Why can't she remember much? What she would qualify as memories came in flashes of strange irregularity.

She is 10. A brief vision of a wheat field and the distant sound of her own laughter as she runs from something. No, someone. A boy. He is running after her, his laughter mingling with hers as he shouts "you won't be able to run forever you know!". More childish giggling follows, then, the scene fades to smoke and is gone.

She is 17, but her surroundings are unknown as if this particular fragment of a memory was forged while her eyes were closed. The feeling of the memory is all that remains, one mixed with happiness, passion, and pain. There is a huskier reassuring male voice in her ear whispering, ?this will pass my sweet.? Gentle in nature this voice and it calms her.

Now she is 5. She plays quietly on a plush, soft purple carpeted floor in a large room filled with quite the assortment of treasures any young girl could ask for. In the distance, an adjoining room perhaps, there is the dull sound of an argument, rather heated. Her parents? More than likely.

There were many more where those came from but she shakes her head, trying to clear out the pathetic excuse for memories she grows weary trying to piece together. At least the ones she had seemed to be happy ones. So why did she feel as though she had nothing and no one? What made this so unbelievable to her was that she knew, even as scattered as her remembrance of the past was, that she used to have everything, a family that adored her and a man who loved her. Every expense taken care of, every need met, and the world at her feet. Now they were all just faceless blurs in a scattered mind.

Someone wanted her to disappear. The last thing she remembered of the life she used to possess was a beautiful blood red gown splayed on her bed. She was headed out for the evening, she was meeting someone. A man she loved deeply. It was going to be a special night filled with dancing and dinner and sweet promises. She had just gotten out of the bath and wrapped herself in a towel. As she dried off the majority of her body she caught a glimpse of herself in the full length mirror in her bathroom and chuckled at the tattoo of the lovebirds she had gotten not too long ago. The chuckle was in remembering this man?s reaction to it. Surprise that she had branded his initials alongside hers in her flesh and surprise at the location with which she had chosen. She remembered that he was no stranger to self expression in the form of flesh art and vowed to display his love for her in equal fashion though doubting he would be as brave in the choice of placement as she had been. She had been gazing down at her collection of shoes, trying to select the perfect black heels to compliment the dress when she felt a presence behind her briefly but before she could turn around to face her attacker there was a sharp, stabbing pain in her neck and then darkness.

Nothing but darkness. The same darkness that now clouds well over half of her memories. What had been used to erase such a huge chunk of her life? Her name she knew but that was a small consolation to what she had lost. It had been a month or so since this had occurred. Even as vivid as these seemingly recent events had been, they were still vague in name and nature. Who was the man she was meeting for dinner? It was obviously someone she loved who?s initials, J.C., were carved into her. The dress she remembered lying on her bed was cut from the finest of material as were the lush bedding it was displayed on. Where could she have gotten the means to afford such finery?

She had awoken in a dingy, small room containing a bed, dresser and adjoining bathroom. An inn? She was dressed in a simple green skirt, white blouse and black flats. There was a small bag in the corner which upon further investigation contained more plain clothing of the like, some toiletries and a small bag of coins. How had she gotten here? She had made her way to the front desk to inquire as to where she was. She was told the cities name was Rhy?din, she had been there for 3 days and that her room and board had been paid up for 3 months. No matter how much she had pressed him, the attendant would not divulge the name of the one who had brought her here. She detected a note of fear as she questioned him as if his very life had been threatened should he ever reveal anything about the meeting with this stranger.

She had returned to the room and sat down on the bed. On top of the dresser was a folded piece of paper she had not noticed before. She walked over to the dresser and picked it up. Unfolding it revealed two words written in a neat but hurried scroll, ?Move On.?

Who had written this? And if she couldn?t remember any particulars about her life just what exactly was she supposed to be moving on from??

She had finally gotten out of her dingy inn room and allowed herself to mingle with some of the locals of her new residence. She had heard about the Red Dragon Inn from the housekeeper that came in daily to tidy her room and bring in clean linens and towels. If the woman had not taken it upon herself to break the silence between them that had become their routine, Julianna might never have even noticed her, having spent most of her waking, and sleeping hours for that matter, constantly trying to gain new pieces to her historic puzzle.

It was on one particularly trying day that had left Julianna looking as tortured as her thoughts themselves were that had compelled this young woman to break their daily routine of being oblivious to each others existence. The housekeeper had found with experience that keeping ones head down was the best thing to do when encountering the likes of most of the newcomers that showed up at the inn. Despite knowing what she knew about the woman?s mysterious arrival and the threat made to her by her uncle after his run in with the two that brought her here, she couldn?t help herself.

?Miss? I?m so sorry to disturb you but, um, are you alright??

Julianna was jerked out of her reverie by the silence being broken and was startled to notice the short, petite woman standing in front of her with a look of concern on her face. She was in a grey frock, her thick brunette hair pulled back in a tight bun but the drudgery of her job had loosened a few strands around her heart shaped face. She had a small upturned nose and olive skin. Her hazel eyes were the largest feature on her face and they looked on Julianna with genuine concern.

?I?m sorry, what did you say?? It took her a few seconds to fully come back to reality and realize that she had been asked a question.

?Please excuse my forwardness but I have been cleaning your room for you since you checked in and I have kept quiet and out of your way as much as possible. You seem to be dealing with a lot. But, again I beg your pardon, you can?t go on like this. Is there anything I can do??

A weak smile plays over Julianna?s lips as she contemplates the woman standing there. Had she been so caught up in her own mind to have so completely ignored the only constant happenings in her world these days? Not wanting to seem like some rude, obtuse guest she closed her ice green eyes for a moment and sighed. She opened them up again to address the woman properly and extended her hand to her, ?I apologize for my rudeness these past few weeks, you are quite correct, I am dealing with a lot. My name is Julianna. Julianna Frostbite.?

The young woman, surprised at the gesture, took her hand and shook it politely before quickly withdrawing it. ?I know miss, my uncle owns the Inn. I am Marie.? She was in her mid twenties and had been in Rhydin her whole life. She had seen several types of people, some that barely passed as human, come through her uncle?s inn but getting involved was never an option for her. She worked hard and kept her head down, that is until today. This guest seemed different to her. Nothing like the dangerous woman her uncle had warned her about. She had such beautiful features and eyes almost as clear as ice but these last couple of weeks the woman had seemed to age and fall into an almost depressive state and she had had a daily front row seat to it. It was obvious this lady rarely left the confines of her room, outside of seeking food, the evidence of which was always littered around the small room upon her arrival to clean each morning. She seemed harmless and her heart went out to her. She could not, being the kind woman she was, just stand by and let her slowly waste away.

?Well Marie, it is nice to meet you. And to answer your question, I?m not sure there IS anything anyone can do to help me. I can?t seem to get your uncle to talk with me let alone help me at least figure out how I got here. I don?t suppose you were here the night I arrived? Or at least maybe you saw who I came here with??

?No miss, you must have arrived, um, after I had left for the evening.? Marie?s eyes shifted guiltily away. She may feel badly for this woman but she was not about to get herself any more involved than she already had by just speaking to her. There would be hell to pay from her uncle if he ever found out.

Well, it was worth a shot to ask anyway.? She shrugs and gets up off of the bed and walks over to the counter beside the bathroom. The reflection in the mirror makes her gasp. She looked as if she hadn?t slept in days, which in all fairness, when your dreams keep your mind on a constant hamster wheel of images, your nights are as restless as your days. She dips her hands into the cool water basin in front of her and splashes it over her pale, ashen face. Marie is beside her in seconds with a fresh, clean towel to dry off with.

?Begging your pardon again miss but may I make a suggestion??

?By all means.?

?Perhaps what you need is to get out of this room. Rhydin is a great place and if nothing else, perhaps it would allow you a few hours of escape from what ails you.?

Julianna contemplates this for a moment as she stares at the barely recognizable reflection of herself in the glass. She looked over at the small bag that contained all of her possessions including the extremely light purse of coins. She had made the realization that a job was quickly becoming a necessity she couldn?t ignore for much longer. She had to better acquaint herself with her new surroundings sooner or later. She glances back at her reflection. She looked like a woman that could use a drink.

?You know what Marie? I think you are right. I at least need somewhere to get a stiff drink, maybe it will quiet my mind enough to help me get a decent nights sleep. Any suggestions??

?Yes Ma?am, might I suggest the Red Dragon Inn. The drinks are strong and the visitors are colorful.?

Julianna found out that Marie had been right, on both counts.

The brisk night air that hit her flushed cheeks as she rushed out into the night did nothing to calm the thoughts that were rushing through her mind. How had she done it? She had been so consumed with trying to remember the people who had stolen everything from her and left her here alone she had not considered why they may have wanted to get rid of her. What else was she capable of? Could what Marie's uncle told his niece be true? Was she dangerous? She had only managed to save an expensive bottle of wine from shattering but the movements that she so seamlessly used to prevent it was not coincidental, that she knew.

As she walked down the road and further into the night, more and more questions began surfacing with each step she took. It was in between the torrent of questions rushing through her head that her ears were finally able to make out the sound of footsteps behind her. She glanced ever so slightly towards her shoulder, catching a cloaked figure in her peripheral vision, several paces behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up as a chill ran down her spine. Someone was following her.

Julianna wasn't that familiar with the area, having only taken one route to and from the Red Dragon Inn, but in the hopes that she might be mistaken, she took a left down a side street. The steps behind her took the same. She decided to take another right and around another corner to the left, quickening her steps with each turn. It became quickly apparent that it wasn't just coincidence as her pursuer was still just steps behind her, matching her gradually quickened pace for pace. She began to panic. Her chest rising and falling as her breathing became as fast as her moving feet, she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. What was she going to do? She had no weapon to defend herself. She knew she could move with lightning speed but this was no wine bottle that needed rescuing and from the sound of it, whoever it was began moving ever quicker to close the gap between them. The heat that began in the pit of her stomach was now rising up through her lithe torso as she felt the adrenaline rushing through her body.

The pounding was getting louder in her ears and as she looked out in front of her, her surroundings began to billow forward as though a telescope were being shaken out to its full capacity. This caused her more panic as it looked as though the road she was rushing down had a longer destination than before. In the flash of a second it took for her to close her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision it happened.

Literally within a blink of an eye, images began to move behind her briefly closed lashes. Images of the rigorous training she had received, mastered, and perfected. A collage of visions played out in her mind of how deft her skills were at using every weapon imaginable, from nun chucks to guns to rope to blades. The most helpful of this new information was the realization that she was at her deadliest when she had no weapon at all. These memories were coated in the blood of those that had come across her path. It was as if her mind tapped into these memories to answer the panic rising in her body at her current situation. To remind her just what can happen when someone decided she would make easy prey.

Her eyes snapped open. The panic and fear she had felt before were instantaneously replaced with anticipation and excitement. It was as if a switch had been flipped within her. She was no longer the quietly brooding recluse mourning over the loss of a life she couldn't remember, she was someone else. Someone who knew how very good she was at delivering pain and was eager to stretch the limbs of this newly released deadly vixen that had lain dormant for much too long. She had been let out to play. How obliging this stranger was to have offered him/herself up for just such much needed calisthenics.

Julianna opened the door to her room, her stance in the doorway casting an eerie shadow on the dark room as her silhouette was outlined by the soft yellow light of a single bulb that lit up the small entryway. Her ice green eyes wild with the visions of the events of the evening that were playing over in her head, a wicked smile curved her lips. She had not felt this alive since her mysterious arrival over two months ago. Her body deliciously pulsing with a renewed rush of adrenaline. She closed her eyes for a moment and tilted her head upward as she drew in a deep breath of the night air and upon expelling it from her lungs, the smile still on her lips and a glint of mischief in her eyes, she walked into the seemingly empty room and turned to shut the night out.

At the soft click of the door jamb finding its niche in the frame, she looked at the door in front of her and straightened her shoulders before slowly turning around.

"It's rude to enter a woman's room uninvited."

A deep chuckle erupted from a corner of the room that was bathed in complete darkness, the light from the small bulb outside not powerful enough to penetrate the full length of the small room from the uncurtained single window the room offered. A few silent moments hung between Julianna and the unidentified stranger. Her eyes narrowed, there was something familiar about that chuckle.

"Since when have I ever needed an invite?"

As this is spoken the figure steps out of the shadow of the corner and into a portion of the room that is dimly lit from the outside. For the second time this evening Julianna's mind flashed images to replace broken ones. The once faceless man of her dreams, the one who always caused her such a deep emotional reaction whenever he entered them, the one she felt held the answers to her past because he was in so many of what memories she did possess, was standing before her. The exhilarating events of the night that had put her in touch with the dangerously deadly side of herself she had forgotten paled in comparison to the emotions that now flooded every cell in her body. Her heartbeat was again pounding in her ears, her breathing became labored as she tried to catch her breath feeling that the air in the room was depleting quickly around her. Her legs were betraying her and giving way as if the weight of her emotions were too much for them to bear much longer and just as her eyes closed and her body fell forward she felt the familiar touch of a man who had held her numerous times, catch her easily in his arms before she lost consciousness.

So he had been involved. His sudden appearance, her mind pinpointing him instantly in almost all of her memories from the past, somehow she had already known that he would have had to be involved, how else would he have been able to know right where to find her? But in what other ways had he been involved aside from choosing this hovel?

"Well there is no accounting for taste."

He shrugs in response, "Well, events having escalated as they did required some hasty....improvisation if you will. When that is necessary, things don't exactly go according to plan."

She remembered the feelings that had consumed her when she had awoken all alone in this very room. The pain searing through her head, the ache of her limbs as if she hadn't used them before, the fear that came with the realization she could not remember anything. Her life, her past, her anything. No explanation, no one to help her. Her next words were dripping with sarcasm, "Don't you just hate when that happens?"

His eyes flicker for a moment with mirth, his face remained serious but he had so love the bite of her tongue and was pleased to see that it had been salvaged as well, "Not really. We got you out in time. That is all that matters."

"Oh, is that all that matters? It seems its not just your taste that I differ with."

Through the course of the conversation, she had been lining out the best course for gleaning the answers she wanted from him when his next statment distracted her off course.

"Glad to see that the snapping of a neck still brings a girlish blush to your cheeks."

Her eyes shot over to him, pinning his clear blues with her ice green ones, narrowing at the words.

"Breaking and entering and now stalking. My, my you really should get a hobby." How had he known about the events of the night? She knew there had only been one set of footsteps following her, this was something she knew without a doubt. She walked over to the opposite end of the small room, her back to him, and was looking out of the only window in the room. The move hiding the furrow of confusion on her brow.

"Stalking?" His deep chuckle filled the small space of the room. "I could smell the victory on you the moment you opened the door but that look in your eyes was unmistakable. The look of satiated bloodlust." she could feel his movement as he rose from the chair and was accross the room and standing behind her within the breath of a second. "Felt good didn't it."

She could feel his breath on her cheek as he had leaned in over her right shoulder to whisper those last words next to her ear, the deep hushed timbre of his voice sending a shock through her body. Even if the glint in her eyes had given her away, it still did not explain how he knew the move that had ended the creatins life. She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, her mind clouding slightly as her body reacting to his close proximity.

His hands hesitated only slightly before they settled on her hips. His hands began to rove over her form slowly, their motivation more for discovery and confirmation.

A soft growl escaped the back of his throat, "You are amazing. Every line, every curve...perfection. The years of training instilled within you, hardening all the right places while others remain soft, as they always were. Your voice, your stature.." he chuckles slightly as his hands continue their exploration over her shoulders and arms. His head draws back slightly as his face moves to plant itself in the cloud of dark black hair. He breaths deeply the scent of it, "You even smell like her..."

A deep chuckle erupted from his throat as he moved in close, still on top of her, pinning her to the bed with his weight and his hand still firmly grasped around her neck. He leaned forward, closing his eyes, burying his face in the cloud of black hair splayed across the pillow. He inhaled, breathing in the scent of her and as he did so he squeezed her neck a bit more, a gasp escaping her lips as her blood boiled. A small grunt, with a bit of disappointment tendered in it, was heard before he finally moved back to lock eyes with her. A sinister smile on his face as he saw the rage in those ice green eyes. He held the gaze for a moment before his features turned to that of teasing, still putting a bit more pressure on her neck as he spoke, "Are you going to behave?"

She couldn't speak an answer as her airway was damn near being cut off. The continued pressure he was applying was doing what he wanted because the piercing angry glare she was trying to hold locked to his was quickly fading to one of cooperation as the need to take a full breath was consuming her more than her desire to refrain from any show of weakness. When he was satisfied she would be a bit more docile, he slid off of her and finally released her throat. She grabbed at the spot he had held captive and sucked in a deep breath. She was light headed from the length of time spent without enough oxygen so for the moment, she would 'behave' as he put it. She slowly rose up into a sitting position on the bed, not looking at him as she tried to catch her breath.

He gazed down at her for another moment or two before heading back to the chair in the corner of her room to take a seat. He sunk into the chair and took a casual slouch, fingers lacing together as he set them comfortably in his lap.

"Your name is Julianna Frostbite."

There was silence after he spoke. She took a couple more deep breaths and when she felt she could speak again, she did so, more subdued but there was still a trace of her former rage laced in the words. Through clenched teeth, "Yes. It is."

He chuckled with a knowing vibrato as the grin widened on his face, "You're official name is Julianna X."

That got him a raised brow as she finally brought her eyes to meet his. She could tell he was enjoying this, enjoying the knowledge he had that he knew she wanted, and enjoying the confusion she was sure would only increase the more he spoke.

He waited for a few moments, assuming she would put words to the confused look on her face but obviously she wasn't going to bite. It would have been more fun if she had, well for him anyway. He sighed and glanced down at his laced fingers for a moment and shook his head before meeting her gaze again. "Meaning you are the tenth version."

The confusion deepened on her face mixed with a touch of disbelief, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, my dear, that you are merely a copy of the real Julianna Frostbite. Albeit a rather shockingly close rendition, a lot closer than the others so far, but a copy none the less. To put a more technical term to it, you are a clone. The original Julianna Frostbite works as an assassin for the organization and provided the DNA needed to make you...and make you we did. A few trial runs until we truly felt we had perfected the science when we got to you. Number ten. We made modifications of course. When you have the power to enhance certain things...speed, strength,agility, mental reactive capabilities, you take those opportunities. From your 'conception' you have been rigorously trained, your senses honed to sheer perfection, however your mind...well, that was a blank slate we filled with combat knowledge and survival instincts, nothing more. Until one of the missions your 'creator' took went badly and well..." his voice trailed off, a hint of regret and sadness on his features as he lowered his eyes for a quick moment before snapping them back to look once more into hers, "we needed...I needed to see if I could take the science a step further. The memories you possess belong to her. I attempted to infuse them, write them on that blank slate of yours, in an attempt to see if a true 'copy' could be made but there were...complications. Instead of taking hold it ripped not only the memories into shreds, it began to wipe out everything else that had already been implanted. Unsure if the damage was permanent and if we would have to dispose of you and try again, we chose not to give up too quickly so we removed you from the facility and," gesturing to the room around them, "brought you here. This place would allow you to mingle with a diverse society of people. If you were going to walk around a fraction of the creature we created, it would be less noticed here and the reputation of your creator wouldn't be compromised. We have kept a close watch on you, monitoring you through various means when we discovered that your mind was actually trying to mend the shattered contents. The fight in the alley proved that the information that was there wasn't truly lost, it could be recovered. I decided to see for myself if that was true, which was proven to me when you spoke my name."

She digested this as quickly as she could given the bullets of information that he was shooting at her, each new piece of it making its mark. She was a copy? He described her as no more than a trained weapon that malfunctioned and had been on the brink of being melted down for scrap. New questions fired off in her head as the silence drew on between them. She opened her mouth to begin her return fire when he cut her off.

"I don't have time for this. I have found out what I needed to know and I have to get back. We will continue to watch you further as it seems the attempt your mind is making to repair the original damage is keeping you from your rest. More observation is needed." A curt nod as he rose from the seat and made for the door.

She fumed from her still sitting position on the bed, his words having frozen her to the spot during his diatribe and now that frozen visage melted with the heat of her anger. He wasn't seriously going to slam that on her and then walk out? She hadn't even fully chosen whether or not she was going to believe any of it but he was not going to dismiss her as if she were nothing. She was off the bed in a flash and grabbed his arm to stop his exit.

"You are NOT just going to walk out of he..." her words were cut off as the other arm came around and a fist landed squarely along the side of her temple like a ton of bricks. Her body crumpled and he caught her again before she hit the floor. He gazed down at her now limp body and a gentle caress to the side of her face moved away a stray strand of hair.

"You will never be her but..." there is actually tenderness as he brings her limp form up to him and brushes his lips against hers, "...you are all I have right now."

He picked her up in both arms and walked her over to the bed, laying her gently on top of the covers. He gazes down at her for a moment before heading towards the door once again. As he wrenches the door open, he allows himself to look back on her again, a look of determination on his face, "It will work. If not, I will start over, I will bring you back." He turns back to the night and with a soft click of the door, he is gone.

A dark alley in Dragon's Gate

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo...."

The petite woman?s scream pierced the silence, quickly snuffed off by a grimy, calloused hand that clapped over the offending mouth.

"Shhhhhhhh...this'll go smoother if ya just accept it little one."

His words growled out against her ear as a wheezing laugh hissed behind them. His one hand now over her mouth as the other arm roughly crushed around her small waist, ensuring that any other sounds of protest that might draw attention would find little air to carry them to anyone looking to be a hero. Furtive glances to all sides of him as he was trying to decide the best place for his intentions with the slip of girl he had in his grasp. A grin full of brown stubs of teeth, what few remained, split those cracked and dried lips as he spied the darkest alley closest to him.

?I have found a spot for us my sweet.?

Another hissed and wheezing laugh was cackled out as he lifted her off of her feet and hauled her to the confines of the selected dark passage. Once safely cloaked in darkness, he turned the slight little squirming thing around in his arms, clapping that hand over her mouth as he repositioned her. The whites of her widened eyes visible as she now faced him. Her fear overcoming her even as she still had some fight left, the tears of that fear collecting and pooling at the lower rim of her lashes, threatening to spill over the inadequate dam at any moment, her only sound a whimper. He felt her fear and the grin widened his face as he shook her a couple of times, slamming her back against the wall as he did so, trying to knock out her meager attempts to fight him. Her head making a soft thump as it too was smacked against the brick at the shaking. The knocks on the head and her minds defense mechanism to the mounting fear had allowed her to slip into unconsciousness and she slumped against the wall, only held up by the burly mans grasp on her.

He bent down to place a dry and scratchy kiss on the soft cheek of the now deadweight girl in his arms.

?You are a right pretty little morsel aren?t you??

Had she not already given in to the relief of unconsciousness, the putrid foul of his breath that close to her would have sufficed to have caused the same affect. Just as he was lowering her to muddy, filthy cobblestones of the alley as one hand was reaching to the business of the opening of his breeches, there was the sound of air snapping through a clicking tongue.

?Tsk, tsk, tsk.? A low chuckle followed. The echo carrying over to him as it originated from further down into the darkest part of the small passage.

His mucky brown eyes darted to the direction that the noise had come from, squinting as he tried to make out a shape or figure in the almost tangible darkness. His anger growing as he slowly made to stand and took a hesitant step further into the alcove between the abandoned buildings. His grimy hands making a fist as his still searching eyes furtively scanned the pitch black in front of him.

?Too coward to show yourself? Get out here and I?ll give you something to laugh about.?

Another low chuckle erupted from seemingly nowhere as an amused husky voice followed, ?Too late.?

Without warning, he flew off of his feet and landed flat on his back, sliding out into the dimly lit street. A grunt and wince as he grabbed at his chest and tried to catch his breath. The wind was knocked out of him as he was kicked squarely in the chest with the force of a battering ram. This time it was his fear that began to mount as he scrambled to his feet, still rubbing at his chest a moment before bringing his fists up. His voice defied his offensive stance as it stammered.

?Wh..who are ya? Huh? Too scared to face me in th..the light? Sucker punches in the d..dark? Wh...What are you afraid of? HUH? ANSWER ME!?

A soft thump of booted feet echoed throughout the alley, growing in sound as they neared him. His hands began to tremble even as he tried to make himself appear ready for whatever was coming. The steps neared the edge of the alley where the first strip of the light from the street cut into the dark as his chest began to heave. With each inhaled breath he could feel the sharp pain to his chest the blow had caused, he was sure it had cracked a rib or two but he was no coward and would not run.

A dark clad silhouette is seen stepping from the shadows, a curvy figure whose hips swayed as each combat booted foot met cobblestone. She took a legs spread stance as she faced him, hands on her hips. Cool ice green eyes locked to those murky brown ones.

His fists dropped to his side as he wheezed out another hissing laugh but was stopped short at the pain of the blow to his chest. He grabbed at the spot again, shaking his head as he made to look around her, back into the recesses of the alley, ?Just you in there??

A nod was all he got. Just as he threw his head back to attempt another laugh which was again cut off but this time by the piercing pain coming from his booted foot. Widened eyes shot to source of the pain to find only the hilt of a small blade visible. His eyes jerked to meet hers as he saw the smirk on her face. His bottom lip began quivering from the need to howl at the pain in his foot but the shock of how fast it had happened left him mute for the moment as he stared at her.

?Didn?t anyone ever teach you it isn?t nice to pick on someone smaller than you?? A jerk of her head indicating the place of the now forgotten slumped figure of the girl. She slowly made her way towards him as she produced another blade from nowhere, bringing it up to look at the beauty of the clean lines of the newly sharpened edges before leveling her eyes back on the man. A flick of her wrist sent the blade flying in blurred speed to pierce the other booted foot, rooting him now to the spot.

This brought the dormant cry from the first and now second stab, bubbling to the surface in a gurgled scream of his own. This only deepened the smirk.

?Not so much fun when it?s you doing the screaming now is it?? she takes a few steps closer to him but stops short and jerks her head back a bit before bringing her wrist to her nose, ?My aren?t you a ripe one.? A slight shake of her head as she continues towards him, lowering her hand and braving a lean closer to him.

?I?d ask why you couldn?t find any willing women but I?m pretty sure I know part of the answer to that. It?s called a bath, might help.? A clap to his shoulder as she circled behind him and wiped the now tainted hand on her black pants. He was quite the tall one and she had a few choice words to say to him. ?Let?s bring you down a bit shall we?? With that, she brought her knee to the back of his causing him to fall forward and brace the fall with his hands as his knees slammed to the ground. The blades that had him locked to the ground, pulled up only slightly with the fall, having been thrown with such force as to have dug as deep into flesh at it had into the mixture of mortar and dirt between the cobbles that littered the road. Another, weaker howl escaped his throat as he was thrown forward.

She finished her circle around him to come back to face him. Crouching down to be eye level with him, she brought the tip of yet another blade she had produced to touch the underside of his chin to bring his now watering eyes to meet hers.

?If I were you I?d stay as still as I possibly could, even the slightest of movement could cause me to..? a hissing of air over lips and teeth as she mocked the sound of a slice, ?..right through the meat of this neck of yours.? His eyes almost disappeared into the lower rim of his eyelids at his failed attempt to spy the blade at his throat. A bit of force to the blade as she moved the point a bit deeper into the bottom of his chin, causing his eyes to shoot back to meet hers even as a couple of trickles of blood ran down the length of the blade.

?That?s better. I like the full attention of anyone I feel needs a bit of a lesson. Now, I am only going to warn you once, and once only, as I?m not one that likes to leave someone alive that I deem would do nothing but better society with their death, but what can I say? I think people can rise above what they have become and what kind of teacher would I be if I didn?t practice what I preach, huh?? a whimpered reply, ?So we will call you project number one. From here on out my fine fellow, when a girl says no? She really means no. Treat woman as they should be treated. Secondly, be careful the assumption you make on those you consider to be a weaker sex, we might just surprise you. Now for my final thought.? She stood up and put one booted foot on his shoulder and shoved him backward, causing him to fall back this time onto his hands as he braced himself evan as his backside struck the ground. His feet still planted to the spot by the knives as he looked up at her from ground. ?If I catch you ignoring any of my advice and finding you in another compromising position?? The blade that had been at his throat, disappeared with another slight flick of her wrist and landed within millimeters of his manhood, snagging the dirtied fabric of his disgusting breeches in the process. ?Next time, I won?t miss. I will remove the instrument and thus the temptation or you will cause me to revert to my previous thought of cleaning up society with your death. Either way, let?s not corrupt the teacher. Nod if you understand.?

His eyes were on the blade that nearly made him the women he obviously despised with his evil behavior but upon hearing her request for a response, he looked up at her and attempted to swallow but his throat was as dry as a bone as he nodded quickly.

A grin split her lips, ?Good, very good. Now, lesson over, don?t disappoint me.? She had walked around to the side of him as his eyes followed her with his nodding head. A booted foot shot out to place a powerful blow to the side of his head. He was unmoving but still alive. She made her way back to the front and with little effort on her part, pulled both blades out of his fee and grabbed the one at his crotch.

?That one is going to need some deep cleaning.? She wiped off most of the blood before slipping them back to their hiding place on her person as she made her way over to the girl left in the alley. She checked her pulse to assure she was still alive and was grateful to find it so.

?Love to stay but we really should go.? She grabbed the girls arm and hauled her easily over her shoulder as she made her way to the inn. Since she had no idea where she lived, she?d get her a room until she came to, and then have a drink herself to celebrate.

She had actually let him live.