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"Let’s ht, I’ to die

And then sorabbed the vampire away from her, and threw him--physically threw him, farther and harder than any human could have done--so that he thudded into a tree trunk two dozen feet away before landing on the ground

Skye turned to see her rescuer--and then gasped There, his strong profile outlined against the dilow of sunset, was another vampire--one she knew

His name escaped her lips as a whisper: "Balthazar"

Chapter Two

BALTHAZAR HAD COME HERE LOOKING FOR Skye Tierney Thanks to Lucas, he’d known she was in trouble But he hadn’t expected to walk right into a fight against another vaain, neither had his opponent, as about to get one whether he liked it or not Balthazar intended for him not to like it one bit

"Balthazar" Skye ide-eyed with fright and astonishuy’s ass Stay back and get out of here if you can" Thankfully, she did what he asked, stepping farther away toward safety Thather and could concentrate onthis vairl in the woods

His opponent righted himself, no more than dazed by the throw Balthazar had expected as uy as fast as he could The ele for him He didn’t drink hu about hier More powerful

Surprise paid off He was able to tackle the varabbed for a nearby branch, a short one that could serve as a stake Though he disliked killing his own kind and avoided it whenever possible, the alternative herebehind a threat to human life No way But as he lifted the stake overhead, readying the fatal blow, sonized the va him was more reason to stake hi this vampire--from the most terrible moments of his past--froze Balthazar half in place, stake still clenched in his fingers "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I ht ask the same of you" Lorenzo’s shock was si was a horrid coincidence, no more Immortality seeh time, paths would inevitably cross--even the ones you least wanted

"Leave this girl alone Why are you after her?"

"Because she is huet Now, ask what you really long to know," Lorenzo said "Ask rave"