"Fine." Charles, the vamp Hunter Damian traded for Jenn, rose with a growl.

"I can sense them but need to know I'm right," Darian said. "This time, we can kill them."

"Ikir Damian said-"

"I'm a god, too, vamp. You can disappear if you get scared," Darian snapped.

The vamp growled again and flung down the free weights. He stalked to the locker room and returned a few minutes later, armed and dressed. His eyes glowed red. Darian sensed the vamp's unease despite the bravado. No one normal would challenge an Other.

"Find one," Charles ordered.

Darian concentrated hard. He felt the Others and the Watchers. He wasn't sure how, but some part of him knew the difference. The closest of the immortals was a Watcher, and there were Others congregated somewhere. By the strength of their presence in his mind, they weren't close.

"How do I get to them?" he asked.

"You let the magic guide you. Find one, focus on him, and let your power do its job," Charles answered.

"I see a whole bunch in one area. Seems like somewhere we'd like to be," Darian reasoned.

"No, don't-" Charles' warning was swallowed as Darian relaxed enough for his magic to carry them to the Others.

Darian opened his eyes and looked around, surprised to find the location familiar. They weren't far from the Black God's mountain fortress. Darian was thigh deep in snow, though the storm had stopped and the half-moon was out and bright.

Charles whipped out his weapons, and Darian soon saw why. Three Others with glowing purple eyes stood several feet away, frozen in surprise.

"Hi," Darian said, striding towards them. "My name is Darian, and I'm the Grey God."

"Fucking idiot, son of a-" Charles hissed under his breath.

"We know who you are," one of the Others replied.

"Then you know why I'm here," Darian said. He stopped a short distance from the one who spoke and drew a knife.

"That we do not."

"I'm here to send you home. Or kill you. Your choice."

There was a short silence, then the Other he addressed chuckled.

"Neither of those things are possible, Guardian."

"Charles, step back," Darian said.

Still cursing him, the vamp obeyed and scrambled away. The Others looked at him in curious amusement. Darian sensed at least one gathering its magic to shred him from the inside out. He tried to remember what Sofi had told him about his magic.

Relax. Let it come to you.

He'd fought the advice for as long as he could remember. Whenever he loosened his grip on his power, he felt it respond. He feared what it could do, that he couldn't control it. However, if attacked by Others, he preferred to level everything around them than take the chance he was the only one killed.

"In the name of the White God, Damian, and the Black God, Jonny, I banish you from the mortal earth," he said. "Let's not make this hard on anyone."

"I am no longer amused," the Other before him said.

Purple magic arced from his body and slammed Darian into a tree. He grunted as he dropped into the snow. The blow hurt, but he was no stranger to pain.

"Now, my turn," Darian said.

The Other glowed purple-black in the night, and more lightning streaked towards Darian. The Grey God pulled his own power and used it to deflect, ducking away from the sizzling strike meant to rip him apart. Instead of waiting for the Other to attack again, Darian spun and plunged his knife into the creature's belly.

"Foolish creature. That does not work ... on ... us." The Other's words slowed, and the creature looked down at the protruding weapon.

Darian followed his gaze, not smelling or seeing blood. The magic around the Other fizzled. Without another word, the creature dropped. Surprised, Darian stared at the motionless body, waiting for it to spring up and attack him. When it didn't, he looked to the remaining two Others, who stared at him in shock.

"One down, two to go," he said and bent to retrieve the knife.

Purple magic seized him, bound him, and lifted him into the air. It slammed him between trees and sizzled through his blood. He felt as if he was burning up from the inside out.

I know pain, and this is nothing, he chanted to himself, waiting for them to release him so he could attack. He smelled the scent of his own skin and hair burning. Still he waited. They'd have to drop him eventually, even if it was to Travel elsewhere. When they did, he'd attack.

He could kill them. It had taken a team of Guardians-including two Original Beings-to kill the last Other. But he'd done it on his own. It was easier than killing a vamp.

His body afire, Darian belted out a laugh of pain-filled triumph. The game was now his.

Chapter Three.

The commotion in the forest drew Jenn and those vamps near her towards it. She'd been sleeping somewhat well beside the panoramic window when purple light lit up the foyer. She'd pulled on her boots and snatched her backpack before she was half awake, running towards the door. Vamps poured out of the fortress into the snow, stopping to puzzle over the brilliant purple lights lancing across the treeline.

"Xander! Jenn!" Jonny's voice was young and raw again. "What is it?" He shoved his way through the vamps and joined her.

"Stay here, Jonny," she heard herself say as she started forward. She stopped, angry at herself for trying to protect the boy who was no longer a boy. "I'm sorry. You may want to send a few vamps out that way. I'll go ahead, unless you prefer I don't?"

"No, go. I'll send a team after you," he said quickly.

"Jonny, send Xander." Her gaze went to the sky, and she assessed the sight she'd never seen before. The magic in the air crackled around them even from the distance.

Rather than risk Traveling to the center of the phenomenon, Jenn ran down the driveway the vamps had cleared of snow to the narrow country road leading up the mountain to the Black God's hideout. She trotted until she was parallel to the lights then plunged into the deep snow, forcing her way into the forest.

Ten minutes of walking later, she crouched beneath the lowest branch of a massive pine tree and inched her way to the scene. Her gaze fell first to the vamps Jonny must've sent who made the mistake she'd avoided. Their bodies were torn to shreds where they'd appeared from Traveling. Another vamp was suspended in a tree, pinned by purple-white lightning arcing from the hand of a small creature she recognized as an Other.

Jenn eased back, not about to draw the creature's attention, not for the sake of a few stupid vamps. Her gaze followed the lightning emanating from the second Other's body. She barely recognized the body being slung between trees. Half his face was burned beyond recognition, but the other half ...

Darian, you fool!

"Shit!" she muttered. Jenn reached for her weapons. She had knives and the guns with carbon fiber bullets that she used to kill vamps. It'd do nothing to an Other but aggravate him. Her mind raced as she sought some way to save Darian. At last, she realized she had no real advantage.

"Others." Jonny's voice was filled with awe.

She jumped, surprised to find the Black God a couple of feet behind her, staring at the scene.

"Jonny, you shouldn't ..." The words died on her lips. "Where's Xander?"

"I don't know. Hunting, maybe."

"Bastard is always around when I don't need him and never around when I do. Then we'll have to do this the stupid way. We need to distract them so I can rescue Darian." She crawled forward. The Black God snatched her ankle, dragging her back.

"You can't leave me," he said.

"I'm not leaving you," she snapped and yanked free. "I'm going to take Darian home to Damian and come back."

"No. I won't let you go."

"Then you can take Darian to Damian and try to explain how you didn't fuck up his brother. Good luck getting him to believe you," she said with calmness she didn't feel.

Jonny frowned but didn't object again.

"Now, can you make those trees behind the Others fall on them?" she asked.

"I think so."

"Do it."

The Black God's power swelled, stifling the air around them. She pushed herself away discreetly, not yet certain he knew what to do with all of the magic in his blood. Splintering and groaning filled the air, followed by muffled crashes as the trees behind the Others toppled into the snow. When Jenn saw Darian drop from the air she launched forward.

"Jenn!" Jonny hissed.

The ground shook, and suddenly, all the trees around them began falling. Jenn dodged one and saw the flash of purple from the corner of her eye. She threw herself into the snow, watching the lightning slice the air where she'd been. With effort, she forced herself up and threw a dagger in the direction of the Other. More trees fell. She clambered over one and landed beside Darian, who smelled like burnt flesh.

"Darian!" she exclaimed, rolling him onto his back. "Say something!"

"I... got ... one," he managed. He tried to push himself up. Jenn yanked him against her, taking in his burned profile.

"You missed the other two!" she retorted.

As long as he was alive, she could Travel with him. She closed her eyes and imagined them home in Texas. A gasp made her eyes open, and she looked around the kitchen. Jule's mate, Yully, was frozen before the open fridge, her eyes wide and red curls bound loosely at her neck.

"Go get Bianca," Jenn ordered, struggling out from Darian's weight. Yully hurried away.

"I ... got ... one," he repeated. His head lolled back, and his eyes closed. Before he passed out, he released what sounded like a hoarse laugh.

"Crazy son of a bitch!"

Jenn looked up as a familiar vamp materialized in the kitchen. She recognized him as Charles, the vamp Damian had gotten in exchange for sending her to the Black God. His arm was bloodied and burned. He dropped to the ground beside them.

"What did this?"

At the sound of a new voice, Jenn pushed herself to her feet as Damian slammed the door to the kitchen open.

"He went after Others," Charles supplied.

"Bianca!" the White God bellowed into the hallway. He turned his attention to Jenn. "Help me carry him down the hallway."

Jenn obeyed and hefted Darian's shoulders as Damian took his ankles. They maneuvered Darian's body through the doorway and into the living room, where they deposited him on the couch.

Jenn's gaze lingered on the unconscious man's body. She admired his bravery but wished he had more sense.

"You okay?" Damian asked, glancing up at her.

"Yeah. I gotta go, before Jonny hunts me down," she said and turned away.

Damian caught her arm. "No, really, are you okay?"

"I'm alive. Less than two weeks 'til I can come home, ikir," Jenn said, looking away. While she'd been one of the original Guardians to escape the immortal world with Damian, she'd also been at the bottom of the totem pole, once the Guardians in the mortal world rallied around their White God. She'd never felt as comfortable around him as she did Dusty.

"If you need me to pull you out, I will."

"I'm good," she said with a forced smile. "Just take care of him."

"I'll let you know," Damian promised.

"Thanks." Jenn stepped away but felt the White God watching her. A small part of her suspected Damian knew what Xander knew.

She Traveled back to the panoramic window, where her nest of blankets wasn't the only thing waiting for her. Jonny whipped around mid-step as she materialized. He relaxed visibly.

"I didn't think you'd return," he said.

"I keep my word, too," she said. Jenn shrugged out of her backpack and yanked off her wet jacket.

"The Others are right here on my doorstep, Jenn, and I can't find them!" the Black God said in frustration. "What if they attacked tonight? We'd be defenseless."

"You're far from defenseless, Jonny," she reminded him. "You're the Black God. You can't track them, but I bet you could put a dent in one of them with your power."

"Xander can't even stop them! And I gave away the only vamp who could track them to Damian."

"Tell him you need help," Jenn suggested. Privately, she willed the boy away. She, too, was rattled by the events of the night. Her mind control magic slid around him, ineffective this night.

"He won't help me. Jenn, I can't interrogate or spy on every one of my vamps! I need a solution, now."

"I gave you one. You need someone with Charles' skill. You and Damian have a common enemy, one that threatens both of you. He'll work with you to get rid of the Others," she said with some impatience.

Jonny paced and brooded. Jenn sat down and pulled off her wet boots, slinging them away. Her eyes settled on her blankets. In the time she'd been gone fighting Others, some vamp had left her the head of another dead animal.

This is getting old, she grated to herself. Any hope of getting more sleep this night was gone. She focused on Jonny again, willing him to accept her solution.