"She should be prepared for the unexpected." Venom's eyes glittered bright green as he returned his gaze to Elena. "I would've had her in another half a turn."
"I could've also cut off your balls if I'd aimed a little higher," Elena said, retrieving her weapons. "You want to play more games or can we get to work? We're on a deadline."
"This'll take a few minutes to heal." He removed his hand to show that the wound was still gushing blood. "Now I can compare notes with Dmitri."
Ignoring his sly words, she set about practicing the moves Galen had drilled into her when she wasn't throwing knives at Illium. The terse angel watched her go through the entire set and gave a short nod at the end. Feeling unaccountably pleased, she pointed the tip of one blade at Venom. "Ready?"
He twirled both weapons in his hands. "I never did get a taste of you."
"Come here, little hunter. Taste."
Everything went cold, quiet. She was no longer aware of the taunting heat in Venom's eyes, the light layer of snow on the ground, Galen's watchful presence. All she knew was the hunt.
Venom struck without warning, moving with the swiftness of the snake that was patently a far bigger part of him than just his eyes. But Elena was already gone, her blades crossed in front of her as she moved, one hand slicing out to run a thin line of blood across the vampire's chest.
He said something as the blow landed. She didn't hear it, her mind set to kill.
This time, the monster wouldn't get in, wouldn't murder Ari and Belle, wouldn't break her mother's heart so badly that she never left that kitchen saturated with the screams of her children.
Her eye picked up the minute tensing of Venom's thigh muscles and she struck before he could. This time, he avoided her blades, but not the foot she swept out to trip him. But she'd made a mistake. A line of fire rippled up her side.
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 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 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."