Part 34 (1/2)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

It felt as though her heart was pounding out of her chest as she sprinted beside Carlos through the streets and up the steep incline of steps to the building that housed their team. They banged on doors like the house was on fire as they pa.s.sed each room, instantly calling a meeting by express method-hollering.

”Yo, yo, yo, heads up!” Carlos yelled, slamming doors with his fist.

Damali put her shoulder to the door of their small room and barreled through it, her gaze sweeping for anything that shouldn't be there. Within moments, the entire team had piled into the room behind her and slammed the door.

”Talk to me, people,” Shabazz said.

”Lilith took her body for a second,” Carlos said, waving his hands as he spoke.

”He was trailing the beginnings of apex scent,” Damali said, walking in a circle, b.u.mping into Carlos, ”and he slapped the s.h.i.+t out of me.”

”It was Lilith,” Carlos said, his voice rising defensively. ”I would never slap Damali. Something was wrong with the kiss, the vibe wasn't right. That's why I told her to back off while I was apexing. My gut told me to ignore the body-I had to get my head together. I slapped her and her eyes changed!”

”Well, that'll happen if you slap a Neteru, dude,” Rider said, but his tone wasn't amused. ”Her eyes will change, and then the daggers come out. So you'd better hope like h.e.l.l you slapped Lilith, and not Damali.”

”I know what I saw,” Carlos argued, jumping up on a bed and staring out the window.

”Let's everybody try to stay calm,” Marlene said. ”With the contagions, tempers are apt to flare-”

”I know what I saw, Mar,” Carlos repeated, his voice rising. ”This wasn't the d.a.m.ned infection. Even as a vampire, I never slapped Damali-under any conditions, hitting a woman ain't my style. But Lilith, yeah. I'll blow her head off.”

”Down in the square,” Damali said, her breaths labored as adrenaline rippled through her. ”The Chairman came to me, I think.”

Everybody stopped moving, and Carlos spun around. ”What?”

”He kissed me, and it definitely wasn't you. Metallic taste in my mouth when I bit him.”

”What!” Carlos was off the bed and in her face. ”You knew it wasn't me and bit that mother-”

”It looked exactly like you, was talking the exact same s.h.i.+t you talk when you want some, and-”

”Okay, okay,” Marlene said, coming between the combatants. ”They shape-s.h.i.+fted on both of you. We got that part.” She looked at Carlos. ”You're bait.” She motioned toward Damali. ”You're the steel trap.”

Shabazz nodded. ”If he's near true apex, he's a solid lure for Lilith. Damali ain't in phase, so she's gotta take the Chairman's head once he surfaces to go after Lilith or come for Carlos. Male Neteru apex in his zones is gonna draw his old a.s.s out of hiding.”

Damali and Carlos parted and went to opposite sides of the room, elbowing past the others. He leaned on one wall and wiped his hands down his face; she leaned on a rickety dresser and did the same.

”All right, I'm bait,” Carlos muttered.

”I've got the Chairman's head, no problem. We move out first light,” Damali said, regaining her composure. ”Just tell me how I'm supposed to lop off Lilith's head when she's inside my body? How am I supposed to do that-and trust me, I want her a.s.s as bad as I want the Chairman's.”

”Mar, not trying to add a wrinkle to this loosely constructed plan, but how in the h.e.l.l did an ent.i.ty enter a fully matured Neteru like Damali? That's why it was taking me a minute to get with Rivera's defense.” Rider raked his fingers through his hair and quickly glanced at both Neterus in the room before his gaze held Marlene's. ”I can get with a shape-s.h.i.+ft. That's pure vamp illusion s.h.i.+t. But if what Carlos said is true, then Lilith temporarily slid into Damali's body. From all I've heard, that ain't ever supposed to happen.”

Damali's hands went to the top of her head as she searched Marlene's eyes for answers. ”That's way strong mojo, Mar. Rider's right. d.a.m.n, I ain't playing that s.h.i.+t!”

”Lilith is from Level Seven, and she's got strengths beyond the vamp capacity,” Marlene said, her eyes scouring the group. ”But she needed a host, a carrier, that's already, uh, literally, been inside of Damali's body before. We're all infected by the demon contagion, and Damali's defenses could have been temporarily down, especially with the distraction of her partner going into a full apex.” Marlene stared at Carlos. ”Talk to me, brother. How you been feeling lately?”

”I'm fine,” Carlos said, crossing his arms. ”Normal, regular, nothing out of the ordinary.”

”Oh, bulls.h.i.+t!” Damali said, pus.h.i.+ng off the dresser. ”You have not been fine. You cannot remember things! Your personality runs hot and cold. One minute you don't have enough energy to lift your head off a pillow, the next you're battling insomnia and have all the energy in the world.” She shook her head. ”Nah. You ain't all right.”

”I went out once drinking with Yonnie, and felt bad, but-”

”Noooo...” Damali said in a low voice. ”That night I doused your clothes-”

”Nothing happened!” Carlos gestured wildly with his hands. ”What happened out of the ordinary, D? The clothes didn't even smolder, I was-”

”Like the Devil himself.” Damali jerked her attention toward Marlene. ”I remember now. He came at me with some s.h.i.+t I ain't never seen before, and the Carlos I know would have never come at me like that-had me scared in my own f.u.c.king house, crying and s.h.i.+t, then everything got fuzzy.”

” What are you talking about, Damali?” Carlos stood in the center of the room as the team's gaze bounced from him to Damali and back again.

Damali covered her face, breathed into her hands, and summoned calm. When she lowered her arms, she kept her voice even and controlled. ”Outside, just now, you started running and said the angels told you to get the book. When did the angels come?

Think back. What book?”

The team parted as Carlos began to pace slowly, his hands balling to fists at his sides. ”Yeah. Right. I did. I remember. I was p.i.s.sed off. Left the house. But...”

Juanita walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. Eyes widened on every face. Damali bristled.

”We talked in the front yard. Remember? You were on your way to L.A.”

Damali folded her arms over her chest. ”Yeah. What did you and Juanita talk about, Carlos?” Damali's eyes narrowed. ”For all we know, her a.s.s could be a carrier-she was out of team sight for a long time before-”

”C'mon, D,” Jose said, cutting her off. ”I wanna hear what she's gotta say, too. So, let 'Nita tell us what went down in the front yard that ain't n.o.body know about. I also have a few questions about the vibe I caught when I took Krissy to your house.

Cool?”Damali pounded Jose's fist.

”Aw, s.h.i.+t,” Big Mike said, smoothing a palm over his bald head. ”C'mon, y'all. We family.”

Juanita scowled at Damali and averted her eyes from Jose. ”Carlos, you were on your way to L.A. Said...”

Her voice trailed off and he nodded. A silent understanding pa.s.sed between them. Part of the conversation need not be said.

”Then I was driving and-”

”Hoi' up!” Damali said, both hands raised. ”Skip to, and then I was driving? Rivera, I ain't-”

”I told one member of the house where I was going!” Carlos shouted, pointing at Juanita, ”because you were giving me the blues.

Yeah, I explained that I was out so the whole house didn't mount up a search party, or try to go after my boy to stake him.

Yonnie wasn't in this bulls.h.i.+t. Then a deer, which I thought was Tara, came out of nowhere. Smashed my window. I spun out.

Started walking. Blue light came down and covered me! Tara's hunt was on the hood of my car. She couldn't see me because of the light!”