by L. A. Banks
He stared at the chairman. His instincts had been correct. The information slowly entered his mind, toppling one epiphany against the next like mental dominoes falling. Yes, she was definitely precious beyond measure, and Vlak would have never given her up—even seven years from now. Carlos knew in every fiber of his being now that Vlak would have used him as a security guard to keep competitors away while he was empire-building, then double-crossed him, killed him, and added Damali to his stable, derailing anything she would have accomplished during the big war.
For a fleeting moment, Carlos wondered if Damali even knew how serious her role was. Then he shook the concept. Of course she had to, Marlene and company had been schooling her for years. Pride for her filled him instantly, as did the understanding of who she really was. Respect… damn, she was the Neteru. It wasn't an intellectual understanding anymore, clouded by passion, or the way he'd found her in the streets all those years ago.
Carlos smiled, his voice a reverent whisper. "My baby's making history."
The blast from Big Mike's charges flashed orange-red, and sent huge chunks of dirt, rock, and foliage hurling into the jungle. The team dropped, the ground beneath them unstable, as the explosion began a rain of rock and dirt upon them from the side of the cliff. Frenzied bats screeched and sought available escape paths. Righting themselves, and racing toward the tunnels that brought them to the top, the team scrambled to get out of the cave.
Damali shot out in front, leading the group through pitch blackness from memory. There wasn't even enough light for her night vision to be fully effective. But with what little she could sense, she got the squad back to the center of the cavern where the were-jaguars had ambushed them, the team feeling the walls blindly with their gun barrels angled down to avoid shooting a fellow teammate by accident. When her foot struck something soft, Damali almost jumped out of her skin. But then she remembered, and made the team come to a halt.
"I don't know if we can carry our man with us," she told the group sadly, "even though we never leave our own."
They gathered around their dead man, but even Kamal shook his head. They didn't have the manpower to carry Dominique as well as the footlocker, and be alert.
"Anoint him here," Kamal said fast. "He was already were-human, and has been bitten again by were-demon—at least our man deserves to ascend."
Marlene hurried as the tunnel continued to rain rock.
"I'll carry him for you, brother," Big Mike boomed.
Drum put his hand on Mike's shoulder. "His body is jus' flesh and goes back to the earth. Long's we get his soul out, we, from our team, are cool with it. But, thank you."
Mike nodded, though Drum couldn't see the response. Damali glanced around in the darkness, seeing nothing, as Marlene quickly concluded, sensing where to drop a vial of holy water on Dominique's missing chest.
Just as she was about to tell the group to move, glowing green-and-gold eyes from every imaginable ledge appeared. Sulfur smoke filled the tunnel. Big Mike and Dan lobbed holy water grenades, and for three seconds of bright light amid horrible demon screeches, the team saw what they were up against. Pure Hell.
It was as though the entire demon world had evacuated the subterranean space they occupied and had descended on the cavern. Kamal's men were gagging, the grenades nearly felling them. It was clear that the ancient warrior had meant more to them than the vampire nation, and they had sent up serious representation to ensure no double-cross from Vlak.
Deformed animal shapes grotesquely fused with human forms stood poised for attack once the holy water rings began to burn off. Guardians quickly paired up with Kamal's men, trying to help their comrades, but also trying to keep themselves covered with weapons at the same time.
Acid-dripping fangs had flashed in the light, massive hooked claws had shielded hideous glowing eyes from the glare, greenish rotting skin befouled the air—this was the demon realm's warrior team.
In a unified thought, the human squadron opened fire, sending automatic-weapon magazine releases against demon targets that exploded, scrambled, and lunged again. It was like the things were splitting, multiplying as the guardian and were-human teams cut a path, backing into an open tunnel on the run, Mike and Drum hurling C-4 bricks and grenades behind them to seal off a path.
"Roll call!" Damali yelled, as they found a temporary shelter. "Anybody hurt?"
"No, we good!" Kamal hollered back. Rocks behind them made the group press forward, but as soon as they rounded the corner, Damali held out both hands. They were at the mouth of the booby-trapped tunnel. Behind them was half of Hell, before them was sudden death.
"Shit!"
"What's up, D—we gotta roll."
"Rider, this is the tunnel we were supposed to be sending the bad guys into."
"Oh, shit," Shabazz muttered.
"Send a crossbow stake through it—see how bad…"
Kamal's words tapered off as a low hissing sound filled their tunnel. It was coming from outside the cave, and in seconds a huge black snakehead eclipsed the moon. The thing's skull and jaws were the size of a Honda, and when its eyes flashed green, it unhinged its jaw to bear fangs as long as a tall man.
"I think we could use your shoulder cannons now, gentlemen," Damali whispered as the serpent slowly eased its way into the tunnel, viciously snapping in the process. "Let him get in good, so we don't miss… they move fast, I saw one in action."
Mike and Drum just nodded. The scratching at the blocked opening behind them had ceased, and the growls and screeches seemed to be moving, like the fight was going on outside now—probably to join this thing for dinner, Damali woefully thought.
But as the monster got fifty yards away from the team, a snap sounded, the beast looked up, and huge wooden spears impaled it. Furious, wounded, but not mortally so, it struggled against the spikes, slamming its head against the sides and ceiling of the tunnel, causing an avalanche from the commotion. Taking quick aim, Mike and Drum sent twin bazooka blasts at the creature, which blew it out of the tunnel, clearing the way.
The team was about to run forward, but Damali held up her hand, finding a rock, hurling it to the midsection of the tunnel, and the false floor gave way, revealing pikes. The problem was, however, pikes weren't the only things down there. The pit writhed and swelled with serpentine energy. Wet, slimy things half human and half snake unwound from the stakes and moved toward the group.
The team unleashed everything they had—automatics, crossbow shots, holy water bombs, Damali taking swipes at things overhead with Madame Isis and the Amazon's battle-ax, dropping hissing heads as Marlene defended against them and batted them away with her stick. Artillery low, the things just kept coming, and then for no reason, retreated.
Huffing from exertion, the team stared at Damali—who stared at Kamal and his crew, then her gaze shot to Jose.
"Incoming," Jose said quietly, as the spent were-human team nodded, gagged, and looked like they would vomit from all the holy water smoke in tight confines.
Two of Kamal's men dropped, and neither their teammates nor members from Damali's guardian team could immediately help them up. She glanced at the fallen men with panic, as Drum weaved and Big Mike caught him under his arm.
"The sulfur. We've gotta get Kamal's men out, fast. So we're gonna have to creep along the sides while the enemy regroups. It's our only way out, but we have to leave the footlocker. It's too unstable, a man could fall, Kamal's men are getting sicker… plus, these things could snatch any of us down there at any second."
The team members murmured an uneasy agreement as Damali stepped forward, her boots crumbling rock and dirt along the edge. There was nothing to hold onto. The walls were slimy and slick, the soft edging was only four inches wide, and she was physically the lightest-weight member in the group. Big Mike and Drum would never make it. She glanced back, and returned to the squads, shaking her head.
"We're fucking trapped," Rider said quietly.
Growls made the group train its focus on
the open, but inaccessible cave exit.
"We'll bring you over," a familiar voice said, materializing with a twenty-vampire squad.
The team just stared at Carlos, slowly raising weapons like Damali had told them to do. But the sheer size of him, as well as his squad that covered the entrance, gave the entire guardian and were-human team pause. Damali could not breathe. She was going to have to watch his beheading, if not do it herself. Her grip tightened on the Amazon's battle-ax, and Madame Isis. Several, if not all of her team members would die.
Carlos looked more pumped than he had in the tunnels before, when the entire team battled Nuit. His fangs were down at the ten-inch battle length; his eyes were solid red, his chest and shoulder enormous beneath black camouflage fatigues. His Green Beret-looking henchmen had no faces, just red glowing eyes within a black haze under hooded robes, and their arms were as thick as two of Big Mike's. Battle-axes in hand, they snarled and surrounded Carlos, who took a step forward, motioning for them to not enter the holy water smoked cavern with him.
"Steady, gentlemen," Damali murmured. "On my order—'cause you'd better not miss."
"What! Woman, are you crazy?" Carlos backed up, shook his head, and his henchmen growled. "We ain't got time for no theatrics! The gatekeeper Amanthra is down, we got a bunch of the weres, but you know in a minute, they'll be back at us—two levels of bullshit, D. This is a level-four and -five breach! So stop playing around!"
"I'm not playing, Carlos. You've got ripe Neteru—"
"I don't—"
"Then why do you look like that?" she shouted, her team holding, readied for the word.
"Because we been kickin' ass to give you a fucking chance to get out of here!"
"How'd you get the Neteru out your system, dude?" Rider shouted, unable to contain himself.
"Damali killed Vlak with the Isis, I was in chambers trying to raise a squad when the chair bled! Now, c'mon! We ain't got a lot of time!"
"Can you read him, D?" Shabazz said fast. "Get a bead on—"
"No! We don't have time for that!" Carlos was walking a hot line back and forth in front of the cave.
"Want us to extract the cargo, boss?" one of Carlos's entities asked with a glare. "We can go get her, if you want… as long as we don't get slashed, we can—"
"Oh, my God," she whispered, her gaze going to Marlene. "I'm cargo?"
"See, man! Shut up," Carlos fussed. "No. I'll go get her, because she'll start her team shooting and shit, and one of them might get fucked up if you guys go off."
"You damned straight dis joint'll be lit the fuck up, mon, you try en grab de gurl. Not with ripe Neteru in your system. We go out motherfuckin' swingin', boss—you know dat. You in our house out here!"
Shabazz pounded Kamal's fist, as the human squad held their weapons tighter.
"Oh, shit…" Carlos began walking in a circle as his own team growled. "Why, Damali, would you stand in front of an Amazon, tell her all the shit you know about me is true, then be scared of what you saw in a fantasy, huh? Damn, girl, you are pissing me off!"
"You heard what I said to her?" Damali cast a glance at her team, which began to look confused.
"I was down there in council chambers getting my ass kicked, okay? I was begging them to let me come up here and get you, told them about Vlak's bullshit, and needed something, anything, to bring me down so I could deal—and you are up here, yelling at the top of your lungs about all the shit I did for you!"
He punched the cave wall, making part of it crumble. "Telling all my fucking business, about the desert thing, and everything—and now, you won't come with me so I can keep demons off your ass?" He walked away. "I'm done. Just fuckin' done."
Carlos's henchmen cast nervous glances between the retreating master vampire and the huddle of humans in the cave.
"Yo, boss," one of them hollered. "Whatchu want us to do with the cargo, man?"
"Let the demons eat her and her squad! Half of 'em are were-humans, anyway!" Carlos yelled back over his shoulder. "I can't take anymore! This is the most stubborn, off-the-hook woman in the universe!"
Carlos spun on the confused henchmen, pointing a finger at them. "Do you know, this is the woman who made a throne run red blood in council chambers, first one in history to do a high-ranking council member—her damned sword is branded in Vlak's throne—so don't be crazy and go in there for her. Leave her. The demons want to wipe out the vamp daywalker vessel, since theirs is gone. Her stubborn ass will see when all the demons on levels four and five come up here. We seal the level breaches, and I'm going to eat. I'm done." Carlos turned his back to her and began walking while muttering. "Dusted almost all my second-generations in my territory to keep her safe—for what? Now I bring an army to save her, and she's arguing with me? Fuck it!"
Damali looked at her team, and they simply stared back at her, weapons lowering.
"Damn, gurl," Kamal murmured. "You hit a throne?"
"Yo, D, think you should ease up on your boy… seems to me like he's cool, and all… might get us out?" Big Mike shrugged and glanced at the others.
"Hey, let's not allow a little domestic difficulties to ruin the party," Rider quipped, glancing nervously toward Carlos. "Yo, man, she didn't mean it!" He looked back at Damali who bristled. "Did ya, hon?"
Begrudgingly, she sucked in a huge inhale and hollered Carlos's name, but he didn't answer.
"Aw, shit," Jose replied on a dejected note, as the henchmen started disappearing. "I think this time… ya know… I mean, even his brother and the rest of his posse was in that second-generation tier."
"I think our brother is straight, D," Marlene murmured. "That other stuff you saw, he didn't bring that right now."
Marlene was the only one that cut through her defenses. Damali let out her breath hard and folded her arms over her chest, a weapon in each fist. "Carlos," Damali yelled, "fine! Squash the other shit—we'll take that up later. Aw'ight, we could use a hand."
Carlos spun on her, stopping his retreating and confused squad. "No, you don't! You don't need me," he hollered back. He looked at his men, then at her trapped teams. "I saw you do some incredible shit." His voice mellowed. "I was so damned proud of you, I almost got smoked in council." He nodded to the messengers. "Say what you want, girlfriend is baaaad. Dusted a treasonous councilman, fucked up a rebel master—killed Nuit's ass with a prayer as she planted her sword. Did a drag race to protect my turf, rode shotgun with me… and kicked that bitch's ass up there, then served her a head trip like I ain't never seen. My boo is awesome."
He let his breath out hard, and studied her teams. "You all don't know what you've got on your side. Shit… I ain't messin' with her when she's like this. Naw, I ain't the one; I know better." He glared at Damali, but it softened as he looked at her. "You were right, my bad. I mean it, and I've even said it in front of your squad and mine. What else you want from me? I said I was sorry." He turned and walked away. "Plus, you've got a damned army in there, and can handle yourself without me."
Kamal moved from the middle of the huddle to stand by Damali and quietly spoke to her. "Call de man right, chile. I showed youùuse da balm. Den apologize right, later. A man's pride is a terrible thing, and at the moment, his is beat down hard, and he needs it. That ain't changed since the beginning of time, and won't tonight, even in dis new millennium. You won. You the Neteru, that ain't changed neither—and nobody can take that from you… so don't cut off your nose to spite your face, proving what don't need ta be proved. Not out here."
She was about to fuss, but Kamal cut her off as Carlos and his men disappeared. "He got shit wit him, you got shit wit you… you right for wondering, he wrong for makin' you wonder… he right for coming when you needed him, you wrong for being ornery when he did—so squash the bullshit, and get our teams outta here."
Weary, Damali raised her hand and closed her eyes. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to take a shower. She just wanted to sleep on clean sheets in an air-conditioned room with no bugs. She just
wanted everybody to be all right. No more causalities, not even a hangnail. She just wanted poor Kamal to be able to bury his man in peace. She wanted to be off the fucking Amazon River and away from a foreign country… she didn't want to be dealing with demons. Her body hurt from almost getting her ass kicked, her man was bugging—
"You almost got your ass kicked?" Carlos was walking down the center of the tunnel, oblivious to the fact that it had no floor, and there were pikes below. He just strode across the expanse; his jaw set hard as Damali's team pointed gun barrels to the floor without blinking.
"She hit you in your face?" he asked, galled, turning Damali's cheek to the side gingerly with two fingers. "You know…" He shook his head, and called over his shoulder to his squad. "Clear that fucking exit and get my woman out of this insect-infested bullshit, would you!" He took Damali by the hand and began walking, but she hesitated.
Carlos let out his breath. "Girl, you oughta know me better than that."
"It ain't you, it's the ground, or the lack thereof," she said fast, her team peering over the edge of it with her.
"Like I said," he repeated with a hard snap of his fingers, making the cave floor solid and passable. "You oughta know me better than that."
Not even a cicada, mosquito, or water flea moved as the team got onto the barge with twenty-one extra passengers. Every human on the boat just took a very still corner of it, or sat on a box, but nobody was trying to say anything that could light a match.
Carlos materialized on the second level and walked up to Kamal. Nervous looks passed through the group, but again, no one said a word. "You the one who taught her how to refine her technique?"
"The balm," Kamal said cautiously.
Carlos nodded, glancing at Damali who was sitting on a crate, a battle-ax in one hand, a sword in the other, glowering at him. "Don't know whether to thank you, or rip your heart out, man."
Everybody bristled, even the vampire breach-sweepers that patrolled the decks for security.