"My money's on Talon."

"Makes sense, since he knew I was there," he muttered.

"No, boss, he didn't. Czerno, not Talon, sent the vamps to your condo building for Bianca. Talon would've been happy blowing her up, if she'd been there, but Czerno wants her. Dusty, we found out why he wants to keep her close. Jonny is some rare Natural who can kill a god."

"Talon wants Jonny to kill the Black God, and the Black God wants Bianca to make sure he doesn't die," Dusty summarized, surprised.

"Bingo."

"Tell no one of this," he said. "Whatever you found, keep it to yourself. No more conversations on the phone, no reports. If this is true, Jonny is worth destroying a city for any vamp with an itch to off the Black God. Bring Jonny here. Now."

"Sure, boss. I also checked on Toni. He's in bad shape, but he's alive."

"My only piece of good news today." He hung up and lifted his chin at Speck, who obeyed the silent command to leave. Dusty looked around the gym, sensing it was beyond time for him to admit he couldn't prevent what was coming. He flipped through the address book in his phone and dialed the Watcher.

"You almost waited too long," the mysterious creature said from behind him.

Dusty braced himself and turned to face the grandfatherly figure with a smile and emerald eyes standing in the corner.

"No bullshit, Watcher, or you can watch me fuck up the rest of the universe," he warned. "How can Jonny kill Czerno?"

"It's an interesting time to be here," the Watcher said. "Oracles, healers, many of which haven't been seen since the ancient times. In the ancient times, there were also God-slayers, men of a special kind who were bred and raised by the Gods for immortal wars. They possessed a unique gift, the ability to kill an immortal without being an immortal. The Gods raised them like sheep, because men were more plentiful and more easily replaced than immortals. The trick was to breed men who could kill immortals without ever allowing them to become immortals themselves. If they did, their gift was elevated and what made them dangerous to immortals then made them dangerous to the Gods. The White and Black Gods never allowed the slayers to become immortal, no matter how bloodthirsty they were."

"Jonny's a god-slayer. Talon wants him to kill Czerno, but wouldn't that make Jonny the Black God and not Talon?" Dusty asked.

"There's a way Talon could," the Watcher replied. "There's a transfer of power from the moment a Black God dies and his successor takes his place. If Talon killed Jonny during that split second of vulnerability, before Jonny gained Czerno's powers, he could become the Black God."

Dusty felt cold inside.

"Talon wouldn't have Czerno's restraint," the Watcher added quietly. "As sick as Czerno is, he largely preys on other immortals."

"Talon would wipe out humans as fast as he could." Dusty stared hard at the wall. "Damian-"

"I can't allow Damian to be here in the presence of a god-slayer. If he were to be here, the chain of events set to occur would change, and not for the better," the Watcher interjected. "You-and Darian-have to fix this."

"Fix this?" Dusty echoed, anger burning through him. "Darian is a disaster. He sends a human to the divine world, the Black God to some in-between place, and you think he can fix anything?"

"You have everything you need to make things right, Dusty, as long as you're willing to do what you must." The Watcher's grim words stopped his retort.

I'll see you soon, brother. He heard the soft voice again.

"Whatever it takes," the Watcher said, as if hearing the words, too. "Talon can't become the Black God. I've said too much. Sofi is safe. If Darian can't return her, I'll bring her back after the battle is over. The Black God will have to bring Bianca back; I can do nothing to undo what Darian did to them."

"Can you stabilize Darian?"

"You'll have to trust him."

"Fat chance," he retorted.

"You have no one else to help you, Dusty."

If Dusty's phone hadn't rung, he would've retorted sharply enough to piss off even the Watcher. He glanced down to see Speck's number on his screen. When he looked up, the Watcher was gone. Mumbling curses, he answered the phone.

"Um, boss, that Darian guy is trying to walk straight into the town."

Dusty's jaw clenched until he felt the muscles tick. He felt fury at the mention of Darian's name mixed with resignation. As pissed as he was, Darian was his brother. He'd sworn to Damian that he'd protect him. And if what the Watcher said was true, Darian would probably be the only one left standing at the end of the weekend.

Trust him. The Watcher's voice was soft in his mind.

Of all the coddling he'd accused Sofi and Bianca of doing, he'd been working hard to protect Darian from anything that might force him to grow into his powers.

"Let him go," Dusty said.

"Boss?"

"Just do it, Speck."

Chapter Nine.

The lights in every house were on, the doors boarded up, and people somewhere were screaming. It smelled like the sewer system was overflowing. Darian felt like he was walking through a dream. His footsteps made no sounds, and the infected humans staggering through the streets walked through him. He held up a hand, fascinated to see through it to the car parked in front of him.

Zombie vampires! He almost chortled at the ridiculous thought, wishing someone was there with him to tell. He'd felt funky for a while, since Bianca fixed his face. He touched it with some trepidation, fearing it'd changed back into the scarred maze that was him for so long.

He was normal, aside from the weird buzz at the base of his skull that'd kept him awake every night since Bianca touched his face. It'd gotten worse after she touched him in the car. Her healing magic zapped him hard enough almost to right his head. He didn't understand it, except that Bianca's touch finished what Sofi started.

At least he was in much better shape than the zombie-vamps around him.

He willed himself solid, surprised when it worked. The zombie-vamps didn't rush him as they would in a real horror flick; no, they ran away. He felt compelled towards them, as if whatever it was he was supposed to do had to be done with one in front of him.

Fix them like Bianca fixed you! Sofi had told him when he dumped her in the divine world.

"I'm not a healer, Sofi," he complained again.

The back of his skull buzzed harder until he wondered if his scalp was about to spin off and fly away. He rubbed it, vexed, and spotted one zombie-vamp moving slower than the rest. Uncertain but determined, he strode to the teenage girl and snatched her arm. She stared at him through listless eyes, the gaze of a human awaiting only the final step in the transformation process.

"Ready, set, heal," he said.

The zombie-vamp blinked and leaned away. He let her go, perplexed.

"Sofi?" he called, wondering if her mind-talking would work from the divine world. "This isn't cool, Sofi."

He felt panic bubble within him as he looked around. Dusty was going to kill all these people if he didn't figure out how to fix them. And then Dusty would kill him. He deserved it, after all the trouble he'd been, but these people didn't!

Darian grabbed another zombie-vamp and tried to heal him. Then another and another and another. When he was too pissed to think straight, he slammed his hands into the boards covering a store's front door.

"I'm worthless!" He threw himself down and squeezed his head, furious at his own weakness. He couldn't resist Czerno. He couldn't save Sofi. He couldn't do anything! He wasn't a god-he was a freak of nature everyone else had to take pity on because he was a fucked-up weakling!

Listen. He froze at the distant voice in his head. It was faint, but sounded like the Watcher's.

"Listen to what?" He waited for more. Nothing came.

Listen ... listen ... listen ... He slapped his forehead with his palm in a rhythmic beat, waiting for some sort of divine inspiration.

He was divine! What the hell on this stupid planet was too hard for a god to fix? He pulled out his phone, texted Bianca, and waited, willing the message to make it to her in the in-between world where he'd accidentally sent her. Darian lowered the phone, losing hope once again, when it vibrated.

I don't understand.

Overjoyed at her response, he sat cross-legged, hunched over the only lifeline the thousands of innocent people around him had.

I mean, how do you heal people, like step-by-step? He typed.

There was a pause, then a longer response: I'm not sure. It's just something I do. I put my hand on them and I wait for their body to tell me what's wrong. And then I fix it.

You *listen* to them? He asked.

Yes, I suppose, she answered. Sometimes they know how to fix themselves, like you did, and I just give them my power and let them do it. Sometimes, I have to figure it out. Hey-can you get me outta here? Talon's gonna kill me before long.

He bounced to his feet.

He can't kill you in that dimension, he assured her. Gotta call Dusty before he blows me up. Will chat later.

Bianca waited for Darian to say something more insightful, but nothing came. She hid the phone as Talon glanced over his shoulder again to ensure she followed. The Black God had been marching for what felt like hours, through the city towards the beach, and now, down the beach. Talon hauled her along until he, too, was worn out and she dropped behind both.

The time on her phone was the same as when they'd entered this strange world. She stepped over a tourist in a bikini on the silent beach. No one else would attempt to catch rays with the clouded sky and massive storm clouds in the distance!

Not even the ocean moved. The air was heavy and fragrant, the wet, solid sand near the ocean welcome after her initial attempt to keep up in the sugary sand higher up the beach.

It was the worst place she'd ever been, worse than any horror movie, worse than any nightmare. The world was dead. They'd been there what felt like a day, and yet the sun was in the same position as when they'd been thrown into the world.

Talon didn't even bother to beckon for her to move faster but instead turned back around. The Black God was so far ahead, she wouldn't have been able to see him except that he was the only other thing in the world moving. She sneaked a peek at her phone, agitated that Darian hadn't been at all concerned with the situation he left her in. She didn't feel any better knowing Talon couldn't kill her here! She hadn't been able to get through to anyone else and wondered if there was some magic trick he'd done to reach her.

She didn't realize the Black God stopped walking until the speck in the distance grew larger. Exhausted, she reached them some time later, praying for a break or a snack or something!

"Try to keep up, love," the Black God said in distracted irritation. "Time doesn't move here, but it does in the real world."

"It does?" Talon echoed. "It's gotta be well past midnight! I've got important shit to do!"

"Shut up, idiot."

Talon's flush grew darker beneath the red of exertion on his face. His eyes flashed, and she willed Darian to respond to her. If the Black God was anyone else, Talon would've killed him several times over by now. She held her breath, not wanting to draw the attention of either creature. They glared at each other for a long moment before Talon gritted his teeth and lowered his gaze in reluctant deference.

"Where are we going, Father?" he asked.

"Don't call me that, shithead. You see the black clouds?" The Black God pointed to the storm in the middle of the ocean. "The portal is in the center."

"Without a boat? We're swimming?" Talon demanded.

The Black God shook his head and strode towards the still water. She sensed Talon was about to rebel, as was she at the thought of swimming after such an exhausting walk.

The Black God climbed a wave as he might a grassy knoll and picked his way across the choppy waters near the beach, walking atop the transparent shallows towards the dark depths beneath the black clouds. Her mouth dropped open, and Talon murmured a curse. They stared for a long moment then Talon shoved her towards the water.

"Easy for a damn god," he muttered. "Let's see how you hold up."

She stepped forward, curious and hopeful she did fall into the water and end everything right here. Bianca took one cautious step onto the frozen waves. They had the consistency of rubber mats. Astonished, she stared through the shallows to the sand, shells, and critters below as she walked, admiring and uneasy with the changes in the terrain and creatures as the ocean grew opaque and deep. She stopped at the edge of where the clear water dropped suddenly into impenetrable blue depths.

"Hope you can swim when this is over," Talon snarled. He strode by her and slapped her on the back of the head, hard.

She rubbed her head and glared at him, watching as he followed his father in the direction where both sky and sea darkened into blackness. The still air became more charged the closer they got to the center of the storm, the sky darker. She avoided looking down, afraid to imagine just how deep the waters were or how far from shore they'd gone.

What would happen when the Black God righted their world? Would she end up at the bottom of the sea?

Dusty wouldn't be there to fish her out as he had Darian. Her stomach dropped at the thought of him, and her eyes watered. She didn't want to die; she wanted to be with him, even if only during the nights. He cared for her, but she didn't think he'd ever let anything get between him and his duty. If that was all she got, she'd take it. He'd saved her brother, her, the world. No woman would ever be more than second to a man like that, but being the woman who was second in his world sounded better than anything else she'd ever wanted.

Talon barked at her, and she realized she'd stopped walking. Tired, she wiped her eyes, an ache fluttering through her at the lingering scent of Dusty on her skin.

The air grew chilled, and she stopped again. The frozen sea beneath her feet was the color of tar, the black clouds above paused mid-swirl around a pop of blue sky in the storm's center. Frozen in mid-air were fat raindrops, arcing in a wind she didn't feel.

The storm was beautiful and terrifying in its paralyzed fury. She climbed frozen hills of waves through the raindrops, surprised when they popped like tiny water balloons. Before long, she was drenched and chilled, her skin crawling from the bridled charged energy of the storm.

And still the Black God walked. Talon swatted at raindrops ahead of her, and she crossed her arms, shivering. Her eyes went to the angry clouds.

She did not want to be there when the storm awoke! The rain fell almost horizontally, and she hurried to follow Talon as he found a path among the black waves, many of which were taller than buildings. They both lost their footing at the top of one wave and tumbled into a valley, bouncing against the rubbery trough.

"Mortal shitheads! Keep up, or I'll leave you in this dimension!" the Black God barked from atop another wave.

Bianca scrambled up, energized by the threat of staying in the creepy world. Talon shoved her back into the valley with a snarled threat under his breath, and she hurried out of the trough again, breathing hard by the time she'd clambered twenty feet to the top. To her relief, the Black God stood in the center of the storm's eye, bathed in sunlight that touched nothing else. While Talon was breathing as hard as she was, the Black God was barely sweating.

"What do we do now?" Talon asked.

"We wait," the Black God replied. "I need to be at full strength to send us back through the portal." His eyes settled on her with a look that made her wonder why she hadn't just sat where she entered the world and waited for Darian to rescue her. He turned away, hands on hips as he surveyed the distant beaches. Talon threw himself on his back. She suspected the Black God thought her useful, or she'd be in pieces.

"We're not swimming back to shore, are we?" Talon asked the question she feared voicing.

"You both may want to get some rest," the Black God responded as he started towards the dark waters.

"Where-"

"Shut up and stay here. None of us can leave without the others. If I could, you'd both be dead. Keep that in mind, shithead. You can't touch her. We entered this place together, and we must leave it together, or we can't leave at all," the Black God warned. "I'll be back."

Bianca moved away from Talon towards the violent waves and then sat with her back to a wave as high as her waist. Talon watched the Black God go. He didn't take his eyes off the god until he disappeared among the maze of waves. She watched him as well.

He ignored her. She wrapped her arms around her knees and closed her eyes for a brief rest. When she opened them, she lay on her side with her back to her protective wave. A form too slight to be the Black God stood beside Talon, speaking quietly. She wiped her eyes and started to sit, then froze.