by Lizzy Ford
“Yet you warned me,” the Black God stated.
“I did.”
“It wasn’t you influencing Talon.”
“The Others betrayed you and chose Talon to replace you. I cannot let that happen, lest the balance sway permanently, and all is lost,” the Watcher said.
“No one will replace me!” The Black God was bristling with checked power that made her inch away from him. The Watcher looked at her.
“Then keep the healer with you,” he said with resignation. “She has the power of ancient healers to return to life that which otherwise wouldn’t live. What’s been set into motion can’t be stopped, but you at least have a chance if you have her.”
“Get outta here!”
Bianca’s mouth was slack as she watched the Watcher disappear in a wink of light. She’d wanted to yell at him to save her, and he’d all but guaranteed the Black God would enslave her!
“Stay here,” the Black God ordered and disappeared. She sagged, horrified and fatigued. Looking around, she realized why the tiny living room was so familiar.
It was her father’s.
She pushed herself up, cold inside and out. Without even asking where she lived, the Black God brought her home. The apartment was identical to when she’d left it a week before yet seemed somehow foreign. She couldn’t explain the sense that she didn’t belong despite the pictures of her and Jonny on the walls and all her things sprinkled around the room.
She made her way to the notebook near the desk phone.
Aaron. Her eyes went to the wall clock. She was supposed to meet him in a few hours. Such a normal thing seemed … weird.
With a frown, she wondered why she’d never seen it before, why she wasted seven years trying to make things work with someone who couldn’t hold a candle to the man she was meant to be with.
Her hand went to her throat, where Dusty’s necklace dangled. She belonged with him, even if she was second rung to his war against bad guys or even if he was never able to devote himself to any one woman at all. She was doomed to fall for men unable to commit to her!
She rubbed her face and wobbled towards the bedroom, determined to change before the Black God returned for her. A few minutes later, she sat in the living room, granola bar clenched between her teeth while she tied her shoes.
She felt him appear, as though the AC was suddenly set to high.
“Why don’t I show you what I’m going to do to that little shit of a brother of yours?” he asked with a slow smile and a gleam in his eyes that made her breath catch.
The Black God was covered in bright blood. She winced as he snatched her arm, and familiar coldness descended over her. When the coldness released her, she stood in the middle of a large conference hall. The storm beating against the windows had shut down the power; the hall was lit by candles and makeshift torches. She looked around.
One buffet table sagged beneath the weight of five kegs while another held food wrapped in cellophane and tinfoil. The room was otherwise arranged as if for a wedding with two sets of neatly lined chairs on either side of a long aisle. Where the altar would’ve been were two long buffet tables lined with weapons.
She shivered, not wanting to know what Talon planned.
Czerno slammed open the doors at one end of the hall. She started to follow and tripped, then stifled a cry. What looked like a leg lay in her path, and a pool of blood and more mangled flesh nearby indicated where the Black God had gotten the blood covering him.
She covered her mouth and hurried away. The Black God strode through the quiet buildings until he reached a long hallway overlooking a courtyard packed with hundreds of vamps and several bonfires. She slowed, unwilling to join the throng of bloodsuckers. Instead, she pushed open a door leading to a small balcony overlooking what would’ve been a large garden, prior to the vamps arrival.
The first story of the building was overflowing with vamps. She wondered what Czerno planned on doing, until she saw him stride out of the building towards the center of the vamps.
“Gotcha, bitch!” The vicious whisper was accompanied by a thick hand clamping around the back of her neck. Talon hauled her away from the balcony. “You left me in the fucking ocean! When I’m the Black God, you’ll be the first human to suffer like no one else ever has!”
Chapter Ten
Dusty studied the scenes on the screens of his command center, agitated by the weather hindering their ability to deal with Talon’s vamps. Radar and thermal image coverage was decent, indicating the vamps were mainly gathered in one spot. He took in the various scenes, to include the local news, which blasted photos of the black skies and mounting waves of the tropical-storm-turned-hurricane.
The Black God was back, which meant Bianca wasn’t far from him. It took effort to repress his anger and his desire to tear outta there to find her.
“No word on Talon,” Jenn said from beside him.
“The Black God’s there?” Jonny asked. “What about B?”
“Shut up, kid,” Dusty replied. “How many vamps?”
“Several hundred, close to a thousand.”
The young man drew away from the table. Jenn touched the earpiece tucked in her ear, frowning.
“And so is Darian.”
“Darian?” Dusty echoed.
“Hey, boss, the storm blew out our explosives work.” Jimmy’s scratchy voice came across the intercom. “We can blow half the place up and send in a team to finish off the rest.”
“Wait one,” Dusty said and whipped out his phone. He prepared himself for the worst and dialed the Grey God.
“Don’t yell!” Darian picked up after the first ring. “I have to, Dusty! You’ll understand!”
“We’re gonna blow the place, Darian! Get out of there!”
“Dusty, you can’t! Bianca’s here!”
“What happened to taking care of Ohio?” Dusty asked after a pause. “Shouldn’t you be saving those people so I don’t blow them up?”
“I will, I will,” Darian said impatiently. “Iggy found a temporary solution to stop the spread, and I sealed the area around the town. Nothing can get in or out. Trust me, Dusty!”
Dusty wanted nothing more than to order Darian back to Ohio to finish one mess before dragging them into another. Instead, he drew a deep breath and said, “Find Bianca. I’ll be there soon.”
“Talon just showed up,” Jenn said quietly.
It’s time. Dusty hung up the phone and gazed at the screens.
“Jimmy, throw everything you’ve got at the target in thirty minutes,” he said into the intercom. “Jenn, keep Jonny away from that place and safe.” He checked his weapons and pulled off his jacket, clipping as many magazines to his belt as he could.
“What’re you doing?” Jenn asked, watching him closely.
“Whatever I have to,” he replied. “Watch the kid and get word to Damian tomorrow morning.”
“Dusty, just send in a team to pull her out. We’ve done this a million times!”
“Not this time, Jenn. Talon and Czerno are about to face off, and Talon can’t be the one to walk away from there.”
“At least hold off on-- ”
“Jenn!” he said, gripping her arms. “I don’t have time for this shit! Watch the kid, and make sure nothing-- and I mean nothing-- leaves that place alive! If I can’t do what I need to in thirty minutes, we’re all fucked!”
Jenn appeared torn. Dusty released her, strapped in the last weapon, and looked around.
“Where’s Jonny?” he demanded.
“I’ll take care of it. You’re running out of time,” she said. “He can’t go anywhere anyway.”
Dusty gave a curt nod and closed his eyes. Coldness, then the sound of the storm beating the building around him. The conference hall was dimly lit, and he immediately smelled the blood of a recent kill. His senses thrummed with presence of so many vamps. Drawing a weapon, he walked through the hall and into a corridor. He sensed Darian and Czerno distinctly, the level of power the gods posses
sed distinguishable despite the massive presence of vamps.
He moved through the building towards Darian, finding him on the ground floor away from the vamps. The Grey God was pacing, his golden eyes glowing in the dark room.
“Are you even trying to find Bianca?” Dusty snapped.
“I know where she is.”
“This place is gonna blow soon. You need to leave, Darian.”
“No, Dusty!” the Grey God said firmly. “I have to be here, same as you.”
Something in his voice had changed. The teenage whininess was gone, replaced by confidence.
“Where’s Jonny?” Darian asked.
“With Jenn at HQ,” Dusty replied, studying him. “He’s too chicken shit to kill you, Darian.”
“Not worried about him killing me.”
“Where’s Bianca?”
“You don’t wanna go after her yet, Dusty, or you’ll get killed,” Darian advised.
“Just answer the fucking question!”
The Grey God gave a familiar, noisy sigh and turned, pointing out a window. Dusty’s gaze followed his finger, where Talon and the Black God stood apart from the others under the protection of a small verandah. Bianca hung back from both, kept in place by two vamps on either side of her.
She was pale beneath her warm color with dark circles beneath her eyes. He studied her, feeling as though he was seeing her for the first time and the last. If he weren’t damned to die this night, he could see himself with her forever. His gut twisted at the idea of never again seeing her bright smile, holding her, smelling her sweet scent. But if he didn’t act, no one walked away from here alive, even her. He looked away and steeled himself.
“Take this,” he said, handing Darian the phone. “If you let anything happen to her, I swear to the Original Beings I’ll haunt you from the grave for the rest of your life!”
“What’re you doing?” Darian asked in a hushed voice.
“I believe in you, Darian. Always have,” Dusty said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Don’t fuck up.”
“Dusty, we can just blow everything up,” Darian said, a note of panic in his voice.
“We will. You’ve got twenty-seven minutes to get out of here before Jimmy levels this place.” Dusty walked away, drawing his weapons. He strode through the vacant hallways to the verandah doors. Rain and wind battered him. The vamps around Bianca whirled, and he raised the hand cannons, blasting all four before they reached the door.
Bianca gasped as he strode by. Talon drew his weapons, but the Black God smiled.
“Damian’s assassin,” Czerno purred.
“My beef isn’t with you, Czerno, but with your pet,” Dusty said. Talon’s nostrils flared.
“Pop, blast this idiot!” Talon snarled.
“Looks like a convenient match-up between demigods,” Czerno responded. “Do your own dirty work, son.”
Talon’s sneer faded. The Black God held out his hands. Talon took one and Dusty the other, feeling the coldness of Traveling from one place to another. They appeared in the conference hall, whose seats were filling with vamps eager to see Talon’s show. Czerno had left Bianca, giving Darian the opportunity he needed to snatch her and run.
At least, Dusty hoped that’s what Darian did. He glanced at his watch. Twenty-four minutes. He needed to draw this out as long as possible, so Jimmy’s explosions took out Talon and all the vamps if he couldn’t.
“You’re too young to remember, but in my time, we didn’t have guns,” Dusty said to the bastard son.
“I don’t give a shit how I have to kill you!” Talon replied. “You want knives, I got knives. You want swords, I got swords. Either way, you’re dead.”
Dusty stripped off the clunky modern weaponry, keeping his sword and knives. He removed the bulletproof vest and the body armor on his arms and legs to help free his movement.
Czerno was gone. He looked around, bristling, and then saw the Black God reappear with Bianca.
“Dammit, Darian!” he muttered.
“It’s cool, Dusty, I promise,” Darian said from nearby. “I’m here to make sure you don’t fuck up the universe.”
“I don’t give two shits about the universe!” he said, turning to face the Grey God. Darian’s eyes glowed and swirled. They were pinned on Czerno, his power once again bending light and dark around him.
“Just fight, Dustin,” the Grey God said in a hushed voice. “I’ll take care of everything else, I promise.” The Grey God looked possessed. Dusty studied him a moment longer, recalling his conversation with the Watcher. Czerno gave Darian a warning look, and Dusty stepped onto the dais, where Talon awaited him. At this point, he had no choice but to trust Darian.
Bianca watched in horror and awe as the two men fought. The brutal display of strength and speed was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Swords clashed and spit sparks while their feet danced too fast for her to follow. Talon fought with fury, his eyes glowing red, while Dusty fought with a calm, controlled intensity.
Several times she’d thought Dusty had the upper hand and could’ve killed the leering vamp, and several times, he’d stopped, once with a glance at his watch. Lightning tore across the otherwise silent room, where vamps stood enraptured by the battle before them.
Darian hadn’t been able to look away from the Black God, whose hand was clenched with painful tightness around Bianca’s forearm. She quelled her rising panic. She hadn’t seen Darian since he dumped her with the Black God in the alternate dimension, and she didn’t like the way the air around him shimmered, at once dark and light. While he stood in Dusty’s corner, she wasn’t convinced he’d chosen a side.
Talon stumbled, and Dusty froze rather than pounced, his head whipping around. The Black God tensed simultaneously, and Darian’s eyes glowed brighter. They stared towards a hallway too dark for her to see into. Talon lashed out at Dusty, and she gasped as he barely blocked in time. The two continued, but the Black God snatched her by the neck and moved out of the candlelight, into the darkness.
Whatever was in the hallway distracted Dusty again, and red splashed across his forearm as Talon’s blow grazed him.
“Dusty!” she cried.
Czerno squeezed her neck hard with a shake, and she gasped as he cut off her air. Across the room, Darian shifted closer to the battle, one hand rubbing the back of his head.
Lightning split the ceiling with a boom, frying several vamps in the crowd. The force of the strike knocked everyone off their feet and deadened the firelight, except for the torches in the corners. The storm roared in through the ceiling, hail and water pelting her body while thunder deafened her.
Still, Czerno didn’t let go of her. He pulled her to her feet and against the wall, where the rain was less harsh. He’d stopped draining her healing power, and she felt a change in his body. He was weak, a type of weakness she couldn’t heal.
In another flash of lightning, she saw a form dart from the hallway, around the stunned crowd, towards her. The scent of burning flesh filled the hall, and she shuddered beneath the onslaught of rain and wind.
Dusty and Talon rose, Talon taking the chance to launch himself at Dusty. She gave a strangled cry as Dusty twisted out of reach, the sword slicing through the back of his shirt. Sparks soon flew again.
Some vamps raced out of the hall while others crowded around them, the Black God forgotten. Still others torched the wooden chairs until a fire blazed in the back of the hall. Dusty’s shout to Darian was lost in another burst of thunder. He pointed to his watch.
Suddenly, she was flung to the wet floor. Surprised, she twisted in time to see a tall form hack again and again at the Black God, whose own knife was planted in the attacker’s chest. Lightning revealed Jonny’s face.
“B!” he shouted, dropping beside her. He pulled the knife from his chest, tossing it on the still body of the Black God. His face was drawn and pale, his eyes wild.
“Jonny!” She flung her arms around him. His body drank her healing power. She squeezed him tight.
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“I got you, B, don’t worry!” he said, breathing hard. “I got you!” He shuddered as her magic worked on him and then wobbled to his feet, taking her hand. “Dusty’s gonna blow this place up! We gotta go!”
“Blow it up?” she shouted above the storm, careening into him as he maneuvered around a fallen table.
“C’mon, B!”
She stopped him, heart wrenching. “Jonny, we can’t leave him!”
“B, we have to go! Now!”
“No, Jonny, I-- ”
He pulled her towards the dark hallway, staying close to the walls. They ducked into the hall, and she pulled away.
“Jonny, please! We have to-- ”
“Bianca!” he said, shaking her. “Come with me, please! We don’t have much time!”
His attention was drawn over her head, and his mouth went lax. She turned to see the hall in disarray, a mist darker than night slowly creeping through the crowd. Talon and Dusty no longer fought. Instead they searched their surroundings wildly in the light of periodic lightning and the fire at the far end of the hall. Talon knelt where Czerno had fallen and then rose, roaring in anger. His gaze turned towards the hallway.
Darian was a black hole for light and dark, both swimming around him until he appeared encapsulated by them. In the distance, she heard the familiar, unmistakable sound of an explosion. The dark mist slid to the floor and crept towards them. Vamps, chairs, the floor-- all disintegrated at its touch.
“I don’t have much time,” Jonny whispered. “Run to the end of this hall, then go out the double doors to the left. It’ll take you outside to the west lawn. Run, B, and don’t stop.” He dropped her hand and started back to the hall.
“Jonny? Jonny!”
“B, go, please!” He pushed her further into the corridor, and she watched, horrified when he broke into a run, headed straight towards the dark mist.
Talon grabbed him, his movement blurred. She rushed forward, screaming when Talon’s dagger fell twice, thrice, five times. Jonny fell and didn’t move. Talon stood and threw his head back in a booming laugh of triumph, until Dusty launched at him and knocked him off his feet. The two began their struggle anew. Bianca inched closer, panicked gaze on her brother. When the warring men careened away, she ran to Jonny and dropped beside him.
