"Jimmy, throw everything you've got at the target in thirty minutes," he said into the intercom. "Jenn, keep Jonny away from that place and safe." He checked his weapons and pulled off his jacket, clipping as many magazines to his belt as he could.

"What're you doing?" Jenn asked, watching him closely.

"Whatever I have to," he replied. "Watch the kid and get word to Damian tomorrow morning."

"Dusty, just send in a team to pull her out. We've done this a million times!"

"Not this time, Jenn. Talon and Czerno are about to face off, and Talon can't be the one to walk away from there."

"At least hold off on-"

"Jenn!" he said, gripping her arms. "I don't have time for this shit! Watch the kid, and make sure nothing-and I mean nothing-leaves that place alive! If I can't do what I need to in thirty minutes, we're all fucked!"

Jenn appeared torn. Dusty released her, strapped in the last weapon, and looked around.

"Where's Jonny?" he demanded.

"I'll take care of it. You're running out of time," she said. "He can't go anywhere anyway."

Dusty gave a curt nod and closed his eyes. Coldness, then the sound of the storm beating the building around him. The conference hall was dimly lit, and he immediately smelled the blood of a recent kill. His senses thrummed with presence of so many vamps. Drawing a weapon, he walked through the hall and into a corridor. He sensed Darian and Czerno distinctly, the level of power the gods possessed distinguishable despite the massive presence of vamps.

He moved through the building towards Darian, finding him on the ground floor away from the vamps. The Grey God was pacing, his golden eyes glowing in the dark room.

"Are you even trying to find Bianca?" Dusty snapped.

"I know where she is."

"This place is gonna blow soon. You need to leave, Darian."

"No, Dusty!" the Grey God said firmly. "I have to be here, same as you."

Something in his voice had changed. The teenage whininess was gone, replaced by confidence.

"Where's Jonny?" Darian asked.

"With Jenn at HQ," Dusty replied, studying him. "He's too chicken shit to kill you, Darian."

"Not worried about him killing me."

"Where's Bianca?"

"You don't wanna go after her yet, Dusty, or you'll get killed," Darian advised.

"Just answer the fucking question!"

The Grey God gave a familiar, noisy sigh and turned, pointing out a window. Dusty's gaze followed his finger, where Talon and the Black God stood apart from the others under the protection of a small verandah. Bianca hung back from both, kept in place by two vamps on either side of her.

She was pale beneath her warm color with dark circles beneath her eyes. He studied her, feeling as though he was seeing her for the first time and the last. If he weren't damned to die this night, he could see himself with her forever. His gut twisted at the idea of never again seeing her bright smile, holding her, smelling her sweet scent. But if he didn't act, no one walked away from here alive, even her. He looked away and steeled himself.

"Take this," he said, handing Darian the phone. "If you let anything happen to her, I swear to the Original Beings I'll haunt you from the grave for the rest of your life!"

"What're you doing?" Darian asked in a hushed voice.

"I believe in you, Darian. Always have," Dusty said, slapping him on the shoulder. "Don't fuck up."

"Dusty, we can just blow everything up," Darian said, a note of panic in his voice.

"We will. You've got twenty-seven minutes to get out of here before Jimmy levels this place." Dusty walked away, drawing his weapons. He strode through the vacant hallways to the verandah doors. Rain and wind battered him. The vamps around Bianca whirled, and he raised the hand cannons, blasting all four before they reached the door.

Bianca gasped as he strode by. Talon drew his weapons, but the Black God smiled.

"Damian's assassin," Czerno purred.

"My beef isn't with you, Czerno, but with your pet," Dusty said. Talon's nostrils flared.

"Pop, blast this idiot!" Talon snarled.

"Looks like a convenient match-up between demigods," Czerno responded. "Do your own dirty work, son."

Talon's sneer faded. The Black God held out his hands. Talon took one and Dusty the other, feeling the coldness of Traveling from one place to another. They appeared in the conference hall, whose seats were filling with vamps eager to see Talon's show. Czerno had left Bianca, giving Darian the opportunity he needed to snatch her and run.

At least, Dusty hoped that's what Darian did. He glanced at his watch. Twenty-four minutes. He needed to draw this out as long as possible, so Jimmy's explosions took out Talon and all the vamps if he couldn't.

"You're too young to remember, but in my time, we didn't have guns," Dusty said to the bastard son.

"I don't give a shit how I have to kill you!" Talon replied. "You want knives, I got knives. You want swords, I got swords. Either way, you're dead."

Dusty stripped off the clunky modern weaponry, keeping his sword and knives. He removed the bulletproof vest and the body armor on his arms and legs to help free his movement.

Czerno was gone. He looked around, bristling, and then saw the Black God reappear with Bianca.

"Dammit, Darian!" he muttered.

"It's cool, Dusty, I promise," Darian said from nearby. "I'm here to make sure you don't fuck up the universe."

"I don't give two shits about the universe!" he said, turning to face the Grey God. Darian's eyes glowed and swirled. They were pinned on Czerno, his power once again bending light and dark around him.

"Just fight, Dustin," the Grey God said in a hushed voice. "I'll take care of everything else, I promise." The Grey God looked possessed. Dusty studied him a moment longer, recalling his conversation with the Watcher. Czerno gave Darian a warning look, and Dusty stepped onto the dais, where Talon awaited him. At this point, he had no choice but to trust Darian.

Bianca watched in horror and awe as the two men fought. The brutal display of strength and speed was unlike anything she'd ever seen. Swords clashed and spit sparks while their feet danced too fast for her to follow. Talon fought with fury, his eyes glowing red, while Dusty fought with a calm, controlled intensity.

Several times she'd thought Dusty had the upper hand and could've killed the leering vamp, and several times, he'd stopped, once with a glance at his watch. Lightning tore across the otherwise silent room, where vamps stood enraptured by the battle before them.

Darian hadn't been able to look away from the Black God, whose hand was clenched with painful tightness around Bianca's forearm. She quelled her rising panic. She hadn't seen Darian since he dumped her with the Black God in the alternate dimension, and she didn't like the way the air around him shimmered, at once dark and light. While he stood in Dusty's corner, she wasn't convinced he'd chosen a side.

Talon stumbled, and Dusty froze rather than pounced, his head whipping around. The Black God tensed simultaneously, and Darian's eyes glowed brighter. They stared towards a hallway too dark for her to see into. Talon lashed out at Dusty, and she gasped as he barely blocked in time. The two continued, but the Black God snatched her by the neck and moved out of the candlelight, into the darkness.

Whatever was in the hallway distracted Dusty again, and red splashed across his forearm as Talon's blow grazed him.

"Dusty!" she cried.

Czerno squeezed her neck hard with a shake, and she gasped as he cut off her air. Across the room, Darian shifted closer to the battle, one hand rubbing the back of his head.

Lightning split the ceiling with a boom, frying several vamps in the crowd. The force of the strike knocked everyone off their feet and deadened the firelight, except for the torches in the corners. The storm roared in through the ceiling, hail and water pelting her body while thunder deafened her.

Still, Czerno didn't let go of her. He pulled her to her feet and against the wall, where the rain was less harsh. He'd stopped draining her healing power, and she felt a change in his body. He was weak, a type of weakness she couldn't heal.

In another flash of lightning, she saw a form dart from the hallway, around the stunned crowd, towards her. The scent of burning flesh filled the hall, and she shuddered beneath the onslaught of rain and wind.

Dusty and Talon rose, Talon taking the chance to launch himself at Dusty. She gave a strangled cry as Dusty twisted out of reach, the sword slicing through the back of his shirt. Sparks soon flew again.

Some vamps raced out of the hall while others crowded around them, the Black God forgotten. Still others torched the wooden chairs until a fire blazed in the back of the hall. Dusty's shout to Darian was lost in another burst of thunder. He pointed to his watch.

Suddenly, she was flung to the wet floor. Surprised, she twisted in time to see a tall form hack again and again at the Black God, whose own knife was planted in the attacker's chest. Lightning revealed Jonny's face.

"B!" he shouted, dropping beside her. He pulled the knife from his chest, tossing it on the still body of the Black God. His face was drawn and pale, his eyes wild.

"Jonny!" She flung her arms around him. His body drank her healing power. She squeezed him tight.

"I got you, B, don't worry!" he said, breathing hard. "I got you!" He shuddered as her magic worked on him and then wobbled to his feet, taking her hand. "Dusty's gonna blow this place up! We gotta go!"

"Blow it up?" she shouted above the storm, careening into him as he maneuvered around a fallen table.

"C'mon, B!"

She stopped him, heart wrenching. "Jonny, we can't leave him!"

"B, we have to go! Now!"

"No, Jonny, I-"

He pulled her towards the dark hallway, staying close to the walls. They ducked into the hall, and she pulled away.

"Jonny, please! We have to-"

"Bianca!" he said, shaking her. "Come with me, please! We don't have much time!"

His attention was drawn over her head, and his mouth went lax. She turned to see the hall in disarray, a mist darker than night slowly creeping through the crowd. Talon and Dusty no longer fought. Instead they searched their surroundings wildly in the light of periodic lightning and the fire at the far end of the hall. Talon knelt where Czerno had fallen and then rose, roaring in anger. His gaze turned towards the hallway.

Darian was a black hole for light and dark, both swimming around him until he appeared encapsulated by them. In the distance, she heard the familiar, unmistakable sound of an explosion. The dark mist slid to the floor and crept towards them. Vamps, chairs, the floor-all disintegrated at its touch.

"I don't have much time," Jonny whispered. "Run to the end of this hall, then go out the double doors to the left. It'll take you outside to the west lawn. Run, B, and don't stop." He dropped her hand and started back to the hall.

"Jonny? Jonny!"

"B, go, please!" He pushed her further into the corridor, and she watched, horrified when he broke into a run, headed straight towards the dark mist.

Talon grabbed him, his movement blurred. She rushed forward, screaming when Talon's dagger fell twice, thrice, five times. Jonny fell and didn't move. Talon stood and threw his head back in a booming laugh of triumph, until Dusty launched at him and knocked him off his feet. The two began their struggle anew. Bianca inched closer, panicked gaze on her brother. When the warring men careened away, she ran to Jonny and dropped beside him.

"Jonny!" she shouted above the din. Talon's strikes had torn Jonny's chest and abdomen open. Jonny's eyes were open and blank, his face pale.

The ground beneath them shook, and suddenly, the world slowed and fell quiet. She looked up at Darian a short distance away, watching his dark-light power streak around the room. Raindrops fell as if in slow motion, and lightning stayed, brighter than the midday sun. The vamps moved as if in slow motion. Unaffected by Darian's magic, Bianca touched Jonny's lifeless body, recalling the Watcher's words.

"Heal him, Bianca." Darian's voice came as if across a great distance and echoed around the room.

"Come back to me, Jonny," she whispered, crying as she placed her hands on his face. She concentrated as hard as she could, listening for his body to speak to her. At first, there was nothing. She concentrated harder. A tiny cry of his soul, and a spark reached out to her. She channeled her energy towards it, feeding it. It roared awake, thirsty and demanding.

Jonny took a gasping breath. She sat back, dizzy with effort. He sat and looked around.

"Jonny! I can't hold this!" Darian bellowed. His face blazed red from exertion, his eyes glowing brightly.

Her brother rose, helping Bianca to her feet. The world continued in its delayed movement, and they turned to watch the battling duo. Talon went down hard. Within seconds, his head flew across the room.

She gasped as the mist swallowed his body and paused at Dusty's, creeping up his boot without harming him. It moved up his leg. His body shook, and he flung his head back to the sky with a hoarse shout.

"Dusty!" she whispered, stricken. The earth trembled, and her legs crumbled beneath her. She felt Jonny's intent gaze on her as he knelt. "None of us are gonna survive this!"

"You will, B. I swear it," he said and hugged her. "I love you." He kissed her forehead and launched to his feet. Startled, she watched him dart towards Dusty. Jonny snatched the sword Dusty used against Talon and plunged it through the frozen demigod.

Dusty fell, and the mist swallowed Jonny. Darian shouted, staggering beneath the weight of his magic. Bianca screamed. She crawled and clawed her way to Dusty, looking wildly for her brother. She collapsed on top of the still assassin, her healing powers flowing unabated.

"Bianca!" The Grey God snatched her in one arm and Dusty in the other. The slow motion world around them snapped into real time, throwing them against a wall. Explosions ripped the ground from beneath them and blinded her.

Familiar coldness and silence washed over her before the quiet was replaced by the storm's furious bellow. Darian staggered, dropped her, and landed hard on his backside. She looked around, disoriented. Her ears still rung from the explosions lighting up the sky.

"Jimmy's ... real good ... at that," Darian managed, gasping.

"Jonny," she whispered. "Where's Jonny?"

"He's okay."

"He escaped?" she rasped. She twisted to see the Grey God, whose ashen face and dulled eyes were trained on the still body beside her.

"Sorta," Darian said.

"Where is he?"

"He's okay, I promise. Can you fix him?"

She looked at Dusty's still body, feeling overjoyed and fearful. With effort, she rolled him onto his back. He was alive and unconscious. His body drank what healing she had to give. She brushed water from his face and traced a finger along his jaw.

"Damian's gonna be so pissed," Darian said to no one in particular.

"Dustin!" The familiar voice was carried on the wind. She squinted towards the blazing buildings to see a dark figure half-trotting, half-limping towards them. Jenn reached them and bent at the waist, gasping. "Don't even try ... to help," she griped at Darian.

"I didn't know you were here," he said with some chagrin.

"That little shit Jonny made me bring him then knocked me out. Where is he? He needs an ass beating!"