The Wicked (Vampire Huntress Legend #8)

The Wicked (Vampire Huntress Legend #8) Page 15

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Carlos patrolled the halls of the castle, watching the sun go down as Damali slept. He could hear other Guardians stirring throughout the expansive structure, hoping they were braced for whatever was yet to come.

There was something calming, almost comforting, about the still�ness that surrounded him, walking the old stone floors just remember�ing. This time he was careful not to pine for the past, just to observe it and give that history proper detached reverence in a personal re�quiem within.

After all he'd seen there was no doubt about the incomprehensible power of the Light. Yet after all he'd seen there was also no question about the lengths evil could go to break a human being's back. One by one, the Darkness had come for them all, using each person's deep�est fears to twist agony into living souls. How Fallon would come at him was a nagging question. If anyone wanted to exploit his deepest fear, Lilith, and then Cain, had beaten Fallon to the punch. In that re�gard, Fallon was late to the party. Carlos smiled.

Maybe the worst had been done to him. Then again, maybe not.

Bottom line was, the Light had shown the Darkness that it was in�deed a force to be reckoned with. Although he still didn't quite un�derstand why all of Heaven, with every Neteru warrior available, wouldn't just blow a hole into the pit, shine a bright light down into it, and be done with the madness-having seen miracle after miracle,

he checked that question at the door. He was not only living proof that the awesome was possible, now he was a living witness. Rider was upstairs with a woman in his arms that had been dead for thirty years.

"Damn..." Carlos murmured to himself, occasionally glancing up as he strolled the vacant halls. "Y'all are awesome."

He quietly walked up the wide center stairs and pressed his hands against the large bay windows at the landing, spreading his fingers be�tween the beveled glass panes. As though seeing the results for the first time, he watched heat from his living body fan out against the cool surface, remembering when he was dead and that was the only way to touch what was now his wife. But he was alive now. Tara lived again. Heaven obviously heard prayers and delivered tangible answers. One just had to be able to see them. What wasn't he seeing?

Carlos rested his forehead against the glass and breathed deeply. "Please don't let her be carrying for Cain... not for my sake, but for hers. It'll break her heart-will rip it up and spit it out."He pushed away from the window. "I respect your decision either way, though."

Come what may, he kept telling himself as he pushed back from the glass and just looked at the mountainside beauty that was fading... It was all happening so subtly yet so fast while people down in the valley went on about their daily routines unaware, oblivious to the ticking clock that had stopped. Beyond his personal worries, lush hillsides would soon be dead and brown. Streams and oceans would become big, blue bowls of stillness. Skies would lie dormant, no birds taking flight, or gnats to stir the air. Life would stop moving to the natural rhythms that had been a constant on Earth since the dawn of time. Not a single baby would suck in that first gulp and cry out to tell the world they'd been born.

Suddenly the magnitude of what they faced as a challenge slammed into him. He knew the mission, the issues, but still his own personal dilemmas had been paramount. Hubert's words, as well as those of Adam tortured him. When they'd been so close, the desire to survive had made him pull the small team out of the bowels of Hell to live to fight another day. Now he wondered if that was the right thing to do. What if the greater test was to go out in a blaze, sever Cain's head, and restart the stalled cosmic clock?

"I don't know," Carlos said, now walking the second-floor halls with his fingers laced on top of his head.

A familiar voice made him stop and slowly drop his hands away. The female voice was calling to Rider from outside. Mike met him in the hallway.

"I know, brother. I heard it."

Mike already had a weapon in hand. "Your call. After seeing Tara's situation, you want me to stand down, or what?"

Damali opened the bedroom door and jogged to meet them in the observatory. "I heard Gabrielle."

"I know. She's out there going for Rider, first." Carlos looked at Mike. "You're gonna have to help Berkfield hold Marjorie down and assist with the rest of 'em. Don't shoot, yet, but I don't think Gabrielle's situation is the same as Tara's."

"The hard part is gonna be convincing her family of that," Damali said sadly. "Okay It's started. Time to get everybody up."

Mike ran down the hallway with Damali and Carlos knocking on doors. Guardians spilled out into the hallway still exhausted but ready. Carlos cocked his head to the side with Mike and Damali as the faint haunting voice begged for an invitation into the casa.

"Everybody in the same room," Damali said, running down the steps with the team to get the group to convene in the living room.

"You swab all those fireplaces?" Carlos asked, looking at Dan.

"Uh... we think so," Dan said, glancing at J.L., Bobby, and Jose.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we did, man. Jose and Bobby were working with us and then Jose got called away to make the run to get Tara and Hubert and his crew," J.L. said as all eyes went to Jose and Bobby.

"I was working on the wings and-"

"Oh, shit, which ones, Jose?" Carlos shouted.

"You were on the east side with J.L., right?" Bobby said. "Me and Dan were working on the west side, I think."

"Never mind! Neteru team only," Carlos said, losing patience by the second. "Just me and D, 'cause we can take a nick." He glanced at Damali and she nodded. "Me and you, both wings. Newbies, start a sagebrush and frankincense fire in this room. Mar, set up a salt perimeter around the living room." Carlos's blade materialized in his grip.

Shabazz drew his weapon. "I got a lock with Mike and Rider- three seasoned guns in the house with hands free to point and click." He looked at Berkfield who was body blocking his wife. "You got your hands full. That's just as important."

"Sara, you stay on Hubert's hip and don't leave his side. You, too, Sedgewick," Damali said, materializing her Isis in her hand.

"Rider... don't leave me outside in the cold," a disembodied fe�male voice said way too close for comfort. "I'm scared, lover. I thought we were at least friends?"

Damali, Carlos, and Mike turned toward the large living room win�dows at the same time. Tara closed her eyes as Marjorie stood.

"Marjorie," Berkfield said slowly. "Sit down. If you don't, I'll have to body slam you into a chair."

"Gabrielle could have a chance, just like she did," Marjorie shrieked, pointing at Tara. "Give my sister a chance. Tara had been dead for thirty years and came back! You even trusted Tara around our children when she had fangs!"

"Way different situation, Marj," Carlos said. "And I'm sorry about that, more than you know."

"Marjorie... Marj..." the eerie voice cried out in an echoing wail. "Please don't let them hurt me. I just want to come in and talk to you. Or you can come outside the gate so I can explain.Please..."

Marjorie covered her mouth as Krissy began to cry.

"Can't we just talk to her?" Krissy said, holding the sides of her head. "Maybe she's like the others?" Krissy suddenly broke down, sobbing harder. "I can hear her inside my mind. I'm so sorry, Aunt Gabby!"

"J.L., stay with Krissy and sit on her if you have to," Carlos said quickly. "Dan, you're on Heather," he added as Heather broke down and reached toward the windows. He looked at Bobby and Jasmine.

"I got 'em," Mike said. "Y'all have a seat and Uncle Mike will be cool."

Inez moved closer to Marjorie. "I'm a mom, too, so let's talk about what's at risk tonight. Focus on my voice, not your sister's, okay. baby?" She stared at Marjorie until she sat down. "Let these people work, they haven't let us down yet. If there's a way to save her. you know they will. If not, we've all gotta let 'em do what they've gotta do."

"I've been there, Marj," Marlene said in a gentle tone, "and it was my daughter. I know where you're at, but you've gotta hold the line." Marlene glanced around the group. "All of you who are deeply con�nected to Gabrielle, start saying a prayer, any one that you know, and it'll help block her out of your minds."

Juanita rounded the back of the sofa and stood behind Bobby and Jasmine. "Right now, she's not your aunt or your mentor. When she becomes that again, we can let her in, but not now." Juanita nodded to Mike. "I'll work this detail with you so you can keep your hands free to shoot if you have to. Everybody will be cool, won't they?" Juanita rounded the sofa, folded her arms over her chest, and gave Jasmine a hard grit. "Won't they?" She waited until Jasmine nodded but looked at Bobby's defiant face. "Let a vampire in here, boy, and I will person�ally kick your simple ass."

"Rider-she's calling for you. How's your head, dude?" Damali said as Rider stood and cocked back the hammer on his weapon.

"Never better, sis," he said, moving around to cover Tara and to potentially assist Berkfield with Marjorie. "Breaks my heart and hurts like hell, but I'mreal clear where I stand. Said my prayers and had 'em answered earlier today. Ain't too much of nothing she can say to me to make me open a door to let her in."

"Cool. Now listen up," Carlos said. "The master vamp call is strong. She has to try an entry point from the roof, since she can't cross the courtyard or the thresholds and windows. Mar and Damali put up energy and prayer barriers," he added, glancing at Marlene and Damali, "but we were all maxed out at the time. Who knows how strong the barriers were when they rimmed the casa. And if our mop team accidentally missed a spot due to fatigue, that means we have anywhere from two to five holes in the roof. So, while me and D check for a possible breach, you all stay in the ring set up here. If Gabrielle gets in without an invite it's gonna get hectic. Watch the ceilings and walls that are painted and aren't stone-the ones we didn't mop down. We clear?"

"Let's do this," Damali said, motioning to Carlos with her chin. "I heard her in the east wing, but for all we know, she could have been throwing her voice as a diversion."

"Very good, Damali," the voice said, but now it had manifested just outside the window.

Everyone turned to stare in horror as a contorted, ghostly pale face came near the glass but didn't touch it, hovering in the air just beyond it. Her body floated above the ground, avoiding the protected dirt. Gabrielle's once clear green eyes had been replaced with angry, red glowing orbs that had sunken in with deep, dark rings under them. Her mouth was filled with long, glistening, feed-length fangs. She smiled and crooked a razor-sharp fingernail at Rider.

"Look at her," Marjorie gasped in a choked whisper. "Oh, God..."

Gabrielle's hair was again raven black and no longer the natural, vi�brant auburn it had been. The brittle tresses moved as though a su�pernatural wind disturbed them. Rider's shoulders dropped in personal defeat as Gabrielle's pale green silk robe hung loose and flowed on the evening breeze, exposing her voluptuous, naked form. Marjorie stood but didn't move toward her. The young initiates cov�ered their faces and wept as Krissy and Bobby turned away.

"Don't blow the glass, that's what she wants," Carlos said, going closer to the window.

Then suddenly, Gabrielle became beautiful. Her old coloring was back, as were her green eyes and auburn hair. She floated on the breeze like a mermaid, her voice that of a melodic siren's. Carlos mo�tioned for Damali to cross the barrier and head for the steps.

"She's changing back to what she was," Marjorie whispered through her tears.

"No. The one you saw before was her," Carlos said, running past the group. "What's outside the window is an illusion. A placeholder for the one that just breached the house."

Reaching the top of the steps as one, Carlos and Damali went back-to-back, blades raised. A slight energy distortion rippled on their skins coming from the east wing, and both Neterus spun to meet the threat. Carlos's silver line of vision caught the outline of the creature scampering along the painted walls sideways like a crab.

"Don't make me kill you, Gabby," Carlos said in a low warning.

"We're giving you one chance to get out of here," Damali said, leveling her Isis. "We need you on our side, even if you've turned."

"I bet you do," Gabrielle said, instantly materializing. She growled low in her throat and crouched on the wall in a spider's hold, tilting her head from side to side. "But I'm a master, sis, and I need to eat right."

Gabrielle lunged, but another unseen entity collided with her midair, making her fall to the floor and begin to sizzle against the stones where she fell. She screeched curses and went to a painted wall smoldering, clinging to it like a treed cat. Yonnie materialized and covered her before Damali and Carlos could advance.

"I told you, never family!" Yonnie said through a hiss. He looked at Carlos and Damali and trapped Gabrielle against the wall in a black holding arc. "I got two seconds to tell you this, then we're out." He strained against Gabrielle's struggle as she twisted under his dark en�ergy hold. "Lilith made her, not me."

"That's right!" Gabrielle screamed. "You're not my maker and I'm a master, too! I need to eat real food, not venison and whatever weak blood you have running through your veins!"

Yonnie's gaze went to Carlos. "I'm older, but she's learning fast. Once she feeds correctly, she'll be stronger." He turned to Gabrielle and reinforced his hold. "But you were given to me in council. Lilith and Nuit turned you over as my prize for not accepting a council seat-so I do have power over you, bitch... and I said no family or humans!" Yonnie looked back at Carlos with hope in his eyes that the message was clear.

Carlos and Damali both nodded. Yonnie had given up serious in�formation while subduing Gabrielle: he had declined a throne, Gabrielle was a master, Lilith and Nuit were in cahoots with Cain, and Yonnie was on their side but possibly being monitored, so had to speak, in riddles. Much had been said in a few short sentences.

"Good," Yonnie said, staring at Carlos and Damali. "Seal up the main fireplace on the east wing. That's where she got in, not the west side. That's the only breach. And don't forget the basics. You've got masters and councils coming at you. Sayeach name in the barriers. A general prayer won't do it." Yonnie looked off and cocked his head to the side. "I gotta go. Watch your back and the rains. That'll wash down the walls and the gate."

"Oh, shit..." Damali said on a quiet breath.

"Thanks, man. We gotta talk later." Carlos looked at Yonnie and for a moment they said nothing. "Tara crossed over into the Light."

Yonnie nodded and briefly closed his eyes. He sealed Gabrielle's snarling mouth. "I didn't kill her."

"I know, man. Get outta here before it's too late and you get caught."

Yonnie hesitated. Carlos stared at him, tension roiling within.

"Am I losing my mind, man?" Yonnie asked in a barely audible whisper. Awe threaded through Yonnie's tone. "It's like I can still smell her, actuallyfeel Tara's pulse." His stare bored into Carlos. "But that's crazy, ain't it,hombre, 'cause you woulda told me if I shoulda known she was still around, right?"

Carlos sighed. "It's a very long story about the Light thing, man, and I promise to-"

"Blow your ass away if you ever come near her again," Rider said low in his throat as he entered the hallway holding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

"Oh, shit..." Carlos muttered, blocking Rider's shot with his body as Yonnie snarled.

"I shouldn't have found out like this-not from, of all people, you," Yonnie hissed between his teeth. The accusation in his glare was lethal. "Not from my blood brother."

Carlos briefly closed his eyes. "We ain't have time for the details, man-"

"Rider, please," Damali said, her voice strident.

"Kiss my ass, darlin'," Rider said as he hocked and spit. "If he came for her tonight, this whole house can go up in flames first."

"I didn't come for her," Yonnie said in a low growl, circling around Carlos without touching the floor to accept the open shot. "Until two seconds ago," he added, blame flaring in his eyes as he glanced at Carlos, "I didn't even know she was alive." Yonnie squared his atten�tion on Rider. "But the only reason your heart isn't lying on the floor from a black charge is because with me, right now, she'd be in mortal danger." He issued Rider a withering look. "However, one night... we'll get back to this conversation, just me and you, motherfucker."

"I'm sorry, man," Carlos said quietly.

Yonnie glared at him and said nothing. Rider cocked back his weapon and headed down the stairs without another word. A fragile peace had been reestablished. The scary question was, for how long? Both Neterus waited for the tension crackling through the hallway to dissipate.

A whirling funnel cloud filled the hallway and spiraled hot ash plumes toward the east wing and was gone. Damali and Carlos ran be�hind it and stood before the large fireplace in the conservatory, work�ing furiously to lay barriers. There was no time to dwell in feelings and emotion, much less discuss all of that.

"You heard what he said about the rains," Damali murmured, keeping her voice low so family wouldn't overhear. They had to stay focused and close the breach. It was as though both she and Carlos had silently agreed to deal with the Yonnie problem later.

"I know," Carlos said, his eyes haunted. "That means the interior of the casa is the only safe place. Even if the roof, outside walls, exte�riors of windows, gates, and pathways are open-we still have the fire�places sealed, every vent, pipes, doorjambs, floors, and most walls. The hot zones, if anything gets in, would be the second-floor hallways along the walls. But wherever we have stone enclosures, we should be good."

"Then we'd better let everybody know where to go if it gets hot," Damali said, looking at him. She could tell this thing with Yonnie was tearing Carlos up. Her husband wouldn't be right until he could make his best friend understand. "This break-in could've been a dis�aster... me and Marlene were so tired when we put up the barriers, I don't know. Rain shouldn't be able to wash that away, just the holy water layers." She kept her conversation to what was necessary.

Carlos slung his arm over her shoulder as they walked back down the hall. "We're all beat down, neither of you really got a chance to rest."

Damali briefly stopped walking. "They can get images through a weak barrier, even if it holds against their actual physical manifestations-which can be almost as damaging." She didn't even want to risk a guess. So much had already devastated Carlos, although he'd never outwardly show it, she just hoped they could all simply make it through the night without further incident.

Carlos only nodded and began walking again. She was right. The dark side could send an image between two Guardians and have them blow each other away. Or they could send in something to torture a weary soul that could possibly break a Guardian down so hard he or she would be near suicide. When they reentered the living room, Car�los sat down hard in a chair, leaned his head back, and shut his eyes.

"We found the hole," Damali said without judgment in her tone. "East wing, conservatory fireplace got missed. No blame. Me and Mar vve're fatigued, too, so our barriers weren't as ironclad as they should have been, either. But we did find out Yonnie is still on our side, but he's compromised."

Damali eyed Rider when he bristled and took her time filling in the team on exactly what had transpired in the hallway, as well as the dangers of illusions being cast inside the house.

"That's the thing, though, D," Bobby said when Damali was finally done. "If we see something that seems real manifest, how do we know not to shoot?"

"That's gonna be a real issue for the newbies who can't sense through the panic. Ask me how I know," Shabazz said. He allowed his gaze to evenly rove over the team. "That's how I lost ten years of my life in the joint, when I was just coming into my own and didn't know it-felt a presence, turned on it, and shot clean through it and dropped my boy in an alley. I took the murder rap. In a stone castle like this, we could hit one of our own with a ricochet. So everybody's gotta be on point, even though you only have seconds to make a de�cision."

"Everything that's solid has a pulse," Damali said, nodding in agreement with Shabazz. "If it's illusion, it won't. That's why it's gonna be very important for everybody to get real still, and getreal cool in their heads, so your sensory awareness is at peak performance. Everything, not just your eyes has to guide you, if something rolls into this house."

She looked at Heather, Jasmine, Krissy, and then Marjorie and Bobby. "Because Gabrielle is linked very closely to y'all, and we're in a stone structure and you have Stonehenge-type energy, plus know wicca, if you see her, and you all are in the right space in your heads- focused-you can subdue her with the power of three. Literally, you can put her in an energy cage, which is what I suggest if you wanna save her."

"All right," Marjorie said, drying her face. "The tactical Guardians should be able to sense if what we're seeing is illusion or not, and we can contain her."

"And throw her out of the house," Marlene said in a flat tone, "then seal up where she got in behind it."

"Maybe we can bring her onto our side at some future point," Carlos said, sitting forward and rubbing his hands down his face. "But you might have to start getting used to the idea that it might not be possible. She didn't look good up there at all... like her mind is in the wrong space, you feel me?" He looked at Marjorie. "Who knows what they did to her, or what hidden things she had in her soul that they're twisting?"

"Yes, I agree. A soulis a terrible thing to waste,n'est-ce pas?" a melodic male voice said, putting everyone on their feet. "Carlos, long time,mon ami." Low, rumbling laughter filled the living room and then a deep sigh echoed that raised the hair on everyone's arms. "Damali... gorgeous as ever,cheri, you still captivate me... now more so than before, since you have been such a very bad girl."

"On guard," Damali whispered to the team. "This is not a drill; Council-level threat."

The lights in the house went out, the team took formation in the darkness, all weapons drawn and facing the ring, backs touching the hybrids and nymph in the center. Only moonlight and Carlos's silver gaze lit the room in a bluish-white light.

"Why don't me and you take this outside, Nuit?" Carlos said, need�ing the entity to speak again to get a bead on his direction, or to tell if he'd been able to get into the house. "Like old times?"

"Gladly," Nuit said. "I have been waiting to neuter you like you tried to neuter me. Fair exchange is no robbery."

Don't go out there,Damali said urgently in her mind.He's not in the house. It's a bluff.

Hadn't planned to, but needed to know where the bastard was,Carlos mentally replied, fangs beginning to lower.

"But perhaps Cain beat me to the punch," Nuit said and laughed cruelly. "Our new Chairman does have a way with the ladies, and has obviously positioned himself well to geld you. Right between your wife's legs."

Carlos tightened his grip on his blade. "Meet me outside." "Don't let shit talking take you out of the right headspace," Shabazz warned.

Carlos rolled his shoulders.

"Yes, Rivera, take advice from a seasoned Guardian whose woman has been indulging in trysts with were-jaguars... I suppose you mar�ried into that family and abide their lusts-like mother-seer like daughter,oui?"

Big Mike caught Shabazz around the waist before he could break the circle.

"We're both outside, man," Shabazz hollered. "Me and you can step to that motherfucker pronto!"

"That slimy bastard will use whatever he can to try to taunt you out of the house-don't let him win like that," Damali said, her face burning with rage. "It's not working. Don't let him play you."

"Ah, but you love to play,cheri... and you play so well," Nuit said on a breathy, sensual sigh. "Lilith shared a little insight with me,ma pe�tite. I didn't know you had it in you. Had I known, I would have raised myself from extinction to experience...this..."

Instantly Damali's voice filled the room and the walls lit with images of her and Cain. Guardians cast their eyes to the floor to avoid seeing it, but the floor lit, and when they closed their eyes, their lids fluttered as they fought not to see what was careening beneath them. Damali's voice came back to haunt her in sense-around-sound, "He hurt me so bad." She cringed as she saw Carlos's sword lower a fraction.

"Don't close your eyes,ma petite -you were ravishing," Nuit crooned, as he made her voice crescendo.

"Oh, this is complete bullshit," Juanita said, her voice slicing through the room and making Damali's attention jerk toward her. Everyone stared at Juanita. "I'm a team-seer, and I would know, ass�hole. But I guarantee you, Damali ain't neva rolled like that! Our Neteru has more class than that, and she ain't do no freakin' Cain, okaaay," Juanita yelled at the ceiling, one finger pointing. "So how you gonna come up in here with some tired crap like that and try to get all up in our heads, right 'Nez?"

"That's right," Inez hollered toward a wall. "I been knowing my girl for how many years, bitch? Puhlease. Take that tired shit some�where else to somebody who's tryin' to hear it, 'cause we ain't!" Inez slapped Juanita five.

"Interesting," Nuit crooned. "You have your team well trained, I see."

"It ain't about being trained, you piece of shit," Juanita yelled, stepping beside Damali, Glock in hand. "It's about knowing my girl. We don't care what you show us, she's still the one and you ain't,bitch."

"Really?" Nuit said in a dangerous tone. "You don't care what I show this team? Then would you like to go with me for a trip down memory lane to Arizona,bitch... when Carlos was not himself?"

Sudden panic glittered in Juanita's eyes. Jose raked his hair as Car�los's gaze sought the window. Damali fought with everything in her�self not to cringe.

"Stand down," Damali whispered. "This is my fight. You'll get hurt if he goes there."

"Aw, fuck him!" Inez shouted, trying to divert the image-attack away from Juanita and Damali and toward herself.

"That's right," Krissy yelled. "What a slime ball. We're not im�pressed. Team knows all about Arizona-nobody but you pigs on the Darkside to blame, so what of it?"

"Ah... the youngest member of the team finds courage. This is truly a group hug moment," Nuit said, chuckling in a sinister tone. "But I wonder if her father will be able to focus on shooting me and not one of your young, male Guardians, Damali. Should I show her daddy what a naughty girl she's been? Or should I tear out your team philosopher's soul by detailing your mother-seer's secret life?"

"If her father can't focus," Marjorie said in a clear, strong voice, "trust me, you bastard, her mother will."

A slow applause filled the room as a quick flash of Krissy in J.L.'s arms hit the walls.

"You sonofabitch," Tara said evenly, standing from the couch. "Even when I was a full vampire, I didn't want your foul ass... You couldn't even pull me as a Master, you were so vile. Ihid from you."

"Tara, Tara, Tara..." Nuit said, clucking his tongue. "Your current mate will blow you away and then blow his own brains out, my love, if I run your vanishing point images across the wall."

Tara turned away and hugged herself, trembling with rage.

"I thought not," Nuit murmured seductively. "But to have your death on my hands would upset my newest protege, Yonnie, and I cannot have that. So shall we call it a draw,ma petite, for now?"

In a split second, Damali glimpsed Krissy and Juanita quickly, not�ing that the blood had drained from their faces. Marlene and Tara's eyes glittered with a level of rage she'd never seen, but their stone ex�pressions said it all. Like Damali and the rest of the team, they were trapped. Each woman's personal pain became shielded behind a steely, outward grit. Only Inez was left standing, but who knew what Nuit had up his sleeve for her and Mike... perhaps the baby? Damali prayed not. Every male Guardian's jaw pulsed with unspent rage, but no one wanted to draw their woman's deepest secrets to the walk.

"This is between me and you, Fallon," Damali finally yelled, exas�perated. She had to make it stop, draw the fire to herself, and spare the team. But in doing that, she'd sacrifice her husband's peace of mind. Damn!

"I love it when you use my first name... but they baited me, so now they're hooked."

"Leave them alone!" Carlos hollered as a sordid variety of team images splashed the walls. "You got beef with me and Damali, then bring it to us."

"Then tell them toshut... the... fuck up and to stay out of it, Rivera," Nuit said evenly.

"We got this," Damali said, her furious gaze going around the team. She mouthed a silent thank-you to everyone who'd tried to help and then briefly shut her eyes, so angry that her ears were ring�ing.

The fact that Juanita was trying to right all the wrongs of their shared past by having her back against an unknown threat made Damali want to hang her head, but also need to butcher Nuit at the same time. Of them all, Juanita and Marlene probably had the most to lose. Then again, who was she to say? Humiliation was ripping out her guts as the previous images returned to hauntla casa. Her best girl, Inez, had jumped to her defense. Her old team pet peeve, Juanita, had shown sudden courage, an unspoken thank-you for having her back when it mattered most. Tara put her psyche in harm's way. Even Krissy and Marj had stepped up, and yet the most humbling aspect of all this for Damali was she was guilty as charged. Everything Nuit showed was the stone-cold truth, in stereo. Carlos would wig if she didn't lose it first.

"I didn't know the brother had it that bad, dayum," Carlos finally said, in an unusually calm voice, and then forced a brittle laugh to fol�low his statement. "That's all you guys got down there is one of Cain's old wet dreams? Pitiful." He rolled his shoulders and pointed his blade to the floor, leaning on it. "'Bazz, man, that's all they got. Punks."

The team began to relax from Carlos's statement. Unity was key, salvaging his wife's dignity and a little of his with it was a prime di�rective. Nobody needed to know that what they were seeing was true.

"A wet dream, you say?" Nuit murmured, laughing. "You're either delusional, or she really played with your mind,mon ami. You know very well I cannot project a Neteru image unless it's true."

Increasing the intensity of the visual invasion, Nuit added sensation into the textures of sound and sight, and slowly the scent of Cain's and Damali's sweat filtered into the room.

"In your own backyard," Nuit whispered over the carnal sounds. "She gave him her throat." He jettisoned the image onto the walls with Damali's pleasure-stained expression and gasp. "In her bath�room... the studio," Nuit murmured on another thick exhalation. "But in Cain's lair, that is where you were truly neutered, my friend. Cuckolded. So, yes, do step outside so we can finish old business be�tween us."

Damali almost shrieked from the horror of seeing that deeply inti�mate encounter played out on the casa walls before her husband and the team. She wanted to cut off her own hands as she watched them trail down Cain's back and cover his ass, pulling him to her as she arched and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Dying a thousand deaths where she stood, she was helpless to stop the image of her lying in another man's arms within a king-sized, solid-gold bed hitting high notes... a massive back working against her arch, sinew rippling beneath broad shoulders, her fingers clinging to them... unfamiliar hands touching her, caressing her, stroking her hair as her fingers tangled in his waist-length locks. Her words, "I don't care," made her turn away quickly as though she'd been slapped. The fact that Cain never entered her that day or any day and the encounter had been interrupted was moot.

"I'm going outside," Damali said, about to break the line, but Car�los caught her by the arm.

"Uh-uh, since it was just a lie," Carlos said, looking at her with solid silver eyes, and then glanced around at the stricken team.

She relaxed, understanding, but humiliation roiled within her so thickly she wanted to vomit. She watched Carlos fight the urge to battle bulk. His lip was bleeding from a nick from his own fang.

If I can hang, you can!He turned away from her and stared out the window.

"Okay, man," Carlos said in a falsely bored voice. "You done with the floor show? I'm not impressed, if that's all you got to show me. Fuck you."

The images stopped and Nuit paused. "I guess to have sloppy sec�onds is better than not having her at all?"

"Why don't you take that noise somewhere else? I thought you had something worth a damned battle," Carlos said between his fangs, trying to regulate his breathing.

"Well, if you can live with her being pregnant by our Chairman, then I guess we can all go home happy," Nuit said with an evil chuckle.

The gasp that was drawn by several female team members finally made Carlos bulk.

"It could have happened in the woods in your backyard, or that wonderful morning in the studio, or most assuredly in his lair...mon ami, I just didn't want you to be cuckolded into believing it happened while on your honeymoon-you know how women can lie... mother's baby, father's maybe, they always say. And, since youare a Neteru king, as a gesture of respect between royalties it is only fitting that you be duly advised." Nuit sighed with contentment. "I suppose you have been tutored by Adam to take the honorable approach. But I wonder how you will feel as you watch our leader's progeny swell your wife's belly... will you still attempt to make love to her while Cain's seed grows within, or abstain? Curious dilemma,oui? But I guess you did wait for her all those years to have your unspoiled-"

"I'm coming out there to kick your ass for talking shit about my wife, not because you got truth to your game! So when I lop off your fucking head," Carlos said, breaking the circle and walking into the foyer snorting silver-blue flames, "know that, you lowlife, ass-kissing, sonofabitch!"

He was through the door and over the wall in a blur before anyone could stop him.

"Hold the line in here!" Damali shouted, going around the outer ring of the circle, arcing a blue-white energy barrier around it.

"Don't open the door, D," Shabazz yelled. "Carlos went through it, but you can't pass through without causing a breach. We got newbies in here, and Nuit's lies don't mean shit to us, baby girl. Hold the line!"

"Don't let history repeat itself,cheri," Nuit crooned. "Your father lost his life in my arms because he was arrogant and thought he could battle me alone. Your mother, like you, allowed her vanity-pride, her shame over what people might think about her husband's liaisons with me to keep her from wise counsel. So, listen to the tactical Guardian." Nuit laughed a low, cruel laugh. "Stay in the house and let that young fool battle for your very tarnished honor."

Torn and trapped by the responsibility around her, Damali released a battle cry and drove her Isis into the floor. She looked at the eyes of older team members that were filled with worry, and the stricken ex�pressions of the newbies, and knew in her soul that one of the Neterus had to stay with them for the moment.

Carlos landed outside the castle gates and the moment he did, a black blast came at him as Nuit materialized. His shield caught it and he cut a swath through it with his sword and sent a solid silver beam into Nuit's chest, sprawling him out in the dirt. Nuit was on his feet in seconds and took a defensive stance and smiled.

"Much stronger, I see?" Nuit said with a sly smile, and then van�ished as Carlos lunged, his blade chiming in the air.

"Let's do this shit to the finish!" Carlos hollered, so angry that his vision blurred.

There was no answer, just howling wind. He returned to the house breathing hard and needing very badly to kill something.

Although his first impulse was to walk straight up the center steps and close himself off into a room to calm down, Sara's voice held him in the foyer, and then he remembered the team. He had a He to protect.

"Neteru!" Sara called out again. "Is that you, are you injured?"

Carlos walked back into the living room and the lights came back on. Tears of frustration made the lights dance, but there was no way in Hell he'd let them fall. His heart was beating so hard inside his chest that all he could do was suck in deep breaths of outrage. His blade arm was trembling with the unspent desire to take off Fal�lon's foul head and he cast his shield to the floor so hard it stuck into the stone vertically. Adrenaline made his ears ring and the fight burst kept him pacing for a few seconds as his system slowly nor�malized.

"Punk motherfucker wouldn't stand his ground and fight! He did this shit and told a buncha lies to try to get us all outside where we could be attacked, or to get one of us to open a door or a window to come for him or shoot at him." Carlos wiped silver sweat away from his brow with the back of his forearm.

"You have been injured, Neteru," Sara said quietly. "The team has, and Queen Damali. Let me heal this and take it from your mind. I can take back the illusion."

"Work on the others first, us Neterus last," Carlos said, and rammed his sword into the stone floor. "I need a drink."

What he couldn't tell the helpful nymph was that she could take it from the others, as they'd only perceived Nuit's illusion attack as a lie. But the truth could never be siphoned from a mind, especially once it was locked in Neteru silver. The moment Sara went into his or Damali's heads, she would know, and then wouldn't be able to cleanse that foul shit they'd just been shown.

"Pour me one, too," Shabazz said, and held out a glass for Rider.

Rider held up his hand. "I'm going straight, even if this ain't the night to do that." He looked at Tara. "Made a promise."

Shabazz nodded. "Anybody else want a round, while we're at it?"

Sara hesitated. "I'll be drunk by the time it's over."

Shabazz set his glass down hard with a sigh.

"Work on him first," Marlene said quietly and turned away to stare at the fireplace.

No one spoke as Sara made the rounds, and slowly but surely, bod�ies relaxed. Winded, she gathered her iridescent particles and sat down on the sofa with a wobbly thud.

"I could only dull the images as one quick blur of knowing, and what you'll all feel is that you had been attacked about the subject, but the details will be vague." She looked at Marjorie. "I also tried to give you strength against your sister's calls, the others in your family, too. That's why I must be so tired."

"You did a lot in the last day or so," Damali said carefully, moni�toring Carlos's back as he faced a window knocking back Jack Daniel's. "His mind, as well as my brain is on fire right now... maybe you should rest and later you can worry about us?"

"But... you were the ones who needed it most," Sara protested, trying to stand.

"Hubert, make her rest," Carlos said, glancing at Damali over his shoulder. "She's been through enough. If she goes into my head, the shock might kill her."

The team gave Carlos a puzzled look, but accepted what he'd said. Damali turned away and walked to a far window with her arms wrapped around her waist.

"They're trying to come between me and you, you know that, right?" Damali lifted her chin as she stared out into the darkness.

"I know that!" Carlos shouted, and sent his rocks glass crashing into the wall behind her.

Damali didn't flinch. The team didn't move. Sara covered her mouth and then allowed her hand to fall away.

"I have a different kind of balm, one that doesn't require me going inside... since I'm so tired," Sara said, patting Hubert's arm so he'd let her go to the Neterus.

"I don't need balm, just some space for a minute!" Carlos hollered, and then crossed the room and yanked his blade and shield out of the floor. "I'll be in the west tower on watch. Y'all do whatever."

Sara inched toward Damali and took her by the hand. "Can you make me some sweet tea? I need energy."

Damali nodded and looked at the team. "Hold the line," she said in a hoarse voice. "We'll be back in a bit."

She moved like a robot as she tried to remember how to make tea. Her entire body was numb as she opened cabinets and stood before the stove fighting back tears. No, she would not cry. She brought the small, porcelain teacup with seven heaping teaspoons of sugar in it to the nymph with shaking hands and set it down on the counter.

"I'll put an ice cube in it so it's not so hot," Damali said. "Thanks for taking that away from the family. In fact, thank you for every�thing."

Sara patiently waited until Damali went to the refrigerator, pushed on a door panel, and ice dropped into a napkin. Fascinated, her wings fluttered as Damali slid the ice cube into her teacup.

"These inventions are marvelous," Sara said with a delighted squeal, and then carefully lifted the cup that looked like a bowl in front of her face and sipped the sweet tea. "Perfect. Thank you."

"Inez likes her Kool-Aid like that, her iced tea, too. Tons of sugar so it's almost syrup," Damali said in a far-off tone. "Marlene says it's not good for you. Lotta things aren't good for you, but seem like they are at the time. Don't ask me why humans go there." She turned away from the nymph. "Catches up to you in the long run, though."

"Why don't you have some, too?"

Damali shook her head. "If I put anything in my mouth right now, I'll vomit."

Sara was up out of her chair and had crawled across the center is�land counter to touch Damali's shoulder. "I know."

The simplistic words delivered with a tone of compassion made Damali turn and stare at Sara. Tears fell in earnest and Damali wiped them away quickly.

"I..." Damali sent her gaze to the mosaic tiles on the counter, the textures blurring like an out-of-focus kaleidoscope as she stared at them.

"You don't have to explain," Sara said in a quiet voice. "Cain is a very convincing and sensual creature. I thought it was a lie, but then realized once I got inside each team member and couldn't thoroughly erase it..."

Damali closed her eyes. "There was a lot going on at the time, Sara. I don't expect you to understand how this happened, and... just help Carlos deal, if you can. I'll always carry the unfortunate memory, but I never wanted him to ever see it like that."

"I came to give you the balm of self-forgiveness," Sara said, giving Damali a hug from where she knelt on the counter behind her. "It is one of the greatest mercies and I do not understand why people rarely employ it. They seem to be able to forgive everyone else's flaws and humanity, but their own... and the more powerful the individual, the greater the leader they are, the less likely they are to forgive them�selves if they stumble and fall." She pulled back and stared at Damali. "Do you not yet understand that forgiveness is divine?"

Damali nodded and swallowed hard, covering the nymph's hands with a soft caress, but couldn't speak.

"Women are the worst at this, mothers even more so," Sara said with a sigh. "It took a very long time to work on Marlene and Mar�jorie just now. Guilt, after you have already asked for your transgres�sions to be pardoned On High and have learned to never commit them again, is a nasty toxin. Those two ladies practically had me flat on my back when I was done."

Damali bobbed her head as more tears fell, but her vocal cords were frozen.What can I tell my husband, Sara? I so don't wanna be pregnant right now. Not under these conditions, and I really don't know how to forgive myself about anyofit...most especially Carlos seeing all that Cain did. Damali paused and gathered her next thoughts in with a shuddering breath.Even if I'm not, the damage has been done to Carlos's psyche. He'd accepted that I could be, understood how it might have been possible, but the details...oh, God, the details, he didn't need to see-especially not in front of the whole team.

"You cannot control what a demon entity will do," Sara said softly, sliding around to sit next to Damali on the counter with her legs dan�gling. "So, don't take on that guilt. Also, as I went into your mother-seer, I learned that Carlos had such misunderstood encounters, too-which you ultimately forgave."

Damali chuckled through a sniff. "Yeah, but let's be honest. Most men aren't enlightened enough to see it that way. I know where you're going, but that's a dead end, Sara." Damali glimpsed the nymph from the corner of her eye. "Plus, when I first found out, I didn't handle it all that well, either."

Sara smiled. "I know. But this conversation isn't about him or how he will react. I came to giveyou the balm of self-forgiveness." She swung her legs back and forth while looking at Damali. "He will take it badly, and for a very long time, unless he can accept a healing. But I have a secret for you that may make you smile."

Damali turned around, stared at the nymph squarely, and tried to keep from passing out. Sara leaned in closely and glanced over her shoulder like a tiny thief and then cupped her hands to whisper in Damali's ear.

"You're from the line of Powers Angels-the ultimate healers, just under archangels." Sara sat back, her wide eyes sparkling.

Damali's shoulders slumped. "Oh, yeah, that." Disappointed didn't even begin to describe the emotions that bottomed out in her stom�ach. She thought Sara had some real news-like she wasn't pregnant or maybe she was and it was Carlos's.

"You do not understand, do you?" Aghast, Sara sat back.

Feeling foolish, Damali shook her head. "No, I don't."

"Guilt is blocking you. Forgiveyourself and then your body will heal the problem." Sara shook her head when Damali's eyes widened. "That is step one. 'Physician, heal thyself I know Hubert told me who said that-I cannot remember all his lessons, but I know this say�ing is true.Then, you can heal your partner. Nobody can do this but you, Damali."

A very slow smile came out on Damali's face, and she laughed through the tears, scooping the nymph up off the counter and hug�ging her until she squealed.

Carlos stood out on the tower watching storm clouds gather far off on the horizon. Even the sky was pregnant. Everything in him told him to just let Nuit's bullshit go. But try as he might, he couldn't. He'd thought he'd known Adam's pain before, until tonight. The images he'd seen in the living room would kick his ass until the end of time.

"Man... how did you do it?" he said quietly into the night air, wondering how to wrap his mind around any and all of it.

A sudden presence behind Carlos made him spin and turn to meet it armed. He was the last being on the planet that anything wanted to fuck with right now.

Rather than Nuit standing ready for a tower duel, Adam leaned against the stones looking very concerned. Carlos ran his senses over the king and then stood down, once sure it wasn't a vamp illusion.

"Thought you guys only showed up with an obelisk. That's a good way to get yourself smoked," Carlos said, and lowered his blade.

"This is an unauthorized visit, and I had to pull some strings. You haven't seen me tonight," Adam said, coming closer.

"Cool. Ain't seen you," Carlos said, giving Adam his back and re�turning to his previous position of leaning against the stones to stare out at the night sky.

"They are nervous from our previous attack," Adam said coolly. "They were testing for fissures in your fortress by sending a new fe�male master who is still weak but has ties to your family, and then Nuit's illusion attack. If they were strong, your castle would be under siege by now. Therefore, take that as a sign that they needed to re�group."

"Good info, thanks," Carlos said flatly. "Appreciated and duly noted."

"But they did find a fissure to get in," Adam said, coming beside Carlos, leaning on the wall next to him, and joining him in staring at the sky.

"Yeah, I know. People were exhausted, missed a fireplace in the wing by the conservatory. But we got it sealed now. Thanks for watching our backs."

"That is not the fissure I speak of," Adam said with care. He waited until Carlos looked at him. "There is another one that could imperil you all."

"Talk to me," Carlos said, pushing off the wall.

"The one between you and Damali. If the heads of household are not united, all is lost."

Carlos let his breath out hard. "We're cool. The team got their brains cleansed from that foul bullshit Nuit showed us. I let it go."

"I thought you said we were brothers, and you would do for my wife, thus I should do for yours?"

"Yeah, well..." Carlos looked away again.

"I needed help," Adam said plainly. "I couldn't do it alone. Do you imagine that Dante never showed me his dalliance with Eve?" Carlos looked at Adam and lifted his chin.

"He showed me everything, time and again, in excruciating de�tail... and as my wife became heavier with his child, he tortured me with it until one day I feared I might wrap my hands around her pretty throat for hurting me so."

"Damn..." Carlos murmured. "I never went that far with it in my head... didn't think it all the way through that far."

"They will come at you like this for years, brother. Every time you heal the scab over, they will slice it open. On your anniversary. Each time you try to lay with your wife. They will open the wound and make it bleed like a black aneurism in your head."

Carlos rubbed his palms down his face. "I can't live like that. See�ing it once was bad enough... but-"

"Then ask me!" Adam shouted. "Ask me for help so I can do for you what Ausar did for me."

The two Neterus stared at each other.

"Help me, man," Carlos finally whispered. "I don't wanna carry this."

"It will hurt," Adam said, coming to Carlos and placing his wide palms on either side of Carlos's head. "I cannot block your knowing of events that are true, only siphon away details and nuances you never needed to see... and from there your block must come from your spirit, so they can never implant that in your silver psyche again."

Carlos nodded and closed his eyes. "Do it... get it all out. It can't hurt any more than it hurts right now."

A black translucent box surrounded them, stilling the night. Parti�cles of silvery flecks began to glow within the walls until the entire structure lit with a blinding, blue-white glare. Carlos threw his head back and wailed as agony stripped from his mind surrounding Adam's fingers with black, snakelike tentacles that he drew to him and squished between his fingers. Sobbing, Carlos held on to Adam's shoulders as the last of it came out through his eyes, his ears, his nose, and his mouth, choking him and making him gasp.

Adam dropped the box and hurried Carlos over to the edge of the tower. "Get it out. It is poison," he said, slapping Carlos on the back as he vomited bile over the ledge.

Panting, Carlos turned and leaned against the stones, sweating. Clear tears ran down his face, and he kept his eyes shut tightly, shud�dering.

"The next time they attempt it, do not be so consumed with cu�riosity to know the details or rage at your partner that you allow them to show it to you," Adam warned. "Use the translucent box to block it from both you and her. or even your family, should they be near as a device of humiliation. Never allow this useless information back into your home." He held Carlos by the shoulders. "Knowledge is power, but without wisdom it is deadly."

Carlos nodded. "Thanks, man." Wanting to return the favor he looked at Adam. "Maybe if you bring Eve's other sons around her... the spirits of Abel and Seth, it might help?Your sons. Your blood. Un�derstand?"

Adam hugged him in a warrior's hold. "Good advice that had not been considered. Thank you. Rest while they rest their armies. Be ready when they are ready. Go take care of your wife. And remember, you did not see me tonight."

"I never saw you tonight," Carlos said, still winded.

He only told the team as much as they needed to know: there was a small window of cease-fire, for now the house was secure, everybody needed to eat and rest. He went to find Damali who was sitting alone in the kitchen sipping tea, rubbing her back. Without words he relayed as much as he'd told the others and simply took her by the hand and guided her up the back staircase to the second floor, and into their room. Space. A moment of sanctuary was all he could offer her.

Her expression was confused as she watched him cross the room and go into the bathroom to brush his teeth and splash water on his face. He climbed onto the bed and lay on his side.

"Go wash your face," Carlos said gently and closed his eyes, patting the place on the bed that would allow him to spoon her body when she returned. "Then lie down so we can get some sleep."

She stood in the middle of the floor for a moment, not sure. There was nothing she wanted to do more right now than to find that spot that was theirs alone... that warm, comforting, protective, fetal-position spoon with him behind her and his arms around her waist, making the world go away. New tears rose as she thought about how she'd believed that place was gone forever. One brutal image and that haven was blown away. It was such a fragile little ecosystem within their private universe, a slice of Heaven on Earth that had been ruined by demons, illusions, and lusts.

When Carlos had left to go up into the tower alone, he was a dif�ferent man. The change was unnerving, but she chalked it up to emo�tional fatigue. Her face felt tight and crusted by tears, she needed to pee, and her back was killing her. Maybe after they'd both gotten an hour or two of real rest she'd be able to talk to him. But Carlos's ex�pression was so peaceful that it was almost frightening.

Damali hurried into the bathroom and splashed her face with fresh water. The sound of the running tap increased the urge to pee to the point where she was practically dancing as she stripped down her jeans. But as she sat down on the toilet she stared into her underwear with dashed hope and then closed her eyes. Her period still hadn't come on.

She finished quickly and washed her hands, wishing she could go back in time. Almost afraid to face Carlos, she slipped out of the bath�room and hesitated. It wasn't that she feared he'd try to harm her; she just didn't want to see that look on his face.

Carlos opened his eyes and gazed at her as she stood just outside the bathroom door. He flattened his hand against the comforter. "You gonna lay down?"

Damali allowed her eyes to drink him in, fusing the memory of him inside her mind. The ivory sheets, the large, comfortable bed, and his peaceful smile... that's what she ultimately wanted to remember when he left her for good. No matter what he'd told her before, after Nuit's invasion and what he saw, she knew it was only a matter of time before her husband walked.

Suddenly she felt soiled, and the light-hued sheets too clean for her to lie against next to him. Damali hugged herself and tried to steady her voice.

"I'm all dirty from fighting and whatnot, and need to get cleaned up before I lay down," she whispered.

"I'm all dirty and funky, too," Carlos said, pushing up on one el�bow. "Com'ere."

She shook her head. "I'd rather not."

"Please," he said quietly. "I wanna talk to you."

His eyes held an expression that she couldn't turn away from. It said,baby, it'sgonna be all right. She wanted to believe that in the worst way and her legs moved slowly, bringing her forward until she reached the bed. She slipped up onto the high mattress and turned away from him, glad that he pulled her into their old spoon.

His arm went around her waist and his nose nuzzled her hair. "I love you," he whispered. "No matter what. You'll never be too dirty for me to hold you like this."

She couldn't breathe; his words were tearing her up inside. "I never meant to bring any of this to you..."

"I miss us, D," he said into her hair on a thick swallow. "I miss feel�ing your heartbeat through your back against my chest. Miss babying you in the tub. Miss laughing together. Miss arguing about dumb shit. Miss just... everything. Don't let him take all of that away, too."

She covered Carlos's arm as it rested against her stomach and closed her eyes. A big tear rolled down the bridge of her nose as she stroked his hand and felt it slowly capture hers within it. His warm breaths were ragged from not wanting to cry. If ever there was a time to ap�ply the balm Kamal had shown her years ago, it was now... she needed to restart a dying man's heart, problem was, hers had nearly stopped beating the moment Nuit had violated their minds.

"You wanna take a bath and get this soot off of us?" she asked qui�etly.

Carlos just nodded.

She turned and kissed him and he pulled away. Hurt sliced through her like a razor. But he smiled and touched her lips with his thumb.

"I was so upset that I threw up in the tower. I ain't gonna lie. Didn't want you to taste that. Lemme brush my teeth."

While his admission was honest, and designed to let her know that he'd pulled away for her benefit, it broke her down inside to know that what he'd seen had made him vomit. Quiet trauma was making her shiver as Carlos swung his legs over the side of the bed and came around to grasp her hand.

"Let's take a bath and wash this foul shit out of our systems." He issued her a sad smile and gently pulled her to her feet. "You start the water, I'll brush my teeth, and we'll start brand-new. Okay?"

"I have some white bath salts from Marlene..."

"Dump the whole bag in there," he said. "We both need it."

She nodded and followed him into the bathroom, and began preparing the water. It seemed so indulgent to take this time away from the team, but if he was sure there'd be no more incursions for a while, it also seemed like a necessary thing to heal their minds.

"It is," Carlos said, not turning around as he brushed frothing lather in his mouth. He spit and spoke with his back to her. "As the team leaders, if we're all messed up, the whole house is messed up. This bath isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Think of it that way, D. This is a purge."

"All right," she whispered, watching the water turn milky white from the sacred substances she'd added, and she breathed in the fra�grant steam that had begun to fill the bathroom.

Slowly calm filled her as the water rose and she said nothing as she watched Carlos walk out of the room and return with three small white votive candles. He set them on the edge of the tub and lit them with care, and then took his time crossing the room to set down the book of matches on the sink. His process of handling all of this was blowing her mind. He stood by the door and took off his boots, and then carefully set them over the threshold as if to say, that was then, and this is now, everything before stays outside this room. He then calmly stripped and folded his dirty clothes over and set them outside the bathroom on top of his Timberlands.

"Come on," he said, turning off the light. "Get undressed and leave it all outside the door. We've got healing to do."

Feeling somewhat modest, she edged past him and followed his same ritual of undressing. He didn't look over her body as he nor�mally did once she was nude, but kept his eyes on hers and took her hand. When she tried to look away from him, he shook his head no.

"Uh-uh. You don't have anything to be ashamed of in front of me. I'm your husband."

She nodded and fought new tears and tried to blink them away as they walked to the tub. Again, he shook his head.

"Let it out. Forget pride. We're gonna have years in front of us that we'll both be laughing and both be crying about. Nothing hidden between us, okay?"

He helped her into the tub with tears streaming down her face and sat so that they could look at each other while her legs gently draped over his, submerged. He took up the natural sponge that sat on the tub's edge and lathered it with the vanilla-scented white bar that had been newly delivered when the supplies came in. He said nothing more as he swirled soap against her throat and shoulders, and gently soaped down her arms then over her breasts.

Giving her his hand, he motioned for her to stand before him without a word, and leaned up to kiss her belly, then washed down her abdomen, over the swell of her hips, tenderly lathering her mound, and then caressed each thigh as he worked down her legs. He placed her hand on his shoulder and lifted her leg to wash her foot, kissing the instep of it as he placed it back in the water to do the other one.

"Turn around," he said quietly, and then began to work his way up the backs of her calves when she did.

He lathered the back of her thighs, and over her buttocks, and then stopped to press a slow kiss into the Sankofa tattoo at the small of her back. The sensation drew a quiet gasp and she felt him shift to kneel so that he could reach higher on her spine. When his hands gently clasped her hips, she slid down to kneel in front of him, but his hands only continued to lather her back and shoulders and neck.

"Sit all the way down so I can rinse you off," he whispered against her ear, making her shudder just from the low, sensual timber of his voice.

For a moment, she couldn't move. The warm seal of him against her backside, and feeling that his body had responded to her, had be�gun to heat a slow ember between her legs that she thought had gone out. But this was his healing and she complied, sliding down his thighs, feeling the thick sinew in them behind her arms.

It was so quiet, so peaceful, with only their breathing and the slight tinkle of the water being disturbed echoing around them that it was jarring when he turned on the tap. His hands cradled the sides of her head and his kiss landed at her crown. She closed her eyes as he cupped warm, fresh water into her hair and then gently began to mas�sage the mild, fragrant soap into her scalp like a soft caress. As he took up each individual lock and rolled it between his palms gently, she al�most moaned from the current of desire he sent into her hair until it arced with blue-white static... then he washed it all away with fresh water from the thundering tap.

"Keep your eyes closed," he murmured against her neck, kissing it gently. "I need to wash your face, and don't want you to get soap in your eyes."

Ever so carefully he lathered his hands a bit and just used the pads of his thumbs to make gentle circles over her forehead, sliding down her nose, avoiding her eyes, rounding her cheeks, then gliding his touch under her chin, to caress down her throat. Leaning forward with her snugly between his legs, he reached for the tap again, rinsed his hands off, and gently pulled her to lay her head back against his shoulder while he drizzled clean water over her face until the soap was gone.

"Keep your eyes closed," he told her again, and turned her to face him. Then he kissed the water away from her eyes and took her mouth in a slow, soft kiss. When he pulled back his breathing was la�bored. "Now it won't sting. You can slowly open your eyes and tell me what you see."

She followed his instructions to the letter and opened her eyes with care. Through damp lashes she saw solid silver staring back at her. He traced her eyebrows, his eyes searching hers, as he brought his hands up to her cheeks, and then let his palms slide down her neck to her shoulders to her arms. He placed one palm over her heart, the other over his as tears shimmered against the silver of his irises.

"I see so much love, Carlos," she murmured.

He nodded and let the tears fall.

"I see acceptance of whatever I am."

Again, he nodded. "Completely. You're my angel."

"I see my husband, who I can't live without," she whispered, al�lowing her tears to fall without shame.

"I see my wife who I would die for," he said as a silvery torrent wet his face.

"I see a man who I respect and never wanted to dishonor."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he whispered. "That never happened."

He took her mouth under the blue-white mountain moon, keep�ing one hand pressed against her heart, the other against his. "Can't you feel it?" he murmured as their mouths parted from the gentle kiss. "The silver thread that links us forever?"

The current that ran through her from his hand was like a mild electric charge, lighting pulse points and igniting an inner fire that she was almost ashamed to now claim.

"I feel it," she said softly.

He leaned over and blew out the candles and stared at her in the darkness, his eyes and the moon the only light in the bathroom. "Me, too."

She touched the Neteru symbol on his neck that had begun to glow and followed it with her finger until he closed his eyes and gasped. But he kept his hands firmly pressed against her breastbone and his as she soaped her hands and trailed over his throat and shoul�ders and then soaped his arms and lathered the exposed portions of his chest.

Gently guiding him, she helped him to his knees without breaking their heart lock as he held the line between them. His abdomen clenched as her hands gently slid over it and then traced his hips, and as she moved lower she could actually see a thin silver beam of light forming between the back of his hand on his chest to the back of the one on hers.

As her slippery hands caressed his hard length, his hands slowly covered her breasts, but the silvery line linking their heart chakras was still there. No matter how she moved to soap his thighs, the line lengthened and contracted to meet her motions, never breaking even as she rinsed him or turned him to do his back.

When he finally turned to face her again, he was breathing hard and so was she. But again, this was his healing, and she wanted to be sure to follow his lead this time.

"The water's getting cold," he said quietly, stroking her hair and squeezing out the excess moisture from her locks. "You ready to dry off and go to bed?"

She nodded yes but could barely speak. The entire surface of the tub had a blue-white charge flickering across it that vibrated with a soft hum. He stood, and it was all she could do not to turn her face into him and kiss him just there. She actually had to close her eyes and take a deep breath not to.

"I don't wanna break the connection," she said, turning her face up to his while still kneeling.

He smiled in the dark. "It won't break. Trust me."

She took his hand and stood. He pulled her close and kissed her hard and then lifted her out of the tub.

"I need to dry you off," he said thickly, standing in a growing puddle of water that their bodies created.

"The charge is better while we're wet," she murmured, kissing his tattoo. "Your aura colors are back."

"So are yours," he said, bending to take one of her nipples into his mouth, producing her soft moan. "It's spilling all over my hands."

Her quiet gasp sent a soft echo against the tiles, and before she knew it, they were in the room, damp on the bed, his mouth on hers. His chest was pressed against her as their tongues danced, and she could soon feel every pulse point of his linked to every one of hers connected by a silvery energy line. Joined as one, his heartbeat synced to hers, his breaths were the same as though coming from one pair of lungs.

They both broke the kiss at the same time, shared the same gasp of awareness and pleasure as they pulled back enough to witness every chakra point erogenous zone united by a thin thread of hue that ran the spectrum. His shudder entered her through each lit point and caused her to shiver with pleasure so violently that it produced a uni�fied moan.

This time when he found her mouth the kiss was ragged, his hands trembling in her hair. His body slid into hers, sending new heat inside her that imploded on impact in her womb before he even moved. This time the tears had nothing to do with pain or humiliation, but profound pleasure. She gasped his name and shut her eyes tightly, nearly insane from the sensory overload. His body moved as though manifesting redemption itself, and she clung to his shoulders for swift salvation.

"Carlos, I love you," she said, choking out the words.

"Baby, I love you," he whispered between each thrust that became more ragged and harder as he fought to breathe.

She was beyond speech and could only wrap her legs around his waist and send her personal truth into his spine with her hands, each stroke down his back a consonant and a vowel, every caress a state�ment of what he meant to her. Soon she could feel steel packing his jaw when he tore away from the kiss, and sensed his inner battle not to deliver a bite as a thick current of white light lit his spine.

"It's all right," she managed through another gasp, holding him tighter as her wings slid from her shoulder blades and wrapped around him. The instant seizure he'd produced in her was blinding. All she saw was white light.

"Not this time, angel," he said, throwing his head back and then came so hard the silver momentarily left his eyes.

They lay together panting, silver sweat running down his back, staining her wings with it as they both tried to recover. Slowly but surely she was able to catch her breath and retract her wings. By de�grees he caught his breath and retracted his fangs and then rolled over to pull her into their spoon.

There was nothing else for them to say. The purge had been com�pleted. For the first time in what seemed like ages, she slept in his arms without fear like a baby.