The Wicked Page 10

CHAPTER NINE

 

  CHAPTER NINE

  Check your clips," Damali said to the female contingent of Guardians that were headed out the door toward the jetty of rocks down the beach. "Jose, Mike, Berkfield-you guys are on point and holding down the villa. "

  "No problem, we got this, D," Jose said.

  Mike simply nodded and raised his shoulder cannon.

  "You got my wife and daughter with you, darlin', so you know I'm on it," Berkfield said, checking the sightline of his M-16.

  "Good. " Damali glanced around as she and the female squad turned to leave. "J. L. , you keep in contact with the Covenant and keep scanning for anything, and I do meananything, that sounds weird. Any type of electromagnetic disturbances, anything from the government units that are friends, geological-"

  "I got it, D," J. L. said in a firm tone.

  "Me and Bobby are on tactical sensing. " Dan motioned to Bobby and tossed him an assault rifle. "We'll be on the roof, watching your backs, while you ladies do your thing and see if you can get a read on which direction trouble's blowing in from. "

  "I've only got one question," Bobby said, motioning toward the bloody T-shirt in the sink with his weapon. "What do we do if Hu�bert and his crew show back up? Carlos never said if they were in or out, and neither did you, D. "

  Damali blew a stray lock up off her forehead in frustration. Bobby was right. With all that had been going on, the issue of what to do with refugee hybrids hadn't been settled. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "When Carlos gets back, we'll do a joint reading on the sit�uation, and let ya know. "

  "Cool," Bobby said, reinforcing his artillery, packing his vest down with ammo. "Then like Dan said, we got your backs. "

  "All right, listen up," Damali said as the all-female squad trudged through the sand. "We do this fast, according to the formation Hu�bert gave you, because I'm getting dead air, no signal. And I want me and Marlene as seasoned vets with the prayer-lock around this. . . Donot allow anything into your heads that isn't radiating white light. Got it? This could be a setup, too, so let's err on the side of caution. " She glanced around and received nods of agreement. "Cool. "

  "I'm all for playing this safe, D," Inez said, her eyes on the horizon. "This shit gives me the heebie-jeebies, and if something huge comes after me. . . girl, I don't know. "

  "That's just it; this isnot a drill. Everything you've been dealing with and have learned up to this point is the only defense you've got-so use it," Damali said, making the group come to a halt in front of the jetty. "At any given time, any of us are vulnerable to something bigger, stronger, and crazier than we are. The key is to always fight, es�pecially if it tries to abduct you. Make a stand wherever it comes for you. Don't let it drag you into the pit or a cavern or separate you from the group. "

  "But if it's stronger and has weapons. . . " Jasmine said, her voice filled with fear.

  "It's going to try to kill you," Damali said flatly. "There is no ne�gotiation with it. Your goal is to maim it, kill it, do it before it does you, and run your ass off the second you get free. Do not try to bar�gain with it, reason your way out, and you have to be in the mindset that its intent is murderous, therefore, no holds barred. " She looked at each woman without blinking. "I almost made a fatal mistake because I knew the attacker and thought that I could reason it off me. Not.

  Next time I see him, it's mortal combat. I was lucky the first time. I'm not gambling on the next time. "

  Damali began climbing, and soon the tense group had mounted the rocks with her. All she could wonder was how many women in the world had dealt with the same thing, and never lived to tell about it or rehash options. Renewed fury entered her as she thought about every woman and all the children worldwide that had been found in Dumpsters, alleys, or in their own homes, killed, beaten, or raped by someone they knew. To her mind, what had happened with Cain was no different, and the odds of winning against a huge predator no less dicey. Even going against her own foster father had been the same; the beast was bigger than her, stronger, insane, and the only reason she'd lived to see another day was because she'd lashed out hard, used every weapon she'd had at her disposal as a defense, and tried to kill the bas�tard where he stood-and then ran.

  She sensed for the right position as the group gathered into a loose assembly, knowing full well that fear was a virus, one that predators fed off of and used to make a potential victim hesitate. The thought of getting stabbed or shot or punched was generally enough to make a human being cringe and try to avoid pain. What she had to get through to the group was that if trapped, theywould be shot, stabbed, punched, or worse, so anyone who found themselves in that position might as well go for broke within any split-second opportunity that presented itself.

  "Whew, there's a serious charge coming off these rocks," Damali said, trying to divert the fear rippling through the team and to get the group to relax enough to get the job done. "Enough to light up half of Manhattan. Dang. "

  Heather offered Damali a weak half-smile after a moment. "Uh-mmm. . . well, I can explain. "

  "No need," Damali said with a wink as the group formed the cor�rect circles. "It's all good. "

  Marlene gave her a slight nod. "You ready to put up the barrier?"

  "Like old times, Mar," Damali said, growing confident. "Just be�cause something is bigger and stronger doesn't mean you can't lob a good defense. Everything has a weak point, and even if our backup gets here late, we can protect ourselves from an attack. "

  The women joined hands while Damali and Marlene joined men�tally and then focused on white light and said the Twenty-third Psalm out loud. As soon as the barrier was set, Damali could feel a slight cur�rent ripple from Heather to Jasmine to Krissy and gain strength as Marjorie stood in the middle of the group, her gaze becoming far�away and glassy.

  Juanita's head dropped forward as Inez began to pant through her mouth. The image ricocheted from Marj to Juanita to Inez and then to Marlene and entered Damali's mind. Quick snapshot visions of worldwide ancient ruins filled Damali's inner sight, and soon she could make out large, red, bubbling seawater, as well as horizontal, black funnel clouds streaking the air.

  "It's on the move now," Juanita said in a low, guttural voice that was foreign to her.

  Heather reeled and Marjorie caught her before she fell. "Hundreds of them," she said. "All focused this way. "

  Damali broke the circle and turned to see J. L. rushing down the beach.

  "Land, air, and sea! Incoming!" J. L. shouted. "Get back to base camp!"

  The group scrambled down the rocks as a huge, gray plume whirled past them and crash-landed on the beach with a boom. Guns whipped out of holsters, and a small nymph held up her hands as larger entities surrounded her.

  "Sanctuary!" the nymph shouted, and dropped to her knees.

  "Hold your fire!" J. L. and Marlene shouted in unison. "Refugee hybrids!"

  The largest entity in the small group of hybrids bowed slightly, and spoke, breathing hard. "We felt you access the stones and came to take a stand with you, but you must get Sara into the house. " He motioned to the nymph with his chin. "She cannot withstand a battle. She only has love and gentleness in her. I am Hubert and at your command with the others. "

  "It's getting dark, and we hadn't heard from the Neterus," Sara said, becoming hysterical. "Please don't leave us out here alone. "

  "All right," Damali said, reluctantly. "J. L. , let her inside, but you other guys are gonna have to wait for a threshold pass. " She raked her locks, not sure, as she stared at eleven very suspect-looking creatures and then at something that had gentle angel written all over her.

  "All right. We understand and can take up a position outside with your men. He will bring hybrids, first," Hubert said, glancing around the group. "Cain is not a full vampire, and has not formally died from the bite-at least not when he was in Nod. If that is still true, he can only mak
e them by seed, not the bite, and the hybrids that follow him are part human. Your normal artillery should stop them. They will also be slower in this density than full-breed demons that have already adjusted to the earth pane's atmosphere. "

  "That's bullshit, man," J. L. argued, helping Jasmine down. "This afternoon we fired I don't know how many rounds and none of you bought it. "

  "That was illusion," Hubert said, ignoring J. L. and looking at Damali as the group began hurrying toward the villa. He spoke ur�gently while he jogged by Damali's side. "We can throw images of ourselves and move with speed like any demon once we adjust to the new density, but if we get hit by a shell, it's a mortal wound. That is why it was necessary to trick you into expending artillery and shoot�ing at what was only a hollow image of us. "

  "Nowthat's good info," Damali said, jogging faster down the beach toward the villa. "If Cain hasn't had time to amass vampires or other full-breed demons yet, and is on the move in twilight, then whatever we hit we can possibly take down. "

  "The witch with one green eye and one blue eye is the only one that got an actual hit," Hubert said, slowing to a stop to look at Mar�jorie. The small team of female Guardians briefly stopped to hear him out. "The ammunition went through illusion mass, giving the appear�ance of invincibility. But as Cain's forces come into this plane, it will take a moment for that to happen. "

  Hubert pointed toward the lingering spiral in the sky. "This is why you can see our entry points, unlike other demons. The distortion be�tween the dimensions of Nod-land and Earth has a drag coefficient of pure energy reconstituting into mass, and the loud sound like thunder tells you when beings have exited the other realm to break through. "

  Mike, Jose, and Berkfield were on the deck, weapons at the ready. Bobby and Dan had the hybrids within their sight lines, peering at them through assault rifles.

  "Okay, people. We listen for the sonic boom, then unload your clips," Damali said, motioning for the squad of hybrids to fan out on the beach. Her mind was screaming an SOS to Carlos to return to base, but it was as though her calls had gone into a black void.

  "We gotta get Rivera back here, D," Mike said, eyeing the motley group of hybrids and then the darkening horizon.

  "Ya think?" Damali said, not meaning to be sarcastic, but her nerves were shot. She let go of the beacon to Carlos and locked in on the horizon and then the sea. "All right," she commanded. "I want all newbies and Sara inside. Mike, you hold position on the deck with RPGs with Berkfield, with Dan on the roof with mortars, along with Bobby covering with sniper rifles. Jose, you're on the roof with Bobby, sniping with automatics. Krissy, Inez, and Juanita, you cover windows, but keep your heads down. Marj and Marlene, electrify both entry points. Nothing with fangs comes over the threshold. "

  Damali tightened her grip on her Isis and then quickly unfastened the baby Isis dagger holster at her hip and double-checked the maga�zine on her nine millimeter. "Keep Sara down, behind the kitchen counter. "

  "Thank you," Hubert said, nodding to his team to surround the perimeter of the villa.

  But for a moment, Damali stopped. Fear was wafting from the large entity in waves that almost created pain. It was a disorienting fusion-wide, terrified eyes and a voice like an English professor with what under any abnormal circumstances would seem like a warrior demon.

  "Have you guys ever been in combat?" Damali asked, not sure why she cared or was concerned about their safety.

  The entities shook their heads, eyes glistening with panic. She sighed and allowed her shoulders to drop. "Okay, if it gets crazy, fall back beneath the house crawl space. That's the best I can do. "

  But before any further discussion could ensue, Hubert grabbed the nymph and shoved her toward Big Mike. "Take her. The aerial assault is upon us!"

  All eyes were immediately trained on the horizon as Mike caught the nymph and hustled her inside and quickly returned to the deck. Jose scrambled up to the roof with mortars and hunkered down next to Dan and Bobby, everyone trying to get a sense of direction and an enemy head count. Initially it looked like what could have been small specks in the sky resembling a flock of birds, but as soon as Hubert had flung the nymph into Mike's arms, Damali's internal radar picked it up a beat after Hubert's. The specks were fast-moving spirals headed their way

  "Positions!" Damali shouted, dodging behind the deck for cover and holding her Glock at the ready.

  Guardians scrambled, hunkering down and taking the nymph deeper into the villa with them. Artillery would only hold up for so long, given the numbers of hybrids that she could sense on the move. It would only be a matter of time before her team was slaughtered. Damali's mind latched on a quick plan: Use nature against things that could bleed half-human blood. The debate in the Neteru Council of Queens' chamber stabbed into her consciousness, but she also knew her queens had as much as said that both Neteru Councils had been given explicit instructions from On High to stand down and to let the living Neterus do this job. However, every threat her enraged queens had hurled across the oval table in a fury, Damali mentally grasped.

  Instantly she felt a current strobe down her arm, and she stood quickly and headed toward the beach. "Hold your fire until I give the command!"

  She couldn't address the stricken expressions held by the team; now was not a time for them to challenge her command. It was basic mathematics. They were outnumbered, therefore severely outgunned. Shells and bullets could be quickly exhausted and wasted, but there was a rich supply of natural weapons the queens had made available to her. Plus, she knew how Cain would probably play this; her team was expendable, but he wanted her alive and able to mate. He'd try to take her as a hostage to lure Carlos to his death. Damali advanced down the beach, knowing she wasn't the primary target for annihilation, al�though her family was expendable to Cain.

  As the air spirals came into view, Damali held up her Isis and sent out the call to arms. "I call a murder of ravens," she shouted, and within seconds a thick, angry cloud of ravens amassed and headed to�ward the spirals.

  The fast-moving black cloud of birds with razor-sharp beaks flew into the funnels, and within moments, screaming, winged entities be�gan to fall out of the sky with dead birds. Multiple sonic booms of hybrids entering the atmosphere were deafening. Headed on a suicide mission, the ravens zigzagged away, broke formation, and then recon�vened to hurl themselves at the airborne invaders again. Smaller, more aerial-agile black bodies went after huge leathery wings, flying right at them like living black bullets in a frontal assault, tearing through the membranes that gave the hybrids flight and sending stunned entities crashing into the waves. Damali watched the sea bubble and quickly ran to the shore, touching her Isis to the water.

  "Sharks-U-boats, clean up the carnage! Dolphins-torpedoes! Killer whales-subs! Do not let anything come up breathing!"

  Large red bubbling patches spread out in the water as the sea churned and the winds kicked up again. Huge entities riding a black dragon cavalry tried to emerge from the red underwater pits to crest the waves, but lost limbs to slashing shark teeth and were knocked off their mounts by leaping bottlenose dolphins. Huge orcas battled the dragons that were carrying the hybrids, ripping open exposed under�bellies beneath the waves and slamming into dragon rib cages like massive, thick-bodied missiles with teeth. Hurricane winds rose as a seawall built, but Damali held the line, grabbed her Isis with two hands, and made a batlike swing that split it in two to send it crashing backward into the hybrids.

  "Eve owns the elements, you bastard!" Damali yelled, and sent multiple white lightning strikes from the tip of her blade to fry aerial hybrid attackers that were trying to advance on the villa.

  The ground beneath her feet had begun to rumble and she knew the land assault was coming. Jamming the Isis long sword into the sand, she sent an arc of war fury into the earth.

  "Insects swarm! Leaf-cutter ants from the Amazon, I call you! Scorpions render deadly! The scarabs o
f Anubis I summon you!"

  Hybrid demons emerged from the sand like they were coming out of a hundred foxholes at once, but the instant their heads surfaced, scrambling insects swarmed over their faces and ate out their eyes, de�livering lethal stings to the howling beasts.

  The rain and wind was almost too severe to hold her footing, but Damali hunkered down, using the Isis as an anchor and watching in horror as a massive black dragon surfaced too quickly for the seafaring creatures to attack it. Even in the driving rain she could see the black armor and Black Death sword raised that only belonged to one entity she knew. Cain. Behind him came a stronger cavalry, and she pushed herself to her feet with her blade. "Fire!" she shouted to her team.

  Damali fell against the sand from the RPG blast Mike released as it missed the lead entity's dragon and took out the one behind it in a red-and-black splatter of guts. The demon hybrid that had been rid�ing the dragon hurled toward the water, but was saved by a black feather-winged entity.

  "Go for their horses!" she yelled over the din of exploding artillery and death cries.

  Wounded entities screamed; war horns and hybrid command-screeches rent the air. Machine-gun report from the roof shredded feathers. Bullets flew by her in hot flashes of metal and lethal whizzes. Grenades pelted the beach with canisters of holy water tear gas, mak�ing shrapnel from friendly fire an obstacle course that pushed her fur�ther away from the house. Black arcs from the sea met white arcs coming from the villa that crackled in the air, lighting the torrential downpour like fireworks. The huge entity wearing a black helmet had made it to the beach.

  "Attack!" he yelled.

  She knew Cain's voice anywhere. For a moment Damali hesitated. But as soon as she did, she saw four large white patches of fabric rise to the churning surface of the ocean. Jasmine was on the deck with Bobby while Mike and Berkfield covered them. The young Guardians' hands were united, a blue current rushing out toward the seaborne fabric. As soon as their energy touched the water, four large opalescent red dragons with black skeletal lines leapt off the sheets and took flight, headed toward the beach.

  "Those are ours!" Jose shouted from the roof. "My drawing with Jasmine's!"

  The living-blood dragons added to the aerial assault of the ravens, capturing hybrids by the midsections using severe fanged jaws, shak�ing them like outraged dogs before flinging them into the water for the sharks. But Cain kept coming, the smaller red dragons no match for the thing he rode.

  Too close to Damali to fire a mortar round or RPG at it, Dan and Mike hollered in unison, "Fall back, D! Fall back!"

  "No!" Damali shouted when Cain smiled and leveled his blade at her, his dragon snorting and breathing fire. She began running and could feel the heat chasing her down the sand like a laser as she zig�zagged away from the flames that scorched and melted sand behind her. The instant the dragon drew a breath she pivoted, turned, and rammed her Isis into the sand to get off a two-handed shot with her Glock nine, blinding it.

  The massive beast reared, swinging its huge head back and forth in agony and scorching some of Cain's ground forces as well as those that had reached the beach from the sea. Cain roared in fury and tightened his grip on the reins to steady the flailing creature, but pulled up too hard and caused the dragon to lose its balance to go down hard on one side.

  His wing trapped by the struggling dragon, Damali quickly ad�vanced on Cain. But he was on one side of the beast, she was on the other, and a dangerous, razor-sharp, muscled tail, panicked flame bursts, and huge dragon claws made it impossible to scale the thing to get to Cain. However, she could cripple him.

  A cut from an Isis blade left a permanent, nonregenerative wound in a demon, living or dead, and she seized upon the opportunity to deliver one the moment Cain's tail lashed under the dragon's to help right the fallen beast. Nearly blind with fury, she yanked the Isis from the sand as she rushed forward, dodging claws and flames and swung.

  The chime of the Isis rang out, hybrids in midair attacks and those left on the beach slowed to a halt as their leader yelled out in pain.

  "I bet you won't violate me with your tail again, demon!" she shouted to Cain, ill-advisedly moving forward to render a death blow to his dragon by plunging her sword up to the hilt into its heart. Fury had her in a stranglehold. There was no fear, just lizard-brain blind rage. "And when I get this thing up off of you, and cut off your dick," she yelled, so angry that Cain's image literally blurred, "that appendage is going straight up your ass!"

  The roar that Cain released knocked her back ten yards, and to her frank awe, he sliced off his own wing and shoved the dragon off him. Okay, now it was time to run.

  Mike and Dan's shells cut a path between her and Cain in speeding woofs that exploded behind her as she zipped past the house down the beach, Cain hot on her trail. The arcing black blast that Cain rocked the house with knocked her sniper team off the roof and sent deck-rail-wood shrapnel flying. Mike and Berkfield hit the charred deck flooring and covered their heads. Jasmine and Bobby dove over the rails to the sand below it. Windows blew out, forcing those inside the house covering her with gunfire to duck down and flatten themselves to the floor. Hubert and his team were suddenly forced into hand-to-hand combat with the few remaining demons on the beach as Damali breathlessly made it to the rocks with her Isis in her grip.

  She immediately turned on Cain and sent a hot Isis blast into the center of his chest. "You'll never take me alive, motherfucker!"

  Sprawled out and only temporarily dazed, Cain's gaze narrowed on her as she jumped down, prepared to confront him in mortal combat.

  He tried to summon his black blade to him, but it was in shards, his wing dismembered, and his tail a bloody stump.

  "Fall back!" he shouted, and within seconds was gone.

  The beach went still. The rains receded, leaving only a smoky battle trail in the sky. The full moon overhead shone brightly.

  Damali glanced around and then ran toward the villa to check for casualties. The truth stole her breath: this was just one quick cam�paign, a battle. Not the war by a long shot.

  "I'm not liking this at all," Carlos said to Shabazz and Rider, standing outside Yonnie's lair. "It's full dark, I can sense two vampires inside, Yonnie and Tara's signature, but I've got a blackout to the villa and it's like we're in a dark-shielded zone. "

  "In and out," Rider said, urging Carlos to open Yonnie's lair. "Do it the old-fashioned way, man. For Christ's sake, just holler. "

  Carlos nodded and complied, yelling his friend's name at the top of his lungs. "Yonnie! It's family-open up!"

  The lair door eerily creaked open. The full moon over Nevada peeked into pure blackness. Carlos's eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness and he lit the wall torches with a silver glance. As soon as the others could see, Rider and Shabazz flanked him.

  Yonnie looked up from the bed and hissed at the sight of Rider. But it was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong as Yonnie crouched over Tara's lifeless, naked body. He sought Carlos's gaze, squinting and disoriented, his fangs lowered between a mating bite and battle length. All Carlos could do was stare at Yonnie for a moment. Yonnie's bare chest heaved as though he was unable to take in enough air, and his black silk, drawstring pajama bottoms hung loosely on his hips as though he'd quickly materialized them on with great effort.

  "You all right, man?" Carlos asked, advancing slowly.

  Rider pushed around Carlos, but Carlos caught Rider by the arm before he could get close enough to have his heart ripped out.

  "I don't know what happened," Yonnie said in an agonized voice, growling low in his throat as he stared at Rider, and then brought his gaze back to Carlos's. "She's flatlining, even though I fed her. "

  "Oh, shit, man! What did you do?"

  "I don't know what happened, man!" Yonnie yelled. "Heal her! I can't, and I don't know why!"

  Carlos stood with the stunned Guardians near the lair entrance and
watched in horror as Tara's eyelids fluttered. She weakly reached to�ward Rider without lifting her arm, and then murmured his name on a final breath as her hand relaxed against the bed. Carlos jumped back, causing Rider and Shabazz to instinctively do the same. Rendered speechless as Tara's spirit sat up from her body in a white haze and glanced around in terror, Carlos scavenged his mind for what to tell Rider. They had gotten there too late. Carlos reinforced his grip on Rider's arm and blinked twice as he saw a fast-moving white orb stop in front of her, pulse, become Lopez, and take her hand.

  "She's not supposed to have a spirit in a vampire body," Carlos whispered in awe. He watched helplessly as Lopez's spirit calmed Tara's distressed soul and began leading her away. He looked at Yon�nie, and then at Rider and swallowed hard. "It's too late. "

  "Tara!" Rider shouted, breaking Carlos's hold before Carlos or Shabazz could intervene. His gun was raised in the blink of an eye, the barrel pointed at Yonnie's chest as Carlos and Shabazz shouted no, and a bullet tore through the air. Gone in a flash, Yonnie was mist. Rider unloaded the rest of his clip, blowing out sections of black marble wall that was behind where Yonnie had been.

  "I'll kill that sonofabitch!" Rider shouted, and went to Tara's limp body. He dropped his weapon on the bed as Carlos and Shabazz rushed to her side. Rider swept her up, hugging her lifeless body to his chest. "It's not too late. Don't tell me that shit!"

  Shabazz and Carlos put a hand on Rider's shoulder, but said noth�ing as they stared down at their Guardian brother.

  "Carlos, man, if ever there was a time to work your shit. . . it would be now, brother. " Shabazz's eyes glistened with empathy and he looked away when Carlos slowly shook his head.

  "C'mon, baby, take a breath for me," Rider said, rocking her against him hard. "Take a vein, just wake up, sweetheart. " He turned and looked at Carlos. "Make her wake up!" he yelled, becoming more frantic. Rider looked at Shabazz. "Ransack this joint and find a blood bottle so I can feed her! Just don't stand there looking at me! Do it!"

  Shabazz kicked away the refuse of bottles beside the bed, and Car�los held Rider's wrist when he reached to yank his Bowie knife off his belt to slit a vein for her. Rider jerked his arm away and worked around Tara's body to slit his wrist, dribbling blood into her mouth. But the blood simply collected between her semiparted lips and ran down the sides of her face.

  "She's gone, man," Carlos whispered, his voice hitching in his throat. "He took her too far and-"

  "She's not gone!" Rider shouted, hugging Tara to him, tears streaming down his cheeks. He looked away from Carlos and buried his face in her hair, which had gone gray, stroking it roughly. "Not af�ter more than thirty years, she's immortal. A vampire. Tara's not gone, just sick. Help her, man. . . you're supposed to be a healer. "

  "Even I can't raise the dead," Carlos said quietly, closing his eyes and stooping down next to Rider. He briefly held Rider's bloodied wrist and sealed the self-inflicted wound. "I can't lay hands on her with Neteru silver in my veins. . . I'll torch her on impact during a healing. Marlene was normal, human, living tissue. " Carlos looked at Rider, trying to make him understand, his tone faraway and broken. "She's vampire remains now. No spirit in her to absorb the silver. . . she'll go to ash in your arms like I'd touched her with daylight. "

  Shabazz yanked a black silk sheet from the bed and tried to cradle it around Tara. "Man. . . let me take her and cover her up," he said to Rider quietly. "She's been gone for over thirty years and you should remember her like this, beautiful. Don't torture your mind and watch the decay. C'mon, man, as your Guardian brother, I'm begging you. "

  "She's not gonna decay," Rider said, clutching Tara's body to him tighter, "because my baby isn't dead. . . just asleep. " He kissed her forehead, which was beginning to wrinkle with age. "You just rest, sweetie, I'ma get somebody to help you. We'll find a good medic. You just hold on. "

  Carlos stood and backed away with Shabazz to allow Rider to grieve for a moment alone. He put a hand on Shabazz's shoulder and spoke in a low, reverent murmur to him.

  "'Bazz, you have got to get her body out of his arms before the maggots and the grubs infest it. . . and before her flesh starts drop�ping off the bones. It'll take his mind. "

  Shabazz nodded and turned Black Beauty around to hold it by the barrel. "You wrap her up good in the sheet, and bring her ashes with us. At least that way the man can bury her under a prayer. "

  Rider's sobs were so painful that they brought tears to Carlos's eyes. Carlos nodded as Shabazz walked forward, and he looked away as Shabazz approached Rider from behind, then landed a gun butt blow to the back of Rider's skull.

  Yonnie's gaze tore around the casino floor as he turned in a panic while seated in a red velvet padded slot-machine chair. The machine's roller was spinning, just like his head, and Yonnie soon glanced down to notice that he was fully clothed in a black designer suit with a crimson shirt. The roller within the slot slowed and came up 6-6-6 and then began ringing as it spilled endless gold coins into the catch tray.

  "Seems like tonight is your lucky night," a smooth, deep male voice said beside him.

  Still somewhat disoriented, Yonnie jerked his attention toward the voice coming from the chair beside him and then froze.

  "Councilman Nuit. . . " Yonnie's eyes widened. "It was rumored that you were extinct," he whispered, but kept respect in his tone.

  Nuit smiled and dragged his fingers through the coins in Yonnie's slot tray. "Rumors are deadly, but I have a proposition for you. . . since you now owe me. "

  Yonnie just stared at him.

  "You were too weak to jettison yourself away from the Guardian's attack,n'est-ce pas? Who do you think pulled you from sure extinction and strengthened you again?"

  Yonnie nodded and slowly closed his eyes with defeat, feeling

  Nuit's cool breath waft near his throat. What Nuit could never fathom was he would have gladly taken that bullet. What was exis�tence worth now, without Tara? Eternity without her was his Hell.

  "Your councilman is no more," Nuit crooned seductively. "He abandoned you and went into the Light, and yet he couldn't even heal your mate. . . who, from what I could see, even reached out for an�other man-a human-in her final breath. That is weakness, not power, Yolando. Such a travesty is beneath our species. "

  Yonnie fought the building moisture within his eyes and swallowed hard. Trapped, the only option was to negotiate his way out. "Then, what do you want me to do, sir?"

  "Take a throne next to me, elevate yourself under a new leadership, and be my eyes and ears topside to assist against a Guardian team that has plagued our world. These are the same humans who betrayed you. Rivera stood there and watched Tara die in your arms, allowed your eternal mate to go into the Sea of Perpetual Agony, and will bury her remains on hallowed ground so that even the Vampire Council cannot raise her from the ashes again. . . all for the sake of their brother, Jack Rider. You were never one of them, and when it counted most, they left you. Tried to murder you. But I can lift your turn bans so you can make another mate. "

  Yonnie stared at Nuit, a quiet scheme roiling within him as he nod�ded faux agreement. Carlos had shown him a lot; Fallon Nuit was stronger at the moment, and there was no sense in getting his heart ripped out on the casino floor.

  "Who's running council now as the new Chairman?" Yonnie asked, holding Nuit's smug gaze.

  "Dante's son," Nuit said with a sly smile. "You know the leg�end. . . Cain. "

  Yonnie keyed in on Nuit's oily tone of jealousy. "I know him," Yon�nie said in Dananu with the slightest disdain registering in his voice. It was time to bargain. "I saw him when he came to the Gray Zone as a Neteru king and went for Damali. " He allowed the information to fester in Nuit's mind for a moment, also fully remembering Nuit's de�sire for her as a prize. "He's not one of us, really. He's a hybrid. "

  "Then, you know his. . . weaknesses?"

  Yonnie smiled at Nuit a
nd a quiet alliance was formed. "His, hers, and Carlos's. "

  Nuit leaned in and smelled Yonnie's jugular, testing for a lie and then sat back appearing temporarily satisfied. "That you do. Tres bon. "

  "Yeah, it's all good," Yonnie murmured, extending a handshake to Nuit. "Now hook a brother up, so I can go to work. "

  Lilith calmly walked through Gabrielle's Nevada condo and sat down in a Queen Anne chair in the living room and crossed her legs. She watched in amusement as Gabrielle worked hard to focus on the dead crystal ball that was set in the center of her dining room table.

  "Your powers are weak these evenings. Such a shame," Lilith mur�mured, causing Gabrielle to turn with a start.

  Lilith stood and sauntered over to her and stroked her hair, sending a pleasure shiver down Gabrielle's spine. She kissed Gabrielle's shoul�der and began a lazy trail up Gabrielle's neck that made her tense. "I would never hurt you, as long as you're doing my bidding," Lilith whispered against the vein in her neck.

  "I. . . I know," Gabrielle said with a dry swallow. "Just tell me what you need me to do tonight. "

  Lilith's hands trailed down Gabrielle's shoulders, putting gooseflesh on her arms. Gabrielle closed her eyes as fear and disgust fought for dominance over the excruciating pleasure Lilith invoked. She struggled against a gasp as Lilith's hands cupped her breasts and she began to knead her nipples until they pouted to taut pebbles beneath her fingers.

  "You're getting so wet," Lilith murmured, suckling Gabrielle's ear. "How long has it been since you were truly pleasured?" she asked in a breathy whisper, sending a phantom caress between Gabrielle's legs until they parted. Lilith flicked her tongue against Gabrielle's jugular until she moaned. "I bet never like this," she said, leaning in closer to trail her hand down Gabrielle's torso and dip her hand beneath her silk robe to part her lips.

  Gabrielle arched as the caress found her bud. "Please don't," she said in a quiet, panicked whisper.

  "Why not?" Lilith murmured seductively, gliding her finger in agony-producing sweeps against the swollen, slick slit, and massaging it until Gabrielle arched again. "Surely your virginity is long gone. . . and you can't be saving your virtue for a husband. " Lilith giggled low in her throat as she inserted her finger gently inside Gabrielle, causing her to clutch the edge of the table.

  "I can't concentrate for you, dark queen," Gabrielle gasped, trying to bargain her way out of the situation. "I was trying to contact my initiates for you. . . and. . . oh. . . I was. . . I was. . . "

  "We've already found them," Lilith hissed seductively and then chuckled low in her throat when Gabrielle tensed. "Why so ner-vous?"

  "I thought you might be displeased that you'd located them before I had," Gabrielle said quickly.

  "You did help us, immensely," Lilith whispered, sending a blinding orgasm into Gabrielle's canal. She laughed as Gabrielle cried out. "Your initiates were our beacon. . . just like your loyalty to Jack Rider and your family was. Now I'm here to reward you with your fondest wish, one that you had asked us for years ago. "

  Faint, Gabrielle tried to turn to look at Lilith. Tears stung her eyes and she spoke on a strangled whisper. "Please. . . I've changed my mind. I only wanted Yonnie to do that. "

  "I know," Lilith cooed. "But he has been remanded for other tasks. However, now that Tara is dead, you can take her place beside him as his wife. "

  "No!"

  The strike that tore at Gabrielle's jugular was so violent that the scream never left her throat.