Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) (3 page)

The tears came.

How could they not?

Who could look into this madness and not feel that pity, sadness, and remorse?

“He’s been ruined.”

‘Shhhhhh, it’s okay. It’s okay, Lucian. I’m here.’

He curled into a ball.

All Lucian wanted was for it to stop. The pain was searing into his body and brain, making the room spin with turbulence.

His vision wavered.

His stomach revolted.

It was as if he was on fire, once more, burning up from the evil visions.

“I can’t do this. This isn’t who I am any longer. I’m not this person. Why won’t it stop?” he begged. “Why do I have to carry this burden?”

She didn’t have an answer for him.

There were those who had no choice but to serve their gift. She was one of them.

Lucian Monroe was another unfortunate soul, cursed to do the same as she was.

“Make it stop,” he begged. “Oracle! Make it stop!”

‘I can’t.’

“Why the hell not!” he wailed.

‘
Because, Lucian, this is your path. This is your story and it needs to be told. Your journey begins…now.’

Chapter One

Fire Bay

Wednesday

It had been one hell of a night sleeping. As Nathaniel Carter tried to rest with Avalon at his side, he’d been forced to listen to the woman he loved whimper in her sleep. If there was one sound he hated, that was it.

Still…

He couldn’t wake her.

When she was having an
‘episode’
, it was best to let her finish it out. They needed a case, and he knew this was likely the beginning of a new one. They all started the same.

There would be the trances through the following days, as she stared off into space, that blind gaze transfixed on something he couldn’t see. It would be followed by her being lost in thought, and then finally culminate with the pain she’d suffer in her sleep as she reached for the person she was meant to help.

Oracle had a hard job.

Only Nate’s was far more difficult. He was forced to watch his fiancée suffer to help others like her.

While it was her cross to bear, Nate felt like he had no other choice but to hold her up. He couldn’t let her suffer alone.

As a team, they would bide their time until someone like Avalon reached out for her. Just last month, they were helping Juliett and Rhett find a killer. Now they were living the dream. Their wedding was coming up, and the team had been invited. In a few weeks, they would be going back to help the couple celebrate.

Then again, Nate was thinking that might not happen. With two weeks until their trip, Avalon was getting twitchy.

That meant only one thing.

Something was coming.

A part of him was excited. Going from FBI to sitting around wasn’t easy for him. What Nate wanted to do was push Avalon, getting a case for them.

What he could do was nothing.

The whole situation was a slippery slope.

Avalon’s mind worked in a mysterious way, and the more pressure they put on her, the less she functioned. So, until she mentioned it, he was forced to say nothing.

They all were forced into silence.

As Nate sat at the table in the kitchen, Jagger was across from him. The Marine had just gotten back from his run, and he was sipping coffee as he emailed his sister.

He did the same thing every day—
like clockwork
. You could set a damn watch to the man. Next, he’d eat a banana, untie his shoes, and then start to whistle.

Yeah, Nate was going stir crazy just sitting around Fire Bay, waiting to do a job.

How did he know?

He was starting to stalk his team.

Something had to give. If it didn’t, he was going to need a padded cell. Boredom had set in.

“Jaxon?” he asked.

Jagger looked up. “Yeah, I really miss her. I’m checking in to make sure that husband of hers is treating her well. If not, I’ll have to hurt the man.”

Yeah, that’s what he’d said yesterday.

And the day before.

Nate sipped his coffee as Jagger grabbed the banana out of the fruit bowl. He watched him eat it.

Yep, there’s that part.

He tossed the peel toward the garbage can, and it hit the lid, spinning it. The peel fell inside…like always.

After popping the last piece into his mouth, he took off his shoes, and then began whistling some Marine cadence.

“Jesus, I’m ready to lose it.”

Jagger looked up. “Uh, are you okay?”

“You do the same thing every morning. We all do. Luke is going to carry Maura in on his back. They’re going to be laughing. Then Avalon is going to come in and spill her coffee.”

Jagger stared at him. “You might want to get a hobby. It’s a little weird that you’re studying the people you live with like this. We’re not a science experiment.”

Nate heard the footsteps and giggling.

“In three…two…one…”

Jagger looked over as two more of their team came in. On Luke’s back was his wife, and they were indeed laughing at some private joke.

“See?” Nate said, running his hands though his dark black hair. He closed his eyes, trying to find some patience. This wasn’t his thing. He was accustomed to being in the field, not sitting in a house studying the walls.

It was making him insane.

What was next?

Crocheting?

“You need to chill.”

He was well aware. Only it was easier said than done. If he could chill out, he would.

There were footsteps.

“Here comes Avalon.”

When she came in, she didn’t look good. She was pale and wearing layers piled on top of each other. It made her lithe frame look disheveled and bulky.

Immediately, everyone watched her.

No one spoke, since they were all thinking the same thing. She was way off her game.

She headed toward the coffee, finding it despite her blindness. It had been a couple months, and she’d memorized every step in the place.

When she turned around, she went to put the coffee down, and Jagger glanced at Nate.

The coffee sloshed over the rim.

Again, like it always did.

“Avi, honey, are you okay?” Maura asked, watching the woman. She looked like shit.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

She wasn’t.

She’d never felt this bad in all her life. This was completely a new thing for her. Death likely felt better than she did at that moment.

As she stood there, her head was pounding, and her stomach was twisted into knots. She wanted to throw up. She could hear the screams in her head, the residual of what had happened last night. 

They had a case.

She could feel it.

“What’s going on?” Maura asked, moving closer. That’s when she saw it. The blood began dripping from Avalon’s nose. It ran across her lip and dripped onto the countertop.

Commence the freak out.

Nate was going to lose his mind.

Maura grabbed some tissues to blot the blood. While horrifying to see any on her, this wasn’t the first time it had happened.

Thankfully, for Nate’s sanity sake, not all of Avalon’s visions were this difficult. Unfortunately, as of late—
the last month or so
—she didn’t seem well.

Maura was terrified that Oracle was burning out. While she wouldn’t say it out loud, it was on her mind. To her, it was all about priorities.

Screw helping complete strangers.

She could retire for all she cared. Maura didn’t want her friend to hurt.

She loved her too much.

There was a horrified gasp, and they all knew who it was from.

“Jesus!” Nate saw the blood, and he wanted to be sick. “Avi, are you okay?” he asked, moving from his seat to reach her side. When he touched her face, she was ice cold.

It scared him.

She felt like a corpse.

“I have a killer headache, and I want to puke,” she said. “The vision from last night was hellish.”

He was aware. “What can I do for you, honey? Just tell me,” he asked, letting her lean into his body.

“Can I have some tea, Nathaniel? I can’t stomach coffee right now. It might push me over the edge.”

Luke jumped up, allowing his friend to keep Avalon steady. He’d handle the tea for her.

As soon as Luke turned the kettle on, Nate scooped her up in his arms to keep her from falling. It always astounded him how light she felt. Her body was so frail compared to her mind.

Inside her head, there was something that none of them could even comprehend. Avalon had her own little universe there, along with an off the chart psychic gift.

Sitting, he held her against him as Avalon held the tissues to her nose.

She relaxed.

The scent of his cologne, the way he held her, and the fact that she was safe, helped get her through it. There was still a part of her that was scared about the whole thing, but she kept it to herself.

Avalon was focused on keeping her stomach from turning itself inside out.

Baby steps.

“How bad was the night?” Jagger asked.

“I was sleeping when I heard him. He was calling to me,” she said.

That disturbed Nate on some masculine level. How could he protect her inside her head? “A killer found you?” he asked.

“No, a psychic this time. He didn’t really find me as much as scream out for help. He’s a mess. In fact, he makes my life look normal.”

That was saying a lot.

“What’s his name?” Jagger asked, grabbing the tablet from across the table. They had one in pretty much every room in case something like this happened.

With Avalon, you had to be on guard.

Jagger got ready to do some research. These tablets had access to just about every military and government database. They were unregistered, ran on a hidden network, and were untraceable. The government had secrets, and they had ways of using them thanks to the Blackhawks.

“His name is Lucian Monroe. He’s about Nate’s age. I saw him. He’s really been hurt by someone. I don’t know much more about him.”

“Hurt by someone?” Maura asked.

“He has burns and scars.”

Jagger began searching him.

“What can you tell us about the dream?”

“There was a killer, and he was torturing someone. It was pretty brutal. Lucian was trapped in it.”

“What did you see?” Luke asked.

“I didn’t. I couldn’t get past Lucian. He was seeing it, and I was helping him focus. His gift is violent. The visions take him to his knees. They come in flashes. In order to help him see the crime, I had to slow them down. I had to focus for him. That’s why my nose is bleeding. It was hard.”

Nate wasn’t happy. His face said it all.

Shit like this pissed him off. Nate was the job and ran everything by the book. The only weakness was the woman in his lap. For Avalon, he’d cut out his own kidneys.

“Nathaniel, stop scowling,” she said, reaching for his cheek with her palm. “I can hear the frown lines from here.”

How she knew, they’d never know.

“I’m worried about you, Avi. The last week, you’ve been sick. I can tell you’re under the weather.”

“Everyone gets a cold or the flu, Nathaniel. I’ll be fine. This is all about Lucian Monroe from here on out.”

He hoped she was right.

“Maybe we should take you to a doctor.”

“We don’t have time.”

She told them about the killer. “There are going to be seven. He’s on his first one. The sooner we get there, the better. I want to stop this killer from taking any more lives. From what Lucian says and what I could pick up, it was violent.”

That made Nate unhappy for two reasons. He didn’t like Avalon in danger, and he didn’t like the idea that there was some man playing around in her mind.

Both scenarios led to her being hurt, and that was the last thing he wanted. He’d put his foot down before he let that happen.

She was his, and he couldn’t help but get jealous.

“Nathaniel, relax,” she said, taking the tea from Luke. “Thank you.”

He dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s not a problem, Avi. If you need more, let me know,” Luke said. “I want you to feel better.”

Yeah, and his buddy too.

He could see his best friend suffering over Avalon’s pain. When one of them hurt, they all hurt.

“We better get ready.”

“I have the basics,” stated Jagger. “Most of the details are from ten years ago.”

They all looked over at that little tidbit of information.

“Why so long ago?” Maura asked. “There’s nothing up to date on him?”

Jagger had only one reason. “He’s a recluse.”

They didn’t get it.

“It seems that Lucian Monroe was an up and coming District Attorney in a town called Ravenswood. In fact, it’s not far from here. We’re talking maybe a thirty minute drive.”

They listened.

“One day, as he was heading out of the courthouse, someone put a bomb in his car. He disengaged the locks, and it went off. It nearly killed him. He went from this,” Jagger said, turning the tablet to show them, “to this,” he said, pulling up the most current driver’s license picture.

There was a scar from the top of his head, through where his eye once was, and into his cheek.

“Wow,” stated Maura. “That had to hurt like a bitch. He’s lucky he didn’t die.”

Jagger read the news article out loud that went with the first picture. It was a tabloid, and while shady, they tended to be somewhat accurate.

‘DA Lucian Monroe was nearly killed today when a car bomb placed in his vehicle went off when he tried to open the doors. The explosion has put him in critical condition, and he isn’t expected to live with thirty percent burns across his body.’