"You were using a Natural to track them?" Damian stared at him. "A Natural not under my protection, with no Guardians to help him if something happened?"
"He wasn't under your protection because he's under Xander's," Jonny shot back. "I will find him." This was directed at Xander.
"You gonna stand by and let the Black God get your step kids killed?" Damian asked the quiet vamp.
Xander was studying Jonny. Jonny felt the pressure of Xander trying to enter his head. He didn't block him like he could, knowing he needed Xander's support. Whatever Xander sought didn't take long for him to find.
"I warned Ashley," Xander whispered. "Choices have consequences. Jonny's learned that lesson. What I don't understand: Ash doesn't kill. What changed?"
Jonny hesitated before explaining. Damian was frowning deeply when Jonny finished.
"She's coming to me when this is over," the White God said. "She doesn't belong anywhere near you."
"I'm not okay with that," Xander replied.
Jonny listened to the two of them talking about Ashley's fate, uncertain why it infuriated him. Was it because they discounted him completely from the equation? Or did they simply think Ashley wasn't capable of making her own decisions?
"No," he said loudly, cutting off their conversation.
"No what?" Damian asked.
"Ashley's not going anywhere. She made a deal with me. She stays with me."
"If you vamp -"
"I have no intentions of vamping her," Jonny said impatiently. "She saved the lives of several of my men. They're no threat to her."
"I'm not worried about their threat to her," Damian replied.
Jonny didn't want Damian's soft response to hit him like it did. The White God was gazing at him in a combination of understanding and knowing, as if he somehow empathized with the turmoil Jonny was going through when he considered how he was going to keep Ashley alive and safe. Damian had never faced a challenge like those Jonny dealt with on a regular basis. By his very nature, and the nature of a vamp, Ashley was never going to be truly safe with him. From him. Drinking from her appealed to the predator in him, and he wasn't comfortable guaranteeing anyone he could curtail his inner monster as well as those of his vamps.
But neither was he willing to give her up.
I lost her once. I'm not ready for that again. "She made a choice. She deals with what she's done."
Silence. Xander shifted finally. "She made a deal with you. Brandon did not. If he's not back within the week, mostly intact, I'll visit you first, Jonny."
"Understood," Jonny replied.