Order Now

The first draft of Night Embrace was almost 800 pages in length. Since the average novel is barely 400, we had a bit of a problem and I had to cut a significant amount of scenes and even characters out of the original book.  Here now for your reading pleasure are 2 of the missing scenes about Vane and Fang. Hope you enjoy!

***Please note if you haven't read Night Embrace,
 these 2 scenes contain MAJOR SPOILERS***

If you've read it or don't mind spoilers...scroll down

The fight scene in the swamp that takes place while Sunshine and Talon are at Sanctuary

Vane sat off to the side of camp in human form while he listened to the idle conversations around him. Half the pack was in human form while the others were wolves.

Many of the men were restless. There was a disturbing scent in the air. One that denoted trouble, but no one could get a handle on it. Not even he was sure what was causing it.

But he was just as edgy as the rest of them. One wrong word or action and he was just as likely to take a life as a Daimon. More so, in fact.

Fang walked up to him and offered him a cold beer. “You want to go patrolling and see if we can find out what’s going on?”

Vane popped the lid and tilted his head so that he could see around Fang’s body where Stefan and the others gathering. He shook his head. 

If he went out with Stefan in the mood he was in, one of them would end up dead. 

“Whatever it is, it’s coming this way. I think we should hang close to the women.”

Fang laughed at that. “I love the way you think, adelphos. Hanging close to women is what I do best.”

He laughed at Fang’s words.

Vane!

Vane choked on the beer as he heard his sister’s frantic, scared voice in his head. 

What? he sent back silently.

The pups are coming. I need you.

His beer forgotten, Vane shot to his feet and ran for her. He found her to the side of the camp, near a small outlet of water.

“I’ve got you, babe,” he said gently as he knelt down by her side to help her.

She licked his chin, then whined as more labor pain hit her.

Fang joined them a few minutes later with blankets. “You want me to get Dad?”

“No,” Vane said. “We can handle it.”

As he reached to pet Anya, his cell phone rang. Pissed at the timing, he answered it to find Acheron on the other end.

“I’m busy, Dark-Hunter. This isn’t a good-”

“I know, but there’s a massive number of Daimons converging around Miller’s Well.  They’re coming for your pack, Vane.”

Vane went cold at the news. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Looks like they want a supercharge before tomorrow night’s festivities so you guys have got to get out of there.”

How he wished it were that simple. “Anya is in labor. We can’t move her. But I’ll make sure the others get out.”

“All right,” Ash said. “Sit tight and I’ll have some reinforcements to you ASAP.”

The implication tore through Vane and insulted every animal part of him. “I don’t need your help, Dark-Hunter. We can take care of our own.”

“Yeah, just the same, we’ll be there shortly.”

The phone went dead. 

Snarling, Vane returned the phone to his pocket and told Fang what was going on. “Get the other mobilized.”

Fang nodded, then ran off to spread the word.

###

Ash cursed as he hung up the phone and walked quickly down Bourbon Street toward Canal. Where the hell was Talon? 

The Celt was supposed to be in his swamp and instead there was no sign of him.

Closing his eyes, Ash sensed the Celt was fine. But he didn’t have time to fetch him away from Sunshine. The Daimons were moving fast and he didn’t have long before they’d reach Vane and his family.

He flipped his phone open and called Valerius who was still at home. “Valerius, I’m on Bourbon-”

“I will not venture down that street of crass iniquities and plebeian horror, Acheron. It is the cesspit of humanity. Don’t even ask it.”

Ash rolled his eyes at the Roman’s haughty tone. “I need you in the swamp.”

Silence answered him.

“We have a situation, Valerius,” he said sternly. “A group of Daimons are after a Katagaria pack and they have women in labor-”

“Where do you need me?”

Ash smiled. The Roman had his moments. Good and bad. Luckily, this was a good one.

“I’ll be right there.” Ash hung up the phone. He dashed into a nearby doorway where no one could see him and flashed to Val’s side.

Valerius did a double take at seeing Ash in his living room before the Roman could even return his cordless phone to its pedestal.

The only hint of shock Valerius showed was a slight arching of his right brow. 

“We don’t have time for conventional means of transportation,” Ash explained. 

Before Val could ask him what he meant, Acheron grabbed him and they materialized close to the Katagaria den.

Val scowled at him. “How did you do that? Are you some odd Were-Hunter hybrid like Ravyn?”

Ash gave a dark half-laugh. “Long story. The pertinent part is that I can’t use my powers around the Katagaria without forcing them to change shapes. If the pregnant wolves are forced into human form by my powers, it’ll kill them and their babies instantly. So, I’m fighting strictly hands-on as a human. Your powers aren’t ionically charged so you should be safe to fight as always.” 

Val nodded in understanding.

Acheron manifested his warrior’s staff, then led Val toward the den.

The camp was in total chaos as the men, most in human form, tried to gather up the pregnant wolves and pups, and move them without using their magic. 

Vane and Fang stood over a pregnant wolf in labor while another male who bore a striking resemblance to Vane, knelt by her side and held her. The man was quite a bit older than the brothers. 

Ash remembered him well. The ruthless Katagari ruler hated everyone outside the pack.

Then again, he amended as he looked at Vane and Fang, their father hated many who were in the pack as well.

“I hate to leave you, little one,” their father said. “But know I will raise your pups in love.”

The she-wolf whined. 

Their father stood up and raked a sneer over Vane and Fang. “This is your fault. I curse the day I ever had werewolf sons.”

Vane growled at the insult and started for his father, but Fang caught him.

His father curled his lips. “You better protect her young. God help you both if something happens to them.” He stalked off toward the others.

Acheron and Val headed to the brothers.

“What are you doing here?” Vane demanded as soon as he saw them. “I told you we can handle this.”

Acheron planted the end of his staff in the ground and eyed him with patience. “Don’t play hero, Vane. The last thing you need is to fight Daimons off your back while Anya labors.”

Vane narrowed his eyes at them. “Do you know anything about delivering a baby?”

“I do,” Ash said. “I’ve helped deliver more than my fair share of them over the last eleven thousand years.”

In spite of his earlier words, Vane appeared relieved by Ash’s answer. 

Vane looked at Val. “What about you?”

Val’s answer was as out of character for him as his presence here. “I don’t know nothing about birthing puppies, Miss Scarlett, but I can cleave the head off a Daimon without breaking a sweat.”

“All right, you can both stay.” Vane crouched down beside his sister and nuzzled her snout with his face while the she-wolf panted and whined. “Hang in there, Anya. I’m not going to leave you.”

Ash sat down by her side and held his hand out for her to sniff him. “I’m a friend, Anya,” he said gently. “I know you’re in pain, but we’re going to stay with you and help you.”

She looked up at Vane who made wolf noises back to her. 

A loud curse sounded. “Vane!” Fang shouted. “We got gators moving in all over the place.”

“It’s okay,” Ash said. “They’re with me. They won’t attack you unless you hit them.”

“You sure?” Fang asked skeptically.

“Positive.”

The last of the Katagaria pack moved out, leaving Val, Anya, the brothers and Ash alone with the gators. The quiet stillness of the swamp was broken only by Anya’s pants and whines.

As they waited, Ash felt for the grief in Vane’s eyes.

“She’ll be fine,” Val assured him as he noticed it as well. “We’ll get her through this.”

“No,” Vane said, shaking his head. “All we can hope for is to save her puppies. As soon as the last one leaves her body, she’ll die.”

Val frowned at him. “Don’t be so fatalistic.”

“I’m not, Dark-Hunter. She was claimed by her mate. They bonded their life forces. Had she not been pregnant and carrying new life when he died, she would have died with him. As soon as the puppies are born, she will be off to join him on the other side.”

Ash’s stomach drew tight in sympathetic grief as he heard the pain in Vane’s voice. He knew how much Anya meant to both of her brothers. He also knew what was about to happen and though he wanted to change it, he also knew he couldn’t. “I’m sorry, Vane.”

“Thanks.” Vane brushed his hand through his sister’s white coat. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hoard of Daimons attacked. 

Vane shot to his feet to confront them. “I don’t know how to birth the puppies,” he told Ash. “You stay with her and I’ll fight.”

Ash nodded and stayed crouched by Anya as she snapped and whined. 

Fang transformed into a wolf, his stronger form, to fight, but Vane remained human. 

Ash heard the Daimons scream as they found the alligators lying in wait for them. 

Anya began thrashing as the fight broke out. Ash kept his attention focused on the she-wolf and only looked up to make sure the Daimons weren’t making their way any closer to Anya.

Fang was doing a remarkable job keeping them off in wolf form while Valerius and Vane fought them with knife and sword. The bad thing though was that the brothers couldn’t use their magic anymore than Ash could. Any random shot of their energy could hit accidently Anya and her pups and kill them instantly.

“Vane!” 

Ash started at the human noise from the she-wolf. He looked up to see a Daimon about to attack Vane’s back. Forewarned, the Katagari saw the Daimon and whirled around in time to stab the Daimon through the heart and kill him.

Anya lay back.

Ash held her still as the first of her puppies crested. “That’s it,” he said to her in a calm, soothing voice. “We’re almost there.”

A Daimon came up through the hedges beside them. Ash sprang to his feet and whirled to defend Anya as Vane caught the Daimon and knocked him away from them.

“Take care of my sister,” Vane said between clenched teeth.

Ash quickly returned to Anya.

With the Daimons so close now, he was having to watch the baby, Anya and the Daimons. It wasn’t easy.

“Push,” he said to Anya. “Just a little bit more.”

The next few seconds happened rapidly and yet they seemed to move slowly through time. 

Two Daimons rose up from their fight with Fang. One of them shot Fang with a taser gun, immediately turning him human. Fang let out a howl as his body convulsed uncontrollably back and forth between wolf and human.

Vane went after the second one at the same moment the first one aimed the taser at Vane who dove at the ground. The Daimon pressed the button and the taster blast missed Vane by a fraction of an inch.

It 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.

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 in wolf 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 onto 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 the past...

Pain like that never fully healed. He knew it for fact.

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.”

“There might be more Daimons coming,” Val reminded Vane.

“And I will kill them,” he 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. 

“The innocent should never have to suffer from the battles of others,” Val breathed as he followed Ash. 

“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, long time ago.”

###

Please note that there is another missing scene from the book where Ash takes both Vane and Fang to Sanctuary. Unfortunately, the file that contained this  scene was eaten when my computer went down. A reconstruction of that scene will be in Vane’s book that comes out September 2004. 

A short synopsis of that scene is:

Vane was forced to walk the gauntlet,  then banished from the pack as punishment for allowing his sister’s pups to die.

Fang was tied up and left as an offering to the Daimons. Ash and an extremely wounded Vane rescued him right before the Daimons could finish “feeding” off Fang. Fang survived physically and both he and Vane were taken to Sanctuary so that Carson could heal their wounds. 

This is their epilogue that is missing from the end

Vane and Fang

New Orleans, three hours later

“Did he eat?”

Vane swallowed at Mama Bear Peltier’s question and shook his head no. Fang hadn’t eaten a bite since the bears had taken them in. 

His brother was dying, and just like with Anya, there was nothing Vane could do to save him.

Impotent rage filled him and he wanted blood for what had happened that night. Most of all, he wanted Talon’s heart in his fist. 

Mama Bear brushed a kind hand over his shoulder. “If you need anything, ask.”

Vane forced himself not to growl at her.

What he needed was his brother to be whole again. But the Daimon attack had left Fang without any will to survive. They had taken more than his brother’s blood, they had taken his dignity and his heart.

Vane doubted if his brother would ever be normal again.

Mama turned into her bear form and ambled off. Vane was only vaguely aware of Justin padding by outside in his panther form, followed by a tiger and two hawks. All were headed for their rooms where they could spend the day in their true animal bodies, safely locked away from the unsuspecting world.

“It’s a zoo, isn’t it?”

He looked up at Colt’s voice coming from the doorway. Standing six foot four, Colt was one of the member’s of the Howlers. Like Mama and her clan, Colt was a bear, but unlike them, he was also an Arcadian.

Vane was amazed the bears had tolerated one in their midst. Most Katagaria packs killed any Arcadian on sight. 

He would have.

But then, Mama and Papa Bear weren’t the usual bunch.

“What do you want?” Vane asked.

Colt shifted uneasily. “I was thinking... You know it would be a lot safer for everyone at Sanctuary if there were two Sentinels protecting the Peltiers.”

Vane sneered at that. “Since when does a Sentinel protect a Katagaria clan?”

Colt gave him a droll stare. “That from a Sentinel who is stroking a Katagari wolf’s fur?”

Rage darkened Vane’s sight and if it wasn’t for the fact that he needed to stay here for Fang’s welfare, he’d be lunging for Colt’s throat. “I’m not a Sentinel and I’m not Arcadian.”

“You can’t hide from me, Vane. Like me, you have chosen to hide your facial markings, but it doesn’t change what you are. We are Sentinels.”

Vane cursed him. “I will never be a Sentinel. I refuse that birthright. I won’t hunt and kill my own kind.”

“Haven’t you already done that?” Colt asked with an arched brow. “How many Sentinels have you slain for your birth pack?”

Vane didn’t want to think about that. That had been different. They had threatened Anya and Fang. 

“Look,” Colt said. “I’m not here to pass judgment on you. I’m just thinking it would be easier to—”

“I’m not staying,” Vane said. “Wolves don’t mix with others. Once I’m strong enough to protect Fang again, we’re out of here.”

Colt took a deep breath and shook his head. “Whatever.” He turned around and left.

Vane’s heart ached as he left the room long enough to take Fang’s uneaten food to the kitchen.

If his brother didn’t snap back soon, he didn’t know what he’d do. They were both under a death sentence. 

It wouldn’t be long before their father would send scouts back to determine their fate. Once they found out that both of them had survived, assassins would be coming for them. He needed Fang mobile. 

He could fight alone, but carting Fang’s catatonic ass around with him wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t something he looked forward to doing when all he wanted was to lie down and lick his wounds too. 

Damn Fang for being so selfish.

When Vane returned to his room upstairs, he found Wren just inside the door and Aimée Peltier on the bed beside Fang. 

In his early thirties, Wren looked much younger. He wore his dark blond hair in dredlocks and had yet to speak a word to Vane.

Mama Bear had told him that Wren had been left for dead a few years back and brought to Sanctuary by another clan of bears. No one knew anything about Wren other than the fact that he was an Ochi Kilida Katagari— a rare white leopard that had no spots.

Aimée Peltier was a beautiful blond– that was if a man liked his women extremely skinny and Vane didn’t. She was the pride and joy of the Peltier clan and from what he had seen she was one of the few truly kind-hearted bears.

Vane frowned as Aimée leaned over and whispered something to Fang.

To his amazement, Fang licked her hand. 

Aimée patted Fang’s fur, then rose from the bed. She froze as she caught sight of Vane.
“What did you say to him?” Vane asked.

“I told him you were both welcome here. That no one would ever hurt him again.”

Vane glanced at his brother who had returned to his unmoving wolf state.

“We’re not staying here,” Vane reiterated.

Wren gave him a wry smile. “Funny. That’s what I said ten years ago.”