by Lizzy Ford
The window slid open. The room beyond was dark, and she drew a baton before dropping silently to the floor. Her instincts took over. A chair here, a box there …she moved with disciplined quiet through the storage room to the door located on the opposite side of the window. Placing her ear against it, she listened for the sound of the predators she expected to find without hearing anyone.
Buildings were harder to navigate quickly than the open bay of a warehouse. With her senses engaged, she explored the floor she was on before determining there was no one on it. She moved to the upper floors and explored each before finally shifting to the floor beneath the first.
Movement was on this floor. The vamps were divided, two on this floor and possibly three on the floor below. Disappointed she wouldn’t get to test herself against all five at once, Ashley crept up on the two vamps nearest her.
One didn’t have time to react. She cracked the baton onto the back of his head. He dropped silently. The second whirled but was soon unconscious as well. She knelt to search them and collected their two phones, tucking them into a pocket at the small of her back.
Exhilarated by her quick wins, she went to the floor below. One vamp was present, and she knocked him out and stole his phone, too, before confronting the other two on the ground floor.
When she was done, Ashley returned to the window she’d used to enter the building and worked her way down the wall fast. She dropped beside her backpack and stripped off the mask before depositing the three cells she’d collected into it.
Done. She texted Brandon. Where next?
He sent her a screenshot of his map and the blue and red dots nearest her. She slung on her backpack and left the alley, studying it.
The next nearest vamps designated as blue were a block away.
Jonny’s nearest vamps were four blocks away.
She stared at the dots pensively for a moment, running Xander’s warning through her mind several times over. Five days after her first confrontation with Jonny, she was still angry and embarrassed by her performance. The low hanging fruit was the blue vamps, but some part of her wanted to prove to Jonny she wasn’t as weak as she’d seemed when she all but collapsed in his arms.
Her mind made up, she walked past the next blue dot and continued four blocks farther into the downtown area, away from the stadium, and towards the part of town that became a seedy residential area. The location of Jonny’s vamps wasn’t a warehouse or place of business but a single story house in need of repair with iron bars on its windows. It looked much like the others around it, and she scanned the area visually before striking off down the block towards the location.
Her phone vibrated. Where are you going? Read Brandon’s message.
Her brother was tracking her. She responded quickly before replacing the phone in her pocket. The cell vibrated once more and she ignored it.
The house was dark, aside from the kitchen. Ashley hid her backpack and pulled on her mask before approaching. She peered in the window to spot three, perhaps four, vamps. One was in the kitchen, the others moving between it and a room down the hallway.
I’m not afraid of you, Jonny, she told him silently.
Waiting for the vamp in the kitchen to turn away, she slid in through the back door and raised both batons, smashing them over his head before he saw her. She hauled his body back into the kitchen so none of the others were able to spot him then moved down the hallway. Her heart raced, and her tense form was on edge. She did a self-check for any signs of a looming episode and was satisfied she had none.
Three voices came from one of the rooms. She paused outside it to listen, using her senses to case the rest of the house. There was at least one more in the next room down. Ashley counted to three and then vaulted into the nearest room.
Surprise rendered the vamps too shocked to move, and she had taken one down before the other two rose from their seats at a card table to attack her. One lunged, and she danced away, smacking him in the throat with a baton before facing the other. The vamp from the room next door appeared in the doorway. He was on the phone, and Ashley slung a baton at him to knock it free. The last thing she needed was him alerting someone.
Within sixty seconds, she stood breathing hard in the midst of the four downed vamps. This experience, beating up Jonny’s vamps, was far more satisfying than she could recall any other vamp confrontation being.
She crouched to rifle through the clothing of the vamps and then stepped into the hallway to swipe the phone she’d knocked free. Of the three phones, all were burners. She frowned, disappointed. Brandon could only get a little bit of useful information off them, though he had cracked some code if he knew where all the vamps in the city were.
She checked out the two remaining rooms in the house to ensure no humans were cowering in the corners. The rooms were dark, and she paused briefly in each to let her sense read what was present.
No more vamps. No trapped humans.
Ashley exited the second into the hallway and froze.
“I warned you.” Jonny’s voice was soft. He stood at the end of the hallway near the kitchen, dressed all in black. He seemed to take up the space of the hallway with his broad shoulders and lean form. He was unarmed, his intent gaze on her.
Xander’s words of warning swept through her mind. She began to seriously consider bolting out one of the windows of the unoccupied bedrooms rather than face him. In the dark, with the penetrating dark eyes starting to glow red, Jonny was positively menacing. It didn’t explain the thrill racing through her, but she did understand the reason behind her fear.
Jonny was dangerous. She’d ignored – or perhaps overlooked? – the charged energy radiating off him at the beach. She sensed the subtle flow of raw power better on their second meeting.
Reassured her two deepest fears – dying or being vamped – weren’t going to happen, she felt some of the effect of his foreboding appearance lessen. She was faster than he was, so long as he didn’t touch her, and Xander wasn’t going to let her worst fears happen.
“I was just leaving,” she replied. “My work is done.” She moved into the nearest bedroom with calmness she didn’t feel then bolted towards the window.
Jonny reappeared between her and the window, and she slammed to a stop so fast, she fell backwards. Ashley rolled and vaulted onto her feet, expecting him to attack.
He didn’t. He simply blocked her path.
Retreating into the hallway, she drew her knife and kept it hidden behind her thigh. She whirled and tried the other room.
This time, she was expecting him to block her path. He appeared. Rather than stop, she acted. Adrenaline surged within her along with the rage she’d experienced for four years. She smashed the knife into him, piercing his ribcage and plunging it into his heart. Warm blood splashed her face and ran over her hand and down her arm.
Ashley gasped at her own actions, a ripple of unease tearing through her. She’d never killed anyone and yet, she’d just plunged a knife through someone’s heart with no second thought.
She released the hilt, her eyes flying up to Jonny’s face.
“I’m not gonna lie. It does hurt,” he said with a grimace. He raised a hand and calmly gripped the hilt of her knife. “But you’re gonna have to do better than that.” He pulled it free.
Xander wasn’t joking about not being able to kill him. She had suspected all along her guardian was lying about the alleged godslayer it took to kill Jonny in order to dissuade her. The sound of her knife hitting the tile floor startled her out of her disbelief.
“My turn,” Jonny said.
She twisted away from his first attempt to grab her, whirled and ducked as he Traveled directly behind her. The next minute happened in a blur of instinct and shadows. She evaded, danced and maneuvered away from him.
And then he caught her. Or rather, her whirling ponytail. Ashley’s head was yanked back. Before she had a chance to twist out of his grip, his hand was on her throat and then, his teeth sinking into her.
She stifled a cry. He wasn’t numbing the pain like he had the first time. The tiny knives that were his teeth hurt worse than paper cuts against the delicate skin of her neck. The moment his skin touched hers, she was unable to react. Her muscles relaxed despite her survival instinct screaming for them to move. Jonny released her hair and wrapped the arm around her back, pulling her into his body the way he had on the beach except this time, she was able to feel every inch of his hard frame against hers without the distraction of the seizure. His warmth and scent invaded her space and senses, made the fire in her blood light for a reason other than danger.
Fear began to edge out her anger. She pushed against him, unable to budge his grip on her when her body was responding to his power rather than hers. The bleeding had stopped from his chest. He was healed as quickly as Xander claimed he would.
“Stop!” she whispered finally, starting to panic at the idea Jonny wasn’t afraid to draw Xander’s anger.
Jonny sucked her blood a moment longer before withdrawing from her neck. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you liked being my dinner, Ashley.” His voice was husky and low. He nuzzled the tender skin.
She shivered.
“I warned you,” he repeated. “What made you come here?”
The question struck her as odd despite her fear. “Vamps,” she replied.
Jonny nipped her and she flinched. “Nothing else?”
“Aside from wanting to kill you? No.”
“Don’t let this happen again, Ashley.”
She was beginning to think Xander was right. Fucking with Jonny was going to end with her a bloodless husk.
“Do you understand?” he asked without lifting his head.
“At least I’m on my own two feet this time,” she said, hating the feeling he had the upper hand.
“Wrong answer.” He bit her again, this time even harder, and she arched against him, pain flooding her.
“Stop!” she gasped and slammed her fists into his chest with what strength she could muster. “Please, Jonny!”
He lifted his head, one hand remaining on her neck. “Tell me you understand for real this time.”
“Fine!” she spat out the words. She wasn’t able to kill him, couldn’t fight him at all once he touched her, and he didn’t care enough about the past for her revenge to mean anything at all. Why she was torturing herself, she didn’t know, except she was just so angry with him still. Near tears with the urge to scream out of frustration, Ashley struggled to be free of him. “Let me go.”
He obeyed, and she scampered out of arm’s reach, senses rattled and emotions raw. The wounds at her neck were healed, but the memory of the hot pain slid through her. If any part of him were the boy she remembered, he’d never purposely hurt her like he just did.
“They’ll be out for another ten minutes if you need to rest,” he advised.
“Rest?” she repeated. “Because you think I’m weak!”
“Because I drew a lot of blood. You should be woozy.”
“I’m not.” She whirled and strode down the hallway towards the kitchen. She felt little different, aside from the emotional wreckage each interaction with him caused. She had beaten his vamps and yet lost once again. Combined with her fear and begging him not to hurt her, she was more infuriated than ever. “How did you know I was here?” she asked warily. “The vamp tipped you off, didn’t he?”
Jonny nodded.
“I won’t make that mistake again,” she growled.
“I’ve given you your final warning, Ash.”
“You know what, Jonny?” she demanded and turned when she reached the kitchen.
“I think I can guess,” he replied, his face shadowed by the dark hallway. Mild amusement was in his tone.
“Yeah. Fuck you.” Ashley stormed out of the house and onto the sidewalk. She swiped up her gear and tore off the mask. She was agitated for more reasons than she could identify. For a split second, when he held her against him, she’d almost been … aroused.
And that was worse than pleading for him to stop hurting her.
Chapter Nine
Jonny watched her go. He licked the last of her blood off his lips. There was no falter to her stride, no lessening of her focus or tension or any other indication she was affected by the blood loss.
Which left him … intrigued. He’d taken a lot from her, about three days worth if she were human. It was the first time in years he’d felt full. He was disciplined in managing his bloodlust, both for the sake of wanting to remain under the radar and the fact he hadn’t yet been able to shake his respect for human life. He had grown less concerned about it for sure, yet he was still gentle with those whose lives he sacrificed to his hunger.
Furious after she stabbed him in the heart, he had wanted to teach her a lesson only to find he was the one learning something. He hadn’t thought her anger ran so deep and intense as to truly want him dead. The girl he’d known was gone.
What was left was a little harder for him to categorize. A woman more spirited and interesting than the fragile girl he remembered.
She was obsessed and also far more capable of withstanding his hunger than the humans he normally drank from. Her body had healed as he sucked, but he hadn’t thought her capable of replenishing the blood he was taking fast enough to be visibly unaffected.
I won’t make that mistake again, she had said. It wasn’t an idle threat. He witnessed the determination in her gaze.
“Wrong answer,” he said aloud though he began to smile for the first time in weeks. He was starting to think there was a different approach he could take with Ashley. She wasn’t about to stop, and he needed his source of food.
His phone buzzed. Eyes on her form trotting down the street, he answered the cell.
“Jonny.”
“Ikir, you need to come back now. We found something you need to see,” Charles said grimly.
Jonny hung up and Traveled without question. If Charles were alarmed, something was truly wrong. He materialized in the command center, expecting to see Valon and his vamps had raided his home base despite moving it after the rogues broke off.
Charles stood beside the hacker. The other vamps were at their stations, monitoring the Guardians and vamps under their respective regional assignments. On the surface, nothing was wrong.
“What is it?” Jonny asked, approaching Charles.
Charles motioned to the hacker, whose hands were shaking.
“We, uh, found something,” Stuart said nervously. “I was analyzing the Guardian database, trying to identify and sort the different designations they use. They have a record of Guardians who were vamped. It was encrypted, and it took me some time to break.”
“Get to it.” Charles nudged him.
“Valon was marked by the Guardians long ago when he turned eighteen and his powers began to emerge.”
“And?” Jonny prodded.
“Valon is a godslayer,” Charles spoke quietly.
Jonny’s world froze for a moment. “That’s how he was able to convince half the vamps to leave with him.”
“I think so.”
The hacker appeared braced for a beating. Jonny knew the rep of his predecessor through Charles. The former Black God, Czerno, had been mentally unstable, likely to kill anyone who brought him bad news. Jonny had no intention of shooting the messenger, but the tension building inside him was of a kind he hadn’t experienced recently.
“No one hears about this,” he said and touched the hacker on the shoulder. “You understand?”
Stuart jumped and then nodded vigorously.
Jonny met Charles’ gaze and strode into the hallway. Charles followed the unspoken order, and the two of them walked onto the porch on the main level beneath his veranda overlooking the ocean.
For a long moment, Jonny stood and stared out into the dark night. Godslayers were rarely born more often than every ten thousand years or more, according to what he’d learned from the Guardians. He had accepted his imm
ortality only to discover there really was a direct threat not just to him but to all he’d built. The first couple years of his reign had been plagued by doubt and the ferocious wish that he could change what had happened that led him to become the Black God.
Slowly, things had changed. He’d stopped viewing himself and his position with horror and regret and began seeing how he was going to make his reign different. Better. More sustainable, without the constant wars fought with the White God.
His mind racing, he reviewed everything he’d done and came to a conclusion that left him a little surprised. He wasn’t about to give up his position, as ill suited as he once considered himself to be for the job. In fact, the idea of losing the empire he’d begun to rebuild infuriated him.
“Valon is too similar to your predecessor,” Charles said finally. “Under you and the catch-and-release agreement with Damian, the vamps won’t have to spend their lives in hiding. We have as much freedom as predators can ever expect.”
“I have no intention of surrendering my position, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Jonny replied. “My goal has always been to help the vamp life become a legit subculture that doesn’t have to challenge the White God’s obligation to protect humanity. I remember wanting to be normal when I was vamped. Maybe it’s too late for some of the old guard, but for the next generation, my generation, I want this life to be better. I want all of us to have a shot at a shadow of normalcy.”
“I don’t remember what it was like to be human,” Charles replied. “I was vamped a thousand years ago. But I agree with you. We are a people like any other. We’re not animals and shouldn’t spend our lives feeling like we are. I believe in what you’re doing. We deserve a chance to live a life of our choosing. Those who aren’t strong enough to control their appetites, those with weak minds, will always pick the path that’s easiest for them to follow.”