Blood. Everywhere. Ava shielded her eyes from the light, so bright her sockets ached. Though, even through the blinding illumination, she saw the shimmering pools of red.

A distant sound grew closer, until the screams in her ears forced her to cover them with her hands. She lifted her gaze to the pale-skinned demons feeding on the body beneath them. Smooth ivory skin marred with teeth marks. White wings spattered with blood. They fed on an angel. One still struggling beneath them, clinging to life.

A horrific panic churned in her gut. To feed on earthly creatures, or those from the demon realm, was one thing, but the very purity and innocence of the creature they’d attacked told Ava a whole new evil had risen and the heavens had been breached.

The angel turned, the terror in its eyes meeting hers, and for one brief moment, she could feel the pain and suffering down in her gut. He reached out to her. A silent plea to save him, and she went to him, knelt beside the demons who viciously tore at the angel with no remorse. No abandon.

Her fingertips trailed down the cold flesh of the angels arm.

“Please!” he rasped, before a spray of blood left a spattering across his ivory skin.

An overpowering scent hit the back of her throat and tingled her teeth.

She bent forward and sank her teeth into his flesh.

Sucking in a gasp, Ava shot up from the bed, the darkness of the room falling around her like a shroud. Body trembling, she scanned her surroundings for the demons, the Sang, who’d fed on the angel, but neither they, nor the heavenly creature, were in sight. She touched her lips where the divine taste still teased her palate—one so innocent and sweet, she felt wrong for having indulged in it.

“Oh, Gods, just a dream,” she whispered.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Calix asked beside her.

Before his hand could reach her trembling arm that’d surely confess her rattled state, she nuzzled herself back under the heavy blanket and shook her head. “Just a bad dream. I’m okay.”

With a tired yawn, he leaned forward, kissed her lips, and for a brief second, Ava panicked that he’d taste the angel’s blood there. When he settled back into sleep, she blew out a breath of relief. The Nephilim, as a whole, were far from saintly, but Ava couldn’t deny that the day an angel was slaughtered by demons would be the day the world would crumble and hell would break loose. That she would willingly partake in such a travesty frightened her more than anything. Could her cravings, the disease that festered inside of her, ever reach the point of her doing something so immoral and wrong that she could never redeem herself? Could she ever take life so innocent and pure?

She feared the ghost of the taste on her tongue—a flavor so delicious, it terrified her to think what she’d do for it. Clamping her eyes shut, Ava willed those thoughts away, as far away as she could.

“You’re hungry.” Calix’s voice reached her ears like balm on a festering wound, and she opened her eyes to his staring back at her. “Gods, I’m sorry. You’ve been craving it all this time.”

“I’m okay, Calix.”

“You’re not. I can see you’re not. I’ll be right back.” Before she could protest, he pushed out of bed, giving her a brief glimpse of his muscled ass before it disappeared behind a pair of track pants.

As he left the room, Ava couldn’t help but ponder what the hell he saw that gave him the impression she was starved, so she slid out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. A flip of the lights allowed her reflection to swallow her composure.

Dark circles rimmed the bottom of her eyes, eyes so red with hunger, she didn’t even look human. The gaunt tone of her skin left her wanting to crawl into herself and die. She hadn’t recalled looking like that before bed. In fact, she felt as if she’d begun to fill out a bit and reclaimed the happy glow since staying with the Wraths. How could that happen in a matter of hours?

Sensing a presence at the door, she turned toward Calix, standing with two clear bags filled with blood.

“I’ve got pedophile and rapist. Take your pick.”

She crinkled her nose at him. “What’s this?”

“Calla needed blood, like you. So Logan spent a good couple weeks hunting some down and stocked up for her. Eventually, she no longer required it.” He shook both bags and tipped his head. “So, what’s it going to be?”

“Neither sounds appetizing.”

“Beggars can’t be choosy.”

She huffed and swung her attention back toward the mirror. “I wish I didn’t have to beg. I don’t understand how this happened so quickly?”

“From what I gather …” Calix held the bag up to his mouth and bit into the plastic, allowing a small fountain of blood to spurt up before falling into the sink. “The Sang virus works pretty quickly. If you’ve not been getting injections of ichor, your body might be repairing itself. Flushing out the ichor. Which means the cravings hit pretty fast.”

Keeping the bag over the sink, he held it out to her. “I know it’s not the most appetizing, but it’ll help. Of course, you’ll crave more. There’s about a week’s supply in the kitchen. We’ll get more.”

Ava held the bag to her mouth with a grimace, but the moment that coppery scent reached her nose, she bit into the place Calix had started for her and sucked it down as if it’d disappear at any second. Gulp after gulp, she polished off every last drop of the delicious blood. “Logan killed to get this blood.”

“Logan selectively rid the world of assholes who’d have fed off the innocent with as much remorse as the blood-sucking Sang.”

Ava inwardly flinched at the visuals of the angel still haunting her thoughts. “I tasted it. In his blood. His sins left a bitter taste.” Staring back at the blood stained across her lips in the mirror’s reflection, she frowned. “Calix, promise me you won’t ever let me take innocent life. Promise me you’ll never let me become a monster.”

He stood behind her, and pushing a strand of hair away from her neck, he kissed her nape. “I promise,” he whispered.