Page 4 (1/1)

He said the nah it were a father or a lover For all Balthazar knew, it was soh hirave

"Where is he?" Balthazar deh to watch you die"

The blow slammed into Balthazar’s chest--both hands, spread broadly, nearly enough force to crack ribs It sent hih for Lorenzo to skitter free Within an instant they were both on their feet, facing each other Balthazar still clutched the stake; it was as close as he would get to an advantage from now on

Lorenzo de Aracena, of sixteenth-century Spain, a would-be poet and a dirty fighter Often subservient to his sire--Redgrave, the darkest vampire Balthazar had ever known or hoped to know--but just as often renegade Sometimes his sire pushed hi back eventually, eager for someone to tell him what to do, what to think, whom to kill He would always be someone’s slave Most vampires were, in the end

Balthazar wasn’t He didn’t know if he was strong enough to kill Lorenzo, but he was dairl for yourself?" Lorenzo smiled, aloing to be yours," Balthazar replied He kept his voice even as well Inside, though, he was uncertain--it was strange of Lorenzo to challenge hi each other was reason enough to get into it But why claiirl, just a convenient victim chosen at random

Wasn’t she?

"So many possibilities," Lorenzo said "So many opportunities Too rich to waste on a battle with you"

And then he vanished As if he’d disappeared into thin air--a gift soed into, but only after a couple of millennia Lorenzo didn’t have that talent; he’d just streaked into the night without a sound Balthazar turned and ran in the direction Skye had gone

He hadn’t learned what the guy was up to, only that it wasn’t good--and that Skye still needed his protection

Balthazar caught up with her not far away; she’d stopped by a large dark horse, evidently hers, and kneeled by its front hooves Lorenzo was nowhere to be seen, and the woods around theer seemed to have passed for the moment, but she couldn’t have known that He said, "You’d have done better to run"

"If you won the fight, I didn’t have to run If you lost, it wouldn’t have done any good The other vaood point, actually He liked her steadiness in the face of danger "Is your horse hurt?"

"Eb’s okay, I think" Skye sounded as relieved as though she were talking about a good friend, not an animal "But I want to be sure--and I’ or I aue--an old habit, one he’d alotten, but it still worked Eb allowed his, which were sound "You were right He’s not hurt Only startled"

Only then did Balthazar really look at Skye Her long hair--deep brown, if h her breaths still caiven what had just happened to her, and how much worse it could have been Her cheeks were flushed froet out of here," she said "Do you kno to ride?"

"It caht" That caught her off guard for only a moment "Eb can carry us both as far as the stable Co air as if another vah Balthazar didn’t sense any others nearby, he thought she had the right idea about leaving this place as soon as possible

So when she swung up into the saddle, Balthazar didn’t hesitate As soon as she had her seat and Eb was steady, Skye offered hiht hand; her control of the horse was such that she was able to slide her feet out of the stirrups and hold hih that mysterious communication between human and animal Balthazar put one foot in the stirrup andtime, but his muscles retained theso close that they touched, thigh to thigh and shoulder to shoulder, and for onehoar on," she said, readjusting her feet so that she had the stirrups--taking coain

"I’m ready"

With that, she spurred Eb back into action, and the horse began taking them back toward civilization Back toward safety, Balthazar would’ve said--but he wasn’t totally sure of that at thein the bitterly cold air His didn’t

The stables turned out to be not some major commercial enterprise, the way most of them were in twenty-first-century America, but a smaller structure built of wide planks of wood not far behind Skye’s ho was electric instead of candles, it ran through heavy black lanterns that conjured up old, pleasant memories The scent of hay took him back