Page 6 (1/2)

"Ah, a va the triued the lory as he offered the Phoenix to his dark Prince

"Actually, no I shall also need this" Loosening his hold upon Abby, he bent doard and with one sers hidden in his boots In the sa his hands as he came back up to his feet

For a moment Haiford merely stood silent in the darkness It was aler deeply planted in his middle eye or the other that stuck in his lower stoer, the deadlymoan, he collapsed onto the vile rubbish that littered the alley

Dante never hesitated as he flowed forward With efficiency, he sliced open Halford’s throat and then cut out his heart He was never stupid enough to presume a demon was dead until he held its heart in Ms hand At last satisfied, he reached to retrieve his daggers and traced his way back to Abby She hastily backed away from his approach, her eyes ith distress

"Abby"

"No" She held out her hands "Stay away fro his flare of iers to his boots and to s another step closer She was a breath away fro to chase her through the ht under norht, however, was anything but normal,

"Abby, the demon is dead," he soothed "He will not harm you"

"And what of you?" she de to sellFor blood"

"Don’t be a fool Of course I wasn’t going to sell you" He reached out to grasp her chin, forcing her to aze "I h to strike In case you didn’t notice, he was soly brawl"

Her tongue peeked out to touch her lips It was a tiny, unwitting gesture, and yet it hten upon her delicate skin Noher so close stirred a fierce, aching hunger One that he feared wouldn’t be appeased any time soon

"Why should I trust you?" she rasped

His lips twisted as he lowered his hand and held it out "Because for themoment when she battled her inner de that the deerous than him

Still, it ith obvious reluctance that she at last laid her hand in his

Not giving her tiers and, with a tug, they were slipping through the darkness He was startled by the flare of disappoint fear of him What else did he expect froe that she considered hi them, and maybe not even a whole step, more like a baby half step, left a hollow sensation within hi down a side alley, Dante continued to brood upon the wo and tingling with awareness of her war his own That no doubt explained why he was taken off guard when the hellhound abruptly sprang froround

In a heartbeat, the deadly hound had hi onto Dante’s flesh with searing pain

"Bloody hell," heup, Dante was preparing to grasp the demon’s throat and rip it out when there was a sudden whoosh of air, followed by the sickening crush of bone He blinked as the hellhound tumbled to the side, obviously dead

"Are you hurt?"

Like a vision fro over hi in lientle concern Dante took ahiarded the twitching de, love," hein the rusty pipe she clutched in her hand "Deood as--"

"Say the na the pipe in a threatening , sweet, but if you truly want to get the job done, it has to be wood"

’That could be arranged"

"No doubt" Dante rolled to his feet, brushing off the clinging filth "Unfortunately, it will have to wait until later For noe ainhis senses alert Sharply, excruciatingly alert

Devil spit He had been knocked down by a hellhound In front of a beautiful woain

Killed, htered, or beheaded, maybe But not humiliated A far preferable alternative for a proud vampire