Page 49 of Bound By Blood

When the door opened again, Drake Sherrad stood there. “You are not welcome here,” he said brusquely.

“I’m not leaving 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 him. His gaze moved from side to side as he followed Kaitlyn’s father up several flights of stairs that ended at a small wooden landing.

Warning 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 man dragged him through the doorway and into the room beyond. Only, it wasn’t a room, but the ruins of what had once been a tower. Moonlight 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 you may go,” Sherrad said. “I trust you will say nothing of this to anyone.”

With a bow of acknowledgment, the three men left the tower.

Zack glared at Sherrad. Now what?” He glanced at the jagged opening in the roof. Come morning, moonlight would be replaced by sunlight. And while he wouldn’t burst into flame and disappear as some believed, if he remained in the sun too long, it would char his flesh down to his bones. Not a pleasant prospect. Or a pretty sight.

“I am going to leave you here to think things over.”

“I love your daughter,” Zack said. “Nothing will change that.”

“You may feel differently by tomorrow night.”

“Why are you doing this?” 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 my daughter? I think not.”

“So, how are you gonna explain my absence?”

“You will simply disappear.”

“She knows I wouldn’t do that.”

Sherrad glanced at the hole in the roof. “In a few days, it will no longer be your problem.”

Zack swore. “You’ve really got your daughter fooled, don’t you? She thinks you’re wonderful.”

A muscle twitched in Sherrad’s jaw.

“What do you think she’ll say when she finds out about this?”

“It does not matter. I will not have my daughter align herself with your kind.”

“We’re not that different, you and I.”

Sherrad didn’t answer. Instead, he stalked out of the tower.

The door clicked shut behind him with dreadful finality.

Chapter Twenty-One

Kaitlyn walked through a long black tunnel. Vampires lined both sides, their eyes red and glowing, their fangs gleaming brightly in the darkness. They hissed at her as she passed, their expressions cold, their voices angry as they shouted that she was a traitor, an outcast. She turned to her father for help, but found no succor there, only disappointment when he looked at her. Tears stung her eyes when he turned his back on her. She looked at her mother, certain her mother wouldn’t reject her for loving Zack.

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