Series disclaimer: This is not a love story. I'm interested in exploring the power dynamic behind mind control, and there is very little consent in this story. This story contains violence, rape, trauma, and abuse. I understand that's not what a lot of readers are looking for, so consider this fair warning. That being said, if you're interested in a dark fantasy of sex and control set in magical world loosely inspired by Wuxia stories, please enjoy.
Chapter notes: A little change in perspective for some ninja action, then lots of Tam and Yelena fucking. This chapter's a little shorter than the last one, and is a little plot light. And for those worried after reading this chapter, I promise things get better for Yelena in future chapters. Not good, but better.
*****
Su Wen crouched on a rooftop in the foreign quarter, watching the sunset. Anyone used to the reserved, well-dressed Honored Lady would not have recognized the figure in black. Instead of one of her usual embroidered, tightly fitted cheongsams, she was clad head to toe in black silk, trousers and tunic loosely fitted for maximum range of movement. Her breasts were bound tightly to her chest, her face and hair hidden by a black hood and a horned demon mask, the blades of her weapons painted black to keep them from reflecting the light.
She waited patiently. The warehouse across the street had been identified as a base for the foreign crime syndicate by the woman Doctor Hsien had enchanted, and several of the foreigners had been seen entering it earlier. She had a dozen men scattered around the block, watching the exits, but they were only there to keep her victims from escaping once she attacked.
She and the other five Silver Tigers were each leading simultaneous assaults. While the foot soldiers were all well and good for intimidating merchants and brawling in the street, true battle would be led by those rare talents who could manipulate chi. Su Wen had no gift for infusing chi into objects or healing; for that she relied on hired assistants like her charming doctor. Her own talents tended towards more violent uses.
Most of the time, she preferred to use blackmail and manipulation to achieve her goals. Sometimes though, the best method was drenched in blood. Even if the Tong Master had not demanded all of the Six Silver Tigers wet their claws tonight, she would have been hunting. Some of the men she commanded occasionally bridled at obeying a woman; tonight she would remind them that their Honored Lady Su Wen was also Flying Darkness, Third Silver Tiger of Nihai.
As she waited, she allowed herself to ponder Doctor Hsien. He was on her mind since his most recent visit, and she was thinking about him more than she should. He had admirable nerve, concealing his fear even when she had first hired him at knife point to treat an injury to one of her men that only a doctor who manipulated chi could cure.
He worked so hard to present himself as emotionless, burning his art into her selected victims for gold. But that afternoon he had shown her a new side, his desire for the soft flesh of the pale little devil girl breaking his reserve for the first time. He had been so cute, grinding his teeth in jealousy while Lu fucked the too-tall foreign bitch into the floor. He had also been very well behaved when she let Wen play with his cock.
Perhaps she would add him to Wen's roster of playmates. She would have to be careful with him; he was a valuable tool, and it would be a shame to destroy him if he couldn't handle Wen's games or if he was indiscreet. A careful touch would be needed.
Su Wen was distracted from these musings by a pillar of smoke rising from a burning building deeper in the foreign quarter. That was the signal for the attack to begin. A few pebbles thrown from the roof alerted her men on the street below, and they drew their weapons and moved to encircle the doors. Su Wen gathered her chi with a breath, darkness wrapping around her. She made herself light as a feather and launched into the air. As she floated over the target building, she increased her weight, centering her chi in her heel to smash through the shutter of a skylight.
She dropped into the building, her chi-heightened senses slowing time for her as she counted targets. A dozen pale northerners looked up in shock as she fell towards them, a corona of splintered wood and darkness swirling around her. Throwing knives flowered from her fingers, and three men were dead before she touched the ground. A push of chi and the darkness of her aura pulsed out around her in a cloud. Their panicked shouts guided her to them, and the blade of her kusarigama opened throats, blood sprays in the darkness streaking her mask and clothes.
She danced through them, a silent death trailed by screams. When it became too taxing to maintain the cloud of darkness, she leapt onto a bale of cotton and turned to survey the field of battle. Four enemies left, weapons out and shouting in rage in their foreign babble. Brave men, or perhaps foolish, they moved to circle her instead of fleeing, stepping around the bodies of their comrades.
She flipped backwards off her perch and landed between two of them. The chain of her kusarigama spun in her left hand and snared the leg of the larger one. He was two feet taller than her and more than a hundred pounds heavier, but her chi-enhanced strength yanked his leg out from under him and sent him crashing into his comrade. Her blade took the throat of the second as they fell and she dropped flat to the floor as the other two closed with a roar.
Abandoning her entangled weapon, she planted her hands on the ground and launched into the air from a handstand, her legs wrapping around the neck of one of the charging attackers. She flipped up and over him, her legs twisting with her momentum. His neck snapped as she somersaulted off and she dropped into a crouch facing the last standing foreigner, empty handed against his sword.
He looked around at the ruined bodies of his comrades, dead or dying at the hands of the small masked figure before him. She could see in his eyes that he knew his death crouched before him, but he had no fear. He roared a battle cry and came forward, blade swinging in broad arcs. She slid around his strikes with inhuman speed and struck with both hands as she closed, his wrist and windpipe shattering as her blows landed. He collapsed, unable to breathe through his ruined throat.
She picked up his sword and strolled across the room to the man she had tripped with the chain of her kusarigama. He had made it to his knees, and extended his open hands toward her, begging for mercy in broken Han. A flick of the sword sent his head bouncing across the room. She stepped daintily around the pools of blood and ruined bodies, collecting her weapons and cleaning them. Her men filed in, staring in awe at the carnage. They dropped to their knees in respect, bowing their heads before their blood-soaked mistress.
Su Wen felt drunk. The rush of battle always left her like this. Her silks were plastered to her skin with blood, her body burning with energy. She could remain in control until her men had swept the building and begun the cleanup process, and her report had been sent to the Tong Master. After that, she would have to let Wen out to play.
Wen wanted to play with her friend Tam, but in her current state anyone she let Wen play with might not survive the night. There was a woman in one of the Red Houses she ran that she had played with before who had enough scars now that she was having trouble finding clients. It would be a shame to lose a trained playmate if things went too far, but it would keep Wen sated and preserve Doctor Hsien, who had other uses; an acceptable trade. Wen giggled thinking of what she would do to the scarred woman, and Su Wen's underlings shifted slightly farther away from her.
Across the city, Tam woke to the sound of his household already stirring. He had curled around Yelena's back in his sleep, and his morning erection rubbed pleasantly against her rear. He leisurely pushed against her, sliding his cock through the cleft of her ass, but in the end the call of nature took him from bed. He released the silk from his wrist and climbed over her, stumbling to the chamber pot.
He considered waking her to take care of his erection, but a glance out the window informed him he didn't have time. The night spent casting the spell on Yelena had left him more tired than he had realized. Even with his nap at the Tong den, he had overslept. Yelena was still sound asleep, completely exhausted. He thought for a moment then commanded her to remain asleep until he woke her. As long as he woke her sometime before nightfall, she should attribute it to her own need for rest. With an odd sense of fondness he concluded that the rest would be good for her.
