The Brotherhood- Tempted Book 1

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Payne woke up feeling like he got hit by a semi-truck, everything hurt and his head was pounding, the Reapers lately were really starting to go all out with their weapons. He rubbed his throbbing head, he got smacked in the back of the head twice or maybe it was three times...he couldn't honestly remember all he could remember was that he got hit a few times with something incredibly hard and then everything went black. He rubbed his sore head and felt some stiches on the edge of his hair line.

"Dammit" He groaned
He opened his eyes and rubbed them as they adjusted to the candle light in the room which for once he was thankful that the castle wasn't fully wired for lighting. He sat up on his elbows and looked around the room, he knew where he was but he had no damn idea how he got in the castle. The last thing he remembered was fighting some Reapers on a busy street in the human world and he was taking on about four or more of them and then he got slammed in the back of the head by a baseball bat or maybe a two by four he wasn't sure about the details all he knew was that they knock his ass out cold after the second or third hit. He slowly sat all the way up groaning to the pain pulsing all over his body, he slowly moved his feet over the edge until they touched the floor, he ran his hand through his lose blonde hair and sat up letting his body crack and adjust. His head started to pound even more and all he could think was that maybe death would have been an easier recovery... more or less.

There was nothing more awful then the after affect of big fights with the Reapers, everything hurt, your mind was numb, you were either so hungry you could eat a horse or you were so sick you couldn't eat for a week and one way or another you had some guilt or shame hanging on your shoulder from that night, although there was nothing like a big fight taking about twenty or fifty Reapers out, that was a high you couldn't get any other way and he could call him a junkie because he loved it.

He grunted as the side of his mouth lifted into a half grin. He pulled his bruised body up and walked into the bathroom. He fumbled from the bed falling into walls getting to the bathroom, he had to hold the counter for stability, his eyes stung and his neck ached, his head was throbbing as he moved, nausea was haunting him and he just wanted a shower but that seemed out of the question at the moment since he couldn't hold himself up and adding a slippery environment... probably not his best idea.

He slowly turned the handle on the sink not caring which one it was, he cupped the water and splashed the ice cold water on to his face letting it run down his face and neck, it was so cold it made chills run all the way down his spin. The chill loosened his skin and helped him wind down, which felt so relaxing he did it again, the nice sensation of the cold water on his skin loosened him more and more.

He groaned in pain and grabbed a hand cloth and scrubbed his face and neck. He glimpsed up at the mirror to see bruises on his arms and chest, the dark circles under his tired eyes, the worn out look of his muscles and skin, the extra dead pale look to his skin and everything about him looked tired an worn, but in all honestly he was, he just wanted some sleep and he needed to feed, but like that was going to happen on either end, he dreaded feeding from some female of his own kind.

They were all overly eager to just be touching him let alone giving him the one thing he needed to live, on top of that it was so uncomfortable since the females of his kind were so treasured and almost every one of them have their father or future mate hovering you, giving you the evil glare the whole time and don't even get him started on humans. They were awful because you didn't know if they had diseases and their blood always had some kind of awful after taste that lasted at least two days and most of the time you couldn't get what you needed from just one you either had to drink from five or six human females or just suck about two of them completely dry and even then, you still didn't get what you fully needed. Payne always just put it off till the last minute, till he couldn't go another day without going on a blood lust rampage, seemed easier to tolerate the guilt of what you had done.

Payne always knew being a brother would wear him out but he never once realized how literal it was, how exhausted his whole body felt after every night...but maybe if he feed on a normal monthly or even weekly plan he wouldn't fill so tired, just look at Tehrror with his mate. They were always together and he was healthy and faster than most of the brothers, he was quick and capable and there was no doubt that he was feeding weekly...hell every day was more like it, but a life like that was hard to have in this line of work. It was hard to find a female that could handle this kind of life style. Let alone one who can deal with the anger and feeding but to deal with all their baggage and the danger it would drive any female away. As well as with with the fighting, the injuries, that they endure would be too hard for any female to witness over and over, there is no doubt that Tehrror counts himself lucky every day that she is still with him and that he gets another day with her.

Payne took a deep tired breath, closing his eyes letting all his problems and hatred toward himself slither to the back of his mind, bringing him some peace, not that getting no sleep was really helping him but...what does someone like him do to heal his self-loathing...what does someone like him do to hide from his past regrets that haunt him like a curse put on his soul.

Suddenly a blazing pain surged through his temples throwing him out of his thoughts, falling back into the wall behind him holding his temples as the headache surged making him weaker than before.

"FUCK!" He shouted holding his head

He knew it was time to just suck it up and feed there was no more time to stall or say he can do it tomorrow. He decided it was time to go tell Stryker what was doing with him and that he would be back later.

He slipped on some new pants and walked to the door, fumbling and tripping over his own feet until he stumbled out the door into the hallway that was barley lit by candles which he was once again so thankful for since his headache was pounding like a child with a new drum set.