Page 99 of Glutton for Punishment

Psychotic bastard.

I fire at him.

He ducks. Kael bellows and charges into the open, gun in one hand, knife in the other, laughing like this is the best day of his life.

The dockyard devolves into hell with gunfire and screams. Blood hits the concrete all around me.

And through all of it, one thought pounds in my skull. Keep Arwen safe.

We try to push forward inch by inch, but the math is against us. It’s three gangs against two. They came prepared.

Even with Duval shielding our line, they keep forcing us back through sheer numbers. Taking out those outside the shield’s barrier.

Gunfire cracks overhead as a man to my right goes down screaming. Vex’s team flanks wide, trying to split our formation while Teeth’s press from the front with reckless aggression.

I turn, firing twice at a rushing attacker before slamming the butt of my gun into another’s jaw hard enough to drop him.

Out of nowhere, a feeling claws up my spine. Wrong.

Something is wrong.

I run back toward the barricade where I left Arwen to find it empty. My blood turns to ice in my veins.

No…

I spin wildly, scanning through smoke and screaming civilians. Then I see her and my heart damn near stops beating.

She’s moving through the chaos with trembling hands raised in front of her, panic and determination written across every line of her body.

Building power.

“Arwen—!”

My gaze follows hers, to where Kael stands thirty feet away amid the smoke, blood on his face, grinning like a madman. He spreads his arms wide, urging her on.

“Come on then, sister!” he bellows. “Show me what all the fuss is about!”

The realization hits me. It’s a trap.

He wants her angry and reckless.

“ARWEN, STOP!”

But it’s too late.

Her power detonates from her hands in a violent burst of black hunger. The void tears across the dockyard like a living thing.

Kael dives aside at the last second as the blast misses him.

My stomach drops as the void slams into the shipping containers behind him. It’s like everything freezes as the sheer brunt of Arwen’s power takes center stage. The metal vanishes as steel disappears into nothing.

Followed by a scream.

A raw and agonized scream.

Arwen goes completely still, processing what just happened.

“Fall back!” Kael roars as the enemy gangs take their opening to bail.