But as in the temples they"d visited earlier, nothing was registering. There was also the not-so-small problem of what to do if she found them with Carlos or anyone else there to witness the discovery. She hated keeping secrets from him; it made her sad to have to do that. This was her man, her partner, and they were supposed to be one.
Damali turned her attention toward the only source of illumination, hoping the tiny lights might provide answers. Small b.u.t.ter lamps lit the interior, their smoky essence filtering up to cover the ceiling in soot.
She glanced at Carlos, watching him walk around the miniature prayer altar, and she studied his gaze as he took in the hundreds of religious markings that covered the walls.
"What are you sensing?" she murmured, coming close to him.
"Nothing I should be feeling or picking up from a monastic temple," he said with a, half smile. "But I have to remember not to defile the Neteru."
For a moment, she didn"t move or speak. A deep, pungent, sensual aroma began to fill the unventilated s.p.a.ce around her, making her slightly heady. "Who told you something like that?" she whispered, her breath coming out huskier than was warranted.
"That"s just the thing, D," he said quietly, his gaze still raking the walls as she stepped in closer to him. "I can"t remember. I just know that I"m not supposed to."
"Who got that crazy mess up in your head," she said, smiling, closing off the s.p.a.ce between them. She inhaled deeply and allowed her nose to drag along his shoulder. "Whew, man... is that what"s been bothering you lately?"
He shook his head and stepped away from her, his eyes on the cave walls. "There"s an energy here," he whispered. "Male."
Damali straightened and went on guard. "Friend or foe?" Her eyes darted around the dimly lit enclosure.
"That would depend on your perspective," an elderly voice said from behind the column.
Carlos and Damali whirred around and stood in battle readiness as a small, gnomelike man in a brown robe stepped from behind the column. His face was drawn with wrinkles, his hair white and long, fusing with his mustache and beard to flow down the front of his dark brown habit. His eyes were all white, covered in thick, bluish cataracts. His hands were concealed within the deep folds of his sleeves and he extracted them slowly to press them together and bow.
"I am Zang Ho. You seek the wisdom of the Naksong?"
Damali and Carlos didn"t immediately speak, temporarily rendered mute by the surprise.
"Well, well, speak. Be quick. Time is of the essence," the tiny man said with impatience. He swept up to them, seeming oblivious of their size and strength, or the fact that Damali was packing a blade. "I"ve waited a very long time for you two-and you both are incorrigible." He swept away again and walked around the column with his hands behind his back, and then suddenly rushed up to Carlos, pointed a crooked finger at him and smiled a toothless grin. "Ahhh..." he said, inhaling sharply. "The apexing one is here." He spun to face Damali with blind eyes. "The female, too. Humph. Put away the blade," he ordered. "I detest the smell of metal."
Carlos and Damali simply stared at each other for a moment.
"Uh, sir," Damali said, vastly amused by this droll little man who stood all of four feet ten inches tall, if a hair. "Uhmmm... you are the Naksong, we take it?"
He waved at her to dismiss the query. "You are almost ready, but him... my, my, my so much work to do and so little time."
"Sir, what do I have to do?" Carlos said as humbly as possible. "I came to learn from a master, because we have a serious mission at hand."
"You were a master!" the old man shouted, becoming indignant. "This is the point," he said, placing a bony finger against his temple. "A general. A master strategist. What is wrong with your mind?" He walked away, swishing his robes against the dirt floor and stirring plumes of dust as he strode around in agitation. "I don"t have time for silly questions, young man. Link to her energy!" He folded his arms over his chest and pouted, and then began twirling the end of his long beard between two fingers, waiting.
"We"re out of sync," Damali hedged, confused but swallowing a smile. "We"re supposed to be looking for some serious demon energy, the Chairman"s lair, but, uh, Monk Lin has been taking us sightseeing."
"Integrate yourself," the Naksong said, snapping his fingers. "You must conquer that which is within by using what is within. Then to conquer the external is moot, unless you have achieved that." He walked away. "I am done for the evening."
"Wait, wait, wait, hold up," Damali said, moving to block the elderly man"s exit. "We did not fly umpteen hours and get snagged by government forces, get loaded down with artillery, to hear "integrate yourself and go home. Be serious, sir-or at least have a heart."
The old man frowned and turned to address Carlos, tilting his head as he listened for his position in the room. "Feisty. I can see your hesitation."
"Listen," Carlos said, losing patience. "I don"t know what you"re talking about, and-"
"Then the problem is worse than I thought," the old man fussed, cutting off Carlos"s comment. He again began to pace in a circle, muttering to himself, his voice rising and dipping in fits and starts. "In the land of the Arc of the Covenant, did you not receive the tools of the Neteru?" He held up his hand to prevent an answer. "Yes." He began walking again. "In the land of the Thunderbird, did you not receive the mission?" Again he held up his hand as Carlos and Damali glanced at each other. "Yes." He looked up with dead eyes and folded his arms over his bony chest. "But you forgot. Humph! Young people." He began his dizzying circle again. "We are in trouble," he said to the vaulted ceiling. "We are in very, very big trouble if we depend on them." He jerked his head to stare blindly at Carlos and Damali. "Sync up and meet me in the mountains tomorrow. I suppose I will have to teach."
Before Damali or Carlos could open their mouths, he vanished in a puff of white smoke.
"Okay, now that was deep," she said, going to the spot where the little man had been. She stomped on the ground. "Now what do we tell the team?"
"Your visit was fruitful?" Monk Lin asked, rushing up the cave temple stairs before Carlos and Damali descended them.
The group was held in thrall as Carlos and Damali related the bizarre events inside the cave, but Monk Lin whirred around and clapped his hands.
"You have met the Naksong. He has agreed to teach. This is a divine omen. Tomorrow, we set out at dawn to find the nomads, who will point us to the oracle. She will be able to coax him to us and our lessons begin."
Glances pa.s.sed around the group as they all got back into the vehicle.
"I just have one question," Rider said flatly, staring out the window. "Why do we always have to do things the hard way, people?
Just answer me that, gang, and I won"t say another word for the rest of this trip!"
Still mystified, Damali stood before the window in the tight confines of the barren room, watching the setting sun paint the mountains in the distance pink and gold. Where were the tears!
Carlos"s arms enfolded her as he looked at the scene over her shoulder, resting his chin on it.
"I"m sorry that I"m such a slow learner," he murmured. "D, I swear, it"s like something is in my head that can"t get out. Things I should remember by instinct just ain"t there anymore."
She covered his hands with hers as he held her, keeping her back toward him as the shared the spectacular view of the Tibetan sky.
"It"s not your fault," she said quietly. "Something traumatic happened, and I can feel it just under the surface of your skin. But what troubles me is that I can"t pick it up, either. There"s a black wall there. Maybe it"s just because you went full vamp before, so your Neteru transition is a little slower than..."
"I know," he said with a weary sigh. "When we went to the first temple, I felt detached, nothing, as though something was trying to reach me, but couldn"t get in."
She turned and stared at him. "A lot of blood was shed there. That temple was desecrated. Maybe you were shielding your mind from that?"
He nodded and moved a stray lock behind her ear. "I don"t want to focus on images like that anymore."
"But you can"t turn a blind eye to it," she argued gently. "Close your eyes, try to see what was there at Jokhang. Maybe it will offer a clue?"
He nodded, and slowly obliged her, tuning his mind to the images of the first temple. Soon his breathing deepened and his head dropped against her shoulder. The smell of blood filled his nose, and he tensed.
"Stay with it," she murmured. "I"ll be with you in the vision."
Slowly, he forced himself to relax and attempted to retrace his mental steps through the intricate maze of the sanctuary. He could feel perspiration beginning to seep out of his pores as the pungent scents became nearly intoxicating, covered his face, slid up his nose, and made him weave against her.
Damali dragged her nose across his shoulder. The sensation sent a shudder of desire through him. The images in his head melted into the rooms of the Potala-thrones, books, swirled in his mind. Before long, his breaths were coming out in short pants. He was chained to a wall, scorpions exited the floor and covered his feet, scurried up his legs, and turned into tiny gargoyle-like creatures that grew and became harpies. He tried to jerk his head up, but Damali had a firm grip at the base of his skull.
"Stay with it," she murmured. "I got you. I"m here."
Pain riddled his body, and then suddenly gave way to weightlessness. A dark throne sat alone, smoke pouring over the floor, and then strong desire filled him. His groin felt like it was on fire. Golden fangs opened. A dark book was just beyond his reach.
He nuzzled her neck hard, and battled not to score her throat. He could feel his gums about to rip, but as his tongue ran over his teeth, they"d remained smooth, even, flat. A sudden nip against his jugular made him open his eyes and gasp.
"You smell so d.a.m.ned good," she whispered, her eyes at half-mast. "I"m sorry, I couldn"t resist." Her hand slid down his chest.
"It"s been a long time."
He held her upper arms, shook his head hard, chasing the vision, trying to catch it. "There"s a book, D."
"Forget the book," she said in a husky tone. "Forget about what happened in the hotel room, okay?"
"What happened in the hotel room, baby?" he said, his voice tight and frantic as he tried to wipe the desire haze from mind. He shook her gently. "Damali. Focus. What happened in the room?"
She rose on her tiptoes and suddenly crushed her mouth against his. "I don"t care," she said as she pulled away, and then crushed his mouth again, sending her tongue into it. She swayed in his arms and gripped the back of his hair tightly. "Stop playing."
He stared into her now gla.s.sy eyes that glittered with something dangerous. "There"s a book-"
She covered his mouth again, her body writhing against his as she yanked back his head, her gaze dedicated to his jugular. The sensation of watching her eyes produced near vertigo, but something inside him cried out for understanding.
"Not while I"m apexing," he said, suddenly pushing her away.
"Are you nuts?" she said, wrapping her arms around herself.
"No. Something"s wrong."
"You"re d.a.m.ned straight, something"s wrong," she said, her tone icy. "What the f.u.c.k is wrong with you?"He blinked twice and stared at her. "What is wrong with you?" he said in a shocked whisper. "D... talk to me."
Her arm pulled away from her body as she pointed at him in a hard snap. "Who is she? What is she? You talk to me, dammit."
Damali walked away and stood between the two monk cots in the room. "How long have you been dealing with this b.i.t.c.h?
Huh!"
Carlos held up his hands. "Keep your voice down. We don"t need the family in this. Baby-"
"I remember what happened on my porch," she said, her voice low and seething with rage. Her breaths came out in short bursts; tears rose to her eyes but didn"t fall. "You washed me into my living room, opened my f.u.c.king nose so wide a tractor trailer could drive through it, and then backed off-left me hanging." She closed her eyes and hugged herself and shuddered hard. "All right. I was wrong about pushing you away... about having a temporary lapse and thinking about somebody else for a second.
I"m sorry. Okay? Is that what you want to hear? Done. I"m sorry." She wiped her hands down her face and breathed into them, her line of vision again capturing his. "But, baby, don"t do me like this." She shook her head as she approached him slowly. "Not tonight."
Information attacked his mind. Her words were connecting to a distant memory, colliding with the present. It was like she was possessed, wanted him more than ever, but he couldn"t respond the way she needed him to. The memory contained a red flag of danger. Her body moved too sensually across the floor. Her voice had dropped to an octave that wasn"t hers. The competing images of what he knew and what he loved stripped pa.s.sion away, dulled the ache her s.e.xy advance caused. There was no silvery-gold flicker in her wide brown irises. The inner glow was too dark.
"Back off," he ordered and jumped over a bed to avoid her. "What happened in the hotel room?"
She met him on the other side of the cot in a lightning move. "What did you say?"
He avoided an open hand slap, and grabbed her jaw. Instead of a punch he"d expected her to hurl, she closed her eyes. Her scent filled the room. Ripening Neteru began to enter his nose, but it was off and contained sulfur. That"s when he pushed her back and slapped her.
"Damali! Where are you?"
She held the side of her face, looked dazed for a second and then normalized. Her hand rubbed her cheek as she stared at him.
"Have you lost your mind?" she whispered in her normal voice. "You hit me?" She spun around and walked to the door. "You hit me in my face because I was trying to kiss you?"
"D, it wasn"t like that," he said, coming toward her, but she held up her hand. "That"s not what happened!"
"Now I"m crazy?" she said in disbelief. "I"m out. I need air. Follow me and I"ll cut your d.a.m.ned throat in the streets."
"D, wait!"
But it was too late; she was out the door.
She walked a hot path-to where, she wasn"t sure. The streets were still loaded with pedestrians and tourists. Cyber cafes and restaurants bustled with nightlife. All she wanted to find was a bench to sit down on and weep. The man had hit her, an unpardonable offense. He"d actually slapped the f.u.c.king taste out of her mouth. A hundred possibilities ran through her mind.
Was he living on the down-low now? Plenty of sisters had to cope with that. Another woman? Relapsing? Detoxing? Whatever.
It didn"t matter. The man she was with was domestically violent. Unacceptable. She was out. His a.s.s was possessed. Screw the contagion as an excuse. End game.
She stopped on a corner. Where the h.e.l.l was she gonna go? She was in freaking Tibet and had a mission to accomplish. She turned back toward the building that housed her team. She had to go back, had to get the angel tears, slay the Chairman, and get them all back to the airport in one piece. Had to find... her thoughts trailed off as she saw Carlos running down the street.
Her first impulse was to unsheathe her blade and gore him. Too dramatic in a foreign country. She"d get her own room; this bulls.h.i.t was over. She didn"t care what he had to say.
"Listen," she said, one finger in his face as he came near.
"I was out of my mind," he said, then jerked her to him and covered her argument with a deep, sensual kiss. "I"ve been stressed, you"ve been stressed. I hate this s.h.i.t. Let"s get out of here. Tibet is giving me the hives." He covered her mouth again before she could respond and set cool fire to her skin.
She tried to pull out of the kiss but felt something close to delirium capture her mind.
"I want this worse than you do," he said into her hairline. "C"mon. Let"s find somewhere to be alone." He raked his nose down the side of her throat, sending shivers along her spine.
She closed her eyes, swayed, and dragged her nose across his collarbone. He released a low, quiet moan. The adrenaline spike, along with whatever he was trailing, made her nearly forget she was standing outside on a busy street. It was reflex when she ran her fingers through his hair. She could feel his jaw become packed with sudden steel, just like what was pressing against her thigh.
"Oh, s.h.i.t, I"ve missed you," she whispered.
"I know," he crooned, a fang now threatening to break the skin of her throat.
She couldn"t take it; he"d pushed her past the point of shame in the streets. She bit him, no hesitation in the strike, and felt his knees buckle. But when she did so, the taste in her mouth was metallic. He lifted his head and smiled, but his eyes were just a shade too dark. No silver flicker behind his irises. His signature scent evaporated. He caught her breath.
"d.a.m.n," he murmured. "Perfect vessel."
Before she could respond, he glanced over his shoulder, snapped, and was gone.
She looked up and Carlos caught her. She could have sworn he had on a black designer suit just moment ago, how the h.e.l.l did he get into a T-shirt and jeans so fast? Then she remembered. Oh, yeah, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had slapped her. She pushed him away, still enraged.
"Do not touch me!" she shouted, not caring that heads turned on the street. "Back off or die."
"D, I was worried," he said in a gentle tone. "I had to. Something sealed the door to our room shut when I tried to follow you, and it took-"
"The angels probably sealed the d.a.m.ned door to keep me from cutting your heart out," she argued, one hand on her hip the other in his face. "Don"t you eva put your hands on me like that. I don"t care who you think you are. I"ll have your a.s.s in front of a judge so f.u.c.king fast they"ll throw the book at you! If you eva hit me again, it"s-"
"Angels!" he shouted, walking in a circle. "The book! Oh, s.h.i.t, Damali. I have to get the book!"