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"You can try to take her," Zack replied, "or you can die now"

The other er had not expected any resistance And just as obvious that he didn’t know Zack was also a vaed forward, his sword h the air

Kaitlyn watched in horror as the blade cut through the place where Zack had been standing mere seconds before

Only Zack was now behind his attacker Kaitlyn whirled away as the stranger lunged toward her He hadn’t taken more than a few steps when Zack snatched the sword froh his chest

The ered backward, his heart pierced, front and back, by his oeapon He stared at Kaitlyn, his expression faintly beround

Kaitlyn let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding, felt her stomach clench when Zack pulled the sword from the other man’s body, and lopped off his head

She turned away, sickened by the sight

"Katy, we need to go There may be others"

"Thethe body We can’t just leave it"

"Yes, we can I need to get you out of here"

Feeling nuone only a few steps when Zack swung her into his ar

When the world righted itself, they were in her room in the Fortress

Zack set her on her feet, his hands folding over her shoulders to steady her "Are you all right?"

She stared at hi "You could have been killed"

"Yeah, well, I wasn’t Are you all right?"

"No, but I will be"

"Did you recognize that guy?"

"He was one of us, wasn’t he? I mean, like me A Romanian vampire"

Zack nodded It seemed odd that he could sense her kind when she couldn’t Of course, he hadn’t been able to detect them, either, until he identified their particular scent, whichhe could think of was that her human blood so as the initial horror faded "We need to tell ht away"

She didn’t wait for Zack’s reply, just took his hand and hurried out the door

"I’ve got a bad feeling about this," he muttered as they went to find her father

Chapter 25

Drake stood in front of the hearth in the library, his arms folded across his chest, his face implacable, as Zack related what had happened

"You tookoff each word "You knew her life was in danger, and yet you took her hunting" He shook his head "I think it best if you leave here now"

"No!" Kaitlyn had been sitting on the sofa beside her mother while Zack spoke to her father Now, she ju to Zack’s side, she linked her ar with him"

"You will not"

"I think we all need to calm down" Elena crossed the floor and placed her hand on her husband’s arm "Zack didn’t have to come here and tell us what happened, but he did Kaitlyn, did you recognize the man who attacked you?"