Damian's Oracle Read Free

cold.
    Her headache was now a migraine, and she
shielded her eyes against the light from the street that filtered
past her honeycomb blinds. She all but staggered into her bathroom.
She wrenched open the medicine cabinet for the most powerful of the
drugs Dr. Mallard prescribed for her and slammed the cabinet
shut.
    Her eyes were fully silver, swirling and
glowing in the dark.
    “ What is wrong with me?” she screamed,
slamming her fists against the mirror.
    Her blood spattered on the wall, and buzzing
filled her ears. She sank to the floor. Her phone began to ring
again as she slid into a dead faint.
     
     

CHAPTER TWO
     
    Sonoran desert, Arizona
    The White God’s Headquarters
     
    Damian Bylun stared at the phone. It was a
cold day in hell when someone dared hang up on the White God, the
Defender of Mankind, the Tamer of Evil. Or, in the words of his
BFF, the BS Master of the Universe.
    His phone rang, and he answered, expecting
the woman to return his call with a few dozen apologies.
    “Damian, I’m one of your … employees. My name
is Jake H, employee number 0092841.”
    He opened his PDA to do a quick search on the
number. He didn’t know the names of everyone in the latest
generation of his Guardians yet, especially not those working in
the field.
    Jake H. Organization year: 2000.
    Only his undercover agents contained such
little information in his database. Jake was risking getting caught
to call him.
    “Where are you?” he asked.
    “NOVA Sector HQ.”
    “Stay there.”
    He hung up and looked at his executive
officer and sparring partner.
    “Han, I’m going away for a few to the
Northern Virginia Sector. Don’t hold up dinner on my account,” he
said, trotting into the 20,000 square foot mansion in the middle of
the Arizona desert he called home.
    “Say hi to Laney!” Han called.
    He changed into all black and strapped a
sword to his back before closing his eyes and envisioning the
interior of NOVA Sector. In a blink, he’d transported himself
there. One foot was immediately soaked. He looked down as two of
his Guardians hopped up from their positions.
    “Who the hell put a pool here?” he demanded,
pulling his right foot out of the shallow end of an in-ground
pool.
    The two men looked at each other.
    “It was a brutal summer,” an amused voice
responded.
    He turned to see one of his oldest Guardians
and the station chief – Han’s brother – leaning in the doorway to
the main house.
    “Laney, good to see you,” he said warmly,
clapping him on the arm. “One of your boys called me.”
    “Yeah, he’s been pacing like a madman for a
couple of hours. He’s a newbie. Be gentle.”
    “It’s fucking cold here,” he complained as he
walked into the two story house in the suburbs Washington DC.
    He saw the man who called him pacing as Laney
had indicated. Jake turned and stared at him, dropped an awkward
bow, and straightened, his mouth lax. Damian sat down on the arm of
a leather couch, accustomed to the reaction, and pulled off his
boot to drain the water.
    “You gonna talk or stare?”
    Jake looked at Laney then at him.
    “I found someone,” Jake said.
    “A Natural?” Laney prodded.
    Jake shook his head then nodded then
shrugged.
    “I don’t know what she is. I was embedded at
this company we know is operating as a cover for Czerno’s
operations. I ran into someone I knew from college.”
    Damian looked from his boot to Laney, who
shrugged. Seeing the exchange, Jake began to pace again.
    “She’s something. I don’t know what.”
    “Can you expand a little?” Laney asked.
    “She’s started having symptoms that the
doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong. She turned 28 two months
ago, and started having all these issues, like she’s a vamp. She
can’t go out in sunlight … “
    He trailed off, deep in thought.
    “You’re going to think I’m crazy - “
    “Already do,” Damian said. “You wanna tell me
why I’m here?”
    “I recently gained access to this