Read Vs Reality for Free Online Page B

poised to strike by his fist.
    The rest of Cole’s body soon follows: it doubles in size, shredded with lean muscle, veins pulsing. Then his injuries disappear. The gash on his forehead closes, leaving no trace that it had ever been there – not even the faintest remains of a scar. The swelling on his face subsides, and the dark purple bruise circling his swollen eye vanishes. 
    Heinreich watches the transformation, jaw slack.
    Cole screams his throat raw and lashes out, slamming his fist into Heinreich’s chest. It happens in a blur; like a glitch in a video game, he moves so quickly that to anyone observing, it looks as if frames of animation are missing. The giant sails twenty feet across the alley into the abandoned car. Flesh and bone meet steel and glass, crashing like thunder. The force of the impact wraps the wreckage around Heinreich’s back, shattering every window.
    Cole looks down at his palms outstretched palms, eyes frantic.
    Taking advantage of the distraction, Dia yanks a stun gun from her purse. She buries it deep into Goto’s neck and squeezes the trigger, infusing him with fifty-thousand volts of electricity. Goto attempts to scream, but he can only manage a muffled gurgle. His body tenses for just a moment and then falls limp, collapsing to the damp pavement.
    “This can’t be happening,” Cole repeats to himself in rapid-fire succession, hoping that the incantation will wake him from his nightmare.
    Dia produces a second weapon from her purse: a small pocket knife. She unfolds the blade and pulls down the leather wrapping from her forearm, revealing a roadmap of scars; some thicker and longer than others, all in various stages of healing. Even in the dimly lit alley, Cole can clearly see the raised, jagged skin, thin lines criss-crossing from the top of her wrist to the crook of her elbow.
    She digs the blade into her skin and pulls it, opening a wide gash that bisects countless others. She winces, biting her bottom lip. Her fragile scar tissue opens like warm butter, blood pouring freely, cascading down her forearm and dripping off her fingertips.
    “What the hell are you doing?” Cole screams.
    Dia shakes her head and lets out a deep sigh. “ Damn it, that should have worked. I need you to hit me. But not too hard – don’t knock me unconscious.”
    “Jesus Christ, ” he shouts, grabbing two fistfuls of his hair. “I don’t think this is the time for S&M fun. Let’s get the fuck out of here!”
    Dia grabs Cole by the shoulders and stares into his eyes. “ Donovan ,” she says with a chilling calmness that does nothing to calm Cole’s nerves, “I need you to focus . We don’t have much time and backup will be here any second. Stop being a little bitch and hit me.”
    Her gaze is hypnotic; a firestorm consuming a village.
    Cole forces his eyes shut and massage his temples, trying to make sense of her request. “Um…all right…so, you want me to hit you in the body, or the face? Because I can do either, but…”
    She groans in frustration.
    His eyes snap open when her right palm connects squarely with his left cheekbone. Rage overtakes him. Without thinking he retaliates with a slap of his own, rocking her head back, sending her to a knee.
    Cole clasps a hand over his mouth, eyes wide. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to...but it just happened.”
    A thin stream of blood trickles from her right nostril, dripping down her split lip. As Dia regains her footing the transformation has already begun. In a heartbeat her raven hair turns to platinum, and her dark eyes glow like electric blue crystals, the whites disappearing. Cole leans in and notices that her facial features are also changing: her cheekbones have become more angular, her skin more luminous.
    “Wow…that’s the last time I call you a bitch.” Dia wipes her nose with her forearm, dragging a wet crimson smudge across her cheek. “But you might wanna give me some space – this is gonna be a little warm at