The darkness wasn't empty.
It moved.
When the lights died in the opera house, sound rushed in to replace sight—chairs scraping, a sharp intake of breath, the faint click of weapons being unsafed and then deliberately not used. Power outages were one thing. This was something else. Too clean. Too intentional.
Matthew didn't reach for Vinny's hand.
He wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him close instead, a silent command. Vinny's heart was racing so hard Matthew could feel it through his ribs.
"Stay with me," Matthew murmured near his ear.
"I am," Vinny whispered back, though his eyes were searching the dark.
Across the room, voices rose in alarm.
"Who did this?"
"Is this part of the—"
"Everyone stay calm!"
Kieran's voice cut through it all.
"Relax," he said, calm as a lullaby. "If I wanted blood, you'd already be screaming."
That did not help.
