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A sharp grin from the other man “It’s a busy day, so maybe sixty-five would be a better estimate”

“Forward ive hiations as they attein of the bounty “And continue to monitor the e-mail address”

“Done”

• • •

Holly showered with a frown on her face What the hell had happened to her last night? And asn’t she ood It was like she’d slept in the lushest, most comfortable bed on the planet rather than on a stone floor And it wasn’t as if she was living in a hovel This was the Tower She only had a s suite like Venom, but e bed

That bed, an ornate extravaganza the size of a small continent, was courtesy of her parents They’d wanted to give her a “ in” present and what could she do but say yes? Mia had laughed her ass off over it until Holly had pointed out that a similar bed probably lay in her future, too

The rin

Leaving the shower after a long, hot time, she dried off, then stepped out and stared at the bed that had put that look on her sister’s face It was a white four-poster with a thick mattress and curtains tied to the posts The posts were carved with love hearts, the headboard with a plu back his bow as he prepared to shoot an arrow at a whole bunch of hearts across from him

“I have a giant princess bed drowning in hearts,” Holly said to herself, not for the first time

Then she shted when Holly accepted the gift Daphne and Allan Chang had even bought Holly a set of ridiculously expensive Egyptian cotton sheets and an equally expensive goose down comforter The bed was cozy and soft and warmand the stupid stone floor had still been nicer

“Argh!”

Making her way around the bed, she opened the walk-in closet and stepped inside to dress She really liked that she could do that; it meant she didn’t have to pull down the blinds on the floor-to-ceilingon one side of her room There wasn’t much of a view, not this lon in the Tower, but on a sunny day, the light was beautiful

Today, it was a ray

Dressed, Holly sat on her bed, shadows streaking across her skin as she pulled on her boots The rain wasn’t heavy, more a constant mist, so she could still see beyond herIn her direct line of sight was the building occupied by the Legion, the strange beings who’d descended on the city during Raphael’s battle with Lijuan

Pale-eyed and pale-skinned, ings like a bat’s, the Legion were the definition of eerie Of course, as she to judge? She wasn’t exactly Ms Nor, turning it into a living creation swathed in lush green

Holly had thoughtif she could look inside She’d never done so because the Legion were so other, and so clearly powerful as to be beyond her reach, but today, boots on and hair scraped into a ponytail, she felt the devil take her Or maybe it was that she wasn’t quite ready to face what Venoht

Since the area between the Tower and the Legion building was archangelic territory no stranger could infiltrate, she didn’t bother to alert Venom as she exited the Tower

She did however send hi without me Fear of herself or not, she wasn’t about to be sidelined She just needed a few extra minutes to find her balance

Despite the constant misty rain that felt like a cool kiss on her skin, New York carried on unabated Stea out to lunch flowed toward the subway entrance in the distance, and the war from a nearby pretzel cart drifted over to tantalize Holly’s taste buds