Mara couldn't fathom why the flames never harmed her. She simply assumed it was luck, a strange quirk of fate. Unbeknownst to her, she had become part of a grander scheme, an experiment orchestrated by the Neon Corporation. They had replaced her flesh with a synthetic, indestructible material. Mara was no longer entirely human; she was a love cyborg, implanted into society as a test subject.

The warmth, the danger, the confined space—it all brought her a bizarre sense of comfort. Every evening, she would nestle into the oven, where the gas flame would spring to life, bathing her porcelain skin in the neon light.

-FRANK WOLFE IV