Ondine (Ondine Quartet #0.5 Series Prequel)

Chapter Four

This is a prequel novella to the ONDINE QUARTET series. You can get this book and the rest of the series at Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords.

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Music boomed, electronic beat throbbing in time with my pulse. Splashes of cobalt light, the color of stormy waters, grazed writhing bodies, painting the walls and floor in alternating bright and dark stripes.

Brian stood at his usual place behind the bar. He noticed my approach, his mouth immediately lifting in a warm smile of recognition.

He nodded in greeting and I smiled back.

The simple exchange inspired the usual, silly rush of pleasure. Staying long enough in one location to become a regular was a subversive act, a tiny rebellion against the rules ensuring our anonymity.

Brian wasn’t a friend because I didn’t have those. But he’d seen me around enough times to be pleased when I showed up.

It was an illusion of normalcy, at least for a moment.

I stepped onto the dance floor, body soaking in the frenzied atmosphere of the club.

Rave was the kind of trashy dark hole where no one asked questions. Didn’t matter if you were alone or with someone, if you were high out of your mind or stone-cold sober.

If you were a human or an ondine.

It was a place for those who wanted to hide and those who strained to be lost; a place to be expelled and swallowed up, to release and absorb energy.

I loved it.

Music sinuously wrapped around me, seducing with its mesmerizing rhythm.

Eyes closed, only the barest light seeping through my lashes. Night in the city was a living, breathing entity, a stimulant I sought.

Heat trickled under my skin, the scents of overheated metal, cheap perfumes, and alcohol pressing against me.

As far back as I could remember, physical activity was devoted to training and to following Mom’s orders.

But here, it belonged to me.

Times like these, when I tossed my head back, hair loose and free behind me, I wondered how much our magic had shaped us.

Empath Virtue meant learning how to filter. It took years of work before I’d developed enough skill to prevent the emotions of others from overwhelming me.

Maybe Mom’s Clairvoyance Virtue was at least partially responsible for her rigid need for control.

Maybe we’d simply gotten too good at it.

After all, I’d become a master at shutting others out and she’d grown increasingly paranoid and distrustful.

Arms swayed, back arched, sweat dampened skin. Two hours working out at the gym earlier this evening hadn’t been enough.

I needed more.

A warm presence suddenly pressed in too close.

My dagger was already in hand, the tip digging into a solid, muscular abdomen.

Rui loomed before me, his eyes dark shadows in the sharp lines of his face.

I scowled. “Don’t come up behind me like that.”

He leaned in and spoke loudly enough to be heard over the music. “What?”

Shaking my head, I slid my dagger away. He paid close attention to it.