The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14) - J. R. Ward Page 0,36

Phury had started to pray in the Old Language.

“Shhh,” Vishous whispered.

Phury immediately canned the talk, but his lips kept moving, the prayer continuing on. And yeah, V thought of his mother doing her I-can’t-even upstairs—and was tempted to tell the guy he was wasting his time. But whatever. No reason to rob the brother of his illusion.

Besides, if the mhis didn’t work? The three of them and what they did, or did not pray to, were going to moot point it right off the planet.

The Omega slowly made a turn, surveying his “dead,” and V tensed up so hard, he was in danger of falling forward like a plank. The evil’s gaze did not linger on where he and his brothers were standing, however, suggesting that the mhis was working—probably at least partially because the Scribe Virgin’s brother was so distracted by the devastation to his Society.

Shit, that’s my uncle, V thought grimly.

And then the Omega went on a float, traveling over the trampled, black blood–soaked lawn in the same hovering way V’s mother ambulated.

Rain began to fall from the sky, the cold drops hitting V’s hair and nose, his shoulders, the backs of his hands. Even though the stuff tickled his skin, he made no move to wipe it off or shelter himself—and frankly, yeah, he could have done without the reminder of exactly how flimsy their optical illusion was. That rain made it through?

Hell, you could pop a newspaper over your dome and get a better umbrella result.

Fuck.

From time to time, the Omega paused and bent down to pick up an arm, a leg, a head. It threw whatever it was back on the ground, as if it were searching for something in particular. And then it stopped without warning.

A low wail sounded out over the campus, the sound weaving in and around the empty, rotting buildings without echoing.

And then the Omega extended its palms out straight.

A sucking breeze hit V in the back and pulled his hair into his face and eyes, streaking forward his jacket, too, until the leather began to flap and he had to gather the thing against his body.

All at once, the debris of the slaughter, all those slayer pieces and stains, liquefied into a viscous shadow that pulled into itself, becoming a tidal wave that headed for its master, its home, its core.

The Omega absorbed it all, reclaiming the part of itself that it had given to its inductees during their initiation ceremonies, recalling its essence, reabsorbing everything until the battlefield was as clean as before the attack had been waged, nothing but trampled grass and downed trees to show what the beast and the Brotherhood had done.

When it was all over, the Omega stood in the center of the school’s square, turning around and around as if it were double-checking its work. And then, as quickly as it had arrived, the entity disappeared into itself, a subtle flash the only leftover of its presence—and even that was gone a heartbeat later.

“Wait,” V hissed. “We wait.”

He wasn’t about to take for granted that the Omega was up and out of there for real. The problem was, dawn was coming … and yup, if the mhis couldn’t protect the three of them from rain, it wasn’t going to do dick about straight-on sunlight.

But they could afford to stay a little longer. Just in case.

Better to be conservative than discovered. Besides, he needed a moment so his one remaining testicle could drop back down into place again.

Fuck.

TWELVE

“I do not believe this is necessary.”

Back at the Brotherhood’s training center, Assail stared down his body at the dark-haired human who was closing the gash on his calf and ankle with a needle and thread. When the man made no response and did not slow in his ministrations, Assail rolled his eyes.

“I said—”

“Yeah, yeah.” The guy poked his needle through skin once more and pulled until the black thread was taut. “You’ve made yourself perfectly clear. The only thing I’ll say back is that MRSA doesn’t give a fuck if you’re a vampire or a human, and leaving a six-inch open wound on your leg is the definition of stupid.”

“I heal rather fast.”

“Not that fast, buddy. And can you stop twitching? I feel like I’m working on a goldfish in water.”

Actually, he could not. His extremities had their own ideas at the moment, and as he checked the wall clock and calculated how little time there was before dawn, the trembling got worse—

The door to the room