Meifen sashayed towards the entrance of the prison. The two guards perked up instantly. One was young and nearly dropped to the floor at the sight of her, while the other was in his mid-thirties and looked like he just wanted to sleep. The younger one cleared his throat when she was only a few paces away. "W-Who goes there?" he called out.

    Meifen's hanfu wasn't like the typical, more modest one. This one was specifically tailored for provocative women like herself. The fold that was supposed to cover her chest was pulled open and draped over her shoulders, leaving half her breasts bare. She cast the guards a slow smile. "I was called out for the warden." She sighed and rested a hand on her chest. "I've been told that there aren't many women that can satisfy him. I immediately took the challenge!" She let out a fake laugh, which caused both of the men to ease up. They knew how addicted their warden was to women and their charms. He couldn't stay away from them for long.

    The younger guard clicked his tongue. "I'll escort you to him, then," he said with a sigh.

    She giggled. "Oh, you're mighty handsome too, now that I get a look at you."

    His cheeks burned with color. The other guard coughed. "The warden will kill you if you take his whore," he warned the younger guard.

    The other one waved at him dismissively, annoyance lacing his words. "I know that! I'm only going to escort her."

    Like that, the gate was pushed open and she was able to slip inside. She knew that Manchu and the rest of the men were watching her. Were they surprised that she was able to infiltrate so easily? Probably not. Her efforts would never be enough for them. She didn't care, though. This was her job and she didn't do it for recognition.

    The inside of the prison, or torture chamber, was exactly how she envisioned it to be. It was bland, smelled terrible, and was built militaristically. There weren't any unnecessary furnishing and everything seemed to have a purpose. As she walked the dusty corridors, she could hear distant screaming and sobbing. She willed herself to ignore it as she followed the young guard. Fire flickered from torches hung on walls. They walked up a flight of stairs and the screams ceased a bit. Instead of angry shouts and screams, they were dull and hardly there. She breathed easily.

    The guard finally paused in front of a large double set door. His gaze flitted down to her figure and her cleavage, but he cleared his throat and turned away. "The warden has already retired for the night in his bedroom, which is here," he motioned towards the door, "He's probably waiting for you."

    "Thank you," she said.

    He gave a nod before knocking on the door. She calmed her heavy heart. This was going to be the hardest part of the night: actually sleeping with him. Seducing him and keeping him occupied for a long enough period of time for them to escape was going to be taxing. She wished that her task was to simply assassinate him. Things would've been much simpler if that was the case.

    The door was roughly yanked open and a man that towered over her stood at the threshold. He appeared to be in his early thirties. His hair was slicked back in a topknot and he was dressed only in pants. He was well muscled and lean. His eyes were dark and terrifying, but he wasn't hideous. He narrowed his eyes at the young guard, before shifting over to her. Confusion played on his face momentarily. "What is it?" he snapped.

    The young guard stiffened and motioned towards Meifen. "The whore you requested has come."

    The warden's eyebrows came together and he squinted at her suspiciously. "I didn't call for a whore."

    The young guard opened his mouth and then shut it, turning to her in confusion. Her own smile faltered as she forced a look of befuddlement on her face. "You didn't call for me? Well, someone called for me in this prison. I thought for sure it was the warden . . ." She placed a hand on her hip. "I suppose I can go around and ask the soldiers—"

    "Come in," he said, pushing the door to his room open. "There's no use asking. I'm in charge of this whole place. If someone did ask for you, I have the right to take you if I want."

    She batted her eyelashes, acting impressed. "Ooh, I see," she purred, slipping under his arm and into the room.

    He shut the door behind him. The room was small and somewhat cramped, with an oversized bed in the center of it and a small window to the left. There was a desk with a few papers scrambled over it and a trunk in the corner of the room. It wasn't impressive at all, but it should've been expected since this wasn't a high-class prison. She walked over to the room and spun around. "Wow, I've never been in a prison before," she said.

    He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her levelly. A glaze of lust covered his eyes and she could feel his eyes all over her body, particularly her exposed neck and breasts. He seemed to be the stern type, judging by his appearance and his stoic expression. She was drifting towards being sexy versus bubbly; his type seemed to prefer one or the other. She decided to go with naïve and bubbly. Her smile was wide as she crossed the room to the window. She peered out of it uninterestedly. It was too dark to see much, but she knew that not too far, the wagon was waiting for their getaway.

    "I can have you imprisoned if you want."

    She whirled around. He looked serious but he had a wry smile on his face. She quickly realized he was trying to flirt, but it was horrendous. She laughed airily. "Oh, that would be interesting, won't it?"

    He folded his meaty arms across his chest and stared down at her interestedly. His smile was thin but she knew exactly why that was. He was one of those men that didn't care for chitchat and just wanted to get down to the action. Meifen leaned her hip against the open window and was about to say more, when she vaguely heard grunts and clash of steel below. She quickly glanced at the warden but he was too busy ogling her breasts. Manchu and the others seemed to be working fast.

    "Ah, how about we get straight to it," she said almost hurriedly. She didn't want him to notice or hear anything unusual. When he was like this, staring at her body, all his senses seemed to dull. She walked over to him and trailed a hand over his bare chest. "You're so muscular," she cooed, tracing a scar on his left shoulder.

    He grabbed the back of her neck and reeled her in until she slammed into his chest. She blinked back in surprise and tilted her head to look at him. He smiled thinly before pressing his lips against hers. She slowly closed her eyes and moaned against his lips. His hands squeezed her backside. He wasn't a horrible kisser per say, but he was slobbering a tad too much to be enjoyable. Still, he seemed distracted.

    He tore his lips from hers abruptly and roughly threw her on the bed. For a second, the air was knocked out of her. She exhaled and watched him as he crawled on top of her. Was he the type that liked it rough? He was the warden of a torture chamber, so maybe it made sense. To her, it was unsettling and she wished once more that she was given the job to assassinate him.

    "I want to hear you scream," he murmured as he ran kisses down the side of her neck, his hands clumsily trying to tear the clothing from her body.

    She wanted to run a blade across his neck, but she smiled sweetly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. "I'm sure you—"

    He slipped his hand underneath her dress and wrapped a hand around her breast, squeezing hard. Her eyes widened and pain shot through her. Without meaning to, she shouted in pain, tears blinding her momentarily. She blinked back to see him smiling down at her. His nails dug into her skin and she gritted her teeth together. No one had told her that he was like this!

    He undid the rest of the front of her dress before sending a trail of kisses along her bare chest. She grimaced as he sucked and bit on her. Men like this were dangerous, the ones that took pleasure in tying sex and violence together. By the looks of it, he was enjoying himself immensely. On the other hand, she wasn't sure how much more she could handle.

    She heard muffled screams and clashes of metal on metal. It was becoming clear that Manchu was making his move. The warden momentarily loosened his grip on her and turned to listen in, to which she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. His face was buried in her chest and she moaned loudly, covering all noises of the mission. He easily ignored what was happening and slid his hands up her thighs from beneath her dress.

    "Ah, you're so strong," she said, trying to excite him further.

    He placed a hand on her jaw and the other on her shoulder. "Of course I'm strong. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be able to subdue all the men in this prison."

    "Oh, I—Ow!" She bit down a yelp when his hands came around her throat and he squeezed. Her eyes widened as air was constricted out of her. He was panting heavily and looking down at her longingly. Did he enjoy seeing her face redden slightly and her eyes water? Or was it the gasping noises she made as she struggled to breathe. She flailed her arms around and writhed beneath him.

    That was it. Curse the mission for all she cared! She refused to die in a dingy room with a sweaty, hulking man getting off on her pain. She was going to kill him. The mission wasn't worth her life. Curse them all. She didn't even care at this point!

    Black dotted her vision and her arms grew weak. The warden loosened his grip on her throat and moved his hands down to trail down her legs. She coughed and barely reacted as he touched her. She had the urge to curl up in a ball but she resisted that urge as she reached for her hair pins slowly. He was kissing her thighs at the moment, oblivious to what she was doing. She yanked the longest pin from her hair. It was the size of her hand and was as pointy and steely as a giant needle. She had killed various people with this lone weapon before. All it took was a quick jab into the jugular and they bled out within moments.

    He raised his head to look at her but it was too late. With one quick flick, she shot the pin straight into his neck. Half of it was stuck so she thrust it even deeper until it came out through the other end of his neck. His mouth hung open and blood gushed from the wound when she yanked the pin out. She scrambled to the edge of the bed as he convulsed on the bed, his hands flying to his neck. In moments, his movements ceased and he laid on the bed. Crimson pooled and stained the sheets. Meifen huffed out loud and coughed, her throat burning. She wasn't even sure if she could speak.

    She slid off the bed and hurriedly pulled her dress on and fastened it in place. She could hear the noise of fighting and the screaming below. A quick glance out the window revealed the fighting wasn't taking place outside. That was a good sign, it meant that they hadn't carried out the mission perfectly yet. They hadn't broken out the prisoner.

    She ran to his desk and skimmed over the various papers scattering his desk. Most were trivial memos and letters about various prisoners, shipment numbers, and useless nothings. She didn't expect much since this was a low-class prison, but she still scanned the rest of the items on the desk before pulling open the drawers and searching them as well. She searched the rest of the room and didn't find anything useful, so she finally moved to the window to make her escape. She pulled her skirts up to her waist and tied them in place around her mid-thighs.

    "Warden!" someone shouted as they pounded on the door. "Sir, we have—"

    She made loud moaning noises and rushed to the bed, before banging on the headboard various times. It took a moment, but the men that were at the door stopped knocking after that. She heard them mumble something before she heard their boots scuttle away. The warden was notorious for hurting men that disturbed his time with women, so it was expected. She glanced down at the pitiful man who had choked on his own blood. What a useless weakness! Easily exploitable.

    She rolled her eyes as she hoisted herself on the window sill and lowered herself to hang outside of it. Her legs dangled in the air before she found her footing on loose bricks and crannies. Since the building was old, there were various cracks and missing pieces, making it easier to scale. She breathed out deeply as she felt the strain on her back, arms, and thighs. It had been a while since she had done something like this. Lord Hongqi had forced her to climb walls, buildings, and even mountains various years ago. Repeatedly making her scale them until her hands were raw and she felt like her muscles would burst, but all of that training had been worth it.

    Meifen landed on her feet deftly. She didn't bother untying her dress as she sprinted in the direction that they were meeting up at. The chaos that was happening in the prison was none of her business. She had fulfilled her part of the bargain and now it was their job to do the rest.

***

A.N.

Hey guys. I've decided to create a patreon page since it's hard for me to keep writing and dealing with life (and other work I need to do). If you want to support my writing and you want to help (even $1 would help!) you'll be helping me continue writing! If you want to check out my whole situation or what's happening with me, check it out on the patreon page.

https://www.patreon.com/MahamFatemi

I'll also be posting this story on tapas eventually!

~Peace