From a platform suspended in mid-air, a DJ continued mixing his club beat with ancient Latin chants.
Da pacerne domine…
Thump thumpthump
In diebus nostris…
Thump thumpthump
It was there again, the heartbeat. It was in the music, in the mysterious humming vibrating off the walls of this crypt, in the sheer power that filled this room. That heartbeat intermingled with mine and made me feel more alive than ever. A shiver ran down my spine, even though it was the middle of June.
My attention narrowed on a blonde girl sat spread-eagle on top of a large boulder while a guy with jet-black hair buried his face between her thighs. Another girl, a brunette, drew a hit off a joint then leaned over and pressed her mouth to the blonde’s. The blonde’s cheeks hollowed as she inhaled, then the brunette grabbed her by the nape and pulled her into a kiss. Those same girls probably made millions influencing pre-teens with their work on the Disney channel.
So, this was why no one talked about it.
For some reason the scene enticed me. It lured the deeper parts of me, the parts that had hibernated in the darkness but now stirred to life. No one cared about the confines of etiquette. There were no boundaries to cross because boundaries were nonexistent.
Maybe I did belong here.
I glanced over at Lyric right as she pulled a cell phone from inside her black leather leggings and snapped a picture. The pants were so tight, I didn’t even want to think about where she was hiding that thing.
“Are you kidding me right now?” My gaze narrowed in on her. “These people aren’t your dad. You don’t have to intentionally piss them off.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved the phone back inside the waistband of her pants, then down another inch.Ew.“Chill out, T. It was one selfie.” She threw her long blonde hair over one shoulder. “I’m not going to share it.”
I held my pinky up in the air. Lyric was forever taking pictures of things and places she had no business taking pictures of. She said blackmail is a powerful weapon. I said she wouldn’t need a weapon if she never picked a fight.
She heaved a sigh when I widened my eyes and shoved my pinky in her face. Reluctantly, after whipping her hair over her shoulder like the sassy bitch she was, she wrapped her pinky around mine, making me grin.
Then she yanked my hand and dragged me through the crowd. “We need drinks.”
Yes. Drinks. Plural.
I’d never been drunk before, but I completely agreed. It was Mischief Night, after all.
Someone grabbed a handful of my hair from behind, jolting me to a stop. “Oh my God, it’s so soft,” her voice cooed in my ear.
I spun around to find a girl I’d never seen before rubbing my hair across her face. Her features were illuminated by the colorful glowstick necklace she wore.
Lyric pulled on my hand, yanking me—and my hair—away from my new admirer in a painful tug.
“She likes my hair,” I shouted at her as I rubbed my scalp.
She glanced over her shoulder. “She’s rolling. She likes everything.”
Rolling.The love drug. I’d heard Lincoln talk about what that felt like. No wonder the girl was getting off on my hair.
Lyric shoved and pushed, clearing a path across the concrete floor to the other side of the room.
Was it a room?I’d heard stories about the guy who was buried here. The legend said he threw some of the most elaborate—and raunchy—parties New York had ever seen. The guest list was exclusive to the elite and kept top secret. In a time whenraunchywas the equivalent ofsinful, attending these parties was quite the scandal. Before the tomb was fully constructed, when it was nothing more than a concrete slab on a dirt clearing, he’d brought those same parties here as a celebration of life before death. Somewhere along the way, someone decided to embrace his legacy and keep the party going.
I swerved to the side to keep from bumping into a tall guy with blond hair who was hunched down over a girl’s chest. “Wait, was that—”
Lyric looked over her shoulder at me. “Jake Ryan whiffing snow off Geneva’s tits? Yes.”
So that’s how he manages those all-night gaming sessions.Jake had a record-breaking YouTube following thanks to his online video streams.
The more I saw, the more I envied their freedom. My world always felt bound by obligation, but now I was curious, so fucking curious. Now, I wanted tofeel.