Yes. Please.

Rain hammered the cracked windshield like it wanted to break in.

‎

‎Ava Chen sat in the driver's seat of a twelve year old Toyota that smelled of wet carpet and broken dreams. The engine had died thirty minutes ago on this empty stretch of coastal highway. Hazard lights blinked weakly orange, orange, orange like a heartbeat that refused to give up even though everything else already had.

‎

‎She wasn't crying anymore.

‎

‎Not because she was strong.

‎

‎She was just... empty.

‎

‎The white gold wedding band on her left hand felt heavier than the car. Three hours earlier she had still been wearing the matching engagement ring. Three hours earlier she still believed that tears and apologies could fix what Jian had shattered.

‎

‎They couldn't.

‎

‎She could still hear his voice from the penthouse balcony cold, amused, final.

‎

‎"You really thought I would marry someone like you? Sweetheart... you were convenient. That's all."

‎

‎Then the slap of the ring hitting Italian marble.

‎

‎Then silence.

‎

‎Then her own scream that no one answered.

‎

‎Ava stared at the black road ahead. Headlights from the occasional passing truck would briefly turn the rain into silver knives before swallowing everything in darkness again.

‎

‎She should call someone.

‎

‎She had no one left to call.

‎

‎Her phone was dead deliberately killed by her own hand two hours ago when Jian's new fiancée started sending her photos of the engagement party that was supposed to be hers.

‎

‎Ava laughed once. A dry, ugly sound.

‎

‎The laugh turned into a cough.

‎

‎She tasted blood.

‎

‎Not a lot. Just enough to remind her that she had bitten the inside of her cheek so hard earlier that it hadn't stopped bleeding.

‎

‎She touched her lips. Red on fingertips.

‎

‎Good.

‎

‎At least one part of her was still honest.

‎

‎A pair of headlights appeared in the rearview mirror high, wide, expensive. Not a truck. Something sleek and predatory.

‎

‎The car slowed.

‎

‎Ava's stomach clenched.

‎

‎She wasn't stupid. A woman alone on a deserted highway at 1:47 a.m. with a dead car and no phone was every horror story's opening scene.

‎

‎But she was also too tired to be afraid.

‎

‎The black Maybach stopped ten meters behind her.

‎

‎No one got out immediately.

‎

‎Rain drummed on its roof like impatient fingers.

‎

‎Then the driver's door opened.

‎

‎A man stepped into the downpour.

‎

‎Tall. Black coat. No umbrella.

‎

‎He walked toward her like the rain belonged to him.

‎

‎Ava's hand moved automatically to the door lock. Click. She didn't know if she was locking him out or herself in.

‎

‎He stopped three steps from her window.

‎

‎She couldn't see his face clearly through the wet glass and the dark, but she could feel the weight of his gaze.

‎

‎He knocked once. Polite. Almost mocking.

‎

‎Ava stared straight ahead.

‎

‎He knocked again.

‎

‎She turned her head slowly.

‎

‎Lightning cracked the sky behind him.

‎

‎For one second the white light carved his features into something sharp and devastating.

‎

‎Black hair plastered to his forehead.

‎

‎Eyes so dark they ate the light.

‎

‎A scar that sliced through his left eyebrow and disappeared into his hairline.

‎

‎She knew that scar.

‎

‎She knew that face.

‎

‎Her lungs forgot how to work.

‎

‎Lu Xun.

‎

‎Not possible.

‎

‎Lu Xun was supposed to be dead.

‎

‎Eight years ago the entire city believed he had died in that warehouse fire. The same fire that took her brother. The same fire that turned her life into ash and pity and charity cases.

‎

‎She had cried at his funeral.

‎

‎She had cried more for him than for anyone else in her life.

‎

‎And now he was standing in the rain looking at her like she owed him something.

‎

‎He didn't speak.

‎

‎He simply raised one hand and pointed at the passenger door.

‎

‎A command.

‎

‎Not a question.

‎

‎Ava's heart slammed so hard she tasted metal again.

‎

‎She should drive away.

‎

‎Her car was dead.

‎

‎She should scream.

‎

‎There was no one to hear.

‎

‎She should

‎

‎Lightning flashed again.

‎

‎He was closer now.

‎

‎Close enough that she could see the thin silver ring on his index finger.

‎

‎The same ring he had worn at seventeen.

‎

‎The same ring he had pressed into her palm the night before the fire and whispered:

‎

‎"Keep this. If I ever disappear... find me."

‎

‎She had kept it.

‎

‎She still had it bound on a silver chain around her neck which she wore all the time.

‎

‎Ava's fingers shook so badly she almost dropped the keys.

‎

‎She looked at the man in the rain.

‎

‎Looked at the scar.

‎

‎Looked at the eyes that hadn't changed even after eight years of being dead.

‎

‎And something inside her something that had been frozen since the night Jian threw her out...cracked.

‎

‎Not broke.

‎

‎Cracked.

‎

‎Like ice under too much pressure.

‎

‎She reached over.

‎

‎Unlocked the passenger door.

‎

‎The sound was very small.

‎

‎Very loud.

‎

‎He opened it in one smooth motion.

‎

‎Cold air and rain rushed in.

‎

‎He folded himself into the seat beside her.

‎

‎The door closed with a heavy, expensive thud.

‎

‎Silence.

‎

‎Only rain and her ragged breathing.

‎

‎He smelled like cedar, smoke, and something metallic.

‎

‎Blood? Gunpowder? She couldn't tell.

‎

‎He didn't look at her right away.

‎

‎He looked at the dashboard.

‎

‎At the dead phone.

‎

‎At the way her hands were white..knuckled on the steering wheel.

‎

‎Then..finally..his voice.

‎

‎Low. Rough. Like he hadn't used it for pleasant conversation in years.

‎

‎"You always did pick the worst nights to fall apart, Ava."

‎

‎Her name in his mouth felt like a blade.

‎

‎She swallowed.

‎

‎"You're supposed to be dead."

‎

‎A ghost of a smile. No warmth in it.

‎

‎"I get that a lot."

‎

‎Lightning again.

‎

‎This time she saw the fresh cut above his collarbone. Someone had tried to open his throat tonight. They had failed.

‎

‎She stared at the wound.

‎

‎He noticed.

‎

‎"Disappointed?" he asked softly.

‎

‎She shook her head once. Slowly.

‎

‎"No."

‎

‎A pause.

‎

‎"Then what are you?"

‎

‎She met his eyes.

‎

‎For the first time in three hours she didn't feel empty.

‎

‎She felt dangerous.

‎

‎"I'm angry," she said.

‎

‎The words surprised both of them.

‎

‎He tilted his head. Studying her like she was a new species.

‎

‎"Angry is good," he murmured. "Angry keeps you alive."

‎

‎He reached over.

‎

‎She flinched.

‎

‎He didn't stop.

‎

‎His fingers brushed her left hand..the one still wearing Jian's wedding band.

‎

‎He didn't grab. Didn't force.

‎

‎He simply hooked one finger under the ring and lifted it.

‎

‎The white gold caught the faint dashboard light.

‎

‎He looked at it for a long moment.

‎

‎Then he spoke four words that changed the rest of her life.

‎

‎"May I kill him for you?"

‎

‎Ava's heart stuttered.

‎

‎Not from fear.

‎

‎From something darker.

‎

‎Something hungry.

‎

‎She stared at the ring dangling from his finger.

‎

‎Then at the scar on his face.

‎

‎Then at the fresh blood on his collar.

‎

‎And she heard herself say the two words she never thought she would say out loud.

‎

‎"Yes. Please."

‎

‎Lu Xun's eyes changed.

‎

‎The black went molten.

‎

‎He slid the ring off her finger with careful violence.

‎

‎Then he opened the window.

‎

‎Rain rushed in.

‎

‎He flicked the ring into the darkness.

‎

‎It disappeared.

‎

‎Gone.

‎

‎Just like that.

‎

‎He closed the window.

‎

‎Turned to her.

‎

‎And for the first time in eight years, he smiled.

‎

‎Not gently.

‎

‎Not kindly.

‎

‎Like a wolf that finally smelled blood.

‎

‎"Get in the back seat," he said.

‎

‎Ava blinked.

‎

‎"What?"

‎

‎"I'm driving."

‎

‎She stared.

‎

‎"You're bleeding."

‎

‎"So are you."

‎

‎He touched the corner of her mouth where the bite mark was still weeping.

‎

‎His thumb came away red.

‎

‎He looked at it.

‎

‎Then he brought it to his lips and licked it clean.

‎

‎Ava's entire body clenched.

‎

‎Not from disgust.

‎

‎From something much worse.

‎

‎He noticed.

‎

‎Of course he noticed.

‎

‎"Back seat," he repeated. Softer this time. Almost tender.

‎

‎But the tenderness was wrapped in razor wire.

‎

‎Ava unbuckled.

‎

‎Climbed between the seats.

‎

‎Her dress..still the pale blue one she had worn to beg Jian to stay rode up her thighs.

‎

‎She didn't fix it.

‎

‎She didn't care.

‎

‎Lu Xun slid behind the wheel.

‎

‎He didn't ask how to start a car that was already dead.

‎

‎He simply reached under the dash, found two wires, twisted them together.

‎

‎The engine coughed.

‎

‎Sputtered.

‎

‎Roared.

‎

‎He put it in drive.

‎

‎The Maybach behind them flashed its lights once like a signal.

‎

‎He ignored it.

‎

‎Pulled onto the highway.

‎

‎Rain still pouring.

‎

‎Ava watched the side of his face.

‎

‎The scar.

‎

‎The blood.

‎

‎The man who should have been ashes eight years ago.

‎

‎She spoke quietly.

‎

‎"Where are we going?"

‎

‎He didn't answer right away.

‎

‎Then low, almost gentle:

‎

‎"To collect interest."

‎

‎She frowned.

‎

‎"Interest?"

‎

‎"Eight years," he said. "Eight years of compound interest on pain."

‎

‎His hands tightened on the wheel.

‎

‎"Tonight... we start collecting."

‎

‎Lightning flashed one more time.

‎

‎In that white instant Ava saw something she hadn't noticed before.

‎

‎On the back of his left hand freshly carved, still red and weeping was a single word.

‎

‎Her name.

‎

‎A V A

‎

‎Branded into his skin like a vow.

‎

‎Or a curse.

‎

‎She stared at it until the light died.

‎

‎Then she whispered,

‎

‎"Teach me how."

‎

‎Lu Xun glanced at her.

‎

‎And smiled again.

‎

‎This time it reached his eyes.

‎

‎"Careful what you ask for, little ghost."

‎

‎He pressed the accelerator.

‎

‎The car surged forward into the black.

‎

‎And somewhere behind them, the city that had broken her waited.

‎

‎Unaware.

‎

‎That the girl they threw away

‎

‎had just found the devil who came back from hell

‎

‎to burn it all down with her.

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