Damian's Immortal (War of Gods 3) (19 page)

Worse, she was losing her grip on the magic
within her. It shouldn’t have been flooding her like it was, as if
someone there was feeding her while Darian seemed to be sucking it
out of her, despite her attempt to restrain it.

“
I’m not done yet,” Darian
said and rose from the ground. “You got a piece of me, but that’s
it.”

He pulsed as strongly as the two blocked men
with the power he’d absorbed. Yully faced him, unable to pull his
power without touching him or reverse the drain he had on her.

“
Again,” she said. She
stretched her senses and pulled everything to her. The ground
around the monument was rich with the long dead whose souls were
trapped.

Amplified by magic, Yully’s fighting skill
was inhuman. Jule watched the beautiful woman knock Darian to the
ground for a second time. Her hair glowed as if it were on fire,
and she floated, her slender form clad in simple leggings and a
tunic. Her movements were faster than any Guardian’s. She fought
with tenacity born of desperation. His newfound power had broken
whatever barrier the Watcher put between them. Their bond was
stronger than ever, and Jule’s body bristled with magic that felt
both foreign and familiar, like a memory long ago forgotten.

Xander stood before the Black and White
Gods, the only thing keeping Yully from stealing their magic. The
Other on the other side of the monument watched with a cold smile,
his gaze traveling upwards.

Jule looked up. Yully sent lightning into
the sky every time she touched Darian and yet was brimming with
more magic than he thought possible for her to contain. Her gaze
went from Darian to her father, and Jule saw the flash of anger
that crossed her face.

Darian got up again, distracting her. Jule
looked at the clouds, able to feel the gateway cracking with his
newfound powers. Darian’s own power seemed to grow every time she
knocked him down, and Jule looked at the Grey God curiously.

“
Jule,” Damian called.
“Fix this, or I will.”

Jule stepped forward and motioned for Xander
to follow.

“
Darian, move!” he
shouted.

The Grey God grunted as he hit a column and
rose. Jule waved him away. Darian’s head was spinning, his mind
reverberating with the power of the site. Instead of draining his
power, the woman was shoving power into him. He staggered away from
the monument and lightning connecting the woman with the clouds and
dropped to his knees on the other side of the hill.

The strange sensations within him remained.
She’d taken power from the Other, from the dead, from the
Guardians, and even from the Original Beings, who fed her power in
hopes of short-circuiting her. She’d blasted him with it. Instead
of destroying him, it made him stronger.

It became his. Panting, he rolled onto his
back, unable to regain his balance while his body twitched from
magic. The gateway yawned open over the monument. He’d cracked the
gateway when Jonny became the Black God, and now, the immortal
realm peeked from the clouds into the mortal world.

Darian didn’t remember it any more than he
remembered much of the thousands of years he spend enslaved by
Jonny’s predecessor. He recalled agony, and the darkness of his
thoughts amplified the pain of the new magic in his blood.

“
Darian.” The Watcher’s
voice pierced his confusion. “You don’t have much time.”

“
I can’t kill her,” he
said.

“
It’s too late for that.
The Original Beings will handle her. It’s time for
you
to act.”

The Grey God pushed himself to his knees.
His body seemed too weak to contain his newfound power.

“
The seal will never be
whole again,” the Watcher said in a hushed tone, his green eyes on
the sky. “So be it. You will have to balance the realms in a way we
didn’t desire.”

Gatekeeper.
The Original Vamp and Sofi had called him the
same thing. Darian wobbled to his feet.

“
I’m ready, I think,” he
said. “What do I do?”

“
Whatever you must. The
Others cannot be allowed into your world.” The Watcher winked out
of existence, and Darian looked up.

The power within him stabilized and filled
him until he felt ready to explode.

“
Sofi?” he whispered. “I
don’t know what to do.”

The Oracle was silent. Darian drew a deep
breath.

…
balance the realms
…

Gatekeeper.

Xander approached the woman from one side
and Jule from the other. He met her gaze and saw the confusion that
crossed her features. Xander took the first shot. She blocked, her
gasp audible as the Original Being’s energy flew through her. The
vamp’s blow and magic threw her to the ground. He stepped back, and
Yully rolled away before climbing to her feet.

The Other no longer smiled and took a step
forward, unwilling to move closer to his daughter with the Original
Vamp standing between them. Yully was floating again. Instead of
preparing to face off the vamp, she floated upwards. Jule could see
the energy flying to her. Lightning no longer left her for the
clouds. She was holding it within her.

“
Yully!” he shouted.
“Yully, stop!”

The vamp snatched her out of the air and
flung her to Jule. Jule caught her. He almost missed her first
punch and caught the second, pulling her against him. Her eyes were
glazed, her body too hot.

“
Jule,” she whispered. “I
need your magic.”

“
Sweetheart, you have to
let it go before it kills you.”

“
No. I have to destroy
him, or he’ll destroy you. I can do this, Jule.”

Something melted within him at her words.
Her body shook with her effort to contain the magic. Jule looked up
at Xander, who stood near the Other, waiting. Their plan was risky,
but the alternative was killing the woman he loved.

“
You still with me?” he
asked as she started to sag.

“
Yes.”

“
On the count of three.
You can end this, Yully.” Jule released his newfound power into
her. Yully’s body bucked in his arms, and she opened her mouth in a
silent scream. “Three, two, one. Now, Yully.”

The woman didn’t respond immediately. Jule
held her tightly, struggling to balance the power flowing between
them.

“
You can do it,” he
whispered.

The woman pushed away from him and
staggered. She dropped to her knees. Her gaze settled on the Other,
and she forced herself up. The vamp moved out of her path. Jule
trailed as closely as he dared.

Yully closed her eyes and reached out
towards her father. Power flowed from Xander and Jule, through her
toward the Other, pinning him against the pillar behind him. A loud
crack, as if lightning were striking, sent a shockwave of power
that made the monument tremble.

And then there was silence. Jule caught the
woman as she fell. He heard a gurgled scream and looked up. The
Original Vamp was tearing out the Other’s throat. Xander raised the
Other over his head and snapped his back over one knee.

“
Yully,” Jule called,
cradling the woman in his arms. Her heartbeat was faint and slow.
“C’mon, sweetheart. Stay with me.” The bond between them was
fading.

“
Take her to Bianca,”
Damian said, approaching. “Unless healing is one of your newfound
powers.”

Jule looked up at him. The White God’s fiery
gaze was pinned to the Original Vamp, who lingered over the Other’s
body. Jule glanced at the vamp, who shrugged in response to his
silent question about healing.

“
Xander, what are you?”
Jonny asked, drawing abreast of Damian. “And what was
that
?” He indicated the
body of the Other at Xander’s feet.

Jule gathered the woman in his arms. He
couldn’t yet understand the magic in his veins, unleashed by the
vamp without any explanation of its depths.

“
Damian,” Jule said,
standing with his mate cradled in his arms. The White God’s power
pulsed around him, and he looked ready to blast the vamp before
him.

“
I know, I know. Tell
Dusty not to blow everything up, and leave the vamp alone,” Damian
said. “Go on. We’re just going to chat.”

If not for Yully’s fading
energy, Jule would’ve stayed to make sure Damian’s version
of
chat
resembled
his and not Dusty’s, who was more likely to shoot first and discuss
later. Instead, he closed his eyes and Transported to the
ranch.

“
You’d think if you’re a
god, people wouldn’t keep secrets from you,” Damian started.
“Jonny, to answer your question, Xander is an Original Being, one
of the handful of the oldest immortals in existence.”

“
Wow,” Jonny
breathed.

Damian looked at him, irritated at the Black
God’s youth. While he would never claim to miss Jonny’s crazy
predecessor, Czerno, at least the former Black God was capable of a
poker face. The kid beside him was openly gaping in awe at the
massive vamp.

“
As is Jule,” Xander
added. “Seems he kept that secret from you as well,
ikir.
”

“
I knew I could trust him
to tell me when he needed to,” Damian replied. “You, on the other
hand, I don’t trust.”

“
I’m the Black God’s most
trusted servant,” Xander said.

“
Damian, he’s my most
trusted servant,” Jonny echoed, turning to him.

Xander smiled at the demonstration of his
power. Damian wasn’t amused.

“
Jonny, step aside,” he
ordered.

The Black God hesitated and then moved away,
leaving Damian with the Original Vamp.

“
You here for very long?”
Damian asked.

“
Looks that way. All the
Originals have been freed and expelled. I landed here,” Xander
replied.

Damian studied him, not sure what to think
of the oldest vamp in the universe. Xander was too powerful to care
what went on around him. Nothing on this world-- with the exception
of the combined power of the awestruck Black God and Damian-- were
threats to him. Xander seemed like nothing more than a bored guest.
One of Sofi’s peculiar predictions returned to Damian, and he
thought of the Guardian he’d assigned to Jonny. Sofi claimed Jenn
would have a protector, and there was no need to worry about what
Jonny might do. There was only one vamp in Jonny’s camp more
powerful than the Black God.

Damian never imagined her
protector might be the towering vamp before him. There was more to
Xander than Damian could pinpoint. He didn’t have the need to kill
like a normal vamp, and he hadn’t
landed
here by accident.

“
I take it you’re not a
fan of the Others,” Damian said.

Xander’s lip curled with a growl. He looked
at the body beneath him and kicked it. Damian almost smiled.

“
I have about three weeks
left in my truce with Jonny,” Damian started. “The gateway between
realms is cracked, and I have a slight Watcher infestation problem.
Jonny isn’t quite ready yet to deal with the Others who have been
stirring up trouble within the vamp ranks.”

Xander crossed his arms, his head tilted in
interest as he listened.

“
I don’t want either the
Watchers or Others on my planet,” Damian finished. “And I can’t
wait for Jonny to figure out how to do his job. With Jule-- and
you-- I think we have a chance of ridding the planet of the
immortal interference and returning to our day-to-day battle
between good and evil.”

“
Jonny is not the only God
who doesn’t know his job,” Xander pointed out. “The Gatekeeper has
yet to step up.”

“
Leave that to me,” Damian
replied. “He’ll be ready when the time comes. I want the immortals
to fight in their realm and leave us to fight here.”

“
And after the
truce?”

“
Business as usual. I’ll
have Jule, and Jonny will have you. The balance will be
maintained.”

“
What’s in it for me?”
Xander asked.

“
Nothing,” Damian said and
crossed his arms. “Your choice.”

“
You Guardians don’t
understand how to bargain.”

“
I don’t have a need to
bargain.”

The vamp said nothing. Damian turned to walk
away. Xander was there for a reason, and Damian suspected it had
something to do with the immortals plaguing both gods. Damian made
it halfway to the grass, where the Black God paced beside a calm
Jenn, when Xander’s low voice stopped him.

“
Very well, Guardian. I
will work with Jule.”

“
Good. He’ll find you in a
day or so,” Damian said without turning. His gaze went to Jenn.
“You okay?”

“
Yes,
ikir
,” she replied, though her eyes
strayed to Xander. Damian heard the uneasy note in her voice and
looked her over, his gaze lingering at her hips, where her weapons
should’ve been.

“
I told you she’d be fine,
Damian,” the Black God said, irritated.

“
When Jule goes to see
Xander, he’ll stop by to have a chat with her,” Damian replied.
“Maybe she can explain to him why you stripped her of
weapons.”

Jonny glanced at Jenn, as if noticing for
the first time that she wasn’t armed. The Black God frowned and
looked towards Xander. His hunch confirmed that Jonny wasn’t
running the show, and Damian pinned the youth with a heated
look.