Steel clashed on steel, and Mindblind instantly knew that this opponent was far more skilled than the last assassin he had faced. Those of lower stand...ing had failed, and so the best of the guild’s murderers had come to finish the job. These were men trained to kill from the shadows, but prepared to take out their mark with main strength, should the necessity arise.Mindblind disengaged from the assassin’s first attack, put on the defensive by a flurry of blows. Training and adrenaline took over,. Somehow ... It was so strange. Later that night, after he had given Ann the ointment for the welts, Bambino kept telling himself he had done something kind. He had giving Ann the ointment. But his conscience kept objecting, saying that true kindness would have been to give Ann what Ann wanted, not what Bambino wanted to give.Bambino patted Cassie’s rump as she slept beside him. Could he ever raise such a welt on Cassie? No, of course not. And Bambino saw now he would never spank her bare butt. Her father slept on the seat where he was while the girl slept on her seat i.e. where we both sat. She left her legs towards the window and her head towards me. I was at the far end of the seat.I had no bad intentions at that time. I made more room for her. I fell asleep. I woke up after some time just casually. I found her hand lightly touching my left leg. I looked at her. I knew she was asleep. She would have moved in her sleep. This was the first time I looked at her closely. She looked. The two teens looked into each other's eyes and then separated whenever an adult walked nearby.Part of this semi-dating was sitting together at the home basketball games. At a home game Wendy would always take time to sit with Vauhgn's mother. That's how it was done around there. The girls tried to be friends with their boyfriends' mothers. But being a cheerleader meant she could only sit in the bleachers during parts of the games. Most of the time she was on the court with her cheerleader.