Free Lizzy Ford by Damian Eternal) Xander's Chance (#1 Page A

Grey God.
    He liked Darian’s recklessness. Unable to shake his instincts, His thoughts turned to the Black God. The godling seemed surprised to see Xander last night. Was his surprise that of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar?
    “Call me if you need help,” Jule said.
    “Alright.”
    “You’re welcome,” Jule said, snorting. “We Originals gotta stick together.”
    “That’s the agreement.”
    “You know I’m serious?”
    “On all counts, yes,” Xander replied. The gentleman’s agreement between them had been tested and proven solid. He knew Jule was able to balance his alliance with the White God and his alliance with Xander. Jule was as close as trustworthy as someone ever got in Xander’s book.
    “I’ll send Sofi your love.”
    “Fuck you, Jule.”
    Jule laughed. He disappeared as quietly as he appeared. Xander suspected the Oracle warned him only because it interfered in her plans for him. At least, that’s what he’d do. She promised to make his fate hell the last time they met. Uneasily, he was forced to admit she had the power.
    Xander hated the idea of not being in control. His agenda was one born of experience: if the scales between the White and Black Gods tipped too far one way, life was bad. So he nudged the scales back in the right direction, sometimes pushing evil, sometimes good, sometimes pissing off both. After all, he was the single most powerful immortal on the planet, and the oldest. No one else gave a shit about the Original Vamp, unless to kill him. If he kept their attention divided and their focus on their turf wars, he was largely overlooked.
    Xander hated - but respected – Sofi. She promised personal vengeance against him but not at the expense of the loss of other lives. It was her catch-twenty-two: she needed him alive to use him as a tool to nudge the scales. He needed her insight, for when he wasn’t able to see outside his narrow lane. It gave him some level of confidence that her warning was one born of necessity, not idle speculation.
    It was bad news for him, though, if the Oracle who hated him felt the need to warn him. Xander spent another moment in pensive silence before he rose.
    He might need to pay the Oracle a visit.
    But not today.
    Someone else tripped the wards marking his territory of Southern California, someone he didn’t expect to be alive. Of the five Original Beings, he only knew where one was. The others he hoped had died when the immortal world was destroyed months ago by the Grey God. He’d never be able to sense the Original Other or Original Watcher, since they were able to move without detection by anyone, even their own kind.
    The Original Human, however, just crossed into his territory. Xander let his instincts take him to the latest unwelcome creature to interfere with his world. He Traveled to a quiet playground, eyes settling on the woman seated on a bench.
    Xander wasn’t the only to notice. No sooner had he appeared than the Grey God himself materialized. Wiry and lean, Darian’s golden gaze was identical to that of his brother, the White God. The Grey God was known as the Gatekeeper, the God responsible for tracking and managing the immortals in the human realm.
    “Two Originals,” Darian said, gleam in his eyes. “You guys made my day.”
    “I am not here to fight, though I will not speak for Xander,” the Original Human said. “It is good to see the position of Grey God filled once more. How long has it been, Xander, since you killed the last one?”
    “Xander killed him?” Darian asked with a laugh. “When Xander tells the story, it was the Originals that did it.”
    “Not so far off,” Xander replied. He circled the bench, until he was able to see the features of the Original Human more fully.
    Her aristocratic features were strong and firm, her eyes the color of spring, circled by silver. Xander remembered her older and realized he had always viewed Eden through the eyes of the child who embarked on a journey