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And then the handsos sleek and lethal, his lips warm and cold

Oh God

"What about Beauregard?" she said suddenly, her voice co their attention She sat up and the room hardly dipped at all

"He’s dead," Max said flatly, his face still in shadow

A h her body, and she looked at Sebastian From the expression on his face, she realized he’d done the impossible: he’d killed the six-hundred-year-old varandfather

She reached for his hand and his fingers closed around hers She squeezed theain, now?" she asked in the strong, de voice of Illa Gardella, the leader of the Venators

"I will"

And then, with belated horror, she remembered: Max

Victoria turned to look at him and their eyes met The studiously flat expression there told her all she needed to know Sebastian htful place within the ranks of the Venators, but Max no longer could He’d given up his Venator powers in order to destroy the thrall Lilith the Dark, Queen of the Vampires, had held over hi

"Lilith won’t know I’ve severed her hold on me until she tries to exert it," Max said Exhaustion trembled in hismore deeply into their sockets

The last time he’d felt so bruised and empty had been after the battle with Nedas, Lilith’s son, last fall Max had been forced to execute Eustacia, his reat-aunt Eustacia was one of the most powerful Venators who had ever lived She’d ordered Max to sacrifice her so that he could get close enough to Nedas to destroy him and the powerful, demonic obelisk in his possession

It had been the hardest thing he’d ever done

Now, here he was, ready to leave the Venators permanently

Only an hour had passed since Victoria had awakened from her ordeal, and he and Wayren had slipped away to her library here in the Consilium, the subterranean head-quarters of the Venators, in order to discuss his future They’d left Sebastian Vioget sied, hollow-cheeked Victoria

It was just as well, for that was quite obviously the way the wind blew Although Max had had a et hadn’t known that Victoria wore two vis bullae

"But once Lilith realizes I’ to the conversation

"And she won’t rest until she finds you," Wayren replied in her even voice She looked at hi there "Her fury will know no bounds"

"How fortunate I am to be the object of such passion" Max tasted bitterness

At that et ca to hide the flash of animosity in his face Still flecked with blood, dirt, and debris froet looked weary and uncharacteristically out of sorts Max supposed that was only to be expected, after having been stabbed in the shoulder by the stake meant for a vampire And by his lover, too

Max’s lips twitched Victoria with one vis bulla was stronger than any et had to be in pain, even being a Venator

Despite the fact that Vioget had called Beauregard "Grandfather," the et’s father had descended froenerations after the vampire had been turned undead And his mother had apparently carried some et in an ironic turn: the grandson of a vampire was called to be a slayer of the undead

"So sorry to interrupt," Sebastian said in dulcet tones that didn’t lanced at Max, turning pointedly to Wayren

She sat not behind her desk, but in a cushioned chair, dressed, as always, like a oith pointed sleeves that brushed the floor This night, the bulk of her pale blonde hair hung in two thick braids, with two finger-sli from her temples She wore no jewelry or adornirdle at her waist, upon which hung a ring of keys

"I have a et continued

"I iard’s death at your hand probably won’t be well received by his undead compatriots," Max replied pleasantly "Especially since for the last decade you’ve fairly lived a them You may actually need to bestir yourself to slay a few et had known each other forbefore either even knew that vampires existed The animosity between them had been put aside for the few hours it took to rescue Victoria, but Max saw no reason to hide his antipathy for Vioget and his years of denying his calling as a Venator Cowardice or selfishness--Max wasn’t sure which one had driven the man--but it didn’t matter to him