"Okay." She closed her eyes and leaned into Wrath. His arm came around her, but then he shifted back.
"Come on." He pulled her up to her feet. "Come to my chamber."
When they walked into Wrath's room, Beth heard the shower shut off. A moment later, the door opened.
The warrior she'd met before, the movie-star-handsome one who'd been stitching himself up, came out slowly. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, and his hair was dripping. He moved as if he were eighty, as if every muscle in his body hurt.
Good lord, she thought. He didn't look at all well, and there was something way wrong with his stomach. It was swollen, like he'd swallowed a basketball. Unsure what to make of his midsection, she wondered whether his wound was infected. He looked feverish.
She glanced at his shoulder and frowned when she could barely see a mark. It was as if the injury had occurred months ago.
"Rhage, man, how we feeling?" Wrath asked, leaving her side.
"Belly hurts."
"Yeah. I can imagine."
Rhage swayed as he looked around the room, eyes barely open. "Going home. Where my clothes?"
"You lost them." Wrath put his good arm around his brother's waist. "And you're not leaving, you're crashing in D's room."
"Am not."
"Don't start. And we're not waltzing here. Will you lean on me, for Christ's sake?"
The other man sagged, and Wrath's back muscles tightened as he absorbed the weight. The two of them slowly made their way out to the landing and then into her father's chamber. She stayed at a discreet distance, watching as Wrath helped Rhage slide into bed.
As the warrior leaned back against the pillows, his eyes squeezed shut. His hand moved to his stomach, but he winced and let it fall to the side, as if the slightest pressure were torture.
"Feel sick."
"Yeah, indigestion's a bitch."
"Do you want some Turns?" Beth blurted out. "Alka-Seltzer?"
Both vampires looked over at her, and she felt as if she'd intruded on the moment.
Of all the stupid things-
"Yeah," Rhage muttered as Wrath nodded.
Beth walked back to her purse and decided on Alka-Seltzer because it had aspirin in it for his aches. She went into Wrath's bathroom, grabbed a glass, and did the plop-plop, fizz-fizz thing.
When she returned to her father's bedside, she offered the glass to Wrath. He shook his head.
"You'll spill less than I will."
She flushed. It was so easy to forget he couldn't really see.
She leaned over Rhage, but couldn't reach his mouth. Hiking up the robe, she climbed onto the mattress and knelt next to him. She felt awkward being so close to a naked, virile man in front of Wrath.
Considering what had happened to Butch.
But come on, Wrath had nothing to worry about here. No matter how sexy the other vampire was, she didn't feel any heat as she sidled up to the guy.
And he sure as hell wasn't about to come on to her. Not given the kind of shape he was in.
She gently lifted Rhage's head and put the edge of the glass to his beautifully shaped lips. It took him five minutes to sip the liquid down. When he was finished, she started to get off the bed. She didn't get far. With a great lurch, he pitched over onto his side and put his head in her lap, throwing one muscular arm around behind her.
He was seeking comfort.
Beth didn't know what she could really do for him, but she put the glass aside and stroked his back, running her hand over his fearsome tattoo. She murmured things she wished someone had whispered to her when she felt ill. Hummed a little for him.
After a while, the tension left his skin and bones. He began breathing deeply.
When she was sure he was out cold, she carefully extracted herself from his grasp. As she turned to meet Wrath's gaze, she braced herself. Surely he'd know there was nothing-
Shock stilled her.
Wrath wasn't mad. Far from it.
"Thank you," he said hoarsely. The bow of his head was almost humble. "Thank you for caring for my brother." He took his sunglasses off. And looked at her with total adoration.
Chapter Thirty
Mr. X tossed the Sawzall on to his workbench and wiped his hands on a towel.
Well, hell, he thought. The damn vampire was dead.
He'd tried everything to wake the male up, even the chisel, and he'd made a mess out of his barn in the process. There was vampire blood all over the place.
At least cleanup was easy.
Mr. X walked over to the double doors and threw them open. Straight ahead, the sun was coming up over the far ridge, lovely gold light spilling across the landscape. He stood back as the interior of the barn was illuminated.
The vampire's body exploded into flames, the pool of blood underneath the table going up in a cloud of smoke. A soft morning breeze carried the stench of incinerated flesh away.
Mr. X stepped into the morning glow, looking at the mist that hung over the back meadow. He wasn't prepared to declare failure. The plan would have worked if he hadn't come up to those cops and had to plow the extra darts into his captive. He just needed to get back out there again.
His jones for torture had a serious case of the blue balls.
For the time being, though, he had to cool it with the prostitutes. Those fool cops were a good reminder that he wasn't working in a vacuum. That he could be caught.
Not that getting tangled up with the law would be anything other than an inconvenience. But he prided himself on the smoothness of his operations.
Which was why he'd chosen the whores as bait. First, he figured if one or two turned up dead, it wouldn't cause an uproar. They were less likely to have family mourning them, so there wouldn't be added pressure on the police to nail a suspect. As for the inevitable investigation, there was a ready pool of suspects, thanks to the pimps and lowlifes who worked the back alleys. There were plenty for the police to chose from and chase after.
But that didn't mean he could get sloppy. Or overuse Whore Valley.
He went back in the barn, put his tools away, and headed for the house. He checked his messages before going to shower.
There were several.
The most important of which was from Billy Riddle. Evidently, the guy had had a disturbing interaction the night before and had called just after one A.M.
It was good that he was seeking comfort, Mr. X thought. And probably time that they had a conversation about his future.
An hour later, Mr. X drove to the academy, opened its doors, and left them unlocked.
The lessers he'd ordered to report in started to arrive shortly thereafter. He could hear them talking in the hall next to his office, their voices low. The moment he came up to them, they quieted down, looking at him. Dressed in black fatigues, their faces grim, there was only one whose coloring had yet to fade. Mr. O's brunette brush cut stood out, as did his dark brown eyes.
The longer a lesser stayed in the society, the more he lost his individual physical characteristics. The browns, the blacks, the reds of the hair turned to a pale ash; the tints of yellow or crimson or tan in the skin blanched out to a blush-less white. The process typically took about a decade, although he had yet to see any strands of blond appear around O's face.
He did a quick head count. As all of the members of his two prime squadrons were there, he locked the academy's outside door and escorted the group into the basement. Their boots were loud and sharp on the metal stairwell, a drumroll of the power in their bodies.