Page 88 of Veil of Dust

Vespera steps forward, blood running down her arm.

“We bury what scares us,” she shouts.

The remaining three scatter.

The street falls quiet again.

Neon buzzes.

Somewhere, a dog barks.

I breathe heavily.

Look down at the blood on my blade. My boots. My hands.

Vespera stands beside me, chin high, chest rising and falling fast.

Her eyes meet mine.

“You good?” she asks.

I nod.

She points to the one still alive, crawling away on one arm.

“Want me to finish him?”

I wipe my blade on the back of Dax’s jacket. “Nah. Let him crawl. Let him tell the others.”

She nods.

Tomas steps out from the bar, gun still raised. “We done?”

“For now,” I say.

I look up.

People watch us from behind curtains. They always do.

But no one opens their doors.

That’s smart.

Because this isn’t over.

It’s only starting.

The lieutenant drops hard.

He doesn’t twitch. Doesn’t groan.

Just folds into the pavement like all that muscle was for nothing.

Blood pools around him. Thick and steaming in the heat. It runs fast down the slope of the curb, joining rainwater and broken glass, disappearing into the storm drain like it never mattered.

The rest of Alfeo’s men—what’s left—freeze.

One breath.

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