thinking.
“Where is she? I can prove they aren’t
mine,” Jonny added.
“Monterey wharf.”
Jonny took a quick picture of the location
of his mid-California vamps and texted it to the number Brandon was
calling from. “Those are mine,” he said. As he said the words, he
studied the photo. He had no one between San Francisco and Los
Angeles – but there was an old ops center used long before his
reign in the Monterey area. The rogue vamps would know about it.
Were they stupid enough to make it their headquarters or simply
using it to stash Ashley?
“You can manipulate that shit,” Brandon said
finally.
“Good bye, Brandon.” Jonny hung up and
handed the cell back to Charles. “Send a scout to the old
warehouses my predecessor used to use in the Monterey area. I have
a feeling some of our rogues are there. Tell them to watch only. I
want to know who’s there and how many. And …” He debated. “… I
don’t understand exactly what Stu and Tasha need for the talisman
to work. Send Tasha with the recon team to determine if there’s
something there she can use.”
Charles nodded. “May I ask what that was
about?”
“No,” Jonny snapped.
Charles didn’t push and moved back to the
ops center to issue orders for a scout to do some reconnaissance.
Jonny remained in the hallway, thoughts on Ashley once more. It
truly was the stupidest thing ever for her to start taking out
vamps without the White God’s knowledge or support. What possessed
her to take such risks? She had to know if he didn’t put a stop to
what she was doing, someone else – probably Xander – would.
His phone vibrated and he glanced down.
Brandon had texted him an address in Monterey and nothing else.
Jonny shoved the phone into his pocket.
He owed the siblings nothing. Any
involvement with them was tantamount to challenging Xander, and
Jonny wasn’t in any position to do something so crazy.
Hours later, he was still telling himself
this when he strolled onto the Monterey wharf packed with tourists
and the evening dinner crowd. The air smelled of clam chowder and
the ocean. The occasional bark of a harbor seal broke up the
chatter of humanity.
He sensed the gathered vamps long before
reaching the wharf and treaded carefully. Whatever they were doing
here, they hadn’t thought to put up wards around the area. They
wouldn’t sense him until he was in their midst.
Jonny paused in front of a boarded up
restaurant, one of the largest buildings on the wharf. He counted …
seventeen vamp signatures inside. It was a larger number than he
was accustomed to finding gathered in one spot though nowhere near
the several hundred that had defected. Still, they weren’t recruits
either, which meant one of them was going to know where the others
were.
He followed a sign pointing to a spot from
which to view the bay and stopped behind the building. No one
else was present. The tour boats were docked and dark, and a pallet
filled with harbor seals swayed from the movement of waves and
animals. He was able to sense Ashley, too. She read as a Natural,
and he began to suspect Brandon was able to do more than move in
stealth mode. He had covered Ashley’s signature the night before.
Without him present, Ashley was exposed.
Jonny hung back by the railing, gaze on the
two-story restaurant. The upper level had been an open air club,
and some table and chairs remained. Instinct told him to step aside
and allow Charles to handle the vamps. However, something else
urged him to act on his own. He wanted to think it was a sense of
duty and not emotion, but he wasn’t certain. Having learned to be
patient and cautious under pressure, he had the urge to be reckless
for once, to barge into the vamp hideout and wipe everyone out
before releasing Ashley back to her brother.
Jonny debated another second then strode
towards a door hidden under a stairwell beneath the upper deck of
the abandoned building. He eased it open and slid inside, senses
alert.
“Where is she? I can prove they aren’t
mine,” Jonny added.
“Monterey wharf.”
Jonny took a quick picture of the location
of his mid-California vamps and texted it to the number Brandon was
calling from. “Those are mine,” he said. As he said the words, he
studied the photo. He had no one between San Francisco and Los
Angeles – but there was an old ops center used long before his
reign in the Monterey area. The rogue vamps would know about it.
Were they stupid enough to make it their headquarters or simply
using it to stash Ashley?
“You can manipulate that shit,” Brandon said
finally.
“Good bye, Brandon.” Jonny hung up and
handed the cell back to Charles. “Send a scout to the old
warehouses my predecessor used to use in the Monterey area. I have
a feeling some of our rogues are there. Tell them to watch only. I
want to know who’s there and how many. And …” He debated. “… I
don’t understand exactly what Stu and Tasha need for the talisman
to work. Send Tasha with the recon team to determine if there’s
something there she can use.”
Charles nodded. “May I ask what that was
about?”
“No,” Jonny snapped.
Charles didn’t push and moved back to the
ops center to issue orders for a scout to do some reconnaissance.
Jonny remained in the hallway, thoughts on Ashley once more. It
truly was the stupidest thing ever for her to start taking out
vamps without the White God’s knowledge or support. What possessed
her to take such risks? She had to know if he didn’t put a stop to
what she was doing, someone else – probably Xander – would.
His phone vibrated and he glanced down.
Brandon had texted him an address in Monterey and nothing else.
Jonny shoved the phone into his pocket.
He owed the siblings nothing. Any
involvement with them was tantamount to challenging Xander, and
Jonny wasn’t in any position to do something so crazy.
Hours later, he was still telling himself
this when he strolled onto the Monterey wharf packed with tourists
and the evening dinner crowd. The air smelled of clam chowder and
the ocean. The occasional bark of a harbor seal broke up the
chatter of humanity.
He sensed the gathered vamps long before
reaching the wharf and treaded carefully. Whatever they were doing
here, they hadn’t thought to put up wards around the area. They
wouldn’t sense him until he was in their midst.
Jonny paused in front of a boarded up
restaurant, one of the largest buildings on the wharf. He counted …
seventeen vamp signatures inside. It was a larger number than he
was accustomed to finding gathered in one spot though nowhere near
the several hundred that had defected. Still, they weren’t recruits
either, which meant one of them was going to know where the others
were.
He followed a sign pointing to a spot from
which to view the bay and stopped behind the building. No one
else was present. The tour boats were docked and dark, and a pallet
filled with harbor seals swayed from the movement of waves and
animals. He was able to sense Ashley, too. She read as a Natural,
and he began to suspect Brandon was able to do more than move in
stealth mode. He had covered Ashley’s signature the night before.
Without him present, Ashley was exposed.
Jonny hung back by the railing, gaze on the
two-story restaurant. The upper level had been an open air club,
and some table and chairs remained. Instinct told him to step aside
and allow Charles to handle the vamps. However, something else
urged him to act on his own. He wanted to think it was a sense of
duty and not emotion, but he wasn’t certain. Having learned to be
patient and cautious under pressure, he had the urge to be reckless
for once, to barge into the vamp hideout and wipe everyone out
before releasing Ashley back to her brother.
Jonny debated another second then strode
towards a door hidden under a stairwell beneath the upper deck of
the abandoned building. He eased it open and slid inside, senses
alert.
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