Free Bound By Blood by Amanda Ashley Page B

he had detected outside Kaitlyn’s house earlier that night. Was this guy friend or foe? Judging from the hostile expression in the man’s eyes, Zack didn’t think he was Kaitlyn’s friend, yet she hadn’t appeared to be afraid of him. She hadn’t appeared to be fond of his company, either.
    Zack had just decided to confront the man when he disappeared from sight.
    Zack grunted softly. Either the stranger was some kind of sorcerer, or he was a vampire. He was betting on the latter. And since the man didn’t smell human, and he didn’t smell like one of the Undead, Zack figured the man was a blood-born vampire, like Kaitlyn.
    Frowning, Zack willed himself to Kaitlyn’s yard and took cover in the shadows near the front porch. She might not want anything to do with him, but he was sticking close by until he determined what was going on between her and the stranger.

Chapter 12
     
    Zack rose to his feet and stretched his back and shoulders. It wasn’t really necessary. He never grew tired. His muscles didn’t get sore, didn’t cramp if he stayed in one position for hours on end. But moving, stretching, itching, and blinking came naturally, instinctively, to humans. After being turned, he’d had to practice doing those things until they were second nature again, because not doing so was sure to invite unwanted attention. Unlike vampires, mortals couldn’t sit unmoving or unblinking for hours at a time.
    He had spent the last three nights hunkered down in the shadows outside Kaitlyn’s house. He wasn’t sure the stranger he had seen her with was a threat, but Zack had decided it was better to err on the side of caution, at least until he determined what the man was up to, or he left town. Zack grunted softly. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do. Well, other than run the casino, but Kaitlyn was infinitely more important than a few slot machines.
    Now, with dawn approaching, it was time to leave, time to seek his lair before the sun found him.
    He was about to transport himself to the casino when the stranger materialized on the front porch.
    Zack glanced at the sky. Only minutes until sunrise.
    When the other vampire reached for the doorknob, Zack flew to the porch, his hand grasping the other vampire by the arm, wrenching him around and away from the door. “What are you doing here?”
    The other vampire stared at him, his eyes wide with surprise, not fear. “I’m here to see Kaitlyn,” he replied smoothly.
    “Before the sun’s even up?” Zack asked, still gripping the other man’s arm.
    “We’re lovers,” the man said with a leer.
    “You’re lying. Who the hell are you?”
    “My name is Eddie Harrington, not that it’s any of your business.” He straightened to his full height. “Now let me go. I don’t want to hurt you.”
    Zack snorted. At six foot two, he stood a good four inches taller than Harrington and outweighed him by thirty pounds.
    “I mean it,” Harrington said.
    Zack sensed the change in Harrington as Harrington summoned his preternatural power. Harrington’s muscles tensed, his eyes went hard and cold. Power radiated from him, sizzling through the damp air, but Zack knew instinctively that his own power was older, stronger.
    Confident of his vampiric strength, Harrington suddenly twisted out of Zack’s grasp, then pushed him down the stairs. He flung himself after Zack, expecting Zack to be facedown on the ground, only Zack wasn’t there.
    Too late, Harrington realized he had badly underestimated his foe.
    He landed facedown on the ground where Zack should have been, only to let out a harsh cry when Zack twisted his right arm behind his back, his knee grinding into his spine.
    “Who the hell are you?” Harrington growled.
    “Zack Ravenscroft. Remember that name, because if I ever see you sniffing around Kaitlyn’s house again, I’ll rip your heart out. Got it?”
    Harrington grunted something unintelligible.
    Zack applied more pressure to the other man’s spine.