Page 111 of Relapse

Too fucking certain.

The answer sticks uncomfortably inside my ribs while engines roar alive outside one after another.

Then we move.

Downtown Severance Point glows black and electric beyond wet pavement and flickering signs while my bike screams through traffic hard enough cars scatter from the road. Noir’s car stays close behind me, headlights cutting sharp through the street haze every time I check the mirror.

Sirens echo somewhere deeper in the city while bass from the rave still rattles through the industrial district ahead.

The whole ride, my chest feels tighter.

Like instinct’s trying to claw through my ribs, warning me something’s already gone wrong.

Noir follows the entire way. Steady and focused.

Every time I glance back, his car is still there, riding my ass through every turn. By the time we arrive, the rave’s collapsing into chaos.

People pour screaming as they pour out from the warehouse.

Some covered glitter, and blood beneath flashing neon lights.

Music still pounds violently somewhere inside while smoke rolls through the loading docks and emergency sirens echo through downtown.

Then I see Blair.

Standing near the loading docks beside Mina in tiny black mesh and platform boots with panic written all over her face.

Alive.

Thank fucking god.

Relief barely lasts half a second before bullets start flying.

Gunfire erupts across the docks instantly while black SUVs swing around near the shipping containers. Dante’s men pour out armed with rifles and body armor while people scatter screaming between parked cars.

“Down!” I roar.

Noir grabs Blair hard around the waist and physically throws her behind one of the concrete barriers while bullets rip through the side of a nearby car hard enough to explode glass across the pavement.

Mina screams.

Reaper opens fire immediately from behind the truck while Knox swings around the opposite side and blows somebody backward over the hood of an SUV with a shotgun blast.

Bodies drop fast after that.

Concrete explodes beneath bullets.

Blood sprays across loading docks beneath neon floodlights.

The whole pier becomes a fucking warzone in seconds.

I catch movement near the shipping crates and fire twice instinctively. One guy collapses instantly while another disappears behind cover.

“Move!” I bark toward Noir, “Get them the fuck out of here,”

Blair immediately fights him.

“Dagger—”