Was I prepared? No.

Qualified? Probably not.

Ready to do whatever it took? Yes.

It felt like I was finally stepping into the role I was born to play.

As I sprang, my hand swept out and latched onto Landon Shrike's wrist, wrenching it down as his finger tightened on the trigger. There was the massive crack of a gunshot and somewhere nearby the stone tiling of the floor splintered.

I didn't care. My blood was up, and I could feel power surging in my limbs. We slammed into the wall, the gun between us, and I could feel Shrike's sudden fear with all my senses. I saw it in the whites of his eyes and could hear it in his pounding pulse. I could smell it in the instinctive, cold sweat that bathed his body and I could feel it in the flinch of his body as we struggled.

Behind me, someone shouted.

Shrike and I wrestled for the gun. I was bigger, taller, stronger, but Shrike fought like a madman. He twisted, his foot slipping off the step, and then our legs tangled and we were falling. I fell on top of him, all of my focus on getting between the man and my mentor.

I was going to protect my friend.

Shrike kneed me in the stomach. Somewhere, another gunshot split the air. My head swung forward, my skull cracking Shrike in the face and stunning both of us for an instant. My stomach and side burned where he'd kneed me and I wondered vaguely if I had a broken rib. But there was no time to wonder as I reared back and wrenched the gun from his limp hand.

I struggled to my feet as the man groaned and writhed, pulling himself up onto the stairs. I was aware of several presences behind me but none of them mattered. What mattered was the man in front of me, the man who had tried to take away everything that mattered.

There was blood on Shrike's face and down his front.

Did I break his nose? I thought woozily. My thoughts felt disjointed. I pointed the gun at him, but wasn't sure quite what I meant to do with it. Finish him! A voice seemed to demand, while another whispered, All that blood...

I swayed. Then, I looked down. The front of my shirt was soaked, and it took the sight of a spreading red stain for me to realize that it wasn't my enemy's blood.

It was mine.

"You shot me," I said. The words came out dull and distant, an oddly toneless accusation.

Shrike blinked several times and seemed to focus. His eyes wandered to my midsection as my knees wobbled. Then, they glued themselves to the gun clenched in my fist. Feeling like I was in some sort of dream, I lifted my arm. The pistol was heavy at the end of it, the muzzle only a foot away from Landon Shrike's face.

Sounds warped around me. I got the impression that there were distant voices begging for my attention, but I was sure none of it concerned me. All that mattered was my enemy, and his expression was frozen in a mask of horror. This was the only thing that mattered, the face of the man whose schemes had ripped my family in half.

Too late, Shrike seemed to realize how far he'd pushed me. His hands came up, palms out. "Hey, now, take it easy," he wheedled. He pulled himself backwards and up, one step further away.

The barrel followed.

His glasses flashed. His eyes were desperate. His voice was a babble of sound. "Put the gun down and I'll do whatever you want. I'll tell you everything. Want to know how I did it? How I put all this together? I'll tell you all about it. There are secrets you can use, forces you'd never believe were possible. All of it, yours. I'll even give you everything I have on the Gwen—"

A final gunshot.

More blood.

And then I dropped to my knees and I felt the ground rush up to catch me.

* * *

"Stay with me, Chance..."

Everything was a blur, out of focus.

"Just keep your eyes open..."

I tried to force my lids wider apart, but instead they were drooping lower. There was a heaviness in my whole body. My muscles didn't want to move.

"Don't give in. Stay awake for me now..."

It was Terra's voice, I realized. Which meant she was safe. That was good. But I was so tired I could barely...

"Shit."

Darkness, and the sound of my pulse in my head like a drum.

Ba-dum... Ba-dum... Ba-dum...

Still, I had done what I needed to do. I didn't run. I didn't hide.

Ba-dum... Ba-dum...

I stopped the bad guy. I did. Me.

Ba-dum...

That's all I wanted.

...

..

.

* * *

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Thank you so much for reading the nineteennth chapter in this series — TRANCE, Inc.

I really hope you enjoyed it, and if you did then please rate it and leave a comment. It means the world to me and even if I don't respond to all my comments, please know that I read every one. When I feel like my work doesn't matter, I come back and am reminded that people out there really are reading what I publish.

Please check the comments below if you want to stay informed on my ongoing plans for this story!

Lots of love, and I'll see you for my next publication,

JC