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circle around me, blood lust filling their eyes as they watched my movements.
    I jumped in moments before they got their confidence up, landing a swift punch to the gut and then stepping around to take another low in the kidney from behind. He grunted as he folded and I blocked another shot at my face, stepping forwards into the blow instead of away, and slamming my head into the third guy’s nose.
    Blood spurted as he cried out, my vision blurring momentarily from the impact while I tried to step aside. One of them caught me as I shifted, a firm fist pummeling into my side and making me grunt. Spinning to face the guy, another hit me from behind. A sharp elbow into his gut stopped him, and I dived to the side, catching my breath as I made a quick assessment.
    They were more cautious now, and the guy with the broken nose was pretty much out, but I’d lost the chance to catch them unawares.
    It didn’t matter. The energy coursing through me made every blow I’d taken seem negligible, and I had one advantage they couldn’t match.
    I just didn’t care.
    These rough-and-ready fights were one of the few things that made me feel alive again. But I knew just as well the emptiness that would hit once the adrenaline wore off.
    There was nothing left for me to hold onto - pain, death - however this ended, I welcomed it.
    I grinned at them, taking grim satisfaction in their uncertain glances before I slammed forward again.
    This time I didn’t stop to consider technique or strategy - it was an all out fist fight, my body relying on years of instinct, training and use to get me through.
    I took more blows than I could count, but it felt like nothing to shrug them off, while every time I connected with soft flesh, I could feel their resolve weakening.
    By the time I had two down and one struggling, I felt the balance tipping in my favor.
    Then one of the fuckers pulled a knife.
    My grin turned ugly as he lunged for me, another of the bastards slamming me directly into the path of the weapon and making it impossible to feint away.
    I shoved my arm out to meet it instead, turning the blade so it only scored my side, cursing as my forearm turned red and hot pain shot up it. I shifted, twisting the blade so that I could catch his wrist and yank hard, the crack of bone slight consolation as I caught the knife in my good hand, swinging back to the other guy beating on me.
    He backed off, and I advanced with my own crazed blood lust rushing through me.
    As if from a distance, I vaguely heard a shout behind me as I pressed forward, my attention narrowing to the one guy left relatively unscathed.
    Relief flashed across his eyes in a brief instant before pain exploded in my head, sudden darkness at the edges of my vision sweeping over me.
     
    *  *  *
     
    My body woke faster than my mind, an arm snapping out to intercept the hand reaching for me.
    Still on instinct, something within me recognized the thin, delicate bones of a feminine wrist fast enough to stop myself from breaking it.
    The hand stilled automatically, waiting as I opened my eyes and groaned at the waves of pain hitting me.
    For a moment, I wondered whether I was still unconscious, as the face I’d seen in my mind’s eye so often over the last week hovered above me. Soft brown hair escaped from a loose tie and curled around a gentle face. The concern there was obvious, but despite everything, I smiled.
    She glanced pointedly to her wrist, but for some reason, I couldn’t quite bring myself to let it go.
    It was the nicest thing I’d held in such a long time, and as my thumb stroked along the inside, I thought I might just stay like this - lightly caressing the firm, warm-blooded pulse I felt beating there.
    Then the pain hit me again, driving away the floaty place my mind seemed to have retreated to with the reminder of where I was.
    Who I was. What I was doing.
    Fuck.
    I let her go as quickly as if she’d burst into flames, staring up in disbelief as she calmly