Page 176 of You Only Love Twice
Vanishing into the inferno below, his coat fluttering as he plummeted, like Lucifer falling directly into hell.
Noooo!
Gemma sprinted toward Ghost, sliding to her knees as Ghost lunged for her. The knife in her hand slashed through the back of his knee, effectively hamstringing him as he lunged past. The Falcon within her awoke, the world shutting down to just her and him.
Ghost needed to die.
No hesitation.
Not this time.
She wanted to cut his throat and feel his cold blood splash against her face.
The world vanished into darkness as the hunger roared through her.
Gemma threw herself forward and rolled over her shoulder onto her feet. None too soon. She caught a flash of movement behind her, and drove her boot back as she gained her balance. Her heel smashed into a knee, and Ghost screamed as bone crunched.
"You bitch!"
A blow smashed into her cheek as she spun, sending her staggering against the rail. She lashed behind her with the knife, but another sharp chop to the side of the neck made her head spin, and her right arm was numb from the bullet wedged high.
The world blurred.
Fire. Smoke. Pain.
But pain was an old friend.
A means to sharpen the mind against the brief dulling of her senses.
"Pull the trigger, cadet."
Rage soared through her chest like a phoenix rising from its ashes. This wasn't merely fighting to kill a man who'd hurt Obsidian. No, this was a direct strike at Balfour. Never again would she be used to hurt her friends. Her queen.
Gemma drew on everything she had within her to leap up onto the railing as Ghost lunged toward her.
Launching herself backward into a flip, she plunged her knife down into the thick muscle of his trapezius, driving it as close to the carotid as possible. Ghost fell against the rail with a scream.
She landed on the mesh behind him, head swimming.
Her right hand felt numb, blood slicking her fingers. The bullet wound throbbed. How much blood had she lost?
Too much.
Ghost made an inhuman sound, hauling her knife out of his flesh. Blood welled between his fingers, but not enough to put him down. Gemma hauled the thin wire she carried up her sleeve into both hands and thrust it over his head, yanking it tight as she hauled him back against her. Twisting both ends of the wire, she turned and went down on one knee, bending his larger body over hers as she tried to strangle him.
Go down, damn you.
Ghost choked, kicking furiously.
"Gemma!" Malloryn screamed, but she didn't dare look for him.
Cursing her useless right hand, she twisted into the action, knotting both ends of the wire around her aching hands and setting her teeth against the scream of pain through her shoulder.
Die.
Fingers groped for the bullet wound in her shoulder, digging into it.
The world swam as she screamed, and her hold loosened for one crucial second.
