I really don’t know what I was expecting from a meth lab beneath a church, but it wasn’t this.
My lab coat is really, really out of place.
After climbing down a damp, musty stairwell, the last thing I expected was a freaking club. Neon lights. Pulsing music. Velvet curtains.
And there is a long, long line.
I am at the very end. The walls on either side of me are narrow, almost shoulder to shoulder.
I do not fit in here.
Actually, I look exactly like the kind of maniac that is planning to sneak into a scientist’s lab and steal their secret formula.
I quickly tug off my coat and toss it into the shadows. Ahead of me, I see a bouncer standing at a tapered stone doorway. Music and light and life vibrate from within that roomand I am suddenly curious.
There is a club in the basement of the Asakusa Temple.
Fine, I can be blasphemous sometimesbut this is a whole other level. This is hell’s party, and it has rainbow strobelights.
How . . . fitting.
I bounce back on my heels. I feel like I’m in a fever dream. When I closed that heavy stone door, sealing myself into the dark, I thought I was headed towards some kind of secret lair. Somewhere with a white lab and glass walls and high-class technology.
Honestly ? I didn’t picture a party.
Beneath the lab coat, I am wearing black. A tightly-clinging turtle-neck shirt. Fitted pants. It must have been Maiko, I realize.
I have to get into this party, but with a line-up that looks like it’ll take another three hours . . . I’m out of ideas.
The girl in front of me is tall and thin, with raven-black hair. When she turns around, it takes me a moment to recover my breath. She is classically beautiful, and I swear I’ve seen her before.
Hey, I say quickly. Why is it so busy tonight ?
It seems like a safe question. It’s not like I can ask, Where’s the meth lab ? Or, Why is everybody lining up for a VIP club in Hell ? Or, How do so many people know about this place, when Okami has literally slaughtered a dozen people to hide the formula of this drug ?
Nope. Can’t ask any of those.
The girl gives me an easy grin. I swear I’ve seen her before. The Japanese features, the ivory skin, the glittering black eyes . . .
She reminds me of a panther.
A predator.
She says, It seems like you’ve never been here before, then.
I think she recognizes me, too.
I see it in the way her eyes flicker, almost imperceptibly, and the way her smile becomes slightly sharper.
But I can’t back down now. No matter who she is, I have to do this.
And I still have Veah’s gun in my back pocket.
I can do this.
Lucky for you, the girl continues, I’m going to be your ticket into this place.
No, I say. No hesitation.
No ? She must have been expecting me to accept with gratitude. Too bad. I have a mission to accomplish, but
Whoever she is, every instinct in my body screams, Run !
The last time I ignored my instincts, I ditched Veah and ended up straight in the arms of the Mafia.
I almost signed away my own life.
That is so not happening again.
No, I repeat. Thank you.
Her face flushes with anger. Beautiful rage. But before she can say more, I am shoved into the stone wall. Hard.
For a moment, I am hot with anger. Did she just push me ?
But when I catch my breath, my shoulder aching, only a heartbeat later, I realizeit was a boy. He is barreling past the lineno, cutting through it. His strides are determined. Purposeful. Powerful. He doesn’t give a damn, and it’s clear no one is going to even stop him.
Asshole.
Before I can think better, I reach out and yank him by the arm.
In hindsight, I definitely shouldn’t have done that.
And then I spin him around and snap, Who the hell do you think you are ?
I really, really shouldn’t have done that, either.
I take a step back when I realize the boy can’t be any older than I am, but I don’t let go of him. My fingers curl into the expensive material of his sleeve.
The boy’s eyes narrow. Black fury.
He is startlingly, strikingly handsome.
His lips are the blush-red of silk roses, and his jaw is the granite carving of Adonis. He has dark hair, but his eyes are several shades lighter. Hazel. He is . . . really handsome.
He is also still an asshole.
Hey, I say angrily. I’m talking to you. Who do you think you are ?
Yes, I really should have guessed that would be a bad idea. Considering the fact that I was literally standing on Mafia territory, in the basement of a church that only a select few people could have known aboutOkami’s inner circle.