Midnight

"Hey! Twinkle-toes!" Sasha yelled.

The Bride turned.

Sasha pulled the pin on a flash-bang grenade and rolled it across the floor.

* BANG.*

The sound was deafening. The light was blinding. The Bride shrieked, her glass form vibrating violently, temporarily destabilized.

Sasha sprinted. Not away from the danger, but toward Julian.

She tackled him. "Trust me."

"What are you—"

Sasha ripped open his dress shirt buttons, sending them skittering across the floor. She grabbed the AED pads from her kit.

"Sasha?"

"I'm going to void the contract," Sasha said. She slapped the pads onto his bare chest.

She powered up the unit. *Analyzing rhythm.*

"You're in sinus rhythm," Sasha said. "I'm going to stop it."

"You're going to kill me?" Julian’s eyes went wide.

"Technically. For about a minute."

The Bride recovered. She re-formed, jagged and furious. She saw what Sasha was doing. She understood.

She screamed—a sound that shattered every remaining window in the penthouse. The wind roared in, swirling snow into the room.

The Bride lunged, her arm extending into a spear.

Sasha didn't look at the monster. She looked at Julian.

"I'll bring you back," she promised. It was a vow. And Sasha Kovac never broke a vow.

She hit the manual override on the AED. She set it to the highest joule setting.

"Clear," she whispered.

She pressed the shock button.

Julian arched off the floor. His body seized violently. Then, he collapsed.

The AED wailed. *No shock advised. Asystole detected. Begin CPR.*

Flatline.

Julian Sterling was dead.

The Glass Bride froze mid-strike. Her spear was inches from Sasha’s throat.

For a second, the entity hung there, vibrating.

Then, a crack appeared in her obsidian face.

* Husband... gone,* the voice echoed, sounding lost.

The contract was broken. Death had parted them.

The Bride looked at the dead man on the floor. She let out a final, mournful sound like a bell tolling underwater.

Then, she shattered.

Not into shards, but into dust. The entity collapsed into a pile of harmless, glittering sand on the penthouse carpet. The storm outside seemed to hold its breath.

Sasha didn't watch the monster die. She was already moving.

"One, two, three, four..."

She interlocked her fingers over Julian’s sternum. She pushed hard and fast.

"Come on, Julian. Don't you dare leave me with the paperwork."

* Pump. Pump. Pump.*

His skin was grey. His lips were blue.

"Breathe, you son of a bitch."

Sasha grabbed the bag-mask. She squeezed air into his lungs.

Nothing.

"I promised," Sasha gritted out, tears of frustration stinging her eyes. She went back to compressions. Her arms burned. Her ribs ached.

"Come on!"

She hit the analyze button on the AED again.

* Shock advised.*

"Yes!" Sasha yelled. "Clear!"

She shocked him again.

His body jumped.

Silence.

Then, a gasp.

A ragged, desperate intake of air. Julian’s eyes flew open, staring blindly at the ceiling. He coughed, his whole body shuddering as the heart muscle rebooted.

Sasha collapsed back onto her heels, panting. Her hands were shaking.

Julian rolled onto his side, retching. He looked up at her, dazed, terrifyingly alive.

"Did..." he croaked. "Did we get divorced?"

Sasha let out a laugh that sounded suspiciously like a sob. "Yeah, Julian. It’s finalized."