n Nol

ched shriek of pure agony. It was short, brutally cut off, but it was enough

n began to spread on the pristine white floor beneath her, a sickeningly beautiful flower blooming in the arctic cold. My pupils contracted, the image burning itself onto the back of my eyes. The de

o my bicep, pulling me back from the edge. "She's always been a drama que

m. Of course. It was an act. But a primal, unfamiliar v

th all my strength. It didn't budge. I pulled again, my muscles s

vements were just a little too slow, a little too clumsy. "I've got the

urning, their curious whispers growing into a low murmur. They

to flash from a sprinkler head

hysical force, pressing in on me, drowning out the music, the whispers, my own frantic thoughts. Emergency s

a wave of bodies surging towards the exits. My perfect

ecurity, but my voice was a ghost, swal

er away, an automatic, frustrated gesture. She stumbled back, her face a mask of shock. In that moment, all I felt was a bu

rm a line, but the terrified herd of high society was too

main entrance burst inward with a deaf

ctional, with an unfamiliar medical insignia on their shoulders. They moved as one, their eyes cold and focused, com

ture, a silent command that stopped my men dead in their tracks. The sheer, lethal pressure rolling off him was

, unwavering line through the panicked crowd

able hydraulic cutter. He aimed the jaws at the thick, industrial lock on the

low and clear, cutting through

le