Mine, page 1
PRAISE FOR J. R. WARD AND HER BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD SERIES
“Frighteningly addictive.”
—Publishers Weekly
“J. R. Ward is the undisputed queen of her genre… Long live the queen.”
—Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author
“J. R. Ward is a master!”
—Gena Showalter, New York Times bestselling author
“Ward brings on the big feels.”
—Booklist
“Fearless storytelling. A league all of her own.”
—Kristen Ashley, New York Times bestselling author
“J. R. Ward is one of the finest writers out there—in any genre.”
—Sarah J. Maas, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Ward is a master of her craft.”
—New York Journal of Books
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Dedicated to:
The two of you.
Personally, I think you make great houseguests.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PROPER NOUNS
ahstrux nohtrum (n.)
Private guard with license to kill who is granted his or her position by the King.
ahvenge (v.)
Act of mortal retribution, carried out typically by a male loved one.
Black Dagger Brotherhood (pr. n.)
Highly trained vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening Society. As a result of selective breeding within the race, Brothers possess immense physical and mental strength, as well as rapid healing capabilities. They are not siblings for the most part, and are inducted into the Brotherhood upon nomination by the Brothers. Aggressive, self-reliant, and secretive by nature, they are the subjects of legend and objects of reverence within the vampire world. They may be killed only by the most serious of wounds, e.g., a gunshot or stab to the heart, etc.
blood slave (n.)
Male or female vampire who has been subjugated to serve the blood needs of another. The practice of keeping blood slaves has been outlawed.
the Chosen (pr. n.)
Female vampires who had been bred to serve the Scribe Virgin. In the past, they were spiritually rather than temporally focused, but that changed with the ascendance of the final Primale, who freed them from the Sanctuary. With the Scribe Virgin removing herself from her role, they are completely autonomous and learning to live on earth. They do continue to meet the blood needs of unmated members of the Brotherhood, as well as Brothers who cannot feed from their shellans or injured fighters.
chrih (n.)
Symbol of honorable death in the Old Language.
cohntehst (n.)
Conflict between two males competing for the right to be a female’s mate.
Dhunhd (pr. n.)
Hell.
doggen (n.)
Member of the servant class within the vampire world. Doggen have old, conservative traditions about service to their superiors, following a formal code of dress and behavior. They are able to go out during the day, but they age relatively quickly. Life expectancy is approximately five hundred years.
ehros (n.)
A Chosen trained in the matter of sexual arts.
exhile dhoble (n.)
The evil or cursed twin, the one born second.
the Fade (pr. n.)
Non-temporal realm where the dead reunite with their loved ones and pass eternity.
First Family (pr. n.)
The King and Queen of the vampires, and any children they may have.
ghardian (n.)
Custodian of an individual. There are varying degrees of ghardians, with the most powerful being that of a sehcluded female.
glymera (n.)
The social core of the aristocracy, roughly equivalent to Regency England’s ton.
hellren (n.)
Male vampire who has been mated to a female. Males may take more than one female as mate.
hyslop (n. or v.)
Term referring to a lapse in judgment, typically resulting in the compromise of the mechanical operations of a vehicle or otherwise motorized conveyance of some kind. For example, leaving one’s keys in one’s car as it is parked outside the family home overnight, whereupon said vehicle is stolen.
leahdyre (n.)
A person of power and influence.
leelan (adj. or n.)
A term of endearment loosely translated as “dearest one.”
Lessening Society (pr. n.)
Order of slayers convened by the Omega for the purpose of eradicating the vampire species.
lesser (n.)
De-souled human who targets vampires for extermination as a member of the Lessening Society. Lessers must be stabbed through the chest in order to be killed; otherwise they are ageless. They do not eat or drink and are impotent. Over time, their hair, skin, and irises lose pigmentation until they are blond, blushless, and pale eyed. They smell like baby powder. Inducted into the society by the Omega, they retain a ceramic jar thereafter into which their heart was placed after it was removed.
lewlhen (n.)
Gift.
lheage (n.)
A term of respect used by a sexual submissive to refer to their dominant.
Lhenihan (pr. n.)
A mythic beast renowned for its sexual prowess. In modern slang, refers to a male of preternatural size and sexual stamina.
lys (n.)
Torture tool used to remove the eyes.
mahmen (n.)
Mother. Used both as an identifier and a term of affection.
mhis (n.)
The masking of a given physical environment; the creation of a field of illusion.
nalla (n., f.) or nallum (n., m.)
Beloved.
needing period (n.)
Female vampire’s time of fertility, generally lasting for two days and accompanied by intense sexual cravings. Occurs approximately five years after a female’s transition and then once a decade thereafter. All males respond to some degree if they are around a female in her need. It can be a dangerous time, with conflicts and fights breaking out between competing males, particularly if the female is not mated.
newling (n.)
A virgin.
the Omega (pr. n.)
Malevolent, mystical figure who once targeted the vampires for extinction out of resentment directed toward the Scribe Virgin. Existed in a non-temporal realm and had extensive powers, though not the power of creation. Now eradicated.
phearsom (adj.)
Term referring to the potency of a male’s sexual organs. Literal translation something close to “worthy of entering a female.”
Princeps (pr. n.)
Highest level of the vampire aristocracy, second only to members of the First Family or the Scribe Virgin’s Chosen. Must be born to the title; it may not be conferred.
pyrocant (n.)
Refers to a critical weakness in an individual. The weakness can be internal, such as an addiction, or external, such as a lover.
rahlman (n.)
Savior.
rythe (n.)
Ritual manner of asserting honor granted by one who has offended another. If accepted, the offended chooses a weapon and strikes the offender, who presents him- or herself without defenses.
the Scribe Virgin (pr. n.)
Mystical force who previously was counselor to the King as well as the keeper of vampire archives and the dispenser of privileges. Existed in a non-temporal realm and had extensive powers, but has recently stepped down and given her station to another. Capable of a single act of creation, which she expended to bring the vampires into existence.
sehclusion (n.)
Status conferred by the King upon a female of the aristocracy as a result of a petition by the female’s family. Places the female under the sole direction of her ghardian, typically the eldest male in her household. Her ghardian then has the legal right to determine all manner of her life, restricting at will any and all interactions she has with the world.
shellan (n.)
Female vampire who has been mated to a male. Females generally do not take more than one mate due to the highly territorial nature of bonded males.
symphath (n.)
Subspecies within the vampire race characterized by the ability and desire to manipulate emotions in others (for the purposes of an energy exchange), among other traits. Historically, they have been discriminated against and, during certain eras, hunted by vampires. They are near extinction.
talhman (n.)
The evil side of an individual. A dark stain on the soul that requires expression if it is not properly expunged.
the Tomb (pr. n.)
Sacred vault of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Used as a ceremonial site as well as a storage facility for the jars of lessers. Ceremonies performed there include inductions, funerals, and disciplinary actions against Brothers. No one may enter except for members of the Brotherhood, the Scribe Virgin, or candidates for induction.
trahyner (n.)
Word used between males of mutual respect and affection. Translated loosely as “beloved friend.”
transition (n.)
Critical m
vampire (n.)
Member of a species separate from that of Homo sapiens. Vampires must drink the blood of the opposite sex to survive. Human blood will keep them alive, though the strength does not last long. Following their transitions, which occur in their mid-twenties, they are unable to go out into sunlight and must feed from the vein regularly. Vampires cannot “convert” humans through a bite or transfer of blood, though they are in rare cases able to breed with the other species. Vampires can dematerialize at will, though they must be able to calm themselves and concentrate to do so and may not carry anything heavy with them. They are able to strip the memories of humans, provided such memories are short-term. Some vampires are able to read minds. Life expectancy is upward of a thousand years, or in some cases, even longer.
wahlker (n.)
An individual who has died and returned to the living from the Fade. They are accorded great respect and are revered for their travails.
whard (n.)
Equivalent of a godfather or godmother to an individual.
ONE
Exit 38S, The Northway (I-87)
Plattsburgh, New York
HIS DOCTOR, THE one who’d been keeping him alive, was dead.
As Daniel Joseph gunned his Harley up the Northway, he swerved around a semi, played hopscotch with a pair of sedans, and then eyed an upcoming break in the woods in the median and prayed there wasn’t a cop hiding in the pine trees. He had bigger problems to worry about than speeding tickets and hey-where’s-your-helmet citations: No weapon. No backup. No intel.
But hey, at least the woman he loved more than anything else on the planet was with him. Which was the precise offensive strategy you wanted when you were rushing into a crime scene that hadn’t been cleared, that no one in conventional law enforcement could know about, and that you were bringing no weapons, no backup, and no intel to.
And it had started to fucking snow.
The shit that had begun to fall halfway through the rocket ship ride was only a non-issue, mid-November squall in the morning—but that was if you were in a car or had a visor. As the flakes hit his face, they were shards of glass, on his cheeks, in his eyes, up his nose—
Thank God, he thought as their exit appeared and he pared off at the same speed he’d been going.
At the top of the ramp, he didn’t slow down for the stop sign before merging onto NY 22S, and as he and the bike zoomed into the turn, Lydia Susi tightened her arms around his waist and ducked her head into his back. During the twenty-minute, breakneck roar from that apple orchard in Walters to this road leading into Plattsburgh, he had taken the brunt of the cold air, and he was feeling it. She was warmer, though.
He hoped she was warmer.
Goddamn it, he wished she weren’t with him—
“We need Route Twenty-six,” Lydia shouted in his ear over the din. “Toward the bay.”
“Roger that.” He turned his head to the side. “You okay?”
She gave him a squeeze. “Yes.”
As he looked ahead of them again, all he could think was, Don’t do it. Don’t ask back.
She didn’t.
Lydia was a master navigator, not that finding the condo development in question was all that hard, and once they were inside the ring-around of fifty or so white-sided, black-shuttered, Lego-like two-stories, the unit they were gunning for was easy to locate on the far side.
Pulling into the shallow driveway, he opened his mouth to tell her they had to stick together—
His woman ejected herself off the back of the Harley, landed on a lithe run, and raced up the front walk.
“Wait! Stop—” He tried to catch his breath. “Lydia—”
She all but attacked the door, twisting the knob, jerking, yanking. “Gus!”
Back at the bike, Daniel put his hand on his chest and tried to inflate his lungs, but for some reason, they weren’t responding to the command. It was like he was suddenly breathing water—
“Around back,” he wheezed as she pounded on the panels. “Go ’round…”
While an old guy from the unit next door stopped in the process of checking his mailbox, she took off again, jumping over some short-stack bushes, sprinting past the garage door, and disappearing around the far corner. The idea that she might find some bad news in the rear gave Daniel the energy he needed to dismount, but as he stumbled, he couldn’t feel the asphalt beneath his boots.
“Everything okay?” the neighbor with the envelopes and the flyers in his hand called out.
Daniel coughed into a fist. “Oh, yeah.” He cleared his throat so he could get more volume in his voice. “Cat on the loose.”
“Dr. St. Claire doesn’t have a cat.”
Great. Just what he needed. “He was cat-sitting ours.”
“Then why’d you come on a bike?”
Daniel narrowed his eyes, noting the cardigan, the reading glasses on the end of the nose, the salt-and-pepper gray hair trimmed Father Knows Best fifties style. For a split second, he almost asked whether the guy had seen anything suspicious around Gus’s place. But then he thought of Lydia, and decided the well-preserved grandpa was a gossip grenade best kept with the pin in.
“Thanks for checking on us,” Daniel said. Then in a lower tone, he muttered, “And if we need a hostage, I’m volunteering you.”
Raising his hand in a little wave, he started off in the direction Lydia had gone—and holy fuck, he felt like he was dragging the Harley behind him: He was out of energy, a marathoner who had pushed too hard and was collapsing right before the finish line.
“Why don’t I have a gun,” he mumbled as he shambled his way along, batting away the gnat-like flakes. “Why am I unarmed…”
As he emerged onto the quilt-sized grass patch that passed for the backyard, he answered himself: “Because you’d been about to pop the question. And who brings a—wait for me! Christ!”
Lydia was at the back sliding glass door and in the process of opening things. “This glass door is unlocked—”
No shit. “Hold on.”
As she looked back at him, he grabbed the railing and hauled himself up onto the postage-stamp porch. He wanted to stop for a second to try to breathe again, but he knew her halt had a timer on it—
Bingo. She launched herself into the condo without him.
“Sonofabitch.”
On his own entry, Daniel tripped the tip of his boot on the lip of the slider, and as he pitched forward into thin air, he had a quick impression of a messy, nothing-special kitchen: clutter on the granite counter, trash bin overflowing with crumpled take-out bags, a GE stove with the Home Depot plastic sticker on the front like the oven part had never been used—
He caught himself on an Ikea-like table, and the thing screeched over the tiled floor, his forward momentum transferring to the inanimate object and making it live for a good yard or so. After the bumpy ride, he stayed where he was, draped as a human doily, grunting through his open mouth.
“Be careful…” he said weakly. “Lydia, you gotta… be… careful.”
Out in the front of the condo, she was racing from room to room, and he pictured her, so graceful, so strong, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she went around.
Holy hell, he loved her. With everything that he was, all that he had… and what little time he had left.
“There’s blood here on the carpet…” she said off in the distance. “Here where the mail is. Oh, God…”
“Don’t touch anything.”
“Where is he?” More footsteps. “I’m going upstairs.”
He opened his mouth to throw another wait-stop-slow-down onto the bonfire of good advice she was ignoring. But she was already halfway to the second floor—and with the drumbeat of her boots ascending, he followed her vertical example, pushing his chest up off the table. Getting to his full height was a process, and to give himself something to focus on other than how dizzy he was, he assessed the empty take-out containers and packets of sauce over by the refrigerator, and the empty Coke cans that were, well, everywhere.
