Damian's Assassin

"Boss, Jasmine wants to know how much more you're going to fuck her over this year. She means that respectfully," Toni said. "She said she'd tell you that in person if you hadn't already taken her Traveler."

"If she's available, have her come to Miami, too," Dusty said. "We're going to need all the help we can get." He whipped out his phone and trotted down the stairs, typing a response to one of the many texts he'd received.

He froze on the bottom step, the hair at the back of his neck standing up. He'd had this sense before, when Darian was proclaimed the Grey God. Dusty followed his instincts to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway. A slight man with white hair, velvety green eyes, and a fatherly smile stood in the middle of the kitchen.

"I tried to call you, but you didn't answer," the Watcher said.

A Watcher appearing in his kitchen was the worst sign of impending doom yet. As members of the oldest beings in the universe, the Watchers saw all. According to the divine codes, they were forbidden from interfering in human affairs, unless they felt like it, which they'd decided to do for several months. Dusty didn't know how they chose when to interfere with the mortal world, but when they did, it normally resulted in some sort of universal catastrophe, like the Schism that split the divine world from the physical one and nearly wiped out humanity and divinity alike.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"You found the healer?"

"You know I did."

"We destroyed all the records predating the Schism, but I thought you might want to know something about her," the Watcher offered.

"Do tell."

"What do you want to know?"

"Why is she special?" Dusty asked.

"She's an exceptionally powerful healer, the kind that haven't been seen since before the Schism," the Watcher explained. "She can help finish what Sofi started with the Grey God, and she's of value to Czerno."

"Why would Czerno need a healer?"

"He doesn't yet, but he will, when he realizes the Others he entrusted are working against him. He's weakening, Dusty. He's flaunted the divine codes for too long."

"There must be a Black God," Dusty mulled, only vaguely aware of the Others, the Watchers that favored humanity's demise.

"Precisely."

"Then what we've heard is true: Talon wants his job. But Talon can't kill him," Dusty surmised. "Why can't I contact Damian or Jule?"

"I had to seal the hemispheres. The White God is safe and well, but there are incidents that must unfold here before they can return."