The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) (3 page)

Jonny’s heart sank. He didn’t have days to
wait for a new ability to emerge let alone centuries.

“Borrow Trackers from Damian,” Xander
suggested.

“Yeah, because partnering with the White God
is in my best interest.”

“If you won’t go to the only person who can
help you, then do what he does. Identify Naturals and vamp them
before he can get to them. It’s the way it used to be done.”

“Hmm.” Jonny considered what it’d take to
start a program like Damian’s capable of identifying and tracking
Naturals. He didn’t have the manpower or time to stand up such a
tasking. “Or I could just steal access to his program.”

“Could,” Xander agreed, amused as always by
the tug-of-war between the gods. “You’d face some stiff resistance
from those guarding it.”

Jonny’s mind was already working through
this dilemma. He reviewed what he’d learned of the White God’s
organization the past few years. Attacking any of Damian’s large
bases of operation was out of the question when he was hunting
vamps day and night. But the recruiting points and three to five
man stations located in cities across the country were more
vulnerable, and each of them had someone capable of accessing the
database where Damian’s recruiting records were kept.

“Okay,” he said. “I like this idea.”
Satisfied yet not surprised his mentor had once again pointed him
in the right direction, Jonny faced the large vamp. “How’s the
fam?”

“None of your business, as usual,” Xander
replied.

Jonny expected the response yet couldn’t
help being disappointed by it. He’d walked away from Xander’s now
stepdaughter, Ashley, four years before. Xander made Jonny swear to
never look back if he ever wanted help, and Jonny had obeyed.

Sometimes, he let his mind wander to who he
had been, to a simpler life where he slept more than three hours a
day and wasn’t constantly at battle. Sometimes, he experienced a
flicker of regret when he thought about how he had ended things
with Ashley. Not that she’d want anything to do with him. He’d
nearly gotten her and her family killed and in the years since he’d
seen her, he’d killed too many people for him to count. A sweet
girl with a fragile disposition, she was better off without him,
and yet, he still thought of his first love on occasion.

“Focus on your vamps,” Xander advised. “We
both know how it ends if you come within a mile of my place or my
family.”

Jonny was quiet. He wasn’t in a position to
take on Xander. No one was. Not even the White and Grey Gods
combined were a match for the Original Vamp. “Yeah. Thanks. Until
next time.”

He left Xander on the beach. Traveling to
his quiet, isolated headquarters on the Oregon coast, he knew
something was wrong the moment he materialized in the open foyer
area of the main lodge.

Charles was standing over a bloodied vamp,
his fist raised as if to strike the downed creature again. The two
of them – and everyone else present in the foyer – froze. Jonny
assessed the situation briefly. The vamp on the ground reeked of
human blood and lots of it.

“Problem?” he asked in the terse quiet.

Bristling, Charles nonetheless lowered his
hand and stepped away for Jonny to handle the vamp. Hands-on
discipline was one way Jonny kept his people in line.

“Stefan killed one of the hotel employees,”
Charles explained.

Jonny knelt beside the vamp, who averted his
gaze. The vamp was one of those turned since Jonny had come on
board as the leader and tightened up their recruiting requirements
to ensure only those who could follow his orders were vamped. The
failure of a newer vamp despite the recruiting protocols was a
personal disappointment for him. “Is that true?” he asked.

“Yes,
ikir,
” came the response. “But I
–”

“–
lost control. Didn’t
mean to but couldn’t stop,” Jonny guessed. “Correct?”

The vamp nodded.

“It’s the same thing everyone says. Do you
know what it means?”

Another nod. The vamp was staring hard at
the floor.

“It means you’re too weak
to be a vamp if you can’t follow my orders. You can have as much
blood as you want as long as you don’t kill,” Jonny said quietly.
“Our people have a real chance of living in peace. No more war. No
more hiding. No more being hunted like animals. But we have to
prove we
aren’t
animals for that to happen. The future of our entire race
depends upon you following the rules I create so we aren’t dragged
into another war.”

“Zero tolerance,” whispered the vamp.

“Zero tolerance.”

“He’s a newbie Tracker,” Charles voiced
softly.

“He’s of no use to me if he can’t fucking
follow orders,” Jonny replied firmly. “One vamp will not jeopardize
the future for the rest of us. Every vamp gets one kill – the one
that turns him into a vamp. No more.”

Charles said nothing. Jonny was cursing
inside. He needed every Tracker he could get. All the vamp had to
do was refrain from taking a life. If he was still hungry after he
ate, he could find a new blood supply. There was no limit to the
amount of humans they could drink from in a night – as long as the
people were left alive.

“But you kill,” the vamp whispered.

“I do,” Jonny said. “Because mercy in my
position is considered weakness. I learned that four months ago,
when Valon took half my surviving vamps with him. I show mercy in
only one way now. You know what that is?”

Another nod.

“What’s your decision?”

The vamp shifted to sit. Jonny smelled his
fear. He had long since hardened himself to the necessity of
killing, even if it was a vamp with a skill he desperately needed.
But he didn’t like it. He didn’t care to kill humans, and he hated
killing his own loyal vamps. The harsh discipline needed to rein in
his predators had been the hardest skill for him to learn.

“You,” the vamp said finally.

The vamps who broke the rules with capitol
punishments were given the choice of how to die. Quickly, by his
hand, or slowly by starving to death. Most chose quickly, though a
few initially had tried to wait out death or perhaps, wait for him
to change his mind, by starving.

“Your service was appreciated,” Jonny said
and stretched out to rest a hand on the back of the vamp’s neck. He
drew a knife with the other and rested it against the vamp’s neck.
“Rest in peace, Stefan.” The words were not unkind though he kept
his regret to himself.

An audience had formed. He preferred to kill
in public, a reinforcement of his rules. Those surrounding him were
silent. The vamp before him was starting to panic and closed his
eyes.

Jonny slid the knife into the vamp’s neck to
pierce his artery and withdrew it. The vamp slumped, blood racing
down his neck and into his lungs. He began to cough and then choke
before collapsing onto the ground.

The death wasn’t as fast as Jonny could make
it with his magic, but each vamp he disciplined had to become an
example for the rest. Jonny waited for the red glow of the vamp’s
eyes to extinguish before standing.

“Send his body and that of whomever he
killed to Damian,” he told Charles. “We need to talk after.”

Charles nodded and motioned for two nearby
vamps to grab the dead body.

Jonny glanced down and away.

He needed a Tracker, and he needed every
vamp left for the looming civil war. But at the end of the day,
they had to follow his rules. The future of his people was more
important than the life of any single one of them.

Even if taking the life of one of his own
for a mistake Jonny understood too well made him feel ill. He
retreated to his bedroom, his dark mood further dampened by how his
night had ended.

Ashley landed on the ground with a grunt and
immediately rolled, sensing the knife of her opponent plunging
towards her head. With the agility and instincts of a Natural
gifted to fight, she moved deftly and silently, even when she was
getting her ass kicked by the second largest vamp she’d ever
seen.

If she hadn’t been trained by the largest
and fiercest vamp in existence, she’d be worried.

She leapt to her feet and blocked then
unleashed a series of kicks and punches, one of which pierced the
vamp’s defenses. He gasped and doubled over, leaving her ample
target area to pound into until he finally fell unconscious on the
ground.

Chest heaving, she lowered her guard and
reached up to straighten the mask she wore to hide her identity. It
was perfectly quiet for a moment, and she used her Natural gift to
explore the area around her without looking.

The four vamps were down. Not dead, though,
which meant she had to hurry. She spun and crossed to the two women
and one teenage boy tied together in one corner of the warehouse
she’d been monitoring. It was a popular spot for the vamps, but
this was the first time she had seen them bring any innocent humans
with them. She hadn’t intended to fight them this night; she’d
never fought more than two at a time. But the innocents caught in
the grips of monsters changed everything.

“You okay?” she asked and knelt beside the
woman nearest to her. She cut her free and moved on.

“Y… yeah,” came the uncertain response.

“What the hell just happened?” the teen boy
asked.

Ashley’s hands paused. She’d planned for the
day she decided to face the vamps but she hadn’t thought about what
to tell the people who witnessed either her otherworldly fighting
or the monsters with fangs.

“I don’t know,” she said and then kicked
herself mentally. “But you’re safe. You all need to leave.”

Two of them got to their feet and looked
around. She helped the third up.

They were moving too slowly for her comfort.
With a glance at the four unconscious vamps, Ashley raced to the
exit and opened the door in the hopes of hurrying them along.

They went, but not before one of the vamps
started to get up.

Ashley snatched the wooden doorstop and
flung it, her aim as true as her instincts. “Stay down,” she
hissed. The doorstop smacked into the back of the vamp’s head. He
dropped.

“What?” one of the rescued people asked.

“Nothing. Go to the nearest cop and have
them take you home.” She pushed the last out of the warehouse and
closed the door, locking it. When the three left her range of
sensing, she strode to the vamps and considered them.

After a moment, she knelt and began
searching each one for a phone. Only one carried a cell. She pulled
it out of his jacket and pocketed it. Her brother was a computer
nut who loved to show off. He’d helped her track more than one
vamp, and she’d need his help again once the vamps knew not to
return to this warehouse again.

Satisfied with her night, she rose and
trotted out the back door and into an alley running between
warehouses near the wharf where she’d stashed her things. Yanking
off the mask, she stuffed it into her backpack and pulled on a
hoodie. She slid the backpack onto her back and paused at the edge
of the alley. The evening crowd strolled along the bay front San
Diego area, and she joined them seamlessly.

Certain she looked like any other college
student out for a walk, she glanced down at her stinging hand.
She’d suffered a cut and bruises but nothing else from the fight.
Her skills were becoming more instinctive, less consciously
controlled, and no one – aside from Xander – was able to keep up
with her. Her wounds healed five times faster than that of a human.
It wasn’t instant, but by morning, the scratch would be a scar. It
was one of the side benefits of her Natural warrior talent. She was
hard to take out and almost impossible to keep down.

She scrolled through the
phone she’d stolen, frowning when she saw it contained only two
contact numbers. Like all the others. The Black God ran a tight
ship for being a relative newbie. None of his vamps had contact
information for more than one level up and down, and she’d yet to
fight anyone high enough ranking to have
his
number.

“Damn you, Jonny.” It wasn’t the first time
she’d uttered the words in frustration, and it wouldn’t be the
last. “I have a score to settle.”

She glanced at her brother Brandon as he
approached. He held an iPad in his hand. “Your vitals are good.
How’d it go?”

“Do you have to start a conversation like
that?” she grumbled.

“Like what?”

“About my vitals. I already know I have
issues.”

“Whatever. It’s a legit concern.”

“I won. Can we focus on that?” Ashley tugged
her t-shirt away from her chest to peer down at the nodes attached
to her chest that fed her brother information electronically. “And
I didn’t lose any of the node thingies this time.”

“Good. Those are expensive.”

She frowned. “Oh, dammit. I lost my
necklace.”

“The one Mom gave you?”

She stopped, debating whether it was smart
to return to the warehouse. “Yeah.”

By now, the vamps had either regained
consciousness and left or called for backup. She’d lost the element
of surprise.

“We’ll come back tomorrow,” Brandon
said.

“Hmm. I guess.” She turned away.

“This is good. One solid week without an
episode.” He lowered the iPad. Two years older than her, he, too,
was a Natural, one capable of mind control and also under the
tutelage of Xander, the vamp who married their cousin Jessi several
years before.

Ashley ignored him. As strong and fast as
she was, her skill often came at a price, one she didn’t want to be
reminded of after her successful night battling vamps and rescuing
people.

But she did dwell on the
necklace. It was simple and inexpensive, a gold letter
A
on a thin chain. It had
been one of the last gifts her mother gave her before the car
accident that killed both her parents and placed her and Brandon
under the care of their cousin, Jessi, who had adopted
them.