The Adventures of the Jade
Dragon
Episode 6
by
L'Espion
Chapter
1 Zhen
Juan
Lake Qinghai,
China, 1925
“Zhen Juan!
Zhen Juan!”
Melissa turned her head in the direction of the shout, her chestnut
braid swinging in an arc before settling in the middle of her
back. She was a striking young
woman. The Chinese name she had
been given meant precious and beautiful and she certainly fitted the
description. She had no last
name. Only senior members of
her guild were accorded that honor.
Once, long ago, she could remember that she had a different name;
one given to her by her missionary parents before they had been killed by
bandits eleven years before. It
was the only part of her identity she had been able to hold
onto. Then, she knew, she had
possessed a last name, but it was lost to her memory.
It was time. She rose from her
prayers and turned away from the view of the lake
basin. It had been a dry year
and the lake had receded from its usual margins, but the blue of its distant
water could still be seen from where she
stood.
“Zhen
Juan!” She had better get
going. It would not do to be
late for the ceremony. Today
she was to become a full-fledged member of the
guild. After all her years of
training it was something that she should have been looking forward
to. She adjusted her black
ankle-length robe. After today
she would be allowed to wear red.
But first there was the
initiation. She had been praying
to the spirits for strength and also to her Christian God who she only vaguely
remembered.
“Zhen Juan!” her friend Fang Yin called
again. This time with considerable
impatience. Melissa ran toward
her.
“Come,” Fang Yin ordered.
“You are going to be late.
You were told to meditate, not fall asleep.”
“I was praying for strength,” Melissa said.
Fang Yin smiled. “You will
not need it. You are the best
of us. You have excelled in all
areas of training.”
“Except one,” Melissa thought.
“I’m not sure that I can kill.”
The two girls entered the building.
The one tall and slender.
The other almost a foot shorter, with the coal black hair typical
of most Chinese maidens.
Fang Yin entered first. Although
large, the building was quite nondescript, being constructed of local stone
and standing only two stories in height.
It was set back against the side of the cliff, well away from the
dusty dirt road that ran close to the shore of the
lake. A casual observer would
have supposed that it was a building of little
consequence. It was, however,
the largest building for many miles and that might have attracted some attention,
but it was well off the beaten track.
Few people chose to come to the southern shore of
The inside of the building, however, was
spectacular. It was like walking
into a temple. In way it was
a temple, Melissa reflected; a temple of
death. She and Fang Yin advanced
between ornately carved and brightly painted, red and gold
pillars. Before them lay a central
room, illuminated by blazing torches in sconces on the
walls. Fang Yin went
first. As she entered the room
she went down on her hands and knees, touching her forehead to the
floor. Melissa emulated
her.
“Rise my children.” In
the center of the room, seated on an ornate throne constructed of solid jade,
and decorated with peacock feathers and precious stones was the Master
Assassin. His face was masked,
as would be Fang Yin’s and Melissa’s after this
day. Assembled with him were
a dozen or so other members of the order, similarly clad in black, their
faces hidden.
They stood and advanced toward the
throne. Before the dais was a
blazing brazier. Melissa’s
heart pounded uncontrollably.
Focusing her mind she slowed her breathing and tried to decrease her
heart rate. Beside her she could
sense Fang Yin doing the same.
Out of the corner of her eye, Melissa could see a number of the other
novitiates. They were full members
of the order now, having gone through the initiation ceremony
earlier. Their faces were now
masked, so she could not detect any hint of pain or stress on their
faces.
The girls prostrated themselves again before the Master
Assassin. Then rose to their
knees. The Master stood before
them and invoked a prayer to the forces of nature and the demons of death.
Then he turned to the brazier. Fang
Yin loosed the ties holding the front of her robe closed and open it, revealing
her small dark-nippled breasts. Her
face was completely blank. From
the brazier, the Master drew an iron.
It glowed almost incandescent in the dim light of the
temple. Slowly he moved toward
Fang Yin’s breasts. The
girl held very still, but Melissa could see a slight sheen of sweat on her
forehead.
Fang Yin’s back arched as the iron touched
her. A flicker of pain swept
over her perfect features. But
other than that she held perfectly still.
The Master returned the iron to the
brazier. He gestured toward Fang
Yin. The girl rose, her legs
trembling, but her face triumphant.
She had survived the ordeal.
The mark of the scorpion was burned into the soft flesh just between
her breasts. An attendant moved
to take her aside and apply some healing ointment to the
burn. Now it was Melissa’s
turn.
Melissa’s fingers trembled as she fumbled with the ties holding her
robe closed. She tried to sit
tall as her robe opened, revealing her magnificent sepia-tipped
breasts. As an occidental, her
bosom was much better developed than that of Fang Lin, but every bit as
firm. The Master gazed for a
few seconds on her majestic globes and then removed the iron from the
fire. It once again glowed cherry
red. Melissa could feel its
frightening heat even from a distance of two
feet.
She tensed as the iron was moved toward
her. Time seemed to stand
still. It seemed to take an eternity
for the iron to move the sort distance from the glowing coals to the space
between her breasts. Despite
her best efforts, her body trembled in anticipation and
fear. Like Fang Yin, a light
dew of perspiration covered her body.
Then she felt the most incredible pain she had ever
experienced. She wanted to scream,
but invoked all of her martial arts training, forcing herself to remain
calm. The burning seemed to go
on forever. She could smell and
hear her flesh sizzling.
And then it was over. The Master
returned the iron to the brazier and helped her to
rise. Melissa struggled to her
feet, barely able to stand. She
forced herself to adopt an imperturbable
mask. She had survived the
trial. She was now a full-fledged
assassin!
Breaking into the compound of the Tong lord had not been
difficult. It consisted of no
more than a high wall patrolled by a few
guards. But penetrating the defenses
of the house was another matter.
All of the windows were barred or shuttered, and guards protected
the roof and inspected the grounds around the
building.
Fortunately, Melissa’s training was up to the
challenge. Silent as a ghost
she moved through the shadows of the compound, reaching the house
undetected. Then she climbed
the wall of the house, using the window bars that were supposed to protect
it to reach the roof. Although
alert, the guards were careless.
The only way from the roof into the building was through a rooftop
trapdoor that led to the staircase.
The trapdoor had been left open for a few seconds while the guard
was changed, and Melissa took advantage of the
lapse. As the new guards exchanged
greetings with the men they were to relieve, she swung through the opening
and into the interior of the building.
Once inside, she crouched in a dark corner and waited until the guards
departed.
The guards clumped by her. As
expected, they had no notion that their master’s defenses had been
breached. She was even able to
take advantage of their noisy movement to further penetrate the
building.
She remembered the plans of the building she had been
shown. Her quarry was on the
second floor, probably guarded by only a few
soldiers. She had but to make
her way past them and she could complete her mission.
She trod carefully. The building
was full of traps. None of them
lethal, but intended to alert the inhabitants to any
intruder. She avoided a strategically
placed floorboard. Had she stepped
on it, it would have creaked unmercifully, alerting every guard on the
floor.
Shadowlike, she worked her way through the
building. She took her
time. Patience was the hallmark
of a good assassin. It did no
good to rush into danger. A dead
or discovered assassin could not hope to complete an assigned
mission. Thus it took her two
hours to move from the second floor, past the guards and into the suite of
rooms where her intended quarry slept.
She knew little about the man she was to
kill. Only that he was a member
of the Tong, the powerful Chinese criminal
organization. Her orders were
to eradicate him and anyone else in the suite of
rooms.
She eased the door to the suite open.
It had been design to squeak when opened, but she had detected the
trap and oiled the hinges. The
door opened without a sound, and she crept through the narrow
gap. Carefully, she pushed the
door closed behind her. She crouched
in the darkness listening. Her
trained ears detected the sleep noises of five
individuals. She continued to
sit quietly, analyzing the sounds of her victims’
breathing.
She frowned in consternation. She
had not expected this. Her ears
told her that she was in the presence of a man and a woman, and three
children. Her mind went back
through her instructions, trying to recall exactly what she had been
told. Kill them
all. There could be no mistaking
what she was supposed to do.
She removed a long thin knife from her
belt. It was an efficient tool
of execution. It could slit a
victim’s throat or be plunged through an eye or an ear into the
brain. Slowly she catfooted across
the floor and approached the first bed.
An infant of no more than two years stirred in his
sleep. She could smell his sweet
baby scent. Beside him was another
child of no more than four years.
And next to him a slightly older
child. The Tong lord slept with
his wife.
She raised the knife in her hands and hovered over the sleeping
man. In ten seconds she could
kill all of them. But she
hesitated. She had not expected
that her orders would mean the death of an entire
family. When she had received
the assignment she had been glad of it, relieved to think that she would
be using her talents to rid the world of a
criminal. But she had not reckoned
with having to kill the innocent along with the
guilty.
She moved closer to the sleeping Tong
lord. Perhaps she could just
kill him and leave the rest to sleep.
But then what would she tell the Master
Assassin? That she had chosen
to kill only those
she thought worthy of
death? She took a slow deep
breath. If she did not kill them
then someone else would do it. Best
to get it over with. She rose
over the sleeping lord. He was
lying on his side. She would
jab the knife through his ear.
She raised the knife for the strike, and her
entire body shook. The point
of the knife wavered so badly that she was unlikely to hit her
target. Her body suddenly became
damp with sweat. She could not
do it. She had been trained to
be an assassin, but she was not a
murderer. It was what she had
feared the day of the initiation.
She had the skills, but not the temperament to commit so heinous a
crime. Shaking, she returned
the knife to its sheath, and crossing to a window, let herself out into the
night.
The Master Assassin glared at the young woman who knelt
before him. He shook, with rage,
but fought to control himself. She
was a worthless bitch. He had
spent thousands of hours training her and she had repaid him with failure.
Even more to the point, she had shamed
him. He had been made to look
like an unreliable fool to those who had hired
him. She deserved the most severe
punishment he could devise. Before
he was finished with her she would beg for him to end her worthless
life. But first, he would use
her like the worthless whore she was.
Melissa knelt before the Master Assassin.
She had failed miserably in her first mission and she now awaited
her punishment. She had brought
much shame to herself and her master.
She knew that there was no way that she could atone for her
failure. She could only hope
that he would see fit to forgive her for her transgression and find some
way for her to redeem herself.
The Master sighed. He seemed
reluctant to speak. When he did
it was in a voice tinged with menace and anger. “You have failed
me. You are no longer worthy
of my trust or the badge of an assassin.
Remove your mask.”
Melissa did as she was told and the Master took her chin in his hand, tilting
her head so that he might study her more
closely. What he saw gave him
a thrill of wonder. He looked
into deep brown eyes that seemed to draw him in, like bottomless
wells. High cheekbones framed
a straight nose, and her full, inviting lips, perfectly arched eyebrows,
and flawless skin, constituted as beautiful a face as he had ever
seen. When he had first met her,
even as a child, her amazing beauty had shone
forth. She would have been a
good consort. He had hoped to
take her as his wife, but she had failed the
test. More than ten years of
training wasted. Now she was
worthless as an assassin. “You have forsaken the right to dress as an
assassin,” he said, controlling his
anger. “Remove the rest
of your clothing.”
Melissa blushed. She had never
stripped in front of a man before, except at the initiation ceremony when
she had bared her breasts for that special
occasion. But she dared not refuse
this order. The Master was right
to demean her. She deserved any
treatment that he cared to mete out.
She no longer deserved the honor of an assassin’s dark
costume. Slowly, her hand went
to her blouse and she slowly undid the ties, trying not to flush any more
deeply as she slowly exposed her perfect body.
The Master Assassin watched with carnal
interest. The sight of the young
girl’s body aroused him beyond anything he had experienced for
years. By the time she stood
naked before him, he could hardly contain
himself. He licked his lips as
he thought of how he would punish her.
But first, he would secure her.
It would not do to have her use the skills he had taught her against
him.
From the wall of his chamber, he took down a set of manacles connected by
an iron bar about a foot long..
Placing his hands on the girl’s shoulder, he turned her
around. The clamped the first
shackle onto her right arm, just above the elbow, then pulling her elbows
together, fastened the other shackle above her left
elbow.
Melissa gasped as her elbows were pulled cruelly
together.
Her back arched and her
already impressive breasts were thrust
out. She did not understand why
the Master had seen fit to shackle her.
She would not have defied him regardless of the punishment he
chose. She had sinned against
the Assassin’s Guild and deserved whatever punishment the Guildmaster
thought fit.
As the Master shackled her, she suddenly realized that her punishment was
to be sexual. She hung her
head. Her master had chosen to
shame her in the most humiliating manner.
She had gone from being a member of the Assassin’s Guild to an
object of sexual pleasure. It
was, however, no more than she deserved.
Since she was not capable of serving her master in the way that she
had been trained, then she would have to serve him in another, less dignified
manner. She accepted her
fate. If she was to be the
Master’s mistress, so be it.
It was another form of servitude to her honorable
master.
The Master Assassin led her from the room into a small dark
chamber. Gently her pushed her
to the floor. He closed the
door. The room went pitch
black. “Of course,”
Melissa thought. “No one
could look on the face of another assassin, much less that of the Guild
Master.”
She felt the Master’s hand on her
head. Roughly he seized her long
braid and jerked her head back.
There were some strange fumbling sounds and then a distinct animal
odor. While not exactly unpleasant,
it was one she had not encountered
before. Suddenly, Melissa realized
what it was. Her eyes went wide
with dismay and anticipation. A
few seconds later her fears were confirmed as she felt the tip of the
Master’s hardened phallus touch her pouting
lips.
“Take it, Zhen Juan,” the Master ordered, using her Chinese
name. “Take it, and be
gentle.”
Blushing with unseen shame, Melissa parted her
lips. His hands on either side
of her head, the Master pushed into her
mouth. She
swallowed. The Master’s
organ seemed huge. She wasn’t
sure she could get it all into her mouth.
Almost choking, she closed her mouth about the rigid male
member.
“Good,” said the Master.
“Now move your lips slowly over the tip and suck
gently.”
Melissa followed his instructions.
She was rewarded by a groan of pleasure from the Master
Assassin. That’s it,
that’s it, my little scorpion.
Now use your tongue.”
Melissa rasped her delicate pink tongue over the glans of the Master’s
penis. Over the next hour, he
taught her to give complete oral sex.
She learned quickly, anxious to please; hoping to atone in some way
for her betrayal of the Master’s
trust. Eventually, she brought
him to close to orgasm, but he stopped her before she could
finish.
“You have done well, child,” gasped the
Master. “But it is time
to educate you further in the ways of the flesh.”
He raised her to her feet and turned her
around. He did something to the
iron bar that joined her manacles.
It was still completely black in the room, so she could only guess
as what he was doing. Then he
led her a few steps across the room and pressed her
back. She bumped into something
that felt like a wooden rail. The
Master bent her forward and then raised her wrists so that the rail could
be centered in the middle of her back with her arms over the rail as
well. She felt a tug on the bar
joining the manacles and realized that the master had hooked a link of chain
onto it. He was now pulling hard
on the chain, forcing her hard into the rail and arching her farther
back. She spread her legs to
maintain her balance. A clicking
sound announced that the Master had somehow fastened the chain so that she
was forced to maintain the position he had placed her
in.
Melissa was now distinctly uncomfortable.
She was arched backward over a wooden rail, with her shackled arms
hooked over the rail and chained so that she could not change her position
except by falling backward over the rail.
Her legs were spread, exposing her virginal vagina to
attack. Her breathing came in
deep gasps, as she fought to maintain
control. Her Master would not
hurt her, just teach her how to properly please a
man. It was demeaning, but it
was a fate she deserved for not fulfilling her
potential.
The Master’s hands clasped her shoulders, and for the first time she
felt a man’s lips on hers. The
Master Assassin had removed his mask, but in the dark, Melissa could not
see any of his features. She
tried to relax into the kiss as she knew the Master would want her
to. If she was to be his courtesan,
she wanted to be good at it.
Softly at first, the Master kissed her.
Then he forced his tongue between her lips and deep into her
mouth. She responded as she thought
she should, intertwining her flexible tongue with
his. For several minutes, the
Master explored her mouth, running his tongue over her teeth and probing
into the deepest recesses of her mouth.
Melissa cooperated, feeling herself slowly becoming
aroused. Then his she felt his
hand on her left breast. Her
heartbeat increased. The feeling
was indescribably pleasant. She
arched her back even more, ignoring the discomfort of her
position.
Gently, the master massaged her firm grapefruit-sized
breast. Then suddenly, he dropped
his hand, placing it on her abdomen, just above her mound of
Venus. Melissa felt herself become
very wet. Fluids began to flow
toward the entrance of her still virginal
vagina. At the same time he pulled
his mouth away from hers and moved his lips to the nipple of the same breast
he had been massaging.
Melissa gave a gasp of pure pleasure.
She could hardly believe the sensations that were sweeping over her
body. She moaned and pushed her
pelvis forward, inviting the Master to enter
her. She was now very aware of
the sensation of his very hard penis against her
thigh. She realized that she
was not really being punished. For
her Master to take her like this was really a form of reward, a great
honor. Only one thing bothered
her, why was she manacled? She
would not have resisted anything that the Master had done to
her. The irons were unnecessary
and actually painful. She was
now finding it difficult to breathe, but she dared not
complain. Her Master was entitled
to take her any way that he pleased.
For several minutes the Master sucked first at one nipple and then the other
until both sepia flowerets became so engorged and stiff with blood that the
slightest touch sent waves of desire flooding through
her. She moaned loudly, so aroused
that vaginal lubricant was now running freely down her splayed
legs.
Finally, he took her. Moving
between her legs, he thrust into her.
Melissa cried out in passion and pain as she was penetrated for the
first time. For the briefest
second her hymen blocked his entry, then it was gone and her maidenhood
sundered. She gave a cry that
was part sob and part carnal desire.
Her Master had made a woman out of
her. She hoped in some small
way that the sacrifice of her virginity would pay for her sins against
him.
She cried out again as he thrust deeper, his large firm, organ stretching
her tight vagina. Virginal blood
mixed with the vaginal lubricant that ran down her
legs. He plunged farther into
her eliciting still louder cries of sexual
ecstasy.
The Master copulated with her for over an hour, bring her to a height of
passion she would not have believed.
Her screams of carnal delight filled the air, attesting to the
master’s sexual skills. When
it came to intercourse, he was indeed a master.
Finally, the Master released his seed into
her. Melissa was
exhausted. Her body covered with
sweat and her throat hoarse from
screaming. Still, she was
disappointed when the Master finally
climaxed. Her sexual thirst seemed
unquenchable.
She was still arched over the bar in the darkened
room. She could see nothing of
what was going on. She tried
to straighten her body, once more aware of how painful her position
was. She thought of asking the
Master to release her, but decided against
it. He had every right to treat
her like this. One act of intercourse
could not atone for the sin she had
committed.
She could hear movement around her.
To her trained assassin’s ears it sounded like many different
people. A cold chill went through
her. She was in a darkened room
and surrounded by a number of persons she could not
see. A cold knot of fear developed
in her gut. The Master was gone,
but who had replaced him?
Hands touched her. Many
hands. They were all over her,
stoking her sweat soaked body. They
touched her everywhere, caressing, fondling, pinching, squeezing and
probing. She had thought that
her first sexual experience was over.
It was just beginning!
She fought down a wave of panic.
This was obviously what the Master wanted; otherwise he would not
have permitted it. She could
not object. It was clearly part
of her punishment.
She whimpered a little, as some of the touching became rather
painful. The Master had been
gentle, but some of the hands stroking and fondling her body were being
deliberately brutal, pinching and squeezing her hard enough to bruise her
delicate flesh.
Once more she became aware of the painful position the Master had locked
her into. She gasped in surprise,
as several pairs of hands grabbed her legs at once and lifted her, spreading
her wide at the same time. Then
she grunted in pain as someone moved between her legs and thrust hard into
her. This time the penetration
was deep and savage. It
hurt. Gritting her teeth she
endured. This was no longer
lovemaking, it was rape, but it served her
right. For her sins, she deserved
no less.
Teeth bit down on her breast.
Caught off guard, she screamed in pain and
surprise. She struggled to break
free of the cruel manacles that held her, but was rewarded only by the sound
of cruel laughter from the crowd of people around
her. The rape
continued. Finally, her assailant
released into her. With a feeling
of intense relief she felt the man withdraw, but her release from pain was
short-lived. Almost immediately,
she felt another man between her legs.
Another throbbing member was plunged into
her. She writhed, trying to twist
away from the brutal invasion, but a dozen hands held her
fast. Again and again her invisible
assailant shoved in and out of her inflamed vagina, until he too reached
orgasm. This time, she was not
surprised when another man took his place.
She lost track of the number of times she was
raped. Her ordeal seemed
endless. By the end of it, she
was sobbing and begging for mercy, but her entreaties were met by only cruel
laughter. Then abruptly it was
over. She heard the chain holding
her over the rail being unfastened, and suddenly she was carried into the
light.
After the hours of darkness, the light of the outer room blinded
her. For several seconds she
could see nothing. Then her vision
returned. She was surround by
dark-clothed figures. With a
sense of deep shame she realized that she had been raped by every male member
of the Assassin’s Guild.
Weeping with mortification and pain, she was dragged into the center of the
room. She could no longer stand
unaided and had to be supported by the men who held
her. Dazed, she did not realize
what was happening until the men let go of her and she felt blinding pain
shoot through her arms, shoulders, and
chest. The bar connecting her
arms had been fastened to a chain dangling from the ceiling and the chain
had been pulled tight.
She cried out, no longer able to control her
pain. Her weight was almost fully
supported on her arms, causing excruciating
agony. With a feeling of absolute
despair she began to understand that her punishment was very far from
over.
Before her stood the Master Assassin.
“Please, Master,” she sobbed, “no
more.” Unable to
continue. She broke down completely,
weeping uncontrollably.
“You do not understand, Zhen Juan,” the Master
replied. “You crime cannot
be repaid simply by giving me and the other male members of the guild a little
pleasure. You must be punished
in a way that will send a clear warning to all as what the price of failure
entails.”
The Master turned to one of the assassins standing next to
him. “Secure her
ankles.”
The man immediately leapt forward, and pulled Melissa’s legs forward,
so that she hung almost upright. He
then fastened her in this position by chaining her ankles to a large ring
in the floor. It was a ring that
Melissa had noticed on many an occasion while training without knowing what
it was for.
A look of intense fear swept across Melissa’s
face. For the first time she
noticed that the Master was holding a long leather whip of the sort used
to drive oxen. “Please,
Master,” she begged between sobs, “give me death, but spare me
this pain. I betrayed you, but
it was something I could not control.
My heart would not allow me to be an assassin.”
Beneath his mask the Master smiled
cruelly. “I will give you
death, but first you will suffer as no member of the guild has ever suffered
before. Your act of betrayal
shamed the guild, and for that no punishment is too
great. You are going to suffer
pain, and then I am going to give you to the guard to do with you as they
wish. Only when every member
of the lower ranks has satisfied himself with you will you be allowed to
die.”
He raised the whip. Melissa screamed
even before the brutal lash struck her and then her shriek was truly
terrible. The whip raised a long
bloody welt from the top of her right shoulder, down across her right
breast. The whip whistled through
the air and struck again. Melissa
raised another awful cry. But
the Master was unmoved. Expertly,
he lashed her again and again oblivious to her cries of
pain. He streaked her beautiful
breasts and shoulders with cruel weals, destroying the perfect beauty of
her once flawless body. Only
when she fainted from pain did he stop.
Twisting his lip in a sneer he ordered her taken down and dragged
to a cell.
Melissa awoke in brutal agony. It
was dark in the cell, and she guessed that it must be
evening. She was still naked
and lying of a bed of filthy straw.
Rats scurried about the cell.
She tried to rise, but fell back as unbelievable pain swept over
her. In terrible anguish, but
unable to move a muscle she drifted off into sleep punctuated by
moans.
“Zhen Juan.” She hardly
heard the whispered words. A
small dark figure was bending over her. “Zhen Juan,” the figure
repeated softly. Too beaten to
reply, Melissa nonetheless managed to raise her
head. She knew that voice even
if she could not see the face. It
was her friend, Fang Yin.
“Do not talk. I will get
you out of here. I have bribed
one of the guards. He will take
you to safety.”
Melissa gritted her teeth. It
took all of her self-control to keep from screaming as Fang Yin dressed
her. After that the pain was
even worse as the slight Chinese girl helped her to her feet and guided her
from the cell. The prison was
in a small building set apart from the main
building. It was not guarded,
as Melissa was the only one in it and she had been judged too badly injured
to escape. With Fang Yin’s
help she managed to make it out of the prison and to a guard who was waiting
with a donkey. With the guard’s
help, Melissa was lifted onto the donkey’s back and secured there with
ropes.
“What of you?” Melissa managed to ask, fearful of what might happen
to her friend.
“Do not worry about me. Just
make sure you escape. Go with
the guard. His name is Ho, and
he is my cousin. He will see
you safe.” With that Fang
Yin turned and glided into the darkness like a
phantom.
Melissa wept quietly, she never saw her friend again.