(NEON BLADE by: MoonDeity

ON REPEAT FOR THIS!!!

Pace yourself with the beats.

The song is four minutes long.

So you have plenty of time.)

The slide and screech of rubber on black top, racing past the stop lights, the motor hums with high horsepower, the rapper’s bass on the speakers thumps in her ears as she rolls into consciousness.

A muscular arm holds the shift, suddenly slamming the car in reverse. She throws a hand out to catch herself on the passenger seat, fear pumps into her veins like water into the ocean. She sits up straight, sirens scream behind her, the blue and red lights flash like a dance on the dash.

His face is covered up by the bottom half of a skeleton jaw, printed on a thin, black cloth. It seems to grin at her even though his deep brown eyes avoid eye contact, sharply focusing on the road ahead. Her grip is tight as steel on the headrests of the two chairs. The music is cranked up so loud, her body seems to jump with the beat.

She says nothing as the clutch is thrown, the car rockets forward a billion miles an hour, the veins in the man’s muscular arm pop, his eyes stay on the road, muscles rolling. He loses one cop car, speeding and crashing down an alleyway, the tires jump from the pavement and land hard again, crushing smooth cobblestone.

“Hold on, babygirl,” he murmurs, the sleek black car rockets forward like a beast, climbing a ramp leading onto the highway. The large diamond piercing in the guy’s ear twinkles as it catches the pale sunlight. She throws a glance over her shoulder, the cops have all disappeared further down the sun-bleached road. Her breath hitches as the strange man takes gravel backroads from the interstate, bringing her somewhere she’s never seen before.

A helicopter’s thrum rises up over them and the girl shrinks back. “I don’t understand.” He ignores her, eyes narrowed as more cop cars emerge from the dust he’s stirred up. He swears under his breath, rearing right, the car picks up impossible speed, making half a doughnut until the car is faced to the oncoming cops. Her breath goes extinct in her lungs, sucked out by fear.

He grins like a wild man beneath his mask, revving the car in the feds’ direction. The cops slow, obviously confused at the strange surrender. “Might wanna put your seatbelt on,” his teeth are clenched, jaw squared off. “And sit back.”

Bullets ping off the car when he floors the petal, cops leap out of the way, their cars veer with them. The helicopter throws small grenades, But the car is too fast, zig-zagging at random.

• • •

He pulls the sleek car to a halt beside a white marble mansion hidden in the woods. The palm trees sway with the light breeze, two gunmen guard the front entrance, more dot the balcony, guns poised at their sides. 𝘎𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴.

“Get inside I’ll explain then.” As soon as the door closes, he pushes her against the wall, bus lips crushed against hers, the skull mask is tugged down to his neck. Her eyes open as soon as he pulls away. Instantly, she remembers him. He doesn’t waste time, pushing her against the wall again and pinning her hands behind her, one hand on her throat. She grins like the devil herself.

“I knew you’d come back,” she whispers in her ex-partner-in-crime’s pierced ear. He groans into her neck, her fingers tangle in his brown hair. “𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥,” she murmurs, watching him go up in flames.

She tangles with him, he pulls her to the floor, evil grins at their reunion. “Can we hit up the bank next?” He tugs out a matching pink skeleton mask as she asks.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he replies.

She drives a red Corvette this time, the tires squeal as she leaves the mansion with him at her side. He sighs, “It sure is good to have you back.”

She laughs, turning to him, gun in one hand, the other on the wheel. The gun balances on her shoulder, her otherworldly grin returns.

“As was part of the plan.”

One pop.

Two pops.

“Because it’s so good to be back.”