Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4)(134)

“I couldn’t do it,” the ghost said.

Butch frowned. “V?”

“As much as I hate myself…I don’t want to die.”

Butch went cold. Then ran as white-hot as his roommate’s body.

“You f*cking bastard!” Butch shot forward without thinking and grabbed Vishous by the throat. “You f*cking…bastard! You scared the shit out of me!”

He hauled his arm back and cold-cocked V right in the face, his fist cracking against jawbone. As he braced himself for a return shot, he was absolutely livid. Instead of fighting back, though, V locked his arms around Butch, put his head down, and just…crumpled. Shook all over. Trembled to the point of frailty.

Cursing the brother to hell and back, Butch absorbed Vishous’s weight, holding the guy’s naked, glowing body tight while the cold wind whirled around them both.

When he ran out of swear words, he said into V’s ear, “You ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll kill you myself. We clear?”

“I’m losing my mind,” V said against Butch’s neck. “The one thing that’s always saved me and I’m losing it…I’ve lost it…I’m gone. It’s the only thing that’s saved me and now I have nothing…”

As Butch squeezed harder, he became aware of an easing inside of himself, a sensation of relief and healing. Except he didn’t think much about it because something hot and wet seeped into his collar. He had a feeling it was tears, but he didn’t want to draw attention to what was doing. V was no doubt totally horrified by the show of weakness, assuming the guy was crying.

Butch put his hand on his roommate’s nape and murmured, “I’ll do the saving until you get your head back, how about that? I’ll keep you safe.”

When Vishous finally nodded, something dawned on Butch. Shit…he was up against the glow, a whole lot of the glow…but he wasn’t on fire or in pain. In fact…yeah, he could feel the blackness in him seeping out of his skin and bones, leaching into the white light that was Vishous: That was the relief he’d noticed just now.

Except why wasn’t he burning up?

From out of nowhere, a female voice said, “Because this is what shall be, the light and the dark together, two halves making a whole.”

Butch and V yanked their heads around. The Scribe Virgin was floating above the terrace, her black robes unstirred despite the frigid gusts that blew all around.

“That is why you are not consumed,” she said. “And that is why he saw you from the start.” She smiled a little, though he didn’t know how he knew it. “This is the reason destiny brought you to us, Butch, descended of Wrath son of Wrath. The Destroyer has arrived and you are he.

“Now the new era in the war begins.”





Chapter Forty-four




Marissa nodded as she shifted her cell phone to her other ear and reviewed the order list on her desk. “That’s right. We need an industrial range, six burners minimum.”

Sensing someone in her doorway, she looked up. Only to have her mind go completely blank. “May I…ah, may I call you back?” She didn’t wait for a reply, just hit the END button. “Havers. How did you find us?”

Her brother bowed his head. He was dressed as usual, in a Burberry sport coat, gray slacks, and a bow tie. His horn-rimmed glasses were different from the ones she was used to seeing on him. And yet the same, too.

“My nursing staff told me where you were.”

She rose from her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “And you have come here why?”

Instead of answering, he looked around and she could imagine he wasn’t impressed. Her office was nothing more than a desk, a chair, a laptop computer, and a whole lot of hardwood floor. Well…and a thousand pieces of paper, each with something she needed to do on it. Havers’s study, on the other hand, was an Old World den of learning and distinction, the floors covered by Aubusson rugs, the walls hung with his diplomas from Harvard Medical School as well as a fraction of his Hudson River School landscape collection.

“Havers?”

“You have done great things at this facility.”

“We’re just getting started, and it’s a home, not a facility. Now why are you here?”

He cleared his throat. “I have come at the Princeps Council’s request. We are voting on the sehclusion motion at the next meeting and the leahdyre said he’s been trying to reach you for the last week. You haven’t returned the calls.”

“I am busy, as you can see.”

“But they cannot vote unless all of the membership is in the room.”

“So they should remove me. In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t figured out how to already.”

“You are of the six founding bloodlines. You cannot be removed nor excused as things stand now.”

“Ah, well, how inconvenient for them. You’ll understand, however, if I’m not available that evening.”

“I haven’t told you a date.”

“As I said, I’m unavailable.”

“Marissa, if you disagree with the motion, you can make your stance clear during the testimony phase of the meeting. You can be heard.”

“So all of you with voting rights are in favor?”