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Swathed in the silken shadows of deepest night, New York was the sameand altered beyond coht-filled column of the Tower as she sat in front of the distantof her cherished aparth atop a balcony that had no railing, nothing to prevent a deadly fall

Except of course, she would no longer fall

Her wings were stronger now She was stronger

Flaring out those wings, she took a deep breath of the air of home A fusion of scents—spice and smoke, human and vampire, earthy and sophisticated—hit her with the wild fever of a welco, relaxed, and she stretched her wings out to their greatest width It was tin, this hoain

Diving down from the balcony, she swept across Manhattan on air currents kissed by the cool bite of spring The bright green season had thawed the snows that had kept the city in thrall this winter, and now held court, summer not even a peach-colored blush on the horizon This was the tiht and young and fragile even in the frenetic rush of a city that never slept

Home I’m home

Letting the air currents sweep her where they would above the dias, tested her strength

Stronger

But still weak An immortal barely-Made

One whose heart remained painfully mortal

So it was no surprise when she found herself trying to hover outside the plate-glassof her apartment She didn’t yet have the skill to execute theto pull herself back up with fast wingbeats Still, she saw enough in those fleeting glilass had been flawlessly repaired, the rooms were empty

There wasn’t even a bloodstain on the carpet to mark the spot where she’d spilled Raphael’s blood, where she’d tried to staunch the criers were the same murderous shade

Elena

The scent of the wind and the rain, fresh and wild, around her, inside her, and then strong hands on her hps as Raphael held her effortlessly in position so she could look her fill through the , her hands flat on the glass

Emptiness

No sign remained of the home she’d created piece by precious piece

“Youherself to speak past the knot of loss It was just a place Just things “It’ll be a very good way to spy on potential targets”

“I intend to teach you s trapped in between, the Archangel of New York pressed his lips to the tip of her ear “You are full of sorrow”