

“My brother told me that you ran away before he could explain,” Ayesha said, “he told me about the way he related the story of our family to you, one snippet at a time. He should have told you everything all at once. I scolded him for that. But he has had some bad experiences with women in the past. They either ran away like you did or clung to him for his money. I guess he wanted to take this one slow.”

Once again I remained quite sitting on the sofa opposite Murad’s sister. I had surmised all of that from what Murad told me himself and I could comprehend some of it but still I was afraid to get more involved with this man or his family.

Finally Ayesha sighed, “since you don’t want to hear the rest of the story from my brother I am going to tell you what you have missed so far,” and she resumed to tell me about Berg and Murad in the same manner as her brother used to do. Very canny. 

“I believe you already know how my mother died giving birth to me. How Berg, my father raised us all by himself in that same apartment which he lived in for the remainder of his life and where he died a few months ago. I think Murad also told you how Berg worked day and night to put food on the table for his family. How all his hard work paid off and how he came to own half the cabs in this city and controlled the other half. And of course you also know how he came to be known as Mr V. the number one drug lord on this island.

But what you don’t know was that Murad hated what Berg had become. They fought about it for years. Ever since Murad came to understand what his father did for a living he opposed it, always arguing with his dad that he didn’t need to do that, not anymore. Only Berg refused to listen to his son. He tried hard to convince him to join the family business but Murad declined and they drifted away year after year not speaking to one another. 

Just after finishing high school Murad left home to live on his own. He was a brilliant kid. By the age of twenty three he graduated with a double major in history and astronomy, two subjects that he loved since he was a boy and he was about to continue his Ph.D. in those topics as well. He did all that on his own without relying on his father for help.

But what you’d be surprised to know was how the father and son went from not speaking to one another to being inseparable. I did that. Well not deliberately, but I had everything to do with it. You see, my relationship with my brother had always been special. We had gone through a lot together. He was not only my brother but my best friend. I relied on him for everything. So when he decided to leave home my life was devastated. Of course we kept in close contact but it wasn’t the same. He wasn’t there for me like he used to be and it broke me. Berg was ever occupied with his work to pay much attention to me. He had relied on his son to do that so when Murad left I was on my own. 

By the time I was fifteen I was a wild one. I did all kinds of drugs I could get my hands on. I had the money. I had the power and I was stupid. One day I did more than I was supposed to do and I ended up in a coma for a month. And that was how Berg and Murad came face to face once again. They stayed next to my bed all that time until I was able to go back home. It took me almost dying for Berg to realize he was doing something wrong and Murad was there to show him how to fix it. 

The father and son vowed to work together to clean up their business and turn it into the legitimate empire that it is today. Berg relied on his son to do everything but it took Murad more than ten years to complete it. You simply can’t pull out of this business in one night or you’d be dead as well as everyone you hold dear to you and this was me again. 

So yes, basically I was the catalyst for everything Berg and Murad did since the day I was born. The only reason Murad had not quit and went back to his love for astronomy and history was because of Berg and me, his only family. 

Isn’t that what really counts in life? Family?! I believe that Murad really wanted you to be part of ours. I don’t know what you want to do. It is your choice. I for one hope that you do.”

By the time Ayesha finished her story I could not get myself to reply to all that. My mouth was so dry my lips cracked. Ayesha just stood up and walked out of my apartment leaving me to curse myself for everything that I did. I had to fix this. But will he let me?

Authors Notes:

1- The above painting is by Frederic Leighton (British painter 1830-1896). It shows Andromeda tied to a rock with Cetus, a snake like figure, rapped around her while Perseus is flying on his Pegasus above.

2- A constellation is a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern in the night sky. They were traditionally named after a form or a mythological figure.