Blood and water.   Anya's story.
 Characters and setting (c) Kenny W aka Kaon 2012

  There is a force that balances all things in the omniverse.  Some would call it fate; others would term it as destiny whilst those who do not believe in such absolutes might think of it as karma, or even just plain old luck. For one lonely soul, a seemingly faceless cog in the machine of the Master's great Jade Palace, the deepest wishes of her heart, her most intimate desires, a future she could not have even dared to dream of was about to unfurl it's wings and shine perfect radiance upon her desolate existence.....

   This female was Lady Anya ‘Mishka’ Vanrovich.  She was a Russian born malamute with but one eye. Whilst her right eye was a beautiful ,burning gold the ugly scar tissue covering her left eye was concealed by a bang of bleached white hair in contrast to the dark, shoulder length tresses that otherwise graced her canine visage. Tall, extremely athletic and firmly muscled and trained in the arts of death and murder , her ebon black, amber tinged fur marked her from birth as the perfect killing machine.  Exquisite and deadly from her coal black nose to the tip of her lush, well groomed tail, Anya was a lethal vision of black clad beauty.
  
   Once a prime agent of a secretive assassin clan and now in the permanent employ of one deity-fox, Master Kaon as head of his Palace security, the dark clad, and voluptuous canine assassin stood to resolute attention in the corner of one of the Jade palace's many family lounge rooms listening to the master and his first mate bicker. Or rather, listening to the vixen Fern giving Lord Kaon yet another undeserved earful.

   Even had the malamute's triangular ears not been as keen as they were, Anya fancied she would have been able to hear Fern's voice from  pretty much anywhere on this floor, much less in the same room, so shrill and fervent was its intensity.   Current events in inter-palace politics and the Master's personal relationships had left the flame furred vixen in an almost unprecedented position of dominance and Fern had been quick to capitalize on her good fortunes.

  This resulted in her arrogant attitude becoming even more insufferable than usual.  To Anya's trained, disciplined mind, everything about the vulpine female, from her scruffy, faded blue jeans and army green tank top, to the eight hundred dollar sunglasses perched on her forehead just below a highly unfeminine, greasy styled crew cut was repulsively unattractive.  Yet the Master not only found the vixen female desirable, he was prepared to put up with her disrespectful ranting on an all too regular basis!

 "...... and another thing, I thought I said I wanted more steak on the menu?!  You're so damn useless sometimes, Kaon. Get off your lazy ass and whip the kitchens into line, here!  I don't give a fuck what they have planned for the daily meals, tell those useless scrubs to bin it and grill up some real food!  And another thing, what about....."

  Anya let out a quiet sigh and closed her ears to the senseless monologue of complaints.  Lord Kaon didn't deserve such treatment by any stretch of the imagination; he was a wise, kindly ruler with a deep sense of justice, not the bone idle incompetent his first mate would have the Palace believe.  Kaon was sitting in an armchair, almost drooping forwards, one paw rubbing at his temple as Fern's incessant rhetoric continued, a near endless litany of well-rehearsed dissatisfaction. Eventually, however, even the patient dog fox had had enough and lifted a tired paw to halt the flow of consistent bitching.
  
"Fern, sweetheart.  Please, I will take your desires into consideration, as I always do, but at the moment I would value a little privacy..." 

  This had a predictable effect as Fern bristled instantly, curling her lip in a contemptuous snarl. Yet another characteristic of the fiery tempered vixen that Anya found detestable. Fern was so self-entitled, self-absorbed and just so outright selfish that she perceived even such a reasonable request as some dire personal affront and the outright insolent tone in her voice reflected this.
 
"Yeah? You want privacy?  Fine, have all the privacy you want.  Have fun with your privacy alone in bed tonight! After my steak dinner I’ll be putting our daughter straight to bed and you won't be welcome!"

   As Fern turned to leave, Anya fixed the loathsome vixen with a baleful glare. However, Fern soon noticed and returned the stare with a slight curl of her muzzle, a challenge born of arrogant surety, confident that this lowly member of staff, head of security or not, would be forced to back down.
 
  "What're you looking' at, grunt?"

  To avoid confrontation, knowing that it would be Kaon to cop an earful should she maintain her defiance, Anya swallowed her pride and dropped her gaze to the crystalline floor. Though if Fern was waiting for an apology, the vixen would be standing there for quite some time. However, seemingly satisfied that the uppity servant had been cowed, Fern contented herself with one last snide remark.

  "Didn't think so."

 With that, Fern stormed from the room leaving only cold silence in her wake.  Although Anya had been present in the Palace almost as long as Fern herself, several hundred thousand millennia at least, the ebon furred malamute had never seen the god-fox so depressed. Kaon's strong shoulders had a near constant slump to them, he was quiet and withdrawn, and his vibrant love of life in his personal Palace was diminishing almost daily.  His clothes wrinkled and ruffled, dark, back length spikey hair disheveled and unkempt, his deep crimson fur unbrushed and matted, it was plain to see the Lord and Master of the Jade Palace was world weary and miserable.
  
  The only light in the Master's darkness right now was his beloved Daughter, little Mistress Shana.  Kaon doted on the feisty little vixen cub, but Fern never let him forget that the girl was her daughter as well, to the point that the adult vixen had begun to use the child as leverage to keep her exalted position of influence. Despite how despicable this was, Fern was crafty enough not to truly get between Father and child but just exert enough pressure to make sure she had her own way.

  Anya was no stranger to seeing the Master at his best.  Happy, enthusiastic and friendly, hardworking, caring and loving, yet so powerful, possessing a quiet strength and determination he was so easy to love... or fall in love with. Yet it was his smile that Anya had truly fallen for.  It had a radiance all its own, lighting up the darkest corners of her soul and bringing a subtle warmth to wrap her hard, icy heart in a soft , fuzzy blanket of peace.

   Yet when was the last time Anya had seen him smile?  Fixing her Lord and Master with a sorrowful stare from the one eye left to her, Anya knew full well the reasons behind his saddened countenance. It had been almost eight hundred years ago, during the time of the great betrayal when the Masters Laws and his heart had been broken by one who was supposed to be closest to him of all leaving only cold void and boundless sorrow in its wake.  Fern had capitalized on this, cementing her place by the Masters side by giving him comfort and a child in his blackest hour.

   However, Kaon had made mistakes of his own during these trying times and although he had other Females in his harem who were privileged enough to share his bed and who, like Fern, had a beautiful emerald collar denoting this special place in his heart, these others had either fallen from grace or had chosen to withdraw from the Master's bedchambers in lieu of the wrongs he had perpetrated against them. Since those dark times, Fern was the only Female that would deign to share his bed as well as being the mother of his child and his true first mate. With her vitriolic temper and bloated ego, the snide, arrogant female vixen was ill suited to the power and responsibility this situation afforded her.

  Eight hundred years ago,  one of the most painful, personally traumatizing moments in the Master's entire long existence had taken place... and now a nigh on exact copy of that entire incident was beginning to take shape right before his eyes. Fern was so sure of herself, convinced of her own superiority she was deliberately ignoring the lessons of the past and willingly repeating that black day in Palace history.

   What was worse, her position was so strong that the vixen was utterly convinced she could pull off the failed coup attempted by her predecessor; in fact, it was almost a matter of personal pride urging her to try and succeed where her onetime rival had failed so utterly. Anyone could see where Fern's attitude was heading and the damage it would cause, yet the Master no longer had the willpower within him to stop it. 

   The one fact that truly gnawed at Anya's heart was the realization that she could do very little to help the male she had slowly come to love.  Fern was right; the malamute was nothing more than a grunt. The vixen had everything going for her, beauty, position and power.  Hell, she even had a cup size up on the malamute as well.  Most importantly though, despite her vile, underhanded conniving, Fern still had the Master's love.... Head of palace security or not, friend of the Master or not Anya couldn't compete with that.  She knew full well she wouldn't win if she challenged her vixen superior, so all the heartsick, black furred canine could do was stand by and watch her lord and Master, her god and her love slip slowly into further despair...

  Blood is thicker than water.

 At length, Kaon stood wearily to his feet and slowly headed for the door.  However pausing next to the quiet, black clad malamute girl, he turned to regard her through his beautiful emerald green eyes.  Anya swallowed and tried to maintain her cool composure.  This had been happening on a regular basis of late, Master Kaon had begun to go out of his way to spend time with her, making outright excuses to enjoy her company when he could. Not that she minded in the least, Anya's one faint hope, her deepest dream was that one day the Master would look upon her as more than just the friend he saw her as now.

    "Walk with me, Lady Anya."

   Eagerly falling in step with her Master, Anya knew why Kaon often came to her for companionship and friendly banter.  Kaon, god and Master of the Jade Palace, member of the Interdimensional pantheon of deities the self-styled Lord of Emerald... was lonely.  Everyone within the Jade Palace aged slowly.  Even the Master's daughter Shana who had the mind and body of but six years was centuries old. Over the many long years Anya had sat and listened to him talk for hours upon hours. His cares and complaints, his own hopes and plans, his past, his future, the attentive malamute knew more about the Master now than all but the most select few in the Palace. 

   Fern didn't want to know, didn't care what Kaon thought anymore and apart from herself, there was no-one else who cared to sit and truly take the time to listen and understand.  The two of them had slowly grown closer and closer over these last few years even as the gap between Kaon and the rest of those who were supposed to 'love' him had only widened from a small crack into a gaping chasm. 

  As the duo of crimson furred fox and ebon furred malamute strolled slowly through the delightful crystalline corridors of the jade palace , surrounded by countless exotic , metaphysical wonders of spectacular beauty,  fine paintings and sculptures, alien oddities and artifacts  and multicolored crystal formations of heartbreakingly gorgeous intricacy,  Anya only had eyes for her master.  It was so simple, made so much sense.  The two of them together like this. Why couldn't he see it?

    Shaking her head suddenly, as if trying to flick drops of water from her gold tinged fur, Anya dropped her gaze from Kaon's thoughtful countenance to the floor. She already owed him so much...  she had no right to demand, or even expect any more from him than this.  For a few moments, Anya allowed herself to reflect upon everything that had happened in her past and how her life had changed so much since she met the red furred fox she now stood beside.
  **********

   Born in the far Siberian north, a harsh, frozen place of ice and snow, little Anya Mishka Vantrovich was marked as special from the day she was born. Though she was a pureblood malamute and both her parents were both of white fur and blue eyes, the newborn pup had fur of darkest ebony that seemed to give her shadow even in full sunlight and her eyes were of purest amber ,glinting with an intelligence not associated with a mere babe.

   Her parents saw it.  They knew all too well she was special and had been singled out for something far different from a cold, hard life in the icy wastes. They loved her so much.  They tried to hide her from the world, from curious, inquisitive, dangerous eyes and for six years they succeeded. For six years Anya lived a happy life befitting a young child, oblivious to the forces moving to strike against her sheltered reality. Those short years of peace cost her family their lives.

   Anya still remembered the door to their family home exploding inwards, sinister, black clad figures streaming through the wrecked portal. Her father and grandfather grabbing shotguns, yet before they could even raise them from the ground... the staccato roar of gunfire...their bodies were ripped asunder by a hail of close range hollow point rounds , blood and gore spattering the log walls of their peaceful log cabin right before her eyes.

   Her loving mother, trying to hurry her out the back door only to be blown apart by a high caliber anti-tank sniper round, soaking the puppy's fur in warm, sticky crimson. Turning, screaming, tears flooding her beautiful amber eyes just in time to see her little brother almost decapitated by a blade stroke to the throat by a gigantic, dark swathed monster... her world turned to hell in an instant with just a taste of the slaughter to come.

  Taken then, out into the cold, silent night.  Total quietude save for the anguished howls of a devastated, terrified little girl cub.  She would come to know them all in later life, by sight and name, those who would be her clan brothers. All save one. A lone figure, tall and dark upon a nearby hill, some unlucky hiker, perhaps, who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and stumbled upon the entire horrific scene. Anya supposed him dead now, the clan had seen him there and pursued.  They left no witnesses.

  They treated her well at first... moving her first by plane, then by boat to a remote island training facility. The clan ruling council knew she was destined for great things and had claimed her for their own, to mold her into an instrument of death and murder. Anya wondered briefly if all the soldier’s and assassins witness to her arrival knew that the screaming, bawling black furred brat was their 'chosen one'.

   She was taken to the room she would come to know as her quarters, her home for the next eight years. It was there that Anya finally, foolishly decided to be...  difficult by biting one of her captors. The same dark assassin who had murdered her brother, a huge adult puma, put her down hard.  His iron hard fists and feet slamming into her battered little body over and over whilst he intoned commands and litanies about respect, obedience and submission before finally leaving her curled up and broken on the hard wood floor....

  When Anya awoke sometime later, lonely, afraid and hurting so much the first thing her eyes lit upon... was a knife. It was long and sharp, an extended flick knife with a blade of tempered diatrium, an engineered compound of diamond hardened titanium with a monomolecular edge.  A single emerald was set into the finely wrought handle, it alone was worth more credits than her family could have earned in a whole year. On the blade were inscribed symbols. Ancient letters... a phrase perhaps that would remain a deciphered mystery, despite her best efforts at research. There was no one else in the room... and no trace of who had left it for her.

  So many things could have happened then. Her life could have gone so many ways...  or ended with one quick cut. Yet something snapped, deep inside the traumatized puppy... Anya would come to realize later it was the last few strands of her innocence, severed forever by the brutal truth shown to her by this new world. Gone was childish whimsy, the happiness of a pure soul and unstained heart.  She picked up that razor bladed weapon and set out from her room with only blood and vengeance on her mind...

  Anya was only six.

  Found soon enough as she wandered the halls of the compound, Anya was taken before the inner circle.  The Masters wished to see what their new pet was made of. It was a small room, a plain side dojo.  Nothing more.  It would be many years before Anya saw the great guildhall of the Masters. That puma, the one who had murdered her brother and beaten her so severely was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, unarmed and completely relaxed. He was smiling.
  
   "Go on, then.  You want your revenge.  Take it."

  A challenge.  Direct and uncompromising, calling her out.  Anya walked up to him, ears laid back, little tail curled between her legs, staring at his ugly face as the fresh, raw memories of the massacre of her loved ones came flooding back with gut-wrenching intensity.  Those beautiful amber puppy eyes, so full of grief and pain brimmed with tears and her lip began to quiver. The malamute girl wanted to ask...  had to know one thing. Why her? Yet all she could do was whimper in despairing misery...

  "Mama..... Papa...."
  
  Disgusted, the puma had closed his eyes looked away from the shameful display of pathetic emotion.  Whatever he though, whatever anyone might have thought, no one would ever be able to understand the violation they had wrought on a once innocent soul... and the puma was caught totally off guard when Anya's blade arm whipped up and drove six inches of cold metal into his left eye socket.

   It was little Anya's first kill, the murder of an unarmed man.

   Twenty eight more kills and eight years had passed since then.  Twenty nine lives little Anya had torn away from the mortal realm and she'd endured eight years of harsh training. A daily regimen of battle and meditation, indoctrination and testing.  Along with martial exercises and mental discipline came other methods of teaching.  Willingly, Anya gave herself to the clan torturers, learning tolerance for pain and suffering far beyond the abilities of most people.

    Without fail, morning, noon and night she drank a sickening cocktail of herbal essences, chemical enhancers and poisons to bring strength to her muscles and toughen her constitution.  It had another effect Anya did not know of.  It burned in her belly like fire, searing away her hormones, snuffing out her blossoming sexuality before the girl had even felt the first twinges of desire. 

    Such distractions were unnecessary and dangerous to her profession and with the help of these draughts she would never need to suffer the indignity of puberty, or awkward bodily change. Besides, a large bust was restrictive to lithe movements and what Anya would never have, she could not miss.   The damage done to her was nigh on irreversible.  It was said that, given enough time and the right circumstances her body could repair itself, yet due to the magical nature of the potions such a process could take hundreds of thousands of years if not longer.  

   Anya had no plans on living that long, even were it possible.

  Every few kills, when she had proven herself worthy to move to the next circle of her clan the ever more lethal malamute girl had challenged and slain one of her clan brothers for their position. It was no coincidence that all her kills within the clan had been one of those responsible for the massacre of her family.     

  Anya had butchered her way through their ranks with that goal in mind and now the puppy turned teenager had only one target left, a member of the outer circle beneath the Masters themselves.  First however, there was her latest assignment; her mission to complete that would give her the great milestone of thirty kills for the honor of her clan. All she had to do was take this life then one other and her quest for vengeance, her very reason for continuing to exist... would be finished.  Little Anya relished that thought.

    Cool night winds whipped around her shadowy, dark velvet clad body bringing the sounds and scents of Talrandia city prime to her hyper acute senses.  Anya was slim and lithe, yet so well-muscled and taut, honed to perfection to a weapon of murder.  Her ebon fur blended into the shadow as well as her camouflage, her amber eyes sparkled with the light of death. Her blade, the one given her by that unknown benefactor so long ago, was secreted in her boot. It had saved her life countless times and it was her only friend.
  
   Her clan outfit was especially designed to give her anonymity.  The dark wrappings obscured her features and age, hiding her species from the casual observer.  It camouflaged every inch of her body without hindering her movements in any way. Anya was without any obvious feminine assets and her thick, bushy tail was so tightly bound the canine teen could easily be mistaken for a slender male mouse as she moved through the shadows.

   From far below her perch on a skyscraper roof top came the faint sounds of central city night life. Car horns, the muted babble of voices mixed with the occasional shout.  Bright, multicolored neon lights lit up the lower dark, providing a bright, happy haven for the sentient vermin that scurried beneath their artificial glare. Almost directly below her, thinking themselves hidden in the seclusion of a back alleyway , two rabbits, a male and his girlfriend... or perhaps a prostitute and her client were fucking with wild abandon, the scent and sounds of sex clearly discernible to the malamute's perfect senses even at this distance..

  Anya smiled.  What would they think, if they knew what lurked in the shadows of night, just beyond the edges of their vision...

   This was the time, the moment that made still made Anya's maw a little dry.  The last few seconds before a kill.  The canine assassin ran her paw pads over the cold metal stock of her rifle for reassurance.  The weapon was a prime piece of experimental, military grade hardware. A Donahue-tech anti-tank rail-rifle.  Exponentially more powerful, deadly and accurate than the old fashioned cartridge models of the past, like the one that had devastated her mother. It was a superb instrument of death, capable of pinpoint accuracy and a lethal impact over several miles.  It was perfectly suited to the task at hand.

   It was a rather delicious irony that her target was the man who had designed the gun she would use to kill him. Anya sighted down the rifle scope over several miles to the large, bulletproof penthouse window where her mark was sitting.  That glass wouldn't stop a shot of this power. There he was. Her cold, amber gaze settled the crosshairs in the center of his back and readied herself for the moment of truth; the shot would punch through the glass, the chair and through him. Done and done. So easy... and so hard.

  Her target was one Kaon Donahue. A seeming nobody who had come from out of the blue with ideas and technologies so far advanced it blew everyone away.  Within months, the tall, lean, crimson furred fox was a multi-billionaire. Within two years the intelligent, dark haired male vulpine had established a global corporation with a virtual monopoly on everything from the media, to military tech, to toothpaste.

   Yet he was loved by all.  The vast profits and revenue generated by his empire went back into the community. He personally funded global healthcare, countless charities, wondrous entertainments as well as research and development of new, exiting products often sold seemingly below cost and he still made money hand over fist. Yet the clan, even with all their resources had been unable to dig up any dirt on him or any evidence of shady dealing whatsoever.  It seemed impossible that someone with his power and position should be so clean, but the truth was undeniable. 

  To the ever increasing chagrin of clan spies, they had also been unable to find out where he had come from. The first records of Kaon Donahue were from a college he had attended a few years back.  Before that, nothing.  Rather bemusing, for all his ambition and drive, he had also chosen to marry a somewhat unattractive skunk who was, for all intents and purposes, a selfish bitch. At least Anya could relieve him of that tedium.

  The contract had probably been taken out by a group of panicked competitors, seeing their markets drying up and their profits vanishing in the face of such a global juggernaut.  It was a typical, self-serving act from people whom Anya had come to loath working for.   No matter that this Kaon was the best thing to happen to their planet in years; they wanted him dead so they could go back to lining their pockets with the misery of the masses. It never entered her mind for a single instant that she didn't actually need to kill him.

   The will of the clan masters...  was absolute. 

 Wasting no more time on idle reflection and contemplation, young Anya controlled her breathing, slowed her heart rate and tightened her grip on the rifle trigger, centering her crosshairs between his shoulder blades, to where Mr. Donahue was sitting at his desk, sorting through paperwork and oblivious to his coming end. Anya compressed her dark lips, adjusted for wind and distance and prepared herself for the moment of truth.  Now...  target locked... right in her sights... just one squeeze and it's all over.....

  ".......Forgive me..."

  That quiet, almost imperceptible whisper... every time she took an innocent life... although her clan brothers thought her utterly ruthless, a frozen hearted bitch, it wasn't the whole truth.  Yes, she eagerly dispensed justice to a criminal mob boss or corrupt politician with obvious relish, but murdering someone who had done no wrong on pure monetary grounds left a sour taste in her mouth.  There was no honor in such... pointless butchery.

   Then it was done.  A muffled crack from the silenced weapon rung dully in Anya's sharp, canine ear and the hypervelocity slug burned through the air, igniting the oxygen molecules to leave a fiery trail in its wake, marking passage on its mission of death. It would take scant seconds to impact and then her distasteful duty would be done.  It was then that the impossible happened.

  Anya missed.  Either that or Mr. Kaon Donahue somehow dodged the damn shot.  The rail gun slug punched clean through the bulletproof window, it's sheer penetrating power making a mockery of the reinforced Plexiglas shield, obliterated the back of the antique armchair in a shower of stuffing and reduced the expensive , lacquered oak desk to kindling and splinters.   A pity her target was no longer sitting there.

  Had she blinked and missed him jump clear?  No one could move that fast!  I was as if he'd simply teleported out of harm’s way! Not only that, he was now standing a couple of feet away from the devastation, a supercilious smirk etched on his foxy face and seemed to be staring straight at her through eyes of deep emerald green.  Those eyes sent an uncharacteristic ripple of dread through the normally stone cold killer and Anya felt her ebon furred belly tighten with apprehension.

  Adjusting her aim took mere moments and Anya's second shot blazed a trail of destruction through the cool night air, centered between the fox's eyes. This time there was no confusion as to what happened, though as to how he did it utterly confounded the black clad assassin. Kaon simply seemed to disappear and reappear milliseconds before the slug reduced his cranium to splattered soup. The movement was so fast, the hypervelocity projectile actually seemed to harmlessly phase straight through him!

  What the hell was this?!  Had that last enhancement cocktail contained hallucogens by some chance??  Did he have some sort of holographic smoke and mirror set up to screw with her aim?  No one...  NO ONE was capable of moving like that!  Even the Masters themselves, trained and skilled as they were, couldn't hope match the fox's apparent speed!  Not only had that, but the frustrated malamute only had one shot left!

   As a member of the third circle, Anya had three attempts to kill her target before being disgraced and three chances per attempt to secure the kill.  Three chances, three shots.  If she failed all her attempts, the malamute would be hunted down by her clan. Her eyes would be burned out, her tongue sliced off and her eardrums ruptured before being left on some random city street in the 'bad' part of town... mute, deaf , blind...and alone.

   Of course, failing to kill her target was not an option Anya even considered possible and her third and final shot arced over the night shrouded city blocks right at the red fox's grinning visage.  It missed.... with impossible agility and flexibility, the vulpine seemed to snap backwards, dodging the spinning rail bullet in a maneuver straight out of a sci-fi action flick and the wasted slug blew a massive chunk out of the far penthouse wall. 

   Letting out a caustic curse, Anya swiftly dismantled her rifle into a more portable state.  She needed to move and move now!  The local law enforcement agencies were slow and witless; Kaon's personal corporate security enforcers were not.  Even as the angered canine girl had been contemplating her inaccuracy or how the hell he'd dodged not one bullet but three, her now useless rifle scope had shown her armored figures pouring into the penthouse.  Some of them had rifles remarkably similar to the one she'd been using. 

  It was a testament to her skill, precision and forward planning that the smooth assassin would be well away before the wannabe snipers could ever draw a bead on her. The quickest way out... was straight down... Anya swiftly rappelled down the sheer vertical surface of her skyscraper perch, using her pre-determined escape route, landing with hard thump mere feet away from the still copulating rabbit couple. The male let out a startled expletive, the female a shocked scream at the menacing figure in black that had suddenly materialized out of seeming thin air.

    By the time either of them had time to react further, Anya was long gone.

 Anya let the immediate heat die down for a couple of weeks. There was no time limit imposed on this contract, so long as it was completed.  Whilst the black furred malamute girl formulated a new method of murder, the experienced assassin reviewed her failure and tried to put what she had seen into some sort of perspective. It wasn't easy.

   The canine girl had always been taught to mind the physical world, what she could see and hear and touch. Idle pondering over the metaphysical or spiritual was a waste of valuable training time.  Yet what possible real world explanation could be given to that fox and his impossible speed? There were no combat drugs, no amount of training and no cybernetics that could enhance a body to that degree.... or at least none that the black furred teenager was aware of.

  Despite her discomfiture at the new realm she could see peeking through the cracks in her ordered world; Anya was soon prepared for her second attempt. Currently, the canine assassin was secreted in the shadows of a dark alleyway, looking over a plaza to where Kaon was lounging on a deckchair, reading a newspaper outside his favorite high class cafe. The dark business suit the wealthy fox wore fitted him perfectly; it was incredibly expensive and deliberately pretentious.

   As a master of murder, the observant malamute has studied her target for weeks prior to commencing her assaults and Anya knew that Kaon loved the iced coffee they served at this particular restaurant...  but his next drink would be his last. Smug little bitch wouldn't live to see the evening.

  A disguised Anya had slipped a powerful bio toxin in the glass as it was being prepared along with the vulpine synthsteak lunch.  The oblivious chef hadn't even noticed.  Now all she was waiting for was to observe her target choking and writing on the ground in his death agony and the irritated malamute could get the heck out of this crowded, stinking city and return to the peace and comparative tranquility of the clan training grounds.

  Anya tensed up just a little as the waiter finally brought Mr. Donahue's lunch to him. Kaon folded his paper and sat up, obviously relishing the sight of his expensive meal. As usual, he raised the ice coffee glass to his lips to whet his pallet before starting on the steak, yet before a single drop of lethal liquid ran through the straw and into his maw where it could begin it's poisonous work... he paused.

   Then, to Anya's utter amazement, Kaon smiled, extended his arm and poured the toxic beverage out onto the flagstones.  He knew.  The bio toxin Anya had introduced to the coffee was undetectable.  It had no color, no taste, and no smell yet somehow the smirking fox knew his drink had been tampered with! Yet even this revelation paled into insignificance by the red furred male’s next actions.  Kaon tilted his head, staring straight at the concealed canine assassin and made a distinct, 'come hither' motion with his extended index finger.

  Not only had Kaon detected the toxin in his drink, he somehow knew that the perfectly camouflaged, expert assassin was hiding there! Anya grit her teeth, sick of being made to look like an amateur and swore that her target would pay for this insolence! She still had two attempts to go and these took the shape of numerous envenomed shuriken.  Throwing caution to the wind, Anya leapt from her place of concealment and began a ritualistic maneuver, a deadly dance, a flurry of razor edged steel.
   
     Even as Anya twisted and twirled sending a veritable hail of poisoned, monomolecular edged blades spinning towards her target, Kaon yet again managed to shock the hell out of the overconfident assassin.  The grinning vulpine whipped the heavy metal tray his meal had been served on out from under his plate without spilling so much as a drop of gravy and began to use it as a shield against the deadly incoming projectiles!

  Star after star, a seeming endless torrent of bladed death hurled with pinpoint accuracy, yet batted away with consummate skill by her vulpine opponent.  He wielded that metal tray like an extension of his own body, as if it were a fine weapon rather than a common kitchen implement.  It would have been a thing of beauty, poetry in motion if the very idea hadn't been utterly absurd to the increasingly frustrated black furred canine killer.

  It didn't seem to matter where Anya threw her bladed weapons, at his head, his chest, and his arms or legs that solid metal tray seemed to be a flashing blur, Kaon expertly deflecting and batting away the whirring poisoned stars with effortless ease. Anya quickly realized she was running out of ammo.  This was ridiculous!  These shuriken should have been capable of ripping that kitchen tray to shredded metal ribbons!  What the hell was going on?!
   
   It was only when Anya's last star clanged off the trays undented and unscratched surface that the enraged malamute saw the trick. The tray was solid diatrium! That same near indestructible metal the blade of her knife was made of was rare and expensive to manufacture, the tray being constructed from the same metal usually used in combat armor and special weapons was surely no co-incidence. 

  Yet again, Anya had underestimated her foe and not just that, she'd let anger and frustration blind her to his strategy, leading to her second failure. This was both unusual and unpleasant for the seething canine teenager who now realized a quite incredible truth. Kaon knew what she'd been planning and had prepared accordingly.  How he'd known was an impossible mystery, not even the Masters knew her methods, yet he had somehow correctly anticipated her stratagem and initiated countermeasures long before Anya had even made the assassination attempt!

  If that realization was the second unpleasant shock of the encounter so far, the fox's next actions were downright astonishing!  Kaon picked up one of the lethal shuriken, opened his maw and deliberately ran its poisoned razor edge down his tongue! Anya simply stared in disbelief as the seemingly insane fox licked the blood off his lips. What the hell?!  Why would he suddenly decide suicide was a great idea after defending himself so vigorously?

  It wasn't the only detail that Anya realized was amiss. There weren't any other customers in the normally busy restaurant apart from the crimson furred vulpine , or even one single solitary soul visible down either end of the street!  Come to think of it....  where was Mr. Donahue’s usual entourage of corporate flunkies?  Why hadn't they made an appearance yet? With all the commotion going on the area should be swarming with security by now, yet there wasn't a suit in sight other than Kaon's own two thousand credit tailor made effort. That led a suddenly shaky Anya to only one conclusion.  An impossible truth, something she'd never dreamed this nine to five desk job fox was even capable of engineering, much less executing...

  This entire scenario had been a set up from the start.

   Seemingly pleased with himself, Mr. Kaon Donahue sat down and tucked into his lunch with evident gusto.  No death spams, no choking.  Just that damnably smug fox leisurely consuming his midday meal. A very cold sensation wormed its way into Anya's gut as the increasingly nauseous malamute girl stood there and watched her target eat his steak. That bio toxin could terminate any known organism within seconds, yet Kaon was unaffected.  Even had he drunk his iced coffee, Anya suspected he would have been unharmed; he had thrown it away to simply prove he knew what the assassin was up to.

    A waitress appeared from the depths of the cafe, apparently unconcerned that the black clad killer still stood there a few feet away and on the tray she carried... were two iced coffees.  Kaon dabbed away a fleck of gravy from his lips and inclined his head to where the uneasy malamute girl still stood in stunned contemplation..., extended his paw...  and motioned for Anya to join him.  That broke the spell and the teenager fled into the narrow back alleyways, tail literally between her legs, confused and dismayed by all she'd seen.

   Who the hell was this fox?!

  It was but two days later when Anya launched her final assault.  The Masters had gotten word of her second failure and they weren't interested in excuses. They had imposed their own time limit on their protégé.  Kill Mr. Donahue before the week was up, or be exiled, hunted, humiliated and destroyed. Anya was out of time, and options.  No time left to formulate a careful strategy, no time to analyze the astonishing series of events she had witnessed. She had nothing left but to launch an all-out attack with her deadliest weapon, Anya's own exquisitely trained body.

  Now facing the real and dangerous possibility she was going to fail her mission, Anya prepared for battle as best as she could.  Her dark clan wraps had been ritualistically wound around her lithe form. Her dual pistols, compact Donahue tech mark VII high power weapons had been cleaned, oiled and loaded with spare clips locked into her hands free reloaded.  Should they fail her, Anya would utilize a diatrium wakizashi or short sword to combat her foe and should even that forsake the black furred canine she would resort to her fists, her feet and her beloved flick knife.

  As she stood before the gates to the Donahue mansion, Anya knew instinctively she was expected. The heavy linked steel portal was open and unguarded.  All the security measures and cameras had been deactivated and the mansion grounds were deserted, devoid of the usual guards.  A single light shone from one mansion window, showing her where her quarry awaited her arrival, an open invitation to step forth. 

   Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly...

   Anya was under no illusions that she was in for anything less than the fight of her life.  As fast as she was, as skilled in the ways of combat and death, the experienced assassin knew full well that she couldn't hope to match the fox's superior speed. Nor could she wholly rely on the element of surprise. Kaon Donahue was no fool, he wouldn't leave his Mansion so unprotected unless he was both expecting and desired a confrontation with his black clad stalker. Where speed and subtlety would fail, it was best to rely on other extremes.

  Still employing caution in case her gut instinct proved wrong, Anya covertly and speedily infiltrated the mansion grounds. The gardens were beautiful, even at night.  Luminous moon orchids gave off a soft glow, sparking from the still pools of water that featured beneath complex hedge topiary. Fruit bearing palms lined the long, winding driveway whilst exotic; consentient avian species roosted within the safety of the billowing fronds.  The soft song of night birds fluted through the clean, sweet air, it was a whole other world away from the stink and bustle of the city.  For the first time in as long as she could remember, Anya almost felt at peace.

    The mansion interior was an exercise in extravagance.  Only the best here marbled floors and walls, golden statuettes and hand woven tapestries, antique, carved oaken furnishings whist every piece of electronic tech was of Donahue corporation make. Like the gardens outside, the many rooms of the double floored mansion were wholly bereft of guards or servants.  With none present to challenge her, Anya soon enough stood outside the door to the lit room; on the threshold of what she knew would be her greatest test. Taking a deep breath, the teenage canine girl extended one black clad arm and slowly pushed the door ajar. 

 The sight that greeted her cautious gaze was unexpected.  The downstairs living room had been cleared of furniture, rugs, curtains and the like.  The only things present were a high backed leather armchair, a side table with a bottle of port and two glasses.  In the armchair lounged her nemesis, wearing that infuriating smug grin on his admittedly handsome foxy features.  The only other item of note in the whole room was a hideously ugly piece of modern art, a huge irregularly shaped, green metal sphere resting in the far corner that Anya assumed had been too heavy and bulky to move.

  "Care for a drink?"

  Kaon seemed totally relaxed and at ease, even when faced with his imminent demise.  The black suited fox casually took a sip of his dark red port and licked his lips, yet his piercing emerald eyes never wavered from the shadowy figure that had slipped quietly into the room. No point in formalities , both vulpine and malamute knew and understood what Anya was here to do.  Kill or be killed.  There was no longer any other way. 'Care for a drink' , indeed! Even considering such a notion was extremely disrespectful towards Anya, towards her Masters and indeed towards her entire craft!

    Still, it spoke of a charisma Anya had rarely encountered. To be so relaxed and even flippant in the face of death itself. A strength of character , of bravery that the malamute found admirable, even appealing to some degree. For the briefest moment, Anya almost looked upon her target with a strange kind of sorrow.  In another life...another time, she could have seen herself and this fox being the absolute best of friends. Perhaps even more than that...  And now it was either his life.. Or hers.

  Then, with no more hesitation, no more regrets, Anya whipped her dual pistols into firing position and unleashed hell! Anya juked violently to the left, running at full sprint , following the cold marble wall in a circular strafing pattern ,as her pistols twitched and jerked violently in her paws and the staccato roar of full auto gunfire screamed through the night! The canine killer  directed a blistering torrent of hollow point diatrium rounds that devastated all in its path ,the high back chair, the table , the glasses and wine bottle all but disintegrated beneath a hail of hypervelocity nine millimeter metal death!
 
    Dozens of spent cartridges clattered off the smooth marbled floor as Anya made perfect use of her hands free reloaded, ejecting the spent magazines and snapping the smoking pistols down into the ready clips that hung from the holders at her hip. Changing clips took only the merest second's break and then the blazing metallic onslaught resumed with full force!  Dozens of rounds exploded around the fox , marble chips and dust flying in all directions as diatrium bullets ricochet wildly around the room, turning the intricate, decorated interior into a shell shocked warzone!

   Yet again, Anya pack loaded a new set of clips, ejecting the old ones even as the last bullet screamed from the glowing barrels of her pistols, her third set of clips, the last ones. Even as she did so, following an old gun kata laid down by the Masters in basic training, the malamute knew something was very, very wrong. Why..  Was he still standing?  Countless rounds had slammed into his body from all directions as she had circled him, Anya could see his clothing ripple and shred under the withering fusillade of gunfire, but..  There was no blood.  No death, no perforated corpse dancing a morbid, gruesome jig to the music of violent demise.

   It was then that Anya realized the truth of what she was seeing.  It was incredible, impossible and terrifying, but it was as real as the lingering scent of gunpowder on the air..  Every one of her shots was on target, yet the vulpine business fox was completely unharmed.  The assassin had made a full circuit of the room, coming face to face with her target again and he just stood there, arms folded, grinning and shaking his head.  His expensive suit was full of holes, yet he was unhurt, hell, he almost seemed amused by the elaborate, yet seemingly pointless athletic display of his erstwhile murderer.

    Just to be sure, just to prove that her eyes were still working and that she wasn't going batshit crazy,  Anya deliberately raised her sidearm and sighted directly along its length, then fired a single round that should have blown out the back of his skull in a spray of liquidized brains and bone fragments. There was a splash of sparks directly between his eyes and the flattened diatrium bullet fell uselessly to the ground with a pathetic clink.

The damn shots were bouncing off him!

   For a moment, there was the silence of sheer disbelief.  If Anya hadn't seen it with her own eyes , the dark clad killer wouldn't have believed it for one instant.  No personal force field, no armor, yet..  High caliber rounds had no effect on him.  Was he simply invulnerable?  The very notion was highly disconcerting.  That posed the question of how to kill something that couldn't be killed...  Suddenly shaking her canine head, the ebon furred malamute curled her lip a little.  This line of thought was pointless and counterproductive.  It something could bleed, it could die and Anya could kill it!  Though come to think of it... she hadn't seen this fox bleed yet either, unless he himself had wished it...

    Kaon was just.. Standing there surrounded by the devastation caused by her gunfire.  The chipped marble, the destroyed room and he seemed unconcerned that his expensive suit had been reduced to rags. In fact, when he spoke he seemed outright bored by the tense, dangerous standoff.

  "Must we continue this charade? You should know by now that your chances of winning are nonexistent. I'd prefer to not see you hurt as you are rather valuable to me so please, desist from this foolishness and stand down."

  The answer Anya gave the smug bastard was to unclip her now useless gun and ammo belt and discard it, before unsheathing her diatrium wakizashi.  Perhaps if bullets were worthless, a cold metal blade would be more effective, though after everything she'd seen, the icy blooded assassin had little confidence left in her weapon of choice.  In fact, Anya decided she was downright apprehensive about how the rest of this encounter would play out. The one and only reason she didn't turn tail and flee was the fact that the Masters were taking such an interest in this kill and no matter what this impossible fox had planned for her, it would be infinitely preferable to failing her assignment and then being captured.

   Adopting a balanced and poised forwards combat stance , Lady Anya began to circle her foe, wakizashi held in the ready position. Kaon stood unmoving and uncaring as the murderous form disappeared from his vision off to the side. As the tense malamute moved directly behind her opponent, Anya was a little disappointed that the relaxed fox would be so careless as to willingly let his opponent behind him.  That was arrogance not confidence and the canine assassin felt a sudden spurt of uncharacteristic anger blossom in her chest.  This wasn't a fight, this was insulting!  How dare he treat such a trained professional like a rank amateur!!

  With a whispered sigh of black fur on dark fabric, Anya launched her assault! The diatrium blade whickered coldly through the air towards her target's exposed, vulnerable red furred neck, a perfect cross cut strike that would separate Kaon's smug, swollen vulpine head from his strong, suited shoulders... or it should have had he still been standing there.

  Anya almost overbalanced as her blade cut nothing but air where flesh had been one moment before, as Kaon seemingly phased out of harm’s way and reappeared on the same exact spot! There it was again, that smoke and mirrors teleport setup she'd seen during her earlier sniper attack. He was in the room somewhere, just not standing where her amber eyes told her he was so no wonder her pistols had failed. Be it mirrored image or hologram, one thing was certain, this Damn fox was screwing with her! 

  A hard light projection like this took a lot of power and precision to set up, the real Kaon had to be nearby in this room, shielded by a holofield and snickering at her the whole time! Blast his eyes! Anya would see him dead before morning and then she'd hunt down anyone he cared about and stiff them too, just out of spite and to show the whole planet she was not someone to make a fool of!

    Now genuinely angry, Anya lashed out with her blade in random directions, covering angles and corners of the room, ignoring the 'fake' image that stood and regarded her with an extremely bemused expression. Trying her best to ignore the increasingly wide grin on Kaon's face,  the frustrated killer made a slow, methodical circuit of the bare marble room, covering all her bases, looking for a hidden door or slight shimmer of light that would reveal a hologram projector.

  However, upon beginning her third consecutive circuit of the bare marbled room, Anya was faced with an unpleasant possibility. Even after her eagle eyed meticulous search, the observant assassin could find no trace of her suspected hidden room or cloaking field.  This left the cold reality that she'd been facing the real Kaon all this time and that the smirking fox really was as impossibly indestructible as he seemed.  As if to confirm her worst fears, Anya heard Kaon speak up, sounding nothing short of bored and perhaps even a little disappointed.

  "I assure you that this is the 'real me' as it were.  No tricks or deceptions, I give you my word. Now please, desist with this idiocy."

  For her answer, Lady Anya threw her lithe body headlong at her mocking foe in a full on, adrenaline and rage fuelled assault! Leaping skywards in a display of rage and adrenaline enhanced assassin skill, the black pointed tips of her malamute ears brushing the sixteen foot high ceiling, Anya blazed down from above, her wicked diatrium blade slicing through the art in a vicious slashing cut!  In a seemingly futile gesture, Kaon raised his arm to defend himself from the murderous attack... the cold , sharp metal whistled down ...  connected with that upraised arm... and the blade that could shred solid steel shattered like rotten timber against flesh far stronger than any mortal made substance.

   Thrown backwards by the force of the counter, Anya was hurled to her back and lay stunned on the floor for a moment, unable and unwilling to believe what she's just witnessed.  How...had he done that? No one, no mortal being, no cyborg she knew of, no mutated lab experiment of the masters, there was no living being on this planet able to block a diatrium sword with its arm, much less destroy the blade! 

  She couldn't win against power like that. There was no hope.  Either this fox... this demon thing in fox form killed her here or she fled and the masters caught up to her to wreak their own brand of ritualized , sadistic justice. Lifting her black wrapped canine head to stare at her unearthly foxy foe, for the first time in her life Anya offered up a prayer to any deity who cared to observe her plight.

  Creator have mercy, there wasn't a force on this planet that could save her now.

  One last attack then, just one, death or glory. Wobbling unsteadily to her feet, the terrified fourteen year old malamute snapped out her beloved flick knife. Immediately, Anya saw Kaon's muzzle crease into an irritated frown.  The dog fox was clearly unimpressed by his supposed assassin's continued rebellion against his wishes.. Lifting one red furred paw, the suited fox pointed a long index finger at the cowering girl.

   "Stand down. I warn you , do not attack me again or you will be..... Disciplined."  

   Like a beast a bay, Anya was too scared to listen.  Too terrified of her fate, alone and dishonored, her pride hurting worse than any physical wound, the malamute launched a final frenzied attack!  Running full tilt, stabbing and slashing with six inches of forged diatrium, Anya hit a brick wall as Kaon's right arm snapped up and clamped a paw around the left side of her face in a crushing grip!

  Whipping her blade arm around, Anya drove it against her tormentor's exposed arm, seeking to sever the main vein there. The solid impact nearly broke her wrist and jolted the knife from her grasp with the futile gesture...  and now it was over.  That was her third attempt.  It mattered not if the fox died now, Anya had broken the tenants of the Master's third circle.  Her life was forfeit. Yet even with this horrible realization just striking her , the worst was yet to come.

   With a callous twitch of his muscles, Kaon lifted the teenager off the floor, still grasping her by the head.  Behind his emerald eyes, Anya could see a vast, rolling fire.  It was a terrifying glimpse into the furnace of the gods, it was anger and fury yet cold and laced with disappointment, like a father who's child's misdeeds had been revealed to him.  Then he let out a quiet sight.

   "Forgive me, but you must learn submission and respect.  I am sorry."

  There was a shift in the grip on her face and then...  Anya let out an agonized howl as searing, molten emerald flame blazed into her left eye socket! It ravished and burned, incinerated fur, blistered flesh and charred out her eye as the terrified, tortured malamute girl thrashed and flailed helplessly!  All of the master's lessons in pain tolerance could not have even begun to prepare her for this anguish as the liquid inferno washed over her agonized form.

  It lasted less than a second, a second that stretched into infinity before Anya was dumped onto the cold, hard marble floor to weep broken , bloody tears of misery , pain and shame. Yet she would not even be allowed to wallow in her pity for more than a moment as her one time mark, but now her seeming torturer spoke up in confident tones.

  "You have two choices now it seems.  The same two I gave you some time ago I believe.  You may join me as I desire so I can make use of your skills and talents, or you may wander off and die in a hole somewhere.  All your pain could have been prevented had you simply yielded to me in the beginning, yet as I suspected , you chose the hard way.  Now, answer me, will you call me Master?"

  The pain had faded swiftly , even as the stench of burned flesh lingered in her black malamute nose. Anya was marked now, blinded in her left eye, her wrappings also burned away and her face revealed. The Master's would have no pity on their onetime golden girl , thrice shamed as she was.  After all this creature had done to her, he now expected the ex-assassin to simply submit to his will and not only that, desired and expected it after he had just mutilated her so terribly?!  This was a joke!  Death would be a blessing rather than this humiliation!

  Or ...  it would have been had little Anya not suddenly been so scared of dying.  Kaon was no mortal being.  Be he god or demon, he was from a plane of existence that Anya had long thought of as fallacy. The evidence of her eyes told her that much. His mere existence opened a door upon a whole universe of unpleasant possibilities.  How many souls had the onetime murderess sent to hell...  and how many would be waiting for her once she too went there for her... sins? 

  Escape was useless, that Masters would track her to the ends of the earth if need be and crippled as she was, and Anya would be poor match for a member of the second or first circle. The tortures she would suffer then did not bear dwelling upon.  So.. With the sanctuary of death and the uncertainty of flight denied to her, there was only one choice for the teenager to make. It was humiliating.. The bitterness and shame of abject defeat, but she no longer had a choice. Shuffling to a kneeling position by the fox's side, Lady Anya somehow managed to mumble through cracked and blistered lips..

  "What would you have me do, Master..?"

  Would it seem strange that this was her decision?  It was a simple choice, life over death, choosing one servitude for another.  As to her eye, the wound would heal and in the scheme of things, the now ex assassin's former Masters had wrought similar horrors on her all her life. Not so strange then, to Anya's mind, a simple, easy decision to make and the first of many that the malamute girl would be faced with in her coming future...
 
   "Stand, then, and attend me."

  Master Kaon's first command and Lady Anya did as she was bid, teetering unsteadily to her feet.  The malamute was shocked when the red furred vulpine reached out to steady and assist her.  Resentment at the pity he took mixed unpleasantly with another unfamiliar sensation, gratitude for the care he showed, something Anya was not accustomed to from anyone, much less someone who claimed to be 'Master'.

  Who.. Or what was this fox?   Less than five minutes ago he had mercilessly beaten her into submission and now he showed almost affectionate, paternal care for his new black furred charge. It made no sense to the puzzled killer. Either way, the dark haired, emerald eyed business fox had a little surprise planned for his new acquisition.

  "Would you like to meet your mentor? Gelt here will be training you to take his place as head of my security forces.  He's grown tired of the responsibility, poor boy."

  Anya blinked in surprise.  Kaon seemed to be referring to a person present in the room with them, yet this room was quite empty.  Empty save for herself, her new master and..... that massive green metal modern art sculpture.  Then said sculpture moved. Five hundred tonnes of metal that Anya suddenly reassessed was the biggest and most advanced cyber suit she's ever seen began to straighten up from its semi camouflaged defense shell mode.

  It was a monstrosity of cyber engineering a thousand years ahead of anything the knowledge assassin had ever seen, a gigantic white tiger encased in a megalithic tactical dreadnaught suit that resembled a pro-gridiron sports suit in a twisted way. Bulky shoulder pods, reinforced arms and heavyset metallic legs gave the tiger... this.. Gelt the appearance of an ancient gladiator.  Anya could instantly detect his armor was plugged directly into the flesh, sported numerous whipsaw cutters, self-replicating micro missile launchers and a plasma cannon capable of interplanetary fire all hidden beneath interlocking nano and energy defense shields and two feet of diatrium armor at the thinnest point.. The roof was sixteen feet high... this thing had to stoop to even fit in here.

  It made her blood run cold with the realization that even had she somehow, by some fluke stretch of the imagination gained the upper hand over Kaon, this infinitely superior killing machine had been ready to crush her into paste without a seconds thought.   She'd never had any remote chance of winning, Kaon had planned for everything... and now this thing was going to mentor her in... Security measures?  Security for what?? That begged one question that Anya just had to ask as she stared in open mawed shock at the massive cyber organism.... on question that had to be answered as she transferred her disbelieving gaze to this fox who commanded such power as effortlessly as Anya wielded her weapons...

  "Who the hell are you?"

**********************************************

  That impossible fox had turned out to be a god.  Master Kaon, the Lord of emerald, and ruler of the great Jade Palace.  Taking the confused, uncertain canine girl beneath his proverbial wing, Kaon had shown her wonders beyond her imagining and given her training to stretch her abilities beyond anything she'd thought possible. 

  Kaon had taught her the error of her ways, shown her just why her old life had been so very wrong and then offered counseling and advice to help her deal with the mental and emotional trauma of truth revealed.  Anya had been trained in so many martial arts styles and security procedures, not as a servant or object, but as a daughter.

   Even when ,on rare occasions Anya had grievously broken the Master's rules she had not been beaten or tortured as she might have expected, but rather lectured and even spanked like any naughty girl. He had taught her to laugh and cry openly to play and work honestly, to live and even love to some degree.

   Kaon had given Anya as much of her childhood back as he'd been able to and she loved him for it.

  The lanky fourteen year old murderess had blossomed into a skilled, honorable 22 year old captain of security and Anya had locked her age there, living out her time in the palace for countless millennia  in Lady Fern's shadow and at as much of Master Kaon's side as the love-struck female could muster.
 
  Now as they walked together like this, side by side, it was all Anya could do not to simply throw her arms around him and profess her love, despite how unprofessional it might be.  Keeping in mind that she was but a lowly servant,  chief of security or not, the dark furred malamute let out a quiet sigh and wished that her heart was still as numb and void as it used to be.  It would hurt a damn site less than this...  Lost in contemplation, Anya missed the question that kaon threw her way.

  "...... Of Lady Fern?"

  Mortified by her own inattentiveness, Anya blushed scarlet beneath her inky fur.  Here the Master was, desiring her company and she couldn't even hear him out when he spoke to her!  Such laxity would have cost the ex-assassin her hide had it been one of her old Masters.  Luckily, kaon was of far, far kinder disposition.

  "My apologies, my Lord Kaon. I was ...distracted by my own thoughts."

   Kaon smiled wearily at Anya's rich, Russian accent, but there was a twinkle behind those emerald eyes. The tall, androgynous fox paused in his measured steps and turned to his malamute companion.

  "I said,  'What is your honest opinion of Lady Fern'.  Speak freely, now."

   Sucking in a deep breath, Anya thought quickly and carefully.  Even ordered to speak freely by the Master himself, a loose tongue in the palace was a surefire ticket to misery.  To say that Fern took disparaging talk about herself poorly was an....understatement. A little cautious wordplay seemed appropriate.

  "I believe Lady Fern is a shining example of certain special females of the canine persuasion."

  Or in other words... She's a complete bitch.  The double meaning did not escape the Master's notice and, satisfied with this answer, Kaon nodded thoughtfully.  Anya noticed the change in the Masters mood and slipped herself into the shadows.  The attentive malamute girl had been around her heart’s desire long enough to understand when he wanted privacy.

   Lady Anya watched Master Kaon wander away. The once proud god looked... almost broken by everything he had suffered.  Even if those agonies were partially self-inflicted, how much was one person supposed to bear before they crumbled to dust beneath a hundredweight of cares and sorrows? It wasn't fair.

  Standing alone in the cool corridors of the Master's Jade palace, the palace security chief suddenly decided she was off the clock for today.  In fact, Anya wanted nothing more than one heck of a stiff drink..

  Lady Anya eventually found herself staring at the tail end of her third bottle of Russo-Baltique vodka.  After rolling the shot glass between her dark furred fingers for a moment, the depressed malamute downed the expensive contents in a single gulp.  There was virtually no point in trying to drown ones sorrows with copious quantities of booze, you could become tipsy easy enough, but  the Jade Palace itself prevented you from becoming too inebriated past a certain 'safe' limit outside of your own private quarters.  It didn't stop the heartsick canine from trying, though.

  However, a couple of shots into her fourth bottle and just as the depressed , dark furred female was considering putting a couple of bottles on tab and heading back to her room for a real drinking session, Anya realized she had company. A second female slipped onto the bar stool beside her. It was none other than the resident Palace counselor,  Miss Yasmin.  The small, demure little mouse maid immediately fixated her intense, blue eyed gaze onto the white lock of hair that covered the malamute female's facial scar whilst Anya did her level best to ignore the unwelcome intrusion.

  It soon became apparent that Yasmin was going nowhere in a hurry as the blond mouse girl ordered herself a small glass of Romanee-Conti wine. That questioning stare and knowing half smirk never left her features and those wide, round rodent ears remained ever ready for when Anya felt like opening up. The malamute retained her stoic Russian silence, knowing all the while it was useless.  Miss Yasmin was one of the most powerful empathy in the known omniverse and even Anya had to admit that she'd been practically screaming her inner emotional turmoil to anyone with the talent to hear it.

   There were a few moments more of slightly awkward silence before Yasmin smoothed out the pale blouse she wore and cleared her throat in an all too obvious request for attention. Compressing her lips together, maintaining her by now stubborn, if not downright rude inattentiveness, Anya took three quick shots of the rapidly diminishing fourth bottle wishing all the while she really had been inebriated into insensibility.  Not prepared to waste any more time, a massive grin split the mouse girl's muzzle and she leaned in a bit closer.

  "Ok, I give up. Who is it?  Who's the lucky male you're pining over, but are too scared to ask out?"

   Anya's only an immediate response was a grumpy 'tch and a severe sideward glare at the smirking rodent. Secretly however, the ex-assassin was pleased. Even though the small mouse could feel Anya's longings, at least Yasmin had the ethics and morality not to invade her mind deeply enough to weasel out the object of the malamutes affections. Anya would prefer it to stay that way.  No use in hoping for the impossible and having half the palace berate her for it.

  " It doesn't matter.  I'm long since passed crushing like an immature schoolgirl over someone I cannot have."

  Yasmin lifted  her paw and waved a long index finger in a most infuriating fashion.  That all knowing smirk simply broadened even further.  It was obvious that the blonde haired little mouse had taken it upon herself to dish out a dose of what she probably deemed was much needed counseling, despite how Anya might wish to the contrary. The cool, controlled malamute assassin always saw the little slave mouse turned counselor as overly emotional and insufferably nosey. Then again..  That was part of Yasmin's job description.

   "Oh come on!  Someone you 'cannot have'?  In who's mind? You're exceedingly good looking, clever , talented and hold a premiere position within the palace.  Why in Creator's name would any male NOT desire you?"  

  For a blunt answer, Anya put down her shot glass and turned to stare at her mousey companion for a moment, before running a black clawed finger beneath the shock of white hair concealing her scar and lifted it briefly, exposing the jigsaw mess of broken tissue and sickly green orb beneath. To her credit, Yasmin didn't flinch or recoil, though she lost her smile and let out an exasperated sigh. Anya could see where this was headed, next would come the comment about personal self-esteem or probing inquiries into the shallowness of her desired companion. To ward off these lines of conversation, the ruthless malamute decided to open fire with a personal broadside of her own.

  "Though I fail to see how you are qualified to offer me advice, darling. Your romantic entanglements have been less than opportune in the past."

  It was more than enough to make a real spasm of anger flit across Yasmin's features and Anya suddenly felt a slight pang of guilt of what was quite the low blow indeed.  It was Yasmin who was responsible for the great betrayal, breaking Master Kaon's heart.  It was Yasmin who had tried to manipulate  Ancient palace law for her own personal gain and was now in her eighth century of personal exile for her crimes where the Master did not speak to or even look at her. For someone like little Yasmin, who was the Master's personal girl, his love slave and who still held the honor of wearing an Emerald collar, it was harsh punishment indeed.

  Yasmin turned away, staring quietly into the liquid crimson in her tinted wine glass , before slowly downing the contents, savoring the rich flavor dancing across her refined pallet. Satisfied the inquisitive mouse would simply finish her wine and then leave, Anya turned back to her own drink of choice, pouring out yet another shot. As her black furred, well groomed tail began to curl against her thigh, Fern's words came back to haunt the malamute and it was a fitting parting comment for the erstwhile palace counselor, though it was still laced with the bitterness of defeat.

   " Besides...why would He want anything to do with a 'grunt' like me....?"

   Staring morosely at the remnants of her fourth bottle, Anya resigned herself to coping with feelings and longings, desires that would never see the light of day. It took another few moments for her to realize that not only had Yasmin not vacated the premises as hoped, but the mouse was now staring straight at her with openmouthed astonishment! A few seconds later came the stunned outburst Anya had been fearing.

  "Master Kaon?!  You're in love with the Master?!"

  Anya spun on her barstool, a dangerous snarl of rage curling her black lips upwards to reveal long canine  incisors.  Genuinely believing that Yasmin had indeed used her empathy to invade the privacy of her mind to find out that dirty little secret , one paw snapped up almost faster that the eye could follow in a lethal tegatana or sword-hand strike aimed straight at the small mouse girl's jugular!  Yet before that murderous blow could land, cold reality took a grip on the malamute’s outraged ego.  This little mouse was one of the Master's seven, a member of his harem, the fox's personal girl and pet. Even disgraced as she was, Yasmin still pulled far more weight than Anya could ever hope to match and attacking the smirking mouse girl could only end in disaster for the canine assassin.

   Yasmin hadn't moved a muscle.  Of course , she knew instinctively that Anya would stop her attack.  Even if she hadn't , the grey furred empathic mouse was confident she could have subdued the malamute with a simple mental command.  Thus assured of her personal safety, even with the lethal, enraged canine assassin smoldering less than two feet away from her, Yasmin confidently explained her reasoning.

   " It's not that hard to figure out, Anya.  You say you can't 'have Him'  that I’m not the best person to offer you advice and the only person who would be rude and disrespectful enough to call you a grunt is that egotistical bitch, Fern.  Putting all of it together isn't overly difficult, especially for someone like me."

  Letting out a defeated sigh, Anya let all the rage just flow away from her like  beech leaves down a clear stream. Anger was pointless now.  In fact, perhaps the mouse really could offer her advice.  Exiled or not, she was one of the Master's harem and knew him far better than most. Instead of the plethora of juicy tidbits the malamute had expected, Yasmin fixed her with a new kind of look, it was deep and cold , piercing the canine to her core and beyond.  The question, when it came, was the one thing Anya hadn't been expecting.

  "Anya, are you a virgin?"

  It took a lot to genuinely stun the malamute, but that question outright floored her.  Why the hell would Yasmin want to know that? As it so happened, Anya was a virgin.  More than just that, with her early years so full of rigorous martial training and lessons in murder that her sexuality had no time to develop and the potions and draughts she had taken on a regular basis still affected her after all these long , long years.

   Anya had been living in the Master's Jade Palace for countess millennia and in all that time she'd never even had one orgasm, much less experienced sex. There had been no reason, no need and no desire for sexual pleasure ... until recently. Just of late, especially the last few days, the malamute had noticed unexpected changes in her body. Hot and cold flushes, restless nights and her small, pert breasts felt tender. She ached. The irritated canine had dismissed all of it as nothing more than a mild cold. 

   Realizing Yasmin was still waiting for an answer, the mouse girl’s intense stare actually making Anya feel uncomfortable, the suddenly nervous malamute nodded once.   This... was not how she expected things to be. It wasn't  just some one on one counseling session anymore, it had taken on a far deeper meaning. Like any experienced combatant, Anya knew when she was being sized up. Yasmin allowed a faint smile to ghost across her rodent features and her second question was, in some ways, even more personal than the first.

   "Would you give yourself freely to Him, heart , mind and body?"

   A real shiver suddenly ran down Anya's spine. There were... rumors that circulated around the palace. Whispers of a truly Ancient rite of passage, a test as old as the palace itself. It was a clarion call, sent by the Master into every corner of the omniverse into the hearts of a select few females, a seductive whisper promising love and pleasure beyond all measuring if they would only come to him and prove their worth. All who heard that quiet summons were filled with the deepest longing and had no choice but to leave their lives behind and seek out their Master's voice. 

  Those who passed the test...  were gifted with one of the Master's Emerald collars , the ultimate symbol of his undying devotion. There were only seven of these collars and five of them were taken. Countless hundreds of thousands of females took up residence in the palace and worked to gain the Master's favor for just one little chance to prove themselves and earn one of those final two collars.

  For several millennia now, none had managed to succeed.

  There were an untold number of minor conditions and strictures applied to this rite. Most of them were kept secret or were deliberately vague, yet the two largest were almost universally known to every person who dwelled beneath the master's rule.

   "...She must be of pure virtue...."

   "....She must freely give of herself to her Master, heart, mind and body without force or coercion...."

   For the first time, it actually struck Lady Anya Vanrovich that she could easily fulfill  both these conditions. The chinchilla barkeep swapped out the empty vodka bottle for a fresh one and Anya forsook the shot glass for raising the whole thing to her dark canine lips and taking a long pull. Was it a case of 'Dutch courage? Maybe it was... and at length , the malamute female slammed down the now three quarters empty bottle and took a deep, shuddering breath, before answering that critical question and asking one of her own.

"Yes.  Yes I would....but.... would the Master even be interested in a ...relationship with me? "

   Yasmin's grin broadened even further, her blue eyes seemed to sparkle with a warmth and light that Anya hadn't seen in years.  The mouse girl knew as well as any just what Fern had been up to the past few centuries and even the slightest prospect of breaking the emotionally crippling deadlock hold she had on Master Kaon's heart was a chance to good to be ignored. 

  "Kaon has been with Fern and Fern alone for the last eight centuries as well as what...  the six hundred thousand years he spent segregated from the rest of the palace thanks to my interference....? He must be bored of her by now."
  
  A sly grin cracked Anya’s muzzle.  Yasmin had a point.  Familiarity breeds contempt... and all that.  Fern was a pest, a nag , a manipulative, arrogant selfish bitch!  The master would surely jump at the chance to wake up in the morning next to a different face for a change! Anya had to admit, this was a possibility she hadn't even considered up until a few minutes ago, but now that the was this chance, no matter how slim, it wasn't going to release its grip in her heart without an almighty battle

   "Mmmm!  I'm thinking perhaps that Master Kaon would be a little tired of that vixen bitch's worn out pussy, yes? "

  It was a crude jab at the Master's so called first mate, but Yasmin giggled nonetheless.  There was no love lost between mouse and vixen.  Fern had been responsible for displacing Yasmin, ruining her plans and her place by Kaon's side and the little grey furred girl couldn't wait to return the dubious favor.  In fact, if Anya did turn out to be one of the Master's seven then playing a part in bringing them together might just be the catalyst she needed to end her exile! It was in everyone's best interests to see that Anya knew everything there was to know and was as prepared as she could be for the coming trials.. Yasmin stood up and gestured towards the private area at the rear of the bar.

   "Stock up and follow me, I'll answer any questions you might have."

  Yasmin quickly secured another bottle of wine, whilst Anya tucked two more bottles of vodka beneath her arm. Once armed, both girls slipped into a private booth at the back of the bar where their intimate conversations would not be over heard by inquisitive ears. After another couple of shots, the black furred malamute took a deep breath and settled her gaze on her gray furred mousey companion.

   "So, then.  Tell me what I need to know. "

  The small rodent girl contemplated her red drink for a moment , then let out a quiet, almost resigned sigh, nodded and downed the contents of her glass. When Yasmin's eyes met Anya's, the canine found herself unconsciously licking her dark lips. The mouse maid obviously intended to be frank and just thinking about the secrets she was about to impart made Anya's mouth water.

   "You've already jumped the first hurdle.  You've stated your intent and trust me, the powers that need to know already do and they are weighing up your character and the events of your life against the many different criteria and strictures contained within the rite."

   Anya cocked her head, unable to stop a bemused half grin from twisting her normally focused features.  Looking at it from a purely outside angle, what Yasmin had just said sounded not only absurd, but incredibly unflattering as well. 

   "You make it sound like a job interview.  It is hardly what I would call romantic."

  To the malamutes shock, yasmin shrugged and nodded again. It seemed as if the blue eyed mouse was implicitly agreeing with the statement even though Anya had honestly meant it in the spirit of humor and jest, laden with perhaps just a little sarcasm.  After pouring out another glass of Romanee-Conti , Yasmin simply continued.

  "In a sense, it's exactly that.  You've tended your application and now it's being assessed to see if you qualify for the interview."

  Anya frowned, losing her grin, the corners of her black lipped muzzle curling down.  It sounded so cold and formal, almost clinical in fact.  It did not speak of the passion, the pleasure and love promised to those who won the Masters heart. Yet before the distracted malamute could speak, even as the next question was dancing on her lips, Yasmin answered in a soft, gentle voice

   "If you don't pass this first test, nothing will happen. Your life and his will continue as it always was.  However, if you do.. Then the Master will come to you. He will desire to take you then and there and you must yield to him.  It's your one and only chance."

  Yasmin lurched to her feet suddenly and leant forwards over the table.  Anya blinked in surprise.  The mouse girl's pupils were dilated, her cheeks and the inner flesh of her large oval ears had a pink tinge to them. That long, whip like tail of hers was twitching rhythmically and Anya's sensitive husky nose could suddenly detect the faintest pheromone scent.

    The merest though of her first night in Kaon's arms was enough to send the slave mouse into an acute state of arousal and Anya came to realize just how hard Yasmin's exile must be on the deeply miserable, lonely, needy little mouse girl.  When her rodent nose was mere centimeters from Anya's canine muzzle, Yasmin spoke and her voice was thick and hushed, shuddering and trembling with a mixture of repressed desire... and unpleasant memories.

   "It hurts.  It hurts so much. Master Kaon knows just how and where to hurt you... be it physical or mental or emotional or all three. When he confronts you , he'll do everything he can to torture and break your love and faith in him because he must...yet.....the more he hurts you the greater chance you have so long as you can withstand the anguish... and it's not just the physical pain of losing your virginity or his size inside you or the force he'll use.. Everything you are is seared by his fire, your heart and your mind are incinerated by it in the worst possible way as it all becomes his."  

  A shocked Anya realized Yasmin was crying.  Warm tears dribbled down her flushed cheeks to drip from the underside of her short mousy muzzle to the cold, hardwood table.  It was an obviously horrific memory and by the way Yasmin was shaking and sobbing, leaning against the table for support with her head down, Anya surmised that the remembrance had actually triggered some sort of mild post-traumatic stress episode, so raw was its intensity. This wasn't what Anya had expected.. Or wanted to hear when Yasmin took her back here. Then Yasmin stopped her trembling, her crying and spoke in a terrifying, emotionlessly flat tone.

   "My first time? My test?  He raped me.  I was so convinced he could not, would never hurt me that way.. So that's what he did.  I was only ten years old....it went on and on...and just when I thought he couldn't hurt me any worse.. He tied with me. He forced that damn knot of his inside me no matter how unready or how unprepared I was...or how broken or scared I felt and just for a few seconds, in the small part of my mind not obliterated by pain I wanted to hate him.... and so will you because once he's through with you, you will finally understand."

 This was ludicrous!  No matter what, Anya simply couldn't believe the Master would wreak such torment on anyone, much less someone he loved! Then Yasmins paw suddenly shot up, slapping the disbelieving look clean off Anya's face leaving her gaping in open mawed shock . The little mouse was obviously dead serious, she meant every word of this horrible confession. Anya couldn't comprehend what was the point of telling her this, that all she could look forwards to was agonizing pain??  Where was that love she had heard in the quiet whispers that haunted her dreams?  What was she supposed to understand?! Yasmin soon told her.

   "You mustn’t hate him. Kaon holds no secrets from us. Forget what you know of his past.. He tells no-one the truth of that save for those that are his.  Yet even if he did tell you of what he used to be, you wouldn't believe him. So he'll show you the truth instead and you need to accept it ,no matter what he does to you or how it hurts... He's going to hurt you worse than you've ever been hurt in your life and you have to let him do it.  This is absolute judgment, the final test, the greatest secret to becoming his and wearing his collar of emerald."

  Then Yasmin lifter her head to gaze into Anya's amber eyes and the malamute saw so much sadness there, in those tear streaked, sky blue windows to the soul.... and she understood. So much sorrow and pain, yet the small mouse wasn't crying because of Master Kaon.  She was crying for him.

  "You have to be able to forgive him for what he was and what he's done as well as love what he is now. In this entire omniverse...out of all the females in countless universes and realities and dimensions... there are only seven of us who can...."
  ******

   It was a long, slow walk back to Anya’s quarters from the entertainment district.  A worried frown was etched on the malamute's troubled canine features. Yasmin had left in a quiet, almost depressed slump shortly after revealing the first of what the black furred female was sure would be a series of shocking truths. Anya knew that the Master was well aware of all the pain she had suffered during her life and yet... if he came to her there was worse in store?  It was a troubling line of thought, considering the brutality and blood of the young malamute assassin's early years.

  So absorbed in her own thoughts was she, something unexpected happened to the normally poised and focused ex assassin.  Anya stumbled over an unnoticed object lying in the middle of the crystalline corridor. Regaining her balance before she landed heavily on her knees, a slightly embarrassed Anya was relieved to see the corridor was empty of other palace residents, no one had seen her awkward gaffe.

   Directing her gaze to the object that had nearly tripped her, Anya expected to see a cub's lost toy or perhaps a misplaced broom, instead her single amber eye widened in shock as it lit upon a massive book, nay , and a veritable tome of exquisite beauty! It was about sixty centimeters long and possibly fifty wide..  Three or four centimeters thick, perfect in its construction.
  
   The covers were centimeter thick molded gold , countless intricate runes and symbols were adorned upon its surface and down its spine , all glowing with a pale green warmth. Inset into its surface were eight gems, each one cut to have seven sides. The seven smaller gems were set in a circular pattern around the eighth. A pink diamond, a blood red ruby, a royal sapphire and a deep violet amethyst, a gorgeous kingfisher jade, a pitch black opal and a burning yellow topaz were set in perfect synchronization around a massive, sublimely verdant emerald.

 Whilst five of the smaller gems were shining with radiant brilliance, glistening and reflecting the gentle light given off by the Palace's crystalline walls, the pink diamond was dull and listless, as if it still slumbered within its setting and the topaz...  the topaz was pulsing with a soft inner light, a sleeper caught between light and dark.. Anya didn't hesitate, didn't even pause to consider her actions.  The malamute snatched up the wondrous tome without a second thought and dashed to her quarters at the greatest speed her toned, muscular legs could produce. All that she knew was that this book, this gift was meant for her and her alone. Her heart told her that much.

     As a high ranking member of the Master's Palace , Anya had earned the right to create her own small pocket reality, a place she could feel comfort and peace, tailored to her specific whim and design. It was a vast cherry orchard, perpetually veiled in powdered snow.  Stands of pink blossomed cherry trees stood silent sentinel amidst the cool, crisp air as tendrils of steam from the many volcanic hot springs that spotted the landscape curled around their trunks.

   Deeper into this scene of calm tranquility was Lady Anya's private Dojo.  A modest structure, well ventilated, craft from bamboo. It had but three rooms, a large training floor with gymnastic equipment, punch bags and lined with racks of varying martial weapons.  A small tiled bathroom provided the fastidious malamute with the comforts of the modern world and the adjoining bedroom was almost Spartan in construction, containing little more than a writing desk and a plain single bed.

  Out behind Anya's bedroom, directly by the large window by her bedhead was an intricate bamboo water garden. It was a quiet, serene place of meditation and contemplation as water flowed through the cut bamboo pipes and culverts in a soothing liquid serenade surrounded by thick groves of tall standing bamboo. The faint scent of deep forest , musty and mossy permeated the air, lending a feeling of age and grace to the surrounds and it was here that Anya directed her eager steps.

  Taking a moment to prepare, Anya stripped her tight fitting black velvet bodysuit from her athletic form.  Stretching out her limbs, feeling the muscles crack with the strain, the ebon furred Malamute found herself suddenly wishing for a full length standing mirror. Not one given to vanity or self-preening, Lady Anya still ensured her dark, gold tinged fur was well brushed and clean but right now she had the most peculiar urge to look at herself more closely than the small bathroom cabinet mirror could provide.

  It was strange, she'd never considered herself attractive or feminine yet for some unfathomable reason she had recently acquired a desire to 'look good' , especially where the Master was concerned. Just thinking about him made her heart beat a fraction faster. Anya winced suddenly as she felt the muscles in her lower belly twitch, a warm sensation that seemed to travel downwards and pool between her legs. So odd. The malamute mused that she may have strained something in her last training session. Though in truth it didn't feel like a painful cramp, it was more like a pleasurable spasm....

   Placing one paw just below the dark furred indent of her navel, Anya indulged in a little relaxing massage.  It did help. It was a relief to stroke away that tension in her belly.  Back and forth , her strong fingers working at the taut muscles, up and down, feeling the stress starting to leave her.   The malamute closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation.  It felt a little different than she was used to. Still, why not fully relax and meditate before exploring the gift of her gem encrusted tome?

......

What was she doing?  Anya blinked in shock, snatched her paw away from where it had been stroking lower, almost between her muscular thighs. Had she just started...  masturbating? What the hell?! She was a paragon of control and discipline, not some hormone riddled teenager! Or... after all these long years of chemically enforced celibacy were the effects of those noxious enhancement draughts starting to wear off, her body finally repairing the damage done? 

  That had to be it! I made perfect sense! That was why she'd been on edge lately, why she'd been sore and tender, why her days had been full of melancholy longing and why her nights were filled with restless , unnamed desires. For the first time in her life, Anya was going into heat and had probably been that way for at least a day or two. It was an incredible revelation for the stunned and delighted malamute! Nor did it escape her that such timing was perhaps a tad too convenient.

  In such a state, Anya would be confused, stricken with unfamiliar longings and desires, her judgment clouded by strange needs and emotions.  The malamute assassin was extremely vulnerable right now, and if she herself knew it , the Master Kaon surely would.  Was it too far a stretch to imagine he had possibly planned and aligned these events to coincide with the sexual awakening of her body?  Anya mused that it was more than just likely, the Master knew everything that happened in his Palace and the fact that he had deliberately been spending more time with her lately could have been for that very reason.  
  
   Now feeling more than a little overwrought and uncharacteristically stressed, Anya retreated to the calm sanctity of her serene water gardens and lay on her belly upon a soft foam meditation mat with the great golden tome in front of her. Though she did not see it as such, her mannerisms were more befitting a giddy, love-struck teen with her dairy than a cold professional killer studying a training manual. 

  Nervously, Anya flipped open the first page of the gem encrusted book. There were no words to be found, but rather images, moving and lifelike, almost three dimensional and tangible unlike a television set's flat two dimensional screen. What she saw made her blink in surprise.   It was a moving image of Master Kaon and Mistress Fern. To put it bluntly, they were fucking.  The shocked canine realized she was witnessing something extremely personal and private,  Ferns claiming.

  ....the fire furred vixen was pinned on her back by the Master, she was sobbing with pleasure, vixen cum and a little blood streaming over her rump as she was fucked mercilessly by that massive fox cock.  The masters' wings began to unfurl and his huge, iron hard knot began to swell....

 It drew her amber eyed gaze, locked it onto the lewd scene and didn't want to let go. Anya realized this book was showing her kaon's conquests and would display them all, one after the other for her viewing pleasure, Fern.. Cindy..  Yasmin.. Debbie...  all of them. In fact... it might even be possible this tawdry procession could arouse the sexually innocent malamute enough to allow her to masturbate freely for the very first time! It was a wonderful, warm thought.  The perfect way to start her new life!  Yet even as her dark furred paw began to trail back down between her ebon fuzzed thighs, one final thought overrode Anya' fogged senses. 

   This was wrong.

Almost without realizing it, Anya slammed the book shut. It closed with a quiet whispered sigh of contentment.  For a few moments, confusion and then... realization.  That had been another test, A test of her character to see how committed she was not only to the Master himself, but his other seven as well and the suddenly happy malamute knew she'd passed with flying colors.  It was then that words swam briefly into view on the cover of her book, almost like it's title...

  ....Could you forgive someone who'd treated your life like a plaything...?

  Those words sent a cold chill down Anya's spine.  They were her words, she'd said them, that much was certain.   Only. They hadn't yet been said. That line was from an undetermined point in her near future, yet for the life of her, the nervous, puzzled malamute couldn't even begin to fathom what they could possibly mean or what could incite such bitterness within her breast.

  Feeling g increasingly ill at ease, Lady Anya decided swiftly that she was in dire need of relaxation and a dip in the hot springs outside her dojo seemed just the ticket.  Swiftly closing her book, the tense malamute made her way out to the large , warm volcanic spring behind her bedroom.  It was a quiet place here, restful and serene with little but the bubbling murmur of the spring and the gentle fragrance of cherry blossom for company.

    It was the work of but a moment to strip off her robe to allow the malamute to expose her black furred canine form to the cool air and then seconds later, to slip into the warm , comforting embrace of the hot spring’s fertile waters.  Though this worked immediate wonders on Anya's twitchy muscles, the gentle heat did nothing to ease the turmoil in her mind and heart..

....not long now...

   Even as Anya tried to relax and let the heated mineral waters of the bubbling hot spring soothe her aches and ease the tension still embedded deep in her muscles, the alert, knowledgeable malamute felt ripples in the waters.  Someone had slid into the spring a few feet away from her, unannounced and uninvited.  Though in truth, he had no need to announce his coming.  Anya had been expecting him from the minute she closed her golden tome. That soft, melodic voice filled her ears and brought with it both whispers of a promised love.... and sorrowful regret for the pain to come.

   "Hello, Anya."

   Taking a deep breath, Lady Anya opened her eyes to gaze upon her Master's naked body.  Kaon was lounging half in, half out of the spring's waters as she was, laying back, resting his lean, muscled form against the smooth, heated rocks yet the crimson furred vulpine god seemed ill at ease.  He met her questing eyes for an instant and what Anya saw behind those emerald orbs made her flinch, canine ears wilting back against her raven hair. That expression didn't promote confidence within her, Kaon was not here for casual conversation or pleasant dalliance. His eyes were hard, cruel and calculating and even as Anya's tail began to instinctively curl, she knew that Yasmin's words had truth to them.

   "You don't need to try and impress on me the gravity of the commitment to you, Master.  I willingly give myself to you, you only need take what is yours."

  It was both a statement and a plea. Anya had already suffered such anguish in her life, yet if Yasmin's explanation were to come wholly true the Master had yet worse in store for her. This was not a desirable occurrence in anyone's mind, let alone hers.  Creator only knew what horrors the god-fox could subject her to. Lady Anya , expert assassin...  perfectly honed killer.... was...  afraid. Her wish for a peaceful resolution went unfulfilled.

  "I am so, so very sorry, Anya , but as there are strictures to the rite that you must adhere to, there are those I must obey and they demand that I show you the truth of me... if I wish to ever claim you as mine there is no other way."

   Kaon continued to fixate his gaze on her and despite how uncomfortable those eyes made her, Anya returned his stare. If he truly intended to seek her harm, then the assassin would treat this exactly as any other battle.  The first rule of combat? Never take your eyes off your opponent.  At length, Kaon let out a whispered, resigned sigh....

  "All your life you've been hurting, physically, mentally and emotionally. You've done unspeakable things all in the name of someone else's glory whilst your kind heart and gentle soul screamed in outraged anguish. I wonder... how deep is your love?  How much more pain can you suffer....  before you break?"

   The Master’s voice had hardened, with a bleeding, jagged edge to it like shattered obsidian shards. It was terrifying to hear his speak that way. Cold, analytical and uncompromising.  The truth world be told and would be known.. And Anya didn't want to find out what that truth was anymore.  The slightly panicky Malamute knew she wasn't in control of this situation and whatever Kaon had planned, he was sure that it would tear her apart.  It was in his voice, his eyes and soon... the truth was in his words.

   "With Fern, I snapped her pride in half.  I tormented and humiliated her in front of her peers, everyone she had ever respected and desired respect from, ridiculed and laughed at her. I crushed her dreams beneath my heel and then had her submit to me as a slave girl submits to her Master."

  Anya winced. It was difficult to imagine the prideful, egotistical, self-serving vixen willingly yielding to anyone after falling so far by his hand. After being so shriven of all her dignity and self-respect then being made to serve like a common slavish harlot.. It must have been a sickeningly bitter pill for the fiery female to swallow.

"...  With Yasmin... I simply needed to rape her. Though she was slave born and pleasure trained, she imagined, dreamed and fantasized about our first time together as being a tender act of ecstasy stricken bliss where she yielded to me again and again.. Over and over , climax after euphoria ridden climax.  So I made her scream and bleed, I brutalized her, not even affording her the meager care given to a Master's less favored girls but rather used her as a piece of meat.  She was....  but ten years old."

  At this damning confession, even Anya had to turn away. She hadn't wanted to believe the little mouse maid, but now Kaon himself had confirmed the awful truth.  It was an hideously vile thing to do to one so young and helpless, even if she had been born and trained to serve the intimate desires of males. At least there was remorse laced thick through his tone , not that it lent the slightest iota of justification to his actions. The fact that he would so sadistically torture the tiny, defenseless mouse girl to simply prove a point bode ill for Anya's own immediate future.   

    It was then that the troubled malamute girl realized her grievous error...  she had taken her eyes from her opponent , lowered her defenses and let herself be swept away in thought rather than focusing on the moment.. And like any expert warrior , Kaon chose this moment of vulnerability to strike.

  "...  And for you.... my sweet, darling little Anya.... there was only the sight of a lone, darkened figure standing on a hill, overseeing the kidnapping of a young , innocent ebon furred puppy... and the bloody massacre of her beloved family...."

    A moment, forever frozen in time as Anya blinked at this, not understanding what Kaon had just said , she sought his eyes and... He looked away. Then understanding.. And so much became clear.  The Master had been right. With but a few words he'd wreaked more agony on her than she'd ever dreamed possible. The fact... the truth that the person responsible for her entire life being the way it was...

  "You...!  It was... you’re doing?! "

  Anya's voice was so choked with tortured rage she could barely speak. Kaon didn't try to deny it.. Or disabuse her of the notion but the fact he wouldn't meet her eyes was all the proof the shuddering black furred female needed.   He had been there, seen what had happened and he might as well have butchered her family with his own two paws if he had simply stood by and let it happen when he could have stopped the slaughter with nothing more than a wave of his hand!

   Yet there was an even darker thought lurking just behind that one.  Overseeing, he had said.  Did that mean that he was not simply complacent to allow her suffering, but that it had been engineered by his hand?!  Could that even be possible, that kaon had condemned her to a hellish existence simply to meet his own selfish ends? Anya gritted her teeth, black lips curling into an enraged snarl. The more she thought about it , the more likely it became.

  Her entire existence was nothing more than a toy to this creature! She was a puppet on a string, dancing to the tune he played.  Living a lie, complacent in an illusion of control whilst Kaon manipulated events to his liking from the shadows.  It was simple to see now how  he had known about her assassination stratagems long before Anya had tried to kill him, he knew her methods, her motives, everything about her.  It was safe to say that kaon knew Anya even better than she knew herself.  It left the malamute feeling nothing short of violated.

  It also meant that Kaon knew exactly who she was when he had burned her eye out.  He had known, yet he had tortured and mutilated her anyways!  Seared her flesh, blinded her in one eye even though he claimed to love her.  Why would he do something so vile?  The answer was, like so many things, simple and chilling.  It was insurance.  With her face so horribly scarred, her self confidence in relationships had been nonexistent and it served as a decent turn off to any overly inquisitive male.  Kaon had made quite sure the only male to show any interest in her as a female was himself and that He was the only male Anya felt desire for.

  He had  warped her reality around his own vision of the future.  Distorted her existence to suit his own desires. And for what? What could possibly justify twisting her life into such a convoluted spiral of blood and death, loneliness and shame?! Some perverse, romantic notion that he could then take her out of that blighted darkness and she'd fall into his arms, forever grateful for such a loving, tender act of mercy?!  It was sick!  More than just sick, it was depraved!

   What god did something like this?  What honorable deity wreaked such tortured havoc on a single life for their own amusement?  There were rules and strictures that prevented conduct like this!  No god or deity could ever get away with defiling an innocent soul in the manner he had for his own personal gain!  

   "What.... what kind of god are you?!."

  Kaon laughed.  The bastard fox actually laughed at her, at her pain and anguish.  It seemed to amuse him greatly. As Anya looked on, fighting against her red hazed swimming vision and the all-consuming wrath lurking behind it, Kaon simply shook his head, that loathsome, all too familiar smirk etched on his foxy muzzle.  At length, the smile faded and Master Kaon let out a long suffering sigh.

  "I've never claimed to be a god. I've never wanted that responsibility."

  The immediate accusation of 'Liar'  that danced on Anya's black canine lips died away even before it was uttered as she put that seemingly false statement into perspective. What he had just said... was in essence , true.  Not once, in the countless millennia that she had lived within Kaon's jade Palace had Anya ever heard the fox refer to himself as a god.  Others did, yes. Fern, Yasmin, other member of his palace, servants and citizens alike all thought of him as their god, yet even after all this time, Kaon himself refused to take up that mantle?  That simply made things worse!

  " You claim you are no god because it doesn't suit you?  You created this beautiful palace out of nothing!  Your power sustains it, you created life and breath from dust! You rule by virtue of strength and wisdom no mere mortal could ever hope to possess! These people, from Fern herself to the lowliest cleaner , they worship you, pray to you, they look to you for their needs, wants and daily sustenance, and you are everything to them! To them, you are their god! What is a god , then, if not all these things?! "

   Kaon didn't answer.  The red furred vulpine simply stared at the ripples in the heated pool, his fingers disturbing the silken sheen of the waters in a rhythmic motion to send minuscule waves spreading across it's calm, warm surface.  Anya lifted one black furred arm, pointing a damning finger at the Master of the jade palace, shaking with barely suppressed rage.

   "  You are so adamant that everyone in this palace works for their living. That they attend to the duties and responsibilities you assign to them and yet you refuse to take up the mantle given to you, the mantle of godhood you created for yourself and that everyone who lives beneath your roof desires you to have simply because it's too much 'responsibility' for you?!  You aren't just a hypocrite, you're a coward as well!"

   The Master's head snapped up to send a wicked, flinty eyed gaze slashing into the outraged malamute, it's intensity, the emotion and power behind it left Anya reeling as if struck by a physical blow. The calm control had vanished from his expression, replaced by what seemed to be actual anger and when he spoke now, that voice carried with it all the comfort of a cold, lonely grave.

   "You speak to me of hypocrisy and cowardice?! You who slaughtered fathers in front of their children, children in front of their fathers for money, for profit, for personal glory and some twisted concept of honor! All the while your heart and soul were crying out in anguish, sickened by the horrors you were committing in your selfish quest for vengeance!"

     Anya's jaw worked silently for a minute, stunned as she was by sheer incredulity! That statement was more unfair and unjust than anything she'd ever hear the Master say to her in regards to her past.  He knew her, knew her past life , knew how she felt and what she went through and yet to throw it all back into her face in such a manner was just cruel! 

 It hurt.

  "You.... you know... I have told you, over and over again that I regret what I did during my time in the clan!  It was you yourself who showed me how wrong I had been, showed me the truth of my actions and I thought you had forgiven me for that , Creator only knows how long you've helped me try to forgive myself!"

  Pain swiftly gave way to anger once more, but it was not simple wrath that gripped the ebon furred canine girl's heart. It was deeper than that, more virulent, it was an icy-cold heat, a frozen, blistering molten inferno of emotion, loss mixed with rage, grief and pain intertwined by love betrayed. It was the first seed, pure black hatred of this male Anya had thought she loved , she wanted it to grow, to take away all this anguish, to let herself be swept away by a tornado of dead emotions..  Anything to numb the torment her heart was in!  Choked and guttural, Anya virtually spat out her next words.

   " Now you tell me.. After all the counseling.. The lectures and lessons... my grief and misery....  After you confess that my life was you’re doing, you DARE to lay there and tell me that it was my responsibility?! Have you any clue what they did to me?! What they forced me to do?!  It was by your design that I did what I did and I had no choice! It's your fault you BASTARD!!"

   Her voice rose to a near shriek of volcanic rage before dying away.  Anya was shaking like a leaf, lower lip trembling as she shuddered with wracking spasms of intense misery and overwhelming emotion. Yet when Kaon answered, his voice was cold as glacial ice, and his words slashed into the malamute girl right down to her core like shards of broken glass..

  "I didn't force you to kill. Neither did the clan. You always have a choice and you chose to keep killing , to keep murdering. You don't think you had an alternative? You always carried a blade.  One simple cut and the killing would have stopped with that last death. So I say again, don't blame me for your own gutless cowardice."
  
  It was true, what Yasmin had said.  Just when Anya had thought the fox incapable of inflicting any worse anguish upon her tortured soul, he had taken it just that one step further. Was that what he thought? His true feelings towards her? Why was he being deliberately cruel, sickeningly so in fact? Why even confront her with this, to be sure of alienating her heart and destroying their relationship even before it had truly begun?? For the  simple sick , sadistic pleasure of hurting her?? 

   Anya's amber eyed gaze hardened into granite.  This. Creature, this thing sharing the pool with her had no heart, no soul.  It was a twisted, manipulative monster, the kind of depraved being she'd taken delicious relish in killing during her youth. Anya had thought for so long that her quest for vengeance was complete, that the murderers of her family had all been dealt bloody justice.  It wasn't quite true, there was one left who had yet to answer for his crimes... Anya's voice was little more than a venomous, sibilant hiss.

  "You hypocritical bastard!  You speak of choices?! What choice does a man or woman. Or a child as I was, have when no matter what they do, the outcome has already been pre-determined for them or that their 'choice' is so ridiculous, so unfair that it is no choice at all?! Could YOU forgive someone who'd treated YOUR life like a plaything?! No, Kaon, you will pay for what you did to me!"

  Even as the outraged and enraged malamute snatched up her flick knife and snapped out the blade, determined to end this monster's life, Anya knew it would be a pointless endeavor.  Kaon couldn't be harmed by mortal means, yet even so, the virtually heartbroken female was still prepared to try and end his worthless life.....if she somehow succeeded then the spirits of her murdered family would be finally freed...  and if not, then the canine girl would be saved the bother of ending her own life shortly after. Then the Master spoke once more in a new tone, soft and gentle.....almost as if he was upset.

   "I give you my word, Anya.  I will not move.. Or defend myself.  When you strike, I will die. If you want your revenge.. Then take it."

  So saying, Kaon dipped his lithe, androgynous form beneath the still waters and swam to her side.  Surfacing, the Master leant over her rage shaken body and graced her with a weary smile even as Anya's knife wielding arm slowly drew back for a powerful thrust, meaning to drive the wicked blade into her tormentor's left eye. Moments before the bloody end, Kaon spoke up one final time and this time there was a curious query to his words.

  "Have you ever wondered, though, what the inscription on your knife actually says?" 

 Out of the corner of her eye , Anya saw the runic symbols on her blade begin to reform into legible words and despite the fact that every good warrior knows the first rule of combat , never take your eyes from your opponent ,Anya did. A lifetimes curiosity begged her to flick her gaze to her knife and read that long sought after phrase.  What she saw took her breath away, a revelation so astonishing that nothing in the entire universe could have prepared her for the spectacular, heart wrenching wonder of ultimate realization.

 '...To Anya, from Kaon.  Forgive me....'

   Those words. Out of all the possibilities... all her musings and speculation, none of it compared to the impossible reality of this truth revealed. Gaping in open mawed shock, gulping for air like a stranded fish, Anya stared and blinked, shook her canine head then stared anew. There, writ large on her blade, inscribed millennia upon millennia ago in preparation for this day, this moment.... the Master's heart revealed. 

  "Your capture and the deaths of your family were fixed points in time.  I could not prevent it.  However , I could control and alter it, manipulate the events to my advantage and to my own ends.  Thus, I did."

    He had...  used her family.. Their blood... her grief and anguish as....mere tools to realize his own selfish desires! Shaping her life, twisting her into the image he saw as befitting a mate of his and for her role within his palace....  and ever since that first moment of violent death.. Every day, every hour and every second that blade had been by her side he had been asking...  pleading...  begging.....

  "Forgive me..."

   Numbness flowed through her body, radiating out from her heart , through her belly and down her limbs. It was a freezing chill that neither anger nor bloodlust could withstand and all emotion fled her trembling form before it's icy wrath. Shocked into mute silence , Anya simply stared at those words and the picture suddenly shifted focus.. The pieces of the jigsaw rearranging themselves into yet another new set of truths. 

  "Those that hear my call all have a spark inside them.  It is the possibility... no matter how small, that they can understand me.  That they can see what I was, what I am and forgive all of it out of love for me. Yet occasionally, so very rarely... a female is born with a spark inside her that burns so hot and so bright that I am drawn to her as a moth to flame. I feel her in my heart, sense it on every level of my consciousness and every thought, all my will ...all my power is instantly focused on her... "

  He had been watching over her entire life. All the times she should have been caught and killed...  dropping through a skylight in front of a newly installed , undocumented security camera only to find it switched off... .. being trapped behind a magnetically locked door yet spotting a 'misplaced' security keycard lying a few get away... a thousand and one other little details came flooding back.  Things Anya had attributed to her natural skills or just a lucky break were explained away in one simple instant of realization.

  "Do you truly believe, that after existing for so many long, lonely millennia and searching for the most precious and rare of stars in amidst a universe teeming with  life and light that I would not notice the birth of one of my own and prepare a path for her?"

     Slowly, ever so slowly, Kaon leant to her, pressing his crimson furred body to her trembling, ebon furred form, molding it to her, comforting and caressing even as the position was dominating and even brazen as his paws began to roam through her fur, along sensual feminine curves. Soft words from the heart, whispered into the triangular curve of one canine ear, his voice so quiet and gentle, laden with grief and love, longing and desire. 

  "I could have done nothing, I could have sat back and let you live your life. You would not have lived to see your seventh year. You would have been free from pain but at what cost? I, I would suffer the pain and loss of one of my own before I had even had chance to know her and you, all the things I have taught you, the wonders you have seen.. Experiences both beautiful and joyous lost forever to the infinite variation of time."
  
   Anya couldn't help herself. Her body, so inexperienced and confused was reacting to his gentle yet needy explorations.   One paw of his, stroking from her navel and up over her belly...... stroking around and caressing the swelling curve of one small , pert breast to linger for a moment on one pink, fleshy nub that hardened at the feather light caress..... Then up, paw tips brushing along the line of her collar and neck .... Beneath her jawline and over her cheek, till one finger cupped beneath that shock of white hair and lifted, showing him her scars, the damage he had wrought.

 "Can you imagine.. My beautiful raven furred Anya, the choice I was faced with? To save you I had to put you into a hell of my own design, cage you within a jagged prison of blood soaked steel, even providing you with the tool to end your own life should you have desired it with nothing more than the faintest hope that one day you would understand why. Yet I would do so again without hesitation. I would rather you loath me for the rest of eternity than forfeit what short time I have spent beside you...."

   It was then that the truth became so very clear. As Yasmin had said, Anya understood ....everything.  It was plain to see.  It spoke of a cold, calculating intelligence looking from the past to countless thousands of years into the future , manipulating events and occurrences to achieve his desired outcome. Kaon had controlled her life from the moment she was born.  Engineered it towards one goal, a single moment in time for just one chance that the tiniest glimmer of light would shine within an ocean of liquid dark. 

  Yet the final choice.... was hers. As Anya's quiet gaze lifted from those words inscribed on her blade... words of love.. Of longing.... a plea, a command... a wish.....  As tears started to flow down her ebon furred cheeks for the first time since Kaon burned her eye out so long ago.. She met His eyes and this time... the crimson furred deity-fox did not look away. 

    He was the Master and monster....her suitor and her violator... her guardian and her defiler... her teacher and her destroyer.... He was all this and so much more, yet right now as the trembling malamute girl stared into the blazing light reflected behind his piercing emerald eyes all she could see was a scared little cub who was terrified of losing someone he truly loved.

  It was time.

  "What... am I even doing here?  Why did it have to be this way?  Who am I...  WHAT am I ?!

 He'd tortured her, he'd protected her... helped her....hurt her. So many emotions, all foreign, all so powerful, new and frightening exploded inside little Anya Vanrovich in a whirling maelstrom of confusion .. Her voice rose to a scream, she couldn't see any more with the tears clouding her vision. It was the one thing she still needed to know...the one truth he hadn't revealed to her yet.  One more question, then... just one. 

   "WHAT AM I TO YOU?!"

  Like everything Anya had experienced up to this point, the answer to her question was so very simple. Kaon leant forwards just slightly and kissed her. It was just a few seconds, frozen forever in time that it took Lady Anya to understand as fox and malamute lips meshed together in that age old ritual of intimacy.  It was true what they said, that the evidence of a man's love was in his kiss.

  When contact broke scant moments later, Anya found herself staring into the depths of the Masters eyes, there was a twinkle there, within those deep emerald orbs.  Suddenly , Anya's expression hardened and her weapon wielding right arm snapped up in a sweeping cross strike...to deliver a hard open palmed slap straight across Kaon's muzzle and as the flic knife floated slowly to the bottom of the heated pool, Lady Anya threw her arms about her new mate and returned his stolen kiss with all the emotion she could muster.

   At length, the two broke once more and Kaon had the good graces to look slightly abashed.

  "I guess I deserved that much..."

  Anya gritted her teeth for a second in a half grin, half snarl, before cutting loose with a tirade that expressed countless millennia of frustrations, fears, hurts, hopes and longings.

  "Yes, you did.  I spent countless millennia beneath your whim and will.. I intend to see you spend the next few countless millennia making it up to me! You can start by growing a pair of balls and putting that bitch Fern back into her place!"

Kaon lost his wry grin. Leaning back down towards his new dark furred paramour, one of his red furred paws began to roam again, this time heading down over Anya's belly. Blinking in surprise, the malamute realized that her vulpine lover had something else in mind first. It also occurred to Anya that he'd been putting up with the scent of her blossoming heat ever since he'd entered the forest grounds and that her body wanted this almost as much as he did.

 However as that paw slid down towards her mound, Anya bit her lip with apprehension.  There was a little secret she needed to share with kaon before he had a possibly nasty shock.  

  "Kaon, love, stop. You need to know I..."

    Too late.
  The master's paw encountered not the smooth mound and twin lips usually associated with an anthro female, but rather the raised spade of proud flesh more commonly seen on feral bitches.  Kaon's astonishment was plain to see on his face..

   "You're a half feral? "

  Anya flushed crimson beneath her dark fur and nodded, blushing not just with shame, but with the sensations that touch had invoked between her legs.  It was hot, wet need, nowhere as powerful as a normal females due to Anya's own personal problems, but desire nonetheless.  A sudden thought occurred to the embarrassed, squirming malamute.  

  "Wait... you didn't know?"

  After so long watching and observing her it seemed impossible that Kaon didn't know her dirty little secret.  Yet the miniscule shake of his foxy head confirmed his ignorance of the malamute girl's personal state.  

   "I followed and watched you, yes.  But you weren’t a peepshow for my amusement.  I always allowed you your privacy..."

  It made Anya feel warm inside, the realization of the level of respect Kaon held for her.  Still, now would he want to sleep with her, knowing the truth?  The apprehensive ,dark furred canine needn't have worried as the master licked his lips a little with anticipation.

 "It's been several millennia since I enjoyed the company of a real female such as yourself. .."

  A real female?  Did he know what he'd just said? Considering the Fern was the only female kaon had slept with for well...millennia now that was the biggest personal jab that Anya had ever heard the Master take at his first mate. It casually insulted the vixen on almost every level!   Maybe, just maybe , Kaon was getting his old confidence back.  Well...  Anya HAD asked him to grow a pair where Fern was concerned..

   There was little more time for conjecture , however as Kaon's stroking and caressing became more urgent.  It was obvious the fox male was more than a little desperate to consummate their relationship, as if he feared Anya might change her mind after the fact.  He needn't have worried, the dark furred, half feral beauty had no intentions of dumping her new mate, and however she'd keep this incident in mind when dealing with the fox in future. Mate or not, Kaon was a devious bastard that needed to be closely watched, for his own sake as much as anyone else’s....

   Determined to show that it was she and not be in control of just when and how Anya would lose her virginity, the canine girl placed a broad paw in the middle of Kaon's red furred chest and firmly pushed him away, ignoring his quizzical expression.  Seductively, Anya turned in the water and ascended the stone steps , out of the heated waters and into the crisp orchard air.  Kaon had to admit.. She was exquisitely gorgeous to behold now that he'd gotten his first proper look at his new malamute girl..

  Anya's fur was so very black, dark not like ebony, but almost like a liquid abyss that rippled over her superbly muscular and toned body.  Droplets of water glistened on the slight gold sheen to the midnight fur that added a subtle, exotic allure to the already beautiful covering.  The malamute's bust was small, barely A cups yet below these sat two more breasts, as per her feral nature that were little more than large pink nipples framed in a sea of ebony.  Anya’s hips were well developed and she sported an enviably pert bottom and thick, lush tail. 

   All in all, a superb catch in anyone's books, now she was all his and Kaon hastened to follow his new mate from the waters out onto the snow covered ground...  Anya knelt in the snow and scooped up a handful of the cool powdered white, before scrubbing the refreshing chill into her fur.  It was an invigorating rush of sensation for the malamute, to feel the ice crystals trickling over the skin, down between her small breasts to scatter over her firm lap.

   The smiling canine was joined soon enough by her new paramour.  Kaon kneeling down behind her , wrapping his arms around her torso and resting his vulpine head on her shoulder.  It was obvious what he wanted by the feeling of his erection pressing into the small of her back and Anya realized that for the first time in her life, she wanted it too. No more hesitation then, no more words and no time wasted on futile foreplay.

   Their mating was a little awkward and filled with quiet contemplation.,  Anya on her knees in the traditional feral mating position and Kaon doing his best feral stud impression.  It wasn't his fault, really.  From the moment Anya felt her vulva parted by the tip of her foxy lover's thick maleness the malamute felt little to nothing in the way of real pleasure.  Even though Kaon tried his best, and was skilled at what he did, Anya's body was simply incapable of the sexual ecstasies most females were capable of.

   No, for her it was the simple pleasure of being capable of mating like this with the male she had come to love, something Anya had thought an impossible dream. When Kaon tied with her and came hard into her willing depths, Anya did feel some pleasure then. A pinpoint of intense heat over the tip of her clitoris that made the surprised malamute gasp and whimper, bucking her hips back instinctually as what passed for a fairly hard orgasm struck the delighted canine girl.

  In its wake, the duo of fox and malamute retreated back to the comforting warmth of the heated pool where Anya allowed Kaon to continue to make love to her in various ways.  Despite her reassurances that he was doing everything right, the black furred canine could see her lover was becoming a little frustrated with her seeming indifference and hastened to further console him.

  "It's to be expected, that my body cannot do what other females can.  Not yet anyways, it's a miracle I can even become aroused and feel what I do.  Do not worry about it."
 
  Kaon paused in his seemingly futile attempt at masturbating the malamute's sex with his fingers and let out a disappointed sigh. He was clearly upset, not at himself, but for Anya.  The fox had wanted to hear her scream his name at least once and was most distressed that even he , as skilled in bed as he was, couldn't produce that result. It was no failing on his part, but it did irk him considerably.

  "I could induce pleasure in you. Have you feel what it's like to orgasm properly, even if it is only artificial."

  Anya's eyes narrowed to slits and she let out an unexpected growl of annoyance. This was not going to become an issue between them, she valued their relationship too much to let some silly macho male concept of sex and pleasure get in the way. Besides that....

   "I want you to promise me you will never do that. If my body cannot feel something naturally then so be it.  If you wish, you may induce any sensations I've already felt if it looks like I’m falling asleep beneath you and it bruises your ego, but other than that, that we'll just have to work on it the natural way."

  Smiling coyly, Anya pulled kaon to her body, encouraging him to mount her again..

  "And really, is that such a tedious burden...?"

***************************************************************

   One week.  A whole week of furious passion had passed before Master and mate emerged from the sanctity of Anya's dojo.  One week of mutual discovery, sex and relaxation that had left a grin a mile wide on both their faces....  and one week for Fern to wonder where the hell her 'pet' god had gotten too.  

   Kaon was dressed in a flowing silken robe as the duo made their ways into the Grand dining hall whilst Anya was wearing her traditional security garb, but wore a long black velvet scarf in addition to this to hide her precious new emerald collar and the varied mating bites Kaon had given her.
  
   Upon entering the cavernous, columned hall, fox and malamute were met by an extremely harassed and pissed off vixen.  Fern was in a towering temper, having to run the palace by herself for the past week. Completely ignoring Anya, Fern stormed up to Kaon and in typically arrogant fashion, got right up in his face and started yelling insults, obscenities and commands.

   "Where the fuck have you been you useless shit?!  Wanking your little foxy dick?!  Get your ass in gear and run this place!  There’s not even been any more steak on the menu like I ordered! Do I need to do everything around here, you retard?! Do your fuckin' job!"

   Fern stomped back to the table and started to berate an unfortunate serving maid.  Kaon said and did nothing, simply fixing his first mate with a damning glare, noting that his daughter, little Miss Shana sat nearby and was watching her mother intently. Something had to give.

 Anya herself decided on the appropriate course of action. Quietly, she slid up behind Lady Fern using her assassin training to give her an edge.  She'd been waiting for this moment for the longest time, the moment the previously reluctant no longer had to fear this bitch's foul temper.  The few diners and servants patronizing the hall noticed the coming confrontation and the room held its collective breath.

  Fern's ears twitches as she felt the tap on her shoulder.  Turned slowly ...and Anya slapped the taste right out of the arrogant vixen's mouth, leaving her gaping in outraged, openmouthed astonished shock!   Dead silence reigned for a few moments. Fen couldn't believe what had just happened...!  How... dare this bitch, this...grunt even presume to touch her , and yet..

  It was blatantly obvious that Anya was spoiling for a fight and, for all her fury, Fern didn't fancy her chances in a one on one with the expert ex killer.  So, spluttering with indignation, the fiery female took her complaint to what she presumed was a higher power, fronting right up to kaon once more.

  "She... did you see.....  Kaon!!  Exile her!  Banish her, I want this bitch gone!!"

   The Master looked less than concerned. Wearily, Kaon shrugged his shoulders with complacent disdain of his frothing first mate's expected demand. With an expression on his face that denoted his lack of concern of Fern's typically loudmouthed arrogance, the red furred deity smiled just slightly.

  "My dear overly emotional Fern, why should I?  More to the point, what gives you the right to presume you can order me to do anything, much less banish a dedicated, hardworking and beautiful member of my palace such as Lady Anya?!"
  
Fern's mouth flopped open in astonishment. In several centuries Kaon hadn't dared say boo to her, much less deny what should have been a reasonable request!  The flame furred vixen was one of his seven and wore his collar of emerald and this ... servant slut had just struck her!   The enraged vulpine female made a show of stabbing a finger at her collar...

  "This is why....!" 

  Then Anya whipped off her scarf with a practiced flourish to reveal.. Her own collar of emerald, the symbol of the Master's eternal love and devotion. Dead silence reigned. Fern could only stare in horrified shock, she and everyone else knew the balance of power within the palace had just altered forever. The Master was once more in control and Anya was going to be his new enforcer.  It also meant the red furred tyrant's iron reign was effectively over, as was her coup attempt.

  For Fern it was her worst nightmare, it was Anya's greatest wish and it was Yasmin's secret triumph over her rival.

   Recovering swiftly, Fern stormed away, defeated but unbroken. The crafty vixen had but one card left to play, control of her daughter Shana.  Seizing the six year old cub by the shoulder, Fern tried to frog march the girl from the room.  Kaon's eyes narrowed dangerously, he was having none of this! Dropping to one knee and opening his arms, the fatherly fox played on the fact his loving daughter hadn't seen her beloved daddy in a week....

  "Shana, Angel!  Come give daddy a cuddle!"

   Little Shana let out a delighted squeal and tried to run to her papa, but Fern's paw held the vixen cub's shoulder in a grip of steel.  Shana squirmed futilely in her mother's now unwelcome embrace and turned to her manipulative maternal parent with a plaintive whine.

  "C'mon, mommy!  Let go!  I want to go to daddy!"

  The great hall held its breath again. Although Kaon's smile was genuine, and he remained kneeling, his emerald gaze was locked on his first mate and the intensity behind his eyes was nothing short of terrifying. When the Master spoke, only Anya, Fern and Yasmin noted the bleeding edge and thinly veiled threat in his soft tone. 

  "Yes, Fern.  Let her go."

  That was not a request.  Fern was under no illusions, if she wished to retain any shred of dignity and respect, further rebellion or arrogance was not an option.  That didn't mean she had to accept her utter defeat gracefully, though.  Releasing her child, Fern stomped off and swept from the grand dining hall to her own quarters to drink her sorrows away and brood on what might have been. 

Shana got her cuddle.

   For Anya this was the star of a whole new phase of her existence.  Now would follow the feast of seven, to celebrate the collaring of one of Kaon's own.  Seven weeks of revelry and decadence.  The pleased malamute also would remember her friends in this matter and put in a good word for Yasmin on night after a particularly heavy bout of lovemaking.

   The future was bright and rosy for almost everyone, even Fern would be forgiven as soon as she got over herself and admitted her faults, which might take a while.  In the meantime.... Anya had Kaon to herself and would be careful not to make any of the mistakes her predecessors did. The wise canine vowed to work had and remain respectful and diligent, the universe at this point was literally within her paws, yet the male she leant on now was all and everything she'd ever wanted.

  From violent beginnings to perfect end, from blood to water...this is Anya's story.

  End.