"Few," Darian snorted. "It takes more than a few for the massacre we saw today."

"Forty people, Jonny. Life for a life," Damian reminded him.

"If you go to this location, you'll find over forty dead vamps," Jonny said and texted Damian the location of the raid from earlier. "I'm cleaning house."

The Gods were silent, one suspicious, the other curious. Xander remained off to the side, watching.

"How many?" Darian spoke first.

Jonny's jaw clenched. They'd probably figure it out quickly if he lied about the number. "We'll just say seventy less than yesterday," he replied shortly. "We had a good day house cleaning."

"Seventy?" Damian's eyebrows shot up. "This isn't a rogue problem, Jonny."

"All because of your catch-and-release program?" Darian asked.

"The old guard wasn't happy with change," Jonny replied.

"How many more are out there?" Damian demanded. "How many more deaths should I expect from your house cleaning?"

Jonny was quiet for a moment, hating to admit the truth to them. Damian was giving him the I-knew-he-couldn't-handle-it look while Darian appeared ready to laugh off the stupid kid in charge of the vamps.

He reminded himself the insecurity he experienced around them was leftover from who he had been when he assumed the title of the Black God, not who he had become.

"It'll get worse before it gets better," he replied finally.

"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."




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024