The engine runs quietly, rhythmically beneath me - the repressed roar of my true self in the cage of the human world. It wants to erupt, to go on a rampage. I strain every muscle to keep it in check.

It's harder than I expected. Especially with her sitting right behind me. Her chest pulsing on my back, her knees trembling on my thighs. The same knee that I would have gladly stretched open not so long ago...

Our legs move at the same time, colliding under the table.

All I care about is that it doesn't move again.

Never again.

So I can wake up from this nightmare.

If I had not explained to her about the motorbike, she would have fallen a long time ago. Why did I do that?

Because otherwise she wouldn't have sat up; I could see it in her aura of doubt, in her face turned to death.

With my nose on her face.

I'm flooded with horror.

I will push her off. But when? At what speed would she fall so hard that the helmet wouldn't protect her? Is it worth the risk? If, by some miracle, she survives, maybe gets crippled, I'll be sued. With the connections her family has, it would cause so much paperwork for the Alliance, it would eat up my entire salary. My wages that I wouldn't even get for a job that wasn't done.

I've got a burning desire to wrap my hair around her neck and just choke her to death.

But there are too many witnesses. Especially at a red light.

My tongue runs along the inner side of my teeth.

I'll take her far away, to the country...

In broad daylight? Where to? She would scream...

It must look like an accident.

How circumstantial... If only I had the Power that made me a Warden! I could infuse it into her body and stop her heart. No clues, no evidence. Too bad that power is a thing of the past. I've lost it.

Along with Lily.

The road trembles beneath me, the sound of the approaching train grows louder.

Ahead of me, the barrier is like a narrow, red ribbon waiting to be crossed.

The ground rumbles to a beat with the pulsing veins in my temples, my fingers grip the handlebar as if strangling her throat. My wrists tighten to give throttle.

Patience, let it come closer... I can do it at the last moment.

My lips pull into a triumphant smile.

A crash like that will tear her to pieces.

Just like my bike. The girl's bounty wouldn't buy me a new one. Maybe a second-hand one... full of wear and tear, tiny scratches.

But it's not just the bike that'll be torn apart.

Me, too.

I can almost feel the dull tingling as the cold wheels of the train tear through my skin, my flesh, shatter my bones. I can hear the crack of my skull. My eyes leak from their sockets and the world goes dark. To follow the rules of the Underworld, I should hold my remains together and wait idly to be transported, identified...

Buried…

A dark shadow falls over me, squeezing the air from my lungs.

No. They won't bury me again. Especially not for such an insignificant target.

I clench my jaw as the train speeds past, the wind dust bouncing off my third eyelid. The barrier rises, the light turns white.

I give it more throttle than I need, the engine roars, the driving wind whips my hair back - into her aura. The nervously vibrating, pink cloud of energy. I'm in it. I'm crazed with the desire to have her in me. Forever and irreversibly.

My teeth reach into a half-open form, tearing at my gums. Blood rushes to my tongue, its salty taste spreading through my mouth like the memories in my mind of all I've lost. Agony settles over me.

I would do anything to ease it.

I'm speeding up. Her arms squeeze my ribs with the force of a doxi. A human would choke. It's a good thing breathing isn't a necessity for me.

I rev the engine. More and more.

I’ll kill you.