"Your long blade is missing and you saw it there," Marlene said, packing away her book and satchel. "Maybe that"s where you guys will sync up, get back to the crazy normal y"all call normal. Who knows? Meanwhile, can you work on saving the world?"
"Road trip." Damali hopped up from the bed with a wide grin.
"When we receive a sign," Marlene said, her grin matching Damali"s. "Let"s not rush things."
"No, Marlene. Eve going into combat mode, risking a full seduction info siphon from the Chairman is a sign. Don"t get it twisted.
Girlfriend put a lot on the line, had to open old wounds to come away with that. I owe her. We all do."
Damali"s expression went stone serious as she stared at Marlene. "We don"t have time to waste; we pull out tomorrow-first light, hit L.A. to get a flight over to China. You and Dan make the arrangements; get J.L. to do it online, if you have to. But do it.
Call Father Pat, too. Make sure we can get shots and all that, p.r.o.nto, so we can pa.s.s foreign inspection, not that we"ll need "em if we don"t succeed in this mission. Tell him to hook us up with a doctor from the Covenant that"s already infected, so we don"t hurt any innocents. And since we just got booted off Jose"s property, if we survive, when we get back, we can figure out a more metropolitan place to live. Sound like a plan?"
"Sounds like a plan. A new location is definitely in order, if we get through this. It might be a good idea to compromise, too.
Perhaps find a spot in L.A. that we can all live with, where the Berkfield kids can go to school during the day, even though Marj is doing her best to homeschool them. They"re bouncing off the walls, poor babies, as is everyone else. Vamp incidents are at an all-time low, we haven"t seen any crazy were-demon activity, and the Chairman is on the run. We can do a good job of throwing down a prayer line, retrofit a mansion, and get the Covenant brothers to add a little somethin" somethin" to the mix."
Damali nodded hard, but Marlene"s line of conversation disturbed her. The woman was in denial. Wasn"t thinking clearly. Why was she worried about trivial things when in thirty days, there might not be a world? Damali tempered her response.
"Yeah, because Marlene, for real-you can run but you can"t hide, and sooner or later, the newbies have to be able to live like regular people, blend in." That was as much as she could offer without bodily shaking sense into Marlene.
"Couldn"t agree more," Marlene said, coming to Damali to give her a hug. "Might stem some of that resentment thing, too."
"Ya think?" Damali held Marlene tightly. Oh, G.o.d... everyone, even her mother-seer, had lost their minds. "I didn"t realize how much of that poison was running through my system." She let Marlene take the statement any way she wanted to, but she"d been referring to the contagion, not some stupid man-woman resentment issue.
"A very famous lady, an old star, Jill St. John, said this when she lost her son: resentment is like taking poison, and hoping the other person dies." Marlene held Damali back from her. "That was so profound, it stayed with me. Here this woman had lost her heart, her fourteen-year-old child to a tragedy, and that was her take on the matter. I learned something from those words, so I pa.s.s them on for you to consider."
Damali touched Marlene"s cheek, her hand cupping it with tender love. She had to stop the infection. She missed the old Marlene so much she could almost wail. "Marlene, you are so deep sometimes. I"ve been feeling like I was possessed or like something was trying to get inside me and take over my spirit. Resentment is poison."
Marlene nodded and released her hold on Damali. She watched her grown daughter walk away from her, but didn"t immediately follow behind her. There was something in what Damali had said; also something had slithered within her daughter"s touch. The word possessed hung in her mind like a dark cloud. Her lips moved reciting a silent prayer as she watched Damali rejoin the despondent group in the living room. Something was wrong; her internal warning bells were going off.
For the first time in a long time, Marlene was very unsure.
All heads jerked up as footsteps came up the path. Before they could land on the front steps, the entire team was on the porch.
Carlos glanced up sheepishly, his ragged, bloodstained jeans, torn T-shirt, and dirt-smeared face made them stare.
"d.a.m.n, y"all, what a night!" Carlos exclaimed, shaking his head as he mounted the stairs. "I"m driving to L.A. to get the h.e.l.l out of here for a short break until we could all figure out what to do, and a freakin" deer jumps into the middle of the road, wrecks my Jeep, messes up a brother"s transpo, are you feeling me? I am done!"
He smoothed his palm over his hair as the team stared at him without blinking, their expressions blank. "Then," he said quickly, adding to his story, "I"m trying to find my way back home in the dark, and white light holds me, checking to see if I even smelled the deer-like I"m an addict, or something? What"d y"all do, call the spiritual feds on a brother, or something?"
Shoulders relaxed, smiles eased into expressions, Damali slowly came down the steps. "The angels scanned you, huh?" she said with a slow grin. "Did you pa.s.s inspection?"
"Would I be standing here, if I didn"t?" Carlos folded his arms over his chest. "Now what kinda question is that?" He shook his head and brushed past her. "No, "hi, baby, glad you"re all right?" d.a.m.n, girl, you cold. What is up with you, D? What"s the "get back you don"t know me like that" about?"
Rider put his semiautomatic lengthwise, barring Carlos farther entry up the steps. Carlos stopped, looked at the gun, and then up at Rider. All right, sensors were on. Everybody that had someone dear to protect might be able to feel the change. Love cut through all dark-side illusions. He needed to find weak links in the chain. "What"s up with that, Rider?"
Rider"s gaze into Carlos"s eyes never wavered. "Where"d the so-called angels drop you, then? We had a search party covering the ground from the land and the air."
"Tara came?" Carlos said, acting surprised. He"d seen them both, but hadn"t allowed them to see him."And Yonnie," Rider said evenly. "Neither one of them, working together, could find you-just like we couldn"t."
Again the group went still. Carlos looked down at his bloodstained clothes.
"I hope somebody had the presence of mind to check out the deer that was stuck in my windshield? Take a sniff, man. This was all over my seats."
"The deer checked out, Rider," Damali said, trying to mediate the tension.
Rider refused to yield. "That"s not what I asked him. I can smell deer blood from here."
Carlos sighed. "What do you want from me, man? They dropped me far enough away that I could barely see the house lights in the distance, then gave me some long speech about duty to the greater good. But you know how they work. They didn"t bother to give a brother a lift home."
Big Mike nodded. "Rider, man, it would make sense that they"d shield him from his old friends if they feared a relapse, given Yonnie and Tara are still... you know, vamps, and all."
Carlos fought not to smile. "My point, Rider."
"Why don"t you get washed up," Marjorie said cautiously, "while there"s hot water, and if you give me those clothes-"
Rider shook his head no, and glanced at Shabazz, who had been strangely silent.
"Not back in this house with newbies. No," Rider said flatly. "If the angels thought you might relapse, then-"
"Well where the h.e.l.l am I gonna go, Rider!" Carlos shouted, and then looked at Shabazz for support.
Rider hocked and spit. "Metal is all in my throat." He glanced at Jose. "Talk to me little brother. You picking that up, too?"
Carlos"s gaze narrowed on Jose. He homed in on the vamp tracer in Jose"s DNA and unlocked the code that was embedded within it: You can never out your own to humans. Ask Yonnie and Tara, who are several generations up. Your Chairman commands it so, with a little extra topspin that would make old Dante p.i.s.s in his pants.
When Jose opened his mouth to speak, he fell eerily quiet and shrugged. Seeming satisfied, Carlos returned his attention to Rider. "Jack Daniel"s and cigarettes got your senses off, hombre. You need to chill."
"Jack Daniel"s ain"t got nothin" to do with it. I know what I know. Something ain"t right."
"Maybe we"re all just a little taxed," Marjorie offered. "Carlos has been-"
"Acting strange," Shabazz muttered. "Say what you want to, and my job is to groom a male Neteru, but I ain"t having a potential vamp flux in here with newbies. Call it misplaced paternal instinct, but something is making the hair stand up on my arms. Dig?"
"So, now I have to sleep in the equipment shed like a dog?" Indignant, Carlos stormed down the steps. "Then at least give me a vehicle so I can drive to a motel."
His gaze went to Marlene"s and then Damali"s. Both women were impa.s.sive, and it totally floored him that Damali had remained silent throughout the exchange.
"Rider and Shabazz are right," Damali finally said.
"What!" Carlos was so angry that he could feel his own breath singe the hairs within his nose on each breath."If there"s any flux happening, innocent or otherwise," Damali said, unsheathing her baby Isis, "then maybe you"d better come home with somebody who can deal with it."
Carlos almost smiled. He gave the team his back to consider, catching Berkfield"s pained expression before he turned around.
"If you"re injured," Berkfield said, beginning to walk down the steps. "Maybe-"
"No," Carlos yelled. "Don"t touch me." He then mellowed his next response. "I"m fine. Y"all have put me out of the house, so, fine. I don"t need anything from anybody." He waited, watching Berkfield remain on the step, unmoving. The last thing he needed was for a healer with sacred blood running through his veins to attempt to lay hands on him. He didn"t know what the repercussions of that would be, and would make it a point not even to shake Berkfield"s hand until he knew.
"Carlos," Juanita said, coming down the steps past the others. "Listen, it"s not like that, okay?"
Carlos tilted his head as he watched her come closer. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind and captured it... Oh, Juanita, ya don"t want none of this...
She froze in the path, just like the deer had, and then began backing up the steps one at a time. "But, uh," she said, slowly recovering, "we"ve got kids in the house. Try to understand."
"Yeah, man," J.L. said, placing a possessive arm around Krissy"s shoulders. "That"s the only reason people are tense. I mean, with the contagion, and all, who knows how bad any of us is gonna get-and you"re stronger than any of us, if you flux out, or something. It ain"t personal."
Dan nodded and body-shielded Bobby. "Don"t take offense. They can"t deal with it. That"s the only reason, man."
"Oh, f.u.c.k all that," Inez said, her eyes narrowing on Carlos. "I don"t like how the man looked at Juanita in front of my girl!"
Inez was practically down the steps, and were it not for Big Mike"s hand on her shoulder, she would have been. Up to this point, Inez had been skittish, but was spiking a battle surge within him. He hadn"t banked on Inez having the leanings of being a seer, not to mention, he forgot that she was Damali"s cut-buddy. Inez was also from the "hood, and had street sense to hone the other gift she obviously had. Right now she seemed ready to go down for her girl over a respect principle. So be it.
"Let her go," Carlos said, his tone even and lethal. "I didn"t look at Juanita no kinda way, and if Jose was cool with it-"
"But I wasn"t," Marlene said in a flat tone. "He stays out of the house until daylight hours."
Damali gave Marlene a knowing glance. "In the morning, we pack and move out. Everybody get some rest. We"re going back to L.A."
He couldn"t believe his good fortune. Carlos kept his gaze out the window of Damali"s Hummer as they made their way down the road. He used an att.i.tude as a shield to keep her from seeing his overwhelming relief. They"d be off this prayer dirt in no time.
It was making him sick.
She jumped out of the Hummer without looking at him. She"d fled it so quickly that she"d practically forgotten to turn off the engine.
"Strip," she ordered, using her short blade as a pointer. "Right here in the front yard. Then I"m gonna douse your clothes, and I want you to see what happens to them when I do. Then you"ll be able to understand why everybody is just a little bit nervous around you, brother."
"All right," Carlos said, allowing a half smile to tug at his mouth. "You"re the boss," he added, slowly hopping down from the Hummer and pulling his shirt over his head. He held out the ripped T with two fingers and dropped it, as though providing her with a slow striptease. He bent to unlace his Tims, but steadily kept his eyes on her as he straightened and stepped out of them, then kicked them near his ruined shirt.
It was something she"d seen him do more times than she could count, but for some reason, tonight, his slow undressing was so sensual that he might as well have been doing a male version of the Dance of the Seven Veils in her front yard.
Damali"s gaze traveled across his broad shoulders and the sculpted form of his chest, lingering on each bulge of defined abdominal muscle packs. His skin seemed like fired bronze in the moonlight. She couldn"t help staring at his hands as they took their time unfastening the top b.u.t.ton of his jeans. Reflex made her lick her lips as his hand slid his zipper down. Her mouth went dry, her face flushed hot. A hard shiver made her belly clench as he rolled the denim fabric away from his body as though peeling back an onionskin. Just looking at him had made her so wet that she feared the emulsion between her thighs would soak through her pants.
She couldn"t move as she watched him; didn"t want to move. Oh, yeah, he"d blown her mind with s.e.xy vamp drama in the past, but she"d never almost fallen over at his antics from twenty-five feet away. Her skin felt damp and warm, and before she knew it she was breathing out of her mouth in short sips. Maybe Marlene was right, all they needed to do was sync up... and man oh man was she ready to sync and squash whatever had been between them. This was the s.e.xiest s.h.i.t he"d ever done to her.
Carlos yanked his pants down his thighs slowly, and let them slide the rest of the way to his feet. His intense gaze held her in place as he casually kicked them toward the other clothes that lay in a pile. She was not looking at his face. Her jaw went slack, her heart seemed to stopped for a few seconds, it was beating in arrhythmia for sure... It had been a while, but she didn"t remember hombre being hung like that!
He walked nearer, an easy smile of satisfaction rooting her to the top porch step. "Can I come in the house now?"
She had every intention of saying something flippant, but the words got caught in her throat.
"Well, you just gonna leave me out here in the raw?"
She shook her head no. "I need to douse you and your clothes," she quietly gasped.
"Why don"t you worry about that, later. Obviously, I"ve missed you. How about if you douse me in the shower, like old times, instead?"
From some reservoir of common sense, she scrambled together a sentence. "We can"t just jump in the shower... no... uh; we have to use protection. I could get pregnant." She wasn"t sure why those words were first to come to her mind or out of her mouth.
Carlos shook his head and clicked his tongue, making a little tsking sound. "And here I thought you"d consider making another baby with me tonight."
Forget warning bells-cymbals went off in her head, breaking what felt like a spell.
"Latex or nothing... Why are we even shouting this conversation in the yard?" Damali looked around, confusion eating at her brain. Then she felt her mind pry open and nearly snap.
"Latex?" He chuckled low and sensually, his eyes roving over her body like a caress. "You don"t trust your Sankofa to do the work for you?"
In all truth, she didn"t. Not tonight. There was something very dark, half scary, but way, way too magnetic about him at the moment. But to admit that would fly in the face of everything Neteru within her, not to mention might blaspheme her Queens. She forced a smile to cover up her distress. Y"all got my back, right? she mentally whispered. This brother ain"t no joke. I don"t know what"s wrong with his a.s.s tonight."Since you"re packing heat," she said as coolly as possible, "and talking plenty of trash, a double layer of protection is a girl"s best friend. A condom or the couch. Your choice."
"What I"ve got for you tonight," he said, his voice a tone lower than she"d ever heard it before, "will burn right through latex."
His voice had washed her entire body with a wave of want, and then entered it between her legs to coat her insides with new heat.
"Oh, s.h.i.t..." she murmured, having meant the comment to come out as a possible battle-readiness shout for him to back off. She weaved, caught the porch banister, and gripped it for support as another penetrating wave hit her.
"How many times have I asked you to stop playing with me, Damali?"
As he walked toward her she could feel the warmth of his hands on her body, touching every place he"d learned by heart. The black box in her head felt light, the lid on it struggling to remain shut. Images began to surround it, taunting it to open, and her gaze slowly found his. Tears blurred her sight, and short pants escaped her mouth.
"Baby, stop," she whispered.
"Why?" he asked in a subsonic tone.
"Because I"m asking you to," she said in a near squeak.
"You know you want a soldier, raw, Mamacita," he said in a voice so low it rumbled through her and produced a pleasure wave that knocked her head back, causing her audible gasp. "Stop trippin"."
Mamacita? He"d never called her that before. Something was definitely wrong. She"d felt every sound decibel from his throaty response drop inside her as though he"d let each word fall like a droplet of water... or blood. Circles of ecstasy spread through every cell within her, uniting every essence of liquid in her system to its throb. Concentric ripples connected each spreading ring in a million tingles that felled her to her knees where she once stood.
She could barely lift her head. Carlos"s footsteps rang out as they landed on the steps one by one. The vibration along the wood planks from each footfall made her cry out with desire. Every time he spoke, his whisper was a forceful caress that elicited a sound from within her that she"d never heard. She tried to lift her head to look at him, had to see what this new mood of his was all about... even as a councilman, he"d never blown her away like this.
"I don"t care about what happened in your kitchen," he said so quietly that her body began to lift from the porch floor without her aid. "You like vamp. Jose"s got that in him, baby... but not like this"
The moment her head dropped back again, she"d braced for a fang strike, even though Carlos was only a few feet from her.
Instead of receiving the bite, she found herself sprawled against the porch floor, actual beach waves washing over her, making her scream from the intolerable pleasure.
Water was everywhere, the salty fusion of it reminiscent of blood. What felt like Caribbean sun was p.r.i.c.kling her skin, licking it as erotic waves repeatedly lapped at her body and continued to sweep her closer to her front door. It was so intense a vision, or whatever it was that he"d produced, she was sputtering salt water and trying to stand, when another wave knocked her down.
Sand was under her fingernails as she scrabbled to fend off another tidal sensation.
Gasping, she peered at him, confused, panting out sentences in short bursts while trying to wrap her mind around where this power rush was coming from. This wasn"t no freaking relapse! "Male Neterus can do that? They taught you that on the island with the old men-back in Ethiopia? s.h.i.t, baby, you apexing on me, or something? You definitely gotta use something extra, for real."
Carlos tilted his head to the side as he stared down at her. Power was an awesome thing, to be sure. But she"d actually felt desire for some vamp perpetrator over him? His distant line brother? Was she out of her mind? She wanted a change?
Something new? Something forbidden? Done. No, this wasn"t a relapse or anything some old men on an island had taught him.
Far from it.