Xander wanted to blow up the underground facility. Ashley’s backpack and bracelets were in the quiet, darkened room. Jessi’s scent lingered in the air; he was only minutes behind her.
“Charles,” he growled.
“No Others nearby, ikir,” the vamp reported.
“Dusty, can you trace the girl’s GPS tag?” Jule asked into the mic he wore. “No cell phone activity on either Jessi or her cousin. Not sure we can get a signal on the GPS tags Jessi put on her cousin.”
Darian was poking around the kitchenette area, while Xander paced. Furious at Jessi, he was nonetheless concerned. She had no idea what she was dealing with. She was in danger she couldn’t face alone; with the gem, she held the key to destroying the planet.
His phone vibrated. He retrieved it restlessly and stopped mid-stride.
Trace me. The message was from Jonny, who had texted only once, before their ways parted months ago.
“Jule,” Xander held it out.
“Dusty, we got something,” the Original Immortal said into his communications piece.
Xander’s pacing increased with his agitation. Jule spoke quickly to Dusty while Xander tried to figure out what Jonny was doing texting him. The kid was too afraid to risk a confrontation; maybe Jessi or Ashley had grabbed his phone.
“We’re sending someone to check things out,” Jule said.
“Where is it?” Xander demanded.
“Chill, X,” Jule replied. “Let us do our thing.”
Xander said nothing. His eyes traveled to the bracelets on the couch, and he snatched them. His normally strict control was thin; he hated the feeling.
He hated any feeling, especially the ones that told him he wasn’t going to be able to live with losing Jessi. Unable to determine what his emotions towards her were, he needed to experience what he did whenever he was inside her. The intimate connection, combined with her soft skin and nectar, would calm him.
“Oy. That’s not good,” Darian said, straightening. He took a bite out of an ice cream bar he found in the refrigerator. “You sure, Dusty?”
Xander waited impatiently. Both the Guardians were listening to whatever Dusty told them.
“Jonny, a bunch of vamps and the Original Other,” Jule said at Xander’s penetrating look. “The girls are with them. Figures they’re somewhere where our nearest station is ten miles out.”
Xander’s mind worked quickly. The Original Other would know that the gem was useless without Xander; what Jonny knew – or was doing – was lost on him.
Fury stirred at the thought of Jessi taking it to them. The key to destroying a world – him – was in the hands of those who couldn’t be trusted with such power.
Pain filtered through him. The one time he took a chance on someone …
“We’re meeting D there,” Jule said and held out one fist to Xander, the other to Darian. “No craziness from either of you.”
“No guarantees,” Xander responded.
“Ditto,” Darian agreed. “Can I kill an Original Other without the world ending?”
Xander smiled. “Try it and see.”
He tapped Jule’s fist. Instantly, the three of them were transported somewhere cold and dark. His vampire eyes adjusted fast to the night. Jule had put them ten meters from the strange scene, to the side of Jonny’s vamps.
The sight of Jessi made Xander’s heart quicken, almost as much as the scent of her blood in the air. His incisors grew unbidden; he didn’t stop them this time.
The nearest vamps bowed their heads and moved away from him. Damian and Eden were closer, his deceptive display of relaxed power causing the air to hum with even more magic.
“You calm enough for this?” Jule took Xander’s arm.
“Yeah.” Xander focused on his first task: figuring out what the fuck was going on. He paced to Damian’s side, purposely not looking at Jessi, whose nearness was making him crazy enough.
The Other had Ashley; Jonny had Jessi. By the tension between the two, their alliance was brittle at best. Purple lightening rippled in the air nearby. Several more Others materialized. Darian was bristling, ready to attack, while Jule frowned.
“Jonny here doesn’t want to listen to reason,” Damian said casually.
“Don’t talk to me like that, Damian,” the Black God snapped. “This is between me and that thing.” He indicated the Other with a lift of his chin.
The teen was far more defiant this evening, and Xander had a feeling he knew why. His eyes settled on Jessi finally. She was watching him, fear and uncertainty on her features. Her gray eyes were almost the color of the moon overhead, her pale features obscured by curls that danced in an ocean breeze.
Sucking up the thoughts of those around him, Xander was pissed he wasn’t able to determine what hers were. Was she sorry for betraying him?
Did it matter, since he would still do whatever it took to help her?
“I taught you not to trust anyone, didn’t I?” Eden whispered to him.
Xander said nothing. His gaze flickered to the necklace with a sense of dread. She was clutching the gem in her hand.
“Now that we have a mediator, maybe we can resolve this,” the Other said. “Jonny and I had a deal. He’s backed out.”
“I didn’t back out,” the Black God returned. “You lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie. I let you assume what you would.”
“Secrets are a bitch,” Xander interjected, gaze on Jessi.
She looked away, face growing pink.
“Xander’s judgment is compromised. I’ll play his part as mediator.” Jule said, stepping forward. “What was the deal?”
“The necklace in exchange for stopping the slaughter of my vamps,” Jonny answered. “Damian has my only fucking Tracker, and my numbers are half what they were six months ago.”
“That explains why shit’s been calm lately,” Damian mused.
“Most of my vamps are underground. I figured out Others can’t sense them that way,” Jonny continued. “Every time they leave, though, they get snatched up and killed. This fucker made me a deal.”
“What part of giving an Other absolute power sounded reasonable?” Damian growled.
“Fuck you, Damian.”
“Calm down, guys,” Jule warned with a pointed look at Damian. “We’re going to resolve this peacefully.”
“Smart discovery about the Others and their limitations,” Xander said, gaze on the Black God. Though he showed no outwards concern, Jonny looked as much at Ashley as he did the Other.
“Very,” Darian agreed. “We didn’t know that one.”
Damian said nothing.
“Whatever the case is, Jonny broke our agreement. He’s refusing to give me the necklace,” the Other snapped. “I’ve positioned enough Others around the underground facilities we found to wipe out his vamps overnight.”
Jonny frowned.
“A deal is a little less broken, if neither party has executed its part,” Eden murmured. “Jonny has the key to absolute power. The Original Other can slaughter every last vamp on the planet. I’m not seeing why you don’t go your separate ways and see what happens.”
The attention of everyone present turned to her.
“Is this how you fucking Originals do business?” Damian asked.
“She means, we’ll take care of it,” Xander interpreted. “That usually means no survivors.”
“Or, Jonny can give me what I want,” the Original Other said. He gripped Ashley’s throat and picked her up off the ground.
“Ashley!” Jessi cried, starting forward.
Jonny yanked her back hard.
“Stop it!” the boy-god snarled. “She’s not part of the deal!”
“Then choose which one you want to keep,” the Other answered.
“Me!” Jessi said without hesitation. “Trade me, Jonny.”
The Black God released Jessi, who started forward. The Other lowered Ashley to the ground. The girl sucked in fast breaths and lay still. After a moment, she pushed herself up.
“Jessi,” the power in Damian’s voice stopped Jessi somewhere in the middle of the two. “Absolute power. Think what you’re doing.”
Xander shifted. She was panicking; he saw it in her features, before she faced them. No part of him wanted to stand on the sidelines, watching her struggle. Her eyes slid from Damian to him, and he gazed back, unable to read what she was thinking.
“If you want Ashley to die, stay where you are,” the Other warned.
“Humans are afforded the ability to choose,” Eden said. “You must respect that, Other.”
“Okay, I’m going with the Other thing, but he has to let Ash go first,” Jessi said in a voice that trembled.
Xander heard them, but it was as if their voices were far away. For a long moment, there was nothing but Jessi. She was tugging at the necklace. He couldn’t help thinking she looked like some beautiful, otherworldly creature with her full lips, haunted eyes and curls that appeared silver in the moonlight.
He willed her to trust him while suspecting it was too late. Her hand dropped from the necklace, a moment before she turned away from him. Moonlight reflected off the red gem.
It wasn’t his ruby at her neck.
Xander started forward. Damian held out an arm to stop him.
The Other released the teen, who darted away from him, towards Jessi. She hurried into Jessi’s arms. Jessi hugged her tight for a few seconds, kissing her cousin’s forehead. Xander thought he heard her whisper something before she withdrew.
“Jessi,” Xander wrenched away from Damian.
“I’ll be fine,” Jessi replied without looking at him. She moved towards the Other.
Xander started forward once more, determined to interfere, deals and choices be damned.
“Ashley,” the Black God’s voice was tense but soft.
Ashley took one look at him, hesitated, and flung herself into Xander’s arms. He grunted, eyes on her cousin, but instinctively wrapped his arms around her. He took his attention off Jessi for half a second to glance down at Ashley and assess if she was okay. Her body shook, and she’d be bruised, but she was otherwise fine.
When he looked up, Jessi and the Other were gone.
“Fuck,” he muttered. He passed the girl in his arms off to Jule, fury rising. He turned on the Black God. “What the fuck were you thinking, Jonny?”
“I was thinking I wanted them to leave me the fuck alone!” Jonny snarled.
Half a head shorter than him, the Black God didn’t back down for once when Xander strode to him, stopping when his toes clipped Jonny’s.
“You put them both in danger and gave an Other absolute power. If you don’t start thinking like a God and stop thinking like a hormonal teen, I’ll replace you,” Xander warned in a low growl.
“Xander,” Darian called. “Back off, man.”
“Fuck you, Xander,” Jonny snapped. “I am thinking like a God. I knew the necklace wasn’t real.”
“You knew, and you let her go.” Xander’s temper flared.
“You’d never give it up.”
“You’re right and wrong. I did give it up, but she swapped it out.”
Jonny’s anger faltered.
“You are fucking lucky she’s smarter than you.” Xander shoved him.
Jonny caught himself and shoved back. Damian and Darian interfered quickly. The White God took Xander’s arm while the Grey God grabbed Jonny’s.
“Stop it!” Ashley cried. “Someone go get my cousin!”
“We’ll find her, sweetheart,” Jule replied.
She pulled away from him and approached. Xander shifted between her and Jonny, not trusting the idiot Black God.
“She has Jonny’s phone,” Ashley said, searching his gaze. “Can you trace it or something?”
Jonny’s hands went to his pockets.
“Damn bitch,” he muttered, confirming Ashley’s words.
Ashley’s face flushed, and she pushed past Xander. She slapped the Black God.
“That’s for breaking your promise!”
Jonny stared at her, no less stunned than Darian.
“It runs in the family,” Xander said, darkly amused. He took Ashley by the shoulders and turned her to face him. “I’ll find her. Stay out of trouble. Got it?”
Her blue-gray eyes were filled with tears. She sniffed and swallowed hard before nodding. For her sake, Xander struggled to remain calm. Boiling inside, he’d never felt the urge to beat someone the way he did Jonny.
“Got a location,” Jule called.
Xander released Ashley and crossed to him, still fuming at the Black God. He couldn’t help wondering where the real crystal was, if not with Jessi, and what the fuck she planned on doing. Her focus was clear: getting her cousin to safety without any sort of consideration for her own welfare.
“We need to reach her before he figures out she tricked him,” Xander said, joining Jule. “I don’t want help. Just tell me where.”
“No way you’re going alone.”
“Jule,” Xander snatched the immortal’s collar. “I’m not fucking with you!”
“I’ll go,” Eden said quietly.
“Both of us will, along with Darian,” Jule replied firmly. He pulled his shirt free. “I know you’re flipping out, X, but for once, trust someone else.”
Xander’s jaw clenched. Every second the Other had Jessi, she was closer to being hurt.
“Fine. Take us now,” he snapped and held out his fist. “Ashley, stay with Damian.”
The girl didn’t respond, but he knew she wouldn’t disobey his command, as much as she might Jessi’s.
“I have an idea. I’ll need your wife, Jule,” the Grey God said as he joined them.