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“Uram touched her,” she whispered, her mouth so dry it was dust

“There is more” Venom told her of how Daisy had ended up in the Hudson

Pressing her pale of a wo in her eyes “Why not et to survive and she had to die?”

“Because you’re stronger” Venom’s ansas so definitive that she stared at him “It’s the only answer that makes sense Whatever Ura to fail because of Kenasha’s abuse It relocated”

Holly tore open her shirt, uncaring that she was exposing her body to Venoht now, she was more concerned about the strip of skin down the center of her chest That skin was s, she put her hand on the part of her chest where she’d seen the thing penetrate “I don’t feel any different Justgreater”

Oh God Oh fuck

Her breath punched out of her “Like it’s bigger” A whisper “The otherness inside er”

The serrated wings stretched wider, straining her skin, cutting her from the inside

Curling the fingers of the hand on her chest into her pal to hide the pain frohtly fisted hand She flexed it through conscious effort of will He can’t know that I am awake, the madness inside her whispered He will kill us to protect Raphael

Holly didn’t trust that insane voice but she also knew she was beco that shouldn’t exist, an abomination of creation But she didn’t want to die Not now Not when she’d decided to live And, she had the otherness under vicious control She wasn’t a threat If the madness tried to escape, she’d confess her sins, bear the punishment

The one thing Holly would not do was repeat Urae

“The tests on her and Kenasha’s blood,” Veno time to complete The healers say they’ve never seen the like”

“You need my blood, too It has to be a new, post-incident sa the opportunity to break the dangerous eye contact with a ent as he was lethal “Or did you take it while I slept?”

“I don’t need to violate wo me to take their blood and their bodies”

Happy to be back on a fa before she rose to her feet “Let’s go donate ht struck her “Have you fed?”

“Yes”

Holly slammed her mouth shut before she could ask the name of his donor She didn’t care She shouldn’t care Yet the question was shoving so hard at her throat that it threatened to bruise “Did you try that bottle of premium blood at Janvier and Ash’s? Ash said Ellie’s coe”

“To hu, but I will never voluntarily consume that mockery of blood,” he said with such an offended scowl that she had to laugh

This, this was the man who’d once run his own kitchen

But he wasn’t done “Anyone who adulterates such a pure and perfectly balanced liquid should be banned from the business of blood”

“You’re a blood snob,” she said teasingly “Ellie kno s me a bottle of the expensive dark chocolate one when she visits” Holly’s budget didn’t yet stretch to that “I pretend it’s syrup and pour it over my ice cream” Of course, she hadn’t consumed any blood for months before that near-bloodlust incident with Veno “Next ti to put it into a milkshake”

Venom shuddered “Stop, before I throw up” He pointed to the next level “I have sos in the bathroom if you want to shower”