Ask the Oracle (13 page)

disrupt the energies to the point that not even Gray could get a reading from them. The list of

people who would have access to that kind of information was incredibly small.

As Gray began working through all the possibilities, an idea started to grow in his

mind. He didn’t want to acknowledge it. Gray would have preferred to discount it as an

impossibility. Unfortunately, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. To have

so much knowledge of Oracles, there was truly only one possibility.

“An Oracle,” Gray muttered to himself.

“Excuse me?”

“It has to be an Oracle. Probably working with someone else—my guess would be a

Demon. It’s the only thing that makes sense and it explains the complete destruction of all of

the residual energy in the room. It’s the only way to hide something so completely that not

even an Oracle can
See
it. If you haven’t noticed, Oracles don’t like to advertise any

weaknesses. No one, other than another Oracle, would know how to do it.”

“I don’t understand. Why would it have to be an Oracle?”

Gray sighed, searching for an explanation that Dreo would understand. “Being an

Oracle is kind of like that movie
Fight Club.
The first rule of being an Oracle is that no one

talks about being an Oracle. There are too few of us. It was decided, long ago, to keep the

knowledge a closely guarded secret.” Running fingers through his hair, Gray struggled with

how much to tell Dreo. “There are no books you can read, or classes to take. The only way to

learn about Oracles is from an Oracle. My own training was mostly trial and error. If it hadn’t

been for my friend, Stephen, finding me, I wouldn’t have even known what I was.”

“Is Stephen an Oracle?” Dreo inquired.

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71

“No. Stephen Jurgens is a psychic. Thankfully, he had worked with a few Oracles in the

past, so when he found me, he recognised what I was and contacted them for help. While

they wouldn’t tell him much, they told him enough to keep me from going out of my mind.

Beyond that, I was on my own.”

“Would this Stephen know how to alter the energy in the room?” Dreo asked

suspiciously.

Gray shook his head vehemently. “No, and even if he did, he doesn’t have the ability to

totally erase the energy from the room. At best, he might be able to distort a vision, but the

information would still be there, just harder to see.” Gray met Dreo’s gaze, his eyes pleading

for his Demon to believe him. “I know what I’m talking about, Dreo. Please, trust me.”

“Of course, I believe you,” Dreo growled, not an ounce of hesitation in his voice. “We

just need to be sure before we make a move on this. There are a lot of powerful Demons

down here, and right now most of them are vying to be the new Lord of the Underworld. We

will need to be cautious until we are ready to move against the murderer.”

Turning his attention to the others in the room, Dreo began barking out orders.

Authority practically oozed from the man’s pores. He was born to be a leader. Gray was

curious to know if Dreo was one of the Demons hoping to become the new ruler of the

Underworld. He definitely had the personality for it.

Gray noticed Dreo watching him from across the room. His cheeks immediately flamed,

embarrassment burning through him at being caught staring like a starry-eyed school girl. A

smirk graced the man’s lips as he made his way across the room.

Dreo stopped with mere inches separating them. Close enough that Gray could feel the

warmth emanating from his hard body. The man put off heat like a furnace, probably from

the hellfire that was forever smouldering within him. Reaching down, Dreo cupped Gray’s

face with his large, calloused hands. The move was surprisingly gentle for such a big man.

“You’ve been thinking pretty hard over here,” Dreo muttered softly as his thumb traced

lightly across Gray’s full bottom lip. “What is going on in that busy brain of yours?”

Without giving Gray a chance to respond, Dreo took his mouth in a devouring kiss.

Forcing his tongue between Gray’s parted lips, he explored the cavern of his mouth, leaving

no inch untasted. Gray was no idle bystander, giving as good as he got. Their tongues

duelled in a flurry of lips, teeth and tongues. Strong hands held his hips in a bruising grip,

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72

causing his hard cock to grind against Dreo’s muscled thigh. There was so much yearning in

Dreo’s kiss, Gray knew he would never get enough of this man. The passion of Dreo’s kiss

caused heat to build within him, until he was a writhing, moaning mess in the Demon’s

arms. Dreo groaned, low and rough, before pushing Gray up against the cool, stone wall.

They were both so lost in the passion building between them, they lost track of everything

else around them, until a throat being cleared nearby froze them in their tracks.

Pulling away from Dreo’s mouth, Gray looked over his shoulder and into the room, still

filled with his own team, as well as Dreo’s Demon guards. Maddox, smiling like a lunatic,

gave him a little finger wave. Shame and humiliation burned away any residual lust as Gray

fought futilely to keep the blush from his cheeks.

Maddox laughed. “Not that we weren’t enjoying the show, guys—‘cause let’s face it,

that was smokin’ hot—but what’s the plan?”

“Gray?” Dreo looked at him expectantly.

“I think we need to focus on the Oracle. Oracles are few and far between. We’re right

up there with albino kangaroos on the rarity scale. Add to that the fact that whoever it is was

willing to team up with a Demon, and we should be able to cut the list down to a handful of

possibilities.”

“What do you mean, ‘willing to team up with a Demon’? Do you have a problem with

Demons?” Balen, the Demon Dreo had spoken with when they’d arrived, stepped forward,

glowering down at Gray.

“Me, personally? Not as much anymore, but I’m need to work on it. The world, as a

whole? Yes.”

Balen’s lips thinned and his face turned nearly purple with rage. Yeah, the man was

pissed. Thankfully, the anger pumping through him had rendered him temporarily

speechless. Gray didn’t wait for him to recover, not wanting to extend the confrontation any

longer than necessary.

“Look. Justified or not, Demons don’t have the best reputation around. People believe

that you’re dangerous—a fact that I don’t believe is completely false, no matter how much

you’d like to claim otherwise. Nevertheless, most people, para or human, aren’t willing to

take that chance, so they won’t work with you.”

“I don’t see what that has to do with Oracles,” Balen interrupted.

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Gray sighed. “Because of our small numbers, Oracles are even more cautious than most.

Our job set isn’t designed to make everyone happy. We see the truth of things. When the

truth rivals what people want to believe, they have a tendency to get a bit…disgruntled. Not

many Oracles would be willing to ignore the rumours about your people. Besides myself, I

have heard of three or four others, worldwide, willing to take that kind of risk.”

“And yet you are willing to take that risk?” Balen sneered.

Gray shrugged. “What can I say? I guess I’m just the bad boy of the Oracle world.”

Maddox coughed out a laugh, and Gray had to bite his cheek to keep the smile off his

face at Balen’s expression of pure annoyance. When he’d accepted this job, he hadn’t realised

that Demons were so stuffy and fun to mess with. If he had, he might have agreed to go to

Hell all those times Sarah had wished him there.

Dreo stepped between them, his lips pulled down in irritation. “If you two are done, we

do still have murderer to find. I would appreciate it if you could both manage to act like

adults for the duration.” He didn’t allow any room for disagreement as he turned away to

confer with the assembled guards.

“Your smart mouth finally got you into a bit of trouble, didn’t it?”

Maddox’s smile was huge. Gray knew his friend was right, but that didn’t mean that he

had to like it. Unfortunately, the Alpha in his friend didn’t allow for Maddox to be a humble

victor.

“Would it kill you to be a little less of a prick?” Gray scowled.

“Probably not, but then how would I have any fun?”

“I thought maturity was supposed to come with age? I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen any

sign of it in you. Does it skip a generation?”

“Nope. I’m pretty sure I got vaccinated against it, when I was younger.”

“When you were just a puppy? Do they administer that before or after the heartworm

pills?”

“After, of course. Everybody knows that.”

Gray and Maddox stared at each other in silence. Gray was surprised by the lack of

chatter in the room until he noticed that everyone was staring at them, mouths hanging open

in disbelief. Looking back to his friend, he saw that Maddox had also noticed their audience.

Quirking a lopsided grin, Mad shrugged sheepishly.

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“Who would have guessed that we would be the most interesting thing in the room?”

Unable to hold it back, Gray’s laughter echoed through the room. The deep, joyful

sound seemed to lighten the oppressive feeling that hung in the air, allowing everyone to

breathe a bit easier. While some of the Demon guards still stared at them in shock, the

members of his own team were used to such displays. They merely shook their heads and

chuckled right along with him.

A throat cleared and Gray looked up into the dark, heated eyes of Andreo Demos. A

warm hand grabbed him, wrapped gently around his throat in a primal display of

ownership. There was no pressure or pain, just the reassurance that Dreo was there and

everything would be all right. Gray shivered, unable to hide his reaction to the Demon’s

touch. He swallowed hard, then moaned as Dreo squeezed slightly, not to cause harm but to

reassert his dominance.

“Are you ready, Oracle?”

“Ready for what?” Gray frowned.

“To lead our men.” Dreo cocked his head and confusion shone in his eyes. “Have you

not been taught the history of the Oracle?”

“I wasn’t
taught
much of anything. After Stephen found me, he tried to help. As a

psychic, he knew about as much about Oracles as I did, but that didn’t stop him. He reached

out to anyone he could think of to help with my education, but even then, it was mostly trial

and error, with an emphasis on the error. Christ, it was such a mess.” Gray chuckled, shaking

his head.

Dreo frowned. “In times of war, Oracles were always consulted before heading into

battle. They would use their skills to determine whether the campaigns would be fruitful or

merely an expensive form of population control. The skills of an Oracle were highly coveted

and revered. Kingdoms that housed Oracles were considered to be blessed by the gods.”

Gray laughed scornfully. “I think I’m living proof that being an Oracle is more curse

than gift. My life has been a nightmare.”

“It is true that you have been faced with many trials and tribulations. That, I feel, had

more to do with the loss of your family and your people, than being cursed. Throughout

history, Oracles have always lived in close family units. Even the extended family of an

Oracle, while not always having the gift themselves, were welcomed into the community.

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75

Their children were sheltered and cherished. They would have assigned you a protector

whose sole purpose would have been to guide and protect you. As their numbers began to

diminish, they became even more protective of their young.” Dreo’s expression softened. “I

could not even hazard a guess as to how you ended up in the human world, forced to fend

for yourself. It is not where you belong.”

“Of course, it’s where I belong.” Gray scowled. “I am human.”

Dreo shook his head. “You are no more human than I am. There has never been an

Oracle born to wholly human parents.”

Gray straightened, his skin going pale. “I don’t understand. How am I—then who—?”

The pity he saw in Dreo’s expression was almost more than Gray could take.

“There have been few combinations of para couplings that have produced an Oracle. Of

those that were successful, none have solely involved a human pair. I have heard of a few

cases where one of the parents was human but never both.” Dreo looked up, his expression

thoughtful. “It will take a bit of research to determine where and from whom you were born,

but it should be possible.” Dreo leaned over him, lifting Gray’s chin so they were eye to eye.

“Is that something that interests you, Oracle? Would you like to know where you come

from?”