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Khira paced the floor of her bedrooht fists Curses spewed fro the air with the poison of her hatred

Grigori stood in the doorway, every muscle taut, his face impassive as he waited to see where her fury would lead Earlier, it had taken all the strength he possessed to drag her off Rah to take Kelly and leave town, or at least go to ground until Khira&039;s rage ran its course, until they could formulate a plan to destroy her And Marisa He dared not send his power into the night searching for her lest his thoughts betray her whereabouts to Khira Surely the vah to lie low and take Marisa with hiertips over his wrist As soon as they had reached horabbed his arentleness in her as her fangs had ripped into his flesh He had steeled hiht up in her rage, she would kill hiht But she had stopped well short of draining hi her do to him - and perhaps to herself - that she was still in control

She had not needed to feed so soon, not after she had drained Lisa of blood in what had been an act of cruelly, not of necessity Khira hadn&039;t been in need of anything but a reaffirmation of her power Duncan&039;s use of the holy water had shaken her badly She was nothing if not vain of her appearance

His gaze moved over Khira&039;s face Already the effects of the holy water were fading By tomorrow or the day after, her skin would be as unble at her now, her features contorted with hate, he wondered how he had ever thought her beautiful

"We are not all h the corridors of his mind "Look at me Do I appear a monster to you?" She had not looked like aand costly attire, she had looked like a queen

She did not look like a queen now

She whirled around, pinning hi!"

"What would you have me say?"

"I want you to tell me why you took their side" Her voice rose "I want you to tell me why you did not come to my aid when they attackedfor And dreading

"Why?" Teeth bared, she flew at him

He ducked out of her hirled around to face her "Stop it"

She drew herself up to her full height "You dare to tell h You are acting like a spoiled child"

"You betrayed er flared in the depths of her eyes "I expected you to fight at my side"

"And do what?&039;&039; he retorted "Help you destroy Ramsey? I did not save his life to have you take it from him"

Her eyes narrowed "Why did you save hi he believed, I respected hilared at him "A tyrant? Because I demand loyalty?"

"What have you ever done to earn it?"

She placed her hand over his heart "Have you forgotten that I ori?" she asked, her voice deceptively sweet

"How could I?"

Her fingers dug into his flesh "I gave you this life, my handsome one I can take it from you just as easily"

"You think so?" he asked, his own considerable anger rising to roeary of your threats"

He had pushed her too far this time As soon as the words were uttered, he kneith a dreadful certainty that he had s in a feral snarl, her eyes glittering like blue hellfire

She was going to kill him

Her power lashed out at hiht of it, but did not give He bit back the groan that rose in his throat There was no pain in the world quite like it Even the hot kiss of the sun was not as excruciating as the cold fire that flowed through hith, he h

They faced each other, un, as their wills clashed Slowly, inexorably, he felt her strength begin to erode his own In that h hi her Not now, not alone She had taken only a little of his blood, but it had been enough to weaken hiant fool he had been to challenge her in her present mood Had she known he would defy her? Had she purposely set out to rouse his ire in hopes of bringing him to his knees?

He swore under his breath He would not subh to defeat her in a head-to-head confrontation But he was still strong, and sh to end the battle before she anticipated his intent

Drawing fro of Marisa&039;s love, he reached down inside hiathered his power around hi it outward,the last of his strength, he willed hied cry followed hiht

"I will destroy you! I will destroy all of you! And your wo!" Duncan switched on the light next to his bed "What&039;s the matter?" he asked sleepily "Bad drealanced around the rooori He&039;s in terrible pain"

She had gone to bed fully clothed, shy in the presence of aback the covers, she slipped out of bed and went to the here she pulled the heavy drapes aside The sky was just turning light

Chilled, she folded her arori has quarreled with her He&039;s run away Grigori," she whispered "Grigori, my life, my love, where are you?"

He fled thebehind hi in his mind: "I will destroy all of you! And your woman, too!"

"Like hell," he muttered With the help of Ramsey and Marisa, he had destroyed Alexi Kristov, once the most powerful vampire that had ever lived They had done it once They could do it again

He fled through the weak light of early dawn, feeling the lethargy of the Dark Sleep pulling at his weakened li for: a barren stretch of ground Using the last of his strength, he burrowed into the earth, clawing at the dirt with his fingers, digging deep, deeper, in a frantic effort to escape the rising sun

Panting, he gathered the dirt around and over hi sun His last thought was of Marisa, and then he was beyond thought as the Dark Sleep enveloped hiled against Edward "Will we be safe here?"

"We should be" Edward glanced around the room It was a first-class hotel in an expensive part of the city The desk clerk had been reluctant to ade, but Edward had used his Dark Power to cloud theround bed in the bridal suite The carpet was plush, the furniture elegant, the bathrooer than irl," Kelly said, shuddering at theKelly&039;s hair, he stared into the darkness He was appalled by the events of the night, by his own shortsightedness and stupidity He should have known that Khira would not allow Grigori out of her sight Guilt for Lisa&039;s death lay heavy on his conscience And yet it was Khira as to blame Khira who must be destroyed

He squeezed Kelly&039;s shoulder "Try not to think about it"

"What are we going to do?"

"We&039;re going to find Duncan and Marisa toht," he replied "It&039;s ti afternoon Except for being hungry enough to eat a very large horse, tail and all, he felt surprisingly fit considering all that had happened the night before

He glanced at Marisa Exhausted by her worry for her va on her hand It looked as if she had cried herself to sleep He could hardly bla married to a vampire couldn&039;t be easy at the best of times, and now he shook his head Now it ot out of bed Going into the bathroom, he made a cup of coffee, then turned on the shower When the water was hot, he undressed and stepped into the stall, carrying the cup with hi spray, he reckoned it was sos in life that were the best If he had been alone, he would have stayed in the shower until the water got cold, but he was pretty sure Marisa wouldn&039;t appreciate that The least he could do was leave her some hot water

He turned off the faucet, toweled himself dry, dressed, and brushed his teeth When he reentered the room, Marisa ake "Hope I didn&039;t wake you"

"No"

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder "I left you so the floor, he sat down on the bed beside her "It&039;ll be all right You&039;ll see"

She shook her head "You don&039;t knoful it was the last tih all that again"

"I guess it was pretty rough, huh?"