LABanks - H2 Awakening

by user

  "Can we crash here, Carlos?" his brother called behind him. "This place is all that."

  "Only if you stay here and let me go to the Jamaican's—alone!"

  "I'll go take out the Jamaican right now while you hunt," Nuit offered. "Let them remain here, and feed. You go hunt, and gather yourself. By the time you get back, the Jamaican will be ash. Fair exchange is no robbery. Some ethics must be adhered to, or there'd be no honor left in the land." Nuit sighed and nonchalantly wiped the gore off his suit.

  "Peace. It's all good." Alejandro shrugged and glanced at his feeding friends who also just shrugged.

  "Whatever," Carlos snarled and bound up the steps.

  Nuit licked his fingers. "He's coming down—Neteru's wearing off, and he's going to be nasty and hard to live with for a while, until he eats and regains his composure."

  Alejandro nodded. "Whatchu gonna do? You know my brother has always been stubborn. You offered him a Valium," he said, glancing at the remains of the girl on the floor. "But he didn't want one."

  Nuit shook his head and sighed. "My stubborn son… what will I do with Carlos?"

  The group murmured agreement, snarled, and continued to eat.

  "Sanctuary! In the name of God, we claim sanctuary, Neteru! The Covenant needs your protection! Open the doors!"

  "We got hot body readings—two," J.L. yelled across the room. "On camera and incoming!"

  The guardians all stared at the screen as a sword-bearing knight of Templar in a blue catholic priest's robe huddled against the compound door with a Moslem cleric. Both were yelling, brandishing weapons, and looking behind them as though something invisible, but horrible, was chasing them.

  Marlene gasped. "Open up fast, and let them in!"

  Rider swore hard as he paced between the monitors and weapons table. Shabazz, Big Mike, and Dan got to their feet as well.

  "It's like a revolving door tonight," Shabazz muttered. "But they're human, let 'em in out of the dark."

  Big Mike picked up a cannon. "Get Damali, Mar. This is deep."

  Within moments, the huge metal doors unlocked as J.L. worked the control panel, and the terrified men rushed through it. UV lights flooded the hall and their boots splashed through the receding puddles that had been caused by the sprinkler system.

  The team waited for them at the end of the hall, both sides still waving weapons.

  "Hold up!" Shabazz yelled as they neared the entrance to the equipment room. "Damali's been through enough tonight. She doesn't need any additional drama, and ain't throwing down in no battles that aren't hers. You need to know that up front, so state your business."

  "We need to get word to the Neteru. An important message from On High."

  "Stand down," Marlene ordered, "and let them in."

  No words were exchanged as the motley team quickly advanced into the weapons room. They were dirty, ragged, looked like they'd been in a serious battle. Both of them were breathing hard. The guardian team glanced at each other in confusion. Damali ran down the hall, hearing the commotion, and came to a halt, her eyes widening in surprise. She stepped forward and looked at the one dressed in royal blue who wore a cross.

  Immediately the man before her dropped to one knee and turned his sword to point down, the hilt facing the ceiling. The other man followed suit, their heads bowed in deference. She stood there, shocked, not knowing what to make of it.

  "I am a knight of Templar, and Asula is of the Moorish order. There are twelve of us total, and we all form the Covenant. We pledge our allegiance from all sectors. Neteru, it is an honor that we never thought we'd achieve. Bless you."

  "A Templar knight?" Marlene whispered, then blew out a long breath. "Oh, y'all, this is big. Trust me. These guys usually don't do house calls—only visions."

  Dumbstruck, Damali glanced around at her team. Shabazz shrugged, Marlene stood wide-eyed, even Rider looked perplexed. Everyone in her group simply stared.

  "Uh, gentlemen," Damali began slowly. "Ummm… well, first, stand up."

  Damali stood back as the men before her slowly stood, looking at each other for approval to do so.

  "I don't quite understand," she said slowly.

  "The fallen have begun amassing forces tonight," the man in blue said. "Your compound was surrounded, just outside of the line of light." He used his sword to point toward the windows as he continued to explain.

  "We kept hidden in the foliage around the dwelling inside the ring of light. Then, mysteriously, the lights went out for a few seconds."

  The guardian team cast a glance at Damali, who cleared her throat.

  "Yeah, well, we had an issue… uh, go ahead. I'll explain later."

  "Yes, we knew of this issue, and that is why we were here. But many creatures immediately drew to the darkness. Thankfully, they were wary of the perimeter, and it kept them at bay. We waited," the man in blue said, still trying to catch his breath. "Then we realized there had been a breach of the fortress when the lights went out again, and the dark entity that had been inside your compound sanctuary fled. But we couldn't tell which entity it was." He looked at Damali hard. "Neteru, were you harmed?"

  "No," Rider said casually, "just had her mind blown for a minute there, but our girl regrouped."

  "Shut up, Rider," Marlene snapped.

  "Praise Allah," the Moor said, relaxing his hold on his machete.

  "Good. Praise the Almighty," the blue knight added, letting his breath out hard. Relief visibly washed through the two warriors. "Then it went deep into the woods across the road—we didn't give chase because there were too many of them. But we could hear his howl for miles. We weren't sure if it was wounded, or if it was gathering more forces. So we prepared to battle within the perimeter of your lights." The knight looked at Damali squarely. "If we are to die, so be it. We do so with honor. It is a privilege!"

  "The bastard wasn't wounded, per se," Rider quipped. "But she did get him in the heart. Homeboy was in agony when he left here, that's—"

  "Rider! Watch your mouth in front of clergy, for starters. And we can do without the comic relief," Damali snapped. "Let the man continue." She folded her arms and tried to steady her breathing. She could only pray that these guys didn't have a seer in their group. She was still struggling to bring her thoughts under control.

  "He attacked you… You got him in the heart?" the knight asked, looking at his brethren, confused. "But it didn't die?" He cast another glance around at the other armed cleric. "If you drove a stake, or the Isis, and it was able to still move, then we're dealing with something now, that… I understand now why the warrior angels told us to stay by your side. To answer your call. They said you wailed in abject defeat, and that we had a Neteru down… slowly losing hope, faith… maybe even love. They left us, didn't even disperse the demon line—just said, 'Have faith.' The dark line retreated as soon as the one maimed stopped howling. We waited until we thought it was safe to approach your door. Oh, Neteru, but we were obviously too late."

  The Covenant members hung their heads, their weapons held in relaxed grips as they stared at the floor.

  "The angels heard me cry?" Damali then covered her mouth and closed her eyes. This could not be happening.

  "Always, Neteru. Your tears are diamonds. Your heart holds light. Your words are a beacon. Your thoughts have power. They heard it all. They sent us, but we're too late."

  "Can we just stop beating around the bush with these guys?" Rider asked as he walked around in an agitated circle. "Everybody always says, 'Rider, shut up.' But I think this is one time that a straight without a chaser approach is called for. Geeze Louise."

  Marlene nodded. "For once, I agree with Rider."

  Rider opened his mouth and then shut it, and raked his fingers through his hair. "Gee, Mar… now I don't know what to say."

  "Damali let it in here, because she trusted it—it wasn't her fault," Big Mike said in his deep, soft voice.

  "He had us all going for a moment, and even duped us with phony maps of Hell.
Can you believe it?" Shabazz said, the anger clear in his tone. "We all dropped our guard, so Damali isn't at fault… silver-tongued bast—I mean, devil."

  "That she trusted him, like that, had our poor sister in tears," Jose said, shaking his head. "She deserved better."

  "Wait!" the knight said. Both Covenant soldiers seemed to revive as they passed excited glances between each other. "You say he brought you maps?"

  "Yeah, but they burned," Damali said quietly, her gaze going to the window as she turned toward it. Having the light shine upon her most private weakness made her feel too open, too vulnerable, and it was still so tender a wound. "It was only an illusion."

  "You said that the Neteru had injured it, had struck it in the heart?"

  "Yeah," Rider said on a long breath. "The guy had a thing for her—before he was turned—and crossed the threshold on her invitation." He gave Damali a sideways glance. "Then he gave us the maps, explained all this bizarre stuff about Hell… am I allowed to say that word in front of you guys?"

  The knight nodded with impatience. "Just speak, man! All of our sensory capacities are overloaded after our encounters with the beasts."

  Rider looked at the group with a sheepish expression while Damali walked farther away, her arms wrapped around herself.

  "Okay. So, we were all reading the phony maps, and he kept looking at her like he'd eat her alive—and we now know that he will—so we were on guard because something was fishy. Then Damali went to him, hugged him, and, I don't know how to describe it." Rider raked his fingers though his hair again while walking and shaking his head. "She kissed the sonofa… she kissed him," Rider sighed, checking himself, "and he snapped."

  Damali's team nodded as Rider opened his arms, using his hands to talk.

  "It was like, wild. He grabbed her, laid one on her like I have never seen a man kiss a woman in my life, the maps burst into flames, our alarm system went into a frenzy, she was crushed against the wall—trying to scratch him to get him off of her—then he took a chunk out of the wall with his claws!" Rider pointed to the wall where five grooves remained as evidence. Satisfied when all heads turned and then looked at him again, he pressed on.

  "The girl was in shock, I tell you. She couldn't breathe and the SOB hit the lights so he could get out, passed our sprinklers, which initially wouldn't respond. J.L. was going nuts at the panel, trying to get our shields back up. It happened so fast, not one of us could get a shot off. Then Marlene took her—because he howled and poor Damali had this dazed look on her face like she might go to him. With me and Shabazz and Mike holding her, I thought we were going to have to put her down. But thank God, she came to her senses." Rider was breathing hard and his voice became quieter as he took a breath to deliver the last part of what he'd witnessed. "Then, we heard her sobbing… I never want to hear her cry like that again. I'll kill whatever tries to take our baby sister there."

  All of the members of Damali's team nodded their silent agreement with Rider.

  "That's our baby," Big Mike said in a low, but forceful tone. "The only reason we know she got him was that his shirt had a big hole in it over his chest—when she got that in, who knows? There was so much chaos."

  To everyone's surprise however, the knight and the Moor were smiling. They each blew out sighs of relief and began slapping each other on the back. Damali looked around at them, turning slowly, just as confused as her team by their sudden jubilation.

  "Forgive me, fellas," Rider carefully asked, taking his time, "but we just got our butts kicked, got breached, and had a Neteru almost go down. This does not seem to be Miller time, if you ask me."

  "She got him." The knight laughed joyously. "Right in the heart."

  "Did you hear what Rider said?" Shabazz boomed. "He walked through a holy water barrier—held our sprinklers back. He had a hole in his shirt, but not in his chest! Maps of the demon realms burned under our lights, and our systems went down, twice!"

  The foreign squad kept chuckling, and Damali's team stood tense, waiting for them to explain.

  "That was our marked man. Had to be Rivera." The knight glanced at his comrade for confirmation. "There were two master vampires out there, hence our alarm. But the one we're protecting got into the compound, and exited safely."

  "Carlos Rivera?" Damali walked closer to them.

  "Get outta here," Marlene whispered. "The Covenant is protecting vamps these days?" Marlene weaved a bit and leaned against the weapons table for support. "Now I've heard everything."

  "Yes. He's a possible double agent. Delivered the maps as we requested—and didn't deliver a death bite… when… uh… how can I say this delicately, Neteru… uh… it was very difficult for him not to." The knight swallowed away a smile and looked down at the ashes on the floor. "Those were the maps?"

  "Yeah," Damali said quietly, watching the knight and his partner hard.

  "Then we reconstruct from memory."

  "Not before you tell me about Carlos," she said in a distant, quiet tone.

  Again the entire group went still.

  "We are not at liberty to fully disclose—"

  "What happened to him?" she yelled, rushing forward. "You do not get maps, we do not continue to talk, unless I get some answers. I have walked out on blind faith, time and time again… and yes, I have hit a personal wall where I need just a little hope, just a small sign, something to help me deal. Now talk."

  Marlene let her breath out hard when the knight glanced at her for support. "I've already called on the warrior angels with constant prayers. They aren't getting in the middle of it because of the choice factor."

  "That's what they told us as well," the Moor said with a sigh.

  "Okay. But about Rivera… ?" Damali said, not letting the knight off the hook.

  "He was marked by the darkness," the knight replied in a slow, steady voice. "They manipulated him to full rage and pain, in the way they'd killed his family—but his lifestyle was setting him up to be turned anyway."

  Damali nodded. "I always told him that, but he wouldn't listen to me." Her voice was sad, no longer charged with impatience. She studied her hands.

  "A master vampire, Fallon Nuit, bit him—but he immediately turned. That doesn't happen. It usually takes three days. But not only did he immediately turn, but turned master, which also violates supernatural laws."

  "You mean a master vampire just waltzed in here and kissed our girl?" Rider slapped his head and walked away. "Marlene said he was, but me and the fellas were like, nah. If he was a master, this conversation now would be moot."

  "But he didn't bite her?" Marlene glanced at the nervous team. "Or us?"

  The knight shook his head. "At first, when he fell and came back so strong, we thought it was because the darkness in Rivera's heart was so powerful. But then we came to know that the Vampire Council had breached supernatural law, and made him. They have a division in philosophy, are at war amongst themselves—which means they aren't unified, and that presents an opportunity for light to seep in where it is dark."

  "So, okay—the council made him? And—"

  "Damali," Rider interrupted, "I'm still stuck on the fact that they have a council… like senators, and shit?"

  "Rider, shut up," Shabazz urged. "Your language. Let the man speak."

  "Because the law was violated, that gave us three days to match against their three stolen nights. The warrior angels aggressively went in at the moment of Carlos's death and retrieved his soul—which is in Purgatory as we speak. The Vampire Council cannot find it in the realms of Hell, and they are quite distressed. Carlos Rivera's soul is extremely valuable to both sides. He is a hardened sinner, worth the soul weight of one hundred good souls. For them, he is the only access to you… and he will fill a territory for the Vampire Council with one of their own to replace Nuit."

  "What happens if he makes the wrong choice?" Damali asked in a strained whisper, almost afraid to know.

  "The man is walking a very thin line," the knight replied, drawing a
line with his sword on the floor. "He can go deeper into the dark cavern of the nether realm, and take the offer made to him by the Vampire Council. He can take up with the rogue vampires, whom Nuit calls the Minion, and assist Nuit's plan to turn two hundred and fifty thousand at once at the concert. They will soon be daywalkers. Or, Carlos Rivera can side with us… but we cannot guarantee him life or ascension without a period of atonement." He looked up at Damali. "But you have been heavily tipping the scales in our favor. The kiss, without a bite, was like a drug."

  "What …" Damali came closer to the knight and put her hand on his shoulder. "I don't understand… and daywalkers?"

  "There is much at stake for Carlos Rivera right now. The dark realm's offers are much more seductive. We have little to bargain with. But you got him in the heart with all three weapons at our disposal. Your guardian seer-mother will explain all that there is to know about this… and will reveal the dark realm's plan as her visions increase." The knight stepped back from Damali and lowered his gaze.

  "Tell me some of it, at least." Damali's gaze went from face to face in the room. Impatience seized her. "All this waiting, and stuff about being ready. I can't stand it another moment!"

  "Faith, that the man could change," he said in a tense, emphatic tone. "You believed that he was better—could do better, and it pierced his conscience." The knight leaned in, his hand motioning to Daman as he counted off the points one by one using his fingers.

  "Hope, that the man could see his own potential one day, and that he would embrace the right path. And, like you, he hoped that one day there would be a way for him to claim you, and you him. Very powerful shield against darkness." The knight let his breath out slowly, his gaze level and unwavering. "Then you drew the sword of truth on the man, coated it with love, and sent it right through his heart."

  He stepped back and used his sword as a pointer. "You are girded in spiritual armor, young Neteru. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, your feet are shod in the gospel of peace—which you preach from the stage—and in your hand you have the sword of the spirit, the truth, which is the word of God. You were not unarmed when he approached you, and you vanquished the darkness within him—if only for a moment, or you would not still be standing. So, take heart, and do not ever lose the faith!"