Damian's Oracle (4 page)

“Guys, we’ll talk later. D out,” he said into
the mic before tossing it on the desk. “This better be good.”

The in-between place where Jake’s drugs put
her were filled with horrifying, visions of Toby and other
strangers dying and Dr. Czerno screaming at her to return to
him.

And
him.
The dark monster in a dark
corner whose sobs were so loud, she thought them real. Once, she
thought he was calling for help, until he swiped at her, and she
tried to free a scream from her frozen body. He retreated to the
corner and sobbed some more while she fought the effects of the
drug. The drug wore off, leaving her in the dark, hot and sweating
with a different kind of headache, the kind she got after taking a
lot of Dr. Mallard’s drugs. Only she didn’t remember taking
drugs.

Jake.

Furious, she pushed off the bed coverings and
stood, teetering dangerously before deciding to sit again.
Moonlight drifted in through a window, and she stared in confusion.
Her window was on the other side of her room. Disoriented, she
stood up again and stumbled to the door.

She
hated
the headaches and feeling
like shit! She couldn’t remember the last time she felt halfway
decent. Determined first to wash the taste of drugs down then to
kill Jake, she wrenched open the door, blinded by the hall light
she didn’t recall leaving on. She walked down the carpeted hall,
stopping when she realized her hallway didn’t have carpet.

Her vision was too blurry for her to see much
beyond hazy shapes and colors. The carpet was a deep maroon, soft
and cushy, the walls around her brown. She squinted through her
fingers and braced herself against one wall to counter the affects
the drugs had on her equilibrium as she moved down the long
hallway.

“Jake?”

Suddenly, her bracing arm hit air. She tried
to balance herself only to find herself toppling over and over and
over down a stairwell.

She landed hard on a cold floor. Pain roared
through her, and she sought both to shield her eyes from a crystal
chandelier blinding her and grab her burning leg. She wore only a
long shirt to her knees that twisted to her stomach with her
fall.

“Oh, God!” she grated, pushing herself into a
sit.

Her blood was a slash of stark red against a
white marble floor. The pain in her leg cleared the haze of her
mind, and she realized whatever was happening wasn’t a dream. Panic
piqued as she looked around her. There was nothing familiar about
her surroundings -
nothing!!
Down one hallway, she heard the
ring of a phone.

Phone, police, help. Her first step was
disastrous. She careened into a table and heard glass crashing as
the table corner tore a stripe down her forearm. Her eyes hurt too
much to make sense of the world around her.

Voices prevented her from losing herself to
her pain. They came from the same direction as the phone. Whoever
had brought her here was coming for her.

Dr. Czerno. The monster in the corner.

Fear flew through her. She turned, slammed
into something twice her size, and fell backwards. Her hand fell
away from her eyes to reveal a furry, fanged monster from a
nightmare framed against the light.

Sofia screamed. It swiped at her, and she
backpedaled, hopping to her feet. Disoriented and mostly blind, she
ran into a wall, shoved herself off and smashed into another
monster. With another scream, she bolted and careened into a door
that gave.

The room was dark aside from curtains opened
to allow the moon to shine through. She staggered up, cursing the
drugs and Jake for her inability to balance, and slammed into
several pieces of furniture as the monsters chased her. The lights
went on. Blinded, she tripped over a stool and hauled herself into
a corner, chest heaving and body slick with sweat and blood.

“What happened?” a muffled voice asked.

She hugged her knees to her chest and peered
through her fingers. One of the monsters pulled off its head to
reveal a man. She squinted, realizing the two furry brown monsters
were men in costumes from
Where the Wild Things Are
. Several
more men entered the library, all staring at her in nothing short
of total surprise. Either they were all huge enough to come
straight out of an action movie, or her drugs had not yet worn
off.

“Gods, are you all right?” one asked finally,
moving towards her.

“No!” she shouted. “Don’t touch me, don’t
touch me,
don’t touch me
!”

The last thing she needed was more of the
gruesome visions!

“Sofi?”

While surprised to see him there, it struck
her how well Jake fit in with the other men. He was built from the
same mold – large and muscular, the kind of man more fitted to
military special forces or UFC prize fighting than financial
planning.

The man approaching her had nearly reached
her, and she huddled into a tighter ball.

“Han, don’t!” Jake called. “Leave her
be.”

“She’s bleeding to death!”

“Trust me. She’ll go ape shit.”

Sofia wanted to pound Jake’s face in. Her
heart raced to the point of pain, and she felt sick enough to
puke.

“Go get D,” the man called Han said.

He squatted near her.

“You ok?”

Sofia’s gaze cleared, and she focused on her
surroundings. Her first impression was confirmed – the men in the
room were UFC material, all well over six feet and solid. They were
all dressed for a white tie party in expensive tuxedos.

“I gave you enough drugs that you should be
asleep until next week,” Jake said, joining Han.

He was also dressed for the exclusive party.
Seeing him well rested and well dressed pissed her off even
more.

“Can I help you up?” Han asked, extending his
hand as if approaching a wounded animal. His brown gaze was
friendly but cautious.

The others fanned out, and she suddenly felt
like a lamb surrounded by a wolf pack trying to decide what to do
with her. She didn’t know these men, but her instincts told her
they were 100% predators. They moved in tandem without looking at
each other, their movements controlled and efficient. If she
flinched, they’d snap in unison.

“What did you do to me, Jake?” she
demanded.

“We’ll wait on that,” Jake responded.
“There’s a lot of blood. You ok?”

“You drugged me.”

He rubbed his mouth.

“She’s little, pick her up before D sees the
blood all over the floors,” another of the men urged.

“Don’t touch me!” she warned again.

Despite being able to bench press two of her,
the men actually listened.

“What happened to my floors?” another voice
demanded.

If the men around her were predators, the man
who entered next was their alpha. Unlike the others dressed for a
white tie event, he was dressed in leather pants with a tight black
Pearl Jam t-shirt, his hair braided, a chain from his spiked belt
to his wallet, and heavy black boots. She didn’t miss the way the
others moved out of his way or the way the aura of command around
him filled up the room. His gaze swept around the room
methodically, coming to rest on her. He approached with a slow,
steady gate, like a predator inspecting its disabled prey before
going for the kill.

She tightened into her ball. He was as large
as the others with olive skin, long white-blond hair, and golden
eyes the unusual color of honey. His features were firm and
chiseled. He was not a pretty boy but a man with rugged, bad-boy
beauty and a slow sensuality about his movement that made her heart
skip a beat despite her pain.

He knelt beside Han. She tensed.

“You got blood all over my floors,” he told
her, golden eyes taking her in.

“You can blame the Wild Things, D,” Han said.
“They scared the shit outta her.”

D reached out to her, and she recoiled,
pushing herself farther into the corner.

“Sofi, you shouldn’t – “ Jake started, eyes
going nervously to the newcomer.

“Not gonna hurt you, ok?” D said, holding up
his hands.

A sense of power swirled around him that
scared her. She felt it circle her, prod her, and retreat. His
honey gaze was similar to Han’s: warm but wary. She ducked her head
and braced herself as he reached for her again. His large hand was
warm against her arm. No visions pierced her thoughts.

“See?” he said.

She looked up at him, surprised. By the look
of understanding on his face, he knew what she expected to feel.
Relief flooded her, and she flung her arms around his neck. She’d
never known the power of a single touch until everyone who touched
her hurt her!

“Sofi!” Jake exclaimed.

He touched her arm to pull her free, and she
jerked as dark visions crossed her thoughts. Sofia wrenched away
from both and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes,
trying to stop the visions. D touched her, and the visions fled as
if at his command. The warmth of his hand drifted up her arm and
through her, comforting her.

“She’s … special, isn’t she?” Han asked
D.

“Very,” D replied. “Nobody touches her.”

His command was quiet and firm, but she knew
no man in the room would disobey a man like him. His hand lingered
on her arm, and she rested her forehead against his fingers,
comforted for the first time in months.

“Jake, clean up the floors,” D ordered.
“Let’s get you upstairs.”

He lifted her and carried her down the hall,
and up the stairs. Sofia’s heart fluttered as she tried to take in
the world of blinding lights and blurry colors. He turned the
lights in her room on low and sat her down on the trunk at the
bottom of her bed. She drew her legs up, feeling vulnerable and
scared in the strange place.

“Han, get me some warm water and washcloths.
I’ll clean her up.”

She didn’t miss the surprised look on Han’s
face. He obeyed. D disappeared into the bathroom adjoining her room
and washed his hands. When he returned, he pulled a chair from the
wall nearer her and dipped one cloth in water, tugging her arm away
from her.

“I can do it,” she said, resisting.

He gave her a look that said he didn’t have
all the patience in the world then pulled her arm free again.

“Han, bring up some food,” he said without
turning to look at the blond man in the doorway.

Han disappeared.

Sofia was afraid to ask where she was, who
the man was before her. Instead, she watched a man many, many times
her strength gently clean the blood from her arm in unhurried,
methodical strokes. His touch sent a tremor of fire through her,
and she was embarrassed to feel her hormones stir.

Here she sat, covered in blood, drugged, one
day from being all out crazy, kidnapped, and the sight of the man
before her turned her on. What was wrong with her?!

He
was
the sexiest man she’d ever
seen, and the swirling aura of command only amplified his physical
appeal. It didn’t take much for her to imagine what the body
beneath the tight shirt was like. Wide shoulders, chiseled chest,
rippling abs … even his scent – of pure man mixed with the mystery
of night – lured her like an animal falling for a hunter’s bait.
His attraction was inhuman.

He glanced up at her, amusement in the
upturned corner of his full lips.

“You ok?” he asked, his quiet, gravelly voice
making her heart quicken.

She met his gaze with a nod, and they looked
at each other until her face flushed. She cleared her throat and
looked down. The wound on her arm was gone. She pulled her arm from
his grip and stared at it, twisting it left and right before
lowering it.

In fact, she felt no pain at all, anywhere.
She kicked out her wounded leg. It, too, was healed. All that was
left was to clean was the blood.

“I’m going crazy,” she said, voice
tightening. “Oh God, I’m going crazy!”

Her vision blurred with tears, and she stood
precariously.

“You’re not so good on your feet yet,” D
said.

She felt his arms around her and leaned into
him, surprised at how natural it felt to be held against a complete
stranger who made her want to flee for the hills and strip naked at
the same time.

“You’re not going crazy,” he assured her.
“When you’re well, we’ll talk.”

“You know what’s wrong with me.”

“Yes.”

“Who the hell are you?”

His warm chest vibrated against her cheek as
he chuckled.

“Damian Bylun. If I’m not mistaken, you
called me for help.”

Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure she wanted his
help. Damian Bylun was not a doctor. Hell, she had serious doubts
he was even human. She didn’t know what he was, and she had a
feeling he’d welcomed her into a world that only he could grant her
leave from.

God help me.

He wasn’t sure how someone going from the
second to first floor had managed to get bloody enough to look like
she crawled through a warzone. Most women were too intimidated to
go near him, let alone get close enough to throw their arms around
him. This one clung to him as if he were the only thing preventing
her from being swept overboard. He’d watched her thoughts of him
naked, flattered and turned on. It’d been too long since a
normal
woman got over his first impression.

He reflected on the images in her mind when
Jake touched her. The instincts of the newly minted spy were dead
on. She was the greatest find since he’d taken over the war from
his slain brother.

He tried to move away, unaccustomed to anyone
touching him. She tightened her grip around him, and he was amused
to think of himself as any sort of comfort to
anyone
, let
alone a little human like her. He’d not held a woman in too long,
and he’d never held one for the sole purpose of comforting her. She
needed him. He was surprised to realize he liked the feeling.