The Black God - Page 9/187

Charles pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. He read the report texted to him.

"What is it?" Jonny asked. One of the few vamps he trusted completely, he didn't bother trying to access Charles' thoughts, a trick he'd picked up while learning how to harness his newfound power.

"Vigilante got one of our teams."

Jonny rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for some stupid Natural running around beating up vamps. He'll cross the wrong vamp soon enough." He started walking through the bodies to ensure every one of his enemies was dead. Valon was too smart to send anyone with real value against him. The recruits would have no idea where their leader was hiding.

"He usually targets the rogue elements and not us. Too bad he never kills any of them or he might be worth directing towards the rogues," Charles mused, following.

"The idiot will be dead in a week or less."

"Yeah. You want me to do the usual here?" He motioned to the dead bodies around them.

Jonny glanced around, unconcerned about leaving the bodies of traitors. The smell of newly turned vamps, however, made him pause. His new recruits, as well as those being led by the rogue leader Valon, were mixed among the dead. "You know what? We're leaving them this time. But remove their fangs first."

Charles raised an eyebrow.

"Fangs to show the rogues and our own recruits how serious I am about betrayal. Bodies for the White God to clean up for once, since I'm doing him a favor killing half my people."

"Smart as always." The vamp chuckled. "We've got human witnesses. What do you want done with them?"

Jonny didn't even bother looking towards the five hotel employees herded into a corner by three of his loyal vamps. "Dinner," he said. "Catch and release protocol."

"Want one saved for you?"

"Female, red hair."

"Always delicious." Charles said, entertained. A true predator, he never cared about the appearance of whoever he drained, but Jonny had taken a liking to redheads for dinner. "I'll take her back to your place. We had a good night."

It was hard for Jonny to be optimistic when his failure as a leader had lead directly to this night. Inexperience and war, combined with the changes he'd implemented in a culture and organization whose traditions spanned tens of thousands of years before he was born, resulted in constant crisis. Reform came at a steep price, one he was beginning to suspect would cost him over seventy percent of the vamps remaining before this mess was over.

"Did our team report in with the talisman?" he asked.