She was eyeing him.
"Let's just say mercy is viewed as weakness," he continued. "I can't let you go."
"But Brandon is -"
"I told you. This isn't a game. You don't get to throw down the gauntlet with a god and then call off the fight, Ashley," he said with more heat than he intended. He watched her expression, suspecting this was only the second time in their history together where she'd actually heard him. The first was the night before. "You fucked up coming here and now you can't go after your brother even if you want to."
Emotion flickered through her gaze. As if realizing how serious he was, her anger vanished. "Look, Jonny, he's my family. I'd do anything, even challenge you, if I thought you had him."
"Which you did and which I don't." Anger entered his voice. "I was willing to hide your identity as the vigilante. But I can't cover this up."
Her hands both shook, and her pupils were dilating.
"I'll have to decide what to do with you," he said, standing. "Chances are, you won't leave this place."
"Jonny, you can't keep me here!" She leapt to her feet. "I can save him!"
"You should've thought of the consequences before walking into my headquarters." He opened the door.
Her voice trembled. "If you keep me here and something happens to Brandon, I will do whatever it takes to find a way to kill you."
He left.
"Fuck you, Jonny!" she shouted as the door closed.
Jonny released his breath and lingered, furious at the position she'd put him in and even more agitated by the sexual tension between them. He could think of one solution, one she'd hate him for if she didn't already.
The sound of her hitting the floor hard caused him to grind his teeth. He wasn't going to get pulled in by emotion again. It was too dangerous and there was too much at risk. If he walked away now, she'd definitely get the hint he didn't care, especially after he did his best to discourage her the night before.
She slammed into something mid-seizure, and he flinched physically to know she was suffering.
Except I do care. "Fuck," he murmured, unable to leave her in the state she was in.
Jonny opened the door to Ashley's cell. She was convulsing on the ground, eyes closed and face blanched. He knelt beside her and rested one hand on the exposed skin of her neck. His eyes went to the pulsing vein beneath her sensitive skin, and hunger filled him despite drinking his fill from her the night before.