LABanks - H2 Awakening

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  "Basic instinct," Jose whispered, his tense gaze fixed on Shabazz.

  "We thought Mar just didn't want her to go to New Orleans because she'd try to rush a master's lair when she was too young, before she was strong enough to hang. Didn't know they could do something like that to her." Mike scratched his bald head and looked away.

  "Damn…" Dan whispered. "This whole experience is so freakin' deep…"

  "You ain't seen nothin' yet," Rider said, giving Dan a disgusted glance. "She's just vulnerable for this first time out, though, right, Shabazz?" He searched Shabazz's face for confirmation, growing more alarmed as he talked. "I mean, after this one, then she's cool, right? Can handle herself… like Marlene said?"

  "My brother, Lord have mercy," Shabazz sighed. "While that may be true, if they get to her on any of these ripening cycles, they'd take very good care of the huntress queen in the den. She'd be the only productive female in the line that could keep siring more daywalkers—because the master male vamp would risk his very existence to protect his empire builder… which means she'd definitely become his woman. We'd lose her from our topside family for good."

  "Damn, Shabazz," J.L. whispered. "Imagine, a Neteru, with mother instincts and warrior capacity, thinking she was protecting the ultimate innocent—one that she'll be telepathically connected to from the moment life sparks. Brothers, a normal human female gets superhuman strength when her young are imperiled. Women have lifted cars up to get their babies out from under a wheel. Wanna do that times ten, and go for a Neteru's child? And we just witnessed what the potential daddy can do."

  "Now we are on the same page," Shabazz breathed out slowly. "Worst part is, if one of us does get to that vamp progeny, assuming that we even could… her spirit would wither. She'd never forgive the forces of light. She'd lose hope, faith, love, and she'd die."

  "So, this seventh sense thing all boils down to… basic, natural… Wait. You mean to tell me that—"

  "Don't even say it, Rider. Yeah. We're guarding her honor on her first time out, so to speak."

  Silence held the group hostage. For a moment the team just passed stricken glances between them.

  Shabazz walked away from the table. "You saw her morph in the street, yourself, Rider. You couldn't stop her. The second-generation female vamp set it off and marked a territory—that vamp wasn't telling Damali she couldn't have Dejesus, the body in the morgue. She was talking about the head vamp, Nuit. Raven was made by that master vamp. She was a second generation, and probably Nuit's present, but sterile, queen… Raven was strong—was made by two guardians, and gave off heavy DNA-generated scent when she was abducted and then bitten. But she wasn't the real McCoy." Shabazz rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes.

  "Wait," Big Mike boomed. "I thought you said it had to be a choice? Raven got abducted, and that wasn't a choice. Plus, she got bitten. Probably not her choice either."

  "They'll look for a Neteru before it comes of age and will try to inculcate that huntress into the vamp lifestyle, topside, by placing the poor kid within human vamp-helper reach. When it's time, by then, a Neteru will comply of his or her own free will—after years of brainwashing by darkness. But when they grabbed Raven, and sniffed her out—once they were sure she was a decoy, she was history. Marlene never really came to terms with that."

  "We need to go easy on our boss lady," Big Mike murmured, and received a nod from Shabazz. "She's on our side, too. Don't get it twisted. All this is deep, y'all. I don't know how Marlene dealt with it."

  Shabazz nodded. "Right about now, since the ranks seem to be closing in, Nuit can probably pick up Damali's scent, or has a conduit to pick up her trail—that's why Mar was guarding so hard lately. She had reason. And now we know which new second-level vamp he'll use as a conduit."

  Rider and Jose looked at each other. J.L. whistled and then sighed. Mike just shook his head. Dan's shoulders slumped. They all spoke as one. "Carlos."

  "No wonder baby girl was crying so bad…" Again, Mike just shook his head. "Damn. She loved that fool, anybody could tell. Even I prayed he'd get his shit together, straighten up his act and fly right. Now, can't nobody cure them blues. Her hope just died. She's gotta ride this one out by herself."

  Rider blew out a long breath of frustration. "Been there. Wished she didn't have to ever visit living Hell. Ain't love grand."

  "That's where Mar was coming from," Shabazz murmured.

  "Let's stay on the point," Rider said with a weary tone. "We'll know when the exact ripening hits, right? Twenty-four hours of a birthday window is a lot of hours where anything could happen." Rider's gaze tore between the members of the group and finally settled on Shabazz. "I mean, after all, the team trackers… We should be able to—"

  "No, unless you're her 'destined pair' guardian, even you guys with the noses won't be able to pick it up when the exact ripening starts."

  "All right," Rider finally said. "Then, what happens if we just hook li'l sis up on a blind date, with a regular guy—one that we all approve of, one that she likes… and then go from there? Huh? That sounds like a plan."

  "He wouldn't make it through the night."

  "What? She'd rip his throat out or something?"

  Rider looked at Shabazz, his eyes wide, but the others had the same expressions on their faces as well.

  "No. The male master vamp would. He'll hunt for her till he finds her, and will fight to the death to claim her. Even if her first season passes, he will look for her until she's no longer reproductive. He's got a one-month window every seven years. She's twenty-one, that means we keep vigil for at least another twenty-five years."

  "Twenty-five years?" Rider was walking again, shaking his head and mumbling to himself.

  "Jesus," Big Mike whispered on a long breath. "What about her having other normal kids and—"

  "She can have them, if she picks a regular guy… But the vamp that desires her'll perpetually hunt her—and the worst part is, he won't stop till he finds her. That's why we have to put this sucker down, permanently, so the girl can have a life."

  Shabazz walked around his teammates, becoming frustrated at their lack of comprehension. "Don't you guys get it? Don't you read? Don't you know that the female being was always sacred? A strong woman, Neteru or not, can birth leaders of nations! She can be poor, of the humblest means, but her energy, her beliefs, her prayers, her values—what she teaches those that come from her can change history. The dark side is breaking our backs up here, compromising the strength of so many possible vessels of change!"

  Shabazz held out his hands to the group, his words becoming more impassioned as he spoke. He walked in a circle, his arms sweeping now, as he tried to impart what he'd learned, what he'd witnessed.

  "Gentlemen… from the great queens of the Nubian Empire—from Eve herself… she was made as the second prototype, after man, when the Heavens perfected the model. The human female was smarter, had more of the gifts from On High of mercy, compassion, understanding, love, trust, healing… wasn't warlike, and could produce life."

  He opened up his arms and let his head fall back. "That's why she graced temples and was called a goddess—and then when evil had compromised enough men and gained a foothold, they erased her from the scriptures, from temple walls, and made her a second-class citizen—a breeder. That was not the divine design. But unprotected, no longer cherished, stripped of resources, the earth gift called woman becomes vulnerable—as do her children. More women and children reside in this poverty as the darkness hunts generation-by-generation, nation-by-nation, to find a weak vessel. They've been looking for a female Neteru for thousands of years."

  Big Mike stood wide-legged, taking a battle stance. "The dark side knows this, the light weeps because of the abuse, and a woman's womb holds the possibility of nations, like our brother said—this is a serious matter. Shabazz, you are telling this group that for the first time in three millennia, since you and I did Kemet together, like Marlene's past life visions told us, we have a female Nete
ru to protect, and she could go down by a male vamp? Never. Not on my watch!"

  "So, now, we're battling some horny Drac—"

  "No, Rider!" Shabazz cut in, disgusted. "It's not just that. Damali is the first Neteru born that crosses two millennia since they made them. She's the strongest one the light has ever crafted! In the past, only a few females were made, because they posed such a risk—but after eons of the male vampire hunters being unable to protect a normal human female carrying a Neteru heir, and with this era being so in need of one, they cast Damali as the millennium bridge. The Covenant came to Marlene and gave her the word, that's how we located the girl after she was lost in the system for a while. We are to form a ring of protection: Damali in the middle, our core, then us, then the Covenant guards our back, the warrior angels guard theirs. This is serious, man!"

  "Shabazz," Big Mike murmured, "she's young enough to have an heir every seven years, if I'm hearing you right, and that means four to five possible Neterus in her lifetime, flooding the new millennium."

  Shabazz nodded and looked away, breathing hard. "For the Armageddon, brother. Damali, plus five, and the ultimate One who will come again from On High as a lion not a lamb—is six warriors of light, plus the Son, the Seventh, and ultimate warrior to lead during the twenty-first century."

  "And, if she's compromised," J.L. whispered, "it can be six on the wrong side of the war, plus their top gun, who will remain nameless in this compound."

  "I understand now why Marlene wants her to be able to discern who to be with, man. She's got five windows of vulnerability. Plus, she can't lose her confidence her first time out in this huntress transition, 'cause we might not always be here, or there may be a time when our guard post is breached like it was tonight, and she has to know how to pick up a false reading on her own." Jose blew out a long, weary whistle. "Marlene must be spazzing out."

  "Daywalkers, Shabazz… what exactly can those things do, man? All joking aside," Rider whispered. "What are we up against if our girl makes the wrong choice?"

  "Neteru crossed with vampire makes a daywalker. Topside chaos. All the dark powers of vampires, and all the evil, able to live on anything we eat, their preference for blood notwithstanding—with no daylight shield to protect us. Plus, we just learned that Nuit's line, the ones seeking Damali, are hybrid—mixed with revenge demons. I can't even fathom what that combo unleashed up here will do, brother."

  "Shit…" Rider spit on the cement floor again, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and sat with a thud.

  "Damn, man, we told you—give that nasty habit a rest." Jose pushed himself up and began looking at the table, rubbing his chin. "Daywalkers. If a brother and a sister were made, and connected… ?"

  "A brother and sister? You have got to be kidding me! That's, that's eeeiiilll—yuck! God, we've gotta drive a few stakes very soon, fellas, 'cause the mating habits of vamps know no bounds!" Rider was on his feet again, and this time Big Mike didn't shove him to sit down.

  "That's the deal," Shabazz sighed.

  "Why do you think there were rumors about this being done in some of the lines within the old human dynasties? Hell, it happened in some of the Indian empires, and amongst the Incas, Mayans… the Romans and Egyptians, Europeans, Chinese—name an empire," J.L. said in a weary tone. "They all wanted to keep the bloodlines intact, in the family. Cousins, siblings—it was all about maintaining absolute power… topsiders trying to break this Rubik's Cube of DNA code, and a lot of the rulers from the vampire-human traitor ranks, empire leaders, have been trying to break this code since the dawn of time for the vamps. They were close to it, but didn't have both Neteru or guardian halves."

  "Fucking genetic engineering the old-fashioned way." Rider sat again on his own accord and just simply shook his head.

  "If it goes down, it'll be the beginning of the end of life as we know it," Shabazz whispered. "The daywalkers have eternal life, can reproduce indefinitely, as well as bite and transform a normal vamp to give it a viral immunity to sunlight… they can essentially bring all their nations topside, and the reigning sibling king and queen would be at the very top of the food chain, but still beholden to their father—the master vamp in their bloodline. Power unlimited. That's what Nuit is after, and he's about to open the gates of Hell on Damali's birthday, on five continents. Do you understand?"

  "They've already found our Neteru, dude," J.L. said, his words stilling the group. "Probably figured out who she was when Raven saw Damali, in state, and—"

  "Another reason why Marlene didn't want Damali out in the street battling so close to the time. What I can't figure out is why this compound isn't under siege as we speak? Rivera already got close and confirmed any hunch the vamps might have had."

  "While we've got good security, J.L.—thanks to you, now we're sitting ducks. Before we were safe, because not even the phone company had an address, everything routed to the bogus location, and then switched here. We had the P.O. box; we drove in a different way each time. We've never sustained a breach. But they came right through our door. My question is, what, aside from UV light and our lockdown at the moment, is keeping them from trying to get in again?"

  "Don't lose faith," Big Mike warned, his focus on Shabazz. "Beyond all technology stuff, that's our secret weapon. Faith. That's the first and last ring of defense—prayers."

  "It's the alpha and the omega, buddy," Rider agreed, picking at the edge of the table as he spoke.

  "You know, now that I think about it, it wouldn't have been to Raven's advantage to unseat her own reign," Shabazz said, trying to calm himself and restore confidence to the team. "The planetary alignment told the vamps, just like us, that a Neteru is on the earth, and that her time is near—but the planets never say where. Not to mention, we have every holy order in vigilant watch prepared for battle, knowing the time is near. Something went down. If Damali is so valuable, Raven wouldn't have tried to off her. Nuit wouldn't tolerate that. And, Rivera showed up in here and didn't attempt an abduction. Hmmm…"

  "Problem is that at present, a lot of energy from the side of light is getting squandered while we duke it out topside with general-purpose chaos, instead of doing what the vamps just did—coming together and doing this thing united." J.L. raked his fingers through his hair and looked out the window.

  "I know, J.L. We're losing good warriors daily who have been manipulated and compromised by the politics." The reality made Big Mike search out a stool and sit down heavily. "Doesn't make sense."

  "True dat," Shabazz said in a far-off tone. "The head vamp has been searching for her in the chaos which covers his tracks, and the trail to find our hidden Neteru had to have led him to the one guardian, gone bad, that could have gotten close enough to her… that guardian would be in her head, she in his head… the chemicals connect at the soul level. I don't think that thing between them has ever been broken, plus, he's a born tracker, courageous fighter, master strategist."

  "Don't tell me," Rider sighed. "Carlos was definitely her destined-pair guardian? For real?" Rider shook his head. "Now I'm done. Just stick a fork in me."

  Shabazz's voice became very, very quiet and he put his head down on the table as he finished his thought. "Until we all just sat here and talked it out, I just didn't want to deal with it. That's the link. Raven just got in the way for the second time. But there's a sure-fire vulnerability that our Neteru has, beyond all these other transitional issues, and they found it."

  The team glanced around and only Jose was brave enough to say what they all had known for a long time.

  "Carlos."

  Shabazz nodded. "He took the fallout, and the poor bastard didn't even know it. Just like in our camp, they turned vamps all around him to keep an eye on him—so close to Damali's time. The vamps wouldn't even trust human helpers to stay with him and on the Neteru's trail. It was too important. That's why they've come for our folks, too. They knew he was the one—because Carlos spotted her years ago, and had the instinct to protect her… even he didn
't comprehend why she was so important to him. If she'd gone with Rivera and entered the drug life, she would have been so susceptible to the forces of darkness, and they thought they had her—then we got her away from him, and therefore away from them… but the link, oh, fellow guardian brothers… damn it all… the link between them was never severed." Shabazz swallowed hard with his eyes closed, and he breathed through his nose with his head still down.

  "Carlos still has the Neteru scent from when Damali first mildly cycled seven years ago—he didn't even know it. He never touched her, because she said no." Shabazz sat up, glanced at the door, and flexed his fists. "I would have felt it if he did. But he had the scent—tracker, par excellent. Makes sense. He came from good people, was surrounded by prayers, women of faith, made a good warrior from the streets, but he walked from the light into the dark for power, money, material gain, and got marked. The dark simply picked up on her scent from him—'cause she's in Rivera's head, man, like a life raft—and she instinctively knows she is, and won't let him drown—they're linked in spirit, even though she wouldn't go along with his program then, and I pray she won't now. But they've been in a spiritual tug-of-war to pull each other to their respective sides, paths, for years. What else can I say?"

  "Deep," Rider murmured. "You can feel shit like that, brother?"

  Shabazz dismissed him with a hard glance and spoke to the rest of the team, straightening himself up and giving Rider his back.

  "Free choice, their paths were being separated by choice, then. She went light, he went dark… and with every negative transaction, Rivera came closer to the lower-realm provinces. She was still a kid, and didn't have the trinity number on her—twenty-one—so her trail wasn't as strong. That original scent held by someone sliding deeper into the negative side of the choice gray zone brought them to him," Shabazz whispered, "and Rivera is the only one that can deliver her to them. She trusts him. We saw that tonight. He could get her to relent… they need his head to get inside of her head. You dig? Now drop it. This upsets me too much, and I can't talk about it anymore, like Mar can't."