Stupid. She"d forgotten she had wings to worry about now.
Flicking a quick glance at the wing to ensure the damage wasn"t serious, she twirled one blade, making it sing in the cold mountain air, and turned her attention to those eerie eyes again. Take those out and he"d go down. It was an utterly emotionless thought.
Venom"s eyes contracted at that instant, his blades coming up in a defensive posture as he blocked her attempts to do him mortal harm. But Elena was past the point of thinking, moving with the speed and strength that made her hunter-born. Venom yelled something at her but all she heard was a cold hiss.
She went for his eyes.
A slam of black exploding in her head. Then nothing.
Raphael landed next to Elena"s fallen form, his rage finely honed. “Did you incite this?” he asked as he picked her up in his arms, careful, so careful.
Venom wiped blood off his face. “Nothing worse than I"ve said to her before.” The vampire"s 193
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gaze lingered on Elena. “I think I made some quip about tasting her.”
“You know I"d kill you for the attempt.”
“Our task is to protect you from threats—especially those you might not recognize.” Venom met his eyes. “Michaela, Astaad, Charisemnon, each will attempt to kill her at some stage, knowing it"ll shake you. Better to get rid of the problem now.”
Raphael spread his wings in preparation for flight. “She"s more important to me than all of you.
Don"t ever forget.”
“And you"re an archangel. If you fall, millions will die.”
Unsaid were the words—better for a once mortal, new angel to die in his stead. But that wasn"t a bargain Raphael would ever make. “Choose your loyalty, Venom.”
“I made my choice two centuries ago.” Those slitted eyes flicked to Elena. “But if she courts death, it"ll find her.”
Well aware of what the vampire was speaking about, Raphael rose to the sky, holding Elena close to his heart. It was inevitable he"d remember the last time he"d held her so limp in his arms.
Immortality hadn"t made her safer, only more likely to survive the hurts sure to come her way.
But he could do nothing to protect her from the memories that haunted her.
Galen"s mental call had almost come too late. If Elena had managed to touch Venom"s eyes, the cold-blooded creature that lived within the vampire would have struck out, sinking its fangs into her unprotected flesh.
It would"ve left her paralyzed, in agony.
And while in the grip of the cobra"s hunger, it was quite possible Venom would have cut off Elena"s head before Galen could intervene, causing true death.
Laying her on their bed, he reached into her mind. Elena.
Her head shifted from side to side as she moaned, as if fighting a savage internal battle. His promise to her—to keep his mental distance—warred with the protectiveness that clenched around his soul. The urge was even stronger today than it had been yesterday. It would be so very easy to reach in and erase what hurt her.
“I would rather die as Elena, than live as a shadow.”
Brushing tangled strands of hair off her face, he repeated his command out loud. “Elena.”
Her eyes flicked open and for a single instant, they weren"t the silvery grey he"d become used 194
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to. Instead, they were almost midnight, filled with a thousand echoes of nightmare. Then she blinked and it was gone. Staring up at him with a confused expression on her face, she rubbed at her forehead. “I feel as if I"ve been hit by a two-by-four. What happened?”
“I had to intervene when you decided to turn training into mortal combat.”
Her hand dropped from her face. “I remember.” A whisper. “Is Venom alright?”
“Yes.” But his concern was for her. “The memories are starting to seep into your waking life.”
She pushed up into a sitting position. “It was like I was a different person. Not even that—like I was a machine focused on only one thing.”
“It sounds like the Quiet.”
Elena shivered at the memory of what he"d become in the Quiet, the soulless creature who"d treated human lives like so many effortlessly snuffed out flames. “Do you think it"s the change—the immortality?”
“A factor.” He nodded. “But it may be that it"s just time.”
Time she remembered all the things she"d rather forget. “I want to speak to my father.”
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“He has no right to your apologies.”
Her head jerked up. “How did you know?”
“The guilt is a stain on your soul.” Running his fingers down her face to close around her throat, he leaned in until their lips were a heartbeat apart. “You will not crawl for him.”
Elena flinched. “But I"m the reason Slater chose our family.” That, nothing could change.