Damian's Oracle

by Lizzy Ford

  It was dark before they returned to the mansion. The driver had driven in circles and down every back alley he could find until Jule was confident there was no one tailing them.

  Damian and Dustin awaited them. Their faces lit up at the sight of Jule, and Sofia trailed him in, watching as the three clapped each other on the shoulders and hugged. The energy around them was lively; they were brothers whose bond was formed during their years in the bowels of hell.

  She closed her eyes, the home videos playing in her thoughts. These were happy images of shared exploits, battlefield victories, and tender moments crying on each other’s shoulders as their world grew uglier. They touched her, and she smiled.

  “Sofia,” Damian said in a warning tone.

  She opened her eyes to find all three gazing at her with similar guarded looks. She crossed her arms, agitated.

  “Damian, Dustin, Jule, I’m an oracle. Get used to it.”

  And she went to the library, their pride be damned.

  “Damn oracles,” he said under his breath, watching her.

  He wasn’t sure if he should be angry at her defiant insubordination or amused by it. She was harmless to him, like a trash talking flower. Then again, most men had some level of respect for him and his position. He shook his head, returning his attention to Dusty and Jule. Dusty’s gaze was on the ground, his smile partially hidden while Jule’s amusement was less discreet. He grinned.

  “Look on the bright side,” Jule said. “She’s accepting her role.”

  “Exactly,” Dusty agreed.

  Damian glared at both of them, suddenly aware they were laughing at him.

  “You’ll get your turn,” he assured them both. “And I’ll be there to laugh at you when you do. C’mon.”

  He strode down the hallway to his office, trailed by his two friends. Han had laid out a few maps on the table near his desk. He flipped the lights on, and the three of them gathered at the table.

  “Our evac plan was to take everyone here,” Dusty said, indicating a point in the Utah desert. “But we don’t know how much information Claire had access to and what she passed to Czerno.”

  “I didn’t stop to ask her,” Damian said in a cold voice. Dusty and Jule knew better than to pry what happened when he confronted Claire. He’d done as he promised Jule and eliminated the threat.

  “We’ll evac elsewhere.”

  “Wouldn’t recommend Europe,” Jule said with a snort. “You still coming to help me clean up?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it. Dusty, can you run the evac and clean-up ops for Arizona?”

  “Gladly.”

  “How ‘bout Australia for the next HQ site?” Jule asked.

  “Come to Florida,” Dusty suggested. “We can be neighbors. I’ll help you keep your woman in line.”

  “I’ll be left out again,” Jule complained.

  “I’m going back to Europe with you, aren’t I?” Damian asked, amused. “And I’ll stay until the issue is fixed.”

  “Even if your oracle remains in Florida?” Dusty challenged.

  “I trust you to take care of her,” Damian assured him.

  “See how that works, Dusty?” Jule said with a laugh. “I think you just picked up oracle babysitting duty.”

  Dusty pursed his lips, and Damian smiled. He trusted Sofia to either of the two men before him and knew Dusty was the more likely of the two to shoot first and ask questions later if she was threatened.

  “So we evac tomorrow and set up HQ in Florida,” he summarized. “Dusty, can you pick a site and relay it to us? I’ve got parish calls to make this evening. I’m going to deliver the order to rendezvous here at 0800 in the morning for evacuations. Jule, we’ll leave for the European front tomorrow.”

  “Awesome,” Jule agreed.

  “I need your computer,” Dusty said.

  “Like you can use one,” Jule said.

  “Fuck you, Jule.”

  Damian smiled and tossed his head towards his computer, straightening. His thoughts drifted to Sofia. He’d likely be away with Jule for quite awhile. If it weren’t so unsafe, he’d take her with him.

  “I’m heading out to the Sector,” he said. “Make yourselves at home.”

  Jule flipped open his phone, and Dusty sat in front of his computer. He transported himself to his room to change. As he pulled on the last of his clothes and crossed to his armory, a small, black velvet box nestled between two daggers drew his attention. He opened it, surprised to see a ring bearing the White God’s seal. He’d tucked away the necklace thousands of years after finding it among the pieces of his brother’s body. He’d never been able to bring himself to wear it.

  He gazed at the ring, touched. He didn’t know how the little oracle knew just how to affect him. Dark memories crossed his mind, along with his resolve to finally let his brother’s memory rest in the peace it deserved. With Claire’s death, he’d avenged his brother, righted the wrong made thousands of years ago. He no longer needed to feel as if he still dwelt in the shadow of Darian’s death. He was the king now in his own right.

  He removed the ring from the box, smiling as he saw his name engraved in the interior. He transported himself to the library, where he knew she’d be hiding out.

  “Did you do this?” he demanded, holding up the ring like a piece of dirty underwear.

  She jerked at his voice and twisted to face him, observing him coolly before turning away.

  “Are you going out?”

  “I am.”

  Aggravated by her second display of defiance in one night, he crossed to her and planted his hands on either side of her chair, demanding her attention. She looked up at him.

  “Do you like it?” she asked, unease and desire crossing her features at his nearness.

  “Yes.”

  “In your home videos, you’re always thinking about the symbol.”

  “Home videos?” he echoed.

  “Your memories.”

  Her two-toned eyes were still, her head resting on the back of the chair as she looked up at him. The sexual awareness killed him more and more lately, and he started to think going to the European front was a good thing. She’d have time and space to adjust without the added confusion of him.

  “You shouldn’t be afraid to wear it anymore.”

  “You see too much, Sofia,” he replied gruffly.

  “You keep telling me who I am. This is who you are, Damian.”

  There was tenderness in the way she looked at him that amazed him. He felt her deep confusion of the world around her and marveled again at how selfless she still managed to be.

  “Thank you, Sofia,” he whispered.

  She smiled at the genuine note in his voice, and he leaned forward, kissing her. If only he didn’t have to tour the Sector tonight!

  “We’ll come back to this, kiri,” he promised, grudgingly withdrawing.

  Her eyes swirled with arousal, and her parted, plump lips threatened his resolve. She touched his face. He kissed her hand and pushed away. He left the library and transported himself to one of the remaining, undiscovered safe houses at the base of one of the mountains. He placed the ring on his finger, body buzzing with lust and anticipation.

  There’d been no hesitancy in her kiss, none of her previous reserve. Maybe, just maybe -

  “Hello, Damian.”

  He whirled, aware he’d been too lost in thought to heed his instincts. Czerno stood before him. Before he could react, a charge of electricity flew threw him, carrying with it an invasive liquid that paralyzed him. He dropped to the floor with a roar, his eyes blurring as more fire and liquid tore through him. He struggled to free his arms from the invisible bonds, his eyesight darkening until he dropped into unconsciousness.

  The sense of danger jarred her, and she sat up straight, heart pounding hard. She looked around.

  Something was wrong.

  Damian.

  She shot out of her seat and to the door, wrenching it open. She pulled out the cell he’d given her and c
alled the only number in it.

  “Jule.”

  “What happened?”

  “Sweetheart, I’ll call you later. Stay put for now, ok?”

  He hung up, but there was urgency in his voice. Jule wasn’t the type of man who worried about anything, and fear slid through her.

  “Pierre!” she called. For the first time, he wasn’t lingering in the shadows. “Dustin!”

  She snatched her satchel and dug out Linda and Traci’s numbers. She dialed each of them, distressed when both calls went to voicemail. She stopped and closed her eyes, seeking the home videos that normally streamed.

  Nothing. Coldness filled her.

  She went to the key locker and chose one of Damian’s sports cars, her instincts urging her to go somewhere, though she didn’t know where. Within minutes, she was on the road. It’d been only a week and a half since she ventured into this new world, but she felt strangely exposed without Pierre with her.

  Her phone rang, and she snatched it.

  “Did you call?” Traci asked.

  “Where’s Rainy?”

  “I’m not supposed to say anything.”

  “Please, Traci, it’s important.”

  “Come to the Sector.”

  Sofia arrived half an hour later and found Traci alone with the man she recognized as Ving. He looked past her as he opened the door.

  “Where’s your bodyguard?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know.”

  He stared at her. She edged past him.

  “Traci?”

  The model appeared, looking tired but awake.

  “Ving, we’re going to the site,” she told him.

  “Hell no.”

  “You can take us, or I can go alone,” Sofia said.

  “Neither of you will go anywhere.”

  She exchanged a look with Traci.

  “Very well. I’ll wait for Pierre to catch up,” she said, going to the living room.

  Ving eyed her, waiting until Traci followed before accompanying them. Sofia put her purse down and tucked her phone into her jeans.

  “You hungry?” Traci asked. “I was just making a midnight snack. I can’t stop eating.”

  “You’re eating for three,” Ving reminded her.

  “I know, I know,” Traci grated. “As long as I don’t look it!”

  “No, thanks,” Sofia said, pretending to be interested in the football game on TV. Traci disappeared around the corner to the kitchen. Sofia waited a minute, then called. “You need help?”

  “Sure, if you want.”

  She felt Ving’s gaze on her as she walked. There was no backdoor in the kitchen, but Traci had wedged the window over the sink open. She rolled her eyes before ducking through it. Sofia followed.

  “And now we run like hell,” Traci said, closing the window softly.

  They circled the hacienda to Sofia’s car and dove into it just as the front door wrenched open. She tore away from the curb, heart pounding as she watched Ving’s furious form grow smaller in the rearview mirror.

  “I’m in so much trouble right now,” Traci said. “Rainy’s gonna be pissed.”

  “Me, too, I’m sure. Where are we going?”

  “One of their safehouses was hit earlier. Rainy called to say he’d be there for awhile cleaning up the mess. I’ve been there twice to check for signs of vamp surveillance.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  Her phone rang. Jule’s number flashed. She suspected Ving had made a couple of hurried phone calls and let the call go to voicemail.

  “This feels weird,” Traci said. “I’m used to one of them following me around like a puppy.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that, too. It feels good to get out, though.”

  They were quiet. She drove fast with Traci’s directions guiding her. As dawn broke, they reached the safehouse, a low, adobe structure hidden between the foothills of the Tucson Mountains. The destruction was visible long before they reached the building. Dead vamps lined the driveway. Several cars were on fire, and black smoke spiraled towards the sky. Deep holes in the ground, rimmed with black, pockmarked the shallow valley. A dozen vehicles were parked near the structure, itself the size of a small warehouse. At least one of Damian’s Guardians lay slain among the scores of vamps.

  The adobe structure was guarded by several more Guardians, and she stopped the car before reaching them. The death around her disturbed her, and danger hung in the air. She closed her eyes, waiting. A faint memory began to play. She hesitated and moved away from the car.

  “Sofia,” Traci called, fear in her voice.

  Sofia stopped at the edge of the driveway, horrified by the bloodied and broken bodies spread across the expansive area in front of her. It looked like a warzone and smelled like a cesspool. Her chest was tight and her breath short, but she knew there was one way to find out what happened to Damian.

  “Come with me,” she whispered. She grabbed Traci’s hand, and she picked her way through the death until she found the vamp she sought.

  “Sofia!” Dustin’s voice was filled with fury.

  She knelt beside the vamp. While he looked dead, he was alive enough for his memories to reach her. She braced herself and touched him. The night’s battle lit up her thoughts, and what she saw made her gasp.

  Czerno himself had been there for the well-timed ambush that overwhelmed the two Guardians assigned to the safehouse. Damian appeared and destroyed nearly a hundred vamps before facing Czerno and Czerno’s secret weapon, the one that made the vamp believe they’d win before he’d been shot down. The vamp before her went down before she saw the outcome, but she knew what happened.

  Damian had been kidnapped.

  Dustin wrenched her to her feet.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Dusty,” Jule cautioned, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  Dustin released her, glowering. There was only one thing that could make such a cold man so upset. Jule leveled a glare on her.

  “Traci?” Rainy’s voice was surprised and furious.

  “You have thirty seconds, sweetheart,” Jule said with a calmness that chilled her to the bone. “Or I’ll give you to Dusty.”

  She didn’t want to know what happened after that. She’d seen the dark side of Dusty in the library before she told Damian about Claire.

  “Damian was ambushed. Czerno knew he was coming here and had a small army of vamps. He had a secret weapon, but I don’t know what it was.”

  “Where’d they take him?”

  “He doesn’t know.”

  Jule freed a gun from the small of his back and pointed it at the vamp beside her. She turned her head away, jumping as the shot rang out. Jule met her gaze calmly, and she resisted the urge to run. She didn’t like the reminders that the men around her were capable of such violence.

  “I’ll deal with you later,” he promised.

  Ving pulled up and barely made it out of the car before Rainy grabbed him and slammed him over the hood.

  “Dusty, calm them down,” Jule ordered.

  Dustin obeyed

  “Fan out and find out if any others are alive!” Jule shouted to the men. “You don’t leave my sight, oracle.”

  She acquiesced, afraid to disagree.

  “I got one!” a shout rang out.

  “I shouldn’t have to tell you to tell me everything,” Jule said, blocking her path with his arm. “There are two people on my list. No one else in this fucked up universe matters.”

  She looked up, hearing the unspoken threat.

  “I love him, Jule,” she said, admitting the words for the first time.

  He dropped his arm, and she picked her way through the bodies, covering her mouth to keep from vomiting. Lon knelt by a vamp whose chest still moved. She leaned down, bracing herself as she rested a trembling hand on his forehead.

  For Damian.

  “He’s one of the last to arrive,” she said and closed her eyes. “He came from an underground facility on
the other side of Tucson.”

  “Where?” Dustin demanded.

  “He’s not exactly providing an address.”

  “Someone from Tucson Sector!”

  Still fuming, Rainy joined them.

  “What landmarks did he pass?” Jule prodded. “Street names, anything.”

  His memories were fading fast and growing blurry. Sofia sifted through them.

  “The mall. He passed it on his way out of town. Abandoned gas station, new housing development in the foothills. Dirt road, reservation perimeter on the left …“

  “Do you recognize it?” Jule turned.

  “I do,” Rainy confirmed. “Keep going.”

  The memories stopped. Sofia withdrew, staring at the dead body in front of her.

  “I take it he’s dead,” Dustin said. “Rainy, get your men. Call in those from the neighboring sectors. We’ll need to hit fast then evac.”

  “You did good, sweetheart,” Jule said.

  He lifted her to her feet. Her stomach growled.

  “When was the last time you ate?” he asked.

  “Friday.”

  Rainy bound off, snatching his cell as he waved the others over.

  “Dusty, we’re going to have another problem soon,” Jule said for Dustin’s ears only.

  “I’ll be ok,” she said. “I’ve gone two days without serious consequence.”

  Dustin looked at her then at Jule. They exchanged one of their silent communications.

  “Fuck,” Jule said quietly, realization dawning. “Sofia, you said Czerno drained your blood?”

  She nodded.

  “We should have seen this coming,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. “You think … “

  “Yes,” Dustin said.

  “What?” she asked. “What happened?”

  “You remember what I told you about oracles offering a weak chink in a commander’s armor?” Jule asked. “What I didn’t say was how you can be used against him. When you’re blood bound, you can’t kill your master, and your master can’t kill you. Czerno has your blood. Chances are he used your blood to incapacitate Damian.”

  She paled.

  “There’s no other way. D couldn’t be overpowered unless his powers were crippled,” Dustin said. “We gotta think this one through, Jule. We’ll have one chance to rip his hideout open and …”