Brody snorted. “Yeah, plus we werewolves aren’t made of money. We spend too much of it on meat.”
“You don’t have to say that so proudly,” Binx growled.
Sarge raised an eyebrow at the shifters, then nodded for Jade to continue.
“It’s a similar case with the fae fight. They’re a small, local Court,” Jade said. “There’s no way they have the funds to purchase a prophecy. If they did, they’d also be better outfitted with potions and magical artifacts, and be winning more battles, too.”
“That is likely true,” Sarge agreed.
Pleased that Jade hadn’t made me remove my arm from her chair or my hand from her shoulder, I opted to contribute to the conversation. “How many oracles live within Magiford?”
“None,” Sarge said.
I stopped caressing Jade’s shoulder in my surprise. “None?”
Sarge nodded. “None registered. I looked into it for the case.”
“I see,” I said.
Since oracles were a sub-variety of wizards that were so rare, and their magic of prophecy was precious, they were required to register with the Curia Cloisters, and were either guarded by theCloisters themselves, or—more often—chose an employer who was then responsible for their safety and health.
I’d never used an oracle—their prophecies were often vague at best, or could be misinterpreted by the idiotic. In my experience it was the idiots who made up a great deal of society, rendering the prophecies useless.
To my knowledge, none of the Dracos line—Killian included—had ever bought a prophecy, either.
Believing you knew the future was often a dangerous thing, which could turn on you the same way the vampires’ immortal lives turned into a longing for the past that often ended us.
“However.” Sarge hesitated, resting his hands on the edge of the podium. “Just because there aren’t any registered oracles within Magiford doesn’t mean none live here. They could be here but hiding from the Curia Cloisters and supernaturals in general, or—as Blood mentioned—held here illegally.”
Jade frowned, her expression hardening with the dark thought.
Of all supernaturals, oracles were the most likely to face harm and abuse because of the nature of their magic.
“How do we proceed, then?” Tetiana asked. “Oracles are a specialized supernatural. We don’t know how to handle them, and we definitely don’t know how to flush them out of hiding.”
“You are correct, Tetiana.” Sarge nodded. “A consultant is being brought in—a fae named Vale. He does a variety of specialized work on magic, but he’s done a great deal of work with oracles, including tracking illegal and hidden oracles.”
Good. For once the Cloisters is delegating to an outsider instead of trying to foist off problems internally.
“He won’t be arriving for at least one week, possibly two, as he’s currently on a different mission,” Sarge said. “But in the meantime, we’ll be looking for any additional clues. Next update.”
Sarge approached the whiteboard and pointed to the printed off picture of the missing woman. “Team Blood put in a request that we check with the human police department for additional information on their missing persons case, and check to see if there are any updates.”
I exchanged looks with Jade, who straightened up in her chair.
The missing woman had weighed heavily on Jade—a sign to me that while Jade was an excellent slayer, the task force allowed her to better express her caring personality which, I hypothesized, was one of the reasons for her impressive strength.
Sarge continued, “The human is still missing and they’ve found no further sign of her within Magiford, but the police department is sending over several articles of her clothing that still have her scent, and will grant the day shift access to her home so we can build out a scent profile. They’ve reached out to her healthcare providers to see if they can get her blood type and the results of her last blood test to possibly help vampires identify her, but there are specific processes they must go through to protect patient confidentiality, so we don’t have that information just yet.”
“Nice!” Brody grinned. “Finally, some helpful information!”
April balanced a tiny blue flame on her thumbnail as she studied Sarge. “How did the police department take it when you asked for the additional information?”
“Captain Reese made the request via a phone conversation. I was not privy to the discussion, but she said the police department contact seemed confused and grateful that we were following up with the case.” Sarge strolled back to the podium. “Any more questions?”
At my side, Jade flexed her fingers—a sure sign she was thinking. “Sir?”
“Yes, Blood?”
