The Dark-Hunters (224 page)

Bride held on to her wolf. “I think so. I’m really sorry to impose.”

“No, not at all,” Amanda said as she neared Bride. “I know how much my sisters love you. I’d hate to see anything happen to you.” Amanda froze as she caught sight of the wolf with her and frowned.

“Do you mind that I brought him?” Bride asked. “Tabitha said it would be okay.”

Still frowning, Amanda looked at Tabitha. “Okay…”

Amanda held her hand out to the wolf who went immediately over to her. “You probably want to go inside, don’t you, boy?”

The wolf moved back to Bride’s side.

“Or not,” Amanda said. “Well now, why don’t we all go inside and find out some more about this lunatic who’s after Bride?”

They followed Amanda into the house. Bride pulled up short, a bit intimidated by the size of the place and the pristine collection of antiques that looked like they belonged in a museum. She’d never seen anything like it.

But the oddest part was that the antiques were balanced out by contemporary furniture such as the plush black couches and an expensive entertainment system.

Not to mention strange vampire bric-a-brac. They even had a coffin-shaped coffee table.

How very odd …

A gorgeous blond man entered the room from the hallway to the right and cursed the instant he saw Tabitha in the foyer.

“Love you, too, Kyr,” Tabitha said with an open, friendly smile.

He took a deep breath that said he would need patience to deal with Tabitha. “Kill any vampires lately?” he asked.

“Apparently not, you’re still breathing, huh?” Tabitha clucked her tongue at Amanda. “When’s Geritol here gonna drop dead from old age, anyway?”

Kyrian narrowed his eyes at his sister-in-law before he looked at his wife. “You know, I always thought I had faced evil incarnate. And then I met your sister. She makes a total mockery of all known malevolent forces.”

“Would you two stop?” Amanda said to them. “We have company, and speaking of evil incarnate. Why don’t you go face it in the nursery and change your daughter’s diaper?”

“Anything to get her out of Tabitha’s clutches before she corrupts her. It’s even worth facing the toxic waste.”

Tabitha snorted at that. “Go on, little Marissa, and make sure you do something really nasty to Daddy when he changes you, okay?”

The baby laughed as Tabitha handed her over to her father.

Kyrian started for the stairs, then stopped as he caught sight of the wolf sitting quietly behind Bride.

“Is that who I think it is?” Amanda asked him.

Kyrian cocked his head. “Yeah, I think so.”

Bride’s heart stopped. “You know his owner?”

Kyrian looked a bit uneasy with her question. “He doesn’t really have an owner per se. How did you end up with him?”

“He turned up at my house and I took him in.”

Kyrian and Amanda exchanged a puzzled look. “He let you?”

“Well, yeah.”

Tabitha opened her mouth as if she understood what they were thinking. “Oh, dear Lord, don’t tell me he’s one of your cockamamie friends.”

“They’re better than yours,” Kyrian snapped. “At least mine aren’t insane.”

“Yeah, right. They’re just…” Tabitha snapped her mouth shut, then passed a fake smile to Bride. “You want to show him your hand? I’m sure he’s going to know all about your mysterious serial killer.”

Bride hesitated. “He knows serial killers?”

“He knows lots of truly unsavory people.”

“And Tabitha leads off that list.”

“Kyrian!” Amanda snapped.

Tabitha crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s okay, Mandy. Let him pick. At least I’m not the one with the receding hairline.”

His face suddenly ashen, Kyrian ran his hand along his hairline.

“You’re not going bald,” Amanda snapped, then she turned to her sister. “Would you stop picking on my husband?”

“Geritol started it.”

Bride wasn’t sure what to think of them now. This had to be the weirdest house she’d ever been inside. “Maybe I should have called the police.”

“Nah,” Tabitha said in a blasé tone. “No doubt your serial killer would kill them, too. Show him your hand.”

Slightly hesitant, Bride moved forward to do so. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”

Kyrian nodded.

She swallowed in fear. “Am I going to die?”

“No,” he said, locking gazes with her. “It’s not a death symbol.”

Bride let out a relieved breath. “What is it, then?”

He cringed a bit before he responded. “That I really can’t tell you. But I can promise you this, whoever has a matching mark would sooner kill himself than see you hurt.”

Bride closed her hand. “That’s what Vane said.”

Kyrian’s gaze went to the wolf. “Well, you can trust him. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a diaper with my name on it.”

“Is that all you’re going to tell her?” Tabitha asked as he left them.

“It’s all I
can
tell her,” Kyrian said meaningfully, heading up the stairs.

Tabitha huffed. “Well, aren’t you Mr. Information?”

“Tabby,” Amanda said, taking her arm and pulling her toward the couches. “Leave him alone.” She smiled graciously at Bride. “Can I get you anything to eat or drink?”

“No, thanks. I’m okay. At least as okay as I can be given the weirdness of this day.”

Bride sat down on the couch in front of the windows while her wolf dashed up the stairs after Kyrian.

“Oh no.” She got up to go after him.

“It’s okay,” Amanda said, stopping her as she rounded the coffin coffee table. “Let him go. Kyrian will bring him back down in a few minutes.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

Amanda nodded.

*   *   *

Kyrian had just finished changing Marissa’s diaper when he felt a Were-Hunter presence outside his door. “Is that you, Vane?”

Vane pushed open the nursery door. “Thanks for not ratting me out down there.”

Kyrian tossed the dirty diaper into the pail and picked Marissa up. She slapped a wet palm against his face before she squeezed his cheek playfully. “No problem. So what’s up with the two of you?”

“I don’t know. She’s the human I was asking you how to date.”

“I figured as much when I saw her. You should have told us it was Bride.”

Vane sighed in frustration as he ignored that. “How do you tell a human what you are? How did Amanda react when she found out you were a Dark-Hunter?”

“She handled it with remarkable grace and dignity. Of course, it helps that her twin sister is certifiable. So, all things considered, I was the lesser of two evils.”

Vane gave him a droll look.

“Does Bride have any loons in her family?” Kyrian asked him.

“Not that I know of.”

“Then you’re screwed.”

“You have
no
idea,” Vane said under his breath. “My pack knows I’m in New Orleans. They’ve already called out a tessera for me.”

Kyrian felt for the wolf. He’d been in a similar situation and it was hard to be true to your preternatural nature while your heart was entangled with a human. “You want to leave her here?”

Vane looked at the baby in Kyrian’s arms and a part of him ached at the sight. He’d never really thought about having children before he’d found Bride. And in truth it was strange to see the former Dark-Hunter playing daddy.

What would it be like to hold his own child?

In the back of his mind, he could see a small daughter with red hair and pale skin … like her mother.

“I can’t endanger your family,” Vane said quietly.

“I might be mortal now, but I’m still capable of fighting.”

Vane shook his head. “No you’re not. Neither is your wife. My people live their lives commanding magic and the forces of nature. You’ve never fought the Katagaria before and you have no idea what they’re capable of.”

Kyrian shifted his daughter in his arms as she started fussing. “So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” And honestly, he was getting tired of not knowing. A year ago, Vane had known exactly who and what he was.

Exactly how to live his life and how to kill anyone who threatened it.

Ever since the night Anya had died, he’d been lost.

It wasn’t until that evening in Bride’s shop that he’d felt something other than despair.

Now he didn’t know what he felt.

“Kyrian!”

Both men jumped at Amanda’s call from downstairs. Kyrian clutched his daughter as they ran for the steps.

Vane was halfway down the curving stairs when he saw something that made his body run cold.

Jasyn Kallinos, one of the Katagaria hawks who was living temporarily at Sanctuary, was in the foyer in human form, bleeding. Amanda stood with her hand on the doorknob. From where she had
invited
him in.

Vane jumped over the banister and landed on the black-and-white marbled floor in a crouch just before Jasyn. Coming to his feet, he ignored Bride’s gasp of alarm.

“What happened?” Vane asked.

“Those fucking wolves attacked us.” His breathing ragged, Jasyn met Vane’s gaze and the horror there singed him. “They killed Fang.”

Chapter 8

Vane couldn’t breathe as Jasyn’s words echoed in his head. Fang dead?

No! It couldn’t be. His brother couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t. Fang was all he had left and he had sworn to see his brother whole again.

He howled from the pain that skidded through his heart and sent him reeling. How could this have happened? How could they have gotten to Fang?

Jasyn held his hand over his bleeding shoulder as he panted from pain. “We tried to save him, Vane. We did everything we could.”

Vane glared at him as he fought back tears of anger and agony.

And now he would do everything he could to make sure the wolves paid for this. Rage simmered deep in his soul. There was no power on this earth that could shelter them now.

No quarter that would keep them safe from his wrath.

He would have all of them, including his father.

His vision darkening, Vane headed for the door only to find Kyrian in front of him. He handed his daughter off to his wife. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To kill them.”

Kyrian braced himself as if he knew he was about to have to fight him. “You can’t.”

“Watch me.” Vane tried to flash out of the house only to find he couldn’t. “What the hell?”

“I’m not going to let you commit suicide,” Amanda said sternly. She handed her daughter to her sister, then came forward to stand beside her husband. “We won’t let you do this.”

Vane was tempted to blast the binding spell back at her, but didn’t want to hurt her. She had no idea what she was dealing with and didn’t know how easily he could rupture her powers while leaving his pristine. “You’re not as strong as you think you are, Amanda. Release my powers.”

“No. Revenge isn’t the answer.”

“Revenge is the only answer,” Jasyn said from behind him. “Let him go.”

Something strange went through Vane at that. A weird fissure …

He turned to look at Jasyn.

The man behind him looked like the Katagari hawk. He was the same height and build.

But he was bleeding …

He was
wounded.

Vane paused as those facts registered in his mind. For the Katagaria, it was almost impossible to maintain their human form while injured. Only the strongest of the strong could do it. And usually it was done only when they had no choice except to blend in with the human realm or endanger themselves by discovery. To maintain human form under those circumstances bled off powers and drained their strength, both physical and magical. It made them extremely vulnerable to attack and death.

Why would Jasyn do such a thing?

Even under the best of circumstances, Jasyn hated taking human form. For that matter, Jasyn hated everyone and everything. Why would the bears send him with this news?

Why would Jasyn come?

Vane narrowed his eyes as a bad feeling came over him. “Who are you?”

The “hawk” stared blankly at him. “You know who I am.”

“Kyrian, protect the women,” Vane snarled as he seized his powers from Amanda.

Amanda cried out, but Vane didn’t hesitate as he realized what he was facing.

“Alastor,” he snarled, curling his lip at the demon.

The demon laughed. “You are a smart one, wolf.”

Tabitha began reciting a banishing spell in Latin. The demon threw out his hand and blasted her through the far wall.

Vane caught him about the middle and tried to slam him into the doorframe of the foyer. Before he could do it, the demon vanished and left him to barrel into it with his shoulder.

Vane growled angrily in frustration and pain as his entire shoulder ached.

Without pausing, he conjured his cell phone and called Sanctuary.

“Nicolette,” he said as soon as Mama Bear answered the phone. “Is Fang still alive?”

“Of course,
cher.
I am in the room with him and Aimee right now.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, thinking only of his brother and his fear of leaving Kyrian and the women unprotected.

“
Oui.
I am touching him and he is alive and relatively well.”

Vane sank to his knees in relief.

Fang was alive.

“Guard him,” he said in a low, ragged tone. “Someone has called out Alastor.”

The bear started cursing in French.

“Don’t worry,” she said at last. “No one will bring harm to your brother. If the demon shows up here, it will be the last mistake of his life.”

Vane heard her order her daughter to fetch two of the nastier inhabitants of Sanctuary to guard Fang. “
Merci,
Nicolette.”

He hung up the phone to see Amanda kneeling by her sister who was sitting up now, rubbing her head.

Tabitha wiped the blood from her nose as she cursed under her breath. “I really hate demons,” she muttered sullenly.

Vane reached out with his powers and healed her and the wall.

Tabitha’s eyes widened before she pushed herself to her feet.

“Are you okay, Tabby?” Amanda asked as she looked from her sister to her now-repaired wall.

Tabitha nodded.

Vane rose slowly. His gaze went to Bride, who sat on the couch watching him.