The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series)

by Lizzy Ford

  “Is it always like this?” she asked.

  “Is what always like this?”

  “The, uh, blood thing. It’s really awkward.”

  “No,” he gave a half smile. “It’s never like this. I’m usually fucking my dinner at the same time.”

  She stared at him.

  “I usually brainwash them,” he admitted. “They don’t need to suffer on my account.”

  “They just need to die,” she snapped.

  “I am what I am.”

  I never knew you at all. “How many women have you been through?” she asked before she could stop herself.

  “Seven hundred and fourteen.”

  She started to laugh and then stopped.

  Jonny was serious.

  “Why so many?” she managed to ask.

  “I tend to drink more than the others. I generally kill one to two a week.”

  “So you can kill humans but they can’t.”

  “Right,” he said. “It’s a necessity in my position, at least until I crush the rebellion and have the full respect of those who remain.”

  “That doesn’t make it right.”

  “Right and wrong are a sliding scale where I sit. But I do remember all of their names and do my best to ensure they’re never in pain. It helps me hang onto what’s left of my humanity.”

  Ashley didn’t know what to say. Jonny was calm and accepting of what he was and what he did. He didn’t make excuses for his actions and clearly felt the impact of taking a human life in a way she doubted his vamps did.

  The insight into him had the opposite effect she expected.

  She cleared her throat once more and looked away. The past lingered between them, the sorrow she experienced when she realized she’d lost the person she cared about. This Jonny was nothing like him. Her Jonny had been sensitive and kind albeit misguided. He hadn’t wanted to kill and didn’t know how to use a woman let alone kill one. Whatever he claimed he felt, he had been good to her in the private moments they shared four years before.

  Her Jonny was gone, and it disturbed her to guess what kind of torture he had been through to become the man he was now.

  Had she changed this much? Because she felt as lost as ever, more so when she considered she’d potentially spend the rest of her life not understanding the Black God she was stuck with.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” she said.

  “For …”

  “I don’t even know,” she said. Disappointment settled the stirring of her blood. “Charles spent the day having other vamps kick my ass, so if we’re good, I’m going to need some sleep before tomorrow.”

  “I’ll take you and your chain back.” He glanced at the metal links piled at her feet.

  Before she could object, he crossed to her and rested a hand on her arm. They Traveled back to her room, a space that seemed far too cramped for the two of them. Ashley moved away from him instantly. She didn’t want his touch to send her spinning into confusion or worse, cause her to have another seizure.

  “I patched you for now,” Jonny said. “My sister is a healer. You should …”

  She looked up at him, startled he mentioned his family.

  “Never mind. Night, Ash,” he said.

  Within a blink, he was gone again.

  She released her breath. She’d rather spend all day and night fighting with the vamps Charles sent to challenge her than the five minutes she’d just spent with Jonny.

  It was going to be a long eternity, if she were permanently stuck with him.

  Save Brandon first. Then I get the hell out of here, she promised herself.

  Yet as sound as the plan seemed, she couldn’t help wondering if there was a part of the boy she’d once known that she might be able to save.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After a much less grueling day of tactics training, Ashley joined Charles and a handful of other vamps going out on a raid to a warehouse where it was suspected Valon was staying. She itched to hurry ahead, to infiltrate on her own and take out any vamps present.

  But Charles was strict: if she fucked up, she wasn’t going out with them again, and this was enough encouragement to keep her dutifully at his side.

  “Stop fidgeting,” he growled.

  “I can’t. This is taking too long,” she shot back. Night hid the approach of a scout darting from the direction of the warehouse.

  “No Valon,” he reported breathlessly and dropped behind the antiquated piece of rusting machinery they hid behind. The equipment from the former factory had been dragged out behind the warehouse and left to the elements. “Wards around the south side and activity inside and outside the wards.”

  “What kind of location is this?” Charles asked.

  “Looks like a safehouse or supply depot. Humans chained in one room, bunks in another, tons of storage boxes.”

  Ashley bristled.

  Charles glanced at her. “Don’t you start,” he warned.

  She gritted her teeth without responding. Every bone in her body wanted her to free the humans.

  “They wouldn’t have wards if there wasn’t something important here,” Charles said, returning his attention to the scout. “Wards are dead giveaways vamps are present. A normal safehouse wouldn’t use them.” He considered for a moment. “How many are here?”

  “I saw about three dozen.”

  “Good size. Too many for a safehouse.” Charles motioned the dozen vamps behind them forward within hearing distance. “We have orders to kill everyone but Valon. Break up into teams and enter like we practiced earlier. Keep it quick and clean.”

  The vamps moved away immediately to obey.

  “What about me?” Ashley asked anxiously.

  “I thought we’d use you as bait.” Charles rose and hurried towards the next closest piece of factory equipment.

  She scrambled after him. “I can do that,” she said. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Trip the wards. Head around to the south side and distract them.”

  She launched up.

  Charles grabbed her arm. “I’m not done yet, Natural,” he snarled.

  She rolled her eyes and crouched beside him again.

  “Hector is going with you. Trip the wards, stay where you are until you draw attention and then you fight – outside the warehouse.”

  “But there might be more –”

  “Outside the warehouse,” he repeated.

  “Fine. Anything else?”

  “Go.”

  She bolted and was trailed closely by the vamp named Hector. Not fully trusting them to tell her if Brandon was present, she nonetheless obeyed the first part of Charles’ plan.

  Ashley slowed her walk as she approached the south side of the warehouse. “Hey, Hector. How do I know when –”

  Shouts came from the sentry nearest her and were followed by a spotlight. Hector ducked down behind a piece of rusting equipment, and Ashley stepped into the light, shielding her eyes.

  She sensed the movement of three vamps headed her direction, and heard even more running towards the door nearest her.

  “Hey, guys,” she said cheerfully as the vamps neared. “Just dropping by to check in on things.”

  The door behind them slammed open as more vamps flooded the area. Ashley gauged their distance and reached for one of her knives. How long was she supposed to wait before attacking?

  The moment one of them came too close, she decided to act. Ashley lowered her center of balance and charged the oncoming vamps. She fought with deft speed unhindered by Charles and his Taser and chain. Battling vamps felt easy after his brutal lessons, and she tore through her opponents, vaguely aware of Hector killing the ones she downed.

  In only ten minutes, she’d taken out all seven of those who came to confront them and paused at the door, breathless and energized. Ashley peered into the darkness, unable to see the way the predators could.

  Hector was talking into a walkie-talkie. She debated disobeying Charles comple
tely to search the warehouse but feared being grounded from future missions if she did. After some internal warring, she returned to Hector.

  He dropped the walkie-talkie into his cargo pocket and strode past her. “C’mon.” He disappeared into the depths of the warehouse.

  Ashley followed without a word. It was easier to follow Hector as he navigated in the darkness than find her own way, and she walked close enough to bump him when he slowed, senses trained on the darkness. The open bay made up half the warehouse and was empty as far as she could tell. Movement and light came from the doors on the north side of the building.

  “Hey, Hector. Why is there a ward and nothing here?”

  “That’s what we have to find out.”

  She trailed him. He changed directions before reaching the tall door leading to the other half of the segmented warehouse and went instead to a stairwell tucked along one side.

  Underground. The trick she’d learned from watching Jonny hide her from the Others. Eager to discover what the vamps were hiding – and praying it was Brandon – Ashley crowded Hector, who gave her an annoyed look more than once as they descended beneath the concrete flooring.

  The bunker beneath the warehouse was tiny compared to the open floor of the bay. The sound of quick footfalls made them duck into a nearby room. Ashley counted ten vamps race past them towards the stairs before the hallway was quiet.

  “I think there’s more than three dozen here,” she observed.

  “Charles says at least double.”

  “What are they guarding?”

  Hector didn’t answer but opened the door and stepped into the hallway. They hurried in the direction the vamps had come from, past several more darkened rooms, and into what appeared to be nothing more than a barracks area.

  “That’s it?” she asked, disappointed.

  “This is good,” Hector said simultaneously.

  Ashley rolled her eyes and gave the room a once over visually. “I see nothing here.” And no Brandon.

  “Valon had a good size unit guarding this place. If –”

  Rustling came from behind them, and they both whirled. Before the hiding vamp was able to flee, Ashley had tackled him to the ground. The sharp, hot electricity of a Taser ripped through her, and she was flung off.

  Gasping, she waited for her seizing to subside while Hector smashed the vamp to the floor.

  “What is it with vamps and … Tasers?” she grumbled and rolled onto her belly. “You didn’t kill this one?” She climbed to her feet with effort and shook off the shock.

  Hector hauled the bloodied vamp up and shoved him onto a chair. “We need to know what or who was here.” He radioed Charles briefly to report in. “Search the area, Natural.”

  Ashley sheathed her knives and began wandering through the cots, tables and chairs. “What am I looking for?”

  “Anything interesting.” Hector said and then smacked the unconscious vamp.

  Ashley glanced over her shoulder, uncertain she wanted to see a vamp interrogation. If Jonny’s men were as ruthless as he was, it wasn’t going to end pleasantly.

  She walked without real purpose. There were no bags or belongings anywhere that might identify who was around. A familiar scent reached her heightened senses, and she paused. She stood between two cots, one of which was pressed up against the wall. Both had unfolded blankets as if the occupants had left quickly.

  Kneeling between them, she waited for the scent to tickle her nose once more and then stretched for the blanket on the cot against the wall. She sniffed it and almost sighed. “Brandon,” she murmured, recognizing his favorite cologne. For once, she was glad he sprayed too much. She shook out the blanket to see if he’d left something there to help her find him.

  A pool of blood had soaked through and hardened a section of the blanket. Her heart skipped a beat, and she stared at it. What had they done to Brandon? After a quick search, she returned to Hector, who had managed to rouse the vamp.

  “Brandon was here,” Ashley said. “What happened to him? Why was he bleeding?”

  “Wait your turn, Natural,” Hector growled and pushed her aside.

  “No!” She pushed him back and shook the blanket in front of the rogue vamp. “What happened? Did someone bite him?”

  The vamp glared at her.

  Furious at the thought they’d been using her brother as food, Ashley dropped the blanket and whipped out her knife. She stabbed the vamp in the thigh.

  He jerked and hissed in pain.

  “Where is my brother?” she demanded and withdrew the knife.

  He didn’t answer, and she stabbed him again.

  “Your brother is not the mission,” Hector shoved her aside once more. He lifted a Taser. “Charles won’t ask why I had to use it.”

  Ashley yanked her knife out of the vamp’s leg and fumed silently off to the side. She soon began to pity the captured vamp. Hector Tasered, beat and twisted his arms into pretzels. She flinched as she watched, willing the stupid vamp to just answer the questions about what was down in the basement.

  “Kitchen!” gasped the vamp finally.

  She perked up, and Hector eased back. “What’s in the kitchen?” he demanded.

  “Go … see …”

  “I’ll go.” Ashley volunteered. “You can keep doing … this.”

  Hector nodded, and she left quickly, relieved to be away. She had no love for vamps, but she didn’t like to see anyone suffering either. Ashley scoured the bunker and found the kitchen accessible through an entertainment room with a television and couch. She crossed through to the space the vamp indicated and looked around.

  The counters were empty. She searched the cupboards. They, too, contained nothing. Suspecting he had tricked them, she started to leave when she heard the sounds of shouting and foot traffic. Several vamps raced by the entrance to the entertainment room. They weren’t Charles’ vamps, though, and she began to suspect Charles had gotten in over his head upstairs. She waited for them to continue down the hallway and started forward but stopped and turned suddenly.

  She hadn’t thought to check the fridge.

  Ashley retreated to the corner where the refrigerator was and opened the door. Two boxes – one a shoebox, the other the size of a large ring box – sat on the top shelf. She reached in and grabbed both quickly to set on the counter. Not at all certain what vamps kept in the fridge, she lifted the top off the shoebox first.

  “Oh … yuck.” They’d severed someone’s hand and placed it in the center with a folded dishtowel beneath. She replaced the lid with a grimace and opened the ring box.

  The eyeball staring back at her was the exact same hue as hers.

  Ashley didn’t move, didn’t breathe for a long minute. She pushed the lid off the shoebox once more and this time, reached in to grab the hand inside. It could’ve been anyone’s hand, and she was trying to convince herself of this when she flipped it over and saw the faded blue ink where Brandon made his to do list on a daily basis.

  Until this moment, Brandon’s danger hadn’t felt real. It had seemed simple to her. She’d help Jonny as a means to help Brandon. No one would hurt either of them, because of Xander.

  Jonny and Xander both had warned her it wasn’t a game, and she brushed them off, along with Xander’s claim about there being consequences to every choice. Those consequences, the danger, the idea one or both of them may not survive this, that Brandon might die before she reached him or perhaps she wasn’t able to handle everything without help … these realities hadn’t felt real before she discovered the evidence that she was in over her head.

  How stupid am I? Jonny was right. Xander was right.

  Brandon was in the kind of danger she wasn’t able to protect him from. And maybe no one else could, either.

  With calmness she didn’t feel, Ashley replaced the lids of both boxes and slid them into her backpack with trembling hands. It hadn’t yet clicked she held her brother’s hand or that his eye had been staring lifelessly up at her.

/>   “Hey!” the shout of a vamp from the entrance of the entertainment room jarred her out of her thoughts and back into her danger.

  Because she was in danger. Just like Brandon. This wasn’t another night beating up vamps for some stupid hope of revenge against someone she didn’t even know anymore.

  This was a civil war, one she and Jonny were caught in the middle of.

  Something clicked inside her. This wasn’t a game. There was a chance one of the people she loved most in the world wasn’t going to survive this. Brandon was being sawed into pieces for reasons she couldn’t begin to guess.

  This time when Ashley drew her knives, she could think of only one thing: making anyone who had a hand in hurting her brother pay for it.

  The sound of Hector scuffling with vamps distracted her briefly before she launched at the two moving through the entertainment room towards her. Ashley drew a breath. Her hands shook from emotion she wasn’t able to feel at the moment but which she knew would be as powerful as one of her seizures when it hit.

  Her attack on the vamps passed as if she were in a dream. Disengaged yet acutely aware of everything, she didn’t try to refrain from killing as she usually did. She let her instincts control her weapons and closed her eyes to the spray of blood. Its warmth soaked her, before she had even made it out of the entertainment room.

  When the two vamps had stopped moving, she assessed her situation swiftly.

  No regret or fear or anything that might discourage her emerged. She was glad the vamps were dead and proud to have been the one to end them. For all she knew, they had hurt her brother.

  And no one who hurt Brandon was going to make it through this.

  Ashley strode into the hallway towards the barracks area where she heard someone getting his ass beaten. She didn’t need to look to know it was Hector on the ground. As soon as she set foot in the barracks, she was a flurry of lethal activity. Hacking, stabbing, slashing. She was too quick for her first few vamps to have the chance to attack her. One managed to scrape her arm but paid for it instantly with his life.

  Within seconds, everyone but her and Hector was dead.