by Lizzy Ford
But every once in a while, he experienced an ache of loneliness, the yearning to be normal, to form relationships with others who weren’t monsters, to pursue college instead of figuring out how to rein in mutinous vamps.
He paused at the railing and gazed at the ocean, trying to block the human remorse in his heart and refocus on his duty. Because that’s all he had become when he killed the last Black God to take his place. He had become a creature bound by duty whose personal interests were no longer important. There was no place for emotions or doubt or mercy, not when such human weaknesses stood in the way of defeating his enemies and were interpreted as cowardice to the vamps he led. The civil war was a greater threat than the White God, and one he felt personally responsible for after how long it’d taken him to accept his duty.
Jonny began walking again, irritated by the sea of humanity he had once been a part of. He arrived to the warehouse just as dusk overtook the sky. He could see as well in the dark as he could in the day, though he saw in gray scale rather than color. It was another unique gift for the creature charged with leading nocturnal predators.
He entered the warehouse where the vamps had been bringing their dinners. The faint scent of vamp and human blood reached him, along with the scurrying of some small animal. He walked around the area where the scent of blood lingered without finding any sign the talisman he sought had been accidentally knocked out of a vamp’s hand and forgotten.
I’ve had no fucking luck the past five years.
The vamps and their food and attacker had all left through the same door and taken the same path away from the warehouse. He followed the footsteps and opened the door to step into the narrow alley, scanning the area for the talisman. He almost hoped a clumsy vamp had dropped it, even if such an oversight was punishable for sheer stupidity.
The tool was nowhere in sight. Jonny searched the area visually. He turned towards the boardwalk and began walking. In the dying light of the sun, he caught a glint of something tiny and metal.
He bent to pull the necklace from the crevice where it had fallen.
Jonny lifted the necklace with an A charm, and his heart skipped a beat. It’s not possible. He had seen it four years before around the neck of the girl he thought of sometimes.
It was Ashley’s. Or at least, she had one like it. A Natural, she was a ward of Xander’s – completely untouchable. Jonny racked his brain to recall what he knew of her Natural gift before realizing he had no idea what she and her brother were capable of. In the time they spent together, he’d never had the chance or motivation to test her to find out. She was able to Travel, but such an ability was normally secondary to a Natural.
She could be anything. Natural gifts were hereditary, and he knew nothing about her parents, although Xander had once told him their grandfather was a Watcher. Jonny hadn’t had the need to understand what abilities a Watcher had, but it was likely the reason Ashley’s guardian, Jessi, was invisible to even gods.
It seemed at first too large of a coincidence for him to find her necklace at a site where his vamps had been attacked by a Natural. Xander and Jessi lived close to San Diego. It wasn’t out of the question Ashley was nearby.
But a fighter? He remembered Ashley as a sweet, innocent seventeen-year-old with a penchant for beading who hadn’t known how to punch let alone defeat seasoned vamps. She had been beautiful and delicate. Nothing about her was tough enough to survive the brutal training necessary to become a warrior.
Jonny stared at the necklace, willing it to reveal its owner and disappointed when it didn’t.
It could be anyone’s even if it seemed too coincidental to have stumbled upon it at this time and place. And if it were Ashley’s, he had a huge problem named Xander standing between him and the woman who might have the talisman hidden in the bulky case of a cell phone.
He took out his phone to text Charles. After your op, we need to track that phone. He pushed send. A vamp from a different era, Charles wasn’t yet comfortable with modern technology. Jonny had found the Black God’s enterprise to be woefully short of advancement in that area, and he’d been slowly bringing in tech savvy vamps and new equipment to enable them to work smarter.
After the rebellion, he’d GPS tagged every cell phone issued to a vamp, though the computer that was supposed to be monitoring them had been crushed in the rebellion. He’d been waiting for it to be rebuilt.
“Coño! I’m tired of living in the nineties,” he muttered and rose. He gazed at the charm on the necklace for another long minute then placed it in his pocket.
If Ashley were involved, his life was about to get even more complicated. He returned to the boardwalk, debating whether to approach Xander or wait until he had confirmation either way.
Or … there was a third option.
His phone vibrated and he checked it to find the text from Charles.
Computer online. Starting op. Radio silence.
Jonny smiled, pleased for the first time in too long at having a quick result to at least one of his issues. He clicked the link Charles had sent and watched his phone install a new app. It popped open to reveal a map of the country dotted with the locations of all his vamps. One in San Diego was red.
“About time,” he said. He zoomed into the red dot. His location popped up as a black dot. “So close.” He frowned. A small part of him had hoped the phone was outside of San Diego.
He began walking towards the area indicated. Normally, he’d Travel there, but if Ashley was involved, he wasn’t about to stumble into one of Xander’s wards by accident.
Senses alert, he walked to the train station and rode through the city for nearly forty minutes before reaching the University district. On a Friday night, the dorms, local bars and hangouts, and surrounding apartment buildings were lit up and loud. Music thumped from several different locations, and the streets were crowded.
He walked among the college students, straining to sense any Natural or ward before he reached it. A couple of redheads caught his attention, and he watched them duck into a bar. His stomach growled but he chose to continue, needing to locate the talisman.
Reaching the apartment building where the red dot originated, Jonny waited for a group of students to file out of the door and slipped in before they could close it.
He had yet to trip any wards, but he didn’t feel the presence of any Naturals, either. Puzzled and wary, he followed the tracker chip to the fifth floor and down a wing overlooking a back street rather than the busy strip in front of the building.
No wards. No Naturals. It was possible the vigilante had gone out for the night and left the phone in his apartment without knowing its value. Charles seemed to think this guy didn’t have a clue what he was doing, aside from beating up vamps he crossed.
Jonny sensed no one inside, either. He glanced both ways down the hall before Traveling inside.
The apartment was small and brightly lit. Music played quietly, along with a television, and popcorn popped in the microwave. The cell phone he had tracked was plugged into a laptop with a lit screen on a coffee table in front of the television. He frowned, uncertain why he couldn’t sense anyone when everything indicated someone was here.
He crossed to the breakfast bar area, which was littered with mail, chargers for electronics and a digital picture frame.
Shit. He studied one of the pictures taken several years before. In it Ashley and her brother were grinning, their arms wrapped around the blond Jessi, who beamed.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Jonny turned. He had only sensed Brandon’s presence a split second before the college student spoke. It dawned on him why. Their cousin Jessi had the ability to move in stealth mode, completely undetectable until she was within about a meter of someone else. Brandon had to have inherited the gift as well.
But if Brandon’s gift was stealth mode, that left Ashley as the fighter and Jonny … disbelieving.
“You can’t be here!” Brandon was tense, his glare on
Jonny.
“You stole something of mine. I want it back, and I’ll be on my way.” Jonny raised his hands.
Brandon was staring at him. “How did you find me?”
“The phone.”
Brandon glanced towards it then swore, crossing to yank it free of the computer.
“I just want it back,” Jonny repeated.
“You came here for a phone?”
“Yep.”
“No other reason?”
Jonny understood the pointed look without Brandon saying anything about his sister directly. His irritation stirred. “Xander and Damian know you’re beating up my vamps?”
Brandon went rigid.
“I didn’t think so,” Jonny said and shook his head. “Don’t be stupid, Brandon. Stop targeting my vamps.”
“Stop hurting innocent people and we might.”
We. Double shit. It was getting harder to deny the obvious. “It’s what I do. No need for you to get involved.”
Brandon threw the phone at him.
Jonny caught it. “You get off with a warning this time because of who you’re related to,” he said. “I’ll take matters into my own hands next time.”
“Get out, Jonny.”
Jonny reached into his pocket and pulled Ashley’s necklace free. “Tell your sister not to come near my vamps again.” He set the necklace on the breakfast bar.
Without another word, Jonny Traveled out of the apartment to the sidewalk outside. He was tenser than usual. He pocketed the phone, relieved to have it back, and glanced up at the building. He hoped his personal warning would scare the siblings straight. If they were anyone else …
He shook his head. He’d eat one and feed the other to his vamps. Guardians weren’t off limits like humans. As for Naturals … he’d never had a reason to consider what to do with them since most were either under the protection of Guardians to start off with or he had no way to identify them with his destroyed infrastructure. It seemed like an oversight not to have a policy for interacting with Naturals.
At least he had some leverage if they hadn’t told either the White God or their protector what they were doing. If they failed to obey him, he could alert Xander first and then act.
Jonny shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking, waiting until he was out of sight of anyone else before Traveling back to his home.
So Ashley was a Natural warrior, and her brother was on stealth mode. As soon as he’d realized whose apartment he was in, he’d experienced a thrill and hoped to see Ashley, not her brother. The disappointment and relief flickering through him were baffling. How was he eager to see a girl he hadn’t set eyes on in over four years? One he’d last seen before the war with the Others, and who he’d walked away from after she realized he betrayed her?
There was no place for emotion or the past in his world.
I’m exhausted. That’s it, he told himself. Nocturnal or not, he still needed more sleep. It didn’t look like his life was about to get any easier soon, though, and he had the talisman he needed. He banished the thought of Ashley from his mind without being able to completely suppress the interest his discovery created.
Chapter Four
Ashley danced long and hard to the throbbing techno in one of the local clubs. She always felt best when she was working out, fighting or doing something else physical like dancing for hours to the quick beat. Sweat dampened the back of her neck from the activity and crowded club, and she grinned at her latest partner. Guys and girls rotated in and out as her dance partners. None were ever able to keep up with her for long, and she closed her eyes, not caring who was present when she opened them.
She let the music sweep her away instead and worked out the anxiety that often came with fighting vamps. There were moments every time when she truly feared for her life and others when she didn’t think anything in the world could touch her. She’d been fighting vamps for a few months and was growing more confident in her skills. But sometimes, like when she tried something new such as facing down four vamps, she became a little intimidated, a little uncertain about her training and preparation.
At the four hour mark, she finally left the dance floor and sidled up to the busy bar. She was a regular at the club, and the bartender brought her a glass of ice water. She squeezed through the crowded space to grab it.
“Thanks,” she panted with a smile and shifted away.
“Buy you a drink?” someone asked from behind her.
“No, thanks.” She didn’t bother turning. Facing vamps was becoming second nature. Dealing with guys? She still didn’t understand what held her back, aside from memories of how she’d almost lost her family by trusting the wrong guy. She trusted her ability to fight more than her judgment.
“You come here every Friday and every Friday I ask you if you want a drink.”
Her brow furrowed. Unless he was a vamp, he wasn’t worth remembering. She turned to face the speaker. The blond haired guy with dark eyes gave a toothy smile filled with perfectly white, square teeth that glowed in his tan face. He was built like a quarterback and handsome.
Realizing she was staring, she blinked. “I don’t drink,” she said and lifted her water. “Just this.”
“Thank god! She finally speaks to me,” he said with a wider smile.
“You really ask me every Friday?”
“The fact you haven’t notice doesn’t bode well for me.”
She started to smile. “Sorry. I just come to dance.”
“You must be used to guys asking you out.”
“No,” she snorted. “Why would you think that?” She sipped her water.
It was his turn to appear confused. “That’s different. But okay. Since you’re giving me the time of day … I’m Shane.”
“Ashley.”
“You, uh, wanna dance?”
“Nah. I’m done dancing for tonight.”
“Okay. No drinks, no dancing. How about a walk?”
She hesitated.
“Public place so you know I’m not a creeper,” he added.
If she could handle a vamp, she could handle him if he tried anything. It wasn’t the potential for a physical confrontation she feared but the knowledge she knew nothing about the boy before her, like if he were secretly a god who would put her family in danger.
Four years later, and Jonny is still in my head. She hated the reminder. This ends now.
“Yes,” she decided. “Let’s go for a walk.”
He stretched back to reach the bar and placed his drink on the counter then held out his hand for hers. She returned it to him.
Ashley led him out of the teeming bar and into the street, where the ocean breeze began cooling her at once. “What year are you?” she asked and looked up at the stranger beside her.
“Masters program. You?”
“Senior.” Again, she added silently. School wasn’t her favorite thing. “Finally picked a major,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t think I can do a Masters. Undergrad is hard enough.”
“Just depends on what you want to do in life.” His gaze was on their path. “You wanna see the new fountain?”
“What new fountain?”
“They put in a new naval memorial at the end of the strip.”
“I’m out of it,” she murmured. Brandon was right. She’d been completely obsessed with vamps the past few months, so much so, she’d barely noticed anything else like the new memorial or Brandon’s new electronics until she stumbled over them. “Sure. Let’s go see it.”
Shane pointed in the direction of the memorial and they crossed the street. He was funny and easy to talk to, and she found herself enjoying the walk more than she expected. They neared the edge of the busy section and continued onward. Her senses were alert to their surroundings.
The crowds had petered out by the time they reached the area where the new memorial was supposed to be. Ashley looked around without spotting it, though her instincts were picking up on something else. People in the shadows follow
ed them. The only people who wanted anything to do with her were vamps out for revenge, assuming they’d finally found her somehow. The predators were known to stalk humans, but with Brandon to shield her, she hadn’t thought they could find her.
Had she done something to tip them off? She’d been chased by several and always led them the opposite direction of where she lived. She had the urge to check all her clothing for GPS markers, the kind Xander used to use on her and Brandon when they first left the house.
“Maybe we should turn back,” she said, slowing her step. She hadn’t thought to bring weapons to the club. It was less than a block away from the apartment she shared with Brandon.
“We’re almost there,” Shane promised. “It’s around the corner.” He pointed to a nearby building.
She hesitated, not wanting him to become a casualty if vamps jumped her, but didn’t stop. In truth, she was having a good time talking to someone else for the first time in a while. If nothing else, she could tell him to run while she held off the vamps.
So she continued walking, a little less relaxed. Shane appeared oblivious and continued talking cheerfully. She allowed her senses to track the movements of those behind them and went through a couple of mental exercises to help shift her mood to fighting.
They went around the corner, and her step slowed once more.
ore shadowy figures lining the quiet street ahead of them but the memorial was noticeably absent.
“I don’t see it,” she said with more irritation than she meant to show.
“I get lost sometimes,” Shane admitted. “Maybe it’s the next corner.”
“Look, Shane, I think we need to go back,” she said, trying to keep her voice upbeat and friendly. “We can find it online.”
“This area looks familiar. I’m pretty sure it’s right up there,” he said and continued walking.
Her internal alarms were blaring. Ashley stopped, able to track the movements of no less than fifteen stalkers. She’d never faced more than four vamps. While she was confident she could face at least six, she doubted she could fifteen.
“Shane,” she called, gaze going to the guy several meters ahead of her. “We need to go back.”