"Shh," he said.

She hushed, but when the lion pounced on the fence, she let go of a scream as loud as his roar. Jumping back, heart pounding, she landed on her butt.

"That's the same lion, isn't it?" she asked, staring at the creature who stared at her. She would never forget his eyes, golden and hungry. Derek didn't answer. He didn't even turn around to offer her a hand up. Then she noticed how he stood frozen, eyes open, staring at the beast as if ... as if they were having a mental chat.

Staying where she was on the ground, so as not to disturb them, she lifted her hands to dust off the gravel. She hadn't given her hands one dusting when she felt herself being lifted off the ground.

She screamed, and another hand slapped over her mouth.

Derek swung around but before he could even take a step forward, a blond guy had him by the throat, pressing him into the fence. The lion roared behind him.

"Not so loud." The voice didn't sound even slightly familiar. From the coldness of the touch, Kylie knew the person who had her was a vampire, or something equal y cold-blooded.

Derek struggled to free himself. The lion's roar grew more threatening.

"What do we have here?" her attacker asked.

Kylie managed to look at him. Auburn colored hair. Red glowing eyes matched his hair. Definitely vampire, she decided, noting his fangs that hung slightly over his bottom lip.

"Looks as if someone is hungry," said Red, the vamp holding her against him. "Bet the kitty would like to eat a young tender thing like you. Problem is, so would I."

"What the hel ?" The blond guy who had Derek by the neck yel ed out, and then he dropped in a dead faint to the ground. Kylie noticed the intense look on Derek's face, and she knew he'd done something to the blond. Then Derek's gaze shot to her and Red.

"Get your hands off her," Derek said, his voice hoarse.

Kylie saw him lunge forward, but out of the sky two more guys dropped, each grabbing one of Derek's arms. He struggled.

"Excuse me," Kylie's attacker said. "I think I'l go have a snack." He jumped back at least twenty-five feet, taking her with him. They landed with a thud. Kylie's whole body jarred and she bit the edge of her tongue.

Hard.

She tasted blood as it pooled onto her tongue.

She tried to pul away but the vampire's strength made her feel as capable as a bug against a fast-approaching windshield.

"Oh man, you smel good." The vampire raised her off the ground and turned Kylie's head toward his. "Pretty, too." He studied her for a second as if reading her pattern and then his mouth came down on hers.

She knew he drank her blood and wasn't kissing her, but she wanted no part of it. No part of him. Fight. Fight dirty. She remembered dating lesson number one that her father had taught her. Pul ing back her leg, she let go with everything she had and kneed that bastard in the bal s.

She hadn't even considered if vampires had the same weak spot. But the vamp's scream proved they did. However, she could have foregone being tossed through the air like a rag dol . Her back slammed against the fence and she slid down to land with a clunk on the ground. Everything in her said she needed to stand up, get ready to fight. But unable to breathe, it took everything she had just to open her eyes. She saw the two vampires who had been holding Derek had fal en to the ground like the one earlier.

"Kylie, you okay?" Derek suddenly appeared standing over her.

"She's mine," said a gravel y voice.

Helpless, Kylie watched the vampire who kissed her snatch Derek up by the neck, and throw him across the fence and in with the lions. Kylie heard the lions roaring and envisioned them ripping Derek apart. "No!" she screamed.

The vamp looked at her as if she were the prize in the box of cereal. "What are you?" he asked, and reached down to pick her up. An enormous cold showered her. Colder than anything she'd ever felt. Icy needles touched her skin, cut through her human tissue, and found its way to her bones. For a second, her arms and legs felt paralyzed.

Then suddenly Kylie was standing. The vamp held someone in his arms. Then Kylie realized he had her in his arms. His eyes now glowed an even hotter red.

Oddly enough, she wasn't afraid. She waited for him to get closer, sensing she could deal with him. But not knowing how. From the corner of her eye, she saw Derek pul himself over the top of the fence.

"I said don't touch her." Derek jumped off the fence at Red.

Red dropped her body and knocked Derek back against the fence. "You don't know when to die, do you?" he growled. Another dark figure dropped out of the sky and hit Red so hard he fel to the ground. Kylie recognized Del a instantly. Derek turned back to check on Kylie's body, but another dark figure slammed him against the fence again. Without thinking, Kylie moved forward. She grabbed the vamp holding Derek and slung him away. She watched in a kind of daze as the vamp's body flew thirty or forty feet in the air to land in a patch of woods.

When she looked back, Derek stared right through her.

"Wow, did you see that?" she asked Derek, but he didn't answer.

He joined Del a in sparring with the vamp she'd kneed in the bal s. The taste of the guy's mouth stil lingered on her tongue and she wanted to spit. But first she moved in, found an open spot, tightened her fist, and swung. The vamp flew backwards and landed in a crumbled heap. Both Derek and Del a swung around and stared at each other as if confused.

"Kylie?" Derek screamed.