The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) (30 page)

No one spoke, though Ashley’s hand shot up.
Jonny doubted it was because of her assignment; she’d been given an
objective as tough as any other team.

“Yeah, Natural,” Jonny said brusquely.

“Hector and I faced Valon at the factory. I
think I figured out how to get past his weird voodoo disappearing
act.”

“Everyone else, join your teams. Stay here,
Natural,” Jonny directed.

Ashley approached him.

Jonny waited, not about to let any emotion
show in front of his vamps.

“Two things,” she started. “The first is you
can see him from above, even if you can’t see him when he’s at your
level. So, if you’ve got the option of an aerial view or … I’m not
sure. A tree or something, use it. Second, you’ll see this tiny
spark of red where he is before he hits you.”

“Good pointers,” he allowed. “You get one
warning, Ash. If any member of your team goes off the reservation,
they all die.”

“They won’t, Jonny,” she said. She turned
away and started towards her team.

“Ash,” he called.

She faced him once more.

Jonny reached into his cargo pocket and
withdrew a knife. He tossed it to her.

“I have a few already,” she said,
puzzled.

“This one is special,” he replied. “This one
killed Czerno.”

Her eyes lifted to his, and he saw her
surprise.

“It’s for luck,” he said awkwardly. “Return
it to me when this is over.”

She accepted it, her features glowing once
again.

“We know Brandon’s there. We’ll get him
out,” he added.

“Thanks.” Her expression softened. “Try not
to get killed.”

Jonny watched her walk away, fighting the
urge to say more. It wasn’t the right time for him to show weakness
of any sort, and emotions were weakness when he needed his head
clear. Knowing she was going out unprepared to face Valon’s vamps,
he didn’t think he’d be able to concentrate on his own objective
for the night.

He motioned Charles over to him.

“Everyone ready?” he asked.

“Yes,
ikir,
” Charles replied.

Jonny handed him a Taser. “When you get
there, lure her away from her team and drop her. Your team’s
objective is now to find Brandon and get him and those fucking
Guardians out of our business. Once they have Brandon and Ashley
both, they leave or they die.”

Charles met his gaze, surprised.

“You were right, Charles. I can’t live with
sending her out knowing we’re going to get fucked up,” he said.
“She needs to make it out of this alive.”

Charles accepted the Taser.
“I understand,
ikir.
”

“Do you think me weak for putting the lives
of two Naturals above ours?” Jonny’s gaze followed Ashley’s
movement through the vamps to her team.

“Never,
ikir.
But I think you underestimate
her.”

“I really don’t care right now. As long as
she survives.”

“You’re stronger than Valon. You have
nothing to fear.”

“There’s always something to fear when you
care too much about someone else,” Jonny replied, troubled.
“Remember – keep all the teams on their assigned locations and
missions. When they’re done, they come straight back here. Someone
needs to survive this.”

“Will not you share your location even with
me?”

“No,” Jonny said firmly. “This is my battle.
I’ll face it alone.”

“May I speak openly?”

Jonny glanced at Charles. “Go.”

“You need to survive
this,
ikir,
” his
second said. “Your vision for the vamps, the ability for us to live
alongside humans in peace, is worth fighting for.”

“It is, I know.”

“Valon will take everything from you if he
lives. He’ll slaughter all your loyal vamps and he’ll go after the
Natural, because he knows you care for her.”

“I get it, Charles. I can’t fail. I don’t
plan on it,” Jonny said with some impatience.

Charles was studying him. Jonny sensed there
was more his second wasn’t saying.

“What?” Jonny snapped.

“Good luck,
ikir,
” Charles
said.

“You, too. Let’s go.” Jonny stood back and
watched his teams deploy for the night’s objectives. He waited
until certain everyone was gone before he Traveled to the point
where he expected Valon to meet him.

He materialized in the dark forest near the
burnt down lodge. The forest around him was quiet, but he sensed
what lingered in the shadows.

Valon brought friends. Lots of them.

Jonny gathered his power, ready to flatten
the forest for a mile in each direction, when the odd sense of …
something reached him. He cocked his head to the side, sifting
through his senses and magic both to pinpoint the source of energy
teasing the back of his neck and surrounding him in a haze of
tingling.

Valon.
Ashley’s warning returned to him. He started to unleash his
magic when he experienced a flash of fiery pain. Jonny looked down
at his forearm and saw an arrow with a head similar to the one
Ashley had intended to use on him. This one was smaller, and it
seemed to absorb the power he directed at it. He yanked it free of
his arm in annoyance and tossed it, knowing he’d heal
instantly.

Except he didn’t. He glanced down twice at
the wound. It didn’t heal. At all.

“Now I know it works,” Valon’s voice came
from somewhere off to his side within the energy cloud. “Are you
ready to die, Jonny?”

“I’m ready to kill, Valon.”

Valon’s energy cloud disappeared, and he
solidified before Jonny. The Black God prepared to let loose his
power, to crush his challenger once and for all.

“Hurt me and you don’t get your little
Natural back,” Valon said quickly.

“Like I give a fuck about one Natural.”

“I know you do the girl. You want to know my
plans for her? How I plan to fuck and drain her?”

Fury warmed Jonny’s blood at the vision of
how Valon had left Ashley at the factory and the knowledge of how
much worse Valon was capable of. The predator before him was
baiting him, and he clenched his jaw. “This is between us,
Valon.”

“You think I’m stupid enough to face you
without a plan? To let you wipe me to without even trying to beat
you?” Valon laughed. “Some of that naïve boy remains, doesn’t
it?”

“You’re stalling,” Jonny said. “What the
fuck –”

Pain pierced his back. A flurry of arrows
rained from the forest. Several slammed into him before his
defenses went up, and the rest deflected off him. He felt without
seeing they were made of the same material as the first, material
that attracted his power like magnets and prevented him from
unleashing it. Pain ripped through him, and he dropped to one knee,
unable to reach the arrows to stem the bleeding or eject them from
his body. They were immune to his magic.

“The Others knew a thing or two about
keeping a god in check,” Valon said. “I can’t stop your power, but
I can distract it.”

“This is not going to end well for you,
Valon.” Jonny tested his power, startled by how effective the
arrowheads were.

“Now it’s almost a fair fight,” Valon said
and drew two knives. “You ready?”

Jonny straightened. Blood streamed down his
back and legs. His thoughts went to Ashley then his vamps. Charles
was right. If Valon won, Jonny’s death would be the first of many.
Even without humanity in the equation, everyone he loved would be
slaughtered.

Valon was bigger, stronger and faster, but
Jonny knew how to fight such an opponent. He’d tested himself
against Ashley, who could run circles around him with her speed and
skill.

“I’m not the boy you think you know,” he
answered. “I won’t let some asshole with no vision run my domain.
It takes more than strength to be a god.”

“We’ll find out, won’t we?”

Jonny found himself wishing he could reach
the arrows to yank them out of his back. He had access to some of
his power but not all. A game of trial and error with Valon was
likely to end in death.

He began to suspect Charles was right. When
it boiled down to it, duty was a strong enough reason to fight. But
knowing what happened if he failed – the fate Ashley, Charles and
his loyal vamps faced – lit a fire inside him he hadn’t thought
existed.

Losing was not an option.

Charles or Jonny had to have had an inkling
she was going to search for Brandon the moment she hit the ground.
Ashley didn’t have a chance to orient herself let alone determine
whether her brother was nearby. The Traveler on her team dropped
them into the middle of a nest of vamps hiding out in an abandoned
cabin in the forest.

Fortunately the creatures were caught
unaware. She’d hacked down three of them before the others had
scrambled to grab their weapons. The Guardians with her fought with
unity and discipline, and she broke away from them, her speed
putting her ahead of everyone.

Reaching a pocket of quiet, Ashley drew a
deep breath and gazed around her. She was using the knife Jonny
gave her, less because she needed it and more because she felt
honored he had given it to her.

Jonny cared on some level, even if he hadn’t
said such aloud. It didn’t confuse her like she thought it would.
If anything, knowing – finally – she wasn’t the only one affected
by their relationship settled some of her doubt and fear.

The sound of fighting died out behind her,
and she turned to see the last of the vamps surrounded by the
Guardians.

“Alive, as requested,” one of them told
her.

She went to the injured creature and bent
down beside it. “My brother,” she said. “I want to know where he
is.”

The dazed vamp stared at her without
speaking.

She drew the knife Jonny had given her and
lifted it. “We can do this the hard way or the harder way,” she
said. “Tell me what I want to know, and we’ll give you Jonny’s form
of mercy.”

The vamp shifted uneasily.

“Natural.” Charles brusque address came at
the wrong time.

“Not now, Charles,” she said and leaned
around the vamp to see him.

The Guardians were bristling, but they
didn’t attack, instead parting for the Black God’s second in
command to approach.

“I have a lead on your brother,” Charles
said. “I lost a vamp. Leave your lackeys and come with me.”

She stood without hesitation. “You have a
Traveler?”

“You shouldn’t leave without us,” one of the
Guardians warned. “Naturals won’t last long with vamps.”

“Don’t you start with me,” she said and shot
the speaker an annoyed look. “I’ve been fighting with these guys
for a week now. I definitely don’t need you defending me.”

“Dusty said –”

“To do what I tell you,” she snapped. “So.
Do what I tell you!”

The Guardian backed down but not before he
glanced at another of this teammates. She had the sense their
orders weren’t exactly what Dusty said they were, but she wasn’t
about to let Guardian or vamp get in her way.

“Come on, Charles,” she said and strode
away. “Let’s find my brother.”

The Guardians didn’t follow. Charles led her
into the forest, to the vamp she assumed would take her where her
brother was, and paused. Seconds later, they materialized somewhere
else in the dark forest. Somewhere quiet, with no sign of a hideout
or safehouse or anything.

Ashley didn’t notice the look Charles gave
the vamp beside him or the Traveler stepping away from them. She
tuned her senses into the forest, waiting for the slightest sound
or smell of her brother, anxious to see him again.

“Where is he, Charles? Do we have to go
–”

Hot electricity tore through her, and she
dropped to the ground, convulsing and panting. Ashley cursed him
silently, bewildered by what he was doing, and lay still when the
jolts of electricity ceased flowing.

Unable to move, she was helpless as he tied
her arms and legs. “What … are you doing?” she managed at last.

“Jonny’s orders,” Charles said.

“What
?”

“We do know where your brother is likely to
be. Jonny wants us to get him then turn you both over to the
Guardians. Then, you’re supposed to get the fuck away from us.”

A flicker of hurt was quickly replaced by
anger. Ashley strained at her bonds.

Charles motioned the vamp with him back.

“This is so stupid, Charles!” she told him.
“You need me fighting!”

He crouched beside her and gripped her
shoulder, pushing her onto her side. With a glance at the vamp
Traveler, he shifted closer. “I know. I am loyal to my god. But I
do not agree with this decision, not because I care for a stupid
Natural, but because I know he needs you.”

She listened, surprised.

“I have been ordered to rescue your brother
and deliver him to the Guardians, and I’m going to do so. I need to
know something before you that’ll determine whether or not I tell
you where your weapons are.”

“What?”

“Jonny shared his location with no one. No
vamp can track him. Do you know where he is?”

Ashley rolled the question around in her
head. She started to respond that she didn’t, until she considered
the location Valon had given her where he wanted to meet when she
was done doing his dirty work. “I might. It’s a long shot,” she
said. “Untie me and we can find out.”

“No. If you get loose, it won’t be because I
let you,” Charles rose. “But if you do find the weapons we hid in
the bushes over there, and you happen to set yourself free, you
need to find Jonny. You have my word Brandon will be safe.”

“You just Tasered me, Charles. Why should I
believe you?” she returned.