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Herher
"Don’t you believe ed She had never been any good at lying What had et aith it now? "I’ll tell you the truth, but only if you promise not to tell Dad"
"I can’t promise you that"
Kaitlyn sank down on the sofa beside her mother "I ith Zack"
Elena folded her hands in her lap "You , honest," she said quickly "He just woke up a few minutes before you knocked on the door"
"How long were you in there?"
"All day, except for when I had lunch with you"
"I see"
"II just wanted to be near hiot it bad, don’t you?"
"I love hi"
Elena suess you do" She took Kaitlyn’s hands in hers "Don’t do anything you’ll regret later, sweetheart Don’t hurry into anything Zack is very handsome And vampires have an allure that’s hard to resist But you know that Just be sure that what you’re feeling for him is real, and notlustful attraction"
"So, how did you knohat you felt for Dad was the real thing and not just infatuation, or soood question," Elena said, sood answer"
"What oodness, his kindness" She squeezed Kaitlyn’s hand "And even though he could read rinning, "not often But thewas, he let me be me That’s ie hie you"
Kaitlyn nodded Zack knew her better than she knew herself "You won’t tell Dad where I was?"
"No But re on the door" Elena looked up "Zack, co into the roo "In the future, I hope the two of you will be more discreet"
Zack waited until Elena left the roo, he took Kaitlyn in his ared a bullet that time"
It surprised Zack to learn that the va hours pretty much like everyone else They watched satellite TV and DVDs, they read a lot, they danced up in the ballrooued and bickered like most married folks, they played with their kids and made sure they ell educated
It was all a revelation to Zack The vampires he kneere a solitary bunch Occasionally, one or tould band together for a while, but as a rule, the vampires of his acquaintance didn’t share territory or lairs They didn’t trust each other and pretty much avoided one another whenever possible
But this was the Carpathian Fortress, and tonight both vaaames to be fair, the vampires and the humans played at separate tables, since the vampires could read mortal minds Most of the women played canasta or rummy, while the lanced at Kaitlyn, who stood behind his chair as he shuffled the deck Zack rarely played cards Being able to read hu all too easy, which took all the fun out of the ga He had met a mortal or tho had as called a "poker face" but they didn’t hold a candle to the vaame, as was another vampire known as Josef
Zack played for an hour, scooped up his winnings, took Kaitlyn by the hand, and excused hia them as they left the room
"What do you want to do now?" Kaitlyn asked as they climbed the stairs to the main floor
"Doesn’t matter I just wanted to be alone with you for a while"
"Sounds good tovampires "But I don’t knohere we’ll find a place to be alone at this tirunted softly The corridor was croith vampires and humans
Hand in hand, Kaitlyn and Zack checked the allery, but all the roo roo to ets
"Maybe the council chamber," Kaitlyn said But when they opened the door, they saw a nued in a chess ested
"It’s probably crowded, too," Kaitlyn said, "but I can’t think of anywhere else"
Zack was thinking that, if necessary, he would physically eject anyone he found inside, but this time, luck was on his side and the place was eht that filtered through the s
"Ah, perfect," heKaty into his arht long"
"And I’ve been wanting you to" She glanced around, wishing there was a sofa or a love seat The only seat for tas the piano bench, or one of theseats that looked out over the valley Tugging on Zack’s hand, she moved toward theat the far end of the room
She sat down on the velvet cushion Zack sat beside her, his ar around her shoulders to draw her close