Page 123 of Veil of Death and Shadow

He groaned against me, and the heat of his breath and the feral need in that sound was all that it took to pull me undone.

My body clenched around his fingers as I clung to him, as he lapped me up through the waves of my release.

We stayed like that for a long moment that stretched into two, until he slid my underwear back on, somehow making it look and feel even hotter than when he’d tugged them off in the first place.

Then he dragged himself back into the seat next to me, his expression drunk and smug as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a black ball of lace and cotton. “Suppose I can’t keep every pair, can I?”

“Are those—” I let the question die on my tongue when I realized that they were, in fact, the pair of underwear he’d nicked from me last week. But then the desire squeezing my chest reshaped itself when I got a better look at the hand holding them. His veins were dark as ink, the black lines bleeding from those odd rings of his, all the way up to his elbow. “Kieran, you’re arm. What’s?—”

“It’s nothing,” he snapped. He slid the fabric back into his pocket, then pulled his sleeves back down, concealing his hand from my sight. “Don’t worry about it.”

“You look like you’re in pain.” I reached for his arm, all subtlety gone as the couple next to me shot me confused stares. “Something’s wrong, you’re getting worse.”

“I’m dead, Agony,” he said. The corner of his mouth twitched into a sad smile. “There is no worse.”

“Kieran—”

My protest was stopped by the sound of someone clearing their throat above me.

When I turned around and glanced up, I found myself staring at a very stunning, very familiar, very angry woman.

“Villette,” I said, offering her a weak smile. “Um, good to see you again.”

If looks could kill, I would’ve been dead twenty-times over with just one second under her stare. Livid didn’t even begin to cover it.

“You are one,” she held up a single finger, with a pristinely shaped, very sharp nail, “not supposed to return for another two weeks. At least. Two,” another nail met the first, “required to be on a list to gain entry. Three, you’re required to meet with me for pre-approval, a wellness check, and band. And finally,” her nostrils flared slightly, like she was losing control of the very fragile threads of her rage, “I’m absolutely positive that I made it abundantly clear that you were never allowed beyond the main floor.”

“I know, but?—”

“You’ve not only risked my business and the wellbeing and credibility of this entire establishment,” she snapped, “but your own life. Do you know how lucky you are to be alive right now, human? What the hell were you thinking? Your lust is like a neon sign right now. Were you?—”

“My friend is in trouble.” I bottled the shame and fear vying for center stage in my stomach and met her stare. “I was told that she met with a vampire named Lav last week. That she is here tonight. And I need to speak with her. I’m?—”

“Careful, Mareena,” Kieran said, his body stiff as his eyes darted between me and the terrifying woman in front of us.

I took a deep breath. “I’m desperate. I need to find her. And right now, this girl Lav is my only lead.”

Villette studied me for what felt like an eternity, her face icy and sharp while her eyes burned with a terrifying fire. Just when I’d thought she was going to rip my throat out for compromising her club, she asked, “Your friend—the girl you came with last week, you mean?”

“I . . .” I nodded, my throat dry. “Yes. Have you seen her here?”

She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. “Your information was wrong. The woman—Lav—she wasn’t even here tonight.”

“But that guy,” I searched the room for the man from earlier, but he was nowhere in sight—no doubt locked in a room with someone by now. I pointed to the door I’d been watching. “Someone told me she was in that room.”

“She was.” Villette nodded. “Two days ago.”

“She—what?” I deflated into the booth, trying to figure out what the fuck I was supposed to do now. My eyes glazed with the threat of tears, but I pressed my fingers against my eyelids, trying to keep them back. Then I glanced back up at Villette. “Do you know where I might find her? Please—” My voice cracked, and there was no hiding the desperation or fear choking me anymore. “I can’t lose her. Sora is all I have. Please?—”

Villette sighed, then turned on her heels and walked over to the bar. She returned with a business card and a pen. Leaning over the table, she scratched an address on the back in blood-red ink, her handwriting as sharp and dangerous as I might’ve imagined it. Then she slid it across the dark glass towards me. “I don’t know where Lav lives, but I think she frequents this bar. If she’s not there, the regulars might be able to help you.”

When I reached for the card, she pressed her finger into the center of it, stopping me.

“Listen to me very carefully,” she said. “You need to understand that, where this address leads, you are not promised safety. Very dangerous people spend their time in and around this bar. It is not a place where you belong, and you should consider every other option before you enter it.” Her lips pressed into a flat line. “Perhaps your friend is fine. She seemed very capable, from what I remember of her.”

“She is very capable,” I said, pulling the card from her grip when she finally relented, “but that doesn’t mean she isn’t also in trouble.” I met her eyes. “There’s nothing for me to consider. She’s my best friend. My family.”

Villette arched her brow, studying me, then, satisfied with whatever she found in my eyes, she nodded. “Very well, do as you wish. But please leave my club immediately and do not return.”

---