by L. A. Banks
Jose's bristle made Carlos walk forward and the dogs growl. "I know you are not standing outside my lair trying to fucking challenge me for her? Are you that crazy?"
"Carlos," Damali said quietly, then raised her voice to also address the warrior teams. "Let's keep to the point. It's not even like that between me and Jose. What is wrong with you?"
She was too through, and Carlos seemed like he was too high to be totally rational. Anything could go down, but it was good that he kept talking, working it out in his head. Maybe the air would help dissipate the scent—that was the hope. She wanted to bring them both back to center, not have something crazy happen. But the sure thing was that if she said she was leaving now, in this state, he'd hurt somebody.
"All right," she told the group. "Let's assume that this generational vamp thing is true for a minute."
"Thank you," Carlos muttered. "Finally, progress."
She took her time to speak, monitoring the horror in Jose and Father Lopez's expressions. "Then, if this is true, Lopez was born with vamp trace elements but like Jose made the choice to be a Guardian. Their spirits are good, Carlos—nobody can be held responsible for what happened in the past before they were even born. And yeah, it might have made them more susceptible to certain leanings. Like I understand why Jose couldn't immediately shake Dee Dee's hold. But in the final analysis, baby, they made the right choice, to be who they are."
"See, Damali, there you go again, always twisting my words." He pointed at her, but he was looking at her teams as he spoke. "You see this? This is female logic, the most treacherous shit in the universe!"
"But she's right," Father Patrick said, his gaze galvanizing the teams. "Whatever Lopez or Jose's distant pasts, they made a choice. And, as you know, we had you marked for Guardian status. The reason we found Lopez so fast, as well as you—is because we, too, have a homing instinct to find our own when felled." His thick white brows knitted with suppressed anger. "And tonight we've come to reclaim at least one of our own!"
"Word," Shabazz said. "So save all the rhetoric, Rivera. We takin' baby girl outta here, and I don't care how Jose or Lopez got made as long as—"
"This is not open for negotiation," Carlos said evenly. He looked at Damali. "She's already made her choice."
"You tricked her," Jose said, pointing toward Carlos. "She would have never chosen—"
"Put your hand down," Carlos said between his teeth, "before I rip it off!"
"Carlos, stop!" Damali yelled, her hands going to his now massive biceps. "You hurt my people, and I'll tell you what my choice will be."
She looked at Carlos hard, and he shrugged away from her, but backed off.
"Fine," he muttered. "So long as you're clear about your choice."
"She's in no position to make a decision like that," Marlene said. "She's under the influence, and her system is in flux! You've polluted her, just like her bites have somehow given you a way to cross our thresholds like a male Neteru! What she gave you was good, what you gave her without her rational awareness or full understanding was—"
"No," Carlos shouted back. "What you people did was flat-line my baby—and she made the choice to survive!" He took two steps toward Marlene, the dogs growling at his heels, but Marlene never backed away. "You're her moms, so I'ma be respectful… but when your daughter came to me, she was code blue." He slapped the center of his chest. "She sucked in the first breath of returned life from my lungs, not yours, sis. I started her heart, made her blood flow, and vowed to never let you all put your hands on her again." He shook his head. "No, Mar. Girlfriend is making wise choices—she's in her full and right mind. I gave her something good—a second shot at the game—but you tried to kill her."
The night was so still, so quiet, that one could almost hear electricity crackle within it. Slowly, cautiously, Damali moved beside Carlos, and he pulled her to him hard, still glaring at Marlene.
"Baby," she said gently, her gaze going between the two drawn combat lines. Marlene's eyes looked so hurt and had such fury in them, she almost didn't know where to begin. Carlos's tight grip didn't help, because she knew he'd be beyond reason if she challenged the union in front of the teams. This was the rock and the hard place.
"Remember in the lair in Rio," Damali said as calmly as she could.
"Yeah," Carlos muttered. "Shoulda stayed in fucking Rio."
"When we sat on the beach and synchronized our breathing, our minds, and finally our hearts," she said tenderly, brushing a stray bit of hair behind his ear, watching him normalize.
"Yeah," he said, his tone low, private, his gaze now focused solely on her.
"And you know how much I don't want anybody in this to get hurt. Be gentle with Marlene, especially… and my brothers."
"All right," he said slowly. "I know. How could I forget? I felt it when your soul entered my empty space and started my heart, when my pulse fused with yours and lingered, baby." He lowered his forehead to hers and shut his eyes, completely relaxed and no longer at battle bulk. "You gave me your heartbeat."
"Damali," Marlene said firmly, not moving, as the team around her remained stone-still.
Carlos lifted his head and looked at Marlene. "Let it go, Mar. Can't you see where she wants to be?"
"Both of you, listen to me," Marlene said, her glances shared with Father Patrick. "You all did a ritual more dangerous than the bite. That's partly why her immune system is off… why she's literally turning and turning back, ripening, then going barren, and conversely, you're flashing male Neteru, then master, or some crazy combination that allows you to walk where you're not supposed to—just like it's making her do what she'd never dream of… your senses are off, Carlos, just like hers are. The mild scent she normally trails is probably enough to—"
"Knock his head back," Rider said, blowing out a long whistle. "His nose ain't no better than mine."
Carlos snarled. "Me and you, any day, motherfucker—but right now, I'm trying to hear some science—so shut up!"
He stepped back from Damali and moved toward Marlene. But his gesture wasn't threatening, just that of a man unnerved and seeking answers. He looked at Father Patrick.
"Carlos, give Marlene the Isis and send Damali home," Father Patrick said, quietly. "No more bites until we can figure this out." He looked at Marlene. "We thought the multiple bites challenged history—but I know this has never happened, much less ever been repaired."
"Her system probably could have handled the bites by itself," Big Mike said on a sigh. "It was the one-two punch, the combo. Shoulda known there was more to it than just that."
Big Mike and Shabazz lowered their weapons, as did the rest of the team.
"Now this is a true turn of events, if ever I saw one." Rider said, lowering his weapon arm, too. "What, we've gotta purge the Light out of this bastard to get him out of her system? Somebody on this team shoot me."
Carlos and Damali exchanged a nervous glance. Something in the team's disposition had clearly changed, just like it had within theirs.
"You had no heartbeat before, right?" Marlene said firmly. "She entered your dark space where your soul was supposed to reside, and took all of that darkness out into hers with it—along with a lot of the powers." Marlene's voice escalated in a slow rise as she spoke. "And her light warmed you from the inside out. I bet you've had a human pulse ever since." Marlene waited for Carlos to slowly nod. "And when you restarted her heart—what did you do?" She pressed on, not waiting for his answer. "You probably hoped her back to life, gave her your breath, and everything you had in you—on a prayer."
His dogs backed away from him, snarling and snapping. Carlos backed away from Marlene to stand beside Damali, his glances at her unsure. If it ever got out that he'd prayed over this woman… and did a soul transfer…
"I could stay half-vamp and have the blood hunger, the lust and still not be dead, or suddenly go into a ripening and start a vamp civil war? I thought I had seven years?" Damali was breathing hard. "I have to stay human with the
missing—"
Father Patrick held up his hand at the same time Carlos did, stopping Damali's words.
"Not out here in the open," Carlos warned. Both Marlene and Father Patrick nodded in agreement.
All the issues hit her at once. "Marlene, what if I don't cast an image on stage, or, wake up one day to go out to run an errand, and sun bake!"
"That's what I'm saying, Mar," Carlos said pulling Damali near him. "This shit's gotta be clear cut. She can't be going back and forth, not knowing. My damned nerves can't take it, either. If she shows up in the registers again as a full turn—all Hell will literally break loose. And if she has a false ripening… no, that can't happen. There are four other masters topside, with full regions in Europe, Asia—what-the-fuckeva, and my territory is bled out from the last wars—and all I've got backing me up to protect her is two Hell-dogs and a team of new, remade seconds. That ain't worth shit against four masters and their armies. Plus, this other issue, which we need to speak on under closed circumstances, is going to require both of us to be on top of our game."
He walked away from her, and raked his hair hard. "I mean, for real… I can't be going down to council chambers like that, either—or have my nose, or any other sense off. What if my transport stalls in an emergency situation? Or if I go into a battle and have my power outright fail—not be able to drop fang because I have some punk-ass Guardian shit in my system. Aw, hell no…"
When Damali touched his arm, he shrugged away from her touch.
"Where I have to roll, that's beyond dangerous—and with the kinda forces that eventually could go after her," he said, motioning to Damali, "girlfriend has to be on her toes at all times. Can't have a fluctuating daylight problem. She has to know for sure."
"Now you see our point," Marlene said, drawing out each word. "But before, we old folks couldn't tell you—"
"Mar," Carlos shouted, pointing at her as his nerves snapped.
"I've still got a lotta vamp in me, sis. Don't say it, because all I know is—I knew what my bite would do to her, based on what you all told me… which was supposed to be nothing!" He glanced at Damali, ignoring her hurt expression. It was the truth. "And based on trust, pure trust alone, I let her do something to me that fucked us both up! So don't stand on my property telling me shit, Marlene, but I'm sorry!"
"This is crazy, Marlene," Shabazz said. "I never thought I'd want a vampire to get back his full faculties, but this is—"
"Fix it!" Carlos yelled. "Marlene Stone, you taught her how to do this, now teach her the reverse for the cure!"
"You two are inextricably linked, at the moment. Probably always have been, which is the other part of our problem, but I'll deal with that later." Marlene wiped her face and sighed long and hard.
"Aw'ight," Carlos said after a while, his cool facade totally gone. "So though the exchange had the desired effect, it helped her, right? She's alive. I just need you to break down what else all this means. How bad is it really?"
"Correct, it helped her live," Marlene replied, her gaze narrowing. "But it's bad. Real bad. The purge almost killed her because you are in her system at the heart chakra level—that's why she flat-lined, brother. If she goes into a vampire episode, even though she probably never died as required for that to happen, we can't bring her out of it. The vampire state will have to pass on its own and we'll never know the duration of it."
"Why not? If she hasn't died, there are slow healing methods—"
"No, Carlos. Not an option. When we purge, we're killing, extinguishing the vampire in her and the virus is in her heart. So she'll flat-line, not because we're amateurs! So don't you ever go there again. Got it?"
Fired up, Marlene paused, and when Carlos didn't challenge her, but instead looked off toward the line of trees, she continued. "It means that no matter what you see manifest, it's temporary, most likely. It means that if she bears fangs and blows your mind, brother, she's no fully turned female master. Unless you happen to accidentally kill her one night while y'all are playing too rough! And it means that if you happen to get a whiff of my daughter ready to conceive, it's placebo, and you'd better keep your hands off her and bring her home! She has work to do!"
Marlene walked in a hot circle, her face flushed from fury. She whirled on Damali. "The things I taught you were never supposed to be used under these circumstances. Are you crazy? The vampires have the bite, but we trained seers have something, too, sister-girl, and our Ju Ju is just as deadly, is supposed to be used under very controlled circumstances. Not played with in some house on the beach. I taught you better than that!"
* * *
Chapter Eleven
Damali and her team stood there watching Carlos's back as he turned from them, waved his dogs off, and simply folded away into nothingness. It was the way he did it with none of his usual decisive flair that concerned her. But there were many things competing for her attention at the moment, most immediately was her family, most importantly was the missing biblical key.
Gradually, her Madame Isis sword materialized at her side. Again, it was in the way it had been returned with such resignation that, for a moment, she and her team only stared at it.
"We never leave our own," she said, holding her head up high, and pulling the Isis from the earth. Damali tossed the blade and it landed point down in the grass at Marlene's feet. "You keep this until you think I'm worthy to have it. But my mission hasn't changed. I'm going to clean out some nests, as planned, and bring back the thing we need."
Full authority was in her tone. It was a command, not a request, as she pushed her shoulders back and stood firm. "Just understand that I never left you all, and I never left him—herein lies my dilemma. In my soul I know that he is just as much a part of my mission as being with you is."
Marlene studied the blade and went to it, extracting it from the ground with a sharp tug. Her eyes met Damali's and a quiet understanding passed between them. She ignored the nervous bristle of the other Guardians as she stepped in close to Damali, turned the blade handle out and offered it back to her, waiting patiently until Damali accepted the ornate handle.
"You did teach me better, Marlene," Damali said, no anger or apology in her voice. "That's why I did what I did—I wasn't playing. I wanted him on our side… still do, always have, and I wasn't afraid to go where I had to go to reach him." She gave Marlene a slight smile.
Marlene smiled, her finger moving a stray lock off Damali's shoulder. "You scared us half to death."
"Scared myself… still do sometimes."
Both women's eyes held a level of amusement that only the night could witness. They both turned back toward the team, feeling the group behind them growing restless.
"You coming with us, or what?" Rider shouted, his frustration rippling through the night. "Tell me after this you are leaving hombre—'cause, girlfriend, you are way off mission, right about through here."
"She can no more leave him now than I could leave Shabazz," Marlene said firmly, dismissing Rider's question with a wave of her hand.
"It's time you guys clue me in to what else might be affecting my flux," Damali said, her gaze holding the group. "There's some serious yang going down in Australia. I was standing by Carlos when his squad showed up, and apparently another master breached his borders."
Marlene touched her face as she walked forward. "The sixth biblical seal is in jeopardy, baby," she said in a quiet tone. "We need our Neteru."
As clear as day, Damali heard Marlene's mental instruction: Go find the missing key—by any means necessary.
Damali touched Marlene's cheek. "Trust me, Marlene. Let me see."
Marlene's gaze opened to Damali, and images rushed into Damali's awareness. But with that information also came a sad understanding; if the seal that matched the stolen key was discovered, Carlos would trade it for her life.
Now his agitation and stress made all the sense in the world to her. She understood where all the posturing and hollering was coming from—brother was caught betwee
n a rock and a hard place and wasn't coping well at all. He knew that she'd give her life for humanity. The fact that he'd hunt down the key just to spare her, bartering it away for one human life, that in and of itself was enough to make her never want to speak to him again. Yet, she also couldn't ignore the fact that he'd done that simply because he couldn't bear the concept of her death under any circumstances. It was too complicated. Damali closed her eyes and let out a long, weary sigh.
"You know that's why I have to go with him," Damali said, her voice just above a whisper. "He's scared, Mar. I've seen him go through a lot of mess, but all the bravado is about fear."
Marlene nodded. "Definitely a male reaction, human or vamp, it's the same."
Both women shared a tender smile.
"Maybe that's why you had to intimately learn about his world," Marlene said after a moment, and then glanced at Father Patrick. "She has to go in under their radar as one of them. We'll back her up from the outside."
"This is what I was meant to do as the millennium Neteru," Damali said firmly "The timing of my birth… hey, we all know we're in the end of days, so, this is it, people. Win or die trying."
Father Patrick tossed Damali the small dagger that matched her Isis, and she caught it fast. "In Australia, follow the song lines of the Aborigines… tell him that will lead you both to a safe house."
Monk Lin nodded and glanced at his clerical team. "In case you need to know so they don't burn you, they appear like infrared, but blue-white lines, and stretch across the protected sites like an alarm grid might… hopefully, you'll never be able to see them like he can." The monk sighed. "Make sure you get a map of all the sites with hallowed ground between wherever you're going, and there."