LOVE ME LIKE A CURSE
Every vampire who feasted believed the Elders had sanctioned indulgence.
The air was a choir of shrieks, sighs, and screams.
It was not a night for secrecy. It was a night for grandness.
---
High above them, the Elders observed.
They had gathered on the terrace, a place that overlooked the festival grounds. From here, they could see everything, the chaos below. The Hollow Veil was a tradition, older than memory—older, even than some who sat in the Circle.
Elder Cassian stood nearest the terrace, his robes black as crow feathers, his gaze cutting and precise. “They revel like carrion,” he said, voice low but edged with disdain. “Every year, they sink deeper into mindless gluttony.”