The Black God

The future of and entire people - his people - depended upon his successful achievement of his vision.

Valon thought him weak and undeserving of the Black God mantle, and Jonny was going to show Guardian and vamp alike just how powerful the right person in the Black God's shoes could be.

Charles texted rather than knocking, and Jonny pulled out his cell.

We picked two Natural Trackers. Orders?

Jonny smiled, pleased by the news. Vamp them. One can kill the ginger. Grab a junkie for the other. Make them kill tonight. He responded. In order to turn into a vamp, someone had to be bitten, drained near death, fed blood by an existing vamp and then take a life the same way. The process was normally drawn out in two phases so the middle management of vamps could screen out recruits who wouldn't fit into the vamp mold as well as discreetly uncover junkies and others who wouldn't be missed - or cause red flags to go up with the Guardians - when they went missing.

Suitable or not, the Trackers were too valuable to wait. Between them and Brandon, Jonny would soon have the hammer he needed to smash the traitors.

Charles second text was too long to be simple acknowledgment. Jonny leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he read it.

Your vigilante hit another safe house. Left you a message, too. He had attached a picture of a mask like the one Ashley had been wearing when he confronted her.

Jonny found himself more intrigued by her defiance than he warranted natural for the situation. If she were a vamp, she'd be punished severely for disobedience. But he had no real sway over her, and she seemed to know it.

What she was doing was dangerous, not only to his operations, but to her own existence. He hadn't quite figured out how to handle her. He had to balance Xander's potential interference with teaching Ashley a lesson in a way she backed off. A direct challenge was apparently not the right approach and neither was purposely letting her feel the pain of his bite. If anything, those attempts at lessons had only galvanized her.

His mouth watered as he thought about her taste, the feel of her body pressed to his. In another world, one without Xander, he'd snatch her and keep her as the ultimate source of food. She wouldn't be compliant and submissive like the women whose minds he warped to accept his need to feed from them. Ashley was lively, independent, strong. She'd be an incredible sparring partner in bed and out with the added benefit of her ability to regenerate blood fast.