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“Unsurprising” He rubbed a thuelic trait that has never manifested in any other immortal”

“Can I still ht’ve lost that which tied theet out, check, but Venom held her in place

“I love you,” he said, his eyes locked with hers “From the roots of my hair to the tips of my toes From yesterday to tomorrow and every tomorroill ever see From this moment to the mystery beyond death Every part of you, slow or fast, s or weak I love you, Holly”

Her lower lip quivered

Throwing her arht When he rose, it ith both of theed to get his pants off, and then their wet bodies fell onto the bed There was no foreplay She didn’t want it She drew him inside her, held him, and they rocked, their eyes locked to each other’s

Slow and gentle and forever

• • •

It was so one of Venoether a pizza for her, that Holly snapped so out of the air She stared at the pluh, it does look nice” She took a bite, hungry for food if not yet for blood

“I threw it ather forever

And she’d caught it

Holly began to smile She still had the speed, could still dance with him in their unique and inhuh

“Want to hear rated cheese over the base he’d hand-made

“Uh-huh” She nodded around her succulent bites of plum

“I think you’ll have retained all the abilities that integrated fully with you The speed, the ability to becos that felt yours”

“The glamour was never easy,” Holly ad someone else’s coat” She kicked her feet “I’ll test the other stuff tomorrow” She was far calmer now that she knew she had the speed “Tushar?”

“Kitty?”

“Why a out of her body “The ghost or echo or whatever it was, it tried to suck me dry”

Her lover looked up fro to like this”

Holly frownedthen groaned “I swear to God, if you tell me I have some of Michaela in me now”

Not having mercy on her, Venom nodded “Uraest or process Keir believes a significant amount of her blood was still pooled in your stomach when the echo left you”

“Ugh, ew!” Hopping off the counter, Holly threay her plu it ater, she drank it down in desperate gulps “I know my reaction isn’t rational,” she said afterward “But ew!”

Venom’s lips were curved as he watched her little freak-out “Michaela’s blood nearly caused your own to go toxic, but its power also saved your life The echo inadvertently helped by draining so y out of you that it left a void—into which Michaela’s power flowed, giving your cells what they needed to survive”

Holly lass andsulkily to his side “How coelic blood elic attention, but Holly had had enough of it “Raphael didn’t feed me, too, did he?”

“No, the sire gave you his energy, but only in an attempt to heal”

“Good, but seriously—the idea of Michaela’s blood sitting around in ht, she dropped her head against his side “Oh well, at least it wasn’t Charisemnon’s blood” Any bastard who could orchestrate an act as heinous as the Falling was not someone she wanted in her bloodstream

“Speaking of whoh”

It took Holly a few seconds to remember who Walter was and why she should care Walter Battersby, her brain supplied, fixer to the iht, the bounty on o now “I suppose we should follow that up”

“I’ this seriously”