Damian's Immortal (War of Gods 3) (14 page)

“
There’s no mystery to
what I am.”

“
You’re no more loyal to
Jonny than I am. You survived whatever it was he did, because you
aren’t a vamp. You’re feeding him information that he somehow
accepts as truth.”

The massive vamp crossed his arms and drew
closer as she spoke. He stopped within arms’ reach.

“
Imagine what I could tell
him about you.” His threat was a low growl.

“
What do you want,
Xander?”

“
I want to know why a
Guardian is so interested in protecting a Black God. Personalizing
a mission gets people killed.”

“
It’s not personal,” she
replied. “I was sent to train him, and I will complete my
mission.”

“
What was your first
thought when you felt the power surge?”

I hope Jonny’s
okay.
She clenched her jaw.

“
Your feelings are in the
way,” he continued.

He gripped her forearm. She snapped into
motion, but he deflected her next strike as easily as he had those
of the vamps he killed. The vamp snatched the phone from her pocket
and stepped away, hands raised. Furious, her glare went from the
phone in his hand to his gaze.

“
You’re on your own now.
Let’s see if you can make it through the month,” he said and
dropped the cell. He smashed it with his heel.

Jenn strode into the compound. She wasn’t
afraid to be alone. She’d been deep undercover in much worse
situations. Xander, however, was a complication she’d never before
run across. He wouldn’t respond to her mind manipulation attempts,
and he was able to control Jonny. She had nothing but charisma and
the knowledge the Black God was fond of her.

Neither of those things would matter when
dealing with Xander.

Vamps growled as she passed them but made no
move to impede her. At the far end of the main floor of Jonny’s new
home glowed a panoramic window fitted into the mountainside. Chairs
lined the window, and she saw why. The window overlooked the
neighboring mountain, coated in white with clouds clinging to its
peak. Jonny had been drawn to the view as she was and stood before
the window.

Jenn didn’t approach, instead sinking into
the shadows of one of the many pillars providing support all along
the main floor. She didn’t know what Xander was, but he’d said one
thing that struck her hard.

She really had personalized the mission.
She’d defended the Black God, a young man she knew was partly in
love with her, against his own kind. The training was part of what
Damian wanted her there to do, and she mixed training with good
old-fashioned spy techniques. She was learning as much about the
Black God’s organization as she could, from numbers of vamps to
locations of their compounds to the Black God’s own skills.

Jonny had entrusted her with a lot. Aside
from assigning Xander to keep an eye on her, the Black God hadn’t
restricted her access to anything. She’d taken in everything she
could, like any good operative would. But pitying him, defending
him, helping him command his own men …

The vamp was right, and she hated to admit
it. She was near the line of what she was there to do, if not over
it. She’d been one of the first Guardians to talk to Jonny weeks
ago, before his transformation to the Black God. He’d been a good
kid, lost, but honorable. He became the Black God instead of
letting his sister die. She still saw him as the lost kid that
could be saved, not the Black God who was past salvation of any
kind.

What she didn’t understand was why a vamp
would consider it his job to remind her of her mission. Something
was wrong in the Black God’s camp, and she couldn’t figure out
what. Xander crossed to the Black God. The two spoke for a few
moments before Xander bowed his head and walked away.

Jenn followed him this time. Vamps moved out
of his way as he strode through the halls, and several bowed their
heads as he passed. They showed more respect for him during his
short trip down the hall than they had for the Black God during the
few days she’d been with Jonny. Xander knew the compound and
ascended a narrow stairwell to the second floor. She watched from
the stairwell as he entered one of the rooms, lining the hall. She
waited, but he didn’t emerge again. Satisfied to have found his
room, Jenn made her way back to the window, where Jonny remained.
He sat and stared out the window while nibbling on a piece of
cheese from the plate of cheese and crackers on a small table at
his side.

Unwilling to disturb his solitary mood, Jenn
leaned back against a pillar and watched.

* * *

By the time she reached the cliff Jule
indicated the next day, Yully’s soul was humming like an electric
wire. She could now feel everything around her, and she assumed
whatever her father unlocked was the cause.

She was late by an hour. Only two forms and
a body draped in black remained on the cliff side. Fog coated the
ocean, and a cold, moist wind made her eyes water. She shivered
despite her lamb’s wool coat, her hands plunged deep into pockets
that contained weapons.

The closer she stepped to Jule, the more her
body hummed. Something had happened during their separation; he
glowed in the fog and mist. Unable to take her eyes from him, she
approached slowly. His long, sleek hair was tied in a tight braid,
and despite the cold and wind he wore only a long-sleeved sweater
that hugged the muscles of his arms and shoulders beneath a down
vest. His suede pants clung to long, thick thighs and were tucked
into heavy boots.

She didn’t remember him being so large. The
closer she got, the stronger she felt him. Startled by the bond,
she stopped.

“
I didn’t think you’d
come,” he said without turning.

“
I did it for Sean,” she
replied. “I’d known him for a few years, even if it was only in
passing.”

“
He would appreciate it. I
do, too,” Jule said then motioned to the blond man. “This is Rourk,
my other Guardian assigned to Ireland.”

Her eyes went to the beefy blond. He tipped
his head in a silent greeting. His face was solemn.

“
Come closer,” Jule said
in a quiet voice.

She did, stepping apprehensively to the foot
of Sean’s body. He was tightly wrapped in black fabric, his head
towards the ocean.

“
We have an old tradition,
dating back to the time before the mortal and immortal worlds were
split,” Jule said. “There are three of us who can release a
Guardian’s soul.” He knelt beside Sean’s body as he
spoke.

“
What happens if they’re
not released?” she asked.

“
They’re imprisoned in
their bodies for eternity. They know no peace.”

Her throat tightened at his words. She
couldn’t help thinking of all the Guardians buried in her yard.
Jule’s next words were low and in a tongue she didn’t understand.
The hand he rested on Sean’s forehead glowed bright in the fog.
Jule’s hand grew too bright to look at directly, and a small ball
formed in his palm. He tossed it in the air, and it dissipated into
sparkles that floated upward.

Sean’s body collapsed beneath the blanket,
and the ocean’s wind whipped the cloth into the air. Rourk snatched
it before it flew away.

“
Farewell, brother,” he
said.

Yully wiped her eyes, touched by the scene
before her. Rourk passed her, the blanket clenched in his arms. She
watched him go before facing Jule. Jule’s eyes glinted with the
magic in his body, and the air around him shimmered in a different
power than that of her father. Jule’s felt ancient, older than the
energy in the cliffs and ocean combined.

He approached her, and she took a step back.
He stopped in front of her and gazed down at her with quiet
intensity. He didn’t touch her, but the magics sparked between
them.

“
What made you come?” he
asked

She wiped her eyes again, overwhelmed by his
presence yet comforted by the flow of energy between them. He
wasn’t like anyone else; she didn’t have to try to feel his magic.
It flowed between them: balanced, calm, powerful.

“
It seemed right,” she
said at last. “I couldn’t … I didn’t know my father did this. At
least I could pay my respects.”

“
Sean wasn’t the
first.”

“
I know,” she said with
some anger. “I know what he is. I’m sorry for your loss, Jule, but
my father, he’s all I have. He took me in when no one else would,
and he protected me.”

“
From Guardians, like
Sean, who are sworn to protect people like you.”

“
Look at me, Jule.” She
indicated the new bruises on her face and neck. “No one could
protect me against him if I betrayed him.”

“
I can.” His words were
confident and soft.

He spoke the truth, just as her father lied
to her. The man before her was unwavering, and she had the
impression of everything she was not and everything she needed to
be whole. The ache within her deepened at the idea of trusting
someone for the first time in her life, and the energy flowing
between them grew more intense. Jule wouldn’t hit her as her father
did.

But there was another reason she dared not
leave her father, one she feared voicing even to the man before
her. Her father was planning something that depended on her magic.
If she was the only one who could help him, she was also the only
one who could stop him.

“
I can’t do it, Jule,” she
said. “What I want doesn’t matter.”

He broke the barrier between them and
touched her face. Her breath caught, and he pulled her into his
body. She braced herself for a flood of his power, but it didn’t
come. Instead, the sense of a shared soul and magic returned. Her
tortured thoughts went to the thousands of men, killed by the only
family she’d known, whose souls were trapped for eternity beneath
the ground.

Suddenly, the cold roar of the wind gave way
to warmth and quiet. She lifted her head from his chest, surprised
to find them back in the cottage. The pot-bellied stove crackled
with burning wood, and a light in the corner made the cottage feel
even cozier.

Jule forced himself to put some space
between them. It took more effort than he thought to break the
otherworldly connection binding them. He felt cold as soon as he
stepped away, and the urge to touch her again thrummed through his
body.

The Magician looked around, confused, before
recognition crossed her features. Her cheeks were streaked with
tears, her green eyes showing her torment and her magic like a halo
around her. One of her eyes was black from a blow, and the sight
infuriated him. They’d both changed dramatically in the two days
they were apart, and he wasn’t sure it was for the better. At
least, he was finding it harder to resist her strange magic every
time they met. She sat on the couch, and he sat opposite her in the
armchair. While only three feet apart, the space felt immeasurable.
Her pain was raw, yet there was mettle in her backbone if she’d
gone to Sean’s funeral, fully knowing her own father killed the
Guardian.

“
I thought we should
talk,” he started. “I’m beginning to understand why the … why your
father wants you. It’s not gonna be a good thing, if you stay with
him.”

“
I know this already,” she
replied in a tight voice. “Jule, can the souls of those long dead
still be freed, even if they’re trapped in the ground?”

“
How many has he
killed?”

“
Tens of thousands.” Her
voice caught.

Floored, he was quiet. She looked up at
last, her eyes glimmering with tears.

“
He said he had to kill
them or they’d kill me. I didn’t know until last night,” she went
on.

Jule rose and paced to the window. Dread
settled into his stomach. Even when he’d been in the immortal
realm, no one crossed a Watcher or Other. The number of beings
capable of killing one was less than five, and the last thing they
needed was an Original Being showing up to complicate matters.

Xander.
He couldn’t shake the sense it hadn’t been a
dream.

“
I can feel them,” she
said in a whisper.

Hearing the heartbreak in her voice, Jule
found his resolve to keep his distance melt. He crossed to the
couch and sat beside her.

“
They can be freed,” he
assured her. “I just need to know where they are, so I can free
them.”

Relief crossed her features. She raised her
eyes to his, her breathing uneven. He felt her turmoil through
their bond and ached to ease her pain. Her green eyes pierced him
to the core, and a light flush spread across her skin. He could see
himself becoming addicted to the energy flowing between them. It
only seemed natural for them to sit next to each other, and what
would feel more natural would probably scare her off.

Her eyes went to his lips. This time, she
broke the space between them. She touched his jaw with cold
fingertips, and the bond between them opened. Jule took her hands
in his and rested them on his thigh.

“
Careful,” he whispered.
“Whatever is between us is only getting stronger.”

“
You feel it,
too.”

“
Yes.”

“
I feel safe with you,
Jule, and it terrifies me. I keep telling myself it can’t be real,”
she said, her voice barely audible.

“
It’s very real,” he
said.

“
My father will kill
us.”