Page 55 of Ghoul Me, Maybe
The relic hums hotter in my jacket.
Another goon—taller, broader—grabs my arm. Electricity jolts through me.Runes.Gods, it’senhanced tech.My bones feel like they’re melting.
I scream, twist, slam my fist into his throat. He chokes, but doesn’t drop me.
“Let go?—!”
A third shape hits me from the side.
I go down hard, ribs slamming into wood, shoulder scraping metal. Pain flares white-hot. My jacket tears.
The relic slips out.
“No—!”
Grey picks it up like it’s nothing more than a paperweight.
He holds it delicately, turning it in his hand. It glows brighter in his palm.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he murmurs. “So simple. So perfectly dangerous.”
“Don’t—” I crawl forward, voice ragged. “You don’tunderstand?—”
“Oh, I understand more than you think.”
I reach for it anyway.
A boot slams into my back.
Air flies out of my lungs. I choke, pain radiating down my spine.
“You’ve been very brave,” Grey says calmly. “But brave isn’t the same assmart.You should’ve taken my offer.”
“And you should’ve worn a name tag that says ‘Bond villain.’”
Another kick. This time to my side.
I scream again.
Ribs—maybe cracked. Maybe broken.
My fingers fumble for anything—wood, chain, bone—but they grab me first.
Gloved hands pin me down.
“I’m not going to kill you,” Grey says, crouching beside me. “Someone very invested in this relic wants you alive. But onlyjust.”
I spit blood. “Tell him I said hi.”
He chuckles. “Such fire. Let’s see how long it lasts.”
He stands.
“Take it to the extraction point. She’ll come with us.”
I hear zip ties click.
Then a sharp jab to my neck.
