This fanfic is based on the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, written by J.R Ward. I do now own any of the characters or ideas except for the ones I've added myself. For all of you who have read the books you'll recognize most of this first chapter. It was taken from Butchs' book, Lover Revealed, but I've added some of my own twists. This is just for fun so I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

Butch entered V's building, waved at the security guard and grabbed an elevator. The ride up took forever and he passed the time thinking of Marissa, his shellan. That thought still threw him for a loop. She loved him, had told him so and then proved it by mating him. Except for the war between their race and the lessers, life couldn't be better.

When he stepped off the elevator he could feel the vibrations from the rap music thumping through the place.

He pounded on the door. "V?"

No Answer. Hell. He'd already barged in on the brother once-

For some reason the door clicked and eased open half an inch. Butch pushed it wider, every cop instinct in him screaming as the rap grew louder.

"Vishous?" As he stepped in a cold breeze shot through the penthouse, barreling in through an open sliding glass door. "Yo….V?"

Butch glanced at the bar. There were two empty bottles of goose and three caps on the counter. Binge time.

Headed for the terrace he expected to see Vishous passed out on a lounger. Instead Butch walked into a whole lot of Heaven-help-us: Vishous was up on the wall that ran around the building, naked, swaying in the wind and . . . glowing all over.

"Jesus Christ . . .V."

The brother wheeled around then and stretched his radiant arms wide. With a crazed smile, he slowly turned in a circle. "Nice, huh? It's all over me" He lifted a bottle of goose to his lips and swallowed good and hard. "Hey, do you think they'll want to tie me down and tattoo every inch of my skin now?"

Butch slowly crossed the terrace. "V, man. How 'bout we get you down from there?"

"Why? I bet I'm smart enough to fly" V glanced behind himself at the thirty story drop. As he weaved back and forth in the wind, his body was startlingly beautiful. "Yeah, I'm so fucking smart I bet I can beat gravity. Wanna watch?"

"V. . ." shit. "V, buddy, come down from there."

Vishous looked over and abruptly seemed to sober up, his brows meeting in the middle. "You smell like a lesser room- mate."

"I know."

"Why's that?"

"I'll tell you if you come down."

"Bribes, bribes. . ." V took another pull on the goose. "I don't to come down, Butch.

I want to fly. . .fly away." He tilted his head back to the sky and lurched. . .then caught himself by swinging the bottle. "Oops. Almost fell."

"Vishous . . .Jesus Christ. Vishous, come down. Right now-"



"I liked you cop, from the moment I met you. No . . .not the first moment. I wanted to kill you when I first met you. But then I liked you, a lot." God, V's expression was nothing Butch had ever seen before. Sad . . .affectionate . . .but most of all . . . yearning. "I watched you with her, Butch. I watched you . . . making love to her."

"What?"

"Marissa. I saw you, on top of her, in the clinic." V whipped his incandescent hand back and forth through the air. "It was wrong, I know, and I'm very sorry . . . but I couldn't look away. You two were so beautiful together and I wanted that . . . shit, whatever it was. I wanted to feel that. Yeah, just once . . . I wanted to know what it was like to have sex normally, to care about the person you were coming with." He laughed in a horrible burst. "Well, what I want isn't exactly normal, is it? Will you forgive me my perversion? Forgive me my embarrassing and shameful deprivation? Fuck . . . how I degrade us both . . ."

Butch was prepared to say absolutely anything to get his friend off that ledge, but he truly had the sense that V was horrified with himself. Which was so unnecessary. You couldn't help the way you felt , and Butch wasn't threatened by the revelation. He somehow wasn't surprised, either.

"V, buddy, we're cool. You and me . . . we're cool."

V lost that longing expression, his face turning into a cold mask that was utterly frightening given the situation. "You were the only friend I had" More with that god-awful laugh. "Even though I had my brothers, you were the only one I was close to. I don't do relationships well, you know. You were different, though."

"V, it's the same for me. But can we get you—"

"And you weren't like those others, you never cared I was different. The others . . . they hated me because I was different. Not that it matters. They're all dead now. Dead, dead . . ."

Butch had no idea what the hell V was talking about, but the content didn't matter. The past tense being used was the problem.

"I am still your friend. Always your friend."

"Always . . . funny word, always." V started to bend at the knees, just barely keeping his balance as he sank into a crouch.

Butch moved forward.

"No, you don't, cop. You stop right there." V put the bottle of vodka down and traced his fingertips lightly over the neck of the thing. "This shit's taken good care of me."

"Why don't we share some?"

"Nah. But you can have what's left." Vishous's diamond eyes lifted up and the left one started to expand until it ate up all the white part. There was a long pause, then V laughed. "You know, I can't see anything . . . even when I open myself up, even when I volunteer for it, I'm blind. I'm future impaired." He glanced at his body. "But I'm still a fucking nightlight. I'm like the one of those goose lamps, you know, the kind of you plug into the wall that glow?"

"V—"

"You're a good Irishman, right?" When Butch nodded, V said. "Irish, Irish . . . let me think. Yeah . . ." Vishous's eyes sobered, and in a voice that cracked, he said. "May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May sun shine warm upon your face and the rains fall soft upon your fields. And . . . my dearest friend . . . until we meet again may the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand."

In one powerful surge, V sprang backward off the ledge into thin air.

Butch was screaming his lungs raw as he raced across the terrace for the ledge. He threw himself at the lip and looked down, but couldn't see anything because he was so far up and there were no lights on this side of the building. As for the sound of a body drop? God knew he was hollering loud enough to drown out that kind of distant thunch.

"Vishous!"



Oh, God . . . maybe if he got down there fast enough, he could . . .shit, get V to Havers—or something . . . anything. He wheeled around, ready to run to the elevator—

Vishous appeared before him as a glowing ghost, a perfect reflection of what the brother had been, an ethereal vision of Butch's one true friend.

Butch stumbled, a pathetic wail coming out of his mouth.

"V . . ."

"I couldn't do it," The ghost said.

Butch frowned. "V?"

"As much as I hated myself . . . I don't want to die."

Butch went cold. Then ran as white-hot as his roommate's body.

"You fucking bastard!" Butch shot forward without thinking and grabbed Vishous by the throat. "You fucking . . . bastard! You scared the shit out of me!"

He hauled his arm back and cold-cocked V right in the face, his fist cracking against the jawbone. As he braced himself for a return shot, he was absolutely livid. Instead of fighting back, though, V locked his arms around Butch, put his head down, and just . . . crumpled. Shook all over. Trembled to the point of frailty.

Cursing the brother to hell and back, Butch absorbed Vishous's weight, holding the guy's naked, glowing body tight while the cold wind whirled around them both.

When he ran out of swear words, he said into V's ear, "You ever pull a stunt like that again, I'll kill you myself. We clear?"

"I'm losing my mind." V said against Butch's neck. "The one thing that's always saved me sand I'm losing it . . . I've lost it . . . I'm gone. It's the only thing that's saved me and now I have nothing . . ."

As Butch squeezed harder, he became aware of an easing inside of himself, a sensation of relief and healing. Except he didn't think much about it because something hot and wet seeped into his collar. He had a feeling it was tears, but he didn't want to draw attention to what was doing. V was no doubt totally horrified by the show of weakness, assuming the guy was crying.

Butch put his hand on his roommate's nape and murmured, "I'll do the saving until you get your head back, how about that? I'll keep you safe."

When Vishous finally nodded, something dawned on Butch. Shit . . . he was up against the glow, a whole lot of the glow . . . but he wasn't on fire or in pain. In fact . . . yeah, he could feel the blackness in him seeping out of his skin and bones, leaching into the white light that was Vishous. That was the relief he'd noticed just now.

Except why wasn't he burning up?

From out of nowhere, a female voice said, "Because this is what shall be, the light and the dark together, two halves making a whole."

Butch and V yanked their heads around. The Scribe Virgin was floating above the terrace, her black robes unstirred despite the frigid gusts that blew all around.

"That is why you are not consumed." She said. "And that is why he saw you from the start." She smile a little, though he didn't know how he knew it. "This is the reason destiny brought you to us, Butch, descended of Wrath son of Wrath.

"Also, I bring knowledge of one unknown to the brotherhood, Unknown to you, Vishous son of the Bloodletter." The light around her dimmed a little. "You have a sister."

Butch's arms dropped from his roommate's shoulders, as he tried to absorb what had just been said. Vishous was gaping, unable to hide his surprise.

"What?" V took a step forward.

"Her name is Rylene. She was taken and hidden away with a family in Ireland"



She seemed to sigh and Butch couldn't help but feel a wave of sadness wash over him that he couldn't understand. V's body had suddenly gone tense, unmoving, as he stood staring at the robed figure.

"Why was she hidden?" V's voice cut through the dark night like a blaze of lightning. He was angry, Butch noticed. Hell, he would be to.

"She was hidden to spare her from your father's anger" The Scribe Virgin seemed to be fading now, becoming one with the dark mist. "Should you look, you will find her. You will see again Vishous." With that parting statement, the Scribe Virgin disappeared, leaving Butch and Vishous alone on the terrace.

And that was the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave reviews. This is my first FanFic so I need input. Chapter 2 will be coming soon. I'd love to hear from you!!