The Dark-Hunters (665 page)

They struck Anya instead.

Ash cursed in anger as Anya was transformed from a wolf to a woman and back again. Her screams echoed in the trees and then she fell eerily silent.

Back in her wolf form, she didn’t move at all.

Vane ran to her, but it was too late.

She was dead.

Ash let out his battle cry and rushed the Daimon who had killed her. He punched the Daimon hard in the jaw, then used his bare hands to finish him off. He pushed his hand straight into the Daimon’s chest, piercing his mark.

The Daimon shattered into a spray of golden dust.

Now that he could use his powers without restriction, Ash made short work of the remaining Daimons.

Fang’s transformations had slowed down, but he was still alternating between human and wolf forms as he dragged himself slowly toward his sister’s body.

Vane walked stonily toward Anya and sank down beside her. He gathered her wolf’s body up into his arms and cradled her as if she were a baby. Tears streamed down his face as he rocked back and forth with her and whispered to her.

Fang let out a fierce howl and turned into a man. His body bare, he laid his head down on Anya’s back and held on to her too.

Ash would never forget the sight of the three of them huddled there in their grief. It would haunt him forever.

All too well, he remembered his own past.

Saying good-bye to his sister and her baby …

Pain like that never fully healed. He knew it for a fact. Not even eleven thousand years had taken away the bitter burn inside him.

His face grim, Ash took a step toward them. “Do you need me to—”

“Get away,” Vane snarled, his voice feral and cold. “Just leave us alone.”

Val arched one regal brow. “There might be more Daimons coming.”

“And I will kill them,” Vane growled. “I will kill them all.”

There was nothing more to be done to help them and Ash hated that most of all. The brothers needed time to grieve.

Disintegrating his staff, he turned toward Val who watched the brothers with a troubled gaze. “There was nothing more you could do,” Valerius said to Vane. “Don’t blame yourself.”

Vane let out an inhuman snarl.

Ash pulled Val’s arm and led him away from the scene before Vane attacked out of sorrow.

Val’s features were still haunted with sympathy. “The innocent should never have to suffer from the battles of others.”

“I know,” Ash said, his heart heavy. “But it seems to always be the case.”

Val nodded.
“A furore infra, libera nos.”

Ash paused at the Latin quote.
Spare us from the fury within.
“You know, Valerius, there are times when I think you might actually be human after all.”

Valerius scoffed at that. “Trust me, Acheron, whatever human part of me that ever existed was killed a long time ago.”

*   *   *

Fury watched quietly for hours as Vane and Fang held their sister and wept like children. He remembered a time when he’d cried like that too, but it had been centuries ago.

He’d sent Liam on not long after the fight had ended to tell the rest of the pack what had happened, then stayed behind just in case there was more fighting to be done. Regardless of past battles, snipes, and ill feelings, Vane and Fang didn’t need to stand alone right now. Everything they’d cared about was dead. It was a pain Fury wished on no one.

Fury’s grief hit him on a different level. While they cried for the sister they’d lost, he cried internally for the sister he’d never know.

It was so hard to watch his siblings embrace like that while he stood on the outside.

Forever a stranger.

But he couldn’t tell them the truth. Their own mother and the siblings he’d been raised with had turned on him and tried to kill him. The only woman he’d ever loved had been among those who turned on him. Why then would Fang and Vane ever accept the fact that he was born of the same cursed union that had birthed them?

Besides, now was definitely not the time for a family reunion.

He stepped forward tentatively. Not out of fear, but out of respect. “Guys? We’ve been here a long time. Since the Taser’s worn off, I think we should be going.”

Vane pinned him with the coldest dead stare he’d ever seen. He turned that look to Fang. “We need to give her a proper burial. We owe her that.”

Fang wanted to scream and curse. He wanted to punch until the impotent fury inside him was quiet. But he didn’t know if it would ever be quiet again. Something inside him was shattered. Anya wasn’t supposed to die. She was supposed to be here. In all the hell and uncertainty that had been their lives, she’d been the one thing he and Vane had lived for. Their calming influence.

She’d made the wolf human.

Without her …

There was nothing inside him now but the wild animal that only wanted the blood of everyone around him.

Fury approached them slowly in human form.

“Where’s Liam?” Vane asked.

“I sent him on to tell the others that the Daimons were defeated.”

Vane scowled. “Why did you stay?”

Fury glanced to Anya’s body. “I didn’t think you two were in any shape to defend—”

“We’re fine,” Fang snarled, and grabbed him by the throat.

Fury covered his wrist with his hand and jerked it away. His turquoise eyes blazed with anger. “Grief or no grief, you ever touch me like that again and I will kill you.”

Vane broke them apart. “There’s been enough killing here tonight. We need to go.”

Fury stepped back.

Fang started to apologize, but the words caught in his throat. Besides, he didn’t owe the bastard anything. Fury was probably gloating over this. It would be typical of him.

Dismissing the thought, Fang stooped down to retrieve Anya’s body. He stood slowly with Anya in his arms. Her fur tickled his skin. Over and over he saw images of her as a pup, as a teen, and as a woman. Most of all, he saw images of her as his sister and best friend.

Gods, how he’d miss her.

Vane sighed. “You ready?”

No. He would never be ready to say good-bye to her. But they couldn’t stay here forever. So he nodded even though he wanted to die alongside her.

Using their powers, they found their pack and where they’d made a temporary den in Slidell. Not too far away since the burdened females couldn’t travel easily, but far enough away that they should be relatively safe.

As soon as they appeared, all activity in the camp stopped.

Every eye, human and wolf, turned to them and Fang swore he could hear their sharp intakes of breath.

But it was their father’s ashen look that stopped them from moving.

Fang was taken aback by his father’s expression. Was it even possible that the old bastard had feelings for them?

Yet there was no denying the anguish in his weary eyes.

Markus came forward. “Where are the young?”

Vane dropped his hand away from Anya’s body. “She died before they were born.”

Markus choked on a sob. Stunned by the unexpected show of emotion, Fang didn’t move as his father came forward to hug Vane.

At least that’s what it looked like he was going to do until his father snapped a small silver collar on his brother’s neck. Before Fang could move, Stefan snapped one on him from behind.

Stepping back, Markus looked to the others around them. “It’s time for a timoria. Kill them.”

CHAPTER 10

Fang fought as Markus pulled Anya’s body out of his arms. He didn’t want to let her go, but with the collar on, he was virtually human with no powers and no strength to do much more than curse at them.

Stefan grabbed him and with the help of his bastard cronies, he was able to knock Fang to the ground and tie his hands behind his back. He tried to use his powers, but the collar prevented it. And in human form, he wasn’t nearly as strong as he was as a wolf.

Vane was on the ground a few feet from him, also bound.

Fury pushed his way angrily through the crowd around them. His face was a mask of disgust as he looked at Markus. “May I speak on their behalf?”

Markus answered his question with a vicious backhand. Fury staggered back from the blow, his lip and nose bleeding profusely. “Only if you want to join them in their punishment.”

The raw rage inside Fury’s eyes was scorching. He met Fang’s gaze and the sorrow and grief there caught Fang off guard. Why in the world would he give a shit if something happened to them?

Wiping his hand across his mouth, Fury stepped back and looked away.

“Sir?” Liam stepped forward this time.

Markus gave him a quelling glare and like Fury, he retreated.

“Is there another one of you bastards who wants to die with them?” Markus cast his furious grimace to all of them.

Fang expected no one to stand up for them and he wasn’t disappointed.

Even Petra tucked her chin to her chest and retreated. So much for wanting to mate with him. Cowardly bitch.

Markus laid Anya’s body down while Stefan and George hauled them to their feet. “As Regis of this clan, I proclaim Vane and Fang traitors to our people. Vane helped a Dark-Hunter to protect a
human,
” he spat the word as if it were the most disgusting thing imaginable.

There was a sharp intake of breath as those words were unleashed.

Fang turned to Petra who refused to meet his gaze. Her cheeks were bright red. And his own anger mounted that she’d betrayed him. Why had he
ever
told her that?

Damn it, I should have known better.

When would he learn that people and animals only betrayed? No one was ever as loyal to him as he was to them.

Markus pointed at them. “Both of them fought against the Daimons to aid Dark-Hunters and both of them have been seen conspiring with those who hunt and kill our cousins, the Daimons. In retaliation for their actions, the Daimons have now attacked our people and threatened the existence of us all.” He gestured down to his feet where Anya’s body lay unmoving. “My daughter is now dead because of
them.
”

The hypocrisy of that statement set fire to Fang’s wrath. “Daughter? You’ve never before claimed her as such. We did nothing wrong! The Dark-Hunters tried to protect us while
you
ran.”

“Silence!” Markus threw his hand out and a gag appeared over Fang’s mouth. “As the leader and protector of our clan, I command all of you to a timoria.”

Markus ripped the shirt from Fang’s back while George ripped Vane’s.

Fang met his brother’s gaze.
“I’m so sorry, Vane,”
he projected mentally to him.

Vane offered him a tentative grin.
“We’ll get through it. Don’t worry.”

Fang wanted to share that optimism, but he knew the truth.

They were both going to die tonight.

*   *   *

Fury turned aside as his brothers were tied to a tree and then beaten. Angry and bitter memories tore through him as he remembered their mother’s people doing the same to him. Only in his case it’d been their mother who called for his timoria.

The reason for it had been the same as this one. Not that they were a threat to the clan. Not that they’d done anything wrong.

It was the fact that they’d been born to parents who hated them.

Guilt ate at him. He wanted to stop this. To protect them. But how could he?

The pack would turn on him too. And while he and Liam had tried to speak up for them, no one would speak up for him. It would be as before and he would be attacked and left for dead.

If
he was lucky.…

So he stood back, his inaction making him as guilty in this as the actual crimes against his brothers.

At least it’s not you this time.

The excuse of a coward. Fury wanted to be better. To be as brave as they were and to stand by and take it.

But he wasn’t. His fear overrode his bravery and he stood back even though he knew he should act. He tried to ease his conscience by saying that they wouldn’t have defended him either.

Maybe it was true.

Fang hated him, he knew that. Since the day Fury had joined their clan, they’d never gotten along. They were too much alike.

And that made this even harder. He saw himself in Fang’s eyes. Saw the pain, the betrayal. The brutal hatred.

Most of all, he saw the injustice.

“This is ridiculous,” Liam growled beside him. “We should do something.”

“Like what?”

Liam looked away, his lip curled. “It won’t go well for the rest of us once they’re gone. Stefan will be in charge now. Undisputed.”

“Then challenge Markus.”

Liam snorted. “I’m not strong enough.”

And neither was Fury. While he could take Markus on pure animal strength, he was no match for his father’s magick. Because he’d been kicked out of his mother’s clan shortly after puberty, no one had tutored him on how to control his powers. He could change forms and travel through time and space, but that was about it. And even those he couldn’t always control well.

Fury flinched as Fang and Vane were finally cut down. Their bodies were ravaged by the barbed whips to such a degree it sickened him.

They fell to their knees, panting and bleeding. His stomach churned at the sight. To be trapped in human form while a wolf was torture in and of itself. To be wounded while holding that form …

He could only imagine how excruciating their pain was.

And still they stood united. Neither was tearing at the other—blaming him for what was happening to them.

That
was what Fury envied. It was a pure, loving bond that he’d never experienced or understood.

Vane and Fang were brothers.

To the end.

His hand trembling, Vane reached for Fang, who lay unmoving. His features were contorted by anguish. “Fang?” The torment and fear in that one weak call brought tears to Fury’s eyes.

Fang closed his hand around Vane’s.

The relief on Vane’s face was potent. And short-lived as Stefan and George hauled them to their feet, then retied their hands behind their backs.

There was no pity or remorse on Markus’s face. “Take them out to the swamp and leave them for the gators.”