Bloodlines of the Fallen
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