The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) (26 page)

“But you haven’t, and you have me. You knew
where we were. You could’ve vamped both of us at any time.”

“Stop, Ash. You –”

“No, you stop, Jonny! I can’t believe a word
you say. You only care about your vamps. You’ll let Brandon rot and
–”

“Do you still love me?”

Her breath caught. How the fuck did he know?
She froze, afraid to think or move or feel in case he was in her
mind.

“Then trust me,” he added. “I will not let
Brandon die.”

“Unless saving him clashes with your
organizational goals,” she snapped.

“I will not let him die.”

She wanted to believe him but feared doing
so, feared entrusting her brother’s life in the hands of someone
who had nearly destroyed her family once before. The fate of her
brother belonged in the hands of no one but her. “Yes,” she said
hoarsely. “I’ve always loved you, Jonny, but I’ve never trusted
you. The more I learn about you, the less likely I will ever trust
you.”

He kissed her lightly and rested his
forehead against hers. “You should trust me, not love me,” he
whispered. “I will save your brother, and I will crush your
heart.”

Pain slid through her. “Again.”

“Yeah. Again.”

“Fuck you, Jonny.” Her voice trembled.
Emotionally devastated and physically exhausted, Ashley rolled out
of his grip and to the edge of the bed. “I want to sleep.
Alone.”

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke.
“There’s an empty bedroom across the hallway. You need some sleep
before going out tonight.”

A tingle of electricity shot through her as
his fingers grazed her back. She froze briefly, suspecting he was
knocking her out again so she couldn’t run off and do something
stupid like she fully planned to do.

Cursing him under her breath, Ashley rose
and pulled on enough clothing not to be embarrassed if someone
spotted her crossing the hall. Without another word to him, she
left.

Only when the door was locked and she was
curled up in her bed alone did she let emotion overwhelm her.
Tortured by his scent on her skin and the yearning for him burning
her raw from the inside out, she began to cry and covered her head
with a pillow to block the early morning light.

She was already hurting, and Jonny hadn’t
even tried to destroy her heart yet.

Ashley didn’t awaken until someone pounded
at the door. She jerked, surprised by how little she was able to
fight Jonny’s sleeping spells. It was evening, and dusk rendered
the lighting of her bedroom barely enough to see.

I really, really hate you,
Jonny.
She rubbed her face, furious he’d
knocked her out when she had shit to do. “Come in,” she called in a
gravelly voice and pushed herself up.

Charles opened the door. “You coming with us
or sleeping like a lazy fucking Natural?” he asked with his usual
abruptness.

“Like you’d be successful without me!” she
retorted somewhat moodily.

“Come on then.” He tossed her gym bag full
of clothes into her room then left her door open and disappeared
into the bright hallway.

Despite the day of sleep, she felt
miserable. Her eyes were puffy, her body lethargic. Ashley
refreshed herself the best she could in the bathroom and changed,
groggy and unhappy. She hadn’t planned on sleeping so much or going
out on another raid, though she began to suspect a raid was the
only chance she’d have of escaping. Jonny likely had wards like
Xander’s that weren’t going to let her ride come get her when she
needed it if she tried to leave from the headquarters.

She chanted the coordinates in her head over
and over to keep them fresh and left her bedroom for the hallway.
She followed the sounds of movement, radios and weaponry being
issued out to the open foyer of the mansion, where Charles the vamp
named Tasha were double checking the equipment of the raid
parties.

Ashley needed a cell phone in order to
figure out where the coordinates Valon provided her led to and to
find a ride. She watched the vamps milling and walking in and out
of the busy space, waiting for someone to leave his or her cell
unguarded for the split second it’d take for her to grab it. The
vamps were too disciplined to set down their sole means of
communicating with their commanders, but several carried theirs
where she could reach them, in baggy cargo pockets or tossed in the
outside pockets of backpacks.

Narrowing down her target, she maneuvered
through the vamps and bumped the vamp she planned on robbing.
Muttering an apology, she snatched the phone visible in his
unbuttoned cargo pocket and slid it deftly into hers.

“Natural!” Charles called.

“Coming!” she said and rolled her eyes. She
approached the table where he stood with several vamps. “I hope
there are more to take out than last night.”

“We’re doubling up with Tasha’s team to take
out a warehouse,” Charles reported. “Hector, with the Natural.”

The large vamp moved into place beside
her.

“You know this is for your benefit not mine,
right?” she asked, looking up into his red eyes.

“He’s aware.” Charles shoved her weapons at
her. “Remember. Follow the rules.”

“I hate rules,” she mumbled and accepted the
weapons she was forced to surrender the moment they returned.

Charles ignored her. Ashley tucked the
knives and batons in their places then waited for Hector to finish
with his small arsenal. Unlike the others, she wasn’t allowed to
carry grenades or guns or anything that might give her more of a
leg up. And Hector carried a Taser in case she went off the
grid.

Ashley joined the others outside in their
teams, waiting for their team’s turn to be Traveled to the raid
sites for the night. Usually, Jonny was present to watch over his
troops leaving but tonight, the Black God was nowhere in sight.

She was grateful for his absence, too angry
and confused to want anything to do him. How did she trust someone
who admitted he’d betray her? How did she believe he was going to
help Brandon when he cared more about his vamps?

It felt like forever before it was her turn
to be Traveled. Charles had given the two teams instructions she
hadn’t heard. She’d follow Hector’s lead and then sneak away when
she had the chance so she could find out where Valon wanted her to
go.

Finally, they were at the site, and she
stood quietly to observe the location. The abandoned factory
building was isolated from the rest of the rundown neighborhood by
a slatted fence topped with barbed wire. No lights were on, but it
wasn’t going to be possible to tell how active the place was until
they set foot inside. It was absolutely huge, and she guessed the
factory had been used to build cars or some other large product by
its sheer size. The main building extended the length of a football
field with several satellite buildings half its size flanking
it.

“Front door,” Hector said and nudged
her.

She blinked, still not yet able to focus
outside of her thoughts completely, and saw Tasha’s team starting
down the side of the building. Charles was headed down the other
side, while she and Hector were left alone to tackle the front
door.

“Am I bait again?” she complained.

“Vamps like bait.”

She rolled her eyes and withdrew her weapons
before striding towards a metal door halfway off its hinges. Hector
hefted it open for her, and she stepped inside, pausing to let her
senses and eyes adjust.

Her instincts were buzzing rather than
tingling, and she frowned. “Hector, something’s off here.” The hair
on her arms was on end, her skin crawling with heightened awareness
of something she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“I feel it,” Hector voiced quietly.

“It’s not people. Vamps. Whatever. Is this
what a ward feels like?” she asked, puzzled. She’d never felt
Jonny’s or Xander’s, simply known they were present.

“No.” Hector sounded as puzzled as she felt.
“I don’t know what this is.”

“Well, let’s go be bait and find out.”
Ashley started into the bay area. Her senses read the area as clear
of obstacles, though it was hard to know for certain with the
bizarre energy field around them.

“Wait.” Hector rested a hand on her arm. “I
don’t think we should go any further.”

“Charles needs his distraction. I can’t do
that from outside,” she pointed out and shook him off. “You’re not
scared, are you?”

He said nothing.

Ashley glanced over her shoulder and then
turned completely around when his glowing red eyes weren’t
there.

Hector was gone. Not moved or retreated to
outside the warehouse. Completely vanished.

She went still and held her breath,
searching the darkness with her senses for any sign of him or the
danger that had caused him to disappear. Nothing was present but
the strange energy field agitating her instincts.

Ashley faced the direction she planned to
walk and stepped forward silently, ready to attack the moment
something came within striking distance. She progressed twenty
steps before pausing once more and looking around.

The darkness held nothing she could get a
real read on – but something was there. “Where are you?” she
whispered.

The strange stillness shifted around
her.

“You can sense me?” came a soft voice close
enough to make her jump.

She whirled. “Yep. Come a little
closer.”

“What fun would there be in that?”

She understood vamps often had Natural
talents like she did. Was that what this was? A really freaky
Natural skill? Perhaps a masking gift of some sort? The idea there
was someone present – and it wasn’t any more of a monster than a
vamp already was – made the darkness a little less scary.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she
sang. “I can take you.”

Something smashed into her. Ashley’s
reflexes kept her on her feet – and managed to help her score a hit
with one blade.

“I could’ve killed you,” came the voice.

“Yeah. Ditto. What kind of shitty plan is
this?” she taunted. “Keep me busy so the other vamps have a chance
to escape before I can take them all out?”

“Not quite.” The creature knocked into her.
This time, she sensed him right before he hit and arched away,
lashing out with a kick. The strange energy dispersed all around
her, confusing her, blocked everything about his approach except
for a tiny, tiny spark of red.

“Almost … have you,” she murmured and honed
her warrior senses to any movement within arm’s reach. She kept an
eye out for the spark.

“Do you?”

Before she could move, something draped
around her neck and yanked her off her feet.

Ashley gasped and grabbed at the noose
around her neck, gripping it before the force of the sudden ascent
could snap her spine. The dim glow of a vamp’s eyes was several
feet away, suspended like she was. She guessed it was Hector.

She swung her legs and used all her strength
to haul her body upwards, against gravity. Ashley wrapped one leg
around the rope holding her and used it to support her weight. She
sucked in deep breaths, the rope burning the soft skin of her
throat. Shifting until she was stable, she took a moment to catch
her breath and assess her options. She dropped one of the batons
and listened for how long it took to hit the ground.

The faint clatter drew a grimace. She was at
least twenty feet up. Dropping down was a guaranteed broken leg or
arm.

Stretching back for one of the hidden
knives, she yanked it free and slid it between her neck and the
rope. She managed to cut herself as well as the rope as she sawed
through it. The noose fell away from her neck, and she grabbed the
frayed end with one hand.

“Still coming for me, Natural?” called a
voice from the floor.

“I’m a little tied up right now but I’ll be
right down,” she retorted. Ashley hauled herself up. “Y’all did all
this for little ole me?”

“An ambush is only successful if the most
dangerous opponent is taken out first.”

Ambush. She paused, uncertain why her
thoughts went to Charles. She didn’t like vamps, and especially not
the one who Tasered her regularly. But …

I kinda do like
Charles.
And he was Jonny’s second, which
meant the Black God trusted him. That bothered her as much as the
thought of Charles being slaughtered by the same rogue vamps that
had her brother.

“I appreciate the sentiment,” she replied.
“Don’t count me out yet.” She began to climb the rope and within
several minutes managed to reach a beam at the top of the factory.
“See? Cakewalk.”

The vamp below her was easier to sense from
above. He had generated some sort of field, one that addled her
warrior senses and made it almost impossible to track where he
really was. But from above, he was completely exposed at the center
of his field.

Ashley finished pulling her body onto the
beam and launched to her feet, comfortable thirty five feet above
ground on a narrow beam. She had the balance and agility to move
quickly and did so, hurrying to the rope holding Hector.

“Hey, Hector. You alive?” she called, unable
to help her concern for the vamp who had become her partner.

He didn’t answer verbally, but his squirming
made the rope jerk. Ashley considered the best way to get him down
or up and finally decided anything she wanted to do was going to
take too long, especially with the vamp freak waiting for them
below and the ambush she didn’t know if they’d be able to
prevent.

She returned to her rope and sawed it free
from the top before returning to Hector’s. She tied one end of her
rope around the beam tightly and then the other end two feet down
from her. Double and triple knotting everything, she tested it
before sawing through his rope.