Free The Grey God (War of Gods 4) by Lizzy Ford

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