Page 63 of Elven Shadow

Even mostly covered by the ski mask, the guy’s face contorted into one of the most laughably grotesque combinations of surprise and anger before his adrenaline won over. “No!I’mthe one with the gun, lady.Youdo whatIsay! So I’ll give you one more chance before I—”

Rebecca moved in the blink of an eye.

Faster even than either human in this alley could follow, she took two lightning-quick steps towards Ski Mask, brought the side of her flat hand chopping down on his wrist with a sharp crack, and snatched up his pistol with her free hand before he’d even fully released it.

His shout of pain and furious surprise petered out into a warbling whimper muffled by the cold weight of steel slipping easily between his lips.

Only when Rebecca thumbed back the hammer and the tell-tale click of a pistol ready to fire echoed through the alley did the man realize the barrel of his gun was now inside his own mouth.

His eyes widened, and he let out a muffled groan of terror as he dared to meet her gaze.

“See?” she told him. “Thatwasn’t a threat. It sure as shit wasn’t anemptythreat. I made you a promise, and you chose to test me. Now you’re here. See how that works? No one’s gonna take you seriously if you keep telling people what you’re gonna do but never actually do it.”

The man tried to say something but stopped halfway through when his words didn’t form around the barrel between his lips.

“I only said I’d make you eat it,” she said with a shrug. “It would be pretty rude of me to change the terms at the last second, don’t you think?”

He took a deep breath, probably intending to try again with his words, but Rebecca moved faster than he could finish drawing that breath.

She brought her free hand swinging toward the side of Ski Mask’s head. It was more of an open-palm slap than a knockout punch, but it took him down all the same.

The dude’s eyes rolled back in his head as a muffled groan escaped him. Then he crumpled to the alley floor and didn’t move, leaving Rebecca standing there with one hand raised where she’d hit him and the other still holding the pistol.

“Shit. Guess it’s only a fifty-fifty chance you’ll remember the lesson now, huh? Sorry. I didn’t think that one all the way through.”

The woman clutching her handbag to her chest let out a startling shriek before adding words to it. “Get away from me!”

“Really?” Rebecca asked the woman with a snort. “That’s what you have to say?”

She reset the pistol’s hammer and tossed the weapon onto Ski Mask’s unconscious form with a thump before the firearm clattered to the ground. She didn’t need Maxwell’s eyes on her here to feel his imagined disapproval, to know he’d see this as reckless.

Too bad for him, he wasn’t here to stop her.

“I’m about to call the police!" the woman shouted. “And they’ll stop you!”

“All right. That’s a fun fantasy.” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “But I’m thinking maybe we talk about your appalling lack of good choices, yeah? Come on. What did you think was gonna happen in an alley like this? You look like you’re from around here, but you still look totally surprised that any of this happened.”

“What? You…” The woman froze and looked Rebecca up and down, her mouth hanging open. “What aboutyou? Is this supposed to be some kinda fashion week at the superhero convention or something?”

“Wow.” Rebecca looked down at her own outfit—all tight black leather and silver buckles and tall heels. “I would’ve said clubbing more than cosplay, but no. I’m just having a bad day.

“And you know what? I’m kinda trying to wallow in it on purpose. By myself. So you better get outta here, or I might start offering classes on how tonotpiss off the person who just saved you from being mugged. How’s that sound?”

The woman’s mouth gaped open again and twitched, as if she wanted so badly to respond, but she obviously couldn’t find the words.

Then, with another huff, she jerked the straps of her handbag back up over her shoulder, spun around, and power-walked down the alley without another word.

Again.

No gratitude from this human either, huh?

Shaking her head, Rebecca watched the woman walk through the other end of the alley and disappear around the corner into the rear parking lot.

Ski Mask, lying on the damp asphalt, groaned at her feet. His mask had been tugged askew in their so-called struggle, revealing a quarter of his face that still lacked any hint of intelligence.

Being human was one thing, but there really was no excuse for this level of stupidity.

Rebecca pointed at him and sent a bolt of dark silver light cracking against the side of his head, just to keep him out a little longer.

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