Ask the Oracle (8 page)

Gray laughed at the endearment. “How did you know it was me?”

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“Are you kidding? The call rang through with a six-six-six area code. Since I don’t make

a habit of rubbing elbows with the damned, I went with the easy money and assumed it was

you. So, how are things down under?”

“Busy. I’m definitely gonna be earning my paycheque on this one. Things are a bit more

complicated than we originally, thought. I’m going to need you to pull together a team for

me.”

“Are you okay?” Sarah’s jovial tone disappeared in an instant and worry filled her

words.

“Of, course,” Gray soothed. “I’ve got a Demon watching my back, after all. I would just

feel better with a bit of backup until we get everything sorted out.” He kept his words even

and casual, not wanting his friend to worry.

“Don’t give me that same, sorry pile of crap, Gray.”

Gray smiled at her tone. Despite her tiny size, she could put a five-star general to shame

when she barked out orders. “It’s nothing to worry about,
Ma’am
. It just seems that there is

more than one murderous fiend hiding out in the Underworld. Who would have guessed?”

“Grayson Muir!” Sarah’s shrill scream echoed through the line, practically piercing his

eardrum. “What the hell is going on down there?”

Gray sighed. She was the only person in the world he’d ever let get away with bossing

him around, without fighting tooth and nail. He had learned long ago, there was just no

point. Stopping her, was like trying to stop a hurricane. When Sarah Painter found

something she wanted, she made it hers, no matter how long it took. When an irritated grunt

sounded over the line, Gray gave up all pretences and quickly launched into a brief rundown

of everything that had happened during his brief jaunt into the Underworld. Sarah was

suspiciously silent as he recounted their run-in with Povell and his subsequent

apprehension. He tried to gloss over his near incineration, but no one had ever accused Sarah

of being stupid or slow.

“You are telling me that in the time you’ve been in the Underworld you have not only

caught a murderer but also let said murderer get away with an attempt on your life?”

Gray cringed. “Yes—”

“You dumbass! I let you out of my sight for a couple of hours and you let someone try

to murder you? Well, enjoy your freedom while in lasts,
oh mighty
omnipotent one
, because

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when you get back here, I’m never letting you out of my sight again. The team is going to be

a full time presence with you from now on, so you better learn to live with it. I’m not willing

to keep letting you take these chances with your life. Maybe it doesn’t mean that much to

you, but it means everything to me. You’re my family, you stupid son of a bitch.” Sarah’s

breath hitched, a telltale sign that she was trying to fight back tears.

Remorse swamped Gray. He’d had no idea that his friend had been so worried about

his safety. With the situation brought to light, however, he could grudgingly accept that her

fear might be justified. “Sarah,” he soothed, his voice soft and gentle. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry

I’ve made you worry so much. I’ve been an idiot. Please, forgive me.”

He heard her sniffle. “There’s nothing to forgive.” She sighed. “You just have to be

more careful. It’s not just today and all this Demon drama. Things have changed since we

first started Revelations. It’s time we started acting like it. People know you now. They

recognise you and your talent. It’s a double-edged sword and we all need to start being more

vigilant of the danger.”

Gray hated to admit it, but she wasn’t wrong. Over the years, as his name and talent

had become more widely known, demand for his services had skyrocketed. Unfortunately,

the boom in business had brought with it a growing number of people who were not happy

about his level of talent. Thieves, murderers, corrupt politicians. Even other Oracles

competing for the same piece of the pie. Attempts on his life and threats of violence had been

on a gradual rise for years. Gray had turned a blind eye, choosing to ignore it, and assumed

everyone else would do the same. Clearly, that assumption had been wrong.

“Agreed. I promise, I will do my very best to make sure that no more evil Demons try

to kill me while I’m here. Now, if that’s settled,” Gray drawled, “are we ready to get back to

business, or do you want to keep talking about our feelings and braid each other’s hair?”

Sarah snorted. “Prick.”

“I know,” Gray preened. “It’s why all the boys love me.”

“You’re an idiot.” Sarah laughed. “All right, let’s get down to business. Tell me what

you need.”

Within minutes, she had the team put together and had arranged for transport, using a

warlock they kept on retainer. A few last checks, and Sarah confirmed that the team would

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be meeting them in the main receiving hall within the next sixty minutes. With a last shout

out from Sarah for good luck, they said their goodbyes and disconnected the call.

Closing the phone, Gray looked up to find Dreo merely feet away, watching him, his

lips turned up in amusement.

“What?”

“You are very friendly with your assistant. You care for her.”

“Well—yeah. She’s my friend, so…we’re friendly.” Gray tilted his head, curiously. “Is

that a problem?”

“As long as you are just friends, there is no problem.”

Gray rolled his eyes. “In case you failed to notice, Sarah doesn’t have the necessary

equipment to get me all hot and bothered. She has those scary girl parts that kind of freak me

out.” Gray shivered dramatically.

Gray watched a small twitch at the corner of Dreo’s mouth as the other man prowled

over to him, backing him into a darkened corner. “How fortunate for me. Her loss is my

gain.” The predatory look in Dreo’s eyes combined with the massive bulge in the Demon’s

pants, had Gray on the edge and trying not to hyperventilate.

“My t-team,” Gray stammered. “My team will arrive in the next hour. Once they get

here, we will be ready to proceed.”

“Excellent.” Dreo nodded his approval. “A whole hour, you say? Hmm. With that being

the case, what could we possibly do to pass the time?” The Demon pressed his hard body

against Gray, trailing a hand down his muscled chest, over his rippled abs, until he reached

the growing bulge below his belt.

The noise of the room faded away as Gray felt himself fall under Dreo’s spell. He was

practically panting as his brain fogged with lust. He knew that this wasn’t normal, that there

were important things he should be focusing on, but it was difficult when the man before

him seemed to have a secret map to all the spots that were guaranteed to get Gray hot, wet

and ready to ride. It would be different if the attraction was all one sided, but as their bodies

shifted against each other, Dreo’s answering hardness pressed, hot and heavy, against Gray’s

thigh. The knowledge that he was able to illicit such a response from a creature who had

experienced more lust and sexual pleasure than Gray could even imagine, had his cock filling

with a speed he hadn’t thought he was capable of. His cloth-covered dick was hard as steel in

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seconds. Wiggling slightly, he attempted to manoeuvre his shaft into a more comfortable

position as it tried to fight the confines of its denim prison.

Gray had finally managed to wrangle it down when Dreo shifted, shoving his meaty

thigh between Gray’s parted legs. The movement pinned Gray’s engorged shaft against the

unforgiving metal of his zipper, causing him to cry out in pain. The sound of his distress cut

through Dreo’s ardour. His eyes cleared as his eyebrows pulled together. Reason returned

and with it, concern and guilt.

“I’m so sorry,” Dreo murmured, his hands rubbing a soothing pattern down Gray’s

arms. “It seems I let myself get a bit carried away.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Gray dismissed, unsuccessfully trying to hide his wince of

discomfort. “
Little Gray
should know better than to get all excited and try to come out to play

when we’re supposed to be working. I don’t know if it’s just me, or this place, but for some

reason my control is almost nonexistent. Let’s just chalk it up to a learning experience,

okay?” Gray shook his head, upset and bewildered at his egregious lack of professionalism.

Dreo had hired him because of his reputation as Oracle. Gray was embarrassed to say that he

was coming off as some kind of flaky, sex-crazed, imposter.

Dreo didn’t look convinced. Not wanting to talk about it anymore, Gray pinned Dreo

with what Sarah fondly called, the Oracle Death Glare. Dreo looked amused but, when Gray

didn’t relent, finally threw his hands up in defeat.

“Fine,” Dreo groaned. “We’ll deal with this later.”

“You’d better believe it,” Gray muttered, running his hands over his shirt, smoothing

out nonexistent wrinkles from the material as he struggled to get his rampant body back

under control. It was surprising that, despite the ball numbing pain it had suffered moments

earlier, his cock didn’t seem willing to give up its demand for release.

It took longer than expected to get his unsatisfied arousal back to a manageable size.

After some discreet manoeuvring, Gray was no longer in danger of losing his favourite

appendage to a lack of blood flow. Looking up, the smirk on Dreo’s face had him scowling.

“Everything working out for you, over there?”

“Fuck you, Demon boy.”

Dreo chuckled, his eyes warming as he moved closer. “You have that backwards,

Oracle…and I most definitely will.”

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Dragging in a shuttering breath, Gray tried to swallow down the baseball-sized lump in

his throat.
Damn. The things this man does to me
. Ignoring the smouldering heat in Dreo’s eyes,

Gray turned his attention back to the reason for their trip.

“I’d like to do a quick walk through of Lord Lucifer’s rooms, if you don’t mind.” Lifting

a brow, he looked at Dreo expectantly.

Dreo watched him for a moment, in silence. He gave a brisk nod and his jaw clenched,

but he said didn’t say anything else as he turned and made a path through the crowd of

gawkers, towards a large oak door near the back of the room. Gray followed him at a fast

clip. More guards lined their way as they travelled down a hallway and up two flights of

stairs before being led to a room with a massive, ornately carved door that Gray had to

assume had belonged to the deceased king. Two more grim-faced guards were stationed

outside the room. When they caught sight of Dreo, they instantly straightened to attention.

“At ease, gentleman,” Dreo ordered dismissively. “This is the Oracle, Grayson Muir. I

have brought him to help us discover the identity of the one responsible for the death of our

Lord. He would like to take a look around the room while we wait for his ‘team’ to arrive.”

Gray bite back a smile at the near belligerent way Dreo referred to his guards. He

couldn’t wait to see his face when they arrived.

Both guards instantly relaxed, the one on the right even going so far as to grace them

with a smile. “By all means, enter. If you are here to uncover that murderous snake, we will

do anything we can to help you. Lord Lucifer was a good man and a fair ruler. He will be

greatly missed by our people. The one responsible for his death will find no friends here.”

“Thank you,” Gray said. “I promise, I will do everything I can to bring the criminal to

justice.” With a slight bow to the guards, Gray opened the door and made his way into the

chamber of a king.

Entering the room, Gray was blind to his surroundings. While he was sure the

expensive furnishings and rich fabrics that filled the space were magnificent, they held no

interest for him in that moment. The room itself was what called to him. As soon as he

crossed the threshold, his vision dimmed around the edges, the first sign that his
Sight
was

manifesting. Without any direction from Dreo, he approached the right side of the bed,

intuition telling him that it had been the side the king slept on. Reaching out, he let his hand

hover over the surface of the mattress, careful not to make physical contact. He wasn’t ready

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to jump into this vision yet. For now, he was only interested in getting an unbiased

impression of his surroundings. Later, he would allow his
Sight
to take over and direct him.

His ability to
See
was just one facet of his gift, and not always the most important one.

For the most part, the general public assumed that Oracles were omnipotent.