J. Ward - Dark Lover

"Humans ride in the back!"

"On the hood!"

"Listen, bloodsuckers, I called it-"

"V, I'm going to bite him!"

Vishous's laughter cut through the thick night air as he slid behind the steering wheel. His first move was to crank the stereo so loud, the entire SUV pulsed.

Notorious BIG's "Hypnotize."

And they could hear Biggie in Montreal, Butch thought as he climbed in.

"Damn, my brother," Rhage said, getting into the back. "This a new system?"

"Worship me, gentlemen." V lit a hand-rolled. Flipped the gold lighter shut. "And I might let you play with the buttons."

"That'd almost be worth the ass-kissing."

The headlights came on.

And Zsadist walked into the beams.

Phury immediately opened his door and made room. "You gonna bounce with us, after all?"

Zsadist gave Butch a nasty stare as he slid into the back, but Butch didn't take it personally. The vampire didn't look happy to see any of the others, either.

V threw them into reverse and gunned it.

The conversation kept up in spite of the music, but the atmosphere had changed.

Which made sense, considering there was now a live grenade in the car.

Butch glanced back at Zsadist. Black eyes glittered in return. The smile on the vampire's face was greedy for sin and ready for evil.

Havers lowered his fork as Marissa entered the dining room. He'd been worried when she was not at the table, but afraid to check her rooms. In his current frame of mind, he wouldn't have handled her being gone at all well.

"Forgive my tardiness," she said, kissing him on the cheek. She settled into her chair like a bird, arranging herself and her dress with grace. "I'm hoping we can talk."

What was that smell on her? he wondered.

"This lamb looks wonderful," she murmured as Karolyn brought in another plate of food.

Aftershave, he thought. His sister smelled like aftershave. She had been with a male.

"Where did you spend the evening?" he asked.

She hesitated. "Darius's."

He laid his napkin on the table and got to his feet. His rage was so complete, it rendered him curiously numb.

"Havers, why are you leaving?"

"As you can see, I am finished eating. I bid you good rest, sister."

She grabbed his hand. "Won't you stay?"

"I have something to take care of."

"Surely it can wait." Her eyes implored him.

"No, no longer."

Havers went into the front hall, taking pride in how calm he was. Shoring up his nerve, he dematerialized.

As he took shape again, he shuddered.

Parts of downtown were foul. Truly foul.

The alley he'd chosen was right next to one of the clubs, Screamer's. He'd heard from some of the civilian vampires whom he had treated that the brothers frequented the place. As he considered the human crowd waiting to get in, he could see why. They were an aggressive herd, reeking of lust. Depravity.

Up to the brothers' low standards for companionship, no doubt.

Havers started to lean back against the building, but thought better of it. The bricks were filthy and dripping with some kind of condensation. He could well imagine what kind of culture might be running on the slime.

He looked up and down the alley. Sooner or later, he would find what he was looking for.

Or it would find him.

Mr. X locked his front door and stepped out into the night. He was pleased with the way the ceremony had gone. Billy had been shocked as hell, to say the least, but he'd pressed through the initiation. Especially when he'd learned it was either that or he was going to be killed on the table.

God, the expression on Billy's face when he'd seen the Omega had been priceless. Nobody expected evil to look like that, and you could almost be fooled. Well, at least until the Omega's gaze fell upon you. Then you got a taste of your own death.

A little sip with the promise of a whole six-pack.

When it was over, Mr. X had carried Billy to the house, and Riddle was resting in the guest room. Kind of. He was throwing up right now, and that would last for the next couple of hours, while the Omega's blood subjugated what had been pumping in Billy's veins for his eighteen years of life. Riddle also had a chest wound. The raw gash ran from his throat down to his sternum, the skin having been soldered shut by the Omega's fingertip. That was going to hurt like hell, at least until the morning. By nightfall tomorrow, however, he'd be strong enough to go out.

Mr. X got in the Hummer and headed south. He'd told one of the prime squadrons to cover the downtown area, and he wanted to watch them in action. He hated to admit it, but perhaps Mr. O had a point about motivation. Besides, he needed to see how the group functioned in a battle situation. With Mr. M's demise, he was toying with letting Riddle fill out the ranks, eventually, but he wanted a sense of the squadron's current dynamics before he made any decisions.

Billy also needed to be assessed. Having trained him in the martial arts, Mr. X was confident in Riddle's fighting skills. He just wasn't sure how the guy would react to his first kill. Mr. X suspected it would be with excitement, but you never knew. He certainly hoped Riddle would make him proud.

Mr. X smiled, amending himself.

He hoped Mr. R would make him proud.

Havers was getting antsy. The night-dwelling humans presented no threat to him, but he couldn't stomach their vices. In the back of the alley, two were necking, or perhaps going even further, and one was smoking crack. Between the grunting and the sickening smell, Havers was dying to get home.

"Well, aren't you the fancy one."

Havers shrank back. The human female in front of him was dressed for sex, a narrow spandex strip covering her breasts, her skirt so high it barely covered her crotch.

A walking advertisement for penile implantation. His skin crawled.

"You looking for a date?" she asked, running a hand over her stomach, and then through her greasy short hair.

"No, thank you." He walked backward, going deeper into the alley. "Thank you very much. No."

"And a gentleman, too."

Good lord, she was going to touch him.

He put his hands up. Kept moving away. The farther he got down the alley, the louder the music became, as if he were getting close to a back door.

"Please leave me," he said as some god-awful, obscenity-laden song flared.

Suddenly, the woman paled and took off as if she were running from a crime scene.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The male voice behind him was a dark, nasty one.

Havers turned around slowly. His heart started to pound. "Zsadist."

Wrath had no interest in whoever was pounding on the door of his chamber. He had his arm wrapped around his shel-lan's waist and his head tucked into her neck. He was going nowhere unless someone was half-dead.

"Damn it." He shot out of bed, grabbed his sunglasses, and stalked naked across the room.

"Wrath, don't hurt them," Beth said with amusement. "If they're bothering you tonight, they probably have a good reason."

He took a deep breath before throwing open the door. "You'd better be bleeding-" He frowned. "Tohr."

"We have a problem, my lord."

Wrath cursed and nodded, but didn't invite the brother in. Beth was naked in that bed.

He pointed across the hall. "Wait there."

Wrath threw on some boxers, kissed Beth, and locked his chamber. Then he went into Darius's room.

"What's up, brother?" He wasn't happy about the interruption, or that some type of shit had wings and was airborne. But it was good that Tohr had come. Maybe things were thawing between them.

Tohr leaned back against D's desk. "I went to Screamer's to meet the brothers. I got there late."

"So you missed Rhage working out some chick in a dark corner? Pity."