The Black Dagger Brotherhood_ An Insider's Guide - J. R. Ward [115]
Beth is determined to find out about her father and urges Wrath away from the station before Butch regains his wits. She hails a cab and Wrath tells the driver to take them to Darius’s mansion’s neighborhood. He has them dropped off a block or two away and they walk to Darius’s. Fritz, the butler, greets them at the door.
Wrath leads Beth into the drawing room and down to the guest chamber. She’s frightened but determined to learn about her father. Wrath’s bedroom is a foreign place with its spooky black walls and candles but she doesn’t feel as if he presents a danger to her.
Before she can demand that he talk, he starts asking her a bunch of weird questions. Has she been more hungry than usual? Has she been eating a lot but not putting on weight? Are her eyes more sensitive to light? Does she feel achy? Are her front teeth sore? She thinks he’s crazy and asks what any of that has to do with her father.
Wrath takes off his jacket and tosses it on the bed. He paces around before taking her hand and sitting her down on the sofa. He tells her that her father’s name was Darius and that he has recently died. She says that she was told her father died before she was born. Wrath shakes his head and explains that Darius and he have fought together for many years and that her father’s love for her was very strong. She asks why, if her father care for her so much, he never bothered to introduce himself. Wrath doesn’t answer but smoothes back her hair. You’re going to get sick soon, he says softly. You’re going to get sick and you’re going to need me.
Beth loses track of what he’s saying. He’s going on about how he’s going to help her through some kind of illness but she’s only interested in her father. Who was he, she demands. He was as I am, Wrath says. He takes her face in his hands. And slowly opens his mouth.
Beth takes one look at his fangs and pushes him away, horrified. She leaps from the sofa and runs for the stairs. He lets her go, dematerializing to the front of the house just as she bolts out of the door. She takes his appearance in with utter disbelief and veers away wildly. Wrath lets her run her fear out, keeping close behind. When she finally exhausts herself, he picks her up from the ground and holds her as she starts to cry. She just keeps saying, over and over again, that she doesn’t believe him. She just can’t believe him.
Back at the police station, Butch drags himself inside and immediately puts out an APB for Wrath and for Beth. He goes to Beth’s apartment but she’s not around. He goes trolling downtown, but when he can’t find her, he goes back to her apartment.
Wrath carries Beth back to the mansion. Down in the chamber, he draws her against him and holds her. She’s numb but eventually her mind clears enough so that she turns and looks at him. He drops a kiss on her mouth, thinking only that he will soothe her but the flame between them leaps to life. Driven by the insanity of what he’s told her, Beth unleashes her frustration on his body and they make love with an all consuming passion. As Wrath is entering her, he bares his fangs and nearly sinks them into her neck. He comes dangerously close to feeding from her, something that he shouldn’t do because she hasn’t gone through her transition. Feeling his desperation for Beth’s blood and his increasing fatigue, he knows that he’ll have to call on Marissa soon.
The next morning, Butch goes back to the station and is called into the captain’s office. He’s told that he’s being placed on administrative leave for what he did to Billy Riddle. Butch tells his captain that the kid deserved worse. He leaves his badge and his gun and heads out, determined to keep looking for Beth. He calls Jose at home and tells him what happened. He asks