Authors: Lizzy Ford
Tags: #fiction, #romance, #vampire, #paranormal romance, #fantasy, #battle, #contemporary, #immortal, #oracle, #good and evil, #lizzy ford, #white god, #black god
I’m scared, kiri.
“Hold on, Darian,” she whispered, tears
blurring her vision. “I’m here.”
He showed her a picture of where he’d taken
Damian.
“Thank you, Darian!” she cried.
I’m scared, kiri.
She felt his fear and squeezed her eyes
closed, the man in her arms colliding with the man hiding in the
corner of her mind. They became one, and this time, when she
reached out to him, he took her hand. She sobbed, absorbing the
black visions spilling through his mind. Thousands of years of
Czerno’s depravity threatened to consume him. She was his only
relief, and the visions threatened to consume
her.
Peace, oracle.
She didn’t recognize the voice in her mind
and felt the presence of someone – or something – beside her. A
hand swept the dark memories from her mind, and she sagged against
Darian, feeling the same sense of peace overtake his mind.
“Master, I did as you said,” Darian said in a
choked voice. “I saved kiri.”
Good boy. Be at peace tonight, both of
you.
The being left, but the peace remained.
Darian began to cry, and she held him tighter.
The chopper landed. Pierre hopped out and
helped her then Darian. They were at another discreet location,
this one nestled between the peaks of two mountains. She darted off
the landing pad with him, and the chopper went up again. The men on
the small base drew their weapons at the sight of Darian. She took
his arm, terrified they’d shoot the lost soul. Pierre led them to
the empty, well-lit helicopter hangar, where several men crowded
around a still body on the hangar floor. Her heart flipped, and she
sprinted forward.
“Damian!”
He was unconscious and pale. She dropped to
his side and fluttered kisses across his face.
“Jule, what’s wrong with him?” she asked,
twisting.
“Poison,” Darian croaked.
Jule’s arm shot out to block the interloper’s
progress towards them then froze. His mouth dropped open. She
hopped to her feet and shoved Jule’s arm away, pulling Darian to
the ground beside her.
“Darian, what is it?” she demanded. “Please
tell me!”
He held his head and leaned into her,
struggling. She took his face in her hands again, forcing his
attention on her.
“Please, Darian!”
“Claire’s … blood,” he said at last.
Jule knelt beside them, staring at the
horribly scarred man.
“Claire … was meant to be his oracle,” he
said hoarsely. “It’s
your
blood, Sofia.”
Horror descended upon her as she realized the
depth of Claire’s betrayal. Darian crouched beside his brother,
studying him while emotions flew across his face. He placed his
hands on his face. Damian’s body bucked. Darian moved away. Damian
rolled onto his side and puked blood into the sand.
Sofia touched him, heart rejoicing. Dazed,
Damian sat up.
“Kiri is safe,” Darian said in a monotone
voice.
Damain’s head whipped around. The two
brothers stared at each other, and she choked back a sob, joy and
horror flying through her.
“Everyone out.”
Damian’s voice was soft, but his command made
everyone in the hangar jump. Jule pulled her to her feet and
half-carried her out. He gripped her arms and turned her to face
him. His gaze was unusually intense as he struggled to control his
emotions. He embraced her, hugging her hard. She clung to him,
overwhelmed.
“Here I thought I’d lost two people I cared
about only to recover three,” he said, hoarse. “If you weren’t D’s,
I’d kiss you.”
“Jule! We need to go!” Pierre’s voice
urged.
“All hell is about to start raining down,”
Jule said, pulling away from her. “Go with Pierre. Rainy wants to
chew your ass out for dragging Traci into this, and then I’ll chew
your ass out for being so fucking stupid.”
He wiped the tears from her face and kissed
her forehead.
“Go,” he said, pushing her towards her
awaiting bodyguard.
“Bring them both back to me, Jule,” she
whispered. He gave a brisk nod.
“Sofia!”
She turned, surprised to Traci racing towards
her from across the helo-pad.
“Two women,” Pierre muttered.
Traci flung her arms around her, her fear
fresh on her face. Sofia hugged her back.
“Pierre,” Jule said with a toss of his
head.
“Gladly. Come with me ladies.”
He gripped each of their arms and led them
towards two black Tahoes. She twisted to see the helo-hangar one
last time, not yet able to believe the night’s events.
His brother was somewhere inside the scarred
shell of a man before him. He stared into Darian’s gold eyes,
seeking some sign of the man he’d known. Darian struggled visibly,
his gaze stormy and his frame shaking. His own head was fuzzy from
the effects of the drink he’d been force fed. He had a throbbing
headache, and his body didn’t respond the way it should.
“Do you know me, brother?” he asked in a
hoarse voice.
“Damian,” came the mechanical voice. “Kiri
loves you.”
Damian couldn’t help his smile at the words.
Darian knew him because of Sofia, and he reached out to his
brother, absorbing what memories were in his mind. Darian’s mind
was like a disaster scene after a hurricane. The bits and pieces of
who he was were there, disjointed and scattered. Two people were
all he knew with certainty: Sofia and the Watcher with his forest
green eyes. His brother wasn’t sure of anything or anyone else,
even if he did match the faces in his thoughts with those around
him.
“Be gentle. He’ll break if you push him,” the
Watcher said.
Damian twisted, surprised to find his body
stiff with the simple movement. He was too out of sorts to feel the
Watcher’s arrival.
“Master,” Darian said, bowing his head.
The sight of someone once so powerful and
proud in submission to
anyone
infuriated him. For the first
time in his life, Damian was speechless when confronted with the
horror before him.
“He’s been abused for thousands of years,”
the Watcher said, pausing beside the still, scarred man and resting
a hand on his head. “He’ll need your help.”
“Like I wouldn’t help him,” he snapped.
He looked to his brother again, fury of the
deepest kind running within him. He loved Darian, always would, but
understanding what he’d been through for thousands of years made
him wish his brother had died instead of being forced to bear such
pain.
“I can only coach,” the Watcher reminded him.
“Your oracle and Darian had to do the real work. If she’d been any
less of an oracle than what she is …”
Darian would spend the remainder of his life
in the hell that’d claimed him. Damian’s throat tightened.
“Claire did this to him.”
“Yes, she did. After the attack, Czerno
brought him back to life. He wasn’t part of the plan to kill him,
but he found out from Claire when they met shortly before Darian’s
death. He understood that the Black God can never truly kill the
White God for fear of unleashing the Original Beings, who would
crush him. He was there to save your brother when Isac finished and
kept him under control using Claire’s blood. I think he’s since
been sickened with evil and forgotten if you don’t exist, neither
does he.”
“My own enemy saved him,” Damian said with a
harsh laugh. “Our world is so fucked up.”
“Yes, ikir, it is,” the Watcher agreed.
The depth of Claire’s betrayal made him wish
he could kill her again a thousand times over! He’d been too kind
in his execution of the sick bitch!
“Kiri,” Darian said almost sadly.
Damian’s spinning emotions warmed at the idea
that Sofia saved him. He didn’t want to think on the probability
behind such a powerful oracle appearing when she did. No, he
wouldn’t look that gift horse in the mouth, not when the embodiment
of her ability sat hunched before him.
“Will he ever be close to the man I knew?” he
whispered the thought, unable to help the tears that rose with
it.
“There is a legend among the humans of the
phoenix, who rises from his own ashes,” the Watcher replied. “Your
brother will never be what he was, but he will rise again as the
Grey God.”
He looked to the Watcher, surprised.
“Darian is the Grey God?”
“Yes, ikir. He will be forever stuck between
the two worlds, the good and the evil, without entering either or
leaving either behind. His will not be an easy role to fill.”
He reached out to his brother and touched his
head to his forehead. Darian didn’t resist, and Damian delighted in
the idea that the sound of him breathing meant his brother was
truly alive.
“Watcher, I love him, and I can’t fathom his
pain,” he said. “Will he be lost like this forever?”
“No. Even in human time, his suffering will
be short but it will be very bad for him until it ends.”
“Sofia can help him.”
“There will be others who will help him, too.
He will need them all, and he will need you if he is to take his
place as the Grey God. One of your team captains will have friends
as well.”
“Jule is as old as you,” he said. “Or
older?”
“Close,” the Watcher admitted. “He’s still
not in favor among my kind. His penance is not yet served.”
“Good. Leave him here with me.”
“You’ll not face anyone willing to challenge
you for him, ikir, I assure you, though there may be some who
might
help him.”
The amount of distaste in the Watcher’s voice
amused him. Jule had never said what he’d done to piss someone off
and get exiled to earth, but it must have been bad if the Watcher’s
kind clipped his powers and sent him packing.
“By your leave, ikir,” the Watcher said with
a bow of his head.
He waved him away, attention returning to
Darian. He touched his brother’s face, his emotions soaring once
again.
Darian was alive. Sofia was safe. In that
moment, nothing else mattered to him. He released a deep breath and
rose, aware the birth of a new god and discovery of a powerful
oracle indicated nothing but more trouble to come.
“Come, brother, let’s take you back to kiri,”
he said.
Darian stood obediently, and Damian’s throat
tightened again to know his brother was at his side.
Sofia watched the last of the blood swirl
down the drain. She leaned her head against the shower wall,
exhausted. Damian’s heavy ring hung off a chain around her neck,
and she clenched it.
“You ok?” Traci called, voice muffled by the
door.
“Yeah.”
She turned off the shower and dried herself.
Traci sat on an unmade bed belonging to one of the Tucson Sector
members.
“Pierre, can I get some privacy?” she
asked.
“Nope,” he said from his position on a chair
inside the door. “You’re both grounded.”
She returned to the bathroom to dress in
clothing Linda had brought over.
“When will you know if the house is
safe?”
“Soon,” was his vague response. “They have to
finish their clean up.”
“Did they find Czerno?”
“They won’t. He goes poof and returns to one
of his other bases, leaving everyone else to fry.”
She shivered.
“Did you really shoot her?” Traci asked.
“Not on purpose,” Pierre grated.
“That’s kind of an extreme form of revenge
for asking you about croissants.”
Pierre mumbled a few curses. She wiped the
fog away from the mirror. Her bruises were gone, and her two-toned
eyes were calmer than they’d been. For the first time since
entering this world, she felt at peace.
“Pierre, I want to go home!” she
complained.
“Ok.”
She poked her head out of the bathroom. He
lowered his phone.
“Really?”
“All clear. You are coming with us,
mademoiselle,” he said to Traci.
She sprung up and snatched her purse. He
grimaced and rose more slowly. Sofia slipped on oversized flip
flops Traci dug out of one of the closets. Pierre’s phone dinged,
and he opened it again.
“There’s a few missions, but they said the
house is clear,” he said. “Linda is there. Looks like we’ll have to
evac and rebuild the Tucson Sector. Czerno knows where all our
safehouses are.”
Grande and Lon awaited them in the living
room, and they rose as they approached. Two armored Tahoes sat out
front. Pierre drove the women while the other two followed.
“If I weren’t so scared, this would be neat,”
Traci whispered to her. “Armored cars, bodyguards … like we’re
famous or something.”
“It is kinda neat,” Sofia agreed. “Until your
bodyguard shoots you.”
“If you keep mentioning it, it won’t be an
accident next time,” he retorted, shooting her a look in the
rearview mirror.
She smiled, and Traci covered her mouth to
keep him from hearing her laugh.
“Pierre.”
He glanced at her.
“Thank you for taking care of me. You’re a
good man.”
“You’re welcome.”
Though still arch, his tone had softened
enough to show her he wasn’t unaffected by her genuine words.
The mansion hummed with activity, from the
gardens that served as a helopad to the teeming barracks and
guardians pacing the halIs. She was reminded of a scene from a
movie, where an army mobilized for war.
“Linda’s asleep already. Go on up and rest.
We’ve got to start moving everything within 24 hours,” Lon told
them, slinging a machine gun over his shoulder.
“Traci,” Rainy called, holding out his
hand.
She went to him, eyes wide at the activity.
In the midst of the activity in the mansion, Sofia saw Dustin. He
settled one of his cool looks on her and tossed his head towards
the stairs. He didn’t look to be in a mood for questions, so she
hurried past him to her room, Pierre trailing. She closed the door,
surprised at how quiet her room was.