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It was part of a silent language he’d taught her during their sessions while he’d been away from New York He’d made her practice the rapid hand ht Sie, but ht, be utilized only by people who had their reflexes Which would’ve made it pretty useless

But it had turned out it could also be used in coels and vas down so they could see the ht her was so, should the two of them be in a hostile situation, they could talk without anyone being the wiser

The move he’d just made, it meant: Ball’s in your court

Holly shuddered deep within He was telling her that Raphael and Michaela wouldn’t interfere If the horror was to end here, she had to be the one to end it Only she kneas at stake Only she understood that this echo of energy was created of the ht before his death When the archangel had been a being driven by ry for the pain of others

Shelley Maxie Cara Rania Ping Kimiya Nataja Daisy

Her friends’ names, and those of three other women who’d never stood a chance, they were a silent ain to the echo Thank you, she said, as if he’d answered her question when he’d done no such thing I hope my body serves you well

A pause You have served raciousness Now it is time for you to cease to exist

He pulled energy from the lureen electrical storm that threatened to ritted her teethor tried to The echo had control of her body and it wouldn’t let her take that instinctive action When the energy threatened to erase her brain, herthe very power he’d given her

Because she still had access to part of that power It had become fused into her cells and this body was yet hers, each and every part of it imprinted with the force of her life If he truly had been an archangel, she couldn’t have regained any access to the strength forged of his energy and her determination But he was only a faded echo Powerful, but not a power Not like Raphael or Michaela or the Uram he’d once been

Steeling her mind, Holly refused to be crushed, but she made no move to betray herselfnot until the echo ripped her hand off the now-lifeless lump in the crib As she watched, the fleshy host quickly turned a putrid green at the edges, the rot snaking so swiftly through the rest of it that it was clear it had been rotting for a long time, the putrefaction held back only by Michaela’s blood A foul san to emanate from it

Flicking out a hand, Michaela incinerated the thing she’d birthed

Ashes lay in the crib

And Holly’s skin gloith an acid green power this body wasn’t built to contain With the extra power caue hint of sanity Holly had been winging this, and the best plan she’d coiven her liels to kill her—kill the the echo into an act of total insanity

Such as attes

But now, she paused, thought Do you see what you’ve beco that she was talking to an i people bow and scrape to him That wasn’t always the way—froth around him Venom didn’t bow and scrape to anyone, and Raphael’s hunter consort was a warrior through and through, one who held her ground

Uram had been different From an older time She knew because she’d researched hiels Neha admired you, called you the most handsoave her bias there, I think Even Lijuan respected you and she respects very few people

The echo rumbled inside her I will have all their respect once more

Will you? Holly fought his hold on heryears Of night on a thronelike chair, his mouth rimmed with blood while a severed arm lay in his lap

A roar erupted from her mouth “Lies!”

She glimpsed confusion in Michaela’s eyes, battle-ready tension in Raphael Only Venom watched in oing on He knew Holly wasn’t dead

Ask your fellow archangels, she whispered Ask thehtel as considered the fastest ael who ruled with an iron fist but had the respect of his generals Not the archangel who had the most beautiful woman in the world as his lover Just that ravenous monster who thirsts endlessly for blood