Damian's Oracle

"Four safe houses in six days have been destroyed," he said. "All in Tucson."

Damian sobered, troubled by the news. It was how the destruction of the European front started. The safe houses dropped like flies, then the spy network, then the sectors' headquarters. He didn't know where the leaks were coming from in Europe, and he definitely didn't know where they were coming from in Arizona.

"How many men you need?" he asked.

"To maintain our operations, three more. To get ahead of the vamps …" Rainy shook his head. "At this rate, I don't know. Trac-the Natural tracker was able to identify patterns in the attacks. Ikir, they're using our tactics against us."

Damian crossed his arms. It was the worst news yet. One of his Guardians was training the enemy.

"Traci's found signs of the vamps' surveillance around two more of our safe houses. None at your HQ yet or Sector HQ," Rainy added.

No one could find Damian's HQ unless they were on the guest list, or one of his Guardians revealed its location. He maintained a shield around it that made it invisible to those who didn't know where it was.

"Burn the six safe houses. What's the impact if we have to burn more?" Damian asked.

Rainy rubbed the back of his neck, pensive. "It leaves us with two, plus Sector HQ. Ikir, I think Tucson Sector is going to be completely compromised by Christmas."

"The Quarterly is coming up in a week," Damian said, coming to the same conclusion. "I relocate HQ after each one for security reasons. We'll evac all Naturals and Guardian assets from Tucson Sector after the Quarterly and send in a clean-up crew."

Rainy nodded, a look of relief crossing his features, and Damian saw his mind was on his Natural ward, Traci.

"I love clean-up duty," he said with a cunning smile.

Most Guardians did, including Dusty, who personally oversaw every operation in his hemisphere. Damian issued few clean-up orders, for there was no way to maintain the discretion his Guardians needed to mask their shadow operations protecting humanity. It was loud and dirty, the type of work they'd ceased two centuries before when the human population exploded and globalized.

Damian thought hard. First Europe, then Tucson Sector. His mind traveled to the sexy Oracle, and he wondered if she'd be anything like the Oracles from his father's time. If so, he might have the key to crippling the cancer afflicting his operations. If she survived her transformation, that is.

"Keep me updated, and alert the neighboring sectors," he ordered. "How many Naturals you have in Tucson?"

"Only two."