Lover Eternal: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J. R. Ward Page A

in the Society's interrogations. Specific questions posed to captives were more likely to lead to good answers.
    And information on the brothers was what they were looking for. After decades of just knocking off civilians, the lessers were now targeting the Brotherhood specifically. Without those warriors, the vampire race would be completely vulnerable, and the slayers could finally finish their job eradicating the species.
    O pulled into the parking lot of the local laser-tag place, thinking that the only good thing about the evening had been when he'd killed E slowly. Taking out his irritation on the slayer's body had been like drinking a cool beer on a hot summer day. Satisfying. Calming.
But what had happened afterward had put him right back on edge.
     
O flipped open his phone and hit speed dial. There was no reason to wait until he got home to make a report. Mr. X's reaction was going to be worse if he thought the news had been delayed.
     
"We've had a situation," he said when the call was answered.
     
Five minutes later he hung up, turned the truck around, and headed back to the rural part of town. Mr. X had demanded an audience. At his private cabin in the woods.
Chapter Six
    Rhage could see only shadows, as his eyes were incapable of focusing or processing much light. He hated the loss of faculty and did his best to track the two big shapes moving around him. When hands gripped under his armpits and latched onto his ankles, he groaned.
"Easy there, Rhage, we're just gonna lift you for a sec, true?" V said.
     
A fireball of pain shot through his body as he was taken up off the ground and carried around to the back of the Escalade. They laid him down. Doors shut. The engine turned over with a low purr.
    He was so cold his teeth knocked together, and he tried to draw whatever was across his shoulders closer. He couldn't make his hands work, but someone pulled what he assumed was a jacket more tightly around him.
"Just hang in there, big guy."
     
Butch. It was Butch. Rhage struggled to speak, hating the foul taste in his mouth.
     
"Nah, relax,Hollywood . You're cool. V and I are going to get you home."
     
The car started to move, bumping up and down as if it
     
were getting off the shoulder and onto the road. He moaned like a sissy, but he couldn't help it His body felt as though it had been beaten all over with a baseball bat A bat with a spike on the end.
    And the bone and muscle aches were a minor problem compared to his stomach. He was praying he'd make it back to the house before he threw up in V's car, but there was no guarantee he'd hold out that long. His salivary glands were working overtime, so he had to swallow repeatedly. Which made his gag reflex fire up. Which spurred on the churning nausea. Which made him want to…
Trying to pull himself out the spiral, he breathed slowly through his nose.
     
"How we doing there,Hollywood ?"
     
"Promise me. Shower. First thing."
     
"You got it buddy."
     
Rhage figured he must have passed out because he came awake as he was being hauled from the car. He heard familiar voices. V's. Butch's. A deep growl that could only be Wrath.
     
He lost consciousness again. When he came back, something cold was against his back.
     
"Can you stand up for me?" Butch asked.
     
Rhage gave it a shot and was grateful when his thighs accepted his weight. And now that he was out of the car, the nausea was a little better.
     
His ears caught a sweet chiming noise, and a moment later a warm rush fell over his body.
     
"How we doing, Rhage? Too hot?" Butch's voice. Up close.
     
The cop was in the shower with him. And he smelled Turkish tobacco. V must be in the bathroom, too.
     
"Hollywood? This too hot for you?"
     
"No." He reached around for the soap, fumbling. "Can't see."
     
"Just as well. No reason for you to know what we look like naked together. Frankly, I'm traumatized enough for the both of us."
     
Rhage smiled a little as a washcloth scrubbed over his face, neck,