The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series)

by Lizzy Ford

  “Worse. That’s unacceptable,” Damian said. “One human life lost is too much.”

  “All I can promise is I’m working on crushing the rebellion and yes, there’s going to be a lot of collateral damage,” Jonny said. “But when it’s done, it’s done. Tomorrow is not going to be a good day for human loss. I’m expecting retaliation for the vamps I killed today.”

  Damian paced away. Jonny sensed he was about to say something he didn’t want to and glanced from him to Darian.

  “I heard you have a new badass vamp,” Darian spoke quietly. “You vamped a Natural warrior?”

  “No,” Jonny said. He felt Xander’s look and didn’t dare acknowledge it.

  “Two of the Trackers we had plans for disappeared this week. You know anything about that?” Damian asked.

  “Yeah. I vamped them,” Jonny replied. “I need to fix my rogue problem, and it’s easier if I can find them.”

  “Or you could come to me.”

  “Or I could handle my domain and people myself.”

  “You call this handling?” Damian approached him, charged energy radiating off him. “Because I know the body count on the human side.”

  “And I know it on the vamp side!” Jonny said, refusing to back down. “I lost close to nine thousand vamps before we killed off the Others and another seven hundred went rogue. I’m slaughtering every one of the traitors as I find them. But it takes time and you need to understand I’m not in a position to do more than I already am. You couldn’t do it any faster or you’d have wiped us out by now.”

  “Oh, trust me. I can do something you won’t ever recover from!”

  Darian sighed. “Stop it. Both of you.” He planted a hand on the shoulder of each and pushed them apart. “D, you’ve been saying Jonny needs to step up for years now. And Jonny, you should’ve come to us to help you.”

  Fuck that. Jonny seethed inside. Outsiders had no idea how much he’d grown and changed or what it took to enforce the catch-and-release program with predators who didn’t want to think twice about what happened to their meals.

  “I’m more interested in the warrior you allegedly didn’t vamp,” Xander purred.

  “He took out twenty five vamps at once, I heard,” Darian said.

  No part of Jonny wanted to bring Ashley into this, but neither was he ready to lose Xander’s support. If Damian and Darian disagreed on how to handle this, Xander was always the tiebreaker.

  “Not a he. A she,” Jonny said quietly. “Ashley is helping me.”

  “Helping you?” Damian repeated. “You fucked with the head of Xander’s stepdaughter?”

  “I didn’t fuck with her head. She made me a deal. She’s obligated to fulfill her end of the bargain, just like I’m obligated to fulfill mine,” Jonny snapped.

  “What bargain?” Xander asked.

  A terse silence fell over them before Jonny decided to go with a version of the truth. “My rules can’t be broken by anyone, Natural or vamp or Guardian.” He shot Damian a look. “It’s the only way I can enforce the catch-and-release program, with absolute obedience. Ashley broke one of my rules. She showed up at my headquarters and started attacking my vamps. Any uprising, any trespassing by non-vamp, is punishable by death. The only mercy I give is to kill quickly.”

  Xander was listening intently.

  “She. Fucked. Up,” Jonny enunciated slowly. “And I couldn’t appear weak in front of the remaining vamps. So we made a deal. I don’t kill her in exchange for her doing exactly what I tell her to.”

  “Which is …” Damian prodded.

  “None of your fucking business.”

  “It’s mine,” Xander said.

  “No, it’s not. My fucking business is my fucking business,” Jonny said. “You all don’t have to like it.”

  More uncomfortable silence. He fought with them regularly, particularly Damian, but it was rare when he refused to lend them insight into what he was doing. His protective instinct rose with Ashley, though, and with the idea of Damian wanting to slaughter the loyal vamps he had under his control.

  “Why did she attack your headquarters?” Darian asked.

  Coño! He had to ask. “Because,” Jonny drew a deep breath, “her brother went missing and she thought I had him. He was captured by the leader of the rogue vamps, probably because he was helping me track them.”

  “You were using a Natural to track them?” Damian stared at him. “A Natural not under my protection, with no Guardians to help him if something happened?”

  “He wasn’t under your protection because he’s under Xander’s,” Jonny shot back. “I will find him.” This was directed at Xander.

  “You gonna stand by and let the Black God get your step kids killed?” Damian asked the quiet vamp.

  Xander was studying Jonny. Jonny felt the pressure of Xander trying to enter his head. He didn’t block him like he could, knowing he needed Xander’s support. Whatever Xander sought didn’t take long for him to find.

  “I warned Ashley,” Xander whispered. “Choices have consequences. Jonny’s learned that lesson. What I don’t understand: Ash doesn’t kill. What changed?”

  Jonny hesitated before explaining. Damian was frowning deeply when Jonny finished.

  “She’s coming to me when this is over,” the White God said. “She doesn’t belong anywhere near you.”

  “I’m not okay with that,” Xander replied.

  Jonny listened to the two of them talking about Ashley’s fate, uncertain why it infuriated him. Was it because they discounted him completely from the equation? Or did they simply think Ashley wasn’t capable of making her own decisions?

  “No,” he said loudly, cutting off their conversation.

  “No what?” Damian asked.

  “Ashley’s not going anywhere. She made a deal with me. She stays with me.”

  “If you vamp –”

  “I have no intentions of vamping her,” Jonny said impatiently. “She saved the lives of several of my men. They’re no threat to her.”

  “I’m not worried about their threat to her,” Damian replied.

  Jonny didn’t want Damian’s soft response to hit him like it did. The White God was gazing at him in a combination of understanding and knowing, as if he somehow empathized with the turmoil Jonny was going through when he considered how he was going to keep Ashley alive and safe. Damian had never faced a challenge like those Jonny dealt with on a regular basis. By his very nature, and the nature of a vamp, Ashley was never going to be truly safe with him. From him. Drinking from her appealed to the predator in him, and he wasn’t comfortable guaranteeing anyone he could curtail his inner monster as well as those of his vamps.

  But neither was he willing to give her up.

  I lost her once. I’m not ready for that again. “She made a choice. She deals with what she’s done.”

  Silence. Xander shifted finally. “She made a deal with you. Brandon did not. If he’s not back within the week, mostly intact, I’ll visit you first, Jonny.”

  “Understood,” Jonny replied.

  “Nothing here leaves me with the feeling you have a clue what you’re going to do about your vamp uprising,” Damian said.

  “I’m dealing with it. I can’t prevent the loss of life but I can assure you if any of my vamps kills a human, I’ll send you both bodies,” Jonny said. “And you are welcome to hunt and kill the vamps working with Valon.”

  “Give me the location of yours so I know who not to kill,” Damian said.

  “Fuck no.”

  Darian chuckled.

  “My vamps bear my mark.” Jonny raised his hand to display the brand. “My vamps are adhering to the catch-and-release agreement.”

  “So we can kill the other vamps.” Darian appeared pleased.

  “I want you to consider sending Ashley and Brandon both to me when this is over,” Damian said. “They need to be safe, like your sister.”

  “Ashley doesn’t need your protection or mine. She’s capable of handling hers
elf and of making her own decisions.” Jonny replied icily. “I’ll consider it a personal offense if anyone interferes with her life.” He heard the words only after they were out. Normally, he thought through what he was going to say but with Ashley …

  He didn’t regret it despite the emotion in his voice.

  “So … we can have Brandon,” Darian said, trying not to smile.

  “No,” Xander replied. “Brandon makes his own choices as well.”

  “I don’t like any of this. Too many people are getting hurt,” Damian said, gazing at Jonny. “If you’re serious, if you’re hunting your own vamps, you won’t mind me sending an observer.”

  “I don’t send people to make sure you do your job!” Jonny retorted.

  “I haven’t been in power for five years.”

  “The answer is no.”

  They studied one another.

  “Vote?” Darian asked.

  “No,” Jonny said again. “There’s nothing to vote on. I’m doing my job. If you don’t like it, fuck you.”

  “I vote with Jonny,” Darian said, smiling.

  Jonny rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to admit he was waiting for Damian’s reaction, but he was. He wanted them to take him seriously, even if Charles was right about them having no true influence over him unless he ceded to their opinions. Damian had been as much of a mentor as any of them, one who had worked with him in situations where he didn’t think another immortal would have. Some small part of him still wanted Damian’s approval, even if he never openly acknowledged it.

  “One week,” Damian said finally. “One fucking week. In the meantime, you and I are gonna talk about Brandon, Xander.”

  “Call us if we can help you wipe out bad vamps,” Darian added. “I’m more than happy to oblige.”

  “I’ll consider it,” Jonny replied. “In the meantime, back off.”

  “We will.” Damian was frowning. “Do your job, Jonny. I won’t interfere.”

  That took five fucking years. Jonny almost shouted in triumph.

  Xander was impossible to read and Darian appeared to be the only person satisfied with anything that had been discussed.

  Holy fuck. I won this round, Jonny realized. Normally he left with his tail between his legs. For once, he’d drawn boundaries with the two gods and Original Vamp and they were respecting the lines – even if not entirely willingly.

  “I’ll be in contact,” he said quietly. Before anyone could say anything to trump his victory, Jonny turned and Traveled back to his hideout.

  And then, in the safety of his suite, he released the breath he’d been holding and rubbed his face. He had expected worse from Damian and an interrogation at least from Xander.

  “Ikir.” Charles voice was muffled by the door.

  Jonny spent a few seconds breathing to calm himself after the tense confrontation. When he felt ready, he opened the door. “We need to plan tomorrow’s targets,” he said and joined Charles in the hallway.

  “How’d it go?”

  “Relatively good. We have a week before Damian is going to get involved, and I promised Xander we’d find Brandon. Alive.”

  “For all we know he’s already in pieces.”

  “Yeah. I know. We do our best.”

  Charles looked away but not before Jonny saw the flicker of amusement in his eyes.

  “What?” he asked, surly despite the attempt to regain his composure.

  “What of the Natural?”

  “She stays with us. But she goes nowhere until I say so.”

  “Can she train?”

  “Yeah.”

  The smug expression remained on Charles’ face.

  “What?” Jonny demanded once more.

  “I was thinking you could spar with her next time.”

  Jonny could think of no way such a lesson was going to end well. Ashley was angry enough with him most of the time, and he wasn’t about to go easy on her. He also didn’t relish getting his ass handed to him a couple of times before he was able to outmaneuver her.

  “It’ll be a good morale booster,” Charles added. “The vamps respect her and you.”

  “Fine. She won’t be up for a full day, though.” He didn’t look forward to the fight, though the more he thought about it, the less he began to dread it. There was nothing about Ashley he didn’t like with the exception she was reckless both with her emotions and about her physical danger. It meant, of the two of them, he was the only likely to stay in control, and he sensed he was starting to lose that battle a little more each time they touched.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Two days later, Ashley fought with ferocity born of fury and frustration. Charles had her blindfolded, chained and occasionally Tasered as usual, and she found herself grateful for the impediments that prevented her from lopping off the heads of every vamp around her. She felt good, healed, refreshed – and it pissed her off knowing her brother was suffering somewhere else when she could’ve spent the past couple of days rescuing him instead of sleeping.

  Charles dropped her with a Taser for the fourth time and this time, she stayed on her back and panted.

  “You have energy but no sense today,” Charles told her.

  Ashley lifted her hands to her face and pushed off the blindfold. Several vamps had stopped to watch the lesson. “Just send me out on a raid by myself,” she snapped.

  “It’s not my call to make.”

  “What?” She pushed herself to sit. “You know what I can do.”

  “I know you’re also likely to cause a great deal of collateral damage.”

  She rolled her eyes. He was right. She was fighting with emotion this day, oblivious to how many times she’d been knocked on her ass. The two hour opening session was enough to take the edge off, and she sighed.

  “You ready to use a little control this time?” Charles asked.

  “Yeeeeeees!”

  “Then you can show ikir you’re ready to go out on a raid.” He lifted his chin to indicate something behind her.

  Ashley twisted. Jonny was present, arms across his chest and dressed as if he, too, were present to spar. Her emotions surged once more at the sight of him. She didn’t entirely understand why not all of what she experienced was anger. He deserved to receive the full force of her fury and vengeance.

  Instead, she found herself admiring the shape of his tall, muscular frame, his wide shoulders and chest, flat abs and long, lean thighs, and hated herself more for being attracted to the person who hurt her more than once.

  Charles tossed her the key to her chain. Ashley unlocked it.

  “Ikir, you’re up,” Charles said. “No rules.”

  “So he can use his Travel ability?” Ashley asked and rose.

  “And you can use your speed. It’s a fair fight.”

  There’s no such thing with Jonny. Ashley tossed the key and blindfold back to Charles and turned to Jonny. Whenever they faced off, her heart began to race and warmth bloomed inside her. “If I win, I’ll go on a raid.”

  “Whether you win or not, I’ll decide later,” Jonny replied, stoic. He shook his arms out, his athletic form clad in black workout pants and a loose t-shirt. His intent gaze was on her as usual, his frame poised.

  No part of her was willing to admit he was probably right about her body giving out on her if she hadn’t rested. Her urgency to find Brandon was too strong for her to care, and she had wanted to kill Jonny alongside the rogue vamps when she awoke and realized how much time had passed.

  “Begin,” Charles said. He stepped back to give them more room.

  I wish I had real knives, Ashley thought darkly. She drew a breath and lowered herself into a fighting stance. “Bring it, ikir,” she ordered.

  “Trust me. I will, Natural,” Jonny replied. The corner of his lips curved up briefly.

  Ashley anticipated his first move. He vanished and reappeared behind her. She smashed an elbow into his cheek and then kicked. Both blows landed perfectly, and Jonny cursed before vanishing once more.
>
  She closed her eyes so she could focus her senses on the faint charge of power preceding his appearance. When he materialized, he was close enough to knock her off balance as she twisted out of his reach.

  Their lethal dance continued with each of them landing blows and neither getting much of an edge on the other. Ashley hated knowing he was able to win easily. He could move fast enough to touch her, and a single touch was all it took for him to cripple her from the inside out with his power. But he didn’t this time. He seemed genuinely interested in facing her on her terms as much as possible.

  Charles monitored from the sidelines, yelling instructions to both as they sparred.

  “Think first, Natural!”

  “Hit harder, ikir!”

  Gradually, she became aware of two things. The first, Jonny was what Charles claimed – brilliant at maneuvering her where he had neither the speed nor agility to match her skill. And second, she was holding her own against someone capable of Traveling. His advantage was his power, which meant she was able to face anyone on the planet but a god and win. She had never fully believed anyone capable of defeating her without being faster and better than she was, and she began to understand a little better how Jonny’s mind worked.

  Sparring – and battle in general – were incredibly accurate gauges of a person’s inner fortitude as well as physical strength. Jonny was resourceful and shrewd in his use of the terrain, her body, even her speed against her. He fought her directly when he needed to and Traveled to reset the battlefield to his advantage.

  Through it all, he was in complete control of himself and his emotions. Ashley quickly realized how methodical he was, how calculating each move became once he set it in motion. Even when she landed blows, she had to wonder if he was giving up hits in one instance so he could outmaneuver her in another. Her athleticism was a good defense but not the best offense against someone manipulating her into position.

  It was through Jonny’s technique that she began to understand what Charles was telling her to do: to fight with a strategy for winning rather than fighting simply to fight. Jonny treated this as a chess match while she normally just tried to Hulk smash her opponent.