by user
"This is non-negotiable, Shabazz." Marlene's voice was firm, yet tender as she prepared to leave. She briefly glanced at Shabazz with understanding, then looked away as she spoke. "Escort J.L. to the hospital to cover him and Jose. The vamps are focused on Damali. While they're distracted, I'll join the rest of the team and be safe."
"Mar, no!"
"Oh, shit, D!" Dan yelled, breaking through the argument occurring in the compound. His shout momentarily stilled the calls for a response from Marlene by the mobile Neteru-guardians who were panicked by the compound's silence.
"Something's just landed on the hood of my car!" Dan hollered. "Help me, help me, oh, Goddamn…"
"Start praying out loud, Dan!" Damali ordered. "Now! Anything you remember from Hebrew classes, whatever. Just start saying it."
Shabazz hit the console to take it off mute. "Dan, pray, brother. Hard, like your momma taught you how!"
"I don't remember!" Dan screamed. "I can't remember Hebrew classes… shit, something's rocking my car!"
"Then just start an old-fashioned fucking conversation with the man upstairs, dude," Rider yelled. "Like, 'Save my ass, Father. Help! Yo, get this shit up off me!' Don't stand on ceremony—call down spiritual backup!"
"Something's messing with the generators, D," J.L. shouted. "Power's dipping!"
"Give us ten minutes to get to Dan, then we're coming back for you guys."
"You don't have time to turn back, Damali," Marlene hollered. "Jose is bad, we've gotta get him outta here while we still have generator lights! Meet Shabazz, J.L., and Jose at the hospital. I'm going to draw it to me, then you draw it to you, Damali… keep it confused."
"Dan, Dan—speak to us," Damali, yelled. "Marlene, he's not answering."
They could hear Dan hollering and sputtering disjointed prayers and his car making screeching sounds as metal sounded like it was being grated. Marlene closed her eyes and brought the face she knew too well into her head, drawing it, taunting it, trying to create a diversion.
"We move," Shabazz ordered, hoisting Jose's limp body over his shoulder and snatching up his gun, then thrusting it into his waistband. "Weapons. Start pulling it to you, Damali. Marlene is on her way and has a lock on it."
"Done," Damali confirmed. "Mar, Godspeed. I don't wanna lose you."
Marlene nodded as Dan's remote screams could be heard through the radio. She picked up her stick and a battle-ax as Shabazz also grabbed a pump shotgun, and J.L. took several light wands and a crossbow.
All they had to do was make it to both remaining Jeeps.
"From what I'm hearing," Rider said in a quiet, urgent voice, "we might as well turn back and get up with our team."
Big Mike nodded from the backseat, placing a hand on Damali's shoulder. "Baby, you don't want to find him. We're too late."
"No," she said, her voice cracking. "We go get him, and back up whatever's feeding off of him. At least let his mother be able to bury him in one piece!"
Silence pierced the vehicle—neither the compound radio nor Dan's transmission chattered, only static came through.
"There's his Honda," Rider said, looking around as Damali spun the Hum-V to face Dan's badly mangled car.
"We do this nice and slow," Big Mike warned as each of them checked their weapons and prepared to get out of the vehicle.
Damali nodded, opened the door, and jumped down, swiftly followed by Rider and Big Mike. As they approached Dan's wreck, they could see that both the front and back windshields had been shattered. The top of the car looked like giant claws had ripped it open like a tin can, and the passenger and driver's side doors where hanging ajar.
She glanced at Big Mike, who shook his head, communicating pity for both the lost cause, as well as the fact that he couldn't hear anything lurking nearby. Rider hung his head, and slowly began to shake it, giving her the same silent message.
"Don't go to the car," Rider whispered. "Honey, you don't want to see what they leave. Seeing the remains of a friend is different than seeing a vamp gored. Even with all our losses, you ain't never seen that."
Damali wiped at her eyes with anger and pushed herself forward, braced for the grisly sight. Her second sight was locked on the face that she'd fought in the Chinatown alley. All she could see was the top of Dan's head as she peered through a smashed window. His whole body was wedged down under the steering wheel. She couldn't risk losing her hold on the thing out there stalking Marlene by splitting the focus of her second sight to scan Daniel, nor did she want to. She wasn't sure she wanted to have the image of his death permanently lodged in her mind, so she blocked it.
"Oh, God, they only left his head." Damali jerked her chin up and averted her eyes for a second to steady herself enough to cope with the remains of a friend.
Sudden movement made her grip tighten on her blade as Dan's hand thrust up, holding out and brandishing his gold medallion. Reflexes aimed Rider and Big Mike's weapons at his skull in preparation to take him out. Damali relaxed.
"Get back, get back, get back!" Dan screamed.
The team lowered their weapons and rushed to the side of the car, staring at the trembling hand that held up a gold star. Dan's other hand was covering his head and he was sobbing and screaming.
"It's us, Dan," Damali said, touching his clenched fist. "Are you hurt?"
"Pull him up and slap his face," Rider told Mike. "He's battle-freaked."
Mike nodded and pushed his shoulder cannon out of the way so he could grab at the huddled mass that was struggling to crawl deeper into the small pocket of safety. The extraction took three attempts before Big Mike could dislodge Dan, who swung at him wildly, but never dropped his medallion.
Rider paced over to the fray and slapped Dan twice.
"It's us, dude. Relax."
Dan opened his eyes and blinked at the group who surrounded him as Big Mike dropped him. Wiping furiously at his eyes, he scrambled to his feet.
"Oh, shit! Oh shit. I thought one of those big burly suckers had me when that ox, Mike, pulled me up. Oh shit, guys—why didn't you tell me?"
"Ain't got time," Damali said fast. "We've gotta get back—our compound is under siege. Get him in the vehicle."
Rider held up his hand. "This ain't the place to be making fast moves," he said slowly, his head turning as his nose seemed to follow a scent.
"Oh, shit—"
"Shush!" Mike hissed, cocking his head like a hunting dog. "You hear it?" he whispered, gazing at Damali. "Be still, baby. While you was covering Mar, think you mighta missed it." Mike slowly raised his shoulder cannon and spun on the sound behind him and fired.
The bushes lit up as the dirt shell exploded and a screeching mass took flight, circling above. Rider pulled Dan down, dropped to one knee, and opened fire with an automatic, spraying the mass with hallowed dirt—filled cartridges. Reconstituting quickly, the flying mass regrouped several feet away and separated into six forms while Mike and Rider reloaded.
"Give the man a weapon," Damali told Mike. "Dan, we need everybody in the game tonight."
Mike pulled three leather straps from his neck that had vials of holy water at both ends of each thong, and produced a stake for Dan to use from the back pocket of his fatigues. "You read the Old Testament?"
Dan nodded, his hand shaking as he accepted the strange-looking gizmos from Big Mike.
"David and Goliath action, understood, little brother? Watch her back and yours. Don't get nicked. The stake goes dead aim, in the center of a vampire's chest. Get the heart."
Dan put his chain back over his head and stood when Rider pulled him up by his elbow. With Damali in the lead, and the three men behind her, both sides waited in a temporary standoff.
When the six creatures before them parted, a low growl could be heard coming from deep in the underbrush behind them. Damali's blade was before her, every muscle in her tensed and ready to spring. Then two pairs of gleaming eyes could be seen first, low to the ground, as something stalked through the opening the vampires had made
. That's when she smelled it, and released her call to it. Marlene had been covered. The things had come to her, the vampire huntress, and it was time to deliver a beat down.
* * *
CHAPTER THREE
The guardians kept their aim steady, but didn't fire as the panther loped to the fore and slowly transformed into a lush, tall, black leather—clad female form.
"This is between her and me," the female entity said, straightening out the triangle of her leather halter-top and then studying her razor-sharp French manicure. "Has been for a long time." She nodded toward Damali, and then glanced at her squad, smoothing out the leather of her skin-tight pants. "You can feast on the others when I'm done—two of them for each one of you—I ate earlier. Italian. But first, she and I have some unfinished business."
"We can't feed on the blond—the one called Dan," one vamp in Raven's group replied evenly. "Remember what Nuit told us?"
"He'll get over it," Raven snarled. "It's a moot point—two minutes, she's dead."
Rider and Mike exchanged a look and glared at Dan, and then returned their focus to the threat before them.
"Later," Big Mike murmured in Damali's direction.
She glanced at him, conceding. This was a part of a larger equation, but she still sensed that Dan was innocent.
"What do you want, Raven?" Damali asked, her voice carrying across the expanse that separated both groups.
"You take my mother, and then my men… and you ask me what I want?"
"Damali," Rider said with caution, "she's a second generation, and I don't think—"
Damali held up her hand to quiet Rider.
"Your mother?" Damali opened her mind, her awareness so sharp now that what felt like an electric current ran through her.
Raven laughed, the sound cold and dead. She narrowed her eyes. Damali heard a car approach at a high speed and swerve to a stop, but she didn't turn. Damali kept her gaze trained on her vampire targets. The Jeep door slammed, her guardians glanced at it over their shoulders. Mike raised a weapon in Marlene's direction to cover her from a possible surprise attack. Dan's terrified eyes darted between the approaching guardian and the unbelievable sight before him. Damali didn't flinch. The male vampires tensed, considered the new Jeep and guardian, then glanced at Raven, but didn't move.
The desire to attack the haughty thing that was laughing at her lit a new fire within Damali. However, she garnered patience. A false move could cost a member of her team their lives. She could hear Marlene's footsteps behind her. Remain in control. Her odds had just improved as a seasoned fighter joined her ranks, and stepped beside her. She already knew it was Marlene. Damali studied the vampires, her focus on the one called Raven as it laughed even harder.
"Hello, Mother dearest," Raven said softly. Her tone was lethal and her expression was filled with hatred.
Daughter? Damali's concentration wavered. Pure shock gave way to disbelief as she held onto a thread of hope. No. Impossible. She knew vamps were masters of deceit, but something in Marlene's countenance told her to be still. This wasn't necessarily a lie. She watched Marlene and the entity claiming to be her daughter. There was no rage in Marlene, just bitter resignation. The realization made it hard for her to breathe.
"It's over, Raven," Marlene said flatly, her battle-ax raised.
"Fuck you! Follow what you said, or have infinite power, fame? Are you mad? You sound so pathetic, Marlene! It's on!"
"Then, bring it!" Damali hollered, stepping away from the group and Marlene as Raven hissed, and began circling.
"Gladly," Raven said with a snarl.
"Leave her to me, Damali," Marlene said. Deep, incomprehensible sadness made her command sound almost like a plea. "This is something I should have done years ago."
The guardian team glanced at each other. Damali stared at Marlene for a moment. A shudder went through her as she assessed Marlene. Her focus went back to Raven.
"Tell her, Mother. . ." Raven taunted from the thicket as she walked, bearing fangs, her eyes now glowing, her vampire henchmen snarling behind her. "You've told so many lies that you can't even remember, can you? But I was your first baby girl."
Damali glanced at Marlene when she didn't respond. Tears glistened in the older guardian's eyes as she stared at Raven. The center of Damali's chest hurt for a moment, and it felt as though her lungs were constricting as Marlene's pain became her own.
"Don't listen to her, Marlene," Damali said, still unable to process what she'd just heard and trying to break the trance Marlene was in. "They lie! Screw with your mind, and get things twisted. Shake it, Mar, and let's do this."
She could hear Rider and Big Mike suck in air hard behind her, as though battling for composure.
"Do her for Marlene," Big Mike said in a low murmur from where he stood. "Mar ain't got it in her. Shouldn't have to put down her own daughter."
"That's right," Raven interjected, her statement dissolving into a hiss. "Marlene never had it in her… couldn't take care of either of her girls." Then it laughed as Damali's gaze darted between Raven and Marlene.
Suddenly, Marlene lunged forward, her ax held high. Raven ducked. Marlene missed. Now Marlene was trapped on the wrong side of the line. Raven was between Damali and Marlene, with Marlene only feet away from the vamp henchmen, and the older guardian didn't move.
"Me and you," Damali shouted, trying to get an opening to her separated guardian. "I don't know what you're talking about, but you gotta come through me to get to Marlene!"
"No, I don't." Raven laughed. "Be serious."
Damali watched for a strategic advantage. Marlene was not going out like that on her watch! Remembering every skill she'd ever learned, she lowered her weapon and laughed, using the strategy of guile as her mind siphoned the second-generation vampire before her. "What do you have on Marlene? Some petty bullshit? Pullease," Damali scoffed. "I am so unimpressed."
The female creature whirled on Marlene, abandoned her in rage, and took two paces toward Damali. Both Damali and the Raven held up their hands as their male teams tensed to mount a sudden attack. Damali shot Marlene a quick glance. If Marlene would just raise her ax, plant it in that bitch's back… C'mon, Mar, what's the problem? She'd take Raven, and then Rider and Mike could get a shot off. Damali kept her eyes on Raven and smiled.
"You're stronger than I thought… got a master's skills." Raven cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Then see for yourself, huntress. See if you can deal with this."
Damali had Raven in her mental sight, but was not prepared for the images that careened before her. Immediately pain, grief, emotional agony riddled her. She saw her father go into a lair and become hunted. Her mother was holding her as she wailed as an infant in her arms, and felt her mother's confusion, her rage, her pain of mistaken betrayal. The ritual. Then smoke. Her mother's throat was ripped away, tissue shredded, flesh leaving bone, her mother's face became distorted… her father… oh, God. Her parents had been turned. She clutched her blade tighter. "Oh, Mom… no. It wasn't what you thought—don't do it!"
Damali could hear Marlene yelling for her not to look any deeper into Raven's eyes. Needles entered her back—where her tattoo covered her spine. She was an infant, Marlene applied the protective emblem… a young, frightened, tearful Marlene put the Sankofa symbol on her as she wailed as a baby inside her head. Then Marlene abandoned her.
Swallowing hard, Damali forced the hurtful impressions from her mind. But the truth lingered long after the image was gone. Her parents had been turned. Marlene had given her over to foster care and had not kept her. Marlene's daughter had been bitten the year Damali had been found living on the streets. All this time, and Marlene had never told her…
"That's right," Raven said with satisfaction. "She gave your ass up," she said, pointing toward Marlene.
Do her, Mar… Damali's mind screamed, as Raven transformed into a large, sleek panther in an instant and made an immediate lunge for Damali.
Madame Isis sent off a chime in t
he wind as Damali swung it to match a clawed swipe from Raven. Rider's gun fired, knocking one of the beasts away from Marlene. The vampires disappeared as one of their squad began to burn, then angrily repositioned themselves after the shot. Damali swung her blade again, missing Raven, but she heard Marlene yell as a male vampire's fist connected to Marlene's jaw. Big Mike sent cannon fire above Marlene's body to give her time to retreat. They had to get Marlene back in the huddle before the vamps ripped her apart. Marlene swung her battle-ax, but there were too many around her. Yet, the older guardian was not going down without a fight. Marlene took her Aikido stance amid the growling forms. The first one moved, she swung her ax, hit a second with a well-placed kick, and backed another off of her with the blunt end of the weapon.
"Explosives!" Damali called, and Big Mike responded to the threat by hurling a series of holy water grenades at Marlene's feet.
Mike's cover had been just enough to give Marlene a narrow chance to escape to the safety of the team's hunkered down position, while Rider frantically reloaded his and Big Mike's guns—Raven circling and stalking Damali in a slow threat the entire time.
Using both hands to hold onto the blade, Damali quickly turned to address the threat that was suddenly at her back. The group of vampires dispersed and had her team surrounded—but she couldn't get to them, unless she put Raven down.
"Watch them die," Raven said, her tone taunting. "It's worse than being killed yourself… hearing the screams for mercy, feeling their panic."
Anger made Damali swing again, and she nicked the forearm of the thing that reached for her. Raven drew back, her body returning to human female form as she studied the smoldering slice, growled, then leapt. Damali spun away, her elbow connecting with Raven's rib cage from behind, which sent the creature hurtling forward. Fury immediately transformed Raven into the huge panther once more. Landing on all fours, Raven glanced over her shoulder, and as fast as lightning was rushing toward Damali again. Prepared for the advance, Damali spun, her thigh lifting to connect a solid boot blow to Raven's fang-distorted jaw.