Lover Avowed: A Black Dagger Brotherhood FanFiction

Chapter Two

As night came to a gentle close to make way for the dawn, the warrior stood at the balcony and looked out at the horizon. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The scent of winter was all around him. Snow was piled on everything, turning the world into a moon-bathed, over-iced cake. He was a little surprised that the thick layer of powder was still there, as it had fallen during the day and wasn't very fresh.

He chuckled. During the day. He often marveled at the ability of humans to go about in the daytime. Normally, they would expect snow to fall during the night, when they were asleep. And while he wasn't, by any means, saying that it did not snow during the night, it just was odd to him that most vampires expected it to snow during the day while they were asleep. Day was vampires' night, and night was the humans' night. Little things like the reversed sleeping habits of humans and vampires amused him, even if he sometimes couldn't coherently explain why he found it amusing. Oh, to hell with it, he thought, and let his oddly tracked thought meander away.

The warrior looked out at the sky, which, to his superior eyes, was fractionally lighter than it had been when he had closed his eyes.

I should go in now, he thought. I should sleep.

But he couldn't. He was restless. He needed to be out there, hunting down some slayers and wiping his hands clean of their putrescent black blood with snow. He needed to feel the slight recoil in his arm of a fired gun, needed to watch his bullet find its mark in a lesser's head. He needed the feel of his fist connecting with a slayer's chin as his other hand held the slayer's shoulder, sending the head too far sideways and breaking its neck.

He needed the violence. He needed the carnage.

He needed the mayhem.

Which was probably the reason why he had been born with that particular name.

Mayhem.

It was also probably the reason his two best Brothers were, literally, Vilense and Cahrnage.

Cahrnage, Vilense, and Mayhem. A terrifying, indestructible combination. Literally.

Mayhem watched the sky lighten gradually, inhaling the scent of the snow and the winter wind and everything else. Beauty was wasted on a world inhabited by the lessers, he thought. As the first ray of dawn light peeked out over the horizon, pricking at his skin like a bug bite, the male grinned and bared his fangs to the waking world of homo sapiens. His teeth parted and his fangs elongated until they resembled those of a wild tiger. A hiss sprang unbidden from his mouth, morphing into a low growl that rose in volume until it was a snarl. A show of dominance to the world. The male vampire's sign of power and authority, a challenge to others that clearly read, Have a go, motherfucker, 'cause I'll rip you a new asshole in your head.

Mayhem let the snarl die away, fading back into a growl and then back to a hiss. As the sound petered out, his smile broadened. He turned his back on the growing glow of the sun and went inside just as the shutters on all the windows and doors of the Black Dagger Brotherhood's headquarters began to close. Once inside, he paused for a minute, listening to the shutters closing, listening to the silence that followed, along with a darkness that would have been nearly impossible for a human to navigate, but which was kid's play to the vampire warrior's sight.

The silence around him was broken only by the faint sounds of movement downstairs. He could hear a Brother- Phury, or maybe Vishous- talking to Butch a few floors below. What they were saying, he couldn't tell, nor did he care to find out. It wasn't his problem. He had other things on his mind. Nothing of great importance, obviously, but he did so like to keep focused on one thing at a time. Things could get unpleasant if his train of thought were to be interrupted.