The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) (15 page)

Something vibrated behind her, and she
twisted. Brandon’s phone was tucked between the couch and its
back.

“Omigod,” she said and dug it out. Her text
popped up on the screen. “Brandon, you idiot.”

Her phone vibrated next with another text
from Brandon alerting her to the fact he’d left the apartment.
Confused, she unlocked hers to look at the string of numbers that
popped up. They were the same as the first text from him, a set of
coordinates she could click on and a map would open to show her
where it was.

“How are you texting me when I have your
phone?” she asked herself. She touched the coordinates, and the
customized app on her phone opened. It required a ten-digit
passcode she never remembered and had pasted into her notepad on
the phone. Brandon had a lot of security measures for everything.
Ashley typed in the passcode and waited.

Brandon’s phone unlocked automatically and a
note popped up on his screen.

Just in case, try here
first. Bring weapons.
An address was pasted
below the cryptic text. She recognized the generic phrasing of
their mutual security code. When she hit the emergency app on her
phone, it sent the same message to him and her location.

Her breath caught, and she leaned forward,
staring at the phones.

Brandon hadn’t left the apartment for
donuts. He’d been taken by force and managed to trip the emergency
app at some point before he was gone. She’d heard nothing last
night and rose. Ashley searched the area for signs of a struggle
and checked the doors and windows to see if someone had broken in.
The door was locked from the inside, as were all the windows.

Brandon had been taken by someone who could
Travel.

She googled the address he’d left and then
the coordinates automatically generated by his watch and sent to
her phone.

The results made her curse. The address was
for southern Oregon, the coordinates for a city in Montana.
Instinct told her to go where his coordinates indicated he was. He
had to have been wearing his watch when he was taken, or she
wouldn’t have the location.

As if whoever had him had figured out the
watch was giving his location, another text flashed onto the
screen. The coordinates were blank.

Ashley nibbled on her lower lip, needing to
do something. His note said to try the Oregon address first.

Ashley changed into her fighting clothing
and stood in the living room once more, trying not to panic as she
debated how to get to either of the locations where Brandon was
possibly located.

Leave the vamps alone or I’ll have to do
something we’ll both regret.

Had Jonny not been convinced she’d listen
this time because she hadn’t the first several times? No one else
knew where she and Brandon lived. No one else could track him. Her
gut twisted. She had lost her desire to fight last night, but
renewed anger left her feeling charged, ready for a confrontation
even if it was the man who smashed her heart.

Except she had no idea where he was or how
to reach him. If she Traveled, she risked arriving in a group of
vamps and being disabled by a seizure before she could act.

After a moment of hesitation, she texted
Xander.

I need a ride somewhere.

His network of Guardians with the ability to
Travel eclipsed hers. He responded quickly.

Problem?

Ashley groaned and typed a
fast response.
I PROMISE to tell you when
it’s over. Pretty please?

Within seconds, someone tapped at the
apartment door. Ashley stashed two more knives and answered the
door.

“I hear you need a chauffer,” said the tall,
gorgeous brunette outside her door. A fellow warrior, Jenn had been
instrumental in Ashley’s summer training. She was the mate of the
Grey God, Darian, and wore his necklace around her neck.

“Yes!” Ashley said and hugged her mentor. “I
need to go here.” She released Jenn and held up Brandon’s phone
with the Oregon address.

Jenn’s eyes widened. “You know what’s
there?”

“No, but I will soon.”

“Give me a minute.” Jenn moved down the
hallway and whipped out her cell phone.

Ashley watched her, not understanding the
concern. The Guardian warrior made a quick call and returned
appearing less than pleased.

“For the record, I’ll do it, but I’m going
to Darian the second I leave you,” Jenn said firmly. “Xander says
to take you.”

“What’s there?” Ashley asked.

“That happens to be the location of Jonny’s
headquarters.”

Ashley’s smile faded. What was her brother
doing with Jonny that he sent her the Black God’s headquarters
location as the default emergency point?

“Wanna tell me what this is about?” Jenn
asked.

“No. I already promised Xander I’d tell him
everything when this is over. He wants me to learn life lessons, so
I am.”

“Yeah, and he’s about the only one who can
help you survive these lessons.” Jenn held out her hand.

Ashley took it, uneasy gaze on Jen’s
features. The world swirled and blurred around her, materializing a
fraction of a second later. Ashley hated relying on someone else’s
Travel skill but preferred to hit the ground fighting.

Jenn had taken her to a forest somewhere.
The scents of pine trees and ocean were heavy in the air, along
with a morning breeze.

“Where is it?” Ashley asked and glanced
towards her feet. Jonny had once hidden her underground, because
the Others and Guardians couldn’t sense anyone hiding
underground.

“Straight through there.” Jenn pointed. “I’m
giving you a ten minute head start before I call Jonny to remind
him not to do anything stupid.”

Ashley nodded. She’d been able to face up to
five vamps at once, but an entire headquarters teeming with them?
She’d probably need some backup or at least, someone to help her
survive long enough to get to Jonny and demand to know what he’d
done to her brother.

The thought of Brandon in danger banished
any fear or doubt. She drew a breath. “Thanks,” she told Jenn and
then strode in the direction the Guardian had indicated.

Ashley drew two batons as she walked through
the forest. The top of an A-frame roof soon peeked through the
branches of pine trees, and she emerged from the forest into an
open area leading up to a quiet, rustic hunting lodge.

While large, it wasn’t exactly what she
expecting after seeing Damian’s sprawling headquarters in
Texas.

She gripped her weapons harder and started
forward, unafraid when it came to protecting her family. It was
smaller with few signs of activity.

The first vamps on guard to challenge her
appeared from the woods nearby. Ashley took them down quickly
before striding up to the lodge and pausing before the front
door.

Knocking didn’t seem quite right, although
barging in didn’t seem smart either.

Then again, she was there to see Jonny, not
hide from the vamps.

Her mind made up, Ashley twisted the
doorknob before gripping her baton and nudging the door open with
her hip. The open space of the foyer and what was once a reception
area for the lodge was filled with more vamps than she’d ever seen
at once. They were moving between places, some talking to one
other, others on cell phones.

The sight was somewhat surreal, a
combination of normalcy and supernatural freakiness.

“What the fuck …” One of them noticed her,
and the entire space fell silent.

Ashley eased in the door and kicked the door
closed behind with her heel. “I have no quarrel with you. I’m here
to see Jonny,” she told them and shifted her balance.

Someone laughed. She heard the unmistakable
sound of knives and guns being drawn and lowered herself into a
fighting stance. Over thirty vamps were present. She wasn’t about
to go down without a fight.

“Ikir.
”

Jonny couldn’t place the odd note in
Charles’ voice, partially because he wasn’t fully awake. Troubled
by his exchange with Ashley, he’d ended up pulling an all-nighter
and wanted at least four hours of sleep before facing whatever
insanity a new day brought him.

“What?” he grumbled.

“You need to see something.” Charles was in
his room. It wasn’t a good sign.

Jonny rolled out of bed and pulled on
sweatpants. He wiped his face and approached Charles, about to ask
what was wrong when he felt the presence of a Natural.

“Who’s here?” he demanded.

“If I’m not mistaking, your vigilante.”
Charles held up his cell to display streaming security footage from
the foyer.

Jonny looked twice and then took the phone.
“What the fuck is she doing here?”

“She said she’s looking for you.”

He growled low in his
throat. Ashley appeared to be holding her own so far with the
dozens of vamps. By her expression the night before, he’d been
convinced Ashley wasn’t going to do anything stupid anymore and
here she was the very next morning, at his
headquarters
no less. He had gotten
good at lying. Did she pick up some tell he didn’t intend for her
to when he claimed never to have cared that much for his first
love?

“I warned her to stay away.” Jonny tossed
the phone back and strode out of his bedroom without bothering to
put on shoes. He tugged on a t-shirt as he walked, furious Ashley
meant to challenge him so directly, in front of vamps who had
already seen him lose half his men. He’d been toying with solutions
as to how to fix the problem of Ashley when he confronted her last
night.

He’d left under the impression she was no
longer a threat.

I’m the fool,
he thought darkly.

He strode from his wing of the lodge into
the main house and to the railing of the second floor overlooking
the spacious foyer.

Ashley was fighting fast and hard. But her
speed wasn’t going to defeat two dozen vamps; it’d take stamina and
her killing those that were down so they didn’t get back up to face
her again.

“Stop!” he commanded.

The frenzied movement below slowed and then
stopped. Jonny waited until Ashley had lowered her weapons as well
under his glare before moving to the stairs. He descended with
control and discipline he wanted to toss out the window in order to
face Ashley.

“What the fuck is this?” he demanded.

His vamps moved out of his path and cleared
the way to Ashley. The fury was back in her eyes, and he resisted
the urge to either touch her or unleash his power.

“This.” She reached into the pocket at the
small of her back and wrenched free a phone, throwing it at
him.

Jonny caught it, bristling with agitated
energy, and glanced at the screen.

“My brother disappears and you’re going to
pretend you didn’t do it when your location is on his phone?” she
snapped. She was breathing hard, her emotions as fiercely displayed
as her fighting talent.

Jonny didn’t know what was going on. Brandon
had checked in with the locations of Valon’s vamps and Jonny had
gone to bed. “Charles,” he said over his shoulder.

His second motioned to the vamps nearest
Ashley.

Ashley glared at him and lowered herself
into a fighting stance. Realizing no vamp was going to get near her
when she was this pissed and ready, he moved towards her. He
Traveled twice, one to throw her off and the second time to shift
close enough to lay a hand on her.

She tried to whirl, but his magic kept her
in place. He knocked her out with his power and caught her as she
fell, not about to take any chances she hurt herself or one of his
vamps.

“Take her to a cell,” he ordered, handing
her off to the two vamps. He returned to the stairs. He joined
Charles and spoke quietly enough for only his most trusted vamp to
hear. “Charles, you know why nothing can happen to her. Go with
them.”

Charles grimaced and nodded.

Jonny returned to his room, too angry to
face Ashley and sensing she wasn’t going to cooperate until she,
too, had a chance to cool down. He sat on his bed and flicked open
Brandon’s phone. It was unlocked, and the strange message and
address were locked in place on his screen.

As he sat, his anger slid into interest, and
he considered who would know where to find Brandon and why he’d
been taken. Someone who could Travel, and he knew where all his
vamps with such a skill were last night. The Guardians weren’t
going to kidnap their own. That left Valon, the rogue vamp
leader.

Why would Valon want Brandon or Ash? Did the
rogue vamp suspect Jonny had been in contact with them? Was he
trying to draw Xander’s attention – or Jonny’s?

He ran a hand through his hair and studied
the wall. He was far from calmed down, but if Brandon were in
trouble, and a vamp were involved, he was going to get the unwanted
visit from Xander, if not Damian. At least, he told himself this
was why he wanted to talk to Ashley. His interest extended beyond
the situation to the woman who had brazenly attacked his
headquarters.

Jonny left his room and went to the cells
located in what had been the horse stables. The building had been
retrofitted with steel and concrete. One of the guards opened the
door for him as he approached, and he crossed to where Charles
waited outside one of the cells.

Ashley was awake and pacing inside the cell.
Jonny shook his head, not at all happy to see her at his
headquarters, and opened the door.

She faced him.

Jonny entered. “I don’t have Brandon,” he
started. Charles closed the door behind him.

The small space seemed even smaller with his
charged energy and her agitation. Jonny’s thoughts went to the kiss
last night which was followed by the hardest he’d ever bitten
anyone. He had felt himself sinking in to her, losing his sense of
control, when she kissed him passionately. The bite was an attempt
to give her a reason to stay away, since his hands always ended up
on her when they were together. He didn’t want to be drawn to her,
and he wanted her to choose to stay away.