chapter seven

"do what?"

a hard silver stare met her as carlos turned away from the glass doors. incredulous, he rubbed his palms down his face and began to walk away. she could tell he was going for distance before he said something that couldn't be taken back.

"you missed the obvious, that's why i said what i said." damali knew the riddle would hook him and she smiled inwardly as she heard his footsteps stop. she casually got up from her kitchen stool and went to the sink to rinse out her bowl and then shook her head. some things were simply reflex. who cared if the dishes were done, given that the house was probably about a couple of hours from beingash.

"love?" he said, indignant, and then folded his arms over his stone-carved chest. "love them to death, d. . ."

"check it out," she said calmly, pointing toward the horizon. "when i had my vision before, everything was being consumed by these dark entities entering people. no doubt there's been a lot of bodies snatched, but i'm still seeing choppers out there, planes . . . what did you tell me . . . there's like eighty eight hundred firefighters on the line, plus how many red cross shelters open and neighbors helping neighbors, right?"

"yeah, all right," he said, dragging his fingers through his hair and coming more deeply into the kitchen.

"that means that the vision i had was skewed. just like that food that came in and turned all maggoty, my vision was off. maybe it was residual tainting from before j.l. installed the filters. but all of us in this house have been panicked out of our minds. krissy wigged so hard that me and j.l. had to take her out of the war room for air. the goal of this thing is to make people hopeless, make them panic, make them think that the end is finally here-when you and i both know it ain't over until the creator says it's over . . . and we have to keep on keepin' on."

"all right, all right, i buy that part. yeah, the illusion is to make everybody trip. i know i've been buggin'-with good cause, too. but how in the hell are we supposed to love this so-called shit to death?" carlos threw his hands up in the air and began to pace. "i mean, what the fuck, d. what's to love?"

"people," she said flatly. "it can't win if we focus on loving and helping people, rather than going after the darkside directly. that we've never done before on this team." she walked to the glass doors that led out to the deck. "normally, as soon as the blazes started, we would have kicked in a hellhole, sent in troops, and did a search-and-destroy operation. but we're messing with their heads right now-we haven't surfaced. so, they're going nuts blasting the whole country with everything they've got, trying to get a reaction."

she watched as her husband moved in closer and leaned against the sink. she had him where she wanted him-open and listening.

"think about it, carlos. we need to employ a judo move here, allowing the adversary to fall from the momentum of his own weight. they're aggressively attacking . . . we fall back and let their forward momentum roll them over our heads."

she turned and gave him a hard smile."yeah. we kick their asses with love. see, i'm figuring that the people who couldn't be taken over by the shadows had to have a love of humanity within them so hard . . . a love of the creator, by whatever name they know, something sterling within their spirits that wouldn't allow the takeover. not every kid got taken over. not every doctor, not every policeman, or man, woman, chick, or child. feel me? something is causing a barrier tothat, otherwise it would be anarchy out there. likedawn of the dead . people would be looting, killing one another out in the streets right before everyone's eyes, cops and anyone with a gun would be up on rooftops and towers like snipers picking people off as we speak. when it goes there, baby, that's when we're at the last of days. that'sthe prom . this is just a midweek dance. right now, this is bad, but not the worst."

ever so slightly, she watched carlos's shoulders begin to relax. by degrees the tense muscles in his biceps lengthened as his arms unfolded. she watched him glance out the window, brows knit, silver gaze on the flaming horizon. she could almost feel his razor-sharp intellect slice through all the illusions before him and engage like a gear that was back on track. then he nodded.

"yeah," he said, going to the glass. his tone was so low and distant that she knew he was really talking to himself.

"still no sign of them?' lilith screeched as she blew open the doors of the vampire council chambers and sauntered forward.

her council stood to greet her and she eyed each member with suspicion. fury at a lack of results had her in a stranglehold, and she turned her bitter venom on her two injured councilwomen first. their injuries were a reminder of her dark realm's heavy losses. sebastian had lost an arm, his conjuring arm; elizabeth bathory was burned beyond recognition. lucrezia was a wreck. revolted by lucrezia borgia's condition, lilith shook her head.

gorgeous, fire-red hair framed lucrezia's delicate, porcelain white skin. no wonder fallon had been so taken with her, enough to make her his mate. a pair of sensual, smoky green eyes stared back at lilith, silently begging for mercy.there is no mercy in hell, bitch . lilith shot her a telepathic message, taunting lucrezia as she strode forward and waved away the little gargoyle creatures that scampered at her feet looking for blood bits. the vampires waited, none breathing, to see what vicious course her foul mood might take.

the councilwoman seemed trapped by lilith's glare, and lilith allowed her to twist with uncomfortable anticipation as she filled her goblet with blood from the pentagram-shaped council table's veins. lucrezia's picture-perfect nose balanced her once pretty features . . . lilith shrugged. sad that her lower jaw had been ripped away by her own husband to save her life. silver poison at the hands of the neterus made it necessary for fallon to tear at the substance, wrest lucrezia's esophagus out of her once lovely throat down to the stomach before the silver-laced blood damaged her dead heart.

"have you no dignity?" lilith said in a quiet, lethal tone as she spun away from the table and took a sip of blood. it was a rhetorical question, really. lucrezia's vocal cords were gone.

she'd never expected an answer from her as she ascended her high-back, black marble throne and angrily sat. if lucrezia had finally summoned enough energy to cover the hideous results of the neteru poisoning with illusion, surely she would have. that was the thing that so enraged her-lucrezia didn't have the strength to do so yet and might never-none of them did, at a time when the dark empire needed strong warriors.

lilith's gaze narrowed as fallon nuit flung out his arm and covered his wife's face from the nose down with a heavily beaded veil. "such a waste," she hissed and then glanced at elizabeth, who had turned away to cover her burned face with gnarled hands.

"you were once count dracula's wife!" lilith shrieked, suddenly standing. in a rage she sent her golden goblet crashing to the black marble floor, but even the ever-hungry harpies dared not go near the spill now. "look at you! how could you be so stupid to takea bloodbath topside in the gray-zone, or to feed, and not check for treason? it was arrogance and stupidity that allowed you to drop your guard."

there was no response to the diatribe as lilith's searing gaze raked her subordinates. "you never depend on a man to save your carcass . . . had i depended solely on lucifer all these millennia, where would i be? exterminated! where is your guile, your personal brand of treachery,your me -or-them survival instinct as agoddamned queen of the night! i am ashamed to call you mine. there's not even a coherent plot against the female neteru to return the favor."

lilith waved out her arm toward fallon nuit and sebastian. "fuck them! you two councilwomen should have come together to develop a foolproof plan to not only avenge yourselves and restore your honor, but to exterminate these two worthless bastards who were more interested in screwing you than ensuring your longevity and welfare! what has become of hell?" her gaze narrowed on both councilmen. "they wouldrue the day that something so horrific ever befell me . . . but you whimper for me to fix this travesty. it is your right and choice to do so-i don't have to sleep with them."

"he couldn't repair me, madame councilwoman," elizabeth said in a piteous murmur. "he lost his conjuring arm and the prosthetic one he casts in illusion is powerless. his left is building strength now, but-"

"did you have balls enough to ask my husband to repair your arm? nuit was cut with a neteru blade and lost a leg, and it was repaired! did you even bargain for your conjuring limb?" lilith shrieked, whirling on sebastian, who ducked a black blast.

"no, milady.i suspected that you were both too busy attending to the more important matter of the heir's survival. my arm is nothing. i felt it best to wait until a more auspicious time to approach him . . . as i'm sure his level of frustration is high now." sebastian kept his head low like his simpering tone, cringing on his throne.

"get your fucking arm repaired by the only one who can! i need your spells, not excuses." lilith hissed and then spit black blood. it sizzled on the hot floor and she folded her arms over her voluptuous chest, now speaking through battle-length fangs as she returned her withering gaze to her councilwomen.

"you two bitches are worthless to me while you cower in the darkness of chambers and convalesce. sebastian . . .look at your wife, who was once the beloved of vlad the impaler. she was a hungarian queen, a goddess of beauty and refinement, but look at her now. an old hag! vampire females never succumb to the loss of beauty at any cost-and most assuredly it is unbefitting a councilwoman!"

trembling with fury, lilith spun on sebastian again and offered him an evil smile. "necromancer . . . shall i raise dracula and see what he thinks of elizabeth's once lily-white skin charred and twisted so that her dark hair and eyes are all that is left of what he once remembered? i am so tempted-"

"no! i will go to the dark lord and get my limb restored!" sebastian shouted, coming around the table to genuflect before lilith. "madame chairwoman, please, that won't be necessary-i will redress this injustice, like fallon will-"

"do notdare speak my name in this transaction," fallon nuit said coolly indananu . he strode around the table, uttering in the bargaining language of his kind. "the question of whether or not to raise dracula should be elizabeth's, not yours, since you allowed her to be harmed."

"and you have not allowed your wife to be! look at lucrezia's face!"

nuit bowed but took no offense. "my senses were duped by the neterus, just like yours, my friend-but i cuckolded no one's wife. vlad was a monstrous general in his prime . . . and one of lucrezia's relatives, whowas adept in debauchery and deception, was a pope. we must begin to look at the long list of resources we have yet to employ,n'est-ce pas? if your actions standon their own then what have you to fear?"

"i don't fear making the necessary request, it was simply the timing." sebastian's eyes glittered with hatred as nuit glared at him with contempt.

"i've had a limb restored down on level seven," nuit said coolly, "and if that process doesn't make a man out of you, nothing else will,monami . although, from the look in your eyes, my bet is that you'll put off the inevitable as long as possible . . . maybe elizabeth would be better off if the count were back in his full glory, hmm?"

"raise him," elizabeth whispered, her voice strained. she turned her disfigured face toward lilith, tears rising in her large, brown eyes. "we are linked, and vlad would be strong enough to heal me."

"i will take that under consideration," lilith said dismissively while studying her french manicure. "my only concern is that vlad is impulsive and would make a run at my throne . . . which would mean i'd have to exterminate him permanently."

"you have the power to heal them both . . . and me," sebastian offered quietly.

lilith stared at him for a moment and then laughed cruelly. "yes, i do, don't i? but what have you assumed i've been doing all this time?" from her peripheral vision she saw fallon, lucrezia, and elizabeth draw away ever so slightly as she approached sebastian.

"you were healing the heir," sebastian said quickly. "that was the sum total of your focus, milady."

"good answer," lilith said in a hissing whisper. "could it be that i was also waiting to see whatyou could do on your own?" her voice rose on a powerful crescendo that sent the transporter cloud of bats in the vaulted ceiling into a screeching frenzy. "my husband has been making world leaders offers they cannot refuse, positioning. the unnamed one, our dark lord, has been fucking with the weather, crashing economies, bringing humankind to the brink of world war and nuclear destruction-thus sending you dark cover to aid an ambush . . . what have you done with this time!"

"built a media empire that assaults the human spirit with shadow elementals and demon principalities that will later make them susceptible to the plagues wrought when the pale horse is released with the breakage of the next biblical seal," nuit said with unwavering resolve. "i have driven humankind mad, simply put. leveraging the natural disasters with human insanity shall surely drive the neterus out of hiding."

"explain," lilith screeched, sweeping away from a cowering sebastian. she stood before nuit and studied his expression for signs of fraud.

"i've bonded the phantom realms to the airwaves, riding that into the human psyche through their technological toys. the message is decadence," he said in a sensual whisper. "lack of hope," he murmured, beginning to circle her."hatred and human horrors. their sense of survival is already being compromised with the economic plummets . . . loss of jobs, housing foreclosures, identity theft, and tightening credit restrictions, and of course the thing that drives them from their creature comforts-so-called natural disasters," he whispered, clenching his fists and motioning in the air as though he were wringing out a wet towel.

"we will ride the black horse of economic distress, showing them decadent celebrities living like kings and queens while they can barely afford to keep their lights on. they will covet and greed will spiral-they will sell their souls for the price of silver under these auspices," nuit murmured. "it is a part of the shadows. many humans will break under the strain. those with dim lights within cannot fight off the toxin."

he smiled as he watched lilith's fangs adjust to mating length. "lucrezia's specialty is poison . . . mine, guile and empire-building." he leaned in close enough to whisper in lilith's ear. "i let her poison the airwaves in the music and entertainment industries . . . including the news. we are bringing you dark recruits twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, globally . . . and given lucrezia's unfortunate convalescence and the condition of her throat . . . i have been making master vampires for you, by the dozens."

a slow smile formed on lilith's lush mouth. she caressed nuit's jawline and nodded. "well done, fallon.verywell done. abstinence from your wife becomes you and i bet that has also improved the quality of her venom, yes?"

fallon chuckled as his wife released a nasal-created hiss."oui."

lilith cast a bored gaze at lucrezia and issued her a warning indananu as she repaired the councilwoman's damaged jaw, throat, and torso. "you both have earned my respect and therefore this reprieve. know that i can only do these types of healings in spaced increments, then must feed and rest. grafting over silver is as dangerous for me as it is for you . . . and until the heir was healed, i could not waste my energy like this. however, lucrezia, when i come to you for the old pope in your line, i expect results."

lucrezia dropped to her knees, sobbing and nodding as the beaded veil disintegrated and new skin began to crawl up her throat and mangled jaw.

"feed your wife and go fuck her somewhere, fallon . . . and be ready to report topside within the next twenty-four hours. i want a strategy in place. better yet, the neterus' heads on a pike."

lilith's gaze hardened as it left nuit and she glanced at sebastian. "go to lucifer and cower at his hooves that he might repair you to do our empire's bidding. the results are uncertain, as you are correct-he is in the worst mood i haveever seen him in since the original fall. but that is your only option. i refuse to waste my energy on you. andif you survive the ordeal of my husband's healing, do be sure to bring me something equally as devastating as what fallon has offered this council . . . raise something from the extermination pools-or i may grow bored with you and your wife."

marlene walked into the kitchen with shabazz. both older guardians stared at the young couple and an awkward silence briefly paralyzed the foursome. damali was the first to break the tense standoff with the simple statement of good morning.

"we didn't want to interrupt," marlene said. she glanced at shabazz nervously. "but we're gonna have to evacuate the house soon."

shabazz nodded. "everything tactical in me is feeling like something's about to blow. we might have a half hour." he looked at carlos. "you up for a full transport out-and you know where we're going?"

"where'sayana and mom delores?" damali said, interjecting quickly. she knew carlos didn't have a clue where he could put them down safely yet, and going into the middle of a hot-zone with a three-year-old and a civilian grandmother was out of the question.

"in a safe house in philly.while you were still resting, inez and mike agreed early this morning, and mom delores was grateful to be leaving here when she saw the smoke. in philly they just raised ten thousand men to stop the violence and father pat went there for a meeting at the cathedral basilica . . . plus we got a serious guardian crew back east, so . . . it's all good. i spoke to him, he's cool." carlos hesitated, worry straining his expression. "he's still weak, though, and said he had something to tell us when he could be sure his info wouldn't be hijacked out of the air."

"yo."

everyone in the kitchen turned quickly around to meet yonnie's voice. he stood in the doorway, having moved so silently that it unnerved the frayed senior team.

"i should have heard you coming, man," carlos said, as he pounded yonnie's fist.

"all of y'all shoulda heard me coming, but your focus is elsewhere. not good. i coulda snuck you as a daywalker . . . shit-y'all better tighten it up."

"it ain't your shift," shabazz said, his gaze hardening with frustration.

"with the world up in smoke,do it have to be?" yonnie leaned against the sink and folded his arms over his chest. palpable tension coiled around him. his sinewy form seemed like he was ready to spring into action to meet shabazz's challenge, if it went there. defiance blazed in yonnie's dark brown eyes and his wild afro seemed to add to the visual affect of an indignant, young man. wearing a wife-beater t-shirt, a pair of gray sweats, and no shoes, yonnie looked like he'd just rolled out of bed but was ready to rumble.

carlos rubbed the stubble on his jaw. "aw'ight, y'all . . . look, we gotta-"

"git the fuck outta here, is what we gotta do, man," yonnie said, scowling. "you of all people know how the other side rolls.can't be no dillydallying."

"we were having a team meeting with senior guardian staff trying to determine the best course of action, yolando," marlene said bluntly. one hand went to her hip. "you're new, and there's a way we do things to ensure the safety of the team and any humans we decide to go near."

yonnie pushed off the sink and materialized a toothpick in his mouth in agitation. "sis, i might be new, but i ain't stupid-andme and c go way back."

"call my wife sis one more time and i'mabust your new ass," shabazz said, moving forward.

carlos flat-palmed shabazz in midchest."c'mon, man, that's just yonnie when he's tripping." he glared at yonnie. "respect, man-mar is housemother, you feel me?"

yonnie held up both hands in front of his chest."my bad, miss marlene, but, like . . . i'm getting all kinds of funky vibes, yo. the shit is making a brother jumpy."

"he's tapped in," damali said, diffusing the contest of wills with raw truth. she looked at the group. "he's new, just out of hell. if anybody can feel movement"-she turned to yonnie-"talk to us."

"see," yonnie said, pointing at damali and walking to the other side of the kitchen. "that's why i always liked your woman, c. she listens. she hears. aw'ight. i'matell you what i'm picking up." he wiped his palms down his face and let out a weary breath. "nuit has been making master bitches-'scuze my french-like there's no tomorrow. it's like brotherman is on steroids, or something. don't even ask me how i know. then, i'm trying to chill, flipping channels in the bedroom, 'cause if i didn't leave val alone she was probably gonna stab me . . . and i'm listening to a report that i know a lot about. they said that cocaine did better than the freakin' dow jones this year." he went over to carlos and pounded his fist. "but we coulda told 'em that, man."

"what's any of that got to do with the plan to get out of here?" shabazz said, growing agitated. "we already knew they'd be making new vamps and drugs ain't new, so what?"

"it's got to do with territory and a councilman getting stronger, 'bazz," carlos said, pounding yonnie's fist again. he looked at his old friend from his old life."expansion. nuit is in full favor if he's slammin' vamps like you say heis,hombre ."

"he got da hoes working day and night, and in a minute, they'll be on the street with fangs and real strong." yonnie nodded and smiled, flipping the toothpick in his mouth with his tongue. "mr. chairman."

"i really wish you wouldn't call carlos that," marlene said, tension making her begin to pace. "he's not that anymore.can't even think like that anymore."

"hebetter think like that," yonnie said, losing his smile as he stared at both marlene and shabazz. "he better rememberall that shit from his old life." yonnie cocked his head to the side and looked at damali. "you know i ain't lying. . . . c was one of the baddest mofos in the valley, and that's what we need right now-not some politically correct-"

"right," damali said, intentionally cutting off yonnie's statement before the wordbitch could come out of his mouth. "we need the truth, straight no chaser."

carlos gave yonnie a hard glare, the edges of his irises beginning to flicker silver. yonnie was crazy, but wasn'tthat crazy-damali hoped. after all, everybody was hyped.

but if yonnie said the b word in reference to carlos, there'd be no telling what could erupt in the kitchen. there wasn't time for that. right now it was imperative for her to agree with the plan to go old-school gangsta so that carlos wouldn't sit the fence. decisions were going to have to be swift and possibly reckless, and her husband was so worried about her that he was erring on the side of caution.

"no disrespect, mr. chairman," yonnie said after a moment, calming down a little but lifting his chin with pride. "i'm just used to seeing the oldyou, man . . . that cock-diesel, crazy motherfucker who would go for broke without hesitation. i know you been playing it safe on account of the kid-"

"ayana ain't got nothing to do with this shit," carlos said, his voice escalating as he pointed at yonnie.

yonnie rolled his shoulders. "i ain't talking about ayana, aw'ight. i'm talkin' 'bout yours, bro." he motioned toward his nose and glared at carlos. "what, you think i ain'tknow ? you think mysenses is that off since i crossed over? that's why i'm telling you i got your back. fuck all this seniority shit, we gotta go for broke. i'm planning on being an uncle-ain't gotno blood relatives, but y'all, man. so let's do this shit."

"oh . . . my . . . god. . . ." marlene began walking in a circle.

shabazz just closed his eyes. damali opened and closed her mouth as yonnie gave carlos a warrior hug and nodded.

"youda man , motherfucker," yonnie said, laughing as carlos let him go. "how you pull that off during the armageddon and half dead, sheeit, i'lln't know!"

a huge smile broke out on carlos's face. "you gotta keep it on the low, man.for real.orders from on high."

"i ain't messin' with them," yonnie said, waving his hands in front of his chest. "ifthey said keep it on the low, shit,my lips are sealed." he made the sign of a key turning a lock in front of his mouth with his fingers and then threw away the imaginary key.

carlos glimpsed at damali and then gave his attention to yonnie. "just like they ain't trying to blow up oil fields and are fighting to keep all the bombs away from those resources, the darkside ain't burning south america orturkey, they . . . ain't directly going to war in the cash crop breadbasket zone. cocaineis their dow jones."

"that's what i've been waiting to hear, man," yonnie said, wiping his forehead. "the old you back in action." he looked at damali. "i know you got a lot riding on every decision being right this time, yo . . . i feel you. but we can't afford to have you playing it so conservative that they get us because we didn't do something buck wild."

"and do not damage the oil and the wine," marlene murmured. "seal three."

"since that third seal is broken, you gotta get 'em with love this time, yonnie," damali said, and folded her arms over her chest. "we've gotta stop this thing with the most powerful energy on the planet-love."

shabazz and yonnie both reacted instantly, their voices blending into a single outraged question. "what?"

"that's right," marlene said with both hands on her hips. "noetic science-combination of quantum physics, spiritualism, and psychometrics . . . bet you gentlemen didn't read the internet pages i copied for you?"

three sets of male eyes sought the kitchen floor and then the horizon.

"ten bucks says j.l. read it, though," damali muttered.

"i'll raise shabazz twenty, who're you telling-don't even get me started," marlene fussed, cutting a glare at shabazz as she answered damali. "it's real simple," she added in a huff. "damali is talking about shifting energies on the planet, tapping into the fifth force of psi, which is on the order of photons, gravitons, leptons, and quarks. psi is a river of energy with currents all around us-like the river of life that never stops flowing-and if as little as 11 percent of the population shifts perspective, we can create a paradigm shift . . . hence why music is so dangerous and used for every major revolution. it's a universal language." marlene shook her head as the men in the group gaped at her. "hello. . . quantum physics, quantum mechanics. . . . y'all need to read, i swear!"

damali let out a heavy sigh. it was always a clash between yin and yang, male and female energy in the house and battle tactics. she couldn't even begin to deal with the shock of yonnie knowing her condition. that reality had spiked a panic rush within her that she just had to suck up and let go, because if yonnie knew then it wouldn't be long before the darkside figured it out. her only hope was that the light had somehow silver-shielded her. not knowing for sure, though, was the terrifying part. unfortunately, she didn't have time to address that right now.

"we're fighting on multiple fronts," damali said, moving to the kitchen counter. "they're using natural disasters to flush us out, sending fire, floods, twisters, whatever they can through our old stomping grounds. they know we have to move to avoid all that, and if they see a miraculous reversal of nature-like a fire going out on its own, or whatever, they'll know where to target more pressure. so, i'm guessing, heaven wouldn't blow our cover like that-but has given us the means to help ourselves outta that type of jam." she used her fingers to count off the points, sporadically moving tabletop items around to visually make her case.

"then they went after human capital-people's psyche's and spirits, and are breaking people's backs with the economy," she added. "they figured if the disasters don't drive us out into the open, clusters of really horrific human behaviors might send our team in on a reconnaissance mission to investigate or to try a direct intervention. but i say let's use our resources to flood the airwaves with messages of hope and love and get people helping their neighbors more . . . let's move that psi around and start chipping away at the 11 percent we need to sway the balance, because that's the only thing that's gonna inoculate people from the darkside taking up residence in their spirits."

damali folded her arm-->>

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