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Too late, Harrington realized he had badly underestiround where Zack should have been, only to let out a harsh cry when Zack twisted his right ar into his spine

"Who the hell are you?" Harrington growled

"Zack Ravenscroft Re around Kaitlyn’s house again, I’ll rip your heart out Got it?"

Harrington grunted soible

Zack applied more pressure to the other et off of one Zack frowned thoughtfully Harrington seemed awfully weak for a vampire, but then,as those ereKaitlyn had said their kind got stronger as they got older Perhaps Harrington would, too If he lived that long

Zack was dusting hi in the dirt Must be Harrington’s, he thought Picking it up, he thuh it, then frohen he saw the ton’s, but the nahtfully Did Kaitlyn knoho Harrington really was? And if not, what ga?

Well, there was one way to find out Materializing inside Kaitlyn’s house, he dropped Harrington’s wallet on the coffee table where she would be sure to find it in the ht took Zack to his lair in the bowels of the casino It wasn’t much, just a square roohts But artificial light was unnecessary With his preternatural vision, he could see everything clearly, although there was little to see save the expensive polished ebony coffin in the center of the flagstone floor, and a small iron box that held a few mementos frolish coins, a wooden toy horse one of the nuns had given hi down to his briefs, Zack stretched out on the cool satin that had been his resting place for over six hundred years He could have slept in a bed--and occasionally he did--but the coffin was familiar, a stark reminder of who and what he was

Daryn Korzha paced the floor of his lavish hotel roo with every stride as he relived his encounter with Ravenscroft outside Kaitlyn’s house The man wasn’t one of Sherrad’s sons, or a n Fortresses--Daryn was sure of that And yet, he hadn’t been able to read Ravenscroft’s er couldn’t have been human Besides, no mere mortal could have crept up on hith

Daryn muttered an oath So, if Ravenscroft wasn’t one of the Romanian vampires and he wasn’t human, what the hell was he?

That question echoed in his mind as he pulled out his cell phone and called ho out the frontof her house, her thoughts turned inward The house was large and well-appointed, decorated with furniture and bric-a-brac collected through the centuries The baseifts her husband had given her years ago

She had never liked being a fourth wife Not that he had treated her any differently from his second wife, or third, or any of the others Except his first wife, Liliana She had been accorded privileges and respect denied to the others Being the first wife, and the favorite, Liliana had also been granted the right to re as she wished, to the exclusion of all the others A thought that still rankled in Nadiya’s heart

Staring out the , she paid little heed to the beauty of her surroundings or to the laughter of one of her grandchildren co from the back of the house Her enthusiasht her son, Florin, was killed She would not rest until he had been avenged, until his killer endured the same remorse that had become her constant companion, until he had shed as many bitter tears as had she In her mind’s eye, she relived her son’s final ain She felt the coolness of the night, the taste of the breeze, heard the rapid beating of her son’s heart as he fought for his life

And then, as though she were seeing it all for the first ti as Drake thrust his sword through her son’s heart, heard the collective sigh froround Knoas co next, she had turned away, but she had known, by the sharp swish of the blade, the exact moment when Drake severed her son’s head from his body And now her son was dead, while Rodin’s favorite son flourished at Wolfrae her role in her son’s death Those at the Fortress hadhi over a woe hi hi coveted She could have prevented her son’s death by forbidding him to return to the Fortress as Gerret’s second But she had been confident in his ability to accoer to see her son rule the Fortress that she, too, had coveted Eager to see Liliana ousted

Nadiya clenched her fists She wasn’t foolish enough to send her rehter was fair ga half human, would be much more easily destroyed But first the fair Kaitlynof her cell phone interrupted thoughts of vengeance She smiled when she heard Daryn’s voice She listened for several

"I have never heard of Zack Ravenscroft I do not knoho he is," she said brusquely "I do not care who he is Get rid of hiirl to me, by force, if necessary"

She listened to his excuses for another ainst the wall If Daryn couldn’t overpower the Sherrad heir, then she would find someone who could

Chapter 13