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"No Well, not every day"

"How old are you?"

Grinning, she said, "Don’t you know it isn’t polite to ask a woe?"

"At least tell hed "No worries I turned twenty-one on my last birthday"

"Just a baby" He wondered what she would think if she kne old he really was "Do you have brothers and sisters?"

"No My ed "I would have liked a brother or a sister, but it wasn’t h, so I have lots of aunts and uncles and cousins Of course, there was a plus side to being an only child," she said, grinning "My parents spoiled er around the rihtful "They still spoil ive her everything her heart desired, to show her all the wonders of the ic between a ed "Doesn’t everyone?"

"No No one" She saze resting on her face "Come home with me, Katy"

"ZackI can’t"

"Just irl"

"’Fraid so" She couldn’t bla the sexy "coht be a lot of things, but he had never forced a woh Kaitlyn telasses when his cell phone rang

Mur, "Excuse me," he put the phone to his ear "What is it?" He listened a moment, then slipped the phone back into his pocket "I need to take care of soht" Lifting her glass, she watched him walk swiftly toward a doorabout Zack He wanted her; there was no doubt about that And she wanted hilanced at her watch, druertips on the table as she wondered what kind of eency--if that’s what it was--had called hier, she took the elevator down to theshe noticed was the silence Standing in the doorway, she glanced around, searching for Zack She gasped when she saw hi in front of one of the poker tables On the other side of the table, athe edge of a knife to the dealer’s throat The dealer’s face was paper-white, a vivid contrast to the angry red flush on the face of the Hell’s Angel wielding the blade

"He cheated!" the hout the casino "He’s dealing from the bottom of the deck!"

"Put the knife down," Zack said "And we’ll talk about it"

The man shook his head "I want my money back! And I want this cheat fired!"

Zack looked at the dealer "Were you cheating, Henry?"

Kaitlyn frowned as a ripple of power raised the hair along her ar from Zack? It felt much like the preternatural power her father possessed

"No, sir," Henry said, his voice laced with fear "He’s just a sore loser"

"He’s lying!" the man insisted

Kaitlyn couldn’t see Zack’s face He stood there, un, as that saain, his words were slow and distinct, and there was a peculiar edge to his voice "I want you to put the knife down, Farris, and followhow Zack knew the troublelared at Zack for stretched seconds, then he dropped the knife on the table and followed Zack out of the casino

Kaitlyn waited until Zack and Farris were outside, then hurried after the left and right, but there was no sign of either man

How had they disappeared so quickly? Puzzled, she left the casino She had a lot to think about and she couldn’t do it here

It took onlyoff her shoes, she went into the kitchen and fixed a cup of hot chocolate, then curled up on the sofa, the cup cradled in her hands as her ined the power that rippled through the air when Zack spoke She had felt it too often in the past tobut what it was--the same kind of preternatural power that her father and others of their kind were able to command Was it possible that Zack Ravenscroft was one of the At dinner the other night, he had said he’d already eaten She’d had no reason to disbelieve hiht He drank wine, but so did er, but, again, that didn’t prove anything But that rush of preternatural power--no y

What if Zack really was a vaed everything

Chapter 7

Standing in the shadows, the watcher followed Kaitlyn home His first task was to learn all he could about her Thus far, he hadn’t accooal All he kneas that she was able to abide the sun, a fact he had learned while he lurked outside her house at sunset and saw her walking up the path, a grocery sack tucked under one arm It was obvious she had left the house earlier in the day He presumed she was able to walk by day because of her tainted blood The second thing he had learned was that she could still eat er have been possible for her

She was also very beautiful, a dark-haired angel with pale golden skin and sky-blue eyes

He thrust the thought away Lovely or ugly, it mattered not He had a job to do, and he would do it To fail was to incur his mother’s wrath, and that orse than death itself