of heat came out of her body, hot enough to singe his eyebrows, and her voice cracked
through the penthouse. «Do not forget who I am, warrior. I chose your father unwisely, and we
both suffered for the mistake. Do you think I remained unharmed as I saw what course your life
laid? Think you I watched from afar unaffected? I died every day for you.»
«Well, aren't you Mother fucking Teresa,» he shouted, aware that his own body had started to
heat up. «You're supposed to be all-powerful. If you'd given a shit, you could have stepped-«
«Destinies are not chosen, they are conferred-«
«By who? You? Then are you the one I should hate for all the shit that was done to me?» Now he
was glowing all over; he didn't even have to look down at his forearms to know that what was
within his hand had spread throughout him. Just. Like. Her. «God… damn you.»
«My son-«
He bared his fangs. «You do not call me that. Ever. Mother and son… we aren't that. My mother
would have done something. When I couldn't help myself, my mother would have been there-«
«I wanted to be-«
«When I was bleeding and torn up and terrified, my mother would have been there. So don't fly
me that sonny-boy bullshit.»
There was a long silence. Then her voice came clear and strong. «You will present yourself to me
following my sequester, which starts this night. You will be presented of your mate as a
formality. You will return when she is suitably prepared for your use, and you will do what you
were birthed to do. And you will do it of your own free choosing.»
«The hell I will. And fuck you.»
«Vishous, son of the Bloodletter, you will do this because if you do not, the race will not survive.
If there is any hope of withstanding the onslaughts of the Lessening Society, more Brothers are
needed. You of the Brotherhood are but a handful now. In past epochs there were twenty and
thirty among you. Where may yet more come but from selective breeding?»
«You let Butch into the Brotherhood, and he wasn't-«
«Special dispensation for a prophecy realized. Not the same at all, and well you know it. His
body will never be as strong as yours. If not for his innate power, he could never function as a
Brother.»
V looked away from her.
Survival of the species. Survival of the Brotherhood.
Shit.
He walked around and ended up by his rack and his wall of toys. «I'm the wrong guy for this
kind of thing. I'm not the hero type. I'm not interested in saving the world.»
«The logic is in the biology and cannot be countered.»
Vishous lifted his glowing hand, thinking about the number of times he'd used it to incinerate
things. Houses. Cars. «What about this? You want a whole generation cursed like me? What if I
pass this down to my offspring?»
«It is an excellent weapon.»
«So's a dagger, but it doesn't light up your friends.»
«You are blessed, not cursed.»
«Oh, yeah? Try living with the thing.»
«Power requires sacrifice.»
He laughed in a hard rush. «Well, then, I'd give this shit up in a heartbeat to be normal.»
«Regardless, you have a duty to your species.»
«Uh-huh, right. Just like you had one to a son you birthed. You'd better pray I'm more
conscientious with my responsibility.»
He stared out over the city, thinking of the civilians he'd seen battered, beaten, dead at the hands
of the Omega's lessers. There had been centuries of innocents slain by those bastards, and life
was hard enough without being hunted. He should know.
Man, he hated that she had a point about the logic. There were only five in the Brotherhood now,
even with Butch's membership: Wrath couldn't fight by law, because he was the king. Tohrment
had disappeared. Darius had died last summer. So there were five against an ever-replenishing
enemy. Making it worse, the lessers had an endless supply of humans to pull into their undead
ranks, whereas Brothers had to be born and raised and had to survive their transitions. Sure, the
trainee class being worked on back at the compound would go out as soldiers eventually. But
those boys would never possess the kind of strength, endurance, or healing capabilities that
males from the Brotherhood bloodlines would.
And as for making more Brothers… Small pool of sires to choose from. By law Wrath as king
could lay with any female in the species, but he was fully bonded to Beth. So too were Rhage
and Z to their females. Tohr, assuming he was still alive and ever came back, wasn't going to be
in any frame of mind to get members of the Chosen pregnant. Phury
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