Chapter 2

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.

As a final precaution, he activated the chi seals on the shutters and doors of his bedroom as he left; she would sleep undisturbed by his servants as he went about his business.

He hurried through bathing himself and braiding his hair, dressing in the sober robes he wore when treating his patients. As was his custom he shared his breakfast with Lin Song, reviewing the plan for the day with his steward. He told her to have one of the maids take the message pouches to a messenger service a reasonable distance from his home, and instructed her to procure some basic clothes for Yelena. He had plans for some delectable things to dress his slave in, but that would require her to be properly measured. He could hardly walk her naked through the streets to a tailor.

After Tam finished his breakfast, he met Ho Tien, who had breakfasted with the rest of the staff, and they opened the clinic. He worked steadily through the morning, dispensing herbal remedies and working with acupuncture and simple chi manipulation to treat his patients. His clientele was primarily others of his class, well off merchants and tradesmen of various sorts.

All of the gossip from his patients was over the fires and violence in the foreign quarter the night before. Tam realized Yelena’s message had likely been too late. He concluded that it was probably for the best – an angry father hunting for his missing daughter would be an unpleasant complication. Not that he planned to tell Yelena the news.

Ho Tien assisted him by preparing the draughts and pills he prescribed. During occasional breaks, Tam quizzed his apprentice on the patients he had treated by himself the day before.

At midday, Tam took his customary meal break. He instructed Ho Tien to prepare a cup of Whore’s Milk and a healing draught and deliver them to his room, then collected the tray he had ordered from the cook and returned to his bedroom.

Yelena still slept, but she was moving restlessly in her sleep, which Tam took to suggest that she would have awoken by this point without his command to sleep. He set the tray on his bedside table then sat on the bed beside her.

He released her from the command to sleep and gently shook her shoulder. She blinked in confusion and tugged at her bound hands, then let out a sigh as she took in her surroundings.

“Welcome back Yelena. It is midday; you needed your sleep to heal. Since I know you are wondering, I will confirm that your message was sent early this morning.”

“Thank you for at least keeping your word.”

“Well, you did fulfill your end of the bargain exquisitely; I am sure your foolish former lover would not recognize the woman moaning in my bed last night.” Tam smiled and reached out to gently fondle her naked breast. She blushed in shame and looked away.

Tam enjoyed stroking her for a few moments then tugged at her shoulders. “Sit up. I have brought lunch for us to share, and you need to eat.”

He helped her sit, her hands still awkwardly bound behind her. He held a cup to her lips and let her drink, then picked up some food on the chopsticks and held it to her mouth.

“I take it you’re not going to free my hands for this meal.”

“Last night you had a favor you wanted to earn. Today you may wish to fight me again. It is simpler to take away the option. Besides, this pleases me. I enjoy watching you eat from my hand.”

“So I’m a pet today. Fantastic.” Despite her complaints, she bent her head and took the bite he offered her. He alternated bites between himself and her. As he fed her, he let his gaze linger on her nude body, which served to keep her alternatingly blushing and scowling.

Partway through their meal, a knock at the door announced Ho Tien’s arrival. Tam called for him to enter, and the teenager stepped in, the requested draughts in hand. He stopped to stare at the naked woman, his jaw hanging open. Yelena yelped and scrambled to put Tam between herself and the boy.

Tam smiled but was careful to not laugh aloud. “Thank you Tien. Please meet Alexovna Yelena, whom I told you about yesterday. Yelena, this is Ho Tien, my apprentice. He has been kind enough to prepare some medicine for you at my request. Stop embarrassing me and thank him.”

“Um, thank you Ho Tien.”

Tam clucked at her. “That is not a proper thank you, slave. Walk over, kneel before him, and tell him you are grateful that he has prepared medications for you.”

Yelena stared daggers at him, but eventually wilted. She bowed her head and slid off the bed, walking over to Ho Tien and sullenly kneeling naked before him. “Ho Tien, I am very grateful that you have prepared medicine for me.”

Tam nodded to the teenager, who was now sporting an obvious erection. “Go ahead and feed her the draughts. She won’t bite you, unless she is much more foolish than I imagine.”

Tien hesitantly held the cup of Whore’s Milk to Yelena’s lips and tilted it. She looked ready to murder them both, but swallowed it down. When she had emptied the first cup, Tien quickly pocketed it so that he could steady her head with an empty hand while he held the other draught to her lips. It was completely unnecessary, but Tam was amused by his small ploy to touch female flesh and allowed it. Yelena also saw through the ploy, but did not share Tam’s amusement.

“Thank you Tien. That will be all. The cook will have kept your lunch warm for you.”

The boy blushed and bowed, then hurriedly backed out of the room, still staring until the closing door blocked his view. Once the door firmly closed, Tam broke out laughing.

“I think the poor boy will be skipping his lunch in order to masturbate in the closest closet. You are going to feature in his dreams for many nights.”

“And thank you very much for finding a new way to humiliate me, oh gracious master. Will the cook be coming by to collect the tray and enjoy an eyeful as well?”

Tam continued to chuckle. “No, no. No one else will disturb our meal. I can see it will take you quite a while to learn that a slave has no modesty beyond what her owner grants her. I should be angrier, but I cannot help enjoying your blushes.”

“I suppose I should also thank the boy for angering you enough to forget your care for wording, as you now must wait through six questions from me before you can require me to answer again. Now come back here and finish your meal.”

Muttering curses under her breath in her native tongue, Yelena rose and walked back to him. Tam decided the effect was better with her on the floor than seated on the bed, and had her kneel at his feet for the second half of the meal. This did not improve her mood.

Once they had eaten, Tam studied her thoughtfully for a moment. “Tomorrow I customarily have my clinic closed, which means I will have time to start properly training you. This afternoon I need to work, and will not be able to mind you. As your attitude is still terrible, I will not leave you to wander or inflict you on my servants yet. This means I must put you back in the cage for a few hours while I see the rest of my patients.”

Yelena frowned but said nothing. Tam slid a hand under his robe and began to slowly stroke his cock to hardness.

“Now, you have a chance to make another small bargain. I have a little time left before I must cage you and return to my work. If you would like, you may spend that time filling your insubordinate mouth with my cock, and I will let you put on the robe again before I take you to your cage. If not, I will stroke myself and cover your face again, then force you to parade naked past my household with cum dripping off your face. Knowing those are your only options, my first question for you today is this: Yelena, do you want to suck my cock?”

“Yes, you bastard, given those options I want to suck your cock. Take the damn thing out and let me do it.”

Tam opened his robe and pulled his hardening cock out, shifting so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed. Yelena shuffled over until she was kneeling between his legs then grudgingly bent to take him into her mouth. At first, she simply sucked unenthusiastically on the head of his cock, but then the effect of having his cock inside her began to take over. The rule Tam had implanted in her mind the night before meant that simply having his cock inside her body gave her sexual pleasure.

She grew more enthusiastic as her pleasure increased, taking him as far in as she could until he hit her throat. She quickly realized she could breathe through her nose when she pulled back, so that she didn’t need to interrupt her building feeling of pleasure by releasing him from her mouth. Tam didn’t feel the need to force his way into her throat this time; he leaned back on his elbows and enjoyed the sensation while he watched her bald head bob up and down on his cock.

Yelena was beginning to moan around him but had not yet reached her own peak when he came in her mouth. A quick mental command made her swallow his cum instead of coughing or spitting it onto his floor. She let out a small whine of frustration as he pushed her off his sensitive cock.

Once Tam caught his breath, he stood and made her lick him clean, holding her head back so that she couldn’t get his cock into her mouth again. He pulled his clothes back into place then helped her stand and retrieved the short green robe she’d briefly worn the previous night. He untied her arms long enough to let her pull the robe on, then bound her wrists behind her again with the enchanted silk.

As he tugged the robe into place over her breasts, he paused and pretended to be surprised as he saw her glistening slit. He slid his hand between her legs then smiled at her. “Yelena, did you get this wet just from sucking my cock?”

“Yes. I don’t know why, it’s terrible. I can’t help it, even just holding your cock in my mouth feels amazing and I hate that I feel that way.” Yelena shrunk in on herself in shame as she was compelled to answer.

“Hush now; it’s nothing to worry about.” Tam gently gathered her in his arms. “It feels good because it’s where you belong. You’re still fighting it, but part of you knows that you were meant for this.”

“No, you’re wrong. I’m not meant to be your slave or your whore, I’m my own person and somehow someday I’ll get free of you.” Yelena blinked and pulled out his embrace as she heard herself. “And you have to know that you’re wrong because if I’m saying it, it has to be true, because of your own spell that means I can’t lie.” Her chin rose as she faced him, the fire returning to her eyes.

Tam gently took her chin in his hand and gazed into those defiant green eyes.

“It doesn’t work that way Yelena. You can’t lie, but you can still be wrong. You still think you can fight against your destiny, but with time you’ll come to accept it. Now come along; as much as I’d like to spend the rest of the day in bed with you, I have patients I must tend to.” Tam adjusted the robe so that it covered her and led her back to the stable.

After he had locked her in her cage, Tam thought of an amusing experiment to keep her occupied while he worked. He commanded that whenever she thought about him, she would vividly remember one of the orgasms she had experienced the night before. For a bit of extra spice, he added a second command to make her unable to orgasm. Not that she would really be able to masturbate with her hands tied behind her back, but it would be a nice source of torment. He told her to reflect on her destiny while she waited and returned to his work, a smile on his face.

Tam’s mood was excellent as the afternoon passed. A relaxing blowjob after lunch, his pretty slave torturing herself with thoughts of sex while she waited for him; his quality of life was greatly improved by his purchase of Yelena. Even Ho Tien’s inability to concentrate on his duties could not ruin Tam’s mood. He eventually took pity on his apprentice and told him to take a jar of healing cream to the stable and rub it into Yelena’s bruises and scrapes.

When Tien eventually returned, the boy drifted through the remainder of the afternoon with an idiotic smile on his face. The only difficulty in the day was Tam’s final patient. An elderly man, the patient had an infection of the lungs which he had stubbornly refused to have treated in the beginning stages. When his daughter finally had him carried to Tam’s clinic in a palanquin the infection was well beyond conventional treatment.

Tam had to resort to painting spells onto the man’s chest and back and then spent two laborious hours cycling his chi through the man, drawing the phlegm out of his lungs and rebalancing his humors. By the time he finished, Tam had missed his evening meal and had spent most of his chi, but he had saved the man’s life.

The man’s daughter wept in joy as she thanked Tam, happy to pay the high fee he demanded. Feeling drained, Tam left Ho Tien to close the clinic and went to lie down on a couch.

Lin Song, having seen him in that state before, brought him a small bowl of soup and a pot of tea. As he ate she reported on the state of the household. After she went through the usual details, she paused for a moment then continued.

“Sir, may I inquire what your plans are for your new slave? Am I expected to work the foreigner into the household staff? Does she even speak a proper language?”

“I admit I did not think everything through completely when I bought her, though I can assure you speaks our language quite well. She is still very willful and is capable of violence. I have been able to keep her docile when I am handling her directly, but for the moment I remain uncertain of the best way to keep her obedient when I am not present.”

Lin Song sniffed. “I am sure you had good reasons for your decision, but in the future I would recommend only purchasing slaves that are already fully trained. Since we must deal with her as she is, I would recommend a free hand with discipline. If you do not wish to constantly beat her, another suggestion would be a set of wrist and ankle shackles for her; I believe the common term for such a thing is a sirik. Hampered this way, she can move about and assist as you wish, but there will be little risk of her attempting to strike anyone or run away.”

“Thank you Lin Song; that is excellent advice. I will investigate the shackles in the morning. Were you able to find some suitable clothes for the girl?”

“Yes. As you instructed, I only purchased the bare minimum. I have two dresses and a pair of sandals for her. The dresses are suitable to wear on the street, and a bit of needlework can be used to adjust the fit to flatter her figure once we try them on her. They are waiting in your bedroom.”

“Excellent. What would I do without you?”

“Probably forget to eat while you are lost in your studies. Will that be all for today, sir?” Lin Song’s wrinkled face lit with a small smile. She might think he was foolish for buying an untrained pleasure slave, but she was still fond of her employer.

After dismissing Lin Song to collect her husband and retire for the night, Tam took the last of his tea out to a bench in the garden and enjoyed the cool of the early evening. He was looking forward to enjoying his slave, but a bit of anticipation would make the evening sweeter. The high walls of his manor blocked the descending sun, but he could still enjoy the gradually deepening colors of the clouds scattered across the western sky. He regretfully admitted to himself that he would probably only have the endurance to fuck Yelena once, given the amount of energy he had used healing his final patient.

By the time he finished his tea, the first stars were becoming visible in the darkening sky. He lit a lantern and went to the stable to collect his slave girl. He found her curled in a tight ball on her blanket. Her robe had slipped off her shoulders, and the blanket he had allowed her was tangled beneath her. She was shivering, and the scent of her arousal hung in the air.

He crouched quietly beside her cage. She heard him and opened her eyes, staring listlessly at his feet. She looked lost, her eyes a dark jade above the tracks of dried tears on her cheeks.

Tam spoke quietly. “Hello Yelena. How was your afternoon?”

“I think I’m going crazy.” She spoke in a low voice and he had to lean closer to hear her. “I couldn’t stop thinking about what you made me feel last night. I can’t think about anything else. When that boy came in and rubbed me down with the cream, I was moaning as he touched me. I felt like I was going to die of embarrassment. His hands were all over me and they felt so good, then when he left I could actually hear him leaning against the wall while he masturbated.”

Tam was more than pleased with the result of his command. He hadn’t meant to leave her in this state for quite so long, but the result was impressive.

She hiccupped softly before she continued. “What the hell did you do to me? I never used to be like this.”

Tam brought his attention back to Yelena. “It’s not your turn to ask questions yet. How did it make you feel, listening to him masturbate?”

“I felt humiliated and that made me feel really hot. I imagined him standing over my cage and covering me with his cum when he came, and I got so hot that I tried rubbing myself against the cage bars. But I still couldn’t get off. I almost begged him to come back inside and fuck me.” A tear slid down her pale cheek as she whispered her answer.

Tam was surprised; he had not explicitly commanded her to be aroused by being watched or humiliated. Perhaps the hours of sexual frustration had brought out hidden depths within her. Still, he would have to be more careful; she was starting to realize something was changing her, though she didn’t seem to suspect that it was the result of his spell yet.

“Do you still want to get fucked?”

“Yes. I need you to fuck me so badly. I hate myself for saying it and you for making me say it, but I’ve been rubbing my breasts and pussy against the cage and the ground for hours and I can’t come no matter what I do. I need to come so much it hurts.”

“Then I have good news for you; you’re going to get fucked tonight. Come over to the door of the cage.”

Yelena slowly pushed herself up and worked her way to the front of the cage on her knees, her robe hanging off her shoulders. Tam unlocked the cage and tugged her out.

When he helped her to her feet she immediately pressed herself against him, rubbing her naked breasts against his robe. She humped her slick sex against his thigh, her fluids leaving a wet stain on his robes.

“Please, Master, please fuck me. I need your cock, Master.”

Tam pushed her off him; he was glad that she was so horny, but the slut needed to wait till they were in his bedroom. Yelena misinterpreted his hands pushing her shoulders. She dropped to her knees and began tugging at the catches of his robe with her teeth.

Tam slapped her lightly on the cheek. “Not yet, slut. Wait until we’re in my bedroom. Stand up and let me fix your robe.”

Yelena sobbed in frustration and humiliation but obeyed. Tam adjusted the robe to cover her then led her to his bedroom. Her eyes were glazed and her steps stumbling as she followed him.

Tam found her needy state incredibly arousing. His cock was painfully hard in his trousers. As soon as the door of his bedroom was closed and locked he shed his clothes. Not bothering to untie her, he shoved the robe off her shoulders to trail from her bound wrists. He grabbed Yelena and pulled her against him for a bruising kiss. She moaned and rubbed the length of her body against him. Her hard nipples dragged across his chest as she pushed her wet sex against his thigh, his erection jutting into her stomach.

Keeping his lips locked with hers, Tam stumbled towards the bed. His hands roamed over her back, fingers clasping the round flesh of her ass. She moaned into his mouth, humping herself against his leg as he pushed her backward. When the back of her legs hit the edge of the bed she lost her balance and fell backwards across the sheets. Scrambling after her, he knelt on her chest and fisted his cock, holding it just out of the reach of her straining lips.

“Tell me what you want, bitch.”

“I want you to fuck me! Stick it in me already, bastard!”

Tam slapped his cock against her face, first one side, then the other.

“If you want this, you’ll have to beg for it.”

“Go to hell!”

Tam reached behind him and grabbed one of her nipples, twisting it. He dragged his balls across her face, taunting her. “If you want to get fucked, you’ll have to beg like the hot little slut you are. Tell me what a dirty slave you are and how bad you need this cock.”

“Ah, god! I hate you! I need your cock you son of a whore; please, I’ve been aching for it all afternoon. Please, please, fuck your slave; your slave needs to feel you inside her master. Her hot slutty little cunt is dripping for you. She’s going crazy. Please fuck her, master, please! She’s a dirty little slave who needs cock!”

Tam growled and slapped her in the face with his cock. “Alright, if you want cock that badly you can have it, but I’m not going to do the work for you. If you want to fill that greedy cunt, you’ll have to climb on and spit yourself like a pig.” He climbed off her and lay down on his back.