Damian's Assassin

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."