Chapter 1 - Death
Hmm.
Well...
Anyway...
click
The night birds are singing. It's a cloudy night, even though it's full moon. Heck, who said it needed to be a clear night during full moon? Some idiot? At least she won't be seen. Full moon is the most inconvenient time for her, because folks will be looking out of their windows to stare at the moon, and there's a 99 chance she'll be spotted.
So yeah, it's good.
She hears the sounds of struggle. What's going on? She darts down a side alley, where sounds are coming from. A robber, dressed like a ninja's trying to get something from a woman. The woman is elderly, in her fifties. Wonder what he wants from her. She spies the glint of silver and on a polished amber stone.
No wonder he wants it, that's the Snake stone, coveted prize of the Snake clan. The ninja guy must be part of a clan; it's a matter of honor. He must get any other clan's signature stone if he sees it, or risk expulsion from his clan.
Hmm. Wonder how that old lady got it.
She waits in the shadows. Once that guy is done stealing the stone, he'll most probably kill the woman to avoid screaming, live, evidence, and she'll take whatever he's left or forgotten to take. It seems horrifying, to pick things off the dead, but she's a street kid. She knows that some things have got to be done to survive.
She's waiting. At last she hears the soft thump that signifies he's jumped over the wall into the night. She advances cautiously.
Right into a solid block of moonlight.
The clouds have parted. And—OH NO THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING... he's still there. He's been carving something onto the lady's shoulder with a long knife.
She doesn't know what caused that thump. A cat, perhaps. Her mind's screaming, but she doesn't move, rooted to the spot with terror. Petrified.
The clan member looks up. The curves of an evil smile are indented into the tight cloth over his mouth.
He advances. She still doesn't move.
"Let's just make this between you and me, shall we?" A sibilant, piercing whisper.
Her eyes open in terror. Her muscles unlocked at last, she dives and starts running, but too late. The ninja's hand is clamped firmly on her arm. She struggles, but it's no use. A slight chuckle breaks the silence.
She knows if she screams now, it's no use. No one will care about a street kid being murdered in a lonely alley. Deafening rock music starts pumping out from a flat above her. So, even if she does scream, no one will hear.
The clan member apparently has had enough. She's knocked on her back. Pain, and then blackness...