The Black God

Jonny began walking again, irritated by the sea of humanity he had once been a part of. He arrived to the warehouse just as dusk overtook the sky. He could see as well in the dark as he could in the day, though he saw in gray scale rather than color. It was another unique gift for the creature charged with leading nocturnal predators.

He entered the warehouse where the vamps had been bringing their dinners. The faint scent of vamp and human blood reached him, along with the scurrying of some small animal. He walked around the area where the scent of blood lingered without finding any sign the talisman he sought had been accidentally knocked out of a vamp's hand and forgotten.

I've had no fucking luck the past five years.

The vamps and their food and attacker had all left through the same door and taken the same path away from the warehouse. He followed the footsteps and opened the door to step into the narrow alley, scanning the area for the talisman. He almost hoped a clumsy vamp had dropped it, even if such an oversight was punishable for sheer stupidity.

The tool was nowhere in sight. Jonny searched the area visually. He turned towards the boardwalk and began walking. In the dying light of the sun, he caught a glint of something tiny and metal.

He bent to pull the necklace from the crevice where it had fallen.

Jonny lifted the necklace with an A charm, and his heart skipped a beat. It's not possible. He had seen it four years before around the neck of the girl he thought of sometimes.

It was Ashley's. Or at least, she had one like it. A Natural, she was a ward of Xander's - completely untouchable. Jonny racked his brain to recall what he knew of her Natural gift before realizing he had no idea what she and her brother were capable of. In the time they spent together, he'd never had the chance or motivation to test her to find out. She was able to Travel, but such an ability was normally secondary to a Natural.

She could be anything. Natural gifts were hereditary, and he knew nothing about her parents, although Xander had once told him their grandfather was a Watcher. Jonny hadn't had the need to understand what abilities a Watcher had, but it was likely the reason Ashley's guardian, Jessi, was invisible to even gods.

It seemed at first too large of a coincidence for him to find her necklace at a site where his vamps had been attacked by a Natural. Xander and Jessi lived close to San Diego. It wasn't out of the question Ashley was nearby.