The last word was hard.
Holly frowned, her eyes tracing a water droplet streaking down the gleaming viper green of the car’s hood. “The Tower didn’t assign him Daisy?”
“No. Kenasha is never assigned newborn vampires.” Unlocking the car, he waited for Holly to get inside, then got in himself. “If the angel officially in charge of her wanted to transfer her, he or she should’ve contacted the Tower.”
“Why?” Holly’s empty hand fisted, Daisy’s words about being “given” to the three dead vampires as a “reward” ricocheting inside her head. “It’s not like the Tower interferes to stop the newly Made from being abused.”
“They make their choice, Holly,” Venom reminded her without an ounce of sympathy in his voice.
Holly’s other hand tightened at her side, over his sunglasses, something Elena had said to her over two years earlier rising to the forefront of her consciousness. Holly had been feeling sorry for a vampire the Guild Hunter had recently retrieved when Ellie had pinned her to the spot with the silver-rimmed gray of her gaze.
And then she’d asked a question.
If you’d had a choice, would you have chosen to sign over a century of your life for the promise of hundreds, perhaps thousands of years of life?
Holly had said, “No,” with harsh finality. She’d grown up in a city filled with vampires and angels, had seen what it meant to be part of the immortal world. The dark, seductive beauty, the wealth . . . and the horrific terror.
Raphael had once left a vampire’s shattered body in Times Square for three terrible hours that had turned New York silent, people’s blood running ice cold in visceral fear. The rumor was the vampire had betrayed him. By the time Raphael got through with him, the vampire’s body had been held together by nothing but a few stringy tendons.
His jaw had hung wrong, his skin torn and flesh missing in places.
Holly had thrown up after seeing the news reports.
No, she’d never have chosen to serve beings so remote from humanity that they could do that to another living being. She still didn’t understand how Elena could love an archangel who could deliver such a punishment—but then, betrayal was betrayal. And immortals had such long lives and such an intense ability to heal that punishment had to be vicious for it to count.
“What does it mean that the Contract transfer wasn’t run by the Tower first?” she asked past the ice in her blood.
“Likely venal politics.” The lights of the Bugatti cut through the storm gray heaviness, but the rain against the windshield made it feel as if they were cocooned in a world apart from the life and chaos of New York.
“The reason for the rule,” he continued, “is so that utter incompetents like Kenasha don’t ruin intelligent vampires who could become long-term assets.” His hands guided the car with an ease that made it look effortless. “It also wouldn’t do for a low-ranked angel to build himself a harem of young vampires—quite aside from issues of control, there is a hierarchy.”
“Here I thought it was to protect the vulnerable.”
“Daisy would’ve torn out your throat, then buried her face in the wound and fed on your blood until she was glutted.”
Holly put his sunglasses on the seat beside her before she broke them. “She was obviously starved. You’d act insane, too, if you weren’t fed for so long that you became emaciated.” Daisy’s ribs, her collar bones, had stuck out sharp as blades against her paper-thin skin.
“No. Her reactions were off.” Venom’s tone left no room for argument. “She’s young enough that the amount of blood I fed her originally should’ve shocked her back into full sentience. It’s possible there’s a drug in the mix.”
“A honey feed?” She frowned. “The effect usually wears off much faster. Maybe it hit her harder because she’s so thin.”
“It doesn’t have to be a honey feed.” Venom’s words were a surprise. “There are always chemists trying out new formulations. Every so often, they roll the dice and play with vampiric lives.” His voice turned grim. “Did Janvier and Ashwini tell you about the drug named Umber?”
Holly shook her head. “I probably don’t have the clearance.” It was weird, but when her bosses told her that, she accepted it, conscious she had to earn her way up the ladder. When Venom told her the same, she wanted to claw out his eyes. It was irrational, but then her reaction to him had never been a rational thing.
“You definitely don’t,” he said. “But you need to understand certain facts to protect yourself if you’re working in the shadows.”
Caught, Holly turned partially in her seat to listen.
14
“You reacted to Daisy as if she was simply another abused vampire—that could get you killed.” Granite in his expression. “You need to watch the reactions of any vampires you come into contact with, weigh those reactions against what you know to be normal.”
He swung the car to the left, heading in the direction of the bridge. “You have to be conscious a vampire might be high off a honey feed, or on some new designer drug. All of the latter eventually end in bloodshed. Umber caused a voracious blood hunger that led users to murder and brutalize the people closest to them.”
Holly released a quiet breath, her hands flexing. “Okay, you’re right,” she said, and the world didn’t end. “I’ll be more careful. I just . . . I felt sorry for her.” She wanted to kick herself as soon as the words were out—what the hell was she doing exposing her vulnerable underbelly to Venom of all people?
“I know.” No judgment in his tone. “Why do you think I gave her my jacket? My tailor will be appalled when I ask for a replacement and tell him why I need it.”
Holly rolled her eyes, but her lips wanted to tug up. “Why do drugs have such a dangerous effect on vampires?”
Venom’s shrug was liquid. “Vampire physiology is complex and it’s delicately balanced. Honey feeds work because our bodies are designed to filter the blood we intake—it just so happens that some of the drug isn’t filtered out and creates the high. But that high isn’t enough to upset the balance of the vampiric system.”
Holly thought of Zeph, of the emotional pain he tried to drown in blissed-out oblivion. “People try the designer stuff even knowing it could be deadly because they want a longer high.”
Venom gave a curt nod as his car prowled smoothly along the bridge, the lights of the other cars passing by in a rain-smudged blur. She had no idea what speed he was going except that it was fast. She liked it. “Are we going to find the asshole, Kenasha?”