Page 104 of Fallen Court

Étienne gestured for us to follow, leading us to a paneled wall. He waved a hand, and a hidden door slid open. “Backstage, perhaps?”

I ducked to avoid hitting my head on the low frame. Cate moved closer to me as Étienne led us through the dark passage, the scents of greasepaint and old wood growing as we stepped into the backstage area.

“Wait, there’s actually a theater?” she whispered, her gaze roaming over the rigging and velvet curtains.

Étienne’s laughter echoed in the space. “Indeed, my dear. Vampires like spectacle as much as gambling.” He turned to me. “You may watch from the wings or find a place amongst the audience. Your choice.”

“I think we’ll stay here.” It was a relief to be away from the prying eyes.

“As you wish. If you stick to the rear wing, no one should bother you.” Étienne tilted his head to Cate. “It was a pleasure to meet you. It’s been too long since Lachlan seemed happy.”

“Have I ever?” Only half of me was joking.

His eyes sparkled. “Not like this,” he murmured, looking again at Cate. “Enjoy the show.”

He winked at me before he strode away.

Cate swallowed as she watched him go. “What kind of show is the Danse Macabre, exactly?”

I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “It’s the story of life and death told by various creatures.”

Before she could ask more questions, a few stagehands rushed past. I grabbed Cate’s hand and dragged us behind the partition shielding the rearmost wing from the stage. Tucked in its shadows, we had a clear view of the actors as they took their places. We turned our attention to the stage as the curtains parted, and Cate gasped when music swelled from the orchestra pit. She clapped a hand over her mouth.

I moved behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and drawing her body against mine. Leaning down, I brought my lips to her ear. “No one can hear us.”

Her hands covered mine, gripping them tightly as the lights rose to reveal a collection of creatures in a circle, their nude bodies a mosaic of colors. They knelt around a single woman tucked into a tight ball on the floor.

The haunting music rose, and the one in the middle began to stir, stretching her arms and legs as she extended her body. She raised her face to the sky, opening her mouth in a silent scream.

Cate craned her neck to the side, her eyes flickering to me. “Birth?” she guessed, and I nodded.

She fell quiet as the actress continued to move, pushing onto her palms and knees before slowly rising on unsteady feet to take her first steps. She continued uncertainly before gaining speed and running into the wing opposite us.

The others continued to dance until she reemerged before them. They surrounded her, raising their arms above her as they began to chant.

“The witches’ blessing,” I explained in a low voice to her. “Witches are born like humans, but they are reborn before their coven when they come of age.”

I had barely finished my thought when two pale figures emerged from the wings to begin another scene. I tightened my grip on Cate’s hips, drawing her closer as I murmured in her ear.

“And now a different kind of birth,” I breathed.

The man strode toward the woman, who paused under a painted streetlamp, and beckoned her with his index finger. She hesitated before taking a single step, and he grabbed her. Cate gripped me tightly as he plunged his fangs into the woman’s neck. “Let me guess. Vampire,” she said faintly. “They’re made, right?”

“Some of them,” I said, but Cate was too wrapped up in the stage to ask more, the finer points of vampire procreation forgotten. The man stopped feeding and offered his own wrist to the woman. She drank from him before going limp in his arms.

“First death, then the thirst for blood,” I whispered as the actress arched to life, opening her mouth to reveal her own fangs. She sank them into his neck, their hips rolling in a single, shared motion.

The man yanked away, and the actors circled each other, lunging and baring their teeth. “Then the bloodlust,” I continued, my voice dropping lower. “The need to feed…and fuck.”

Cate shivered in my arms as the man lifted the woman off her feet. The other actors onstage rose again, ignoring the vampires.

“I guess this is happening,” Cate said in a strained voice as the creatures onstage paired off, licking and kissing and tasting one another as they danced to the strange, hypnotic symphony.

“I tried to warn you,” I said with a soft laugh. She elbowed me in the ribs, and I chuckled again before growing serious. “Life begets life, Cate. The Danse is a celebration of our purest and most basic instincts.”

But she frowned. “There are no fae…”

“Our world is apart from theirs.” The flesh on the back of my neck burned as if questioning my answer for her. “Most of the creatures in New Orleans think we’re nothing alike, but they’re wrong.”