The Black God - Page 21/187

"It's unclear what his intentions are. I don't see a lot of thought in his pattern of attacks. This is the second attack on our guys after six straight in a row on the rogues. His movement is restricted to the downtown San Diego area, within a window between sunset and midnight, and only Thursday through Sundays. We can set a trap for him pretty easily and get the talisman back."

"With what people?" Jonny demanded, irritated. "I'm down half already, and those remaining are tasked four times over. Our new recruits keep getting hijacked by the rogues because we don't have the manpower to guard them. I feel like we've lost and just don't know it yet."

"We haven't lost," Charles said quietly. "You're the Black God. In the end, you are destined to win. The rogues are prolonging their own sentences by opposing you. This is a stage of growth, one that's painful but one we'll get through and be all the better for when it's over."

Charles' calm helped Jonny restore his. He had gotten good at handling the constant stress of his job, though every once in a while, he lost his cool. "Yeah. I guess." Jonny sighed. "You handle the Guardian mission, and we'll send Hector and Tasha out as planned. I'm free. I'll head to downtown San Diego tonight and see if my gifts give me any more insight into what's going on. Maybe I can trap the vigilante and vamp him since he seems to be able to handle any vamp he finds."

"He's definitely gifted to fight."

"It'd be useful against Valon's vamps, and I need that talisman." Jonny strode into the house and to his bedroom to change. His dinner from the nights before - the redhead - was kept occupied in her own room until nightfall. She was brainwashed by his magic, incapable of knowing her danger or even what he really was. She thought they'd been lovers for years and he went to work during the day.

In a week, when she was completely drained, she'd be removed from his home by one of his vamps and either returned to her hometown or thrown into the ocean. He didn't ask where the bodies of his evening meals went; he just wanted them gone. There was a part of him that still wasn't fully settled with waking up next to a dead body come daylight, even if he had no problem bedding and biting them at night.

He'd wanted to be the first to sign up for his catch-and-release program. Charles, however, convinced him he needed the show of power that came with being the only one in the organization allowed to kill.