Night Play(83)

Horrified, she couldn't move.

Valerius ran to him, pulling out his cell phone. "Acheron, I have a Code Red with Vane at Pere 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.