"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.




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