“No. No, I don’t.”
“But you’ve heard of him?”
“I’m not sure. There are a lot of Korzhas in the world,” Elena said, her mind racing. “Where did you meet him?”
“He bumped into me at the grocery store in town. He told me his name was Eddie Harrington and that he was a businessman, but his driver’s license says his name is Daryn Korzha.”
“How did you see his driver’s license?”
“Someone left it where I’d find it.” As Kaitlyn said the words, she knew it must have been Zack and that he had been in her house without her knowledge. The thought gave her pause. “Eddie, or whoever he is, told me he was on his way to L.A., but he’s still here. I saw him the other day, when I was driving home from the drugstore.”
“Listen, Kaitlyn, promise me you’ll stay away from this man until we know who he really is, all right? I need to talk to your father about this.”
“I promise.” Kaitlyn didn’t even have to think about it. She’d be happy if she never saw Harrington, or Korzha, again.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” Elena said.
“All right. Bye, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you more. And remember what I said. Stay away from Korzha.”
After telling Kaitlyn good-bye, Elena went looking for Drake. She found her husband in the council chamber with his brother, Andrei.
Drake smiled and waved her forward when he saw her standing in the doorway. “Come in, wife. We are through here.”
“Hi, Andrei,” she said, moving toward the table where the two men sat.
“Hello, Elena.” Andrei looked at Drake. “I will take care of the matter we discussed right away.”
Drake nodded.
“What matter?” Elena asked when Andrei left the chamber.
Drake blew out a breath. “Northa wants a new TV for the playroom. She says there are new ones now, with something called scent-o-vision.”
Elena grinned. “Did you buy one yet?”
“Andrei will take care of it.” He grinned back at her. “Sometimes I am not sure freeing the sheep was a good idea. So,” he said, drawing her onto his lap, “what troubles you?”
“How do you know something’s bothering me? Maybe I just came in for a hug.”
“Elena, we have been together over twenty years. I do not have to read your mind to know you are worried. I can see it in your eyes. So?”
“Who’s Daryn Korzha?”
Drake’s expression turned grim; his arm tensed around her. “What did you say?”
“Kaitlyn met him. Do you know him?”
“Yes. I know him. His mother is Nadiya, my father’s fourth wife.”
“Nadiya, as in Florin’s mother?” Elena swallowed hard. Florin had killed Drake’s sire, and Drake had killed Florin.
“The very same. Why do you ask?”
“Kaitlyn said she met a man named Korzha the other day. He accidentally bumped into her.”
Drake snorted.
“You don’t believe that?”
“I do not believe in accidents, or coincidence.” Setting Elena on her feet, he began to pace the floor. “If there is mischief afoot, you can be sure Nadiya is behind it.”
Nadiya had not spoken to anyone in the Carpathian Fortress since Drake had killed Florin, and no one here had seen her since then. Elena assumed Nadiya had gone to her own house in Bucharest to grieve for her son, but what if, instead of being in mourning, she was plotting treachery against Drake?
Elena pressed a hand to her breast. It was suddenly hard to breathe. What better way to hurt Drake than to hurt his daughter? “What are you going to do?” she asked.
“For now, I am going to make some inquiries.” Seeing her worried expression, he drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Do not worry, wife. I will get to the bottom of this.”
Elena gazed blankly at the cards in her hand. Hoping to distract herself, she had met Northa, Marta, and Elnora for their weekly card game. Northa was the oldest of the three other women. She had curly brown hair and slanted brown eyes. Marta was a pretty brunette with hazel eyes. Elnora was a petite redhead with a slender, perfect figure. Elena considered the three women her closest friends. When Drake had offered the sheep their freedom, Marta and Elnora had stayed because they had feelings for two of the vampires. Northa had elected to stay because she enjoyed being bitten, and because the Fortress was the only home she had ever known.
Elena looked up when Marta called her name.
“It’s your bid.”
“Oh, sorry,” Elena said. It was nearly impossible to concentrate on her cards. Kaitlyn was her only child. If anything happened to her . . . She forced the thought from her mind. Drake wouldn’t let anything happen to Kaitlyn. She had to believe that. And yet, Drake was here and Kaitlyn was in another country, alone among strangers.
“Elena, are you all right?” Northa asked, her brow furrowed with concern.
“Fine, just a little preoccupied tonight.”
Elnora laid her cards aside and leaned forward. “Anything we can do to help?”
“Not really . . . well . . . what do you know about Nadiya Korzha?”
“Not much,” Elnora said. “Except she was one of Rodin’s wives.”
“I saw her a couple of times,” Marta said. “Ice-cold, she was, even worse than Liliana used to be.”
“Bitter,” Northa added. “Very bitter. Why do you ask?”
“Her son, Daryn, might be in California. A man by that name just happened to bump into Kaitlyn.”
“Oh, if it’s him, that can’t be good,” Marta said, her eyes widening in alarm.
“Daryn fed on me once,” Northa remarked, shuddering with the memory. “He reminded me of a hungry lizard.”
Elena couldn’t help laughing at the image but then, to her chagrin, she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. For all that her daughter was half vampire, she was still a young woman who’d had little experience with men, whether they were human or vampire. And even though she had a vampire’s increased speed and strength, would that be enough if she had to defend herself against Nadiya, who was older, stronger, and more experienced in the way of the world?
Elena slumped in her chair, suddenly certain that Drake was right. There was no such thing as coincidence.
She knew, with every fiber of her being, that Daryn Korzha was up to no good.
Elena clenched her hands in her lap. Kaitlyn had to come home—the sooner the better.
Chapter 14
It was Saturday night and the casino was in full swing when Zack entered the club. It had taken him a good long while to learn to block the myriad smells that clung to mortals, to tune out the rattle of the dice, the whirring of the games, the never-ending conversation, the raucous laughter and shouts of the winners.
Feeling restless, he wandered over to the craps table and tossed a hundred-dollar bill on eight the hard way. In the past, before he’d built his own casino, he hadn’t been above manipulating the dice or the slot machines when he needed a little cash. Of course, cheating took all the fun out of winning.
The croupier tossed Zack an apologetic look when the man who had the dice rolled a five.
Shrugging, Zack left the table and strolled through the crowd, pausing to say a few words to the regulars, consoling the losers, congratulating the winners.
He stopped to watch a newlywed couple who were playing one of the old dollar slots. The husband wanted to quit, but his bride kept urging him on.
“Just one more time, honey,” she coaxed. “If we win the jackpot, we could put a down payment on that house.”
“Nobody ever wins the big money,” her husband muttered. “These machines are all rigged.”
“Please, Tom. I have a feeling we’ll win.”
“You and your feelings,” Tom scoffed, but there was no irritation in his voice. “You haven’t been right once since I’ve known you,” he said with an affectionate smile, “except when you married me.” He shook his head. “Oh, what the hell,” he muttered, and dropped five silver dollars into the machine.
Zack watched the woman’s face. She was a pretty thing, with short blond hair and bright green eyes. If she wanted a house, by damn, he’d see that she got one.
The wheels spun. Slowed. Stopped.
The bride squealed as three purple sevens stood side by side on the pay line. The light over the slot machine lit up and silver dollars began to pour into the tray.
Grinning, Zack moved on, his thoughts turning, as always, toward Kaitlyn and the man who had been stalking her.
After telling Scherry he was going out for a while, Zack left the casino.
The night was cool and clear and the streets were crowded with people, but he paid them little heed as he walked quickly toward Kaitlyn’s place. Upon arriving, he opened his senses, searching for some sign that the Romanian vampire had been there, relieved when he didn’t detect the man’s scent.
Moving closer to the house, he could hear Kaitlyn moving around inside—the slam of a drawer, the sound of water running, the smell of baked chicken when she opened the oven door.
He frowned, wondering if she was having company over for dinner. Walking to the back of the house where the kitchen was located, he dissolved into mist and peered into the open window.
Clad in a pair of white shorts and a silky-looking orange-and-white striped shirt, she stood at the stove, her back toward him while she stirred something in a pot. Her legs were long and tan, her waist narrow. Her hair fell in long, loose waves down her back like a river of ebony silk.
Had he been in corporeal form, Zack was sure his mouth would have been watering, not from the smell of the food, but from the enticing scent of the woman.
Zack hovered there, content, for the moment, to simply admire the way she looked, the fluid way she moved, the lilting sound of her voice as she hummed an old rockand-roll tune. Watching her, it was hard to believe she was half vampire. She seemed totally human. Until she put her dinner on the table and filled a goblet with a mixture of red wine and blood.