The Black Dagger Brotherhood_ An Insider's Guide - J. R. Ward [118]
Back at Darius’s, Wrath lays Beth gently on the bed in the chamber. She’s suffering and his hand shakes as he takes out his dagger. He makes a move toward his wrist but stops because he wants to hold her close when she drinks. He makes a small cut in his neck and picks her up, cradling her. As she drinks from him, he rocks her back and forth, ancient prayers he thought he’d forgotten falling out of his lips.
Upstairs, the brothers circle Butch. Butch is distraught about Beth, tired of dealing with drug pushers and their carnage, disillusioned about his job. When one of the brothers pauses in front of him, Butch lets his rage out, taking the larger man down to the floor. In a matter of moments, Butch is flat on his back, totally pinned, with an elbow crushing his wind pipe. The guy sitting on his chest is smiling tightly and commenting to the others that he kind of likes Butch. Just as Butch is about to pass out, one of them comes forward and pulls the man off him.
Butch looks up at his savior while he gasps for breath. The man staring down at him has a scar running over his cheek and the deadliest eyes Butch has ever seen. This is really it, Butch thinks. This time he’s finally going to die. But instead of killing Butch, the man pronounces that they will wait for Wrath before deciding what to do. At that moment, a butler dressed in black livery bustles in with some hors d’oeuvres. Butch can’t believe his eyes. The guy passes a silver tray around and then tells the men that if they’re going to do any killing, would they please be so kind as take their business out into the backyard?
Down in the chamber, Beth finishes drinking and Wrath holds her through the pain. At one point, he’s convinced she’s dying but she pulls through. Two hours before dawn, the agony finally relents and she falls asleep.
Upstairs, Butch is stripped of his jacket and his captors go through his pockets and find the throwing star. You have a background in martial arts, one of them asks. Butch tells him no. So what are you doing with this is, comes the next question. It’s a friend’s, Butch replies. They ask him some questions about the marital arts academy in town. For some crazy reason, he almost thinks that they’re all after the same thing: the man who set the car bomb and might be killing prostitutes. The butler interrupts with an announcement that dinner is served. While the other men start to head out of the room, the one with the scar hangs back and tells Butch that he’s welcome to try and escape. The front door’s unlocked. But if Butch leaves, the man’s going to hunt him down like a dog and kill him in the street. When Butch is alone in the drawing room, he considers his options. He’s worried about Beth and decides, Scar Face’s threat not withstanding, he will not leave.
In her bedroom across town, Marissa rolls over fitfully. She feels weird and it takes her a while to realize she’s mad. No, she’s beyond mad. She’s way into fury. She throws the sheets back and dematerializes. She figures that Wrath will be coming back home soon so she reappears in Darius’s drawing room. She’s tired of hiding herself away with Wrath and hopes his warriors are with him when he returns. She wants to tell him off in front of an audience.
Butch is walking around the drawing room, pausing to look at the antiques and thinking that drug dealers end up with way too much money, when suddenly, there’s a woman in front of him. He feels his breath catch. She’s so ethereally beautiful, he almost forgets how to breathe. She has a delicate face, bright green eyes, and cascades of blond waves falling her back. She’s dressed in some kind of flowing white gown or robe. With a knee jerk protective instinct, Butch looks out in the hall, thinking he should take her away. He can’t imagine what a delicate beauty like her would be doing with a group of rough neck thugs like that. She’s so pure, he thinks. She’s so utterly pure.
Marissa is surprised at what’s in front of her. It’s a human. In Wrath’s house. And the man is staring at her as if he’s seen a ghost. He clears