FOURTEEN

Sitting beside Butch in the Escalade, V was a six-foot-six, two-hundred-fifty-pound contusion.

As they sped back to the compound, every inch of him was pounding, the pain forming a haze that calmed the screaming inside of him.

So he'd gotten something of what he'd needed.

The trouble was, the relief was beginning to fade already, and didn't that get him pissed off at the Good Samaritan behind the wheel. Not that the cop seemed to care. He'd been dialing that cell phone of his and hanging up and dialing again and hanging up, like the fingers on his right hand had a case of Tourette's.

He was probably calling Jane and thinking better of it. Thank fuck - "

Yeah, I'd like to report a dead body," he heard the cop say. "No, I'm not giving my name. It's in a Dumpster in an alley off Tenth Street, two blocks over from the Commodore. Looks to be a Caucasian female, late teens, early twenties ... No, I'm not giving my name.... Hey, how about you get down the address and stop worrying about me...."

As Butch got into it with the operator, V shifted his ass in the seat and felt the broken ribs on his right side howl. Not bad. If he needed another hit to chill him out, he could just do some sit-ups and get back on the agony-go-round -

Butch tossed his cell onto the dash. Cursed. Cursed again.

Then decided to share the wealth: "How far were you going to let it go, V? Until they stabbed you? Left you for the sun? What was going to be far enough?"

V talked around his swollen lip. "Don't front, true."

"Front?" Butch swung his head around, his eyes positively violent. "Excuse me?"

"Don't pretend ... you don't know what this is like. I've seen you on a bender.... I've seen - " He coughed. "I've seen you drunk on your feet with a glass in both hands. So do not go holier-thanthou on me."

Butch refocused on the road. "You are a miserable son of a bitch."

"Whatever."

Yup, that was about it for the convo.

By the time Butch tooled up in front of the mansion, both of them were wincing and blinking like they'd been hit in the puss with Mace: The sun was still buried on the far side of the horizon, but it was close enough to put a blush in the sky that was only a few megawatts south of deadly to a vampire.

They didn't go into the big house. No fucking way. Last Meal was about to get its knife and fork on, and given both their moods, there was no reason to feed the gossip mill.

Without saying another word, V walked into the Pit and beelined for his bedroom. There was no seeing Jane or his sister looking like this, for real. Hell, given what his mug felt like, there might be no seeing them even after a shower.

In the bath, he started the water and disarmed in the dark - which involved all of taking his one dagger out of the belt holster around his waist and putting it on the counter. His clothes were filthy, covered with blood and wax and other shit, and he let them fall on the floor, unsure what he was going to do with them.

Then he got under the spray before it was warm. As the cold water hit his face and pecs, he hissed, the shock shooting down into his cock and hardening him - not that he felt any interest in doing something about the erection. He just closed his eyes as his blood and the blood of his enemy sluiced off his body and got sucked down the drain.

Man, after he got his shit washed up, he was so going to put a turtleneck on. His face was fucked-up, but maybe that could be explained away by his having been in a fight with the enemy. Turning himself into a black-and-blue canvas from head to foot?

Not so much.

Hanging his head and letting the water run off his nose and chin, he tried desperately to go back to the numb floats he'd had in the car, but with the pain fading, his drug of choice was losing its grip on him and the world was getting too clear again.

God, the sense of being out of control and pissed off choked him sure as if there were hands around his throat.

Fucking Butch. Do-gooder, nosy-ass, interfering son of a bitch.

Ten minutes later, he stepped out, grabbed a black towel, and stemmed-to-sterned the terry cloth as he walked into the bedroom. Popping open his closet, he willed a black candle on and ... got an eyeful of wife-beaters. And leathers. Which was what happened to your wardrobe when you fought for a living and slept naked.

Not a turtleneck in sight.

Well, maybe the damage wasn't so bad -

A quick pivot to the mirror on the back of the door and even he had to pause. He looked like he'd been clawed by Rhage's beast, great stripes of angry red welts wrapping around his torso and pouring over his shoulders and his pecs. His face was a fucking joke, one eye so swollen that the lid was nearly inoperable ... his lower lip split deep ... his jaw looking like he was a squirrel stashing nuts.

Great. He was like one of Dana White's boys.

After he grabbed his dirty clothes and stuffed them into the back of the closet, he stuck his swollen balloon head out in the hall, and took a listen. ESPN was chattering away down on the left. Something liquid was pouring to the right.

He headed for Butch and Marissa's room buck-ass naked. No reason to hide the bruising from Butch - SOB had seen it happen.

As he stepped into the doorway, he found the cop sitting on the end of his bed, elbows on his knees, glass of Lag in his palms, bottle between his loafers.

"You know what I'm thinking about right now?" the guy said without looking up.

V could guess it was a hell of a list. "Tell me."

"The night I watched you throw yourself off the balcony at the Commodore. The night I thought you'd died." Butch took a swig from his glass. "I assumed we were over that."

"If it's any consolation ... so did I."

"Why don't you go see your mom. Talk this shit out with her."

Like there was anything that female could say at this point? "I'd kill her, cop. I don't know how I'd do it ... but I'd kill the bitch for this. She leaves me to that sociopath of a father - being precisely aware of what he's like, because, hello, she sees all. Then she keeps herself a secret from me for three hundred years, before she turns up on my birthday and wants to put me out to stud for her stupid-ass religion. But I could have punted on that shiz, true? My sister, my twin, though? She put Payne away, cop. Held her against her will. For centuries. And never told me I even had a sibling? That's too fucking much. I'm done." V stared at the Lag. "You got some juice to spare there?"

Butch corked the bottle and tossed the thing. As V caught it in his palm, the cop said, "Waking up dead is not the answer, though. And neither is getting your ass kicked like that."

"You volunteering to do it for me, then? Because I'm going crazy and it needs out, Butch. For real. I'm dangerous over here...." V took a pull on the booze and cursed as the slice in his lip made it feel like he'd sucked on the wrong end of a hand-rolled. "And I can't think of any way to get it out of me - because I sure as fuck am not going to fall into my old habits."

"Not tempted at all?"

V braced himself and then went for another drink. Through his grimace, he said, "I want the release, but I'm not going to be with anyone except Jane. No way I'm coming back to our mated bed with the stank of some slut all over my cock - it would ruin everything, not just for her but for me. Besides, what I need right now is a Dom, not a sub - and there's no one I can trust." Except maybe Butch, but that would cross too many lines. "So I'm caught. I got a screaming harpy in my head and nowhere to go with it ... and it's making me fucking mental."

Jesus ... he'd said it. All of it.

Go, him.

And the reward was another suck on the bottle. "Goddamn, my lip hurts."

"No offense, but good - you deserve it." Butch's hazel eyes lifted, and after a moment, he smiled a little, flashing that cap on his front tooth as well as his fangs. "You know, I was really getting into hating you for a minute there, I truly was. And before you ask, the turtlenecks are down at the far end of that rack. Take some sweatpants, too. Your legs look like they've been hit with a clawhammer, and that ball of yours is clearly about to explode."

"Thanks, man." V walked down the lineup of clothes that were suspended on fine cedar hangers. One thing you could say about Butch was that his wardrobe was full of options. "Never thought I'd be glad that you're a clothes whore."

"I believe the term is sharp dresser."

With that Boston accent of his, the words came out shahhp dressah, and V found himself wondering if there'd ever been a time when he hadn't heard that Southie twang in his ear.

"What are you going to do about Jane?"

V put the bottle on the floor, pulled a cashmere turtleneck over his head, and was pissed to find it barely covered his navel. "She's got enough on her plate. No shellan needs to hear her male went out for a good beating - and I don't want you to tell her."

"How're you going to explain your puss, smart-ass?"

"The swelling's going to go down."

"Not fast enough - you go to see Payne like this - "

"She doesn't need the viewing pleasure, either. I'm just going to stay scarce for a day. Payne's in recovery and is stable - at least, that's what Jane told me, so I'm going to go to my forge."

Butch held out his glass. "If you don't mind?"

"Roger that." V poured some for his boy, took another drink for himself and then yanked on some bottoms. Holding his arms out, he did a turn. "Better?"

"All I see are ankles and wrists - and FYI, you're pulling a Mileyfrickin'-Cyrus with that belly flash. Not attractive."

"Fuck off." As V grabbed another hit from the bottle, he decided that getting drunk was his new plan. "I can't help it that you're a goddamn midget."

Butch barked a laugh and then got back to serious. "If you pull this shit again ..."

"You asked me to take your clothes."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

V tugged at the turtleneck's sleeves and got absolutely nowhere with them. "You're not going to have to step in, cop, and I'm not going to get myself killed. That's not the point. I know where the line is."

Butch cursed, his face going grim. "You say that, and I believe you think it's true. But situations can spiral - especially that kind. You can be riding that wave of ... whatever it is you need ... and the tide can turn against you."

V flexed his gloved hand. "Not possible. Not with this - and I really don't want you talking to my girl about this, true. Promise me. You need to stay out of this."

"Then you have to speak with her."

"How can I tell her ..." His voice broke, and he had to clear his throat. "How the fuck can I explain this to her?"

"How can you not. She loves you."

V just shook his head. He couldn't imagine telling his shellan he wanted to be hurt physically. It would kill her. And he absolutely didn't want her to see him like this. "Look, I'm going to take care of this myself. All of it."

"That's what I'm afraid of, V." Butch swallowed the rest of his Scotch on a oner. "That's ... our biggest problem."

Jane was watching her patient sleep when her cell phone went off in her pocket. It wasn't a call, but a text from V: Am home & goin 2 forge 2 wrk. Hw P? & u?

Her exhale was not about relief. He'd come back about ten minutes before full-on sunrise, and he wasn't seeing her or his sister?

Screw this, she thought, as she stood up and walked out of the recovery suite.

After doing a handoff to Ehlena, who was in the clinic's exam room updating the Brothers' files, Jane marched down the corridor, hung a left into the office, and went out the back of the supply closet. No reason to futz around with the lock codes; she just ghosted through -

And there he was, about twenty yards down the tunnel, walking away from her ... having passed the training center on his way to go even deeper into the mountain.

The fluorescent ceiling lights illuminated him from over his head, hitting his huge shoulders and his heavy lower body. Going by the gloss, his hair looked wet, and the lingering scent of the soap he always used was the confirmation that he'd just showered.

"Vishous."

She said his name once, but the tunnel was an echo chamber that batted the syllables back and forth, multiplying them.

He stopped.

That was the only response she got.

After waiting for him to say something, to turn around ... to acknowledge her, she discovered something new about her ghostly state: Even though she wasn't technically alive, her lungs could still burn sure as if she were suffocating.

"Where did you go tonight," she said, not expecting an answer.

And she didn't get one. But he'd halted right under a ceiling fixture, so even from a distance she could see his shoulders tightening up.

"Why aren't you turning around, Vishous."

Dear God ... what had he done at the Commodore? Oh, Jesus ...

Funny, there was a reason that people "built" lives together. Although the choices you made as husband and wife were not bricks, and time was not mortar, you were still constructing something tangible and real. And right now, as her hellren refused to come over to her - hell, even show her his face - an earthquake was rumbling under what she had thought was solid ground.

"What did you do tonight," she choked out.

At that, he pivoted on his heel and took two long steps toward her. But it wasn't to get close. It was to step out of the direct light. Even still ...

"Your face," she gasped.

"I got into a fight with some lessers." As she went to move forward, he held up his palm. "I'm fine. I just need some space right now."

Something about this was off, she thought. And she hated the question that jumped into her mind - to the point where she refused to let it out.

Except then all they had was silence.

"How's my sister?" he said abruptly.

Through a closed throat, she replied, "She's resting comfortably still. Ehlena's with her."

"You should take some time off and have a rest."

"I will." Uh-huh, right. With things like this between them, she was never going to sleep again.

V dragged his gloved hand through his hair. "I don't know what to say right now."

"Were you with someone else?"

He didn't even hesitate: "No."

Jane stared at him ... and then slowly exhaled. One thing that was true about her hellren, one thing you could always take to the bank, was that Vishous didn't lie. For all the faults he had, that was not one of them.

"All right," she said. "You know where to find me. I'll be in our bed."

She was the one who turned away and started walking in the opposite direction. Even though the distance between them broke her heart, she wasn't going to badger him into something he wasn't capable of, and if he needed space ... well, she would give it to him.

But not forever, that was for sure.

Sooner or later, that male was going to talk to her. He had to or she was going to ... God, she didn't know what.

Her love wasn't going to survive forever in this vacuum, though. It just couldn't.

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