Damian's Oracle Part 17

"Rainy around?" Dusty asked.

Traci's eyes were on Damian. A human's reaction to him never ceased to intrigue him. It was irritating, most of the time, like now when he wanted to get a quick response out of one.

"Traci," Dusty said more sharply.

She looked to him and blinked.

"He's sleeping," she said at last.

"You wanna wake him up or you want us to?" Damian asked in amus.e.m.e.nt.

She hesitated only a moment longer before bolting and disappearing up a set of stairs.

"Can't take you anywhere, D," Dusty complained.

"Like you're normal," he replied.

"Who decorated this place?" the groused, taking in the lopsided posters of cars and beer bottle decor.

"You're such a woman, Dusty," Damian said with a chuckle.

"Speaking of women ... " his BFF said, pinning him with a look. "What's up with your oracle? She didn't seem happy today."

"d.a.m.ned if I know. She walked in on me and Claire last night."

"I bet that went well."

"Nothing, and they're both p.i.s.sed at me. You didn't tell me Claire was coming this way, bro.."

"Bro, I didn't know. You can blame Jule for that one. Is Sofia doing any oracling yet?"

"She's learning. Han says she's progressing pretty quickly, though since none of us know how to train her, it's hard to tell. She's trying," he said. "We'll find out what she can do when our guests arrive."

"Ikir, boss," Rainy greeted them as he trotted down the stairs, dressed in jeans and nothing else. "You scared the s.h.i.+t outta Traci."

Damian caught his eye and looked pointedly at Dusty. Rainy smiled faintly with a nod.

"What'd you find?" Dusty asked, oblivious to the exchange.

"Traci found several of the vamps' stash houses here in Tucson," Rainy said, motioning them to follow him into a small, dark study humming with electronics.

He sat down in front of a computer and pulled up a satellite image with the stash houses marked.

"This is what's interesting," he said, pointing to a trail leading from a stash house on the northeastern side of the city and dead ending in the desert. "She can't pick up anything past this point."

He drew a box around a large area.

"Only you and Czerno can put up one of those types of s.h.i.+elds," Dusty muttered.

"And it's not mine," Damian responded. "Any intercepts on why he's in town?"

"The local intel team is having a problem tracking his vamps. We think they're using disposable cells. As soon as we get a number, it goes inop."

"But we know he's here," Dusty said.

"Yeah, pretty sure. This square is ten square miles, though. Unless we know where to look, we won't find where his base is."

"It can't be a coincidence he's here, a few miles from you," Dusty said, turning to him.

Damian nodded. He suspected Czerno's Watcher allies tipped him off.

"The vamps we've captured for interrogation have a new technique. They've been killing themselves with cyanide pills," Rainy added.

"What happened in Europe is happening here," Damian said, meeting Dusty's gaze. "Antoine probably wasn't the main threat in Europe."

Dusty studied him, an odd look crossing his face. Damian waited expectantly, but he shook his head.

"It's probably nothing," Dusty said. "I'll check the records to see which Guardians rotated here from Europe from the past year."

"After the Quarterly, we'll pack up and clean up," Damian said. "Hopefully, Sofi can tell us who's on Czerno's payroll."

"I hope so," Dusty replied. "Rainy, can your Natural trace anything at all within the square?"

"Nope, though I've only let her past the barrier once. Not sure what traps Czerno might have set."

Dusty gave Damian a cool look, and he heard the unspoken warning about women being the downfall of mankind. He smiled.

"Send the UAV's over the area," Dusty said. "We'll see what we can see."

"Got it," Rainy said, turning to face them. "I need more people, boss, or a transporter at least."

"I've got several incoming," Dusty replied. "Damian, transporters?"

"None have survived recruitment," he said grimly. "We had three in the last cla.s.s, more than we've seen in a few hundred years. All three were gunned down. Jule's short, too. We can pull in a Natural from Latin America. He's the closest."

"Hector?"

"Yeah."

"I'll contact his station chief," Dusty said, pulling out his phone. "Whoever is taking out the recruits knows who to hit first."

"They do indeed," he agreed.

"Call me if you need a transporter in the meantime," Dusty directed. "I'll make myself available."

"Thanks, boss," Rainy said. "You have a new Natural, ikir?"

"I do."

"If she's flipping out, you can call Lon's wife. Traci hasn't adjusted yet, and Linda's been a big help."

"Linda's the talker, right?" Dusty asked, glancing up from his phone.

"Yeah. Good girl."

He'd been considering how to help Sofia adjust. She seemed a solitary person, but he wondered if she'd benefit from meeting the Natural women in the organization. She'd been stuck in the mansion since he'd found her, mainly because he wasn't about to let a f.u.c.king oracle the first in a few hundred thousand years! out of the safest place he could put her. His gaze returned to the screen as he deliberated over how close Czerno was and shelved the thought of letting her out of his sight.

"I'll keep it in mind," he said.

"Jasmine's p.i.s.sed, but Hector will be in this weekend," Dusty said.

"Awesome, boss."

"Dust-man, we've got a Quarterly to prep for," Damian said.

"Let's go," Dusty agreed. "Rainy, thanks. I'll be back tomorrow."

"Roger, boss."

Damian's attention lingered on the image on Rainy's screen. He couldn't help the sense of unease sliding through him. He didn't like the new level Czerno was taking their battle to. The playing field was as uneven as the Watcher had warned, and it appeared as though Czerno's Watchers weren't as dedicated to non-interference as his Watcher was.

At least he'd know who the traitors were by the end of the night.

CHAPTER NINE.

Sonoran desert, Arizona The Black G.o.d's southwest base camp "What the f.u.c.k are you doing here?"

Two dropped his arms to his side.

"Water," he said.

"Slaves don't drink the master's water."

He felt the stinging blow at the back of his head and wobbled, dropping to his knees. One of his master's men - the ones with the red eyes - shoved him away and took his canteen, dumping its contents.

"Get the f.u.c.k outta here!"

He threw the canteen, and it hit Two's cheek. Two took his canteen and rose. He moved mechanically out of the kitchen a few hundred feet below ground. He went back to his small room and sat on the bed staring at the white wall in front of him.

"Two, what're you doing?"

He didn't remember when this man had arrived or why he was supposed to remember him. But he knew he must remember him as he did his master. He concluded he was his master's friend, or he wouldn't be here. His master's friend, the man with eyes as green as the moss in the corner of Two's room, stood in his doorway.

"I'm thinking, master."

"Thinking?"

His master's friend was powerful. Two sensed it and cringed as he entered the room. His master's friend had never hit him, but he scared Two.

"Slaves don't think, Two," his master's friend said. "What are you thinking?"

"I see a woman in my head," Two said.

"A woman? What woman?"

"I don't know her."

"What does she look like?"

Kiri. He didn't know where the word came from or what it meant. It sounded pretty, like the poof the desert dust made when the first drops of rain fell. The last time he went to the surface, it had rained huge raindrops. Then a rainbow had come out, and he'd stared at it until his master beat him.

"Slave, what does she look like?"

There was an impatient note in his master's friend's voice that scared him.

"Who, master?" he asked.

"The woman."

"What woman?"

"The woman in your head."

Kiri.

A strange voice spoke the word again, and he saw the woman with blue and silver eyes. She was crying, because his master was going to hurt her.

Don't cry, kiri, he thought.

"Did you remember to do as I told you? Did you stop drinking the juice your master gave you?"

He looked up, surprised to see his master's friend in his doorway, the man with eyes the color of the moss in the corner of his room. He rose in respect.

"Yes, master."

"Good boy. You must do as I tell you," his master's friend said. "It's very important you don't drink that juice ever again. Don't forget."

"Yes, master."

"Come. Your master calls for you."