Vane shifted himself to the past. It didn't take much effort to find his parents. After all, Acheron hadn't bothered to shield their scent from him and they had only been here together for about an hour.

The Dark-Hunter leader had sequestered the two Were-Hunters on an isolated island during the fifth century. Neither of them had the power to leave either the island or the time period.

It was truly a fate worse than death.

Or at least it was about to be.

Vane flashed to the "arena" where his parents were battling each other with swords drawn. They were both bloody from the fighting, and even though he should be amused, he wasn't.

How could he be? These two people, for all their faults, were his parents, and if not for them he would never have been born.

Even so, some things could not be forgiven.

His father hesitated as he saw Vane. It gave his mother the opening she needed to run Markus through with her sword.

It should have been a killing blow.

It wasn't.

His mother jerked the sword free, cursed, and stabbed Markus again.

Markus only

stood there blinking in disbelief as he remained immune from her attacks.

"Give it up, Mother," Vane said as he approached them.

She spun on him with another curse until her eyes focused on his face.

For once Vane didn't bother hiding his facial markings from either one of them.

He stared at her blankly as horror filled her expression and she realized the truth about her eldest son.

"I know Acheron probably couldn't care less if you two destroyed each other," he said slowly. "But I couldn't live with myself knowing that he had sentenced one of you to die even though you deserve it."

"What do you mean?" Markus asked.

"I'm altering things a bit. You two can fight and kill each other over and over again, but neither one of you will be able to die by the hand of the other."

"Fine, then," Markus snarled. "I'll kill myself."

"I won't allow that, either."

Bryani cursed him. "You can't stop us."

Vane laughed. "Yeah, Mom. I can. You should have listened to Fury when he tried

to tell you about my powers. There are only a small handful of people on this earth whose powers can negate mine. And neither of you are one of them."

Bryani's eyes narrowed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you two need to come to terms with each other. What Markus did to you was wrong, but then, I've always been told that two wrongs don't make a right.

So here I am trying to do the right thing for once. You two have to deal with each other and settle this hatred." He took a deep breath. "I'll be back in a few decades to see how it's coming."

"You can't leave us here. Not like this!" Bryani screeched.

"Why not, Mom? Dad beat me and Fang and hung us out to die, literally.

You beat Fury and left him for dead. Now the two of you can both pummel the one who really pissed you off, and we can live our lives out in peace away from the two of you. Have a nice war."

Vane flashed himself away from them, back to where Bride was busy packing up their things in Valerius's house.

"You know you don't have to do that?"

She jumped and gasped. "I think I need to put a bell on you!"

He laughed.

Bride jumped again as all of their belongings suddenly appeared neatly folded in her suitcases. "Vane"

"What?"

"Never mind," she said with a laugh. She didn't really want to change him, either. He came up behind her and pulled her to him.

Bride took a moment to savor the feel of him there. To savor the strength of his arms around her waist. "So what are you going to do with the rest of your life now that your parents are taken care of and Fury has control of your pack?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

"I don't want to do anything other than spend the rest of my life watching you."

"Yeah, but"

"No buts, Bride. I've spent the last four hundred years fighting tooth and nail for everything. Hiding who and what I am. Now there's no need. You're safe here in New Orleans and I intend to make sure you stay that way."

She turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And what about my shop?"

"It's all yours."

"Will you help me watch it?"

"No. I'm going to be too busy watching you."

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