Jake looked over at her still body, feeling somewhat guilty. Normally, Guardians were supposed to ease the transition of Naturals into their organization. However, he didn't have time to convince someone as stubborn as Sofi to do anything, and Czerno wouldn't wait for her to decide to go with Jake.
"More or less," he answered.
"Don't tell me. I don't wanna know," Laney said. "Take her there. Han knows you're coming."
"Thanks, boss," Jake said. "She's uh, a little bit asleep. Can you just let him know she's not really in any shape to meet D yet?"
"Yeah, sure," Laney said with a smoky chuckle. "Get outta here, kid."
"We're gone," Jake said with a grunt as he lifted her again. Laney hung up. Jake drew a deep breath, closed his eyes, and disappeared.
*****
White God's Headquarters
Damian sat in his office before the computer, glancing between the instant messaging boxes popping up on one computer screen and the geospatial depiction of the past hundred years' worth of battles between his Guardians and the Black God's vamps on another screen.
"D, you coming down for the festivities? It's pretty interesting. They're acting out some bizarre kid's story for the cancer kids," Han said, ducking his head into the office.
"No. Talking to Dusty and Jule," he answered without turning. "Save me some cake."
"Sure."
"The girl still sleeping?"
"She'll be out for a while. Jake gave her enough that she should sleep for another day or so," Han answered.
"All right." Damian returned his interest to the displays, and Han closed the door softly. Dusty, can you hear me?"
Dustin typed yes.
"What the fuck's wrong with your mic?" Jule, the regional commander of the eastern hemisphere, demanded with a laugh.
Don't know. IT issues.
"At least it's just IT," Jule responded, growing serious. At the pause, Damian knew they were all looking at the geospatial depiction. His gaze roved over Jule's European front. It was slowly being decimated and fragmented by Czerno's blood-sucking vamps.
"You've got a rat," he said, reviewing the past hundred years of battles depicted on the map. To humans, it would look like the natural give and take of a long battle. To the three of them, the drastic changes that occurred over such a short time span after thousands of years of no change were a warning sign.
Or more than one, Dusty typed.
"I think Dusty's right," Damian agreed. "You've got more than one rat to worry about."
"I have Antoine under surveillance. I have no leads on anyone else," Jule replied. "Thanks to Antoine, my spy network is shit right now. I'm rebuilding as fast as I can, but it ain't easy finding new Guardians, let alone those who make good agents."