by Lizzy Ford
Chapter Five
The Guardian Jenn watched the interrogation from the privacy of the two-way mirror. The Black God had failed to elicit anything other than a sneer with every one of his approaches. Four of the five vamps he’d chosen as bodyguards were exchanging looks of derision behind his back, and the vamp he tried to interrogate was openly ridiculing him. As much as she knew she shouldn’t, Jenn pitied the young god. She’d interfere if it wouldn’t make him look even weaker before his men.
At last, Jonny stormed out of the room, and Jenn emerged from the observation room into the hall. His body rippled with angry power that made her keep her distance. He slammed his hand into the wall.
“This isn’t working!” he shouted.
“Then we take a different approach,” she said. “You have more than one option.”
“But this one knows exactly what I need to!”
“Don’t fixate, Jonny,” she advised. “If more than one person knows something, it’s not a secret. This is the first lesson every good spy knows.”
He met her gaze, listening.
“This vamp wasn’t a loner. He has friends, doesn’t he?” she asked.
“Several. I had our logs checked like you said. He’s been working on the same team for years.”
“There you go. Lesson two: everyone associated with your target is a potential weak point.”
“What if they don’t talk, either?”
“We try something else.”
“Damian can read minds. Darian can read minds. I can’t,” he mused. “Xander said my powers will build slowly.”
Upon arriving at the Black God’s compound two days ago, Jenn had quickly learned the Black God had little control over his own powers and no respect from the vamps he led. It was a dangerous combination, one that could make his stint as Black God very short, if they found a way to kill him. Jenn said nothing, aware the vamps in the interrogation room were listening.
“This business is more complex than I thought,” he admitted. “I guess I watched too many movies about spies to know how they really work.”
“Good operatives have a box full of tricks. We’ve identified weak points in your organization. You must clean house, Jonny, or you’ll never be able to go on the offensive.”
“You’ll help me go on the offensive against your own people?” he asked, facing her. The air around him rippled, reminding her he was as powerful as Damian. His power pushed her against the wall. She couldn’t tell if he were doing it on purpose or simply had no control.
“Our agreement was for helping you clean house,” she reminded him in a calm purr. “Besides, I’m going to help you get started. Thirty days isn’t long enough for you to complete this first step, and it’s crucial you do it right.”
“I know you’re right,” he said slowly. The intensity around him faded, and the air released her. “It’s harder than I thought.”
She breathed a silent sigh. He’d drawn up on her twice since she arrived. Thus far, he’d listened to her, and she hoped he feared Damian enough to continue paying attention. Her gift for mind manipulation wasn’t enough to influence the powerful God, and she’d found appeasing the lost young man and using the extent of her gift were both needed to influence him.
“Xander!” Jonny shouted and beat on the door to the interrogation room. The largest vamp she’d ever seen stepped into the hallway. “Bring his teammates here.”
The vamp bowed his head and pushed past Jenn.
“Soon, Guardian,” it whispered. “He can’t protect you for long.”
“Bring it, idiot,” she replied, unfazed. “You wouldn’t last past our first kiss.”
The vamp barked a laugh and continued down the hall.
“You have no fear,” Jonny said, his sharp gaze on the retreating vamp. “Even surrounded by the enemy?”
“The worst you can do is kill me,” she replied. “Which is probably what your vamp in there is thinking.”
Jonny’s features grew thoughtful. “You’re right.”
“What’re you thinking?” she asked.
“I’m thinking there are worse things than death,” he replied. “Much worse.”
“Like being forced into becoming the Black God?”
“It was my choice,” he snapped. “I was thinking even someone who doesn’t fear death, fears something else. It’s a matter of finding what that is.”
His gaze was hard, and she felt him flex his power again. His thoughts weren’t on the vamp; they were on her. Jenn forced a smile on her face. She’d long since learned how to manipulate alpha males, and it wasn’t by going head-to-head with them.
“I think you’re right, Jonny,” she said in the low, level voice she used with her trainees. “Fear is natural, even for Guardians and gods.”
Her words soothed him again. He shook the tension out of his shoulders.
“I want you to go in with me this time,” he said. “Call it moral support.”
“Sure,” she said.
They waited for Xander to return with the three vamps trailing him. With the exception of Xander’s quick bow, they entered the interrogation room without acknowledging the Black God. Jenn glanced at Jonny, who looked agitated yet distracted. The kid was hard to read, and she guessed his anger had more to do with his struggle to understand his new role than the vamps who clearly had no respect for him.
Jonny entered, and she trailed him.
“I realize I’ve been taking the wrong approach,” Jonny said. He sat in the chair in front of the vamp he’d fixated on. “I thought, if you wouldn’t talk, your friends would.”
“I’m not afraid of a boy.” The vamp in front of him chuckled and tossed his head in greeting to his teammates.
“You should fear this boy.”
Xander stepped back to the door beside Jenn. There was interest in his glowing red eyes, and she rested the palms of her hands on the knives at her belt.
“You think he can do it?” the vamp asked her.
“I think you need to keep your mouth shut,” she replied.
“Sexy, even when you want to cut my head off.”
“Anytime, shithead.”
“You need to warn him.” He eased away from her.
Jenn’s gaze flew up to the strange vamp, and she followed his gaze. One of the members of Jonny’s own personal guard had shifted forward and was discreetly drawing the weapon at his thigh. She never thought she’d find herself rooting for the Black God, but she willed Jonny to take control of the situation. The room full of vamps was ready to pounce on the fledgling god. They watched Jonny like they would their next victim. Her heart pounding, Jenn moved forward and whispered into Jonny’s ear.
“You have about sixty seconds before we’re both fighting for our lives,” she warned.
Jonny glanced around the room, his hesitation giving more than one vamp confidence to draw their weapons openly.
“Talk to me,” she urged. “Tell me anything.”
“What do you want me to say?” he whispered.
“That’ll do,” she said to him then straightened. She addressed the vamp in front of Jonny. “He says if you don’t cooperate, I get to kill your friends, one by one.” She drew the gun at the small of her back and aimed it at the head of one of the vamps.
“Fuck you, bitch,” the vamp sneered.
One of the other vamps drew a weapon. Jenn shot the first vamp and stepped in front of the next.
“Same thing, shithead. I get off on killing you idiots,” she said in the same calm voice she used with Jonny. Her gaze went to Jonny. “May I, ikir?”
“Do it,” Jonny ordered.
The vamp being interrogated no longer smiled. Jenn shot the second one. The vamp in front of Jonny launched towards her. She whirled and drew her knife, ready to kill all of them. A blur of black shot between her and the attacker. Jonny snatched the vamp by its neck and slammed it down to the table.
“How dare you mock me!” he roared, an inhuman note in his voice. “N
o one touches my Guardian!”
His display was too late. Jenn sensed the next vamp charge her and spun, burying her knife in the neck of the nearest before she lashed out with a kick at the next. A knife caught her arm, and she ducked a punch in the cramped space. Her knife found the shoulder of one vamp before a kick slammed her against the wall.
She vaulted to her feet, adrenaline flying through her. To her surprise, Xander stepped between her and the two pissed-off vamps waiting for her.
“Not this time,” he warned them. “That goes for you, too, Guardian.”
The two lowered their weapons in response, and she sheathed her knives with a glance at the blood bubbling on the scrape on her arm. Xander motioned the two vamps away. They retreated to the other side of the small room, and he stepped aside.
Jonny was silent and still, his eyes closed in concentration. The vamp whose neck he held had a look of horror on its face, and the air around them buzzed with magic. The light faded from the vamp’s eyes, and it slid to the ground. Jonny released it and straightened.
“Xander,” he said in a thin voice. “Kill those two. No one attacks my Guardian.”
Xander drew his weapons and crossed to the two vamps, chopping them down. Jenn watched. Xander didn’t move like she expected a man his size to move. His brutal strength and otherworldly agility made the futile attempts of the vamps look like they were swatting flies instead of fighting for their lives.
“I’ll have this mess cleaned up,” Xander said when he’d finished.
The Black God nodded. His face was drawn as he strode past Jenn. Her gaze went from him to the vamp on the other side of the room staring her down. He flipped the knife in his hand.
“Jenn,” Jonny called.
“On my way,” she replied then addressed Xander. “I never met a vamp who tried to keep a Guardian alive.”
He sheathed his knife and crossed to her. She refused to back down, unwilling to let his attempt to intimidate her work.
“Let’s just say, you’re not the only one here with a hidden agenda,” he replied. “I know what you’re doing here, Guardian. Remember your place, or I’ll make the Black God look like your fairy godmother.”
He breezed by her again. She’d met enough Guardians and vamps to know how unique each was, but she’d never met a creature like this one. She shook her head and trotted after Jonny, who paced madly in the hall.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Jenn, I think … I’m not sure what to do.”
“Jonny, hon, let me tell you one thing,” she said and approached close enough she was certain no one else could overhear her. “Don’t say things like that. You need to pretend you know what to do, even if you don’t. These things will eat you alive.”
“They can’t kill me.”
“There are things worse than death,” she reminded him.
He smiled faintly and nodded, striking off down the hall towards his private wing of the underground facility. She trailed him, slowing when she turned the corner leading to his apartments.
Xander stood before the Black God’s quarters. Two more vamps assigned as Jonny’s guards stood on either side of the door to his personal chambers. The massive vamp ignored her, and she saw Jonny stop to speak to him. Xander gave a quick bow in response before meeting her gaze with a look that warned her she wouldn’t like what Jonny had just told him to do. Her sense of dread grew as she approached and followed Jonny into his apartment.
The door closed behind her, and the young Black God threw himself into a large leather chair in the middle of the living room.
“I saw what he was hiding,” Jonny started, features troubled once again. “But I don’t understand it.”
“What was it?” she asked and sat across from him.
“The Others are acquiring a weapon, but … it didn’t seem quite right. The vamp said something about splitting the sky.”
Jenn dwelled on his words. They meant little to her, but to Damian, they could mean something.
“Maybe I misunderstood. I’ve never been in anyone’s mind before.”
“You can only know what the vamp did,” Jenn said. “I don’t know what it means, either.”
“I need some time alone,” Jonny said abruptly and rose, facing away from her.
“I’ll go to the gym. Let me know when you need anything,” she said. His mood swings weren’t unexpected. He was young and scared. Itching to relieve some of her own nervous energy after the run-in with the vamps, she’d reached the door when Jonny spoke again.
“Jenn, thank you for helping me today.”
“It’s why I’m here,” she replied.
“You defended me. My own vamps won’t do that.”
“It’ll take a while for you to adjust and for them to adjust to someone new.”
“Thank you for your loyalty. I never imagined any Guardian would go to the extent that you have. I’m happy you’re among us. I’ll treat you well, as long as you remain loyal.”
She frowned at his tone, as if he considered her the newest, permanent member of his organization and not the guest she was. Jenn left without saying anything, once again unable to get a read on the kid. Sometimes, when he was afraid, he was easy for her to understand. Sometimes he gave her the creeps, and she suspected he was sharper than he let on.
She stopped in the hallway and turned. Xander trailed her.
“Making sure you go where you say you will,” he said. She turned her back on him in blatant disregard he wasn’t likely to misinterpret.
The number of female vamps outnumbered the number of female Guardians, and she ducked into the locker room for the females. Ignoring the hisses of the others, she locked herself in a bathroom stall and texted her boss, Dusty.
Others have a weapon. Want to split the heavens. Something weird going on here.
Dusty’s response was quick. Roger. You ok?
Jenn snorted, wondering how she explained there was only one vamp in an entire organization of inhuman blood suckers that gave her the creeps. In the end, she typed a smiley face and locked her phone before changing into gym clothes and making her way to the gym.
The instincts that warned her Jonny wasn’t as naïve as he seemed were confirmed when she stepped into the gym and saw Xander standing in the doorway, watching her. The boy-god was taking no chances she betrayed him. Looking over the largest vamp she’d ever seen, she had a feeling a confrontation between them wouldn’t end well for her.
