Suzi was not prepared.

She was not prepared to stop.

She was not prepared to see what was happening.

She was not prepared to avoid the cataclysm that lay before her.

Suzi wasn’t ready for this. Not for the trap, not for the chaos, not for the sheer audacity of it all. The door blasted open, and her mind barely registered Judas taking control. The movement was instinctive—a desperate lunge to the left as the grotesque needle-pole shot past, ripping through her winter coat like a predatory claw. Her Aerosmith t-shirt caught for a heartbeat before Judas yanked her to the right, slamming the door shut behind them.

The trap sealed itself with a guttural mechanical growl. Bars slid home, locking them in. Suzi’s coat hung, skewered and useless, but there wasn’t time to mourn it. Judas ripped it off as a flare ignited above, painting the deathtrap in brutal orange light. A labyrinth of sharpened steel, spinning saws, and god-knows-what-else yawned before her.

“What the fuck—” Suzi exclaimed from within Guillermo.

Judas dove again, this time dodging a dozen screeching saw blades. It clipped the edge of her Doc Martens, and the vibration shot up her leg as she rolled.

The flare landed on a high platform, disappearing briefly before the whole structure erupted in flames. Heat punched her in the face as Judas crouched low, nails and glass biting into their skin like cruel teeth. Pain stabbed through her right ankle, but Judas didn’t falter. She lunged forward, a split-second decision that spared them a bone-crushing death as pallets slammed into the floor inches behind her.

The world blurred. Judas was moving—forward, backward, up—who the hell knew anymore? Wooden slats beneath her feet. Splintered edges tore at her palms as she scrambled. A guttural snap echoed behind her, the unmistakable snarl of bear traps activating. Her stomach churned, bile threatening to rise as she glimpsed metal jaws clamping shut where they had just been.

A flash of light. Judas froze for a microsecond before flinging them flat onto a wooden pallet. A rocket-like canister screamed past, propelled by flames, slamming into a support beam. The crash reverberated through her bones. Overhead, the beam gave way, releasing a rain of flaming debris and jagged metal. Suzi barely had time to think before Judas grabbed a pallet and raised it above them like a shield as she ran. The impact sent shocks through her arms, a pole piercing the wood and yanking her backward. Her head smashed against the pallet with a sickening crack.

Pain exploded in her thigh as a jagged spiked rebar pinned her down. Judas gritted her teeth and growled, yanking the pole free with both hands. Blood gushed in a nauseating rhythm, staining their denim jeans dark. Suzi’s stomach twisted, but Judas was relentless, using the pole to push them upright. They were a weapon now, deflecting projectiles with wild, precise swings.

Anger flared—a deep, primal thing that ignited in the pit of Suzi’s chest. Suzi could perceive Judas’ vision now focused on the bits of light as auras overlayed reality. A single dark red aura dancing in the distance showed through the flames, dancing to the orchestra of the chaos as if this maestro beckoned each exploding crescendo. It was him. It had to be.

She took a step, but a massive drum swung down like a pendulum of doom, slamming her into a metal cabinet. The impact stole her breath and left her ears ringing. Glass shattered around her as liquids pooled, their acrid scents stinging her nostrils. The drum glubbed black oil, thick and malevolent, mixing with something viscous from the cabinet’s contents. Smoke curled up.

Defiant and unbeaten, Judas stood. Blood covered her right leg and filled her boot. Her back and arm were littered with shrapnel. A viscous liquid dripped from her left arm. She scanned for the dark red aura, but it was gone.

The explosion was blinding. Blue-white fire roared, hurling Judas into the air, hitting a wall with a sickening thud. Fire crawled up her arm. Judas ripped away the smoldering t-shirt remnants, patting out flames with brutal efficiency, tying the remnants of the tattered cloth around her throbbing thigh.

The world was a furnace now, an inferno roaring in every direction. The red aura was gone. Judas scanned the chaos, muscles coiled like a predator denied its prey. “Through,” she growled. “We go through.”

“No!” Suzi’s voice was raw, desperate. “The wall! Use Miraleth—target the wall!” Memories of the truck came flooding back. If it worked then, it could work now. Judas hesitated, then obeyed, summoning the golden orb. It gleamed, deceptively small, in her blood-slicked hand before she hurled it. The ball transformed mid-flight, morphing into a dense, thirty-pound sphere that disappeared into the flames. Glass shattered somewhere distant.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Don’t move.” Miraleth’s voice was calm, resonant.

Judas straightened, bold and unyielding as the wall disintegrated in an explosion of cinder and mortar. The cold night air rushed in, shocking her senses. Suzi’s skin prickled, caught between the icy bite of winter and the furnace at her back. Judas jumped, landing hard in the snow, each step an agony of torn muscles and shattered nerves. The golden orb returned, dissolving into her palm.

“You are going to have to teach—,” Suzi began saying as Judas relinquished control of their body. The phrase finished verbally, “—me how to do that. FUCK!”

Suzi crumpled into the snow, clutching her right leg, a sharp, searing pain ripping through her thigh. She fumbled at the laces of her boot, yanking it off with a hiss of frustration as she saw the damage—a five-inch gash tore through the side, blood pouring out like a gruesome faucet. A goddamn pint, at least, she thought bitterly, the crimson staining the pristine snow beneath her.

Her hands flew to her pockets, patting herself down in frantic desperation. Her phone. Where the hell was her phone? The realization hit like a gut punch: it was in the inferno, reduced to molten plastic and ash alongside her favorite—and only—winter coat. She dropped her head back, staring at the dark sky, her breath clouding in the frigid air. Her body screamed from the pain, her leg throbbing in time with her heartbeat, but it was hard to decide which agony was worse—the ankle or the new, unwelcome piercing through the meaty part of her thigh.

“Anyone want to take bets on whether we freeze to death or bleed to death first?” Spike’s voice cut through the haze of pain.

“Firefighters will have seen the flames,” Suzi said through gritted teeth, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to block out the throbbing. “They’ll be here before either of those happens.”

“Oh! Firefighters!” Annie chirped. “Thanks, James, for not shitting our pants earlier.”

Suzi groaned, rocking back and forth in the snow as she tried to mentally claw her way through the pain. “Can the peanut gallery please shut up for five minutes?” she muttered.

When she could no longer sit still, the heat from the roaring fire pressing against her like a wall, she forced herself onto her elbows and began crawling toward the front of the building. Each movement was a fresh wave of agony, her hands sinking into the icy slush as she dragged herself forward. She wasn’t sure if she was trying to get closer to help or just farther from the inferno.

As she rounded the corner, Aiden’s truck came into view. Relief flickered briefly, but before she could react, headlights appeared in the distance, speeding toward the building.

“Here they come!” Annie squealed. “And here I come!” she added, her tone turning obnoxiously suggestive. “Hopefully,” she muttered under her breath.

Suzi squinted, trying to make sense of the approaching vehicle. “No,” she said, her voice tinged with disbelief. “That’s not a firetruck. That’s a... sports car?”

The suped-up purple Charger careened toward the gate at full speed, sparks flying as it barreled through the hardware like a bat out of hell. The car slid into a half-donut, snow exploding into the air like frozen fireworks, glistening in the light of the flames.

Both doors flew open before the car even stopped, and Tom and Rick leapt out, running to her side. Relief flooded her, and Suzi collapsed onto her back, exhaustion overtaking her.

“Suzi! Are you okay?” Rick’s voice was sharp with panic as he dropped to his knees beside her.

She weakly lifted a thumb, not bothering to open her eyes.

“You couldn’t wait for the rest of us?” Tom asked, sliding next to her to inspect her injuries.

Her thumb shifted into a middle finger before flopping lifelessly into the snow. She heard the familiar roar of another engine, followed by the metallic clang of the gate being destroyed yet again.

“If she asks, you were driving,” Tom muttered aloud.

Phineas’ voice rang out, strong and steady over the crackling flames. “Was this Adamson?”

“No,” Suzi groaned, shaking her head weakly. “I don’t think it was... but I’m gonna find out.”

“How bad is she?” Becca’s voice cut through the chaos.

“She’s banged up,” Tom reported grimly, listing off her injuries just as the wail of sirens echoed in the distance.

“Suzi, hon,” Becca crouched beside her, her voice gentle but firm. “You need to go to the hospital. That leg and ankle? They’re going to need surgery.”

“No,” Suzi protested weakly, her voice barely more than a rasp. She’d spent more than enough time in hospitals these past two weeks. “I’ll heal.”

“She’s going,” Ricky said firmly, cutting off any further argument.

“Rick’s right,” Becca added softly. “We know you’ve got this supernatural thing going on, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Besides, I need you fully healed so you can embalm Tom.”

“What did I do?” Tom sputtered defensively.

Becca glared. “I saw the scratches.”

Tom pointed at Rick. “He was driving!”

Before they could escalate, paramedics arrived, lifting Suzi’s battered body onto a gurney. She caught a glimpse of Kyle’s bearded face, silent and steady as ever, before her vision blurred. The last thing she saw was Tom, Rick, and Phineas talking in hushed tones as she was loaded into the ambulance.

Inside, as the paramedics worked on her, Phineas’ voice broke the hum of the monitor. “You’re sure Adamson wasn’t part of this? Rick said you were meeting him here.”

Suzi exhaled heavily. “Is that why you’re here? I thought you quit being a detective.” The words colder than she intended.

Phineas frowned. “I’m on leave. I can go back anytime I want. Adamson’s still my case, but no. Rick was worried. And he was right.”

“I’m sorry, Phin,” she said softly, the weight of guilt pressing on her chest. “I didn’t mean how that sounded. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.”

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the steady beeping of the monitor.

“I know. It’s too late for that,” she added, her voice barely a whisper.

Phineas leaned closer; his tone resolute. “Help me find this guy, and we’ll call it even.”

Suzi sighed, closing her eyes. “Fine. I’ll tell you everything I know.”