“"I would do anything for you. Anything."
With that, he pushed his way out...and as the door eased shut, she realized that I love you could indeed be said without actually uttering the phrase.
Actions did mean more than words.”
Lover Unleashed is the the ninth novel of The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. It follows Lover Mine and precedes Lover Reborn. In the Fallen Angels series, it falls between Crave and Envy. Fallen Angels is a separate series that takes place in the same universe as The Black Dagger Brotherhood and shares locations, lore, and characters. It takes place concurrently with the main series and each book was published between every other Black Dagger Brotherhood book from Lover Avenged and The Shadows and so each should be read according to publication date.
The story of The Black Dagger Brotherhood continues with Vishous discovering his long-lost twin sister, Payne, and having difficulties in his relationship with Jane. Meanwhile, the remnants of the Bloodletter's camp, the Band of Bastards, arrives in Caldwell to extract revenge on Payne for the death of the Bloodletter.
Synopsis[]
Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, warrior cloth as her brother: A fighter by nature, and a maverick when it comes to the traditional role of Chosen females, there is no place for her on the Far Side… and no role for her on the front lines of the war, either.
When she suffers a paralyzing injury, human surgeon Dr. Manuel Manello is called in to treat her as only he can- and he soon gets sucked into her dangerous, secret world. Although he never before believed in things that go bump in the night- like vampires- he finds himself more than willing to be seduced by the powerful female who marks both his body and his soul.
As the two find so much more than an erotic connection, the human and vampire worlds collide … just as a centuries old score catches up with Payne and puts both her love and her life in deadly jeopardy.
Main Characters[]
Other Characters[]
Black Dagger Brotherhood Characters[]
Others - Speaking Roles[]
- Blaylock
- Fritz
- Jane
- John Matthew
- José de la Cruz
- Layla
- Qhuinn
- Saxton
- The Scribe Virgin
- Thomas DelVecchio, Jr.
- Dr. Thomas Goldberg
- Rodriguez
- Throe
- Xcor
- Zypher
Mentioned or non-Speaking Roles[]
- Balthazar
- Beth
- The Bloodletter
- David Kroner
- Ehlena
- George
- GloryGloryHallelujah ("Glory")
- Hannah Whitcomb
- Jones
- Mary
- Phury
- Rehvenge
- Syphon
- Thomas DelVecchio, Sr.
- Xhex
Synopsis[]
Prologue[]
In 1761 in the Old Country, the Bloodletter and his son, Xcor, are hunting lessers when Payne attacks and kills her father for what he had done to Vishous. To maintain the Bloodletter's reputation, Xcor tells the camp that his father had died in glorious battle with lessers and he cremated the body in homage. Then he demanded the allegiance of his father's fighters and vows vengeance on the unknown female who killed the Bloodletter.
Chapter 1[]
Dr. Manny Manello is at the racetrack when his racehorse, GloryGloryHallelujah, is hit by another horse and breaks her right front foreleg. The onsite vet recommends she be put down, but Manny refuses and insists on saving her no matter what. In the past year he'd lost Doc Jane, questioned his sanity, and started drinking, he can't bear to lose one of the last good things in his life.
Chapter 2[]
Vishous is trying to absorb the fact that he has a twin sister he'd never known about with recently a broken back and that his shellan is bringing a human who was in love with her back to the compound to help her. Payne asks him if he wishes she'd never left the Other Side because she brought too much drama with her. When he tells her not to worry about him, she says that's all she's ever done since she's been imprisoned by their mother for nearly her entire life; she refuses to be stuck in a prison of her own body and he promises her she won't. She asks him to end her suffering if there's no way to fix the paralysis, which is likely considering her rapid healing.
Chapter 3[]
Doc Jane returns to St. Francis Hospital to call on her former colleague, Dr. Manuel "Manny" Manello, to help Payne and notes her replacement as Chief of Trauma, which affects her more than she thought it would. Manny's not on site and she pages him using the pseudonym "Hannah Whit."
At the equine hospital, it's not looking good for Manny's racehorse and he knows if it would kill her if she was unable to run, kept alive only to spare himself the pain of losing her. He still decides to operate, working alongside the vet. All they can do after that is wait and see.
Chapter 4[]
Next Jane tries Manny's condo at the Commodore, but finds it empty and a suitcase missing that'd be an appropriate size for a weekend getaway.
Instead of going home, Manny goes to Jane's grave where he receives another page from "Hannah Whit" and answers. Jane recognizes the distant train whistle in the background and finds him at the cemetery. He's shocked and pissed, assuming that she's been alive the whole time, and she tells him she doesn't have time to explain because she has a patient in dire need of his help.
Chapter 5[]
Butch keeps V company to make sure he doesn't go off the rails from locking down on all of his emotions about Payne and his bonded male losing it over Jane going out into daylight alone to bring back a man who had feelings for her. Butch tries to get him to promise not to kill the doctor because it's not his fault Payne was hurt, but V just says they'll have to see how things go.
Jane drives Manny to the mansion, and judging by the security and breadth of the compound, he assumes they're somehow involved with the US government. Upon seeing V, Manny develops an instant migraine until he restores Manny's memories.
Manny is struck speechless by Payne, who he thinks is the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, and instinctively becomes possessive and determined to save her.
Chapter 6[]
Qhuinn goes to the Iron Mask and picks up a guy who's a redhead.
Chapter 7[]
Payne's stunned that the doctor's human and yet competent. It quickly becomes apparent that she has no sensation below her waist. Meanwhile, Vishous takes out his bad attitude on the doctor who tells him that in order to do what he needs to do, V has to leave. On top of that, he wants to take her to St. Francis where they have an MRI and other equipment that will provide a greater chance at success. That's the final straw for V and he slams Manny into a wall.
Wrath comes in and overrides V as king and because he's the reason why she's injured. Jane chimes in, agreeing that his emotional state isn't helping Payne, and vows that not only will she never leave Payne's side, she'll take Butch with her. Butch promises the same and wants to take Rhage as an extra precaution. Jane reminds V that she's intimately familiar with the hospital and Manny has absolute power there as chief of surgery.
Vishous wants Wrath to feed Payne after the operation because he's the only pure-blood vampire left, which means his blood is the strongest there is. Wrath tells him that Beth had already suggested it.
Chapter 8[]
Currently, in the Old Country, the Band of Bastards is running out of people to hunt since they'd cleaned up the remaining lessers and humans aren't enough of a challenge, although they do go after serial killers.
Chapter 9[]
At the hospital, Manny tells the staff and security that Payne's a VIP patient who's an Olympic equestrian from Europe and happens to be royalty. The story explains her accent, when she slips into the Old Language, her three body guards, and why he's listed as being fiscally responsible for her anonymity. Remembering V's 6-chambered heart and looking at Payne's MRI that shows healing that would take a human weeks instead of hours to heal, Manny realizes they're not human.
He figures that they're going to wipe his memories again and is beginning to think that maybe it's more than US government secret agent stuff. He tells Jane to never approach him again after this.
Chapter 10[]
Afterwards, Payne starts to panic because she can't feel anything due to the pain meds. Manny comforts her and says that he corrected the vertebrae and the spinal cord was intact, while it wasn't a failed attempt, they'll have to wait and see how successful it was.
Jane comes to move Payne because it's getting close to dawn, which Manny is vehemently against since it's too soon to move her. Avoiding the V word, but she tells him that she can't be exposed to the sun, heals quickly, and will have "to feed" before being moved. He asks her to tell Jane that he now understands why she dropped off the face of the planet without telling him.
Payne has Manny braid his business card into her hair so no one will find it.
Chapter 11[]
At his penthouse, Vishous thinks about how he hasn't felt the need for the release that BDSM can give since he's had Jane in his life. Now that he's stressed, he feels the need again and flogs himself and plays with hot wax. When Jane calls, the self-flagellation truly begins because he's not at the hospital to support Jane and Payne.
Jane reports that Payne's doing well and they're on their way back to the compound and there weren't any issues with the staff. She knows he's at the penthouse and tells him it's ok to be where he is mentally right now. She asks him if he wishes he was with someone else and he tells her that's all behind him.
Manny wakes from an erotic dream of Payne while asleep on the couch in his office, but has no recollection of her. He goes home with a migraine, but has problems finding his car because it's not parked in his reserved spot.
Chapter 12[]
Suspecting that V might be cheating on Jane, Butch goes to the penthouse; on his way he senses lessers and finds three newbies attacking V with chains, who isn't fighting back. After dispatching them and calling the cops with an anonymous tip on a dead body in the alley, Butch lays into V.
Payne's worrying about Manny and feels he deserves more than getting his memories scooped out and getting dumped back into his life.
Jane checks on Payne and they're both worried about V considering they're both well aware of his "predilections." Jane admits that she and V are too much alike sometimes because they react to situations in the same way, which makes it hard for her to reach him, especially because he hates emotion and she doesn't want to upset him. Then Jane says she shouldn't be worrying Payne while she's recovering, but Payne tells her that they both care about him and none of what Jane said came as a shock to her. She sees Jane as a sister and a female of worth, and Jane's coming to feel the same way towards Payne.
Chapter 13[]
After a night of meaningless sex with strangers, Qhuinn's thinking about going celibate since it's hollow and not doing him any good emotionally. Maybe if he lays off the drinking and sex, he can figure himself out.
Chapter 14[]
Butch asks V if he intended to let the lessers kill him and V tells him he shouldn't throw stones since he lived in a glass house not that long ago. He suggests V talk to the Scribe Virgin; V says he'd kill her because he can deal with what she put him through, but she kept Payne a secret and locked her up for centuries. He feels like he's going crazy but doesn't know how to vent it.
Jane tries to talk to him, but he pushes her away.
Chapter 15[]
José de la Cruz and Thomas DelVecchio, Jr. are investigating the woman who was killed in the alley where Butch and Vishous fought the lessers. Listening to the call, de la Cruz recognizes Butch's voice.
Chapter 16[]
Glory's doing ok, but she isn't out of the woods yet. Mourning Jane, he's having a midlife crisis because he's 45 and has no life outside of his job. Worse yet, he's losing track of time and is having memory problems in general.
Chapter 17[]
Jane calls V on his bullshit, who tries to deflect by picking a fight and then uses sex to distract her, which is something they do need to reconnect. He admits he doesn't know how to get the words out without making everything worse. She tells him that if he loves her he has to talk to her because silence is going to break their relationship. After they have sex, he tells her that he was with her every night despite the crap in his head because he didn't want her to be alone and he didn't want to sleep without her.
Chapter 18[]
Payne's doing her PT, but isn't handling her recovery well and generally feeling sorry for herself. When she falls trying to do something for herself, she wants Vishous to come put her out of her misery, refusing to talk to Mary. Jane refuses to put V in that position and brings her a syringe so Payne can do it herself when V walks in, having felt determined to get Payne living again.
Payne screams at him that he won't keep her trapped in her body like their mother had kept her trapped for so long. He asks her to give him two hours for a list ditch effort so it doesn't haunt him forever.
Chapter 19[]
Vishous goes to Manny, who demands he take Manny to the woman he sees every night in his dreams. Neither of them are particularly happy about each other. When V returns Manny's memories, he punches V for "fucking" with him. Even though V could have blocked it, he didn't. They keep pushing at each other because neither of them is willing to back down.
At the compound, Manny tries to kick V out of the room, but they fight some more until Payne thanks Vishous.
Chapter 20[]
Realizing Payne hasn't left the room she's been in, in the clinic for a week, and shows her a video of a friend and former patient of his who uses a wheelchair and does marathons and has a wife and kid. Payne starts to feel hope again
Chapter 21[]
V finds Payne sitting on Manny's lap in front of the computer, watching people wheelchair racing, and telling her that her life isn't over. While V was ready to eviscerate Manny, he begins to think that maybe Manny could save her life. He starts to get upset that he and Jane hadn't gotten her out of the room sooner and that soon devolves into him shifting the blame all onto Jane for only focusing on the physical needs.
Butch tells V he should go talk to Jane because she's packing a bag, V says he has nothing to say to her and tells him that she'd almost taken his only family away from him. Butch offers to work him over.
Chapter 22[]
While Jane's throwing clothes into a bag, she discovers recent blood and wax on V's leathers even though he'd told her he hadn't been with anyone else. He repeats it when she confronts him about it and she assumes it was Butch. Before leaving, he hands her a duffel bag since she's going to need it.
Chapter 23[]
Manny takes a shower and Payne really wants to see what he looks like naked, leaning over to peer through the door into the en suite. He jumps out of the shower because not only was she sitting up, she'd been kneeling on the bed and hadn't even realized it. She still can't feel anything in her legs, though.
Chapter 24[]
Xcor and the Band of Bastards arrive in Caldwell.
De la Cruz and Veck are investigating another murder that shows similar hallmarks of the previous body and Veck loses it on a looky-lou who snaps a pic of the scene. De la Cruz thinks that Veck and Butch had a lot in common.
Chapter 25[]
Jane fills Butch in on what happened between her and V and she asks him to work V over if it's what he needs because he doesn't trust her. He tells her that V had been alone and if he'd been doing things alone but didn't tell her it was because a married guy didn't want to admit that sort of thing to his wife, V might view even masturbating as cheating on her.
Manny and Jane go over the security footage of Payne, who was glowing at the time, and try to make sense of it. Jane thinks it's because of Manny somehow. At one point Jane goes translucent and has to explain to Manny what happened to her.
Chapter 26[]
V's looking for a fight downtown. He'd been too afraid after she'd died to truly open himself up to love, he'd just moved her into his room like a roommate with benefits before they spent their nights apart. He couldn't even tell her what was doing with the bloody and waxy leathers. While wandering, he comes across a couple of lessers sliced in two and still alive.
Manny shows Payne the security footage and they decide to recreate the circumstances by turning off the light and Manny gets sexual. Payne starts glowing again and she can feel it when he touches her leg, but when she stops glowing the sensation goes away.
Chapter 27[]
V calls in the Brotherhood to check out the ginsu-ed lessers and Rhage recognizes the handiwork.
After Manny gives her an orgasm, Payne continues to glow.
Chapter 28[]
There's a major fight and a severely injured V falls unconscious after busting out his left palm.
Chapter 29[]
Payne's able to make it to the loo with Manny's assistance and wants him to get into bed with her to sleep, but Manny doesn't want to add to V's stress levels. She tells him that she's the reason V has been upset and that she needs to talk to him.
Putting two and two together, Manny gets an inkling of why V came and brought him back since only desperation would have forced him into that, he asks Jane for confirmation but she's not up to that conversation. He tells her he's not staying after Payne's mobile because his career's circling the drain thanks to the head job they've done on him that affected his work, Glory, his mom, and the Brotherhood wouldn't be ok with him in both worlds, nor does Payne deserve to end up with someone like him. Plus there's the differential in lifespans.
Chapter 30[]
Qhuinn's cut his hair short himself, removed his piercings, and has lost a lot of weight because he's been skipping meals so John Matthew has a one-on-one intervention. He'd called Layla, too, so Qhuinn could feed. She makes sure he eats and asks him to take her as they've only fooled around, but Qhuinn hasn't felt right about what they've been doing when his heart belongs to Blay.
Chapter 31[]
Jane wakes Manny up to help her patch up the Brotherhood after they got their asses handed to them by the lessers and he stitches up a nicked artery in Rhage's leg. True to form, Rhage tells him not to bother with anesthesia so he can get through it faster to help his Brothers; the only reason he doesn't do it himself is because Jane won't let him. Manny respects Rhage's concern over the others, but doesn't put up with his crap and tells him to shut up so he can work.
Butch carries Vishous in with a destroyed leg and since medical professionals should never treat their own loved ones, he's stuck with Manny working on him. While he's getting prepped, Vishous watches Jane working, focusing entirely on her patients even as she's worried about V and crying. He thinks that maybe he'd misunderstood what had happened between Jane and Payne because Jane would've done everything in her power to save Payne first, only trying to make things as painless as possible for Payne if she couldn't have stopped her. As Manny resets his dislocated hip, V screams and just before he passes out he realizes he still loves Janes when she's terrified for him.
Chapter 32[]
Qhuinn tells Layla that his lack of affection for her isn't because of her, it's because he's in love with Blay. Instead of being disgusted like he expects after his experiences with the glymera, she's not really surprised and promises to keep his secret. Qhuinn wants Blay to be happy and doesn't want to come between him and Saxton for his own happiness.
Chapter 33[]
Xcor had deliberately left the mutilated bodies of the lessers in the alley to let the Brotherhood know he was in town since he had no other way of contacting them. He wants to call a council meeting, but cannot since he's not of the glymera so he's planning on getting them to meet in order to overthrow Wrath. It's not that he dislikes Wrath, he just wants his power. Xcor has Throe write to his family in the glymera, who'd disowned him, and stir up their outrage over the lessening raids and how the king's avoided meeting with them.
Chapter 34[]
Manny checks his voicemail and gets bad news about Glory, then helps Payne take a shower, which is where Vishous finds them. He would have killed Manny if not for the fact that he'd saved both Payne and Vishous, but he still tells Manny that he's getting booted as soon as they don't need him anymore. Payne tells him that he doesn't get to tell her with whom she mates. Losing his shit, Vishous tells her that Manny's nothing more than a lesser waiting to be turned and walks out.
Chapter 35[]
Due to the difference in their species, especially the disparity in longevity, Manny also doesn't think that he and Payne should be together. Never having felt like a "proper female" because she's too big and driven to fight, Payne tells him that she's the daughter of a deity and is a killer who murdered her father, which was why she was locked up for so long. Instead of being horrified by the revelation, Manny figures it was for what the Bloodletter did to Vishous. Manny saw the scars of V's partial castration when he'd had worked on his hip and knew that it would either take a lot of people or someone who knew when he was vulnerable to do that to Vishous.
Manny tells Payne that as much as he wants her, she would have to watch him age and die. She still wants to be with him and asks him to show her some of the world.
Chapter 36[]
Vishous asks Butch to hurt him until he reaches catharsis.
Manny takes Payne for a drive in his Porsche.
Chapter 37[]
Butch chains Vishous on his tiptoes, wraps him in a corset lined with spikes, puts a gag in his mouth, and puts a sensory-deprivation hood on him. Once he's blind, V feels what seems like a blade travel up his leg, leaving a trail of liquid warmth behind as it moves towards his groin. Stuck in a flashback, he screams and screams until he passes out.
Butch hates having had to use V's past to break him open. He cleans him up and tucks him into bed, leaving the spoon and cup of warm water he'd used on the counter where V will see them. Then he calls Jane and tells her that V's going to need her when he wakes up.
Chapter 38[]
De la Cruz gives Veck a heads up that he'll be getting a warning from Internal Affairs, but secretly he wonders if Veck would've actually stopped beating the paparazzo on his own if de la Cruz hadn't stepped in.
Chapter 39[]
As Manny takes her to see Glory at the veterinary hospital, she tells him how she escaped the Sanctuary by watching those who came for audiences with the Scribe Virgin. She opened a sort of portal for them to dematerialize through. When the opportunity presented itself, Payne went to the Far Side where she killed the Bloodletter for what he did to Vishous.
Free for the first time, Payne wanted to explore the world, but didn't realize her needing would come upon her almost immediately. Frantic that Payne would be taken advantage of and hurt, the Scribe Virgin told her that she would help her, but only if she returned to the Sanctuary. Unsure what to do and wanting to protect her daughter from the fighting to which she was drawn, the Scribe Virgin put Payne into suspended animation for hundreds of years.
Payne falls in love with Glory, who returns the sentiment, and Manny's devastated that he's going to lose both of them.
Chapter 40[]
Vishous cries and asks Jane why his parents had hurt him the way they did, he wishes that he were "whole" and could give her children that she could bear, that he'd told her every night that he loved her, that he was as strong as she was, and that he deserved her. He tells her that it killed him when she thought he'd cheated on her.
Jane apologizes for what happened with Payne, explains his twin's determination at the time, and that she'd been trying to save him from having to do that or from Payne hurting herself even worse. He understands that now and it's killing Jane how close they'd come. She's always worried she wasn't enough for him sexually.
V tells her she's everything to him, the reason why he gets out of bed every night and can't wait to go home at night. They'd never formally mated since he thought it was stupid and a waste of time. He asks her how she feels about being the only shellan at the mansion without her name on her hellren's back; she's given him space to fight, work on his projects like the Brotherhood's finances, and hang with Butch, but he feels like he hasn't given her anything in turn. She reminds him that he helped build her clinic, which he doesn't think is romantic.
As they hold each other, V thinks about how never let himself think about the Bloodletter or what happened in the camp; it had only come up with Jane because of the first time she saw him naked. He decides to start healing and promises Jane that he'll stop using hardcore BDSM to deal with his demons whenever he'd ignored them for too long. They have sweet, slow sex for the first time.
Chapter 41[]
Qhuinn tries to peek in on Blay to see how he's doing after getting injured in the fight with the lessers and gets caught by Saxton, who tells him that although Blay loves him, he's not the love of Blay's life. He promises not to tell Blaylock that Qhuinn came by or what they discussed.
Chapter 42[]
Glory is not doing well due to being unable to move because of her injured leg, and the vet advises Manny say his goodbyes. Glowing, Payne heals Glory's leg, which drains her and Manny has to carry her out to the car.
While they're necking in the parking lot, someone tries to mug them. Payne dematerializes over to the mugger and disarms him. Manny takes the gun and calls the cops; the human runs away. In order to avoid Payne having to deal with human authorities, they say good-bye and she leaves without easing his memories like Wrath had ordered her to.
Chapter 43[]
At a seedy motel, Throe and Xcor pay a prostitute for sex and blood. As they're leaving, they smell female blood and bust into the room next door where they find a woman being tortured. Xcor tries to get him to leave and while they fight, the attacker gets away. They dematerialize as sirens approach.
Chapter 44[]
Manny goes home to drink and cry himself to sleep. Payne hides on his balcony and cries, having watched over him since she appeared to leave while hiding in mhis. Vishous finds her there, having sensed her when he was leaving with Jane from the penthouse above. She tells him what happened and that she hadn't scrubbed him; he's surprised that she'd handled the mugger. V asks her if she loves Manny and she says yes, adding that it doesn't matter if she hasn't lived in the real world for very long because she knows what she wants and if he thinks otherwise he can just bugger off.
Vishous says he'll work something out with Wrath so that Payne can "keep" Manny. He'll tell the king that as the head of their tiny family he approves of the match and argue that she should be able to see Manny. He'll even talk to the Scribe Virgin if that's what it takes because Payne is his sister and he himself fell in love with a human within an hour of meeting her. If her relationship with Manny is anything like what he has with Jane, then he knows that she'd be incomplete without him. He asks her to hold off on talking it over with Manny until he can talk to Wrath, but if she's going to lurk like he suspects she's going to do, then to go inside because it's cold out.
Chapter 45[]
When Vishous brings up Payne, Wrath's overjoyed to hear of her recovery and talks about getting Fritz to set her up with a proper room, but less enthusiastic about hearing that she's in love with Manello. Vishous isn't happy either, but he acknowledges that not even a Brother would be good enough for his sister so if she loves him, then he wants her to be happy.
Wrath says no and hands him a copy of an email sent to the Founding Families announcing Xcor's arrival in Caldwell. With the Lessening Society strengthening and Xcor's obvious political machinations with the glymera, Wrath doesn't want a human complication on top of everything else on his plate. V points out that Jane could use the help and Manello's expertise is different from hers. Wrath doubts Manny would want to live every day and night at the mansion for the rest of his life, but Vishous says they won't know until they ask him. Finally Wrath says that if Payne wants to see Manny outside of the mansion, then it's none of his business.
Wrath warns V that Payne's going to want to fight, which brings V to a screeching halt. He's sparred against her and knows that she's as deadly as either of them and her nature will drive her to it sooner or later. Sure, Xhex fights, but she's counted as one of Rehv's subjects, not Wrath's. V has seen Wrath come back from sparring matches with limps and cuts and bruises. Even though they need all the fighters they can get, the thought still gives V cold sweats.
As for Xcor, they're going to wait until the Council meets to see how the glymera receives Xcor's schemes.
Chapter 46[]
De la Cruz and Veck investigate the murder scene that Throe and Xcor had stumbled upon.
Chapter 47[]
Manny meets up with Goldberg, a friend and colleague, for coffee and he tells Manny that the hospital board wants him to take a leave of absence. After noticing that he's looking and feeling much younger, Manny suspects it's due to Payne, whether because of her healing ability or her blood. He asks Goldberg to run some tests on him and his friend assumes it's for the migraines and lapses in memory he'd been having after the Brotherhood scrubbed him.
Chapter 48[]
As Layla takes Qhuinn's vein, he has a vision of their daughter.
Chapter 49[]
After a round of medical testing, Manny resigns as Chief of Surgery and begins packing a bag. When Payne comes to tell him the good news that Wrath has given permission for them to be together, he tells her that he discovered his body has begun to rejuvenate and reverse the aging process so he's now physically much younger than his years. Since it's due to her glow and therefore not natural, he's freaking out and wondering if this will continue until he's a baby and what will his mother say when she realizes he's not aging. She says that's not possible because if it were, she'd have also reverted to infancy from how often she glows. Taking his words to heart, she agrees that she's dangerous and destructive, which makes him feel conflicted because he wants to retract his words.
Even though he knows he'll never move on from her, he asks her to not wipe his mind. Once she leaves, he breaks down and cries.
Chapter 50[]
Wanting to be alone, Payne goes to the river and finds a couple of lessers. Xcor and the Band of Bastards find her taking out her emotions on the lessers and take her captive.
Chapter 51[]
Normally V avoids all public displays of affection, but for once he kisses Jane deeply and tells her that he missed her. He announces to everyone that he's going to formally mate Jane and they're all invited. As it gets closer to dawn, he worries about Payne who hasn't made it back yet so he calls Manny, who tells him that she left hours ago after he told her they weren't going to work out. Contrary to his prior stance, V gets pissed at him for breaking his sister's heart. Manny, having had some time to deal, realizes his freak-out had been because he was so in love that it had fundamentally changed him and it scared him.
They think of places where she might have gone and Manny goes out to look for her.
Chapter 52[]
At the Band of Bastards' headquarters, Xcor tells her why they took her and she tells him that it's impossible for him to be the Bloodletter's son, which comes as a shock to him. She explains that Vishous was the only son of the Bloodletter, something she was able to confirm via the seeing bowls in the Sanctuary, and she'd killed him for what he'd done to her brother. Much of her story matches the rumours Xcor had heard in the camp. At first he doesn't want to believe that she's the daughter of the Scribe Virgin, who was the only reason why the Bloodletter could sire a son, but it's kind of hard to deny when she starts glowing and melts the cuffs off of her, which also aligns with tales of how Vishous had left the camp.
The truth devastates Xcor because the Bloodletter cared enough to give him a name; his own mother hadn't even done that. As the daughter of the Bloodletter, he acknowledges that she had the right to take his life for his offenses against her brother. Her strength, will, and lack of fear garners his respect and belief in her words. He gives her his own bed in a private room, shows her where he keeps his guns under the bed, and makes the Band sleep upstairs where he can keep an eye on them to make sure she spends the day unmolested.
Chapter 53[]
Jane helps Manny look for Payne and they find the cellphone she was carrying at the site of the fight with the lessers, which they found due to the distinctive stench of lessers. V doesn't find any information on the cellphone. Butch joins them and Manny recognizes him.
Chapter 54[]
He shows Butch a picture of his father, Robert Bluff, who was a doctor and died in 1983; Butch is the spitting image of him and his mom had been a nurse at one of the hospitals Bluff worked at, which means that Manny is part vampire, too, as his half-brother and related somehow to Wrath.
Butch and V want to do an ancestor regression, which Jane opposes because it's potentially fatal. Manny sides with Jane, being ok with who he is. Stuck at a dead-end, they stay up the whole day, waiting until they go can out at nightfall to continue searching.
Chapter 55[]
After offering Payne a meal, which she declines, Xcor blindfolds her and takes her to one of the prettiest views of the city that he knows so she can dematerialize from there. Back at the mansion, V comes running, but is knocked out of the way by Manny. Reunited, they profess their love anew and Manny apologizes for being a coward. She tells everyone what had happened and that she wasn't harmed. No one bats an eye when it comes out that she'd killed her father. They do, however, lose it when she says that a lesser had shot her. Insisting on a physical examination, Manny takes her to a bedroom upstairs.
V remembers when he first met Manny and had, had a vision in the former of a word: "brother," which makes sense to him now.
Chapter 56[]
Manny and Payne make love for the first time.
Chapter 57[]
Veck follows his instincts and returns to the motel where the killer had been interrupted to lie in wait for him to return. When the murderer appears, a vampire rips out the killer's throat and wipes Veck's memory. When he wakes to find the dead body, Veck assumes he'd finally snapped and killed someone. He calls 911.
Chapter 58[]
Saxton tells Blay that Qhuinn came to see how he was doing and that Qhuinn can't handle his feelings for Blaylock. Blay tries to dodge the topic, but Sax tells him that Qhuinn's always with them whether they talk about him or not. He's ok with that because he knew what he was in for and he enjoys being with Blay for however long they have together.
Chapter 59[]
Wrath has allowed Manny to keep in touch with his mother and he'll work with Jane and Havers. Payne will fight alongside the Brothers even though Manny and V aren't too thrilled about it; the males agree that she needs the best gear and are seeing to that. After running some errands in daylight, Manny returns to the mansion with Glory, which he gives to Payne as a wedding gift. Both the female and horse are overjoyed and to celebrate, Payne leaps onto Glory and they go racing at a full gallop. Watching them, V tells Manny that he'd foreseen Payne astride a galloping black horse, alive and free and happy.
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