nd of place anyone stu

ived in the forgotten corners of the city. No signs. No invit

ad never neede

t rattled through the floorboards. Smoke drifted lazily above the crowd, the room half-lit by the glow of neon tracing the bar

barely

was alread

y where he exp

spilled loosely over her shoulders, the faintest trace of rain still lingering on the ti

, the way her eyes flicked toward the mirror behind th

like a shadow cutting across the dance floor. By the ti

e slid into the seat beside her.

in fully. It had been three years since they'd last stood this close. She hadn't changed

as somethin

eyes she hadn'

rbon," she remarked when

e buying me drinks inste

t there was no humor in it. "If I wanted you de

n eyebrow. "Tha

dn't d

ing just enough to cut beneath the music. "I c

drunk to care about anything beyond the next round. But the two men se

k's

n the glass tig

know you're he

ied flatly. "I don't need An

not an

toward the far corne

admitted. "But h

at, gaze settling firmly on

er fingers traced the rim of h

territory," she said final

n't blink.

w that

rrowed fain

ly noticeable, but

" Isla sai

thrummed once

're stil

to a thin line. "It wa

didn't need to hear h

"But whatever this thing is, it's not playing by the rules. It's carving thr

ouched drink down

not my p

d and unyielding. "It will be i

hink what

He doesn't think. He acts. And if he

d. His voice was calm, but the weigh

le shifted slightly, watching

re alone," Darius said, his

alone when

yes darken

e from his seat, murmuring something to the other b

hed away f

e it," he s

riu

as alrea

ero's stretched long and narrow, lined with old brick and buzzing lights. The ma

ca

moved

exit, Darius grabbed him by the collar, slamming hi

ice was quiet, but the grow

t Darius's wrist. "I Isla

not what

and for a brief second,

man

ran down

e," Dariu

s breath

oftly it was

Marek who