Jonny straightened and faced Xander, the biggest vamp and man he'd ever seen in his life. With long, dark hair and glowing red eyes, Xander was about as welcoming as Jonny's dinner would be when his intentions became clear. Having been warned off multiple times from approaching the secluded house where Xander and his family lived, Jonny had begun going to a beach nearby, close enough for Xander's protective wards to warn him but not so close as to make the psychopathic vamp hostile.
"I have a small problem," Jonny began, not about to admit the full truth to the creature who bartered information to White and Black Gods, depending on whose side he felt like being on.
"I haven't heard those words in a while."
Jonny bit back his initial response. Xander was a vamp, yes, but he wasn't his vamp and he was well connected. "Yeah. Believe it or not I figured out some stuff."
"I believe it." Xander's muscular arms were across his chest. He approached and paused at the edge of where the water reached the sand. "I always knew you had potential. How bad?"
"Pretty bad," Jonny allowed.
"Does it have anything to do with the vamps you're whacking?"
"Yeah."
Xander glanced at him. "Not just cleaning house or disciplining vamps, are we?"
"It's partially it," Jonny replied.
"Damian believes you to be crushing any dissension in the ranks. But I have a feeling there's something else going on."
"It's none of your business, or his, Xander, how I do my job," Jonny said firmly.
"Fine. What am I doing here?"
"Was my predecessor able to track vamps?"
"You have trackers for that."
Sorta. Two of his three Trackers, except for Charles, had absconded with the rogues. "I know. But even they sometimes run into difficulties. They can only track within certain distances and under specific conditions."
Xander was quiet briefly before responding. "He could, yes. The White God's powers are known quantities, passed down from father to son. But each Black God is going to have a slightly different set of abilities than his predecessor based on what you inherited from the Naturals before you."
"Can those gifts be delayed in appearing? Like my mind abilities suddenly appearing during year three?"
"They can. Some can lay dormant for centuries or millennia before emerging."
Jonny's heart sank. He didn't have days to wait for a new ability to emerge let alone centuries.
"Borrow Trackers from Damian," Xander suggested.
"Yeah, because partnering with the White God is in my best interest."
"If you won't go to the only person who can help you, then do what he does. Identify Naturals and vamp them before he can get to them. It's the way it used to be done."