Welcome to the second Black Dagger Brotherhood KhageMatchh! The trash-talking in the first BDB Matchh was fierce and furious...turns out, Wrath really IS king. We expect more of the same today.
So instead of stalking your mail carrier for J.R. Ward's Lover Unleashed, show some real Brotherly love.
Read the KhageMatchh and then tell us which Brother has won your heart by commenting below.
We're upping the stakes on the commenting prize. To win, you have to be a registered member of the site, but this time the prize is a $5 Starbucks card and a Heroes and Heartbreakers t-shirt. (Something tells us this is just going to get even better as things progress.)
We'll randomly draw a name from the registered commenters who've got comments time-stamped by 3/24 midnight tonight (PST) and we'll send the winner a $5 Starbucks card and a Heroes and Heartbreakers t-shirt. Not registered with the site? Click here.
Editor's Note, 3/25/11: Congratulations to KhageMatchh winner VISHOUS and #46 SueB! Send an email to info[at]heroesandheartbreakers[dotcom] to claim your prize.
And if your favorite Brother still hasn't been featured, no worries; the next Matchh starts tomorrow.
Get ready to ruuuuumble!
BUTCH VS. VISHOUS: VISHOUS IS A DARK GENIUS (Cornerman: Kinsey Holley)
He was six feet, six inches tall and built like a brick shithouse...his skin was the golden brown of a summer, tan and smooth…His back was amazing, the muscles heavy and yet elegant as they spanned his shoulders and feathered out under his skin. And his ass was . . .
If you like your heroes big and dark, tattooed and tortured, I’ve got just the Brother for you. Vishous is the outsider of the group, even more so, perhaps, than Zsadist.
Z has issues. V has demons.
Abandoned by his mother when he was too young to remember her, raised by a father known as The Bloodletter in a warrior camp where only the ruthless survived and the prime directive was kill or be killed (or raped), cursed with knowing everyone’s future but his own.
Oh, and he can never fully touch another person because his right hand sets everything, both animate and inanimate, on fire.
He’s beautiful. Glossy black hair and black goatee. Eyes of navy blue with diamond-shaped pupils that glow when he’s in the throes of a vision. All the other Brothers love their designer suits, but V, uninterested in life’s softer things, wears muscle shirts and leathers everywhere. Except for that one time he donned a white Turnbull & Asser dress shirt (with his leathers), and man, the image that conjures . . .
He’s brutal. He channels most of his brutality into the war against the Lessers, but what’s left over fuels his kinks. And let’s be honest, V’s got some kinks. If your favorite flavor of sex is vanilla, this ain’t the brother for you.
He’s brilliant. A bona fide genius—speaker of sixteen languages, computer savant and security expert, well-read and witty. He’s also in charge of the Brothers’ investments, and they’re filthy rich.
In a way, his fierce intelligence exacerbates his loneliness and isolation. He knows how different and how damaged he is. He knows he’s never experienced the kind of love his brothers feel for their mates. What’s more, he’s convinced that he never will and doesn’t even deserve to.
Just as fierce as his intelligence, though, is his loyalty. He would gladly die for his Brothers, and for their mates and children. When his best friend, the only person with whom V has ever made a real emotional connection, falls in love with a woman, V accepts it, and he accepts her. Butch’s happiness means more to him than his own.
He’s a different kind of hero. There are lots of layers here, and some of them aren’t pretty. But peeling them would be quite an experience.
Images from our Black Dagger Brotherhood Fantasy Casting post.
BUTCH VS. VISHOUS: BUTCH IS MORTALLY LETHAL (Cornerman: Megan Frampton)
Hold the phone! Butch, who’s been roaming around the Black Dagger Brotherhood neighborhood since Dark Lover, is not just a human who’s infiltrated the vampire camp with his ability to drink massive amounts of Lagavulin Scotch, be a lethal fighter against the lessers and gently rebuff Vishous’s hot man crush.
In addition to all that, Butch is actually descended from Wrath (the last pure-bred vampire, and the king), which means when it’s necessary, to save Butch's life, he can make the transition to vampire (his new name? Dhestroyer), and also end up with his vampire bride, Marissa. It's endearing how Butch is so protective of Marissa, even though she is a hella strong vampire. When they are together—you know, in that way—he talks her all the way through it (she's a vampire virgin, no less), and it's so, so sweet. And hot. Undeniably hot.
When we first meet him, Butch is a hazel-eyed, broken-nosed cop from Boston who’s a ruthless bloodhound on the scent of a mystery, and when employed in the BDB service—albeit unofficially prior to his change—he’s just as tough, almost getting killed fighting a battle that, technically, isn’t his to fight. And he inspires loyalty and confidence. Like, a lot of confidence. Listen to what Vishous says when the vampires discover Butch is missing, abducted by the lessers:
V looked down into his glass and slowly shook his head. “He’d die before giving us up. I guarantee it.” He swallowed the vodka and felt it slide down his throat. “My man is good like that.”
Which, of course, brings us to the elephant in the room: Butch and Vishous's relationship. They are so close, in fact, that they veer towards being a couple, with each of them fully committed to the other:
“You are my only friend. Never my enemy.”
No telling who embraced who first, but the urge to beat the living shit out of the other guy bled from their bodies, leaving only the bond between them. They wound up tight together and stood for a time in the cold wind. When they stepped back, it was awkwardly and with embarrassment.
Butch and Vishous live together, no less, sharing clothes (both have a serious clothes addiction, like Hermes-Gucci-Missoni serious; no shitkickers or leathers for them) and each would die for the other. And Butch nearly does.
Loyal to the death, with vampire bloodlines, huge hands, a way with words during certain intimate moments, a snappy dresser and a Sox fan; as Butch himself might say, “wicked pissa awesome!”
Images from our Black Dagger Brotherhood Fantasy Casting post.
There you have it! KhageMatchh: Vishous vs. Butch. Tell us who won your heart in the comments below. As an added bonus we'll randomly draw a name from registered site members who've got comments time-stamped by midnight tonight (PST, 3/24)
The prize is a $5 Starbucks card and a Heroes and Heartbreakers t-shirt. (Congrats again to the Wrath vs Phury winner, #74 rissatoo!) Wonder who's up next? Hint: They didn't start out the same.
Editor's Note, 3/25/11: Congratulations to KhageMatchh winner VISHOUS and #46 SueB! Send an email to info[at]heroesandheartbreakers[dotcom] to claim your prize.
