But a fighter? He remembered Ashley as a sweet, innocent seventeen-year-old with a penchant for beading who hadn't known how to punch let alone defeat seasoned vamps. She had been beautiful and delicate. Nothing about her was tough enough to survive the brutal training necessary to become a warrior.
Jonny stared at the necklace, willing it to reveal its owner and disappointed when it didn't.
It could be anyone's even if it seemed too coincidental to have stumbled upon it at this time and place. And if it were Ashley's, he had a huge problem named Xander standing between him and the woman who might have the talisman hidden in the bulky case of a cell phone.
He took out his phone to text Charles. After your op, we need to track that phone. He pushed send. A vamp from a different era, Charles wasn't yet comfortable with modern technology. Jonny had found the Black God's enterprise to be woefully short of advancement in that area, and he'd been slowly bringing in tech savvy vamps and new equipment to enable them to work smarter.
After the rebellion, he'd GPS tagged every cell phone issued to a vamp, though the computer that was supposed to be monitoring them had been crushed in the rebellion. He'd been waiting for it to be rebuilt.
"Coño! I'm tired of living in the nineties," he muttered and rose. He gazed at the charm on the necklace for another long minute then placed it in his pocket.
If Ashley were involved, his life was about to get even more complicated. He returned to the boardwalk, debating whether to approach Xander or wait until he had confirmation either way.
Or … there was a third option.
His phone vibrated and he checked it to find the text from Charles.
Computer online. Starting op. Radio silence.
Jonny smiled, pleased for the first time in too long at having a quick result to at least one of his issues. He clicked the link Charles had sent and watched his phone install a new app. It popped open to reveal a map of the country dotted with the locations of all his vamps. One in San Diego was red.
"About time," he said. He zoomed into the red dot. His location popped up as a black dot. "So close." He frowned. A small part of him had hoped the phone was outside of San Diego.
He began walking towards the area indicated. Normally, he'd Travel there, but if Ashley was involved, he wasn't about to stumble into one of Xander's wards by accident.
Senses alert, he walked to the train station and rode through the city for nearly forty minutes before reaching the University district. On a Friday night, the dorms, local bars and hangouts, and surrounding apartment buildings were lit up and loud. Music thumped from several different locations, and the streets were crowded.