The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) (16 page)

“Why else would he have your address in his
phone?” she retorted.

“He didn’t tell you?” Jonny sat on the chair
in the corner. “He was working for me.”

She stared at him. “What?”

“He’s helping me track the rogue vamps. We
needed a second skilled hacker, and he was more than willing when I
promised to leave you alone in exchange for his help.”

“You blackmailed my brother.” She was
reaching for one of the weapons the guards had removed when she was
unconscious.

“I needed his assistance.”

“And now he’s gone.” She began to pace
again. Her irritation wasn’t the only thing he sensed. Without his
fangs in her neck, he couldn’t read more from her body, but there
was a tremor in her hand.

“Charles,” Jonny glanced towards the open
window in the door. “Have Stuart check the link he has to Brandon’s
computer. Maybe he got hacked and Valon found him that way.”

“Yes,
ikir.
”

Jonny waited until Charles was gone. “You
need to calm down, Ashley.”

“Calm down? My brother is missing, and you
want me to calm down?” she all but shouted the words.

“You’re about to have a seizure.”

She froze in place. Without another word,
she sat woodenly on the metal cot in the cell.

“I don’t have him. I’ll
find out if Valon does and then I’ve got a choice to make,” Jonny
said in as level of a tone as he could manage. “You challenged me
on
my
territory in
front of
my
vamps.
You know what happens to a vamp who does this?”

She was eyeing him.

“Let’s just say mercy is viewed as
weakness,” he continued. “I can’t let you go.”

“But Brandon is –”

“I told you. This isn’t a game. You don’t
get to throw down the gauntlet with a god and then call off the
fight, Ashley,” he said with more heat than he intended. He watched
her expression, suspecting this was only the second time in their
history together where she’d actually heard him. The first was the
night before. “You fucked up coming here and now you can’t go after
your brother even if you want to.”

Emotion flickered through her gaze. As if
realizing how serious he was, her anger vanished. “Look, Jonny,
he’s my family. I’d do anything, even challenge you, if I thought
you had him.”

“Which you did and which I don’t.” Anger
entered his voice. “I was willing to hide your identity as the
vigilante. But I can’t cover this up.”

Her hands both shook, and her pupils were
dilating.

“I’ll have to decide what to do with you,”
he said, standing. “Chances are, you won’t leave this place.”

“Jonny, you can’t keep me here!” She leapt
to her feet. “I can save him!”

“You should’ve thought of the consequences
before walking into my headquarters.” He opened the door.

Her voice trembled. “If you keep me here and
something happens to Brandon, I will do whatever it takes to find a
way to kill you.”

He left.

“Fuck you, Jonny!” she shouted as the door
closed.

Jonny released his breath and lingered,
furious at the position she’d put him in and even more agitated by
the sexual tension between them. He could think of one solution,
one she’d hate him for if she didn’t already.

The sound of her hitting the floor hard
caused him to grind his teeth. He wasn’t going to get pulled in by
emotion again. It was too dangerous and there was too much at risk.
If he walked away now, she’d definitely get the hint he didn’t
care, especially after he did his best to discourage her the night
before.

She slammed into something mid-seizure, and
he flinched physically to know she was suffering.

Except I do care.
“Fuck,” he murmured, unable to leave her in the
state she was in.

Jonny opened the door to Ashley’s cell. She
was convulsing on the ground, eyes closed and face blanched. He
knelt beside her and rested one hand on the exposed skin of her
neck. His eyes went to the pulsing vein beneath her sensitive skin,
and hunger filled him despite drinking his fill from her the night
before.

His power stopped her seizure. She lay
still, breathing raggedly and balled up on her side.

“I don’t want … your help,” she whispered
weakly. “Unless it’s for … Brandon.”

“Quiet, Ash. You aren’t fooling anyone.”

An expression of torment crossed her
features. She swiped his hand away. “Get away from me.”

“You brought this on yourself,” he reminded
her. “I’m the one trying to find a solution that lets you
live.”

Her eyes opened. She peered up at him, gaze
foggy. His power was working its way through her system, soothing
her despite her rejection.

“Traveling fucks you up,” he added. “That’s
why you have episodes more frequently when you Travel.”

“I didn’t … someone …” she clamped her mouth
closed.

Someone else had dropped her off. He knew it
wasn’t Xander. It had to be another Guardian, and they were
supposed to know his property was off limits.

“Your body can’t handle it.” He touched her
again to assess her. “You can’t be in direct contact with someone
who Travels or you risk this happening.”

“I hate you … Jonny.”

He was almost disappointed his talk last
night appeared to have worked. He almost believed her this time,
unlike yesterday. “I became the Black God when I killed my
predecessor to save my sister’s life,” he said quietly, thoughts on
the idle threat he’d made before about turning her into his
personal food source. It was starting to look like a viable option.
He had to do something about her challenging him in front of his
own vamps. “What would you do to save Brandon?”

“Anything,” she replied without
hesitation.

“Are you sure?”

Ashley nodded.

“You may not like what I have in mind.”

Unease was in her eyes. She forced herself
into a seated position and leaned against the wall for support. She
was weak, trembling, pale. She resembled the girl he remembered
from four years ago rather than the strong warrior she had become.
“Are you going to blackmail me, too?” she ventured when he said
nothing else.

“I’m considering it.”

“I can’t hack. All I can do is fight.”

Jonny touched the light scarring on the side
of her neck. “You can do more than that, Ashley.”

She recoiled.

“You’ve got all the time in the world to
think about it,” he said and rose once more. “We’ll discuss it
later.” This time when he left, he didn’t pause or turn back. What
he planned wasn’t going to win him any favor with Xander or Damian.
Chances were, it was going to end up a huge mistake since he
already struggled not to feel anything when she was around.

Her unique regeneration gift was something
he could use. His vamps would applaud turning Xander’s adopted
daughter into a blood slave and Jonny would lose no face with
them.

And he’d have an excuse to keep Ashley
alive. There was no debate about the morality of his plan. It was
wrong in every way. His anger faded as he realized Ashley had
unknowingly given him the excuse he didn’t know he needed to pursue
a relationship, even a complicated one, with someone he could
actually relate to and cared about.

But doing so, even if she
forced his hand, was dangerous. He didn’t want to
feel
ever again, and she
had placed herself in danger whose consequences were going to fall
on him.

He went to the command center, where Charles
and Stu sat side by side in front of the hacker’s computer.

“They tracked him through his computer,”
Tasha reported before Jonny could ask. She was leaning against
Stu’s chair, gaze on the screen. “Locational data, headquarters
information, and any other data we sent him has been potentially
compromised.”

Jonny frowned. “They know where we are.”

“They know where
all
of us are,” replied
Stuart.

Dread settled into his stomach. “Issue
orders for everyone to move now,” Jonny directed Charles. “Double
our guard and warn everyone we’re preparing for confrontation. Set
up wards around the property.”

“Wards won’t trip if they’re vamps,” Charles
replied.

Jonny hadn’t had the chance to ask Ashley
how she got to Oregon. She’d had help from someone who could
Travel. “Set them up anyway. I want to know if anyone or anything
else is headed our way. Issue evac protocol. We’ll be out of here
by tomorrow morning.”

“Got it. You want the girl moved or a note
sent to Damian to pick her up?”

“Moved.” Charles glanced up at Jonny’s firm
tone. “I’ve got a plan with how to deal with her once and for all.
No more vigilante, no more stupid as shit attacks on our
headquarters.”

Charles smiled. “What about Brandon?”

“We’ve got a bigger concern right now,”
Jonny replied. “They’re going to know not to hurt him. Every vamp
and Guardian out there knows not to mess with Xander.” It wasn’t an
answer Ashley would accept, but Jonny had to think of his vamps
first. “Stuart, check their phones.” He handed Ashley and Brandon’s
cells to Stuart. “See if there’s any clue as to where Brandon is.
Tasha, we need an inventory and raid party assignments by
tonight.”

“You ready for this?” Charles asked.

“Absolutely,” Jonny answered. “It’s time to
set things straight. Rogue vamps are to be killed on sight.”

“No mercy.”

“None.” Jonny’s mind went to Ashley and
Brandon. He didn’t need them distracting him at a time like this,
when Valon had everything he needed to make his move.

Then again, Ashley fought like no Guardian
or vamp Jonny had ever met. She might have a dual use for him in
the near term, assuming she’d yield to his plans without fighting
him again.

Jonny was serious.

It was the first thought that emerged from
the sluggish depths of her mind. Her eyelids were lead, her body
wooden. She managed to pry her eyes open and stared at the wooden
beams of a ceiling she didn’t recognize.

It came back to her slowly. Brandon
disappearing. Her confrontation with the vamps in Oregon. Jonny’s
determined look when he said he couldn’t just let her go.

Ashley groaned and rolled onto her side,
cursing herself repeatedly. Morning light filtered in through thin
curtains over wide windows. The room wasn’t in Jonny’s prison. It
was small and comfortable with a half-bathroom behind a partially
opened door in the corner. She wore her clothing still, down to her
boots, and was draped in a thick quilt. She heard no movement
outside the closed door to her room and sensed no one nearby.

If she had had more energy, Ashley wouldn’t
have dropped off into deep slumber. She had rested her head in the
crook of her arm for a moment, torn between needing some serious
sleep and desperation to find a way out of Jonny’s prison when she
toppled into sleep.

Rested, if hungry, she pushed herself into a
sitting position and flung off the covers. Her body was a little
stiff though not as bad as she usually felt the day after a
seizure. Normally, she felt like she’d run a marathon and smashed
into every tree along the homestretch.

Ashley made it halfway to the door before
something tight around her ankle prevented her right leg from
moving. She looked down, surprised.

“Oh, real nice, Jonny,” she muttered. Her
ankle was chained to the bed. She retreated to the post she was
connected to, surprised to see someone had made the effort to
cement the bed into blocks too large for her to budge.

She tested her distance and was able to make
it into the bathroom but not close the door. Her wallet and phone
were gone, along with her weapons. She had nothing to occupy her in
the tiny room and crossed to the window. Her view was of the forest
except … She frowned.

It wasn’t the same pine forest she’d gone to
sleep in. This was a forest of deciduous trees with flat leaves and
white trunks. Jonny could have moved her anywhere in the world.
Where was she?

Irritated, Ashley returned to the bed and
sat. She didn’t have time to fiddle with her restraints. The door
opened, and she sprang to her feet, ready to defend herself with
hand to hand combat.

The vamp that entered was one she recognized
from the lodge. Jonny had seemed to favor this one. Tall and broad
shouldered with red eyes and dark hair, the vamp bore a McDonald’s
bag in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

“Breakfast.” He growled as he set the food
down on the bedside table, as if disgusted by her very human choice
of food.

“Where are we?” she asked.

He ignored her and knelt to unlock the cuff
from around the leg of the bed.

Ashley watched and waited for the lock to
click free, tensing to make an attempt at a getaway. The moment she
started to lean forward, the vamp raised a Taser, and she sat
back.

He couldn’t match her in battle, but
Tasering her would knock her out of commission.

“Dammit,” she muttered and snatched the bag
of McDonald’s instead. She pulled out a breakfast sandwich and
unwrapped it.

“You are only alive because of Xander,” the
vamp said and stood. “We train now.”

“Train?” She asked through a mouth full of
food.

“Jonny thinks you can help us fight the
rogue vamps.”

“Why the hell would I help him?”

“Because they have your brother.” The vamp
tugged on her chain. “We’ll see who wins this bet.”

She dwelt on his words long enough for him
to tug again. Ashley shoved the rest of her breakfast into her
mouth and trailed him into the hallway. They appeared to be in a
dorm of some sort. Private rooms similar to hers lined the hallway.
The décor was dark and woodsy, the dorm quiet.