JJ's hand slowly rose, trembling, and touched the side of the bandit's face. His greasy skin burned under her fingertips, but her grip tightened. Without thinking, she summoned the energy inside her. An invisible sphere formed around his head, unnoticed by him in his arrogance.
"What the hell are you doing, bitch?" he sneered, his knife pressed harder against her waist.
JJ's lips parted, but she didn't speak. Her breathing became steady, the world fading around her. The grief, the anger, the suffocating pain from Daemon's death—it all focused into that moment. She closed her fist.
The sphere contracted instantly, crushing his face with a sickening crack. His body slumped against her, his blood spraying in slow, warm spurts. The knife clattered to the ground with a sharp clang, echoing down the alley as his lifeless form crumpled.
