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Venom swore as Holly cru her up, he backed out while yelling for the healer The wide-eyed angel was beside theers to Holly’s throat, checked her pulse, listened to her breathing “She’s alive,” he said definitively

Venom went to tear open Holly’s black shirt to expose the woundbut there wasn’t aNo burn No tear No bloodstain He unbuttoned her shirt regardless, but there wasn’t a mark on the sined it A substance or an entity had come out of the vampire on the bed and punched itself into Holly

Yet Holly’s skin ar in a shallow rhythm “Explain this”

The healer shook his head, his thin woven braids falling around his face as he examined Holly “I can’t”

Laying Holly on the carpeted floor of the observation chaentleness, Venom walked back into the much more medically spartan isolation room and toward the motionless body of the vampire they’d rescued

Daisy wasn’tflopped to one side Dark strands of hair obscured her face When he got close enough to move that hair aside with care to ensure she didn’t sink her fangs into his wrist, he spotted a trickle of blood co out of her nose More blood dripped out of the corner of her mouth

The scarlet stain on the white sheet below her was already significant

It was often difficult to tell if a vampire was dead They were almost-immortals, after all Usually, the only way to be sure was to cut off a vah Venom could easily survive heart loss, as could the other vampires in the Seven He was also near-certain that D his head froel

As Venoh time—add his potent raer to that, and the structural foundations of his body ht as well be formed of iron at this point

“Venoh”

Venoray spotted hite “Check her heart”

The healer—Nisia—already had her sone, exploded inside her chest cavity fro deep within the sickly thin vaans are also liquid” She indicated the slight swelling of Daisy’s belly as fluid built inside the body cavity “The poor tormented child is dead”

“She won’t heal?”

“No She was too weak to ride out the dae—especially with the loss of her heart”

Veno that the other healer was still kneeling beside her, his hands gentle on her as he continued to check her for injuries, Veno came out of her and went into Holly”

“I cannot sense an answer,” Nisia said “But Illiuuely toward the corners of the room

Venom looked up

Cameras

“Do an autopsy,” he ordered,an effort to keep his tone respectful Nisia was a trusted member of the Tower team and one who’d earned Veno “Don’t remove her from isolation We’ll destroy her body here if need be”

The healer’s soft brown gaze went to Holly “That child should be in isolation, too”

Veno kept, of how she’d felt the coo inside the isolation cha to infect anyone” She’d been the target