Free Damian's Oracle by Lizzy Ford Page A

Jilian’s blow cleave the transporter
apart the moment he materialized down the hall. Jake dropped
silently. Damian charged Jilian, Czerno’s longtime executioner.
Jilian met his sword with his own, barking orders to his vamps.
    The screams stopped, and Damian’s heart
quickened. The period between when an oracle could be bound and
when she permanently died was brief. Jilien’s men pounded down the
hall. Damian gritted his teeth, unable to unleash the blow that
could destroy them all in a blink without taking out Sofia as
well.
    “D!”
    “Busy!”
    He whipped out the vamp killing hand cannons
and shot the first two of Jilian’s men. Several rounds drove him
back, and he ducked a blow aimed at his neck by Jilian.
    “I’m here, bro!”
    Dusty materialized beside him, his gun
roaring in the narrow hallway as he mowed down Jilien’s men.
    “He’s coming!” he warned.
    Damian slashed thrown Jilian, and the vamp
dropped. He hacked him apart until there was nothing but pulp.
    “Laney, send in everything!” Dusty barked
into his mike. “ Now!”
    Vamps jammed both directions of the hall, and
Czerno was making a beeline for the room behind the wall in front
of them.
    “Hold em, bro,” Damian shouted and placed his
hands on the wall.
    “Got it,” Dusty said, reloading before his
hand cannons began roaring again.
    The wall before him burst into dust, and he
crawled through the opening, firing a full clip at the form at the
other end. The mansion rocked as Dusty’s first set of explosions
went off. The ceiling began to crumble. A second explosion threw
him across the room. Czerno disappeared.
    Damian rose, sickened by the sight before
him. Sofia lay on the cold steel table, her tears still wet but her
eyes open and staring blankly. A tube ran from her neck to the vat
of blood on the floor. What had started as a stream of blood had
slowed to a few remaining drops.
    Fury filled him. A stone dropped from the
ceiling into the vat, and warm blood splashed over him.
    Dusty joined him, drawing a sharp breath at
the sight.
    “This place is about to come down,” he
warned.
    Damian launched forward, snatching the tube
and whipping out a knife.
    “Cut me,” he ordered.
    “You know what you’re doing?”
    “Think I just got me an oracle,” Damian said
grimly.
    He felt Dusty’s gaze on him before it went to
the still woman.
    “This is more permanent than marriage,” he
said in a hushed tone.
    Damian followed his gaze. He felt fear again,
an emotion he hated. Every instinct in his body ached to feel Sofia
alive again. He didn’t know if she’d understand – or forgive him –
for what he was about to do to her. He didn’t know if he understood what he was doing. But seeing her lifeless on the table
made his soul wrench in a way that reminded him …
    Darian.
    He handed Dusty the knife and pulled off the
high-collared vest to expose his throat.
    “Do it,” he ordered.
    Dusty obeyed and punctured deep into his
jugular. Damian shoved the other end of the tube into his neck,
releasing his power. He sealed his skin around the tube, forced the
flow downward, and placed his hands on her, forcing her body to
accept his blood. Dizziness made him lean onto the table, and he
loosed his regeneration powers.
    Dusty watched in silence. The house was
crashing down around them. He couldn’t transport a dead body.
    “D!” Dusty shouted as a chunk of stone
crushed a stainless steel cabinet.
    “C’mon, c’mon,” Damian urged, watching for
signs of life in the woman. He forced his blood out faster and
faster.
    “We gotta go!” Dusty yelled, slapping him on
the back. “ Now!”
    Damian carefully gathered the woman into his
arms and closed his eyes. Dizziness washed over him, and he felt
his body strain to transport. Silence, and he opened his eyes to
find himself kneeling on the NOVA Sector’s kitchen floor.
    “D, put her down. Laney, get the defib!”
    Her eyes were closed, but color bloomed in
her cheeks.
    He ordered his