My world swam in a hazy blur of orange streetlights, casting long, twisted shadows on the gritty concrete beneath my feet. The insistent, frantic beat of the music still pounded inside my skull while the frosty night air raised goosebumps on my skin. Rune’s fingers dug into my elbow as he loomed beside me, holding me in a vice-like grip.

  Two dark figures, a man and a woman, their features obscured by the shadows that writhed and twisted around us, stood in front, blocking our path.

  “This is your last warning, hestkuk! Go home before we have any trouble.” Rune’s voice was a low growl, a grounding anchor against the chaotic, drug induced vortex that swirled around me.

  “Just let her go.” The man’s voice was distant and muffled. “She’s been through a lot. She isn’t thinking straight.”

  “Haven’t we all?” Rune sneered.

  A sudden flash of light sliced through the thick, dizzying haze. Squinting, my eyes strained, desperate to find clarity in the disorientating gloom. There it was again, silvery, metallic, and sharp. The blade of a knife snapped into focus. Held firmly in Rune’s fist, it caught the soulless light with a glint.

  The man’s shadowy figure took a step toward Rune. As he moved into the light, his features solidified, his leather jacket a dark silhouette against the haze behind him.

  Asmund!

  His gaze flickered towards me for a fleeting second, his long hair tumbling loosely around his shoulders, before his attention snapped back to Rune. He raised his hands out in front of himself, his palms open in a silent plea. He was smaller than I remembered him; his eyes barely reached Rune’s shoulder.

  “Look, there’s no need for any trouble,” Asmund said, his voice trembling. “Just let her go. Let me take her back home.”

  Rune barked out a harsh, wheezing laugh. He stepped into the smaller man’s space, his face looming, staring down at Asmund. “Get out of here, little man!”

  “Let her go!” Asmund repeated, more firmly this time. “I’m not leaving without her.”

  The world tilted around me. The streetlights blurred, but I forced my eyes onto the two men.

  “Asmund, be careful!” the woman called out urgently. Her voice was crisp against the rumble of distant traffic.

  “Yes, Asmund, be careful,” Rune said in a mockingly high-pitched voice. “It would be a good idea to listen to your friend and fuck off.” He spoke slowly now, his voice low. “This one’s coming with me and I don’t see you doing much to stop her. If you had the balls to do anything, you would have done it by now.”

  “Please, look at her. Can’t you see she isn’t well?” The woman called out, pleading from within the spinning haze. “She needs help.”

  Rune glanced in her direction, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. “Look, sweetheart, she’s exactly where she needs to be!” He gave my elbow a sharp tug, jerking me against his side. “Aren’t you, Wallflower?”

  Glancing towards Asmund, visions crashed forward from the dark recesses of my mind. I saw him with Lela, their arms wrapped around each other, the perfect portrait of deceit. Then the musk of his aftershave filled my nostrils. The memory of his body pressing down on mine as took what he wanted from me.

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  My eyes shifted to Rune. His features were hard, his eyes intense and firm. There was a cold, brutal simplicity to him. He didn’t need to hide behind lies. He didn’t even pretend to care about me. There was no love in those eyes, only the promise of escape and oblivion.

  My jaw fell open. My dry, swollen tongue fought to shape the words. My throat cramped tightly as I tried to shout out. Go! Leave me! Anything, but the only thing that spilt from my mouth was a choked, unintelligible slur.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen now,” Rune said, “you and your rocker boy hero are going to turn around and quietly find somewhere else to be. I’m taking the Wallflower back to my flat and finishing the night with a bit of fun.” He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as they slid to the woman. His voice dropped to a low, predatory rumble. “Of course, sweetheart, if you ditch Axl Rose, you’re welcome to come back with us. You’re a bit plain for my usual tastes, but you’ll do. I’m sure I can put you to use once I’m done with this one.”

  Asmund’s body jerked forward, but Rune was faster. His stony glare snapped back to face Asmund. His arm flicked out, flashing the blade in a tight arc that grazed Asmund’s cheek.

  My ears pounded with the deafening thud of my own blood. My knees trembled weakly. Again, I tried to scream at Asmund, a desperate plea for him to run, to leave me here. I didn’t want him. I didn’t need him. But again, all that escaped my throat was a dry rasp.

  “I think I’ve been more than patient with you.” The corner of Rune’s lips turned up as he spoke. “You either get out of my way now, or I’ll drop you here and step over your twitching body.”

  “Please! Put the knife away,” the woman screamed, her voice raw with panic. “There’s no need for it. People are watching!”

  Rune just sniffed. “You think people around here give a fuck? You could be bleeding out on the pavement, and they would walk right over you. They wouldn’t even look down.”

  He raised the knife, bringing its point just a hair’s breadth from Asmund’s throat. Asmund’s body was quivering, his eyes darting wildly from side to side.

  Electricity crackled in the air, raising the hairs on my arms. Colours twisted, warped and bled into one another. Red eyes burst into life all around me, filling the darkness with glittering pinpricks of burning crimson; their persistent cackling laughter had become a constant, static buzz in my ears, forcing out the woman’s screams.

  The laughter exploded into a frantic roar, and Rune moved.

  Releasing me from his grip, he shoved me backward. My back struck the cold, wet brickwork of the club with a shuddering thump.

  The big man lunged forward in a sudden blur, too quickly for my eyes to follow. He left only a trailing smudge in my vision, but the sound that followed was sickeningly clear. A heavy crack as Rune’s forehead slammed brutally into the bridge of Asmund’s nose.

  Time seemed to slow to an agonising crawl as my muscles locked. I wanted to scream at Rune, tell him to stop. But it was useless; my body refused to obey. I was frozen to the spot.

  Asmund reeled backwards, his hands raising, clutching at his face. A guttural gasp escaped him as the impact threw him off balance. Blood, glistening darkly, was already beginning to ooze between his fingers.

  “No!” the woman’s cry pierced through the voices of the creatures that were now screaming at me, but it was too late.

  Asmund was still stumbling, still dazed from the first blow when Rune struck again. It was a savage attack. Grabbing the collar of Asmund’s jacket with one hand, Rune yanked him forward onto the blade. A dull thud as the steel punched through leather and buried itself in Asmund’s gut.

  Asmund breathed a hushed, rattling groan. His body crumpled forward, his knees hit the pavement, and my reality shattered.

  The woman’s screams, raw and shrill, pierced my eardrums with an agonising screech.

  Every muscle in my body immediately seized, straining to rip themselves from my bones. The searing, white-hot blaze of agony erupted inside me, an inferno that scorched every millimetre of my body. My teeth ground down, biting into my tongue. I tried to scream, but my jaw clamped shut.

  The dirty glimmer of the streetlights smeared into filthy streaks of orange. The colours and shapes that slid in front of my eyes congealed into a thick, oily darkness. The world imploded, sucking everything into a deep, featureless, suffocating vacuum.

  “Wallflower! For fuck’s sake! You stupid bitch! I’m not taking the rap for this shit!” Rune’s voice was a distant, fading murmur from somewhere beyond my horizon. “You want her? Have her! She’s as fucked up as your boyfriend now. No use to me like that.”

  The choking, cloying blackness pressed in around me. The screams faded into the distance. The rumble of the traffic was little more than a muffled hum. One final flicker of light shrank into a vanishing speck before it was gone altogether, leaving nothing but darkness and silence.