Page 32 of Veil of Death and Shadow

The kind of girl who never had to wait to get into a club.

What kind of power did this Rex guy have?

“They’re on the list,” the doorman said, unbuckling the rope behind him and ushering us through to the dark hallway behind him. “You know the rules, Reza. It’s not like they change.”

I wondered how many nights she spent like this—devoting hours of her day primping to perfection, just to wait all night at the entrance, arguing with the bouncer.

Guilt seeped through me that something I didn’t even want was handed over with such ease. If it weren’t for Sora’s excitement, I’d have offered to trade spots with her.

My stomach tightened with each step we took down the dark hall, the lighting dark and tinted in pinks and blues.

“Oooh, bisexual lighting.” Sora wiggled her brows, her fingers lightly grazing the dark, velvet walls. “I like it already.”

I snorted, unable to find words as a rush of power flared over me, like the building itself was probing beneath my skin. Assessing.

Sora let out a rushed breath. “Just wait until we get in. I’ve heard rumors that just standing in the main room is like a lick to the clit.”

“Poetic.”

Nervous laughter spilled from my lips, and I tried to relax into it.

I used to be good at this. Letting loose. If I stopped being so goddamned uptight and leaned into it, I could learn to be that girl again. At least for tonight.

I pressed my hand against the wall, my head light and airy, like I stood up too quickly. The wall vibrated at my touch,purring the way that buildings did when music pulsed through the air. But it was quiet here.

As my fingers lazily traced the velvet filigree, a wave of clarity rippled through my bones, rooting me to the floor.

Sobering.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, my vision shifted—doubled. There was the hall we stood in, warm and humming with muted lights, but there was somewhere else too—a forest of trees in grayscale.

And nested between two of the trees was a door.

“Woah,” I groaned, leaning against the wall, as nausea rolled through my body.

I blinked.

The world righted again. The strange, ghostly forest gone, along with my dizzy spell. An illusion of some kind, maybe? Or maybe I didn't eat enough today.

“You okay?” Sora turned around; her brows pinched. She grabbed my shoulder, steadying me when I started to sway. “Is it too much? We can leave if you want?”

The lights seemed to flicker at the suggestion, but if Sora noticed them, she didn’t say.

A quiet calm trickled through the air, as if the walls themselves were asking me to stay.

As if this was where we were meant to be.

As if leaving was the most preposterous idea in the world.

Normally, that kind of thing would send me hightailing it out of here, but for some reason, I leaned into it, comforted almost.

“I’m okay,” I said, my smile tight, as I walked further down the hall, the feeling of rightness increasing with each step, like my body was growing stronger, the power of the building infusing me somehow. Perhaps that was how humans were able to withstand this place—it bolstered us.

“This way,” a cool, calm voice echoed from an open door just ahead, right in front of the desk we’d been directed to.

It belonged to a woman. She was tall, white, with black wavy hair and full lips. Her blue eyes were almost surreal in their pigment, her features exaggerated in such a way that made the girl outside, Reza, pale in comparison.

She wore a black dress that hugged her curves and stopped just short of revealing the flesh of her ass. Her lips were painted in a cool shade of red that suited her so well, it was as if the color had been designed with her in mind.

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