Children of Sun (Oracle's Legacy)

by R. B. Holbrook

  He smoothed his hands along her back and side, taking the pain from her. As he smoothed his hands over her soft bare skin, he noticed that her seal ran from her toes to the top of her buttocks. And when the bruised area was completely healed, it would run halfway up her back and around her left side. Even though he was taking some of the pain, she still had pain, yet she was grinning.

  Opening his mind, he felt her thoughts. She wondered what it would be like to be possessed by him. And it didn't frighten her, not even a little. Was she real?

  "Forget it," he said.

  "Why?" she moaned, enjoying his handiwork.

  "I care too much."

  Why not? she thought as her mind slowly began to drift off.

  "Because I wouldn't change a thing about you. Not even the things that come out of your mouth." He kissed her.

  She grinned before falling asleep, wishing that times were different. Wishing that what she had to do wouldn't change that moment.

  Granger frowned. What exactly did she mean? What was she up to?

  Once he felt her consciousness slip into limbo, he slowly got up from the bed and pulled the covers over her. He slipped on his sweatpants before going out into the hallway. Walking over to the stairs, he saw Arjun sitting on the top step with his back to the railing. He could feel his mentor's distress from the moment Ollie had began to rest.

  "How do you want to do this?" Arjun asked, knowing that Granger had already pulled the information from his head about what Joc had done.

  "Keep a lookout. We stay on course. But let the crew know what to expect. If Blade catches up with us, I'll deal with it. Tell the crew not to engage."

  "Granger, we will not let them--"

  "Arjun, I'm not giving you a choice. I'm more than capable of protecting everyone."

  "Yes, but Granger, you have never had to. Can you honestly say that you know your powers well enough to do so?"

  He smiled. A few weeks ago, the answer would have been no. He never used his power unless absolutely necessary. But now that he saw the truth about himself and the truth about the future, he was prepared to use his power--all of it, if need be.

  Yes. Get ready. If you need me, I'll be with Ollie. He projected his thoughts for the first time to Arjun, who looked at him, jaw dropped. He smiled before going back down to the room.

  After closing the door, he crawled onto the bed and pulled her sleeping body onto him so he could feel her sleep. He began to play with the crazy curls on top of her head, then stopped when he thought of her seal.

  If Blade caught her, they would kill her. She was too much of a threat. There was no way he would let that happen--not after finally holding her. He definitely had the power to take them on. All of them.

  ()()()

  Banging at the door brought Granger awake and to full attention.

  It was time.

  Checking to make sure Ollie was asleep, he kissed her on the lips, then slipped out from under her. Grabbing his T-shirt from the floor, he slid it on as he headed up to the main deck, where he saw two helicopters flying overhead. The helicopters' spotlights cut through the night, illuminating his yacht.

  A man came down a rope ladder, toward the main deck. Sebastian Crenshaw. The man was a Blade phenomenon. No one willingly did battle with the man, because he was lethal, a warrior at heart. Pure muscle and speed. And his power? Shielding so strong that no mental or emotional powers could touch him--not one. But Granger's power far exceeded the mind and emotions, and Crenshaw knew that.

  With short hair cut extremely close to the scalp and penetrating eyes, he looked military intense. "Augustus Granger!" the man yelled over the noise of the helicopters. He almost came to Granger's height and build, and though Granger could probably match him blow for blow, he couldn't match Sebastian's speed. But for what Granger had in mind, the man would be down before he even touched him.

  "Why are you on my yacht? This is my home, and I didn't give you an invitation." Granger said while quickly ripping through three individuals that were still up in the helicopter, including one pilot. His possession of them was so fast that they had no time to react or resist. How easy it had gotten.

  "It always did amaze me how young you look. For a forty-year-old, you don't look a day over twenty. The level of your energy must be astounding."

  "Sebastian, in about two seconds, I'm going to rip through your defenses and claim that which is most precious to you. And then I'm going to make you drown yourself." He was spending way too much time with Ollie. Then again, I'd better get used to it. "Answer me, or you will find out how astounding my energy is."

  "We have reason to believe that you have a traitor on your ship," Crenshaw said, completely unnerved.

  "You have the wrong yacht."

  "If you would allow us to search--"

  "Get off my home. Last warning."

  "I see." Sebastian took a deep breath, "Granger, if we find out that you are harboring a traitor--"

  Granger released the tight control he held on his energy. The force of the energy pushed Sebastian back like an invisible wall. "Tell me, Sebastian, what would you do? I want to know exactly how you plan to deal with me."

  When Granger leashed his energy again, Sebastian straightened into military posture. He couldn't take Granger on a good day. His threats wouldn't work. He was no match.

  "Good evening." The man climbed the rope ladder, and the helicopters took off.

  Granger immediately took possession of four more Blades that inhabited the boats near the yacht, almost ready to board. They withdrew as well.

  Arjun approached after they left.

  "Did you really threaten to drown him?" he asked, with a smirk on his lips.

  "She's rubbing off on me, and I think I like it." Granger winked, and Arjun laughed. "Is the ship clean?" he asked, making sure no one had sneaked aboard.

  "Squeaky." Arjun smiled.

  Granger walked back to his room to check on Ollie. But when he got there, she was gone. A note sat on the nightstand beside the bed. He cursed.

  After reading the note, Granger balled it up and yelled out his frustration.

  ()()()

  Joc lay in the dark, quietly resting. He felt something in the room move. It was the faintest movement, but he felt it. He tried to adjust his eyes, but it was just too dark.

  "When the heart betrays the body, it must be cut out, for it can no longer sustain the balance." A voice whispered into his ear. Joc froze. Sweat broke out all over his body. "You betrayed the oath. You betrayed the House."

  The door swung open, and light came into the room. Joc looked up at a shadowy being. Tears ran down his cheeks, and his breath caught in his chest.

  "He has been wronged, and his pain is great. Spare him. Fire Eye. These are her written words." Granger's voice came through like a blanket of protection. Relief.

  The dark image faded away into the shadows of the room when Granger turned on the light.

  Joc finally found his voice. "You … saved me."

  "Ollie saved you." Granger held up a crumpled piece of paper. "But you only get one. I suggest you not waste it."

  Joc breathed in the air he'd had so much difficulty breathing before. "She'll get you killed, G. I may not care for … whatever relationship you two have." He swallowed. "But you are my brother. I … I don't want her near you."

  "That's not your choice." Granger walked to the door. "I want her in my life. Your choice is whether to accept it or not."

  He left, leaving the light on and the door open.

  ()()()

  Atlanta, Georgia

  Arthur sat watching the surveillance footage that his people had taken after following River's actions in the Midwest. From what they had found in Maryland, they had a hit on where Fire Eye was or how to find her. They had set up a roadblock on a major highway. In broad daylight, with several witnesses, they'd taken down a van full of Structure members. The man that was shot was Malcolm Warren, a well-known underground arms dealer in Atlanta th
at went by the code name Troy.

  What was Mary thinking?

  And what did Troy have to do with the whole incident?

  What made Arthur ill was the fact that children were involved. He watched as they dragged the children out of the vans. Then an old woman was taken from the car, and a younger woman was knocked unconscious because she had struggled. All of the adults were incapacitated, except the old woman, who stood close to the children, comforting them.

  Arthur found it odd that the old woman didn't seem the least bit worried or scared. She seemed too at ease. The oldest child tried to fight, but they grabbed one of the children, threatening him. He grew still and allowed himself to be herded into a van with the rest of the group. The old woman was the last one to get in, but she stopped and looked back toward the camera and smiled.

  Did she…?

  Pausing the footage, he looked at the old woman. She was staring right into the camera. Smiling.

  He sat thinking. There was no way she could have … unless she was a seer. He needed to know who this family was. And especially who that woman was. It had to be connected to Fire Eye. Or Moon.

  He got on the phone.

  "Hey," Elliot answered.

  "Elliot, I need you to look into something for me. But you have to agree to it first, because I have a feeling it might get you killed."

  There was a long pause. "Boss, I like doing dirty work, if you haven't noticed. I think I can handle whatever you can throw at me, including anything that involves Moon," he answered.

  "That's what I want to hear. Because you might have to go into that very belly of the beast to get what I want," Arthur said as he looked into the eyes of the knowing old woman.

  ()()()

  East St. Louis, Illinois

  After transporting them to her private facilities in Illinois, Mary finally had the captives under her watch. The process had involved far more trouble than she had anticipated. They were traveling under more firepower than she would have thought, given that there were children involved. Her worry now was how she was going to explain the assault in public. That was going to be a pain if anyone traced it back to her.

  But it had all been worth it to acquire the agent's family. She had lucked out when Marissa's contacts told her that there was unrest at one of the local high schools. Some of the high-school students had mentioned a Structure family that had relocated the previous day. The odd part was that it was so close to two of the children's graduation date.

  Finding out where they had lived hadn't been easy. Marissa had needed to rip open some of the minds of the faculty, because the knowledge had been suppressed. But when she found the location, she also found a wealth of information that had not been erased from the energy signatures still lingering in the area. Someone had been living there a long time, and from what she gathered, it was the agent's family.

  Gold mine.

  Now looking over their weary faces behind the one-way mirror, she had leverage. What surprised her most was that the one named Miriam, whom she had encountered at the scholastic program, was one of the captives. The girl's ability to decode was going to come in handy when cracking the codes on the mainframe they had found at another location that belonged to the agent.

  Evidence also showed that the computer equipment that was found in their possession had the oldest boy's fingerprints all over it. So he was going to help her get into the mainframe as well.

  "Those two." She pointed to Miriam and the oldest boy. "I want preparations made to have them transferred to my facility in Costa Rica with the hard drives you found. I want them to work on it as well." On her command, her staff got to work.

  "And send out a message--if Fire Eye wants me to feed the sick one, then I want to hear from her very soon."

  Marissa walked into the observation room with a cordless phone in her hand. "Mrs. Alexander, there is a call for you on your private line."

  "Take a message."

  "It's important. Sebastian Crenshaw." Marissa was unwavering. Mary was glad to get what help she could from the woman, but she was outliving her usefulness. If it weren't for the fact that she was more asset than liability, Mary would have repositioned her. But as long as Marissa kept producing results, Mary was closer to her goals.

  Frowning, she took the phone, wondering what the Blade had to say to her that she could possibly want to hear.

  ()()()

  Bossier City, Louisiana

  Greg Hooser awoke, feeling a breeze. When he began to sit up in bed, something came down on his chest hard, knocking the wind from his lungs. His eyes bulged as a black figure moved over him, binding his hands in front of him. He couldn't even see eyes through his blurred vision.

  Oh, God. Save me. He had screwed up royally, and now he was paying for it. As he tried to struggle, something grabbed hold of his ankles. The weight on his chest disappeared at the same moment he was yanked from the bed. His body hit the floor hard, and his head followed. Biting his tongue, tears come to his eyes. He was so disoriented that he didn't know if the tears came from pain or fear.

  The Blade enforcers Dad summoned should've come. Why haven't they come? He thought as he opened his mouth to scream. But before he could make the first sound, something foul was shoved into his mouth. Strangling, he tried to breathe, barely seeing the black image above him. It was silent as it walked, following as he was dragged down the hall on the wooden floor. When they finally stopped, he still could see nothing in the dark of the house.

  Then he noticed a familiar dark picture by the window that showed a glimmer of moonlight. He was in his parents' room. He struggled to get up, but a foot landed on his chest, knocking the air out of him again, making him gag on whatever was in his mouth. There was a faint sound, a struggle, and then a gasp before something hit the floor with a hard thump. Tears came to his eyes.

  His family was to suffer the same fate he was.

  Very good, little boy. Maybe in the next life, you'll have learned that greed will get you killed. The voice ripped into his head before the sound of his mother's horrifying scream echoed throughout the house.

  ()()()

  18

  Mobile, Alabama

  Ollie made it to port on Granger's motorboat without being detected. She was wrong: he didn't keep the key in his boxers; he kept it in his dresser. And she could only imagine his anger right now.

  She had used a great deal of energy, but it was to be expected if she was to remain unseen. She took some sunglasses that she had found on the boat and put them on her face. With her energy exhausted, putting up her guard wouldn't be easy, so hiding her eyes came down to conventional methods.

  She made her way down the concrete water's edge of the dock. The warehouses and storage crates she passed all belonged to the House of Blade. Even though the seal-less knew nothing about the House, they knew about the companies. Many of the Houses ran companies that funneled money into the support of the Structure. Most of Blade's companies were weapons manufacturers and other military-type companies. Even Moon had companies, but not even the Structure knew about those.

  Ollie tried to keep her mind from wandering, because she needed to focus on her objective, but she couldn't think past what she had done to Granger. Normally she would feel no regret from leaving someone behind, unless it was her family, but somehow she had let him into her mind. She was a killer, cold and calculating, and if she needed to, she would kill him; but there was something about him that always captivated her. Maybe it was the power he held or the composure he kept. He had self-control that Ollie could not afford to have. Self-control only made her weak.

  She hoped that when this was all over, he would find it in his heart to forgive. Even if she never got to love him the way she hoped, maybe he wouldn't hate her. Her stomach began to throb, and her side began to sting. He had caused in her more emotion that she had thought possible. Trying to block him out of her mind was causing strain she had not expected.

  Well, ain't this new? She actually car
ed for Granger, deeply. The pain shot through her body as the realization began to cause her more pain. Damn it, why did she have to get close to him? Why did she have to push him? She fell to her knees, holding her side.

  "This sucks." She laughed. Closing her eyes, she focused. Her family needed her. And no one would stop her.

  She got under control and stood up, then ran to a nearby parking lot. Just as a dock worker exited his car, she placed the man's mind in her care, getting him to get back into the car and head to an airport, because he was on a very important mission of life and death.

  Once they were there, she made him experience a five-hour period of running, which put him to sleep instantly from exhaustion. When he awoke, he would remember nothing, which would make his life a lot easier. Ollie slipped out of the car and looked around the airport. She needed to get past security and remain undetected until she could find what she was looking for. And with the pain in her side, it was going to hurt more than a little bit to use her powers.

  Walking through the airport throwing off an illusion, she slipped past security, heading to the private sector of the airport. Looking out a large window from the main building, she saw the small jet she sought, sitting on the tarmac. She took a breath. She was lucky that it was still there. The small plane was a private jet that belonged to Crescent Holdings, a Moon investment firm. Normally she wouldn't rely on Moon, but this time she needed discretion.

  She walked down the steps leading to the tarmac. When she slipped concealed past the guards by the door and reached the outdoors, she noticed that the plane doors were open and the plane's steps were inviting her in. Upon the first step, Ollie fell to her knees as pain from her back shot through her body like needles. Grinding her teeth, she held back her scream, shaking violently. She was frozen in place, and tears streamed down her face. The darkness began to call to her. She had used too much of her power.