LABanks - H2 Awakening

by user

  "I ate from Raven, remember… and had a guard along the way," Carlos said quickly, trying to keep the ruse going. "Then, I went after the Neteru like I was told to—after that, I really haven't had feeding on my mind."

  Nuit hesitated, then came near him and wiped at the sheen of perspiration still on Carlos's brow. "Understandable," he murmured and put his finger in his mouth. Carlos snarled and Nuit backed away with a smile.

  "She's even in your bloodstream. I can taste her in your sweat." Nuit sucked in a low hiss with a gulp of air, closed his eyes for a moment, and shuddered. He ran his finger over his lips and his head tilted as he inhaled deeply. "But she had a white bath—a damned prayer chastity belt! How did you get past it to even sense what she'd be like?"

  Carlos could feel his jaw beginning to unhinge at the sight of another male demonstrating such open desire for his woman. He ran his tongue over his incisors, sending them back into his skull. Not yet. The night would come soon when the game would be over. In that instant he made up his mind that there were only two pending offers to consider—the Vampire Council's or the other side. Nuit was a dead man walking.

  "Because she trusts me. That's the only thing that will render her prayer guard ineffective. She has to willingly breach it and we have to draw her beyond it, remember? If I bring her to you struggling, you still won't be able to get past it—so let me work her."

  Carlos leveled his gaze at Nuit. "You just sampled the product, and it opened up your nose, didn't it? I told you I had the goods. Don't fuck with me. Not tonight."

  "I'll make you a second female, quickly. No man in my territory should have to suffer like this—unless he crosses me." Nuit gazed at Carlos and held him in an intense stare. "What was she like?"

  So, Nuit had taken a hit… liked the product and was damned near strung out from just a taste. Everything he'd learned in the streets collated in Carlos's mind, and he leveraged his advantage, messing with Nuit without mercy. Let the bastard twist.

  "I can't even discuss it," Carlos said, the truth of his statement not lost on Nuit. That was the best part of it all, he could tell the truth, and the credibility would come through in his tone. Carlos watched his enemy nearly writhe with impatience, and a deep sense of personal satisfaction took residence within him. To the victor go the spoils.

  "I'll bring her to you, Nuit. Then we can deal with my options. For now, she looks like she's very close to doing the concert—maybe even signing with your label," Carlos lied, just to add more lure to the game. "I've been in her ear and in her mind, because she trusts me. We go way back; I can sway her… she doesn't even know I've turned—so don't blow my cover. That's how I got past her guardians and her radar."

  "Are you serious?" Nuit leaned against the wall as though he now needed it to hold himself upright.

  "She never even saw my fangs," Carlos said with pride. "It was smooth."

  Both vampires looked at each other. Nuit was almost trembling.

  "That's why I said to stop flushing my hunt," Carlos went on, relaxing as he felt his guile take root within Nuit. "That guy, Dan, he's a wannabe… but Damali cares for him. The kid got her to consider it, first, when one of the Minion threw the bait out for him to hook up with Blood. I was working on the huntress from a business perspective. Everything was cool, until Raven went after Dan, and her thirds attacked the compound. You have got to pull your people back, or make sure none of the other seconds are moving on your kill. I thought you had this territory locked down, man? There are breaches everywhere, and it's bullshit. We don't have a lotta time."

  Nuit pushed himself off the wall and nodded. "No one has ever gotten us this close to her physically, or to shifting her will—from there, breaking her spirit is only a matter of time. And none of the others have ever been this loyal."

  Carlos nodded and walked closer to Nuit. "You want to feel this agony?" He leaned in toward Nuit to let him smell where Damali's head had rested against his neck, then quickly backed away. "That's pain, hombre. My jaw almost unhinged—but I remembered the family."

  "Shit…"

  Nuit tried to come near him again, but Carlos held up his hand. You always had to give them just a taste to make them hunger for more.

  "Si. So you understand the sacrifice—however, I don't have a lair, the sun is about to toast both of us, I got motherfuckers creating havoc, and I really am not in the mood to sleep in the sewer my first night out—and not after being this loyal. I need my rest, and I deserve—"

  "A fucking throne and a harem, Carlos. The females I'll send to your lair as part of the package are insatiable. Yes. I completely agree. I'll make some territorial adjustments, and you can have one of the other dons' lairs."

  "Give me the Dominican's joint. He and I go way back, and he did a few of my boys a while ago when I was making space for my own in the streets. Some shit never dies—territory is territory. As above, so below."

  Nuit nodded. "Take his villa in Beverly Hills. He has a sumptuous vault in his basement. I'll do him myself, will explain to the others that it was just business. After a taste, I need one more body for the night, as it is."

  Carlos chuckled. "I hear you. Then imagine how I feel."

  Nuit laughed. "He might even have a third generation female already in there who might still be awake—might help take the Neteru edge off? You want her?"

  "Naw, I'm cool, man," Carlos murmured. "Give whatever female you find to one of the other dons. I just ain't in the frame of mind. In fact, I might just hit a blood bank and take a few pints to bed. If I go hunting this late, I might forget what time it is and wind up on the Neteru's trail again. Could fuck around and sun bake myself by accident. I'm telling you, man, this slayer is all that."

  "It is intense, isn't it… but so much so that you don't trust yourself to hunt?" Nuit rubbed his face and shook his head. "Absolutely amazing."

  "She's equivalent to a master level, Nuit," Carlos said quietly, lacing the truth in his game to make it even more credible, but perhaps offering more than he wanted to, the pull of Damali still a toxin within his system. But at the same time, he had to drive a convincing point that would assure her temporary safety.

  Carlos let out a long breath that made Nuit carefully watch him. He closed his eyes and projected images of Damali to Nuit in slow motion.

  "She can hunt better than Raven ever could—you should see her in action, man… the adrenaline, the stamina, the very perspiration on her after the hunt reeks with the Neteru hormone… one whiff and you're intoxicated… she can see in the dark, almost like us." Although baiting his prey, the memory made Carlos inhale and have to pause. The game was rough, but he had to play it.

  Carlos sighed. "I'm not talking myths and legends. I've seen her… held her. The woman is a telepath, a tactical sensory—her skin literally comes alive under your hands, she has the nose…" He pressed on. "Can project thought, and has a will of iron… can you imagine what she'll be like when she turns?"

  Trying not to smile as Nuit's knees buckled, Carlos opened his eyes and glanced away.

  "She's beyond awesome… think of what delivering that first break of skin will be like—especially if she turns her throat to you with her panties wet and begs you to take both her neck and her—"

  "Stop." Nuit's fangs glistened in the darkness. He couldn't even pull them back. Water dripping from overhead provided the only sound that echoed between them. "Two more evenings—you just used up one…"

  "That's why I said, back off with the random hits. If you kill her, or she gets hurt—or one of her people gets jacked, she will go into deep mourning… she'll never come to you for years."

  "Whatever you want—work the strategy to bring her to me like that. If you can get inside her head, inside her compound… can get her to follow you to me—then do it! What else in the territory do you want? Name it."

  Nuit stalked back and forth running his tongue over his incisors, trying to regain his composure. "Three thousand years since they made a female Neteru—and we
thought they wouldn't make another one. Since that time, they've only made males." He held Carlos in a furtive gaze. "Do you understand?"

  "Hell yeah, I understand what jonesing for Damali is like." Carlos chuckled, an earnest one from his core.

  "You want the first daywalker female off the line?"

  "Is that a rhetorical question, or are you playing with me?"

  Nuit laughed with Carlos. "Done."

  "Appreciate it, man, 'cause I'm all fucked up—don't trust myself to even run from the sun… 'cause I wanna sit outside her window so bad. I don't want anything you find at the don's when you clean out his place. Can't go there after getting a Neteru in my nose. You feel me?"

  Nuit walked toward the tunnel exit nodding. "Yes. I definitely 'feel you,' and I imagine it is difficult to step down when you've been so close." Nuit paused and gave Carlos a furtive glance. "Fifteen minutes, and the lair will be yours. Bring me more word and scent of her next evening. I need to smell her again."

  "Done." Carlos leaned against the wall as Nuit vanished.

  Information was knowledge, and knowledge was a powerful thing. In the disgusting exchange, he'd moved up in the ranks, took out an old enemy, scored a plush lair, and bought Damali and her crew a valuable, temporary off-limits marker. Baby might have a coupla days of peace. But would he? Regardless, he had inadvertently become a triple agent by making alliances across three borders—Nuit, the Vampire Council, and possibly with the invisible DEA—the forces of light. Question was, how to play it.

  Still, not bad for the first night on the job.

  The stricken look on Marlene's face chilled Damali. If Marlene had seen them… Humiliation made her cheeks warm, and it was hard to hold her gaze.

  "Big Mike told the others about what happened out there with Raven," Marlene whispered. She cast her gaze out the window as she spoke in a quiet voice that trembled. "I should have told all of you that she was my daughter… but… I couldn't deal with it. I wanted to put the fact that she was once my child out of my mind. I loved her, Damali," she murmured as she swallowed hard.

  Marlene's eyes held such pain that Damali was almost forced to look away. "Carried her in my body, and put her to my breast. She was my baby… and Nuit took her when she was your age. She was like you in so many ways… beautiful, talented, headstrong, and fearless. Thought nothing could happen to her that she couldn't handle, and that I was just Mom who didn't understand the 'happening' new world. She wouldn't listen to me, wouldn't heed my advice, and the streets took her, and then he got her. She was wide open, and vulnerable… maybe that's why I was so hard on you. I was afraid that I was watching history repeat itself."

  "Mar—"

  "I know I didn't do right by you, child," Marlene said fast, cutting off Damali's words quickly and wrapping her arms about herself. "God forgive me… I just couldn't take care of you both, and I thought if I gave you to people who had resources, and if you were hidden… I just thought that maybe we'd all be spared. But he came, not knowing I was pregnant when I ran, and thought my Christine was you… then he turned her into Raven. The joke was on him, though. She wasn't a Neteru. You were safe, and that was my consolation for a long time. It's all good. I have to believe that, or else I just won't be able to go on."

  Two large tears formed in Marlene's eyes, and Damali went to her. Although it had been a relief that Marlene hadn't witnessed her intimate exchange with Carlos, she didn't want a telepathy block from pain like this to be the reason Marlene's second sight was down. She was also sorry she'd been the one that had to kill Raven with the sword Raven's own mother had given her… and now, holding Marlene in a tender hug, she felt all the reasons Marlene kept things from her.

  Yes, she could understand. How would a young, pregnant woman in love explain vampires to a lover? How would a young woman cope, in that day and age, with being left to bear a child alone, predators all around her, and no momma or family to help her because she had to run away and hide in order to protect them? How was Marlene to care for an infant that would bring vampires constantly sniffing, and still protect and provide for a baby, as well as her unborn child or herself, for that matter?

  Damali closed her eyes, holding Marlene tighter. Oh, Marlene… Yes, she'd seen teenage mothers in the street with no support, no skills, no money, no education, no parenting skills, and preyed on by guys who'd just stop, drop, and roll them. Yeah, she'd witnessed how that struggle ravaged the hope and potential from so many young girls. It had been the thing that had kept her straight—seeing with her own eyes, and maybe having unknown second sight, at that time, had helped her make wiser choices. There but for the grace she went. She could have gone out like that, too. Marlene had been practically a child herself… young, alone, afraid—with no money, no real skills or education, no defenses, and had to live by her wits and her gift. God in heaven, what would she have done if she had to walk a mile in Marlene's shoes?

  Damali stroked Marlene's back as she held her, hoping that the aging guardian still had enough sensory battery left to feel the healing of her touch and be able to sense without words the forgiveness being transmitted to her. Yes, it was so true. The things Marlene had taught her were right… judge not, lest ye be judged. You never know what scars another person carries deep within them that causes them to act the way they do. She remembered Rider's story, and the things Big Mike had said about his own childhood. Then there was Jose's pain. She knew Shabazz carried his secret hurts so deeply that no one on the team really had the full story about what had happened to him. And Lord knows what J.L. had experienced in Laos.

  Her thoughts drifted to Carlos, and she wondered what scars he'd carried that had made him choose the life that he did. They all had long stories…

  "Mar, I am so sorry I had to be the one to… release Raven's soul," Damali murmured into her hair. She couldn't even bring herself to call it what it was. She couldn't describe Raven's demise in the crude terms the team normally used to verbally distance themselves from what they had to do. How could she say "put down," "drop," "stake," "take out," "roll," "splatter," or "gut," when talking about the loss of Marlene's daughter? Marlene had been right about that, too. Words had power. Vocabulary was important. Maybe if people called it what it really was, then the very thought of "doing somebody" would give them pause, and they'd think twice about murdering another human being. But that's just the thing, Marlene's daughter wasn't human, which is what was breaking Marlene's heart.

  "I'm so sorry," Damali repeated. "Oh, Mar… I won't even claim to know how you feel."

  "No, thank you, baby," Marlene said on a shaky sigh. "You just put my daughter's soul to rest. I couldn't have done it. I didn't have it in me. That's why I hesitated in battle. I'd keep seeing her face when she was a toddler… I'd think about how she'd climb into bed at night with me so we could read stories, or how proud she was of her first little gold star in school." Marlene drew a ragged breath. "As a mother… you think about all the good, and wonder how it could have gotten so bad, and you lacerate yourself wondering where you went wrong… how could I have let her get taken by evil… and they call me a guardian? I couldn't even protect my own child."

  Marlene's shoulders shook as Damali held her and rocked her for a long time. The sun peeked out from behind the deep gray haze of clouds as the sky gave birth. All Damali could do during the transition was stroke Marlene's hair and let her cry.

  "We have to get back to the group," Marlene murmured. "None of us has really slept, the compound is breached… and I can't see. I was already weak from laying hands on Jose, then the fight to get out of the compound, and then… Raven. I'm totally blind, Damali. I'm no more good to you. My second sight is just blackness. I can't get past the pain to concentrate."

  When Marlene pulled away, Damali held her by her shoulders.

  "Marlene, you're worth more to me than your sight or ability to guard. Don't you know that by now?" Damali's hand went to Marlene's face and she caressed her cheek as she spoke. "I love you, Marlene, and
understand why you gave me away. You just need some rest and some time to heal. This was hard, I know. Why don't you let me guard you for a change, and take care of you a little bit for once?"

  "Letting go, and seeing your children grow up… and accepting that, is probably the hardest thing in the world to do," Marlene whispered, wiping the tears from her face. "I respect your choices," she said, nodding. "I'm proud of you… thank you for not hating me."

  "Hating you?" Damali shook her head slowly. "For being human? For having a life and for wanting some joy of your own? No."

  The two women shared a slight smile, both understanding each other within the unspoken exchange.

  "C'mon. Let's get back to the team."

  They walked the corridors in silence, Damali's arm about Marlene's shoulders as she guided her to where everyone else was sitting. The expressions the team held said it all. Hope was edging away from the group. Profound loss was taking its toll. They were exhausted, battle weary, down a good man, and on the run.

  Damali helped Marlene to sit, and then she walked in front of the group, choosing her words carefully. "Listen, everybody. We need a break. Last night was… It was worse than we've ever had to deal with."

  Rider and Big Mike nodded. Shabazz took up Marlene's hand as J.L. rubbed her back. Dan's face held such empathy that Big Mike slung an arm over his shoulder.

  "Okay," Damali said on a long breath. "We need to post a couple of men here at the hospital to stay with Jose. Maybe even Mar can stay?" She glanced at Marlene who only nodded and looked out the window. "He needs your prayers, Marlene… even if you can't see."

  "She can't see?" Rider whispered.

  Damali shook her head and Shabazz lowered his gaze.

  "Grief," Shabazz murmured. "Let me stay with her and Jose, here."

  Damali nodded. "J.L., Dan—I need you guys to go back to the compound and work on getting all computer systems and security operable, as well as develop some new weapons for the concert. We need the generators stabilized, and electric lines—"