Night Play

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. "Did I hurt you, Amanda?" Vane asked without taking his eyes off his mate.

"It wasn't exactly comfortable," Amanda said. "You could have warned me before you yanked."

"I'm sorry. There wasn't time."

"What just happened?" Bride asked quietly. She sat on the couch as if she were in a daze. "What is going on here?"

Vane exchanged an uncomfortable look with Amanda and Kyrian. How was he going to explain this to her?

Kyrian picked up his daughter, who didn't seem the least bit concerned about the fact that a demon had just visited them. Then again, she had played dolls with one earlier. To Marissa such things were probably every-other-day occurrences. Kyrian went to Amanda and Tabitha. "I think we should go to the kitchen and put some ice on Tabby's hard head."

"Lay off me, Geritol, or you're going to need some ice for your groin," Tabitha said as she led the way toward the kitchen.

Vane waited until he was alone with Bride.

This had to be the most awkward moment of his entire life. He didn't even know where to begin. But at least she wasn't afraid of him at the moment.

That was something, anyway.

Bride sat there in stunned disbelief as she tried to make sense of of She didn't even know what to call it.

She wasn't sure what she had just seen. Everything had happened way too fast. The knock on the door, followed by a bleeding man who had just vanished into nothingness.

She felt bewildered, and in the back of her mind, she thought she might be on the Scare Tactics show. Candid Camera? Did they even do Candid Camera anymore? Maybe this was some other new reality show.

How to Make You Lose Your Mind in One Afternoon.

Her thoughts rambled as she struggled to come to grips with these bizarre events.

"Kyrian said you weren't a psycho serial killer." That sounded stupid even to her, but she didn't know what else to say to him.

"No," he said quietly as he came to stand in front of her. "But I'm not human, exactly."

Tabitha's angry voice echoed from the kitchen. "What do you mean, he's a friggin' dog?"

They both turned as Tabitha rushed into the room.

"You're a dog?" she asked Vane.

"Wolf," Vane corrected.

Bride got up and put the couch between herself and Vane. This wasn't real.

No. This was a dream. She'd hit her head. Something.

"Jeez," Tabitha sneered. "I should have known it that night you were outside the restaurant. I thought you looked too smart for the average beastie."

Kyrian came into the room and tried to pull Tabitha back to the kitchen.

Tabitha shrugged off his hand. "Bride needs me. She's not used to you loons."

"I need to go home," Bride said as a strange lucidity came over her. It was as if her mind were rejecting everything she'd heard.

Vane a dog Yeah, right. Well, most men were dogs, but that was only figuratively speaking. No. This was some weird dream. Vane had drugged her during lunch and she was now hallucinating. Whenever she woke up, she was definitely calling the cops on him.

She moved to the door only to have Vane materialize in front of her. "You can't leave."

"Oh, yes I can," she snapped angrily. "This is my bad psychotic delusion and I can do anything I want to in it. Just watch. I'm going to turn into a bird now" Okay, she didn't.

Bride waited for a full minute. "Why am I not a bird? I want to be a bird."

"Because you're not dreaming," Vane said, placing his hands on her arms.

"This is real, Bride. In a very fucked-up sort of way."

"No, no, no," she insisted. "This isn't real. I reject it all. I have" Bride stopped mid-sentence as she looked past Kyrian to see his daughter. Marissa was crawling into the room. The baby stopped near the couch, and sat up, laughing.

She held her tiny arm out and her sippee cup on the coffin-shaped coffee table flew into her outstretched hand. "Rissa, cup, Daddy," she said happily even though the baby was too young to speak.

"Yeah," Bride said while Marissa sipped her juice and Kyrian picked his daughter up from the floor. "I am definitely one oar short on the boat."

She started past Vane only to have him pull her to a stop.

"Please, Bride, you have to listen because your life is in danger, but not from me."

She looked into those magnetic hazel-green eyes and wondered if his image was part of her hallucination, too.

Maybe none of this had ever happened. Maybe she was still in bed with Taylor and all this had been one very long, odd dream.

She shook her head at Vane. "I can't accept what I've just seen. It's not possible."

He held up his palm with the same tattoo as hers. "I don't know how to help you accept this. The unbelievable has been part of my life since the moment I was born. I"

Vane sighed, dropped his hands from her arms and pulled his cell phone out again and dialed it.

He was making a call? Now?

Yeah, why not? That made as much sense as the rest of this.

What had she eaten for dinner? It must have been a doozy. She better make a note not to eat it again.

Vane's gaze stayed on her. "Acheron, I need a favor from you. I don't care what it costs. I'm at Kyrian's house with my mate and I need you here to guard her for me until she's freed."

"Mate?" she repeated. "As in 'friend'?"

"As in 'wife,'" Tabitha said.

Bride gaped. "I'm not married."

Vane hung up the phone. "No, you're not, Bride." He cupped her cheek with one warm hand and gave her a look of sad longing. "No one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do, okay?"

He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb. "Stay here, where things are mostly normal and where you'll be safe for the next two weeks, and I won't bother you ever again. I swear it. Just be safe for me."

It was hard to be afraid of a man who looked at her the way Vane did just now. With that sincerity burning deep in his gaze. With such a look of yearning and need.

She was uncertain.

Scared.

"What are you?" she asked.

He looked down, took a deep breath, then lifted his head up.

Bride gasped as she saw that one-half of his face was covered with a deep red tattoo similar to the one on her palm.

"I'm human," he said in a tormented tone. "And I'm not." He dropped his hand to her shoulder. "I never knew softness," he breathed. "Not until the moment you touched me in your store. My life is violent and dangerous. It's dark and twisted and no place for someone like you. I have more people wanting me dead than I can count. They will stop at nothing, and you" He ground his teeth before he spoke again. "You'll never want again for anything in your life. I swear it on what little bit of human soul I have left."

He stepped back and headed for the door. "Take care of her for me, Kyrian."

Then he was gone.

Bride felt drained by his sudden absence, and for reasons unknown, her heart ached.

She looked over at Tabitha, who had tears in her eyes. "Dog or no dog," Tabitha said. "That was" She rushed to Bride's side and urged her toward the door. "Don't let him leave, Bride. Go get him."

She didn't have to say those words; Bride was already headed for the door.

"Vane!" she called, looking for him.

There was no sign of him anyplace.

"Vane!" she tried again, even louder this time.

Only the damp, cool air answered her.

Her heart breaking, she stepped back into the house and collided with Tabitha. "I can't believe I let him go."

"I can't believe the idiot went."

Bride panicked as she heard that voice. It wasn't Tabitha's. It was the demon's. In the blink of an eye, everything went black.

Vane walked down the street away from Kyrian's house, doing his best to ignore Bride's call. His heart was breaking into pieces at the thought of losing her.

He had done the right thing. He'd let her go. So why did it hurt so much?

And it did hurt. It ached and burned deep inside his heart until he was sure he couldn't bear it.

It was for the best.

She was human and he was the wolf who loved her. Vane cursed at the reality of that statement. He wanted desperately to deny it and he couldn't. She was everything to him.

There was nothing about her he would change. He loved the way she looked at him as if he were crazy. The way she hummed quietly to herself while she dusted her shelves. The way she always made sure to split her food with him.

The way she felt in his arms as she came for him, and the sound of her breathless voice as she said his name while in the throes of her orgasms.

Hell, he even liked the way she hogged the covers.

"Oh, fuck this," he snarled. He wasn't going to just let her go. He loved her and he wasn't going to just up and leave. Not without a fight and not without at least telling her.

He turned and headed back toward the house.

"Vane! Come quick."

He paused at Kyrian's deep voice. At the urgency he heard in the former Dark-Hunter's tone.

Flashing back to the house, Vane materialized in the foyer to find Kyrian there with his daughter and Tabitha. Bride was nowhere to be seen.

A bad feeling consumed him. "Where's Bride?"

"The demon took her," Tabitha said.

The animal inside him snapped and snarled with vengeance. He reached out and found nothing in the air. No scent, no trace.

It didn't matter. Alastor had taken his mate.

Vane would find her, and when he did, there would be one less demon in the universe. Bride wanted to scream, but couldn't. Her vocal cords seemed to be paralyzed.

Sight came back to her so suddenly that it hurt her eyes.

She blinked to find herself inside what appeared to be an old cabin or house of some sort. It was long and narrow with an old-fashioned fire blazing out in the open with no fireplace or real confinement.

"Don't be afraid," the demon said, releasing her.

He stepped around her. Instead of the good-looking blond he had been earlier, he was now hideous. His skin was a deep, dark purple shade and he had flaming red hair and eyes.

His feet were twisted and looked more like overgrown clubs. He limped as he walked toward the door and opened it.

"Bryani!" he called out, then he looked back at her and sniffed like an animal. His large teeth were too big for his mouth, and when he spoke he lisped. "No one is going to hurt you, bobbin."

Bride was getting seriously tired of people telling her that. "Where am I?"

He wiped at his nose. "Don't worry yourself, bobbin. You're safe here."

"I was safe where I was." Sort of, anyway.

What kind of screwed-up delusion was this? If she was going to lose her mind, she much preferred losing it with Vane than with an ugly monster thing who could barely speak.

The demon stepped back to make way for a beautiful woman who reminded Bride of a young Grace Kelly, only this woman had three vicious scars on her face and neck that made a mockery of Tabitha's.

Underneath the scars, the woman bore a red tattoo very similar in design to Vane's. She looked to be no older than her mid-twenties and yet the woman carried herself with the bearing of a regal queen. She entered the room as if she owned it and dared anyone to question her authority.

Blond braids were wrapped around her head in an elegant design that was held in place by a gold circlet decorated with what appeared to be very large diamonds, rubies, and sapphires.

Bride frowned at the woman's clothes. She wore what appeared to be something out of an episode of Xena. It was gold body armor that covered her torso, but left her arms bare, except for gold arm- and wristbands. Her vibrant red and dark green plaid skirt was voluminous and many-layered.

Most impressive, the woman had a sword, bow, and quiver of arrows strapped to her back.

Oh yeah, Bride was definitely nuts, she decided. Her mind had snapped completely. Maybe she was even dead.

Right now, she was game for just about any explanation.

Grace Kelly, or Bryani as the demon had called her, scrutinized Bride. "Has he hurt you, child?"

Bride looked at the demon. "Define 'hurt'? I mean, I didn't really want to be brought here, wherever here is."

"Not Alastor," Bryani snapped in an accent unlike anything Bride had ever heard. "The other one. The bastard wolf. Did he hurt you?"

Bride was twice as confused. "You mean my pet wolf or my boyfriend who thinks he's a wolf?"

Bryani grabbed her hand and held it up to her face. "The one whose hand matches yours. Did he rape you?"

"No," Bride said emphatically as she wrested her arm from the woman's grasp. "He didn't do anything."

Bryani let out a relieved breath, then nodded at the demon. "You got to her in time. Thank you, Alastor."

The demon inclined his head to Bryani. "We are done now." He vanished instantly and left them alone.

Bryani didn't seem the least bit concerned by the oddity of that action.

She held her hand out to Bride. "Come, child. I would have you at the hall where we can all protect you while you bear the mating mark."

Her first instinct was to pull away, but Bride forced herself to take the woman's hand. What the hell? She'd already lost her mind. The least she could do was see where this psychotic episode was going to take her.

Hopefully it would be someplace nicer and warmer than this spartan room. Bride laughed at the thought. "Have you ever seen that episode of Buffy where Sarah Michelle Gellar flashes between the insane asylum and her life in Sunnydale as the Slayer?"

Bryani cocked her head. "What is Buffy? Is she a Lykos too or another kind of Katagaria?"

Bride was a bit miffed that her conjured escort had no idea who Buffy was. "Never mind. Obviously this is my Sunnydale version and I'll be waking up real soon in my padded cell."

Bryani released her as they left the room behind.

Bride followed her out of the hut only to find herself in the middle of what appeared to be a green valley with mountains rising up around them. It was lovely, albeit rather cold for her taste.

How she had gotten here, she had no idea. This wasn't New Orleans, which was where she'd been five minutes ago.

Even odder, everyone around her was dressed in ancient clothing and spoke a language she couldn't even begin to understand.

And every person near them paused to stare as they walked past. Silence settled instantly. Eerily. The women at the makeshift well. Those who were carrying baskets and chatting. Even the children stopped playing.

But it was the men who captured Bride's attention, especially since every one of them stopped and turned to stare at her as if she were their target or prey.

She realized that with the exception of the demon, every person in this village was literally a gorgeous, stunning specimen of human physiology. This was definitely a dream or delusion of some kind.

Not even Chippendales had this much bodacious muscle. And never mind the women.

They were the epitome of why Bride refused to buy fashion magazines. If she didn't know better, she'd think she'd fallen down the rabbit hole of Hollywood extras.

Bride followed Bryani into a large wooden building that reminded her of something out of a low-budget King Arthur movie. Made of wattle and daub, it was spartan inside except for the large fire blazing in the center of the hall, surrounded by long tables and wooden benches. Something that looked like dried weeds and herbs were scattered over the earthen floor.

As soon as Bride entered, she found herself surrounded by gorgeous men, some of whom actually sniffed her.

"Excuse me?" she said, brushing them away. "This is my fantasy and I'd rather you not do that."

A tall blond man cocked his head in a way that reminded her of a canine. He directed a cutting glare at Bryani. "Why would you bring a Katagari whore here?"

Bryani pulled Bride away from the men and put herself between them. "She is not a whore. She's a terrified human female who doesn't understand what has happened to her. She thinks herself mad."

The blond man laughed. "I think we should send her back to her mate the way the Katagaria send our mates back to us." He took a step toward them.

Bryani pulled the sword off her back and angled it at him. "Don't make me slay you, Arnulf. I brought her here for protection."

"Then you made a mistake."

Bryani was aghast. "We are human."

"Aye," he agreed, sliding a dangerous smirk toward Bride. "And I quest for vengeance same as you, my princess. My mate lies dead from their abuse of her. I say we return it upon their females tenfold."

As the men started forward, a howl rang out.

Everyone froze.

Bride turned to see the door behind her open. An old man stepped through it. His hair was white and he wore a beard that reminded her of an old ZZ Top video. By his side was a large brown timber wolf.

Like Bryani, half of the old man's face was covered with an eerie green tattoo.

"What goes here?"

"We beseech moral restitution," Arnulf said. "Your daughter has brought a Katagari mate into our pack. We want her."

The old man raked a censoring gaze over Bride, then looked to Bryani.

"I had to, Father," Bryani said as she lowered her sword. "There was no other way."

The old man ordered the others to leave them.

The men did so reluctantly. But before they left, some howled like animals. Others looked back with expressions that promised they intended to renew this discussion.

For the first time, Bride was scared. Something wasn't right about this "fantasy."

If she didn't know better, she'd swear it was real. But it couldn't be.

Could it?

Once they were alone, the old man led them toward the farthest table in the room; it stood high on a dais. Two chairs that looked like large, hand-carved thrones capped with wolfheads stood behind the table. "What are you thinking, Bry?" he asked her escort.

"I wanted to protect her, Father. Is that not what a Sentinel does? Are we not to protect the world from the Katagaria animals?"

He looked aggravated by her words. "But she is mated to one."

"They have not joined themselves. She is only marked. If we keep her here until the mark is gone, then she will be free of him."

The old man shook his head while his wolf came over to sniff at Bride.

Bride stared at it, wondering if it would stay a wolf or become something else.

"Why not just kill her mate?" the old man asked.

Bryani looked away.

The old man let out a tired breath. "I told you to kill them centuries ago, daughter."

Anger flared in her eyes. "I tried to kill him, remember? He grew too strong."

The old man made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. "She is yours to guard. I will rally the others, and this time when he comes to us, we will finish what was started."

Bryani nodded, then motioned for Bride to follow her. She led her past the thrones, down a narrow corridor in back that led to a set of rooms off the hall.

The place was spartan for the most part, but it did have some interesting comforts, such as a large, padded bed and furs, and twenty-first-century novels.

Bride picked up Kinley MacGregor's A Dark Champion and laughed. Oh yeah, good dream here. "Could you please conjure me a Coke?" she asked Bryani. "I'm feeling the need for one."

"Nay, I cannot. That would require my going forward in time to retrieve one and my powers for that were taken from me." Her tone was angry and bitter. "It is why I had to conjure the demon to fetch you."

"Who took your powers?"

"My mate." Bryani spat the words. "He stole much from me, but have no fear. His son will not violate you. I will see to it."

Bride returned the book to the small stack on the nightstand. "You know, none of that makes a bit of sense to me."

Bryani put her hands on her hips as she faced her. "Then how about this?

The so-called man who took you, Vane, is a wolf I was forced against my will to give birth to over four hundred years ago. And if I could, I would kill him for you."

"Excuse me?"

Bryani ignored her as she explained herself. "Like many women, when I was young, I was stupid. On my first venture out with my Sentinel patrol to hunt the Katagaria wolves, I was captured by our enemies, who thought it would be great fun to take turns raping me."

Bride felt sick from hearing Bryani's story. A wave of sympathetic ache consumed her.

This poor woman. She couldn't imagine anything worse.

And she was Vane's mother Her lips curled, Bryani shook her head. "But the Fates are often cruel and I, like you, found myself mated to one of those animals who had hurt me.

Vane's father kept me captive for weeks as he abused me more, trying to make me accept him as my mate. They can't, you know. Acceptance is strictly in our hands.

Not theirs."

This couldn't be real. No. Bride was dreaming, though why she was dreaming this, she had no idea. "You don't look like Vane."

Pure, unadulterated hatred glowed in Bryani's hazel eyes. "He looks like his filthy father."

Bride frowned as she remembered Fury saying that to her. Ah, her mind was replaying it in her delusion. Made sense.

Sort of.

But why would she make up so tragic a tale? Bride had never been the kind of person to wish ill on anyone, least of all Vane's mother.

Could this be real?

Was that possible?

Bride moved toward the blond woman and took her hands in hers to study her palms. "You don't have a mark."

"Nay. If the mating isn't consummated within three weeks, the mark fades and we as women are free to go our own way. The men are left impotent for the duration of our lives."

Bride frowned up at her. Bryani was really tall. "You left his father impotent?" An evil glint came into Bryani's hazel-green eyes. "I left him more than that. Once my children were born, I took my three human children and left my three puppies with him, then gelded the bastard for what he'd done to me. I'm sure not a day passes where he doesn't wish he'd killed me when he had the chance."

Bride cringed at the thought. "Why am I dreaming this?" she asked. "I don't understand this nightmare."

Bryani shook her head. "This is real, Bride. I know in the human world things such as what I describe don't happen. But you must believe me. There are things that reside alongside you in the everyday world that you never realize are there."

One second Bryani was standing in front of Bride and in the next, the woman was a huge white timber wolf that bore a terrifying resemblance to her adopted pet.

Bride staggered back.

No, this wasn't real. This wasn't.

"I want to go home," she said out loud. "I have to wake up. Please, God, let me wake up!"

Vane pulled out of his trance as he realized where his mate was.

Bride was in his mother's homeland. A place where he had sworn to never return.

He'd only been there once. Long ago when he had bartered with Acheron Parthenopaeus to help him find his birth mother.

To this day, Vane didn't know why he'd wanted to find her. Maybe it was all the years of living with a father who hated him and he wanted to see if there was any chance his mother might tolerate him.

Or maybe because he had become human, he thought she might accept him.

Instead, she had tried to kill him.

"I curse the day I bore you."

Her words still resonated deep inside him and now she had struck the final blow.

She had set loose a demon to take his mate. No Were-Hunter could remove a human from their time period without the human's permission. Only demons and gods were exempt from that rule.

But why? Why would his mother have taken Bride back to Dark Age Britain? He didn't trust his mother. Her hatred of him and his father was too great.

Vane trusted no humans.

No, Bride was his responsibility, and the last thing she needed was to be left alone with an Arcadian pack in the past where he'd been born.

He would have to go and claim her and bring her back to her home.

Only this time, he didn't have any backup. He was going in alone.

He only hoped that he survived the encounter. Otherwise, Bride just might find herself trapped in the past for eternity.