The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) (21 page)

“It’ll get worse before it gets better,” he
replied finally.

“Worse. That’s unacceptable,” Damian said.
“One human life lost is too much.”

“All I can promise is I’m working on
crushing the rebellion and yes, there’s going to be a lot of
collateral damage,” Jonny said. “But when it’s done, it’s done.
Tomorrow is not going to be a good day for human loss. I’m
expecting retaliation for the vamps I killed today.”

Damian paced away. Jonny sensed he was about
to say something he didn’t want to and glanced from him to
Darian.

“I heard you have a new badass vamp,” Darian
spoke quietly. “You vamped a Natural warrior?”

“No,” Jonny said. He felt Xander’s look and
didn’t dare acknowledge it.

“Two of the Trackers we had plans for
disappeared this week. You know anything about that?” Damian
asked.

“Yeah. I vamped them,” Jonny replied. “I
need to fix my rogue problem, and it’s easier if I can find
them.”

“Or you could come to me.”

“Or I could handle my domain and people
myself.”

“You call this
handling
?” Damian
approached him, charged energy radiating off him. “Because I know
the body count on the human side.”

“And I know it on the vamp side!” Jonny
said, refusing to back down. “I lost close to nine thousand vamps
before we killed off the Others and another seven hundred went
rogue. I’m slaughtering every one of the traitors as I find them.
But it takes time and you need to understand I’m not in a position
to do more than I already am. You couldn’t do it any faster or
you’d have wiped us out by now.”

“Oh, trust me. I can do something you won’t
ever recover from!”

Darian sighed. “Stop it. Both of you.” He
planted a hand on the shoulder of each and pushed them apart. “D,
you’ve been saying Jonny needs to step up for years now. And Jonny,
you should’ve come to us to help you.”

Fuck that.
Jonny seethed inside. Outsiders had no idea how
much he’d grown and changed or what it took to enforce the
catch-and-release program with predators who didn’t want to think
twice about what happened to their meals.

“I’m more interested in the warrior you
allegedly didn’t vamp,” Xander purred.

“He took out twenty five vamps at once, I
heard,” Darian said.

No part of Jonny wanted to bring Ashley into
this, but neither was he ready to lose Xander’s support. If Damian
and Darian disagreed on how to handle this, Xander was always the
tiebreaker.

“Not a he. A she,” Jonny said quietly.
“Ashley is helping me.”

“Helping you?” Damian repeated. “You fucked
with the head of Xander’s stepdaughter?”

“I didn’t fuck with her head. She made me a
deal. She’s obligated to fulfill her end of the bargain, just like
I’m obligated to fulfill mine,” Jonny snapped.

“What bargain?” Xander asked.

A terse silence fell over them before Jonny
decided to go with a version of the truth. “My rules can’t be
broken by anyone, Natural or vamp or Guardian.” He shot Damian a
look. “It’s the only way I can enforce the catch-and-release
program, with absolute obedience. Ashley broke one of my rules. She
showed up at my headquarters and started attacking my vamps. Any
uprising, any trespassing by non-vamp, is punishable by death. The
only mercy I give is to kill quickly.”

Xander was listening intently.

“She. Fucked. Up,” Jonny enunciated slowly.
“And I couldn’t appear weak in front of the remaining vamps. So we
made a deal. I don’t kill her in exchange for her doing exactly
what I tell her to.”

“Which is …” Damian prodded.

“None of your fucking business.”

“It’s mine,” Xander said.

“No, it’s not. My fucking business is my
fucking business,” Jonny said. “You all don’t have to like it.”

More uncomfortable silence. He fought with
them regularly, particularly Damian, but it was rare when he
refused to lend them insight into what he was doing. His protective
instinct rose with Ashley, though, and with the idea of Damian
wanting to slaughter the loyal vamps he had under his control.

“Why did she attack your headquarters?”
Darian asked.

Coño! He had to
ask.
“Because,” Jonny drew a deep breath,
“her brother went missing and she thought I had him. He was
captured by the leader of the rogue vamps, probably because he was
helping me track them.”

“You were using a Natural to track them?”
Damian stared at him. “A Natural not under my protection, with no
Guardians to help him if something happened?”

“He wasn’t under your protection because
he’s under Xander’s,” Jonny shot back. “I will find him.” This was
directed at Xander.

“You gonna stand by and let the Black God
get your step kids killed?” Damian asked the quiet vamp.

Xander was studying Jonny. Jonny felt the
pressure of Xander trying to enter his head. He didn’t block him
like he could, knowing he needed Xander’s support. Whatever Xander
sought didn’t take long for him to find.

“I warned Ashley,” Xander whispered.
“Choices have consequences. Jonny’s learned that lesson. What I
don’t understand: Ash doesn’t kill. What changed?”

Jonny hesitated before explaining. Damian
was frowning deeply when Jonny finished.

“She’s coming to me when this is over,” the
White God said. “She doesn’t belong anywhere near you.”

“I’m not okay with that,” Xander
replied.

Jonny listened to the two of them talking
about Ashley’s fate, uncertain why it infuriated him. Was it
because they discounted him completely from the equation? Or did
they simply think Ashley wasn’t capable of making her own
decisions?

“No,” he said loudly, cutting off their
conversation.

“No what?” Damian asked.

“Ashley’s not going
anywhere. She made a deal with
me
. She stays with me.”

“If you vamp –”

“I have no intentions of vamping her,” Jonny
said impatiently. “She saved the lives of several of my men.
They’re no threat to her.”

“I’m not worried about their threat to her,”
Damian replied.

Jonny didn’t want Damian’s
soft response to hit him like it did. The White God was gazing at
him in a combination of understanding and knowing, as if he somehow
empathized with the turmoil Jonny was going through when he
considered how he was going to keep Ashley alive and safe. Damian
had never faced a challenge like those Jonny dealt with on a
regular basis. By his very nature, and the nature of a vamp, Ashley
was never going to be truly safe with him.
From
him. Drinking from her appealed
to the predator in him, and he wasn’t comfortable guaranteeing
anyone he could curtail his inner monster as well as those of his
vamps.

But neither was he willing to give her
up.

I lost her once. I’m not
ready for that again.
“She made a choice.
She deals with what she’s done.”

Silence. Xander shifted finally. “She made a
deal with you. Brandon did not. If he’s not back within the week,
mostly intact, I’ll visit you first, Jonny.”

“Understood,” Jonny replied.

“Nothing here leaves me with the feeling you
have a clue what you’re going to do about your vamp uprising,”
Damian said.

“I’m dealing with it. I can’t prevent the
loss of life but I can assure you if any of my vamps kills a human,
I’ll send you both bodies,” Jonny said. “And you are welcome to
hunt and kill the vamps working with Valon.”

“Give me the location of yours so I know who
not to kill,” Damian said.

“Fuck no.”

Darian chuckled.

“My vamps bear my mark.” Jonny raised his
hand to display the brand. “My vamps are adhering to the
catch-and-release agreement.”

“So we can kill the other vamps.” Darian
appeared pleased.

“I want you to consider sending Ashley and
Brandon both to me when this is over,” Damian said. “They need to
be safe, like your sister.”

“Ashley doesn’t need your protection or
mine. She’s capable of handling herself and of making her own
decisions.” Jonny replied icily. “I’ll consider it a personal
offense if anyone interferes with her life.” He heard the words
only after they were out. Normally, he thought through what he was
going to say but with Ashley …

He didn’t regret it despite the emotion in
his voice.

“So … we can have Brandon,” Darian said,
trying not to smile.

“No,” Xander replied. “Brandon makes his own
choices as well.”

“I don’t like any of this. Too many people
are getting hurt,” Damian said, gazing at Jonny. “If you’re
serious, if you’re hunting your own vamps, you won’t mind me
sending an observer.”

“I don’t send people to make sure you do
your job!” Jonny retorted.

“I haven’t been in power for five
years.”

“The answer is no.”

They studied one another.

“Vote?” Darian asked.

“No,” Jonny said again. “There’s nothing to
vote on. I’m doing my job. If you don’t like it, fuck you.”

“I vote with Jonny,” Darian said,
smiling.

Jonny rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to
admit he was waiting for Damian’s reaction, but he was. He wanted
them to take him seriously, even if Charles was right about them
having no true influence over him unless he ceded to their
opinions. Damian had been as much of a mentor as any of them, one
who had worked with him in situations where he didn’t think another
immortal would have. Some small part of him still wanted Damian’s
approval, even if he never openly acknowledged it.

“One week,” Damian said finally. “One
fucking week. In the meantime, you and I are gonna talk about
Brandon, Xander.”

“Call us if we can help you wipe out bad
vamps,” Darian added. “I’m more than happy to oblige.”

“I’ll consider it,” Jonny replied. “In the
meantime, back off.”

“We will.” Damian was frowning. “Do your
job, Jonny. I won’t interfere.”

That took five fucking
years.
Jonny almost shouted in
triumph.

Xander was impossible to read and Darian
appeared to be the only person satisfied with anything that had
been discussed.

Holy fuck. I won this
round,
Jonny realized. Normally he left
with his tail between his legs. For once, he’d drawn boundaries
with the two gods and Original Vamp and they were respecting the
lines – even if not entirely willingly.

“I’ll be in contact,” he said quietly.
Before anyone could say anything to trump his victory, Jonny turned
and Traveled back to his hideout.

And then, in the safety of his suite, he
released the breath he’d been holding and rubbed his face. He had
expected worse from Damian and an interrogation at least from
Xander.

“Ikir.
” Charles voice was muffled by the door.

Jonny spent a few seconds breathing to calm
himself after the tense confrontation. When he felt ready, he
opened the door. “We need to plan tomorrow’s targets,” he said and
joined Charles in the hallway.

“How’d it go?”

“Relatively good. We have a week before
Damian is going to get involved, and I promised Xander we’d find
Brandon. Alive.”

“For all we know he’s already in
pieces.”

“Yeah. I know. We do our best.”

Charles looked away but not before Jonny saw
the flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“What?” he asked, surly despite the attempt
to regain his composure.

“What of the Natural?”

“She stays with us. But she goes nowhere
until I say so.”

“Can she train?”

“Yeah.”

The smug expression remained on Charles’
face.

“What?” Jonny demanded once more.

“I was thinking you could spar with her next
time.”

Jonny could think of no way such a lesson
was going to end well. Ashley was angry enough with him most of the
time, and he wasn’t about to go easy on her. He also didn’t relish
getting his ass handed to him a couple of times before he was able
to outmaneuver her.

“It’ll be a good morale booster,” Charles
added. “The vamps respect her and you.”

“Fine. She won’t be up for a full day,
though.” He didn’t look forward to the fight, though the more he
thought about it, the less he began to dread it. There was nothing
about Ashley he didn’t like with the exception she was reckless
both with her emotions and about her physical danger. It meant, of
the two of them, he was the only likely to stay in control, and he
sensed he was starting to lose that battle a little more each time
they touched.

Two days later, Ashley fought with ferocity
born of fury and frustration. Charles had her blindfolded, chained
and occasionally Tasered as usual, and she found herself grateful
for the impediments that prevented her from lopping off the heads
of every vamp around her. She felt good, healed, refreshed – and it
pissed her off knowing her brother was suffering somewhere else
when she could’ve spent the past couple of days rescuing him
instead of sleeping.

Charles dropped her with a Taser for the
fourth time and this time, she stayed on her back and panted.

“You have energy but no sense today,”
Charles told her.

Ashley lifted her hands to her face and
pushed off the blindfold. Several vamps had stopped to watch the
lesson. “Just send me out on a raid by myself,” she snapped.

“It’s not my call to make.”

“What?” She pushed herself to sit. “You know
what I can do.”

“I know you’re also likely to cause a great
deal of collateral damage.”

She rolled her eyes. He was right. She was
fighting with emotion this day, oblivious to how many times she’d
been knocked on her ass. The two hour opening session was enough to
take the edge off, and she sighed.