The Dark-Hunters (233 page)

The vampire crumpled as he cupped himself.

Another one came at her. Just as she was sure he had her, he disintegrated. The other two ran toward a shadow and then they too were gone.

Bride braced herself to fight the approaching shadow until she realized it was Valerius.

“Are you all right?” he asked her.

She nodded as her sight cleared enough so that she could look for Vane. He was a few feet from the woman, who appeared to be unconscious.

Bride froze as she saw him. He was flashing back and forth from a naked human to wolf and back again.

Horrified, she couldn’t move.

Valerius ran to him, pulling out his cell phone. “Acheron, I have a Code Red with Vane at Père Antoine Alley. He was hit by something elec—”

Acheron appeared instantly beside her. “You okay, Bride?” he asked.

She nodded.

Ash flashed from her side to Vane’s. He took Vane’s head into his hands, and with another bright flash, Vane turned human. Arching his back, Vane cried out as if some horrendous pain were ripping through him.

“Easy,” Ash said while Valerius checked on the woman.

Bride ran to Vane, who lay on his back, completely naked now. There were tears in his eyes.

Ash ran his hand over him, and a T-shirt and jeans appeared on his body. Still, Vane didn’t move.

“It’ll take him a few seconds more to get his bearings,” Ash explained to her. He looked to the Roman general. “How’s the human, Valerius?”

“She’s alive. You take care of Vane and I’ll get her to a hospital.” Valerius picked her up from the street, cradled her in his arms, and headed toward Royal.

Bride sank to her knees and lifted Vane’s head into her lap. His birthmark was back on his face, and his entire body was tense and trembling.

“What happened to him?” she asked Ash.

“The Daimons must have had—and I hate to use the stupid word—a phaser.”

“Like in
Star Trek?
”

“Sort of. It’s a Sentinel weapon that was developed for the Katagaria. Stronger than a taser, it sends a vicious jolt of electricity through the intended victim. Whenever a Were-Hunter from either division gets shocked, their magic goes berserk and they lose all control of themselves. They can’t even hold on to a form. If they get hit with a strong enough jolt, they literally fall out of their bodies and become noncorporeal beings like a ghost.”

Vane took her hand in his.

Bride stared down at him and offered him a tentative smile.

“You all right, wolf?” Ash asked him.

Vane was still shaking. “What the hell was that thing set for?”

“Kill would be my guess. But luckily it didn’t work.”

Ash helped him up slowly.

Vane staggered and would have fallen had Ash not caught him.

“Easy, wolf.” Ash reached out and touched Bride, then flashed them into their bedroom at Valerius’s.

Worried about Vane, Bride stood back while Ash helped him into the bed. Vane collapsed as soon as Ash released him.

“What can I do to help him?” she asked Ash.

“Nothing really. It’ll take time for the electricity to stop bouncing around his cells. Don’t move him too much since it tends to make them motion sick in this condition.”

“Okay.” She let out a relieved breath. “I’m just glad his mother didn’t have something like this.”

“I’m sure they had it. But knowing Vane, I doubt they had time to use it on him. Weres know to expect phasers from their own kind. It’s rare that Daimons use them.”

He looked back at Vane. “I should have warned you about that. Since there are so many Weres in New Orleans, the Daimons here are a little more savvy than the rest.”

“You suck, Ash,” Vane said in a ragged tone.

“And on that note, I’ll leave the two of you alone and go back to my patrol. Peace.”

As soon as Ash vanished, Bride sat on the edge of the bed, beside Vane.

It was rather strange to see him with the birthmark on his face. She touched it with her hand.

“Did I scare you?” he asked.

“A little,” she answered honestly. “But those creatures scared me a lot more. Are they always like that?”

He nodded.

“Dear God, Vane, you live in a very scary world.”

“I know.”

Bride sat there in silence as various scenarios of how this night could have turned out played through her head. After the way Vane had saved her in the past, she had thought he was impervious to anything.

Now she found out he had a very real, and very dangerous, Achilles’ heel.

“How bad a shock does it have to be to do this to you?” she asked. “I mean, will static electricity do it?”

“It won’t cause me to change forms, but it’s not comfortable. The main thing we have to avoid are shocks from outlets, or any other manmade power sources, and lightning. Some batteries have enough power to change us.”

“And it renders you incapacitated?”

He nodded.

Bride closed her eyes as a new fear went through her. This was terrifying since the people who were after him knew exactly what it would take to kill him.

And if they bonded, it would kill her, too.

What if she and Vane had kids one day and this happened? What if Valerius hadn’t come along when he did?

Or worse, what if the cops or someone else had seen Vane changing forms like that? They would both be arrested and taken who knew where to be studied and cut up. She’d seen enough episodes of
The X-Files
to know the government didn’t take kindly to weirdos in their midst.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to go dancing,” Vane said quietly.

Bride ran her hand over his arm comfortingly. “Don’t think about it.”

However, she couldn’t help but think about what had happened tonight.

Did she really want to be a part of his world, where people wielded magic as if it were nothing? Where they popped in and out of rooms, buildings, and such? She would be a human surrounded by …

She was terrified of the thought. “Vane? Will our children be like you or like me?”

“Were-Hunter genes are stronger and usually dominant. I just don’t know if our children will be Katagaria or Arcadian.”

That scared her even more. “So you’re essentially telling me I might birth puppies?”

He looked away.

Bride got up as that thought went through her mind. Puppies. Not children. Puppies.

Granted, she knew people who thought of their animals as children. Her parents did, but this …

This required a lot more thought before she committed herself.

Chapter 12

Days went by as Bride grappled with what she should do. Part of her was desperate to stay with Vane, while another was terrified of it. So far the tessera hadn’t shown, but that didn’t mean the two of them could or should relax.

It was now Thanksgiving and she stood in her bedroom in Valerius’s house with a knot in her stomach. Her parents had invited her, Vane, and Fury over to their place for the annual McTierney throwdown.

She’d told her family about her new “boyfriend” and had no idea how they would react to him. No one in her family had ever cared for Taylor and his air of superiority. In fact, her father had seldom said more than two words to him whenever she brought Taylor over.

What would they say if they ever found out that Vane and his brother were wolves? Granted, they liked animals, but …

Just thinking about it made her nauseated.

Taking a deep breath, she headed downstairs to find Fury and Vane waiting in the parlor.

Fury was dressed in blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Vane wore black jeans and a gray and black V-neck sweater with his white T-shirt showing at the tip of the vee.

“Do I need to change?” Fury asked Vane. “I’ve never eaten a Thanksgiving dinner before, have you?”

“No. I don’t know what to wear, either. We’ll ask Bride when she comes down.”

Fury rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe this is a bad idea.”

“I don’t know why you’re bitching, Fury. You were at least raised with Arcadians. I have no idea what a ‘family’ holiday entails. With the exception of the Peltiers, who are friggin’ weird, Katagaria don’t exactly celebrate holidays.”

“You both look fine,” Bride said, entering the room. It was somehow sweet and endearing to know they were as nervous as she was. “Just don’t plug anything in if someone asks you to.”

Fury gave a nervous laugh at that. Vane looked less than amused as he stood up.

“Don’t worry,” she assured them. “My parents don’t bite. Much.”

The wolves exchanged a look that said they weren’t so sure about that before Vane offered her his arm and led her toward the door.

Bride paused on the steps of Valerius’s house as she caught a look at an elegant metallic-black Jaguar XKR coupe. “Whoa!” she breathed. “Whose car?”

“Otto’s,” Vane said as he led her toward it. “Since he went home to New Jersey for the holiday, he loaned it out to me for the visit with your family.”

“I thought he drove a beat-up red Chevy IROC.”

Fury laughed out loud. “He does that to piss off Valerius. He keeps the Jag over at Nick’s house for the weekends.”

“Otto is so evil,” she said with a laugh as Vane opened the door for her and let her in while Fury climbed into the back from the driver’s side.

One day, Valerius was going to kill his Squire, who couldn’t seem to irritate the Dark-Hunter enough.

Once she was in the car, Vane shut the door and walked to his side. Man, he had a gait that would make any woman pant. Really, no one should be so innately masculine.

He slid in the car in one fluid motion and started it. Bride stared at his hands as he gripped the wheel and stick shift. If Fury hadn’t been in the back seat, they probably wouldn’t make it to her parents’ house after all.

Vane gripped the wheel tight as he listened to Bride’s instructions on how to get to her parents’ house, which was in Kenner, about twenty-five minutes from Valerius’s. He’d never been more nervous in his life. Worse, Fury kept fidgeting in the back seat.

In the back of his mind, he kept telling himself that he had to do this. If he were to stay with Bride, she would want her family to know him. He couldn’t very well take her away from the people she loved so dearly. But still, this was awkward as hell for him.

What would they talk about?

Hi, my name’s Vane and I howl at the moon late at night in the form of a wolf. I sleep with your daughter and don’t think I could live without her. Mind if I have a beer? Oh, and while we’re at it, let me introduce my brothers. This one here is a deadly wolf known to kill for nothing more than looking at him cross-eyed, and the other one is comatose because some vampires sucked the life out of him after we’d both been sentenced to death by our jealous father.

Yeah, that would go over like a lead balloon.

For that matter, what would Fury say to them? Vane had already threatened the wolf’s life if he embarrassed Bride in any way.

Vane only hoped
he
didn’t embarrass her.

This was a major fiasco just waiting to happen.

All too soon, they were pulling into the agate driveway of a new Victorian-style house. There were five cars already parked there.

“My brother and sister,” she said before she opened the car door.

“Dum dum dum, duuuum.” Fury hummed the tune to
Dragnet
from the back seat.

“Shut up, Fury,” Vane said as he got out. Although to be honest, he found Fury’s humming a bit calming since it reminded him of Fang’s offbeat sense of humor.

Fury climbed out last and stayed back by Vane’s side while Bride led them toward the front door.

Vane really did feel like he was walking to his execution. Parents. Eeek.

Bride knocked on the door, then turned to give them an encouraging smile.

Vane offered her a wan one back.

The door opened to show a woman about three inches shorter than Bride, who had the same exact build. Her short black hair was liberally laced with gray and she had an older version of Bride’s face.

“Baby!” the woman exclaimed before she pulled her daughter into a tight hug. While she hugged Bride, the woman looked up at him.

Vane felt sick and fought the urge to step back. Not that he could with Fury standing on the stairs behind him.

“You must be Vane,” Bride’s mother said happily. “I’ve heard so much about you. Please, come in.”

Bride entered the house first. Vane stepped inside and turned as Fury, who had his hands in his pockets, joined them.

“You must be Fury,” her mother said, holding her hand out to him. “I’m Joyce.”

“Hi, Joyce,” Fury said, shaking her hand.

Vane expected the same, but instead Joyce pulled him into a tight hug. She patted him on the back and let go. “I know you two are probably nervous. Don’t be. Just make yourself at home and—”

A large black rottweiler came running from the back of the house to jump up at Vane.

“Titus!” Joyce snapped.

The dog ignored her as he lay on his back in a submissive pose. Vane reached down and petted him to let the dog know that he acknowledged his rank and to assert his own alpha status.

“Well, isn’t that strange?” Joyce said. “Titus usually tries to eat anyone new he meets.”

“Vane has a way with animals,” Bride said vaguely.

Her mother smiled. “Good then, you’ll fit right in here at the McTierney Zoo.”

Titus got up and went to Fury to lick his fingers. Fury patted the dog’s head while Vane looked around the cozy house, which was decorated in a country style. The tan couches were stuffed and piled high with cushions.

An empty bird perch stood in one corner and a giant freshwater fish tank was built into the far wall. Vane heard more dogs out in the yard and something that sounded like an entire collection of birds singing from upstairs.

“The men are out back,” Joyce said as she led them toward the back of the house, past three aquariums that held one large boa constrictor, a lizard of some sort, and two gerbils. “Your father has a new stray that came in a few days ago that no one can manage. Poor thing won’t eat and it tries to mangle anyone who comes near him.”