Read Online Damian's Oracle by Lizzy Ford - Free Book Online Page B

SIX
     
    They drove west, away from DC. She watched
the scenery turn from urban to rural and recognized the roads
leading up to Skyline Drive, the scenic route running through the
mountains of northern Virginia. The town car moved at a quick pace,
bringing them to a mansion atop one of the private, gated drives
tucked away from sight along Skyline Drive.
    Czerno motioned her out of the car as it
stopped in front of the Georgian-style manor house. It was full
daylight, and she was already in pain despite the heavily tinted
windows.
    The daylight almost dropped her to her knees.
She staggered against the car, cringing away from Czerno as he
snatched her arms and dragged her to the house. He released her and
tossed his coat to a waiting maid before motioning her to
follow.
    She followed, heart racing. She passed
several men with guns hidden in the alcoves of doors as she walked.
Upon passing the first, she realized they weren’t men at all. No
human’s eyes glowed red, and their inhuman growls as she passed
resembled those of animals. They watched her like they intended to
make her their dinner. She hurried to follow Czerno, silently
praying Jake ratted her out to Damian.
    There were two other men in the study Czerno
led her to. The door closed behind her, and he pointed to a chair.
She sat, taking in the Goth décor that made the study as welcoming
as a graveyard. The other two men gazed at her. One was of medium
height and slender, an older man with sharp green eyes the color of
forest moss who seemed out of place in the middle of the room. The
second was closer to Han’s age with midnight hair and eyes.
    Neither looked friendly. She stayed the urge
to curl up in her chair, jumping when a shadow with lopsided
shoulders emerged from the corner dressed like an executioner in
black hood and gloves.
    “Jilian, check her,” Czerno ordered. “Two,
prep the room.”
    The man in the black hood left while the man
with midnight hair and eyes approached. She blinked, shocked when
he walked through the man with the green eyes, as if he weren’t
there. Jilian wrenched her up. Visions slammed into her, each one
as vivid as the next, the sights, smells, sounds. He was Czerno’s
personal hitman, an executioner with no heart or soul.
    “Unbound,” Jilian said, releasing her.
    She dropped into her chair, shaking.
    “I’m impressed,” Czerno said. “Bylun’s gone
soft.”
    “If he didn’t act, there’s a reason,” Jilian
observed.
    “If he didn’t act, I will,” Czerno responded.
“Prep her, quickly. Damian’s not gonna sit around for this
one.”
    Jilian grabbed her again, and she grated her
teeth against the visions, staggering as she tried to keep upright.
He led her down the stairs into a basement that looked more like a
dungeon. One well-lit room gleamed with stainless steel. Until she
saw the blood on the walls and ceiling, she thought it was a
surgical room.
    The torture room from her visions. Panic
gripped her, and she tried to bolt. Jilian snatched her and slammed
her onto the table, pinning her in place as he strapped her wrists
and ankles in.
    “Please don’t - “ she cried, yanking at her
arms and legs.
    “Shut up. The more noise you make, the worse
I make it for you.”
    She shut up, breathing raggedly. He retrieved
a jar from the small refrigerator and laid it next to a surgical
knife, a large rubber tube, and a huge syringe.
    Oh, god, oh god, oh, god!! Sofia
pulled again at her bindings and closed her eyes against the blood
splatters on the ceiling.
    “What are you going to do?” she
whispered.
    “ You’re the oracle.”
    “I only see other people’s fates, not
mine.”
    “You see mine?”
    “Yes.”
    “What is it?”
    “You die.”
    Horribly. At Damian’s hands. That
Damian was capable of the same level of violence as these men
reminded her that this world was nothing like hers.
    Jilian laughed.
    “Guess they forgot to tell you I’m immortal,”
he said. “Only Czerno or Damian can kill