beth rolled over, looking for wrath, and then remembered that he'd gone upstairs.

she sat up, bracing herself in case the pain came back. when nothing hurt, she got to her feet. she was naked, and she looked down at her body. everything seemed the same. she did a little jig. seemed to work okay, too.

except she couldn't see very well.

she went into the bathroom. removed her contacts. and saw perfectly.

well, there's one benefit.

whoa. fangs. she had fangs.

she leaned in, prodded them a little. eating with those puppies was going to take some getting used to, she thought.

on impulse, she brought up her hands, turned her fingers into claws. hissed.

cool.

halloween was going to be a real kick in the pants from now on.

she brushed out her hair, pulled on wrath's robe, and headed for the stairs. when she got to the top, she wasn't breathless at all.

and wasn't this going to make her workouts a snap?

as she stepped out of the painting, she saw butch sitting across the sofa from a stunning blonde. in the distance, she heard male voices and heavy music.

butch looked up.

"beth!" he rushed over, wrapping her in a bear hug. "are you all right?"

"i'm fine. truly, i'm fine." which was amazing, considering what she'd felt like earlier.

butch pulled back, taking her face in his hands. he stared at her eyes. frowned. "you don't look high."

"why would i be?"

he shook his head sadly. "don't hide it from me. i brought you here, remember?"

"i shall go," the blonde said, getting up.

butch immediately turned to her. "no. don't."

he went back to the couch. as he looked down at the woman, his expression was unlike any beth had ever seen on his face. he was clearly enthralled.

"marissa, i want you to meet my friend"?ahe emphasized the word?a"beth randall. beth, this is marissa."

beth lifted a hand. "hello."

the blonde stared across the room, scrutinizing beth from head to foot.

"you are wrath's female," marissa said with a kind of awe. as if beth had pulled off some great feat. "the one he wants."

beth felt her cheeks warm. "ah, yeah. i guess i am."

there was an awkward silence. butch looked back and forth between the two of them, frowning like he wanted in on the secret.

yeah, well, beth wanted to know what it was, too.

"do you know where wrath is?" she asked.

butch scowled, as if he didn't want her near the man. "he's in the dining room."

"thanks."

"listen, beth. we need to?a"

"i'm not going anywhere."

he took a deep breath, blowing it out in a slow hiss.

"somehow, i thought that's what you would say." he looked at the blonde. "but if you need me, i, ah... i'll be here."

she smiled to herself as butch sat back down with the woman.

as she went out to the hall, the sound of men talking and the deep rumble of rap music got louder.

"so what'd you do to the lesser?" a male voice said.

"i lit his cigarette with a sawed-off," another one answered. "he didn't come down for breakfast, you feel me?"

there was a loud chorus of laughter. a couple of bangs, like heavy fists hitting a table.

she pulled the lapels of the robe closer together. it probably would've been smart to get dressed first, but she hadn't wanted to wait to see wrath.

she rounded the corner.

the instant she appeared in the doorway, all talk ceased. heads turned; eyes stared. hard-core rap expanded to fill the silence, bass thumping, lyrics chanting.

my god. she'd never seen so many big men in leather before in her life.

she took a step backward just as wrath shot to his feet from the head of the table. he came at her, looking intense. no doubt she'd interrupted some kind of sacred guy time.

she tried to think of something to say to him. he was probably going to want to play it cool in front of his brothers, do that whole i'm-a-tough-guy, this-broad-is-just-a?a

wrath wrapped his whole body around hers, putting his face in her hair.

"my leelan," he whispered in her ear. he ran his hands up and down her back. "my beautiful leelan."

he pulled away and kissed her on the lips. his smile was tender as he smoothed her hair.

beth grinned. evidently, her man didn't have a problem with public displays of affection. good to know.

she tilted her head, looking around his shoulder.

and they were definitely in public. the men were gaping. positively gaping.

she nearly laughed. seeing a bunch of guys who looked like violent offenders sitting around a table set with silver and china was incongruous enough. but having them be so totally flabbergasted seemed downright absurd.

"you want to introduce me?" she said, nodding at the group.

wrath put his arm around her shoulders, tucking her against him.

"this is the black dagger brotherhood. my fellow warriors. my brothers." he nodded to the blindingly handsome one. "rhage, you know. tohr also. the one with the goatee and the sox hat is vishous. the rapunzel over there is phury." wrath's voice dropped to a snarl. "and zsadist has already introduced himself."

the two she'd spent some time with smiled at her. the others nodded, except for the scarred one. he just stared.

that guy had a twin, she recalled. but she'd have been hard-pressed to pick out his real brother.

though the one with the absolutely delicious hair and the fantastic yellow eyes did look a little like him.

"gentlemen," wrath said. "this is beth."

and then he switched over to that language she didn't understand.

when he ended, there was an audible gasp.

he looked down, smiling. "do you need anything? are you hungry, leelan?"

she put her hand on her stomach. "you know, i am. i have the weirdest craving for bacon and chocolate. go figure."

"i will serve you. sit down." he indicated his chair and then headed off through a swinging door.

she eyed the men.

great. here she was, naked in a bathrobe, alone with well over a thousand pounds of vampire. pulling off the nonchalant thing was impossible, so she just headed over for wrath's seat. she didn't get far.

there was a loud scraping noise as five chairs slid backward. the men rose as a unit. and started coming for her.

she looked to the faces of the two she knew, but their grave expressions weren't encouraging.

and then the knives came out.

with a metallic whoosh, five black daggers were unsheathed.

she backed up frantically, hands in front of herself. she slammed into a wall and was about to scream for wrath when the men dropped down on bended knees in a circle around her. in a single movement, as if they'd been choreographed, they buried the daggers into the floor at her feet and bowed their heads. the great whoomp of sound as steel met wood seemed both a pledge and a battle cry.

the handles of the knives vibrated.

the rap music continued to pound.

they seemed to be waiting for some kind of response from her.

"umm. thank you," she said.

the men's heads lifted. etched into the harsh planes of their faces was total reverence. even the scarred one had a respectful expression.

and then wrath came in with a squeeze bottle of hershey's syrup.

"bacon's on the way." he smiled. "hey, they like you."

"and thank god for that," she murmured, looking down at the daggers.