Ariana Nash > Recent Status Updates

FIRST DRAFT on hold due to a change in family circumstances. All work has been put on hold atm. Subscribe to my NL or join my FB group for updates.

Even the Brotherhood leader had to admit love might be all they had left in this fight against chaos. And perhaps it was their strongest weapon of all.

Mikalis straightened and folded his arms. “If I told everyone the truth, we’d be in a permanent state of chaos, and chaos is exactly what we’re fighting to avoid. Trust me, and trust I know what needs to be done. That’s all I ask.”

“You’ve been observing me?” Kota asked, not without a warning growl.
Mikalis nodded. “Welcome to the Brotherhood.”

Kota swallowed. “I deserve this, it’s true, but will you tell Aiko one thing, just one thing from me?”
“Sure.” Zaine shrugged. “Why not.”
“Tell him I love him, and wherever life takes us, I’ll always find him, even in death. So kill me, Brotherhood. I am ready to accept my fate.”

“You think you’re special, because the Brotherhood chose you? You’re just a nyk hiding behind Mikalis. He’s not even one of us. He has you all dancing on strings like his puppets.”

He laughed, despite all of this being bitterly tragic. “It’s like Romeo and Juliet but with blood-sucking assholes.”

Kota laughed and tasted his sake. He nodded his appreciation for its quality. “As though the Blackrose Brotherhood are all pinnacles of virtue? Is it true then, the Brotherhood are all celibate?”

“Fuck, no.” Aiko laughed.

The Brotherhood was made up of un-aging, efficient killers. Each one a predator in their own right. They each respected Mikalis, but also feared him. It was safer that way.

“Did Mikalis say anything else to you?” Kazi asked. “Anything about where he was going or why?”

“Not really, he uh… he just needed to get away, I guess.”

“Away from what?”

Sam pinched his lips together and narrowed his eyes. “You guys maybe, seein’ as you’re kinda making this feel like an interrogation.”

Kazi smiled again, quick and easy. “This is us asking nicely.”

She glared, wide-eyed up at him. “Who the-fuck are you?”
“I don’t know, but I do know I can save you.”

Maybe it was best Mikalis wasn’t ever found.
Because if he was, nothing could make right his betrayal.

Eric rubbed his forehead. “You claim to be a Brotherhood, but you’re the most fractured, shortsighted collection of emotionally stunted people I’ve ever met. You must know it weakens you? All this never care bullshit? Never love, never interfere? If you were an actual Brotherhood it never would have gotten this bad. You’d have known there was a traitor among you this whole time.”

“Fuck me, Octavius has a heart?”

Octavius laughed, but it sounded hollow. “Your pathetic attempts to turn me against Mikalis and the Brotherhood are ridiculously transparent. I’m embarrassed for you. An ancient and mighty nyktelios, reduced to fucking an addicted twink and hiding in the woods. Bravo, you must be so proud of yourself.”

“I didn’t turn on him,” Saint explained. “I told him the truth, and he didn’t much like it. Mikalis has a complicated relationship with the truth.”

Saint closed the bedroom door behind him and slumped against it. Weariness tugged on his bones. He dropped his head back, thumped the door, and closed his eyes. He’d been alive too long for this bullshit. All he wanted to do was gorge and fuck his way through the apocalypse. Was that too much to ask?

Mikalis was wrong. Love made a man stronger, made him fierce. Love was a sword and a shield in the battle of life, a battle Kazi had slowly been losing. Until now. Until Felix.

“Do this, and I will protect you,” Kazi whispered. Felix watched his lips move, forming the words. “Help me and I will fight for you, against them, against the Brotherhood. I don’t want to lose myself, Felix. I can’t be the blood prince again. Save me from that and I’ll save you from them.”

Felix looked up into startlingly beautiful eyes. “Who is going to save me from you?”

Famous for looking pretty? What a joke. Kazimir was tall and pale, with jaw-length black hair that held a hint of a wave. He had one of those faces that was probably classified as ugly in high school, with too many sharp lines, pouting lips and a feminine glamor to his eyes. Even Felix could admit the prick was pretty. His smile lit up the damn room. And his laugh…Well, fuck. That was just another reason to hate him.

“When has Mikalis ever brought a feeder back?”

“Maybe he wants a snack?” Zaine’s fangs throbbed. His lip twitched, a snarl trying to rumble through. Kazi’s dark eyes lit up with the promise of violence. “Maybe I do.”

“Touch Eric and I’ll unload a clip in all that pretty—” He gestured at Kazi’s face.

Kazi’s smile faded. “Asshole.”

“Dick.”

“At least I keep mine in my pants.”

“Some advice.” He purred the words low in his throat. “Don’t tease the vampire who has your cock between his fangs.”

Eric braced an arm on either side of Zaine and lowered himself to within kissing distance. “How many people get to see a Brotherhood vampire on his back?” Zaine fought a laugh. “None who survive.”

“Mikalis is not who or what his Brotherhood believe him to be.”

Zaine snorted. “You ’n’ me, huh. Fightin’ the good fight with a bit of morally gray on the side.”

“I thought the Brotherhood didn’t do feelings?” Eric smirked. Zaine loved that smirk. Loved the way it played on his lips and lit up his eyes. “Yeah, tell me about it. If we get out of this, Mikalis is gonna bitch-slap me back to the sixteenth century.”

“You’ll go to Mikalis. On your knees, if you don’t want him to nail your balls to the wall.”

“It won’t come to that.” Zaine chuckled nervously. “Sebastien is overconfident, shortsighted, and a dick. You and I can handle him.”

“You know who else is overconfident, shortsighted, and a dick?”

“Well, not me, because I’m definitely your favorite.” Zaine grinned.

“You’re in?” “Fine,” Storm grumbled. Zaine tried and failed not to grin. “I knew I was your favorite.” “I don’t have favorites, and if I did, it wouldn’t be you.

Memento mori. Remember, you must die. Fuck that. Zaine would give up everything for Eric, even his freedom.