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They rode up in silence, exited in silence He got lucky that no one else was up on the floor right then Venoht into his aparte e area There was no carpet there, only a square of highly polished stone that appeared to be a design feature that echoed the electric fire set into the opposing wall

Shutting the door behind hionein the apartment He could tell it wasn’t what she’d expected But she could have the tour later “Take off your shoes” He pulled away her clutch and threw it on a nearby chair

Holly bared her fangs at him, but she was still shaky She actually obeyed an order, kicking off her heels “Nohat, master?”

Having folded up the sleeves of his shirt and kicked off his own shoes and socks, Veno enough to act as a sparring ring “Now,” he said, “I want you to release the otherness inside you” He knew it lived in her because the vipers and cobras who’d been part of his Making lived in him

Holly didn’t move “Why? So you can tell me I have no control?”

“Control isn’t the same for us as it is for other people, kitty” That hat no one else understood, what Holly herself didn’t understand “I’ because I use those impulses So use it” Still, she didn’t take action “Fine” He s into her throat

As he’d expected, she reacted out of pure self-preservation And then the fight was on—but it was a nor that lived in her Venos over her throat She hissed and swayed for aoff the touch of venom

“Bastard” Eyes glowing, she ju

The movement wasn’t human, not anywhere near But it was her

Grinning as she clawed his chest, half ripping off his shirt, he pulled her off and threw her aside She gave an “oof” as she hit the wall, but she was up and running toward him a second later when she should’ve had multiple broken bones Veno bones were far stronger than normal vampire bones, even the bones of vampires hundreds of years older

Holly’s bones were closer to angelic bones

He slashed his nails tauntingly across her stoain It made herher, and then suddenly, her fangs were sinking into his shoulder fro at his chest He reached back and ripped her off

Blood dripped down his back “No , but he was dangerously potent She could drink herself into a coma Oh, she’d wake up, but it’d take days or weeks

Hissing, she juain

He laughed in pure joy

Because the way they fought noas nothing hu vampire, utterly other Their bodies were liquid, sinuous, bending in ways that shouldn’t have been feasible and striking so fast that had anyone been watching, the movements would’ve seemed impossible Exhilaration filled his bloodstrea with the Seven and Raphael, Janvier, even Elena, but thisNo one else fought this way Like he did

She was young and untried and ht—but the latter was the point

Gripping her throat at one point, he pressed a kiss to her cheek that was rip in a liquidpoison at hirab her thigh—visible through the torn skirt of her dress—holding on hard enough to bruise

She s inhumanly fluid

He avoided the hit, but not the nails across his face Licking at his own blood, he grinned, and they were at it again

• • •

Holly lay on her back on the stone in thearea, her brain at absolute and blinding peace for the first time in years She had no idea what had just happened The daoaded her until she’d decided to let hi at her to shut it down, he’d just grinnedand the rest was a haze of acidic green across her vision, a sense of exhilaration, and the thu beat of her heart