Free Damian's Oracle by Lizzy Ford

me.”
    I’m sorry, Jake. I’m sorry, Damian.
    “I’m going to drain your blood,” he said
conversationally. “You should be grateful. Czerno wants this done
his way, not mine.”
    From her visions, neither of them was capable
of any measure of kindness. Tears trickled down her face, tickling
her ears.
    “Then we’ll bind you to him.”
    “What does that mean?” she forced herself to
ask to keep hysterics from claiming her.
    “An oracle must be blood bound to her master
to be of any use and keep you from dying from the Transformation.
We’ll bind you to Czerno, and you’ll serve him for all
eternity.”
    His words were too extraordinary for her to
understand fully, but she knew serving men like these for
eternity was equivalent to living with the devil in hell. Her
breathing stilled, and she strained against the bindings.
    “Hold still. If I miss, I’ll paralyze you for
eternity.”
    He held up the long syringe. By the glimmer
in his eye, he wanted her to move. Sofia closed her eyes. He
injected the gel into her arm, and warmth spread through her. Sweat
soon covered her, and her chest began to tighten.
    “We have to kill you first,” he said,
crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. A slow, cold
smile spread across his face. “I didn’t use the cocktail mix. This
might hurt a little.”
    Fire formed in her stomach, racing through
her. The man in the corner of her mind spoke to her then.
    My name is Darian.
    Sofia began to scream as her nerve endings
sizzled from the inside out. She strained and bucked against the
bindings, her body seizing. Darkness lingered at the edges of her
mind but refused to take her. Instead, the agony grew, tearing her
apart, cell by cell, while Jilian’s laughter echoed in her
mind.
    The alarm sounded the second he materialized
into the compound. He expected it to; he sensed Czerno as well as
the Black God sensed him. He snatched Jake as a knife sliced
through the air where the newbie materialized and whirled, whipping
out the sword at his back. He sliced through two vamps before
shooting the other two in the small courtyard. Bullets rained down
on them.
    He dragged Jake against the building and
loosed part of his power to locate Czerno’s position in the
compound.
    “C’mon!”
    Jake shot off a burst of rounds as several
vamps raced across the courtyard, their red eyes glowing and growls
loud.
    “You ok?” Dusty’s voice came across his
earpiece.
    “Great,” Damian grunted. “You got the
schematics on this place?”
    “Here,” Jake said, whipping out a PDA. He
ducked into a doorway while Damian shot two more vamps and
reappeared, the blueprints on the screen.
    “Guide me in,” Damian ordered.
    “Tell me when you’re ready for us,” Dusty
said.
    “Will do. D out.”
    Jake led him into the Gregorian mansion,
whose stone walls resembled an old school fortress. Czerno’s
affinity for castles meant they couldn’t simply blow the place up
and hope she survived an avalanche of stone. He had to find her
fast.
    Damian located the enemy ahead of them,
shooting intersections clear as they reached them. Jake led him
into a dark wine cellar, and they paused to reload.
    Czerno was moving.
    “There’s another basement,” Damian said,
pacing the room in search of a door.
    “It’s not on the schematics,” Jake confirmed.
“You see a door?”
    They heard a sound that made them freeze and
look at each other. It was the scream of a soul dying.
    “Sofia!” Jake breathed, guilt and anger
crossing his face.
    “Stand back,” Damian ordered. “Cover the
door.”
    He tracked Czerno then placed his hands on
the back wall. The stone exploded into pebbles and dust. Light from
the hidden hall filled the wine cellar. Sofia’s anguished scream
was still muffled.
    “Sofia!” Jake shouted.
    “D, watch out for Jilian. Czerno brought in
fifty of his goons. Jilian’s - “ Dusty called.
    “Jake!” Damian shouted as the transporter
disappeared. “Fuck!”
    He saw