The Breach

"She can manifest," Sasha said, reloading her magazine. "She has enough emotional energy to create a physical form. That means she can be hurt. Physically."

"You can't shoot a ghost!"

"If she can throw a table, she has mass," Sasha argued. "Mass can be disrupted."

The library doors bowed inward. The wood splintered.

A hand punched through the oak. It wasn't flesh. It was made of jagged, translucent shards, fused together into the shape of a hand.

The door was ripped off its hinges.

The Glass Bride stepped into the room.

She was a nightmare of refraction. Seven feet tall, composed entirely of broken mirrors, windowpanes, and crystal. She wore a wedding dress made of frosted glass that chimed when she moved. Her face was a smooth, featureless oval of obsidian, reflecting Sasha and Julian in distorted panic.

" *Juuuulian,* " the voice didn't come from a mouth. It came from the vibrating glass of the room itself.

"Get behind me," Sasha ordered.

Sasha raised her Glock and fired. Two shots to the chest, one to the head.

The bullets struck the Bride. The glass shattered, leaving holes in her form. But the shards on the floor simply floated up and filled the gaps. She rebuilt herself in seconds.

The Bride raised a hand. A swarm of glass shards shot toward them like arrows.

Sasha tackled Julian, rolling them behind the heavy oak desk. The shards embedded themselves in the wood with the force of shrapnel.

"We can't fight her!" Julian screamed.

"We just need to survive until midnight," Sasha gritted out. "Maybe the contract expires?"

"Or maybe she completes it!"

Sasha looked at the Bride. She was advancing slowly, savoring the terror.

"Vows," Sasha muttered. "It’s all about the vows. What exactly did you promise? Verbatim."

"I said... 'I promise to be yours. Body and soul. Til death do us part.'"

Sasha froze. Her eyes locked onto Julian’s.

"Til death do us part?"

"Yes! It’s the standard vow!"

"That’s the loophole," Sasha whispered.

The desk exploded. The Bride swiped it aside like it was cardboard. Sasha was thrown back, hitting the bookshelf hard. Her vision swam. She tasted blood.

Julian scrambled backward, cornered against the wall.

The Bride loomed over him. She raised a hand, forming a long, jagged blade of glass.

" *Mine,* " the Bride screeched.

Julian looked at Sasha. He saw her slumped against the books, blood trickling from her temple. Then he looked at the monster he had created.

For the first time all night, the arrogance vanished. The CEO mask fell away.

"Leave her alone!" Julian shouted, standing up. He spread his arms. "It’s me you want! Take me! Just let her go!"

The Bride paused. Her obsidian face tilted.

Sasha shook her head, fighting the concussion. He was sacrificing himself. It was noble. It was brave.

And it was going to get him killed.

"No," Sasha groaned. She forced herself up. "Julian, don't move."

Sasha looked at the medical kit strapped to her thigh. She carried a portable trauma setup. Including a compact AED—an automated external defibrillator.

"Til death," Sasha whispered.

She didn't need to kill the Bride. She needed to kill the groom.