Ace in the Hole

by Sedonia Guillone

  Lily gazed out over the rows of students. “Ready, begin.” She lifted her hands up above her head and began winding her arms in a sinuous pattern, to each side, in front of her and then down by her feet, body bent over.

  Tenzin found his attention riveted on her slim, petite form. Lily appeared to writhe, yet in a graceful flow of movement that made her look like a beautiful plant swaying in the breeze. He wished her long hair were still loose and flowing about her body, but she’d taken a moment to pin it in a coil at the nape of her neck before her class.

  A memory flashed through his mind of the way she’d kicked Jade’s husband in the leg and then chopped at his side, so hard he’d been forced to release Jade. Lily’s slender build was quite deceiving. There was plenty of strength and determination coiled within her, and the focused precision of her movements in that moment had showed much training, not only in her Tigress discipline but in some form of martial arts. He suspected that even without the physical strength of an immortal, such as he’d seen in his dream through the rapid healing of her skin, Lily’s cunning, intelligence, and steely resolve would make her a formidable opponent for just about anyone.

  The willow waist exercises led to another set of facial exercises, concentrated specifically on strengthening the lips, tongue, and jaw. A ripple of heat passed through Tenzin’s groin. He well understood the goal of those exercises. The facial sequence led into more strengthening exercises for the arms and legs, and then Lily stopped, steepled her hands together again, and bowed to her students.

  The women bowed to her in return, and a moment of quiet settled over the large, airy room.

  Tenzin watched Lily raise her gaze to the rows of students and gesture behind her. “On the other side of this screen, Tigresses, you will observe a demonstration of the next phase of your learning. One of my advanced students will show you the precise and proper way to seduce a Green Dragon and to harvest his yang. Please approach the screen quietly and with respect.”

  Another jolt of heated energy struck Tenzin. He kept his eyes on Lily for her next instruction. She stood aside to allow her students access to the screen and then inclined her head toward him with a brief nod.

  His breath caught, and he walked over to her, making sure that his shoes barely made a sound on the stone floor. When he reached Lily’s side, her unexpected touch on his arm sent tingling heat through him. Her eyes were large, and for the first time since he’d met her, he saw a concern in them he hadn’t before.

  “If you do not wish to observe this, Tenzin, you needn’t,” she said softly.

  Honestly, he didn’t care whether he watched this demonstration. He’d had the real treatment, and that was better than watching. But if it meant remaining at Lily’s side, he would watch. He nodded. “I would like to stay here.”

  Her eyes brightened a bit, and the corners of her full lips turned up almost imperceptibly. “All right.” She turned to the screen. “Fei Liu, you may begin.”

  Chapter Nine

  To whiten the face, the man bestrides the White Tigress. The green-robed woman sits astride the Green Dragon.

  ‑‑ Madame Lin from The White Tigress Manual

  Tenzin swallowed past a sudden lump in his throat. He watched through the holes in the screen as Fei Liu emerged from an unseen entrance in the room. The young woman was dressed in a white silk cheongsam that hugged her curves the way Lily’s dress had fit her. Every swell of flesh was perfectly, smoothly outlined. Fei Liu’s legs, too, smooth and pale, flashed through the long slits in the sides of her dress. Her long hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck, and the sleek fall of it hung down her back, a glorious contrast of black on the white silk. The only difference in her image of beauty to Lily’s was Fei Liu’s gate, a halting shuffle caused by her tiny bound feet.

  Fei Liu carried a bowl of steaming water in both hands. Carefully she lowered herself to her knees, set the bowl aside and laid a hand on Fen Chow’s leg. Her painted fingers tightened around his knee, and Fen Chow’s breathing shifted. He blinked his eyes and rubbed a fist across them.

  When his gaze alighted on Fei Liu, the large man blinked again as if she were an apparition before him. He started, clearly disoriented, but Fei Liu rose higher on his knees, and a beautiful smile spread across her soft lips. She set the bowl of water beside her. Lifting her hands to her dress, she undid the first few closures, letting the silk fall to each side. Small, firm breasts exposed, she gently pushed him back on the cushions.

  Fen Chow sank back, eyes wide on Fei Liu’s bare breasts. One large hand went to his temple and rubbed, demonstrating that his head hurt from the afterbite of his drinking. Fei Liu leaned in to him and began undoing his trousers.

  Tenzin heard a soft murmur in the air and realized after a moment that Fei Liu was speaking quietly to the dazed man. After a second, Fen Chow looked up, his gaze directed at the screen. Apparently, Fei Liu had explained what they were doing. Fen Chow’s eyes were wide for a moment, but then he seemed to accept the situation and sank back again, allowing Fei Liu to lower his trousers to the floor.

  Tenzin swallowed hard again. He would have already begun to get erect at this point, but Fen Chow’s hung-over state obviously caused his dragon to lie flaccid against one muscled thigh. Fei Liu passed a delicate hand over the soft member, and Tenzin’s own yang energy rippled through his body in one wave after another, as if the young woman were caressing him instead. He became aware of Lily close beside him, observing her student with an even expression.

  “Notice, ladies, that a Tigress is always gentle with a man, always passionate and giving. Every touch conveys to him that he is special, unique.”

  Fei Liu moved her caress to Fen Chow’s bulging thighs. The large man released a soft groan, and Tenzin could see Fen Chow’s dragon stir. Fen Chow lifted his head, his eyes riveted on the woman’s long-nailed fingers trailing over his bare skin.

  “This man was feeing unwell,” Lily continued. “He’s suffering depression and has had too much drink. He’s not a bad man, but he is troubled, as we all are at times. A Tigress’s touch will stir his yang force, the healing power he needs to overcome his ills.”

  At this, Fei Liu returned her caress to Fen Chow’s dragon. The plump head now stretched from its sheath, and the shaft emerged, thickening with each passing second. The large man’s groans of pleasure matched his growing erection.

  “Ladies, if you can master the techniques you are observing, then those of you who are married can achieve a harmonious state in your household, and those of you who have yet to marry will know how to please a husband and prepare his yang to provide you with healthy, beautiful sons.”

  The authority in Lily’s voice made Tenzin glance at her. He wondered if the scene they watched was arousing her as it was him.

  She glanced at him, and the glint in her eyes seemed to bid him to turn back to Fei Liu.

  He bowed his head and peered again through the screen just as Fei Liu picked up Fen Chow’s dragon. Tenzin pulled in a small breath at the sight of the thick member in her delicate hand. She dipped a cloth in the bowl of water and sloshed it gently around his privates. Then she put the cloth aside, bent over him, and closed her soft, red lips around the plump head of his dragon. Fen Chow groaned. His head fell back against the cushions, chest heaving.

  Tenzin felt his own eyes widen, glued to the sight of Fei Liu’s lips as they slid down the large man’s erect shaft. He could hear the tiny sucking noise her lips made as she swallowed the man’s dragon to the small nest of dark hair around the base. Two fingers remained at his root, holding him in place as Fei Liu slid back up. Her tongue came out and flickered delicately around the mushroom-shaped cap, and then pushed into the tiny opening.

  Fen Chow groaned, and his large hands tightened on the cushions of the seat.

  “It is a privilege and a great pleasure to give yourself to a man in this way,” Lily said softly. “You are not only helping him by livening his yang and discharging the excess that builds up and
can make him ill, but you are also balancing your own yin with his life force. This produces harmony in both of you. Nothing will bring you closer to heaven than balancing the creative forces of the universe.”

  Fei Liu released Fen Chow’s dragon, keeping her index finger and thumb around the base. She lowered her face to his yang sac and laved it gently with her tongue. Her action incited more groans of pleasure from Fen Chow who had come completely to life now, seeming to Tenzin, cleansed of the effects of liquor.

  Tenzin’s own dragon ached and pulsed hard in his trousers. Although he’d had release twice only a short time earlier, this demonstration made him long to go back to Lily’s bed and experience her mouth and hands again.

  Fei Liu returned her mouth to Fen Chow’s dragon. She swallowed him up again to the root and sucked him in a faster rhythm than before. Her head bobbed madly, and Tenzin saw her fingers massage the base in a rhythm against her mouth.

  Suddenly, Fen Chow’s hips lifted off the cushions. His fingers tightened and released on the cushions, and he raised his head, watching Fei Liu catch his emission on her bare chest He let out one long soft groan, and then his head sank back, his chest heaving, legs extended.

  “There you see, ladies, what advanced work on this Tigress path can bring you.” Lily turned fully to the group of women at the screen. She clasped her hands together and bowed to them. “This ends today’s class. Thank you.”

  The women nodded, and a flurry of approving murmurs rippled through them. Bowing to her, they shuffled and walked in the direction of the front hall, leaving Lily and Tenzin. Tenzin’s body still throbbed with hot need, but Lily didn’t look inclined to satisfy him at the moment. Instead, she turned and walked to the end of the screen. She slipped around it, and Tenzin watched her approach Fei Liu and Fen Chow. Fei Liu, still kneeling on her cushion, had wiped herself off and was caressing one of Fen Chow’s thighs.

  “Very good, Fei Liu. I see your careful ministrations have revived him. If I may impose on you a moment longer, please fetch Jade.”

  Fei Liu covered her breasts, then rose from her knees and bowed. Her cheongsam obviously restricted her movements, but she shuffled from the room swiftly anyway. Fen Chow remained reclined, his chest still heaving, his expression glazed.

  Lily approached the screen and looked at Tenzin. Their gazes locked through the carved holes. “Tenzin, do not think I’m being cruel. It is crucial for Fen Chow to understand the consequences of neglect. As long as he wishes to provide his services and to receive ours, he must remain vigilant. Our lives depend on each other’s care.”

  The distress in her voice made him long to comfort her. The best he could do was nod. “Yes, Lily. I saw what happened to Jade, and I understand.” He couldn’t deny the relief in her expression. Was it possible his opinion mattered that much to her?

  A noise at the door made him look up. Fei Liu had returned and stood aside, ushering Jade into the room.

  “Kneel before him, Jade,” Lily said.

  Jade nodded and obediently sank to her knees on the cushion before Fen Chow.

  Fen Chow looked up. His eyes widened again, this time, with a stricken look. Sweat beaded on his brow and upper lip. “Jade? What is this?”

  “Her husband returned and beat her in Plum House while you slept off your drink,” Lily said.

  Fen Chow gasped. “Oh, no.” He reached out and brushed a gentle fingertip across Jade’s bruised cheek. To Tenzin’s shock, Fen Chow began to sob. He slipped to his knees next to Jade and cradled her head in his hands. “I’m sorry,” he whispered through his sobs. “I’m so sorry.” He leaned over and pressed his forehead to Jade’s, stroking her temples with his thumbs.

  A tear rolled from Jade’s eye. She reached out and bid Fen Chow to straighten. He allowed his large body to be moved by her hands. Jade embraced him and stroked the long thick braid that had swung over his shoulder when he slipped down.

  Tenzin wanted to turn away, to give Jade and Fen Chow privacy, but was riveted to the display of forgiveness. He watched Jade straighten up and hold Fen Chow away. She then reached down, pulled his fallen trousers up over his hips and tied the drawstring.

  A gentle hand on Tenzin’s arm made him turn.

  Lily. Her dark eyes appeared misty, yet her demeanor was still that of the Tigress in control. “Come,” she said gently, “I have texts for you to study this afternoon…before you go to stand guard at Plum House.”

  Chapter Ten

  Swallowing from above and quivering from below gathers the qi. Continual refinement of these will harmonize the qi.

  ‑‑ Madame Lin from The White Tigress Manual

  Tenzin, turn away any man who requires an invitation to enter.

  Tenzin stood in the doorway of Plum House that night, unable to ignore the ache he felt. Lily hadn’t said the word out loud when she’d given him the instruction, but he’d known exactly what she’d meant.

  No vampires allowed. Of course, he didn’t need to wonder why. Any Tigress who knelt before one took her life in her hands.

  And yet, Lily had not identified him as a vampire. He knew the answer to that one as well. His heart still beat in his chest. Blood ran through his veins, brimming with life force.

  He’d met one other like himself in his travels, a man whose heart still beat and yet who craved blood. Like Tenzin, Neville, an Englishman traveling on the same barge in France, had found a way to survive without gratuitous feeding. He, too, subsisted on the newly dead who needed to be drained of blood or those who were dying in pain and for whom a feeding was a merciful, more pleasurable way to pass from one state to the next.

  Tenzin sighed and stepped aside to permit a man to enter. He crossed the threshold with a mere nod of his head and was picked up immediately by Jade whose injuries were well covered by face paint and a smile. When they were gone, Tenzin returned his gaze to the dark street, lit by a few gas lamps and the lights glowing from other brothels lining the thoroughfare.

  Since he’d begun his fervent search for a teacher, he hadn’t thought his heart could feel a heavier weight. Now he knew it could be worse. Worse than suffering because of his desires was suffering with the knowledge that he was now deceiving his teacher. How swiftly and completely she’d become dear to him, and now he would probably lose her when he told her the truth…

  Tenzin’s ears pricked up at the sound of shoes moving in the dirt of the street. The odor of rust, undetectable by normal humans, assaulted his nostrils. His heartbeat rose.

  Vampire.

  He was handsome, dressed in a caftan of blue silk with a matching cap. A long thick braid hung down his back. As soon as he approached, his eyes locked with Tenzin’s. Like two dogs in an alleyway, they stared each other down.

  The vampire’s lips curled up in a falsely polite grin. A glint of recognition lit his almond-shaped eyes. He stared at Tenzin as if he knew him.

  A shiver raced up Tenzin’s back. He studied the vampire’s face, trying to place him. Very likely he’d been in the gaming parlor the night before, but Tenzin had only seen Lily. The rest of the faces had been a blur behind the screen of tobacco smoke.

  “I have heard that a man will never have a bad time in Plum House,” the vampire said.

  Tenzin narrowed his eyes. “That is true, if one is a man.” He folded his arms across his chest and took a step back as if to allow the vampire to cross the threshold.

  A defiant look slipped across the vampire’s face, quickly replaced by forced civility. He remained where he was. “I do not go anywhere I am not invited.” He pulled a coin purse from the pocket of his caftan and jingled it in obvious temptation.

  “If you need to be invited,” he said, “then you are not welcome here. Be gone.”

  The vampire growled, and a flash of bloodlust lit his eyes.

  Tenzin stared him down and felt his own pupils heat to a soft glow.

  In the next moment, the vampire’s eyes dimmed. Without another word, he turned and walked away.

  *
* * * *

  “I may have found her.” Zao burned with jealousy, an emotion that plagued him even after Wei Yen had made him undead. The sight of her half-clad body at her dressing table, however, made him glad he’d done her bidding.

  Wei Yen whipped around. She’d loosened her long hair for brushing but now pushed her servant away. The woman bowed and shuffled quickly out. Wei Yen’s eyes were as wide as they were fierce. “Tell me.”

  He drew closer. His mistress’s scent invaded him, and he felt only his desire to please her. “I did not see her, but…I did see…him.” The Tibetan whose body she’d lusted for. To think, he was a vampire. Not the non-vampire immortal he and Wei Yen had thought. The glow in the Tibetan’s eyes was the only indication of what he was. Small comfort Zao had knowing his mistress would not have been able to feed on him as she’d desired.

  She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t speak in riddles.”

  “The one she took in the game. He was guarding a brothel.”

  Wei Yen’s hand came out and swatted his arm. “You idiot! Why didn’t you stay there and watch for her?”

  His face burned, and his hand itched to slap her across the face. He held back, as always. Wei Yen was much stronger than he, and hitting her would be the last thing he ever did. He bowed his head. “I was anxious to report to you.”

  Wei Yen raised a small fist. “You’re not telling me all,” she ground out. “I feel it.”

  He resisted the urge to step back. He had once been her best student but now had no desire to tangle with the Shaolin master. Her burning need for revenge made a tickle of frustrated anger curl in his gut. Vampire or not, he wished only to live in peace with the woman he worshipped. “He would not invite me in. Apparently, whatever place he was guarding does not permit vampires.” Strange, considering the Tibetan himself was one of the undead.