Page 29 of Celestial Combat

Then Daphne turned to me, grinning. “Kali, babe. You want a line?”

I exhaled slowly. “Nah, I’m good.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Ava drawled, nudging me with her knee. “Live a little.”

They laughed, but there was no venom in it, just the weightless, careless humor of girls too high to care about much of anything. I rolled my eyes, but the truth was, they weren’t wrong.

I wasn’t fun tonight. I wasn’t anything tonight.

I hadn’t had a single drink at the club, hadn’t taken anything, hadn’t even wanted to. The thought of it made my stomach turn.

What the hell was I even doing here?

I used to chase nights like this. The head rush, the recklessness, the feeling of slipping into something wild and untouchable. But now? The music, the drugs, the noise – it all felt empty. Like a room I’d outgrown but hadn’t figured out how to leave yet.

I glanced at my reflection in the window, catching my own eyes in the glass. The neon lights outside flickered over my skin, casting me in flashes of red and blue.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like a stranger to myself.

The bass thrummed through my chest, a living pulse that matched the rhythm of my heart. Bodies packed tight, moving together under the flashing lights. The music was so loud it drowned out thought, and for the first time tonight, I let myself sink into it.

I rolled my hips to the beat, arms loose around my head as the song pulsed through my bloodstream. Sweat slicked my skin, my dress clinging in places where the heat of the club pressed against me like a second body.

Maybe this was what I needed – to let go, to feel fun again. To let the music pull me into something weightless.

I was lost in the haze of movement, the neon strobes casting everything in electric pinks and blues, when someone slammed into me from the side.

“Shit–” I stumbled, clutching my ribs where he’d hit me. A dull ache flared up, sharper than it should have been. A strange, pulsing pain, like something curling beneath my skin.

“Sorry, didn’t see you there.”

I turned, already annoyed, and found a man standing too close – big, with a grin that made my skin crawl.

“It’s fine,” I muttered, shifting away. But he didn’t take the hint.

“You look familiar,” He said, leaning in, his breath hot against my cheek. “I swear I’ve seen you before. You come here a lot?”

I ignored him, stepping back, but my limbs felt… Slow.Too slow.

Something was wrong.

The pain in my side sharpened, radiating outward, and suddenly my head felt too heavy for my body. The lights blurred, the music stretched into something distant and warped.

“Hey,” The guy slurred, stepping closer. His hands brushed my waist. “You okay?”

I tried to lift my arms, to shove him away, but they wouldn’t move. My body wasn’t listening.

My stomach twisted, nausea rolling through me like a tidal wave. The room tilted violently, the flashing lights slicing through my vision. My heart pounded, erratic and uneven.

No.

No, no, no…

I wasn’t drunk. I knew what drunk felt like. This was something else.

“Let me help you,” The man said smoothly, catching me as my knees buckled. His grip tightened around my waist.

“Get… Off…” My voice barely came out, weak and slurred. Panic clawed up my throat, but I couldn’t fight it… I couldn’t fighthim.

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