Damian's Oracle (24 page)

“Hungry,” she whispered.

Two obeyed and moved forward, slicing his
wrist for her again. As she drank, she replayed Damian’s memories
over and over.

Damian needs you.

“Kiri.”

His word threw her off guard.

“Think, Darian, think,” she said. “Do you
remember your brother Damian?”

An image flashed, that of Damian chained to a
wall. Tears formed in her eyes.

“Yes,” she choked out. “Damian. Your
brother.”

“Don’t cry,
kiri.
”

He was struggling. She replayed the home
videos, closing her eyes and focusing. If he were like his brother,
he would hear her thoughts.

Two returned to his corner.

She kept the movies playing, focusing on
nothing other than the brothers’ time together. She drifted into a
doze.

“Damian,” Two said, waking her.

“He needs you,” she whispered. “He’s in
trouble.”

“Damian in trouble.”

“Yes, Darian.”

“Don’t cry,
kiri.
”

He fell into silence again for several hours.
When he freed her again, she approached him and touched his
hood.

“Remove it, Darian.”

He didn’t respond. She touched his arm,
replaying the videos. He pulled off the hood with one hand.

His face was as deeply scarred as his hands.
His hair was brown rather than white-blonde, his beautiful eyes
deep set and large. She took his face in her hands the way she had
Damian the night he wanted to destroy the world and forced him to
meet her gaze. His honey gaze was still.

“Damian needs you,” she whispered. “He’s in
danger. I love him, Darian. Please help us.”

“Damian.”

She raised to her tiptoes and kissed him, her
own memories of Damian forefront in her mind. She replayed their
first kiss, his ring, the way his men spoke of him. She showed him
Czerno, his master, and the darkness in Czerno’s mind. She dropped
to her feet and moved away.

“Kiri.”

His eyes were closed.

“Your name is Darian. Your brother is
Damian.”

Emotions rippled across his face. She touched
her hands to his cheeks again.

“Please, Darian, please. You can do
this.”

His eyes opened, and he met her gaze. For the
first time, she sensed he was aware. His golden eyes swirled.

“Remember,” she said, holding up the
necklace.

“Two!” Czerno pounded on the door.

She waited. The life died from his eyes, and
he replaced his hood.

“No. No, no, no!” she shouted, pounding on
his chest.

Sobbing, she dropped to her knees. Two
stepped aside. Czerno entered.

“Congrats. You’ve survived two days. Looks
like I was right,” he said, satisfied. “Two, put her on the table.
Kill Damian and come back when you’re done.”

Sofia tried to push him away as he lifted her
onto the table. There was a tug at her neck, and she touched it,
surprised to find the necklace gone. Two left.

“As soon as he’s done, we’ll start working on
you,” Czerno promised. “Start thinking of which way you want me to
fuck you first.”

He closed the door behind him with a cold
laugh, not bothering to bind her.

She curled on her side and wept.

I love you, Damian. Please forgive me!

He’d never heard
kiri
cry so hard. Her
heart was breaking. Two walked through the halls quickly. He
couldn’t remember what the master had told him to do. All he could
see in his head was
kiri
crying and the dreams she’d made
him remember. They weren’t good dreams, and the ones she showed him
weren’t the only ones in his head.

“Don’t cry,
kiri
.”

He didn’t know what to do. His master was
hurting her. Why didn’t she go back to his head, where she was
safe? Why did she come to see him? He took care of her and fed her
and let her walk around. Every time he freed her, he hoped she
returned to his head. But she didn’t.

Damian. Darian.

The images in his head made him stagger and
fall against the rough wall. The chain around his hand bit into his
finger, and he looked at it. It was
kiri
’s. He rolled up his
sleeve, staring in wonder at the tattoo on his bicep. He didn’t
remember how he got it.

Damian needs you. Please help him,
Darian.

He was Darian, eldest son of the White God.
The dreams were coming faster now.

He looked around him and at the necklace in
his hand. He was going to Damian. If he freed Damian,
kiri
would go back to his head, where his master couldn’t hurt her.

Two went to Damian’s cell and opened the
door. Damian was still and silent, but he wasn’t dead. No, the
master had been waiting to kill him, had been feeding Damian the
same juice Two stopped drinking. Damian was chained to the wall so
he could be force fed. Two had helped force feed him, before he
knew
kiri
loved him.

Two stopped and looked at Damian, another
flash of dreams driving him to his knees. He pulled up his sleeve.
Damian had a mark like his on his ring. He lifted the chain,
kiri
’s chain, and looked at the identical symbols, struck by
the idea that he somehow belonged to the same world they did.

Two released him and lifted him over his
shoulders. He made his way through the crowded halls, grunting
under the weight of the man. He followed a familiar path through a
narrowing hall and looked at his palm for the three codes written
there. He took Damian outside to the rock where he and
kiri
watched the stars and set him down.

“Don’t cry,
kiri,
” Two said, still
hearing her sobs.

He knelt over Damian and pulled the ring from
his finger. He placed the necklace in his hand and closed it
gently.

“From
kiri
,” he told the unconscious
man. “She loves you, and she’s sorry.”

He turned and made his way through the doors
he remembered traversing many times the past few days. And now, he
would convince
kiri
to return to his head, before his master
killed her.

Two’s chest clenched, and he was afraid. He
didn’t want
kiri
to die. She was
his.
She was all he
had.

* * *

Alarms sounded a second before the doors
exploded off their hinges.

“
What did you do
?” Czerno roared in an
inhuman voice.

Sofia darted off the table, staring at him as
he entered, trailed by Two and the man with green eyes. The man
with green eyes leaned over to Two, whispering to him. Two bowed
his head, and the green-eyed man was gone.

“How did you free him? How did you alert
them?” Czerno demanded, snatching her arm so hard she cried
out.

“I’ve been here!” she said, shoving at him
and his black memories.

A backhand sent her world reeling. Fire lit
up half her face, and she tasted blood in her mouth. She landed
hard. He kicked her in the stomach, and she gasped.

“Two, bring her.”

Two obeyed, lifting her off the floor and
carrying her. She gazed up at him as he followed Czerno, looking
again for some sign of life in his still gold eyes.

“Darian,” she whispered. “Please, Darian,
come back to me.”

He didn’t even look at her, and her hope
plummeted again. They stopped in a small command center, where one
wall displayed monitors.

“Now!” Czerno barked.

Jule’s face materialized on the screen.
Czerno snatched her and dragged her close, the visions making her
stagger.

“Where’s Damian?” Jule demanded.

“Get your men out of here!” Czerno ordered.
“Quickly, before I kill her!”

Fire tore through her, and she cried out. It
increased, the sensation of frying from the inside out.

“Stop,” Jule ordered. “Dusty, order a
withdrawal.”

The fire burned hot enough to devour Czerno’s
dark memories.

I’ll protect you, kiri.

The voice in her head came from Two. Czerno
released her, and she fell, body seizing in agony.

“Czerno! We’re pulling out!”

“Cut it!” Czerno snarled. He kicked her as he
passed. Jule’s face disappeared from the screen, and the pain
eased. Unable to move, she panted, body convulsing with aftershocks
from the attack.

“They don’t have him! He’s here, somewhere!
Find him!” Czerno ordered.

His vamps scampered out of the command center
to obey. He stalked to her again and dragged her up. The man with
the green eyes was suddenly behind him, watching
her.

“I don’t give a damn if he escapes. I have
you.”

He hit her one more time, and she careened
against Two, caught between consciousness and darkness. Two lifted
her and carried her into a hallway teeming with vamps.

Damian was free! The thought pierced her
thoughts, and she sagged against Two, not caring if she survived or
not. Two took her down a quieter hall and set her down. She doubled
over, pain from Czerno’s attacks crippling her.

Two knelt over her. He held Damian’s ring in
front of her face then tucked it into her jeans.

“Yes, master,” he said to no one she saw.

She closed her eyes, in too much pain to
concentrate. He touched her, and familiar warmth flashed through
her, easing the pain. Two pulled her to her feet. Sofia stared up
at him, not daring to hope he’d help her. He stalked down the hall.
She watched him, tempted to run, before realizing the amount of
activity in the halls behind her guaranteed her capture.

She jogged after him as he strode through the
maze. He emerged into a busier hall and waited for her, taking her
arm and leading her through the vamps. They passed through the
activity before he started down another hall. The alarms faded, and
the halls grew cruder, unfinished. Sofia followed him as the halls
angled up and narrowed until Two had to walk through them sideways.
He reached a door finally and typed in the access code. It opened.
They passed through two more before exiting into a cold desert
night on the side of a mountain, overlooking the activity at the
elevator’s entrance.

Sofia almost cried in relief. Two continued,
finding a narrow path in the dark and starting down it. She
followed, shivering. The path wound its way downward, dumping them
into a draw far enough away to be safe. Two walked on once he
reached the desert, and she trotted after him, looking back at the
floodlit entrance to the elevator. Gunshots streaked around the
entrance. A massive explosion went off, shaking the ground beneath
them.

She stopped and stared, throat
tightening.

“Damian,” she whispered.

Two took her arm, driving her onward. When
assured she’d follow, he released her and marched on into the
desert, away from the mountain. A sense of familiarity hit her as
they neared a clump of rocks. She’d seen it in Pierre’s future. The
images replayed, and she launched forward.

“Pierre, no!” she shouted, running ahead of
Two.

He snatched her as she passed, but not before
she heard a shot and felt fire burn through her. She was driven
back against Two, who caught her. Warm blood splattered her neck
and face.

She cried out in pain.

“Let her go!” she recognized Pierre’s
voice.

Two lowered her, pulling up his sleeves. She
snatched his shirt.

“No!”

“Fuck, Pierre!” Dustin snarled. “Sofia? You
ok?”

“I’m … ok,” she said, suddenly dizzy.
“Dustin, don’t shoot him, please!
Please!”

A dark shape moved from the rocks while three
more fanned out from the sides. Two strained against her grip and
tensed. Sofia shook her head to clear the dizziness.

“Darian, lower your head,” she ordered.

The man beside her hesitated then obeyed. She
yanked his hood off.

“Dusty, Jule’s got him!” Rainy shouted
triumphantly. “I’m calling the choppers.”

“Fast,” Dustin ordered.

In the distance, a small army of vamps was
running towards them. A flashlight blinded her. She held up her
hand.

“Mon dieu!” Pierre said, then cursed.

“Holy shit,” Dustin breathed as the
flashlight rose to Darian’s face. “Holster em!
Now!
”

He moved forward, stopping to stare at
Darian.

Pierre dropped beside her, muttering in
French. Sofia sagged, exhausted. Before she started to drift into
an in-between place, she saw Darian stand and look around, awake
for the first time in thousands of years.

Dustin’s face was a mottled mess of emotions.
Darian eyed him warily, not recognizing him, before he knelt beside
her again. Heat scorched through her and she gasped, awake once
again.

“You can see the stars,
kiri,
” he said
in his monotonous, mechanical voice.

“Rainy, where’s my chopper?” Dustin shouted,
drawing his weapon again.

“Looks like we should start running, non?”
Pierre asked.

Sofia pushed his hands away. Fatigued, her
wounds were nonetheless healed. Pierre hauled her up.

“Pierre, carry her. We’ll run,” Dustin
said.

Before he could comply, Darian shoved him
aside and swept her off her feet.

I’ll protect you, kiri.

They ran to the next nearest group of rocks,
where a handful of four-by-fours waited. Darian placed her behind
Dustin and climbed behind Rainy. Sofia wrapped her arms around
Dustin and squeezed her eyes closed as the engine roared to life.
Sand flew as they soared and leapt through the desert. The distant
beat of a helicopter’s wings drew closer as they raced away from
the mountains into the desert. A chopper landed ahead of them.

Dustin braked hard and swung his leg over the
handlebars.

“Sofi, go! Rainy, Lon, with me!”

Sofia shielded her eyes against the wind and
sand. She reached out to Darian and grabbed his hand, pulling him
with her. His world was one of confusion, his memories overwhelming
as the dam that had been in place for thousands of years crumbled.
Darian held his head, and she wrapped her arms around him, wishing
she could protect him from the dark memories breaking free.