Damian's Oracle (21 page)

The sales person recognized her and
reappeared with a small box.

“Here is the original,” he said, pulling her
necklace from a small baggy. “And here is what we’ve done.”

He opened the box to reveal a man’s platinum
signet ring with the half-moon, half-sun and arrow symbol neatly
carved on its head.
Damian
was engraved on the interior.
She’d seen the image in his home videos. Every White God but him
had worn the symbol. It was a sign of his history, of his past, and
he regarded it with both yearning and regret. She didn’t know if
he’d welcome the gift or if his recent ordeal left him more jaded
towards his past.

“Very nice,” Linda said, picking it up. “This
thing is big enough to fit on my toe.”

“Pierre, what do you think?” Sofia asked.
He’d approved all their purchases and talked them out of a few bad
ones during the morning.

“Bien,” he said with a nod of approval.
“Subtle bling. He will like it.”

She replaced the necklace and handed the
credit card to the salesperson. In a few minutes, they were
strolling through the mall once more.

“Pierre, where are you from anyway?” Traci
asked, looking up at the bodyguard.

“France.”

“We know that,” Linda said. “
When
are
you from?”

“1660-ish. I’m a baby in the
organization.”

Linda rolled her eyes.

“I don’t think I’ll get used to that,” Traci
said with a shake of her head.

Pierre’s phone rang again.

“It is different, but you’ll never hear such
neat accounts of history as you will from these guys,” Linda
stated.

Sofia’s phone vibrated, and she pulled it
out, wondering who had her number.

Hey S, it’s Jule. Come 2 fd crt.

She glanced at the signs at the nearest
intersection indicating the direction of the major department
stores and the food court.

“Can we go this way?” she asked,
pointing.

The three moved with her, Pierre speaking
tersely in French on the phone. She recognized Jule on sigh and
couldn’t help but feel surprised. Like the assassin who obsessed
about birthdays and clothing, there were two sides to the man
before her: the warm, friendly stranger who she’d felt so
comfortable with she confided to him over the phone without knowing
anything about him, and the tattooed thug before them in snug biker
leathers. He wore an assortment of knives on his belt and a silver
symbol of a star with two arrows through it that looked older than
Damian’s on a black choker around his neck.

He towered head and shoulders over the mostly
female crowd and leaned with deceptive casualness that radiated
danger against one of the pillars in the food court. His leather
vest revealed arms and chest completely covered in colorful, vivid
tattoos, his whole visage daring anyone to challenge him. He was
the kind of man she wouldn’t think twice about running from, though
the intelligence gleaming in his soulful brown eyes gave him away
as something more. His skin was the shade of melted chocolate, his
features too exotic to discern his ethnicity, and his long,
straight hair braided down his back.

She stopped a safe distance from him, unable
to reconcile the man on the phone with the man before her. He
flashed a wide smile at Pierre, who lifted his chin and nudged her
forward.

“Ladies. I’m Jule,” he said in a gravelly
growl as they neared.

“I’ve heard of you,” Linda said, surprised.
“Don’t you rule the eastern hemisphere?”

“Something like that. Linda, Traci, Sofia, I
presume.”

He looked at the charm dangling from her
necklace and held out his hand to her, palm up. She placed her hand
atop his, assessing him. She saw glimpses of his shared history
with Damian and Dustin and of a time before meeting them that was
too dark for her to see clearly. His intense gaze remained on
her.

“Pierre doing good by you?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah. He’s got a great sense of style,”
Linda said with a laugh.

“He’ll do,” Sofia answered.

Jule’s smiles were less reserved than those
of the other men despite his unfriendly appearance. The skin around
his eyes softened. She saw the thaw from the cactus daring anyone
to touch him to the man she’d spoken to on the phone. He took in
her features with passive curiosity.

“Hey, boss,” Pierre said, holding out his
hand.

“Good to see you, Froggie. Enjoying your new
assignment?”

“Mon dieu, non! I can’t believe you sent me
here to babysit.”

She gave him a harried look, and Jule
chuckled.

“If he’s complaining, he’s happy,” he told
her. “He’s the best in my sphere of command, though Han’s shoes are
hard to fill.”

“Han had manners,” she replied.

“And you’re alive because of who?” Pierre
responded.

“Glad to see you’re getting along,” Jule said
with a grin. “Dusty warned me you were a handful, Sofi.”

“Me?” she asked, surprised.

“Oui,” Pierre agreed.

The men around her were smoking crack. She
rarely left the house and lived in the library. She wasn’t sure
what she could do to be more boring.

“Since we’re here … “ Traci said, eyes going
to a Chinese buffet.

“Go ahead. We’ll wait,” Jule said. His gaze
returned to Sofia, and she crossed her arms under his scrutiny.

“I think I’ll go with her,” Linda said,
looking between the two.

Jule glanced at Pierre, who obeyed the silent
command and moved away.

“How you holding up?” he asked.

“Better.”

“Reconciled things yet?”

“Working on it. Linda is putting me in
contact with the support group she belongs to. I’m reading their
blogs. Haven’t worked up the nerve to post. I’m different, Jule,
even among you all.”

“That you are,” he agreed. “Dusty says you
stopped D from annihilating the planet. That’s a good thing.”

“I saw that you shared his history … “ she
stopped, not sure how comfortable he was with a stranger reading
his mind.

“You’re definitely not gonna stress me out,
ok? Just say what you need to.”

“He was upset about his brother.”

Jule nodded, a dark look crossing his
features.

“That was a bad time for all of us,” he
recalled. “A very bad time. That was right after I met them, before
the Schism and being paroled to earth. When it rains, it
hails.”

“I know.”

“I’m impressed. You’re doing well. I bet D
didn’t tell you that only ten percent of oracles ever get as far as
you have.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Most of them kill themselves. Some go crazy.
Some go crazy then kill themselves. The rest we kill when they
start going crazy.”

“Are you … “ she paused then plowed forward,
gaze on his choker. “Are you the same kind of entity he is?”

“Sort of. We’re cousins, several times
removed. We both inherited our powers while Dusty was like you, a
human meant for something much greater.”

“We found the traitors in your hemisphere,”
she said, looking away.

“I know. You saved thousands of lives.”

She was silent.

“Sofia.”

She looked up at his soft tone. His gaze was
warm.

“You did the right thing.”

“I hope so,” she replied. “I’d do anything
for Damian.”

“Dusty said I’d like you,” he said with a
smile. “He’s right. You’re what D needs. It’s taken thousands of
years, but I’m glad you finally show up.”

“Let me guess, if you didn’t like me, Dustin
would take me out back and kill me.”

“Something like that,” Jule said with a
laugh. “He’s really protective of the people he cares about.”

“You didn’t come all the way to Tucson for an
errand,” she said, recalling their phone conversation.

“I did not,” he confirmed.

He said no more, and she lost the nerve to
pursue.

“I’m going for Frenchie fries,” Pierre
called. “You want anything, Sofi? Perhaps an American hamburger?
Where are you from Jule, so I can get you ethnically stereotypical
food?”

Jule laughed, looking at her to see how she’d
take it.

“That man has issues,” she muttered.

“Let me guess, you asked him if he wanted a
croissant?”

Jule bristled suddenly, the smile
disappearing as his face turned predatory once again. Sofia watched
him, surprised at the quick change.

“Pierre,” he called.

Her Guardian was rimrod straight as well,
sensing whatever Jule sensed. They exchanged a silent
communication, and Pierre moved through the crowd towards Linda and
Traci.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” Jule said. “It’s time
for us to go.”

Fear swept through her, and he offered a
tight smile.

“No worries. Nothing here can get through me.
I’m not D, but I’m as close as they come.”

He strode beside her, whipping out his cell
as they headed towards the nearest exit.

“D, it’s me. We’re headed back.”

The sense of normalcy faded as they moved
through the mall. She looked back to see if Pierre followed. He and
the girls were gone, though three men in sunglasses moved
purposefully towards her and Jule. She knew them for Czerno’s men;
if they revealed their eyes, they’d be red. She looked up at Jule.
He appeared relaxed despite the danger.

“Just another day at the office,” he said
with one of his warm smiles.

“Will I ever get used to this?”

“Maybe someday.”

A car awaited them when they exited. Jule
ignored the three men trailing them and ushered her into the
armored Tahoe. The driver sped away before the door closed, and she
twisted around to see the three men watching them.

“They can’t risk killing you,” Jule said. “Or
they’d have razed the whole mall. Czerno has no restraint when it
comes to collateral damage.”

“What does he want with me?” she asked, hands
shaking.

“In our time, whoever controlled the oracle,
controlled the battle. You’re a weak point for Damian, and Czerno
has been waiting for him to develop an opening.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” she said,
sitting back in her seat.

“What’s done can’t be undone,” he said. “It’s
a good thing.”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“But it is,” he said firmly. “Oracles were
rare in our time. Blood bound oracles your age and ability? Almost
unheard of. Oracles blood bound to a man in Damian’s position?
Incredible. That he’s chosen you as his mate with will basically
ensure the continued existence of life as we know it. Trust me -
it’s a good thing.”

“His
what
?”

Jule looked at her.

“Shouldn’t have said that. Pretend I
didn’t.”

“Jule, you opened this can of worms.”

“And I’m closing it.”

She recognized his tone; it was one Damian
used when making her boundaries with him clear. She didn’t like
those boundaries one bit.

“You’re on my shit list with Damian and
Pierre,” she said.

“At least I keep good company,” he said with
a chuckle. “Is Dusty there, too?”

“Not yet.”

“I think I like you, Sofia.”

She shook her head. She liked him, too, even
though he was different from Damian and Dusty. He patted her leg
with another of his friendly smiles and turned his attention to the
world racing by them.

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?”