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She saved herself from injury, but she also put herself farther away fro it There had to be another way The burn--

The burn! She could have more than hands She could have claws And if she could have claws, she could have fangs, wings and horns of her own All weapons of destruction

She

Part of her wanted to stop trying to subdue her fear and anger and simply unleash them Fine, more than a part of her But she wouldn’t do it She would not fight evil with evil That wasn’t who she was or who she wanted to be

I can do this I can She launched herself into the de her, but her hands were free and she ra her on top, but he didn’t leave her there He grabbed her by the wrist and tossed her over his shoulder She hit the far wall, plaster raining around her, pain shooting through her

Not out yet Up she jumped and raced toward him He met her in the middle She bit at him She sliced at him with her nails She swiped up pieces that had broken off the laht with every ounce of strength she possessed--more than she’d ever before exhibited All the while, he was a snarling animal, with no rules to hinder hie he caused No considering a better path And yet, still she ot

A few times, he tried to kiss her and once even succeeded He touched her in private places sied to er

Those explosions actually aided her He forgot to block her punches, too focused on getting his hands around her neck to choke her

"Look at you," he taunted, circling her now

"Check aso just as profusely and had to be hurting just as badly

"Just give up! Zacharel’s brought , and I will do the same to him I will not allow you to stop ive in "If you really are his twin--" can’t be, he can’t be "--then you asked him to kill you Commanded it"

"He did not have to heedto kill yourself"

"He could have tried harder to save me He could have found a way to reach ht a glimpse of the man he used to be: tormented, pain-filled, ruined He was a darker version of Zacharel

This really was Hadrenial, she realized Zacharel’s twin He’d turned his back on his angel heritage and become a demon

Even still, how could she kill the ? Even one as evil as this? Zacharel would never be able to forgive her

Forgive her

Unforgiveness

She caught the irony and laughed without hu with her love for Zacharel

You have to do this It’s the only way Besides, you’ll be dead, too, so you won’t witness Zacharel’s reaction

Yeah, but she would die knowing she had caused the man she loved unequivocal, eternal pain

If you don’t do it, Unforgiveness will continue to hurt Zacharel, you, and countless other faive

From the corner of her eye, she saw that Koldo had returned He was just as cut up and broken as she was, and he was not alone Thane stood beside hi like everyone else Koldo vanished and Thane remained in place

He created a sword of fire with one hand and stepped forward Stopped, frowned He patted at the air with the other, as if there was a barrier in front of hiaze--and his eyes widened He banged his fist against…nothing, his

Unforgiveness swooped in, going for her neck Teethwith uniinable pain She punched at his tee him Warmth cascaded down her chest as his ss becah her, insidious and undeniable

"Thane," she cried, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her, either He continued to bang at the air

On my own But that was okay She was ready to die and take this demon with her, because she knew that was the easiest solution, but she knew the demon wouldn’t kill her like this He only wanted to weaken her

Time to teach him better She forced herself to relax into his dark e on his thigh--and she sliced into his fe, he propelled away from her Dizziness claimed her as she lumbered to her feet She approached him

He did his best to re Fla a circle of fire around the two of them "If you don’t enter this room I’ll burn her to death in it, I swear"