Gone was the methodical man with control. He’d been pushed aside and replaced with the raging bull that ran across the floor as my brother lifted a knife over Kirby’s face. All I could see was that knife piercing her skin. A roar that could have rivaled any beast ripped from my chest as I leaped over the table at my brother. Abel had been so focused that he didn’t see or hear me coming, and his eyes went wide as I tackled him to the ground. He hit hard as I rode him to the ground, and the knife skidded away from his hand.

“I asked you….” My fist found his face, the blow so hard that I heard his nose break over the sound of the music.

“I ordered you….” My other fist found his face. Blood flew, and a tooth flew out of his mouth, but I still didn’t care.

“And I warned you to stay away from her. You never listen. You never fucking listen.”

I hit him three more times before standing, my hands shaking and covered in blood. Abel groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head. I stood and walked over to the knife he’d dropped. Bending over, I grabbed the knife, a knife from my set, something else he was never supposed to touch, and waited for him to stumble to his feet.

He was a mess. Blood coated his face, smeared his hair, and ran down his chin in a steady line. Abel’s nose was broken and off-center, so I waited for the old protective sensation to surface, that thing that would stop me from killing him like all the other times. But it didn’t rise. There was simply nothing as I stared at my brother’s battered face.

His hand slowly reached for the table I didn’t dare look at because Kirby had been quiet since I came storming in, and I wasn’t ready to confirm if she was indeed dead. She was a glimmer and spark of life inside of me. Sunshine had become the one thing that made me feel like more than just a killer. I’d always have that, I would be a legend, but I’d been looking for her and didn’t know it. I couldn’t picture my life without her and if Abel took that….

“I was doing this for us,” Abel said as he pulled himself to his knees and slowly stood.

“No, you did this for yourself. If you really wanted to do something for me, you’d have done what I asked to begin with.”