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She will rue the day she ever set foot inside my church

He was thankful she could only control hiht--and not read his mind He appreciated the element of surprise

Hadrian moved toward the blonde She was pretty, with delicate pixie features Her hair came to just her shoulders, and she appeared wise beyond her years

"She’s young, but she feels very powerful to me, for some reason," he said to no one in particular

Father Hadrian looked skeptically at the woer or duplicity or really anything extreme at all Maybe hope? Hope for what? It couldn’t be redemption The puzzle piece that wouldn’t quite line up only a moment before clicked into space If she were really enthralled, she shouldn’t have any feelings or opinions at all She should be blank, save for whatever suggestion or desire had been put in her head

He allowed his fangs to drop for the girl’s benefit, just so she was clear about which side of the good/evil fence he was technically on now But nothing changed in her gaze For soain if she was enthralled

"Why is she bound and gagged?"

"You can never be too careful itches This one is strong I’m surprised she hasn’t broken the thrall If she does, ouldn’t want her to have access to her eline, still trying to figure out his meal The self-control he’d practiced as a huht now he had to give the ieline was the one in control, at least until he’d fed and held all the aces

Hadrian picked the girl up, and held her in an embrace as he turned to face the other va He sank his fangs into the girl’s delicate throat and drank Her whihten involuntarily on her ar there, he would have thrown her down on the grass and done ood Relief hat he tasted as he drank her This girl had a death wish In another time and place he would have tried to help her, but that was a different Father Hadrian, this one was happy their desires meshed so well She wanted to die and he wanted to kill her She wanted to lose herself in oblivion and he wanted to lose himself in the power of her blood

Such power for so His deth he should only expect to find in a very old vampire Not a human Not even a witch And certainly not a witch no older than this one For the second ti is off, drifted through his mind He only hoped it was off in a way that wouldn’t bite him in the end

"Drain the little bitch dry"

Jealous?

Hadrian, licked and sealed the witch’s wound, then spun her to face hi hers in a kiss She was too weak fro anything more than screith his sire for a moment Let her see how fickle his attentions would be after being brought into this life unwillingly The little gasp of dise off his anger He went back to feeding

"Drain her, then I’"

The forrie would have been so under the power of his sire that the idea of sleeping with her would have sounded lovely to him Either way, she didn’t have to tell Hadrian twice As curious as he was about the witch in his arirl probably didn’t deserve a death like this, his survival--and freedom--came first Where before his matism, noas the opposite, courtesy of the demon part of hiirl, Hadrian dropped her on the ground The power surged through his

Angeline,of his smile, returned one of her own "Coer at hilint to her eyes

Hadrian very much doubted she’d ever turned a vah there was a connection of power between theht it did

"No," he said

The vampire’s eyes widened, then her ht was incredibly attractive but now could see as nothingbefore now