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"What about Zack?"

"He’s a vampire"

"Why would that upset your father?"

"He isn’t one of us He’s one of the Others" Stefan stared at her Like all of their kind, he had grown up on tales of the Others, of their bloodthirsty nature, their willingness to kill mortals indiscriminately They could not reproduce, so they did not have any faly, friend to neither mortal nor their own kind

Stefan shook his head "No wonder your father is upset"

"I love Zack I don’t care what he is"

"I felt the same about Cosmina, but take it from one who has been there No matter how much you care for Ravenscroft, you are better off with one of your own"

"You loved Cosmina very much, didn’t you?"

He nodded

"So much that you can’t bear to be with another woman?"

The sadness in Stefan’s eyes deepened "When I buried her"--he shook his head--"it was like burying ry with her uncle for siding with her father, not nohen she kne he felt She couldn’t bla to spare her the kind of pain he had known

When the song was over, he thanked her for the dance and left the ballrooh, she started toward her mother, who stood in a corner of the room with several other wo that Zack was nearby, searching for her

Zack stood on the steps of the Fortress Earlier, he had gone hunting in the town located a few ht a pair of black dress pants, a dark blue silk shirt, and a long black coat It paid to look sharp when calling on your best girl

He stared at the large double doors There were a febacks to being a va that he couldn’t enter a home without an invitation With that in mind, he knocked on the door, heard the sound of it reverberate inside the building

A few minutes later, a tall, dark-haired woman opened the door "Yes?"

"I’ you?"

"I don’t think so"

"Please wait," the woman said, and closed the door in his face

Threeabout this," Zack muttered But he hadn’t come this far to turn back now, not until he’d seen Kaitlyn

When the door opened again, Drake Sherrad stood there "You are not welco until I see Kaitlyn"

"Very well Follow me," Sherrad said, his voice cool "We need to talk in private"

Zack felt a rush of preternatural power as he crossed the threshold, but it didn’t repel hiaze moved frohts of stairs that ended at a s bells went off in Zack’s mind as Sherrad opened a squat wooden door Zack was about to dissolve into mist when three men materialized behind him Before he could react, one of them--a human male-- dropped a thick silver collar around his neck The silver burned through cloth and flesh, rendering Zack helpless A long silver chain was attached to the collar

Zack glared at his captor as the h the doorway and into the room beyond Only, it wasn’t a rooht shone through a jagged hole in the roof

Zack struggled against his captor as the man shackled his feet with heavy silver chains, then secured the chain dangling from the collar to a thick bolt set deep into the wall

"The three of youof this to anyone"

With a bow of acknowledglared at Sherrad "Nohat?" He glanced at the jagged opening in the roof Coht And while he wouldn’t burst into flame and disappear as so, it would char his flesh down to his bones Not a pleasant prospect Or a pretty sight

"I as over"

"I love your daughter," Zack said "Nothing will change that"

"Youthis?" Zack frowned "It’s more than just Kaitlyn, isn’t it? It’s what I am One of the Others"

Sherrad folded his arms across his chest "My people have sworn to destroy your kind"

"Why didn’t you do it back in Lake Tahoe?"

"In front of onna explain my absence?"