"It is, I know."

"Valon will take everything from you if he lives. He'll slaughter all your loyal vamps and he'll go after the Natural, because he knows you care for her."

"I get it, Charles. I can't fail. I don't plan on it," Jonny said with some impatience.

Charles was studying him. Jonny sensed there was more his second wasn't saying.

"What?" Jonny snapped.

"Good luck, ikir," Charles said.

"You, too. Let's go." Jonny stood back and watched his teams deploy for the night's objectives. He waited until certain everyone was gone before he Traveled to the point where he expected Valon to meet him.

He materialized in the dark forest near the burnt down lodge. The forest around him was quiet, but he sensed what lingered in the shadows.

Valon brought friends. Lots of them.

Jonny gathered his power, ready to flatten the forest for a mile in each direction, when the odd sense of … something reached him. He cocked his head to the side, sifting through his senses and magic both to pinpoint the source of energy teasing the back of his neck and surrounding him in a haze of tingling.

Valon. Ashley's warning returned to him. He started to unleash his magic when he experienced a flash of fiery pain. Jonny looked down at his forearm and saw an arrow with a head similar to the one Ashley had intended to use on him. This one was smaller, and it seemed to absorb the power he directed at it. He yanked it free of his arm in annoyance and tossed it, knowing he'd heal instantly.

Except he didn't. He glanced down twice at the wound. It didn't heal. At all.

"Now I know it works," Valon's voice came from somewhere off to his side within the energy cloud. "Are you ready to die, Jonny?"

"I'm ready to kill, Valon."

Valon's energy cloud disappeared, and he solidified before Jonny. The Black God prepared to let loose his power, to crush his challenger once and for all.

"Hurt me and you don't get your little Natural back," Valon said quickly.

"Like I give a fuck about one Natural."

"I know you do the girl. You want to know my plans for her? How I plan to fuck and drain her?"

Fury warmed Jonny's blood at the vision of how Valon had left Ashley at the factory and the knowledge of how much worse Valon was capable of. The predator before him was baiting him, and he clenched his jaw. "This is between us, Valon."

"You think I'm stupid enough to face you without a plan? To let you wipe me to without even trying to beat you?" Valon laughed. "Some of that naïve boy remains, doesn't it?"




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