Page 35 of Veil of Death and Shadow

Sora grabbed the pen, the scratches of her signature the only sound in the room.

She handed the clipboard to me, and I did the same.

“Great.” Villette grabbed Sora’s hand, any of her sudden iciness now dissolved. “The bracelet will prick you when I put it on, it’s powered through your blood. It will dull your susceptibilities to our magic, and it’s how we will monitor you. Do I have your consent to put it on?”

Sora’s neck flushed red. “You do.”

Villette turned to me once Sora’s bracelet was on—black with a silver “H” embossed on it. “And you? Do I have your consent to put it on?”

“Yes,” I said, wincing slightly as the bracelet drew its price.

“If you feel uncomfortable at any time, just press the small button on the back of it and hold down for three seconds. A member of staff will escort you out immediately and see to your safety.” Her smile widened and she walked to the door, then opened it. With a heated wink at Sora, she ushered us out. “Enjoy your time at Incendiary.”

6

MAREENA

Present Day

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

When I glanced at Sora, I knew my expression likely mirrored hers—wide-eyed and filled with awe.

The main room opened before us, the lighting and music moving together until the room seemed to almost pulse with the beat of it. A dark, oval-shaped bar was in the back half, manned by several bartenders as they mixed a range of drinks, working effortlessly together like a perfectly arranged assembly.

Most restaurants and bars I frequented since The Undoing ran like shadows of their former selves with electricity that didn’t always work, fewer customers than I’d been used to, pared down dining and drink options.

Not this one.

The place was packed, with people spread wall-to-wall across the dance floor. Many were dressed in almost nothing, their bodies languid and alive as they touched and moved together until it was just a blur of parts.

There were dancers, too—professional from the looks of them—in cages above us and on a platform that lined the entire left wall.

The rest of the dance floor was surrounded by small, intimate clusters of velvet chairs and tables—large enough for two to share. Couples sat twined together in the chairs, their bodies moving together, skin against skin, as they whispered into each other's ears, or kissed down each other’s necks.

Strangely, I wasn’t uncomfortable with the intimacy, even though a few of them looked like they were all but fucking. There was an odd peace to the sensual energy of the room, like it was here for all of us and therefore belonged to us all.

Heat enveloped the air, and I felt it tingle along my spine, lingering—a silent promise to sink into my skin if I only invited it in. The energy in the room was intoxicating, and I swayed with the music, my body loose, as if I’d already had a drink or two.

“It feels like a dream,” Sora said, her cheeks flushed with the same heat I felt climbing up my neck.

I nodded. Dream was a good word for it. This room was different than any I’d ever been inside before. The power of it seemed to soak into the walls, into the floors, until I felt it sink into my feet, vibrating throughout my body until I couldn’t tell where the room ended, and my body began.

If the building seemed strange when we’d walked into it, then this was ten shades past that.

It made sense to me now, for the first time—why Sora was so fixated on the supernatural, so drawn to this world. She didn’t see the undertones of death and loss that infiltrated everything the way that I did. She saw this place, these people—and others like them.

And it wasn’t just the sex, the intoxicating heat of Incendiary—it was the promise of a heightened everything, of somethingnew. There was a pure, unbridled magnetism here—full-blown technicolor where the rest of our lives were cast in shadow.

The quiet fear that trailed the streets of our everyday, the desperate attempts to hold onto the world of before—was this what awaited a world brave enough to reach out and grab it?

“Should we get a drink?” I asked, my voice huskier than usual, like even it wanted to give in to the hedonism the room promised.

Sora nodded, then grabbed my hand and pulled me across the dance floor. She dragged me through a tangle of bodies, and I felt the joy of each of them cradled in the places where our skin briefly touched.

My eyes snagged on a man whose stare sparked fire—dark and shining with a silent invitation.

His hand grazed along my arm, and I shivered at the touch, my gaze caught on the fullness of his bottom lip. A sudden urge to suck it into my mouth surged through me.

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