Chapter One

        Darcy Tucker was spread on the floor of the Tucker family’s living room, blood encircling her icy-blonde hair and seeping into an imitation Persian rug. She was on her back, her eyes wide open and clogged from the contents of the hole that gaped from her forehead. She was undoubtedly killed from the bullet that had carved that particular chasm; nevertheless, it was Detective David Armstrong’s job to examine every aspect of the case.

Hot Shave

            Taro leaned over the desk at the front of the Green Serpent’s waiting room and sighed to himself as a patron walked outside, giggling and wiping the sweat from his brow. It was near the end of his shift and he was looking forward to getting back to the tenement he shared with four other technicians, all of them sporting matching black tracks from N2. He was just about to begin shutting down his monitor when the door opened and a man who looked as if he were minutes away from geriatric annihilation wandered inside. 

Love Sick

         His breath stirred the short hairs on the nape of her neck as he slid his lips over her skin, his hands moving to cup her breasts as their bodies moved together, the sweat dripping from his brow onto her throat, making her quiver with desire...
 (I must warn, as you can probably tell this is a most titillating tale so read on only if you are of appropriate age and mindset
-the management)

Of Serpents and Jade

The building was dumpy and small, with no name painted above the door. It was in an area of town long ago zoned for demolition, but due to the city’s managerial absentmindedness it had been allowed to thrive, bristling with black-market warehouses, brothels, N2 dens and this place, marked with only the twisted green coils of a spray painted dragon over its door.

Dear Mr. President

         The doors slid shut behind the imposing figure of the President’s personal body guard, his slender but rippling muscles looking like they were about to spill out from under the light standard-issue ceramic armor he wore. He turned to the slight woman beside him and whispered in Kathleen’s ear.