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The red burnedies warredSara with the knifesharp teethSara standing over Sebastian, snesscold calculationthe tearing of teeth into her flesh, she knehat it felt likethe pain, the release of bloodShe couldn’t do it She couldn’tKritanu’s severed handthe snarls filling her ears and facepainVictoria felt herself o back therepainbut Saraher screamsshe couldn’t bear itshe deserved itshe would have cut the and sobbing, falling down, downshe fought the fear, battling the red that threatened to overtake hershe landed on a furry back and barely had the presence of mind to use her stake She heard a shriek above her, the fury of Lilithand soth She’d won

By God, she’d won

As she battled those , the red easedit released her froh her, white and clear, pushing away the drive to kill relentlesslythe pleasure in pain

The dogs seemed to sense her renewed purpose, and they becaer teased and tortured as they had done before, but lashed out, all at once, pulling at her, tearing into her flesh Her stake turound and Victoria felt the soft paws pressing into her face as teeth and claws tore at her legs and ar at the to pull her other stake from beneath her trousersand at last it was in her hand, heavy and solid, and she lashed out with it

She was Illa Gardella

Power blasted through her, and she kicked and fought, free now, free to be as savage as she could, for she no longer feared the evil It had dropped its hold, broken by her sacrifice, bleeding fro exhalationstronger and purer

At lastsilence

Silence but for gasping breaths, and Sara’s soft sobs and keening cries

Victoria staggered to her feet and looked up

Max’s handsome face, still dark and taut, scraped and bloody, stared down at her She saw the expression in his eyes, read as there, what he’d tried so hard to hideand then he was gone

Victoria wasted no time She heaved Sara’s mutilated body up and over the top of the pit, on the side away fro quickly after her before the vaony as she collapsed on the ground, a torn, e On the other side of the pit-- nothingand lethal

"You rong," Victoria said, triumph in her voice as she leaped over the pit She landed solidly on the other side, steady, her feet planted on the ground Sure For the first ti she had won

Fronal, ca toward her Victoria readied her stake, and the last thing she saw before the red-eyed creatures attacked was Lilith bending to Max

Her world becas and claws, of pain and thrusts and stakes She caught gliht to keep theer afraid of the red and the blood and of herself

And Max had his ring He would be safe

They covered her, as the dogs had, but larger and heavier, though no less feral She screa fangs

"The ringMax!" she cried, shoving her stake up into the red eye of an undead

She rolled over and gliainst Max’s dark oneand the iue, and then the burn of red-blue eyes as the vampire queen turned to look triue undead closed his hands over her throat, squeezing, as another captured her legs, pinning theand suddenly her legs were released and the sh the air

A war cry filled the rooolden eyes furious and horrified, finding hers from behind the shoulder of an undeadthe va to touch her--just once, a quick caress--and then turning away to fight the undead

Bried and leaped, throwing vampires out of the ith his linted in his dark eyebrow against his black skin, hishiround Michalas was there too, his stake slashing andVictoria and Sebastian backed up to each other, battling the va thele" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>