Damian's Assassin

"He's not dead," he assured her.

Her gaze remained on him, disbelieving. He resisted the urge to reach out to her as he did Sofi when the Oracle cried after a particularly brutal session with Darian's bad memories. He wondered if Bianca's thick curls were as soft as Sofi or Jenn's hair. His phone rang, and he snatched it from the dashboard. He grated his teeth to see Darian's number on the screen. He answered.

"Dusty, I'm-- " Darian started. Dusty knew at once by Darian's tone that whatever the Grey God wanted to do, it would get him in trouble.

"No," Dusty said.

"But I met this girl and she-- "

"Hell, no."

"Dusty-- "

"My house, my rules, no compromise," Dusty reminded him. "Get your ass to the range and learn to shoot. I'm activating your GPS. If you're not there in half an hour, I'm coming to find you." Darian gave another of his annoyed sighs and hung up.

Bianca was staring at him. He ignored her and parked, leading her into the hospital. He hung back as she approached the first nurse's station they came to, aware of the effect he had on humans. Those around him moved away, and those on a path towards his side of the hall changed their minds and turned around. He looked at his watch, aware he had a morning packed with activities to follow up on.

His phone rang again, and he answered, trailing Bianca to an elevator.

"Hey, boss," Toni said. "I took a look at the logistics info you showed me. Hector in Missouri is gonna help me straighten it out. We should have it done by noon. Also, ikira said you needed help managing your schedule, so I'm forwarding you your agenda for today. I'll take a couple of the meetings, and I tasked Jenn to start forwarding intelligence reports to me as well. Are you groovy with all that?"

"Yep," he said, pleased. "Do what you need to. Sasha's files are on the shared drive. You can dig through those as well. He was more anal than me, so I know everything is in order."

"It gets kinda crazy around here, doesn't it?"

"Definitely," Dusty said with a trace of a smile. "If the inmates try to run the asylum, give me a call." He hung up.

"What exactly do you do for a living?" Bianca asked, her eyes wide.

"You're not ready for that." He tucked the phone away and met her gaze, watching the emotions that crossed her face. Red crept up her features, and she looked away. She still looked fatigued, with dark circles under her eyes and skin pale beneath the caramel.