CHAPTER FOUR

The team had begun to assemble in the main suite, and it was clear to Damali that the guys had no incentive not to go to war. From the looks on everyone's faces as they walked

through the door, and the jubilant male camaraderie that was exchanged, and even more so, based upon the hot glances being passed between couples, it was clear that they'd been handsomely rewarded for their heroic, albeit foolhardy, deeds. They'd been lucky this time, and then ob viously really gotten lucky.

Damali forced herself not to roll her eyes and suck her teeth when she saw them. She took a seat on the wide, white sectional sofa and tried to put it all into perspective. The only subdued one in the group was Carlos, and that made her sad.

"Good morning, Vietnam!" Berkfield yelled across the room when Mike came through the door with Inez.

"Yo, yo, man!" Mike said like rumbling thunder. "What it look like, people?" Marjorie's face had gone beet red and her voice dipped to a private admonishment. "Oh, Richard, really ..."

"Don't start talking dirty to me this morning, Marj," he said, laughing, with a wink that made her giggle. "Because if you say, 'Oh, Richard, really' ... I can make it so, Number One - and you know that."

Marjorie slapped her husband's hand away from her der riere when he tried to pinch her as she passed by the sec tional seating. Inez glanced away with a too-wide grin, beaming at Big Mike.

"It's you, man," Jose said, grabbing Big Mike's massive hand and then yanking him into a quick warrior's hug as he came through the door.

Mike threw his head back and laughed at Jose's rare ability to practically make him fall.

"Naw, brother, it's obviously you."

Jose play-boxed away from him as a rosy tinge crept up Juanita's cheeks. She slipped into the room, waved to everyone shyly, and sat down. "Hey." When Shabazz walked into the suite with Marlene, Damali glanced at the floor to be sure he wasn't levitating. He'd strolled in so cool, with a smile so sly that even Mike had to shake his head.

"What it look like?" Shabazz murmured, chewing on a toothpick and smoothly sliding into a large leather chair like he was made of pure liquid.

"Damn ... You tell me," Mike said, laughing and signi fying all at the same time. Shabazz leaned back in his chair and stretched like a lazy panther, closing his eyes. "It's all good, brother."

"Uhmmm, morning, folks," Marlene said, swallowing a grin, hustling over to the coffeepot on the wide credenza to heat some hot water for tea.

When Bobby bounded into the room, it was like watching a Labrador puppy do a happydance greeting.

"Hey, yo, whassup?" Bobby hollered with his arm slung over Jasmine's shoulders. His megawatt smile was infectious, causing the older men in the room to burst out laughing. The bright light of joy in Bobby's eyes made Damali lean back on the sofa and briefly close hers with a quiet groan.

"So, what're we gonna do today? Are we moving out, or do we have a coupla more days of R and R, or we going hunting tonight? Carlos, I'm down, we can doooo that shit, ya know?" Bobby stood looking at Carlos with a shine of ex pectation in his eyes, practically wagging his tail, and com pletely oblivious to Carlos's somber mood. Before Carlos could answer, Berkfield had hailed his son from across the room with a

thumbs-up, and then elbowed Carlos in the ribs. He leaned in with a private tone of pride.

"Chip off the old block... damn. That's my boy." Bobby turned just in time to see J.L. roll up behind him, and the two dropped their hold on their partners and play-fought into the room. The two young sisters-in-law hugged and giggled and dashed into the room waving and singing, "Good morning!" They flopped down into chairs and held each other's hands, intermittently sending a squeeze of sup port to each other.

J.L. ducked a mimed rabbit punch from Bobby and then fell back and opened his arms.

"Whassup?"

"Whassup?" Bobby answered, laughing, making his voice go deeper than J.L.'s. J.L. fell out laughing, and then said it again to crack Bobby up harder. "Whassup?"

"No ... whassup?" Dan said in an alto that beat them all, entering the room with Heather, behind Bobby and J.L.

Big Mike fell off the sofa onto the floor, laughing so hard he was lying on his back, wiping his eyes. Shabazz sat for ward and lost his cool facade and broke down laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Jose was doubled over, and Berk field was red in the face with belly laughs that were making him wheeze. The women in the group laughed and just shook their heads. Carlos cracked a smile but didn't say more or laugh. Bobby and J.L. were totaled against the wall, and Heather simply covered her face with her hands, laughing hard but mortified.

"You almost missed roll call, man," Jose hollered at Rider through simmering bursts of chuckles.

Rider leaned against the open door frame real cool, drew Tara against him, and kissed her slow, and then released her to enter the room. "Depends on which role you're called for, son ... g'morning, gentlemen."

The room went silent for a minute as Rider loped into the room behind Tara. Berkfield released a slow, quiet whistle of appreciation aimed at Rider under Jose's whispered harmony of "Daaaaaaaayum..." Mike got up off the floor and pounded Rider's fist as he passed and sat next to Shabazz.

Shabazz gave Rider a cool nod and they exchanged a fist pound without looking at each other.

"Old school," Shabazz muttered.

"The only way it's done, bro," Rider said, looking at Tara, then calmly extracted a chew stick from his vest, slid it into his mouth, and bit down on it like it was a Tiperillo.

"Well, now that the gang's all here," Damali said, her nerves raw and not completely sure why. "Maybe we can de cide where to go next as a team?" She glanced at Carlos as female Guardians slid next to their partners, some sitting on laps. Carlos stood and went to the window with a shrug. "Wherever you all wanna go is fine by me. I'll transport you, get a shield up. Y'all know the drill." The room went still for a moment as Carlos's morose tone blanketed the team. Concerned glances passed be tween the brothers and their wives looked at Damali, searching her eyes for answers she didn't have or wasn't willing to share.

"Can you get a divination from the stones?" Marlene said, her voice reaching out to Damali like tender balm.

"No," Damali said in a far-off voice. "My pearl has shut down since Cain's death ... that

crazy she-dragon was in love with him, and when Eve beheaded him, she's been grieving so hard she won't respond."

"Maybe we can ask the Queens?" Marlene said, trying to keep hope in the room alive.

"Yeah. Let her ask the Queens," Carlos said flatly. "I'll check with my council, too, before I do anything else wild and off the hook."

"Hey, does it matter where we build?" Rider said. "Look, being real here, guys ... there is no safe place, per se. No safe neighborhood. It's what you make it, and if the big war is in full effect, I say let's go somewhere nice."

"Heeeey," Shabazz said, rolling his shoulders. "Gotta take a stand, set down roots, fortify where we're at so we can have some peace, feel me?"

"Completely, man. How we gonna raise kids on the damned run?" Mike rolled his shoulders and began a slow pace between the seat he'd abandoned and the dining room table. "San Diego gets my vote. Military base nearby, in case we need to borrow a tank or two. Beautiful weather, beach, close enough to L.A. to drive up to handle our business there, on the coast for easy out, a stone's throw to Mexico."

"That could work," Jose said. "So, like a fly crib the size we'd need, whatduya say, twenty, thirty mil? How's your pockets, brothers?"

"I'm good," Rider said. "Joint build-out as always."

"Uh ..." Bobby looked at his father with a question and mouthed twenty or thirty million.

"We got your back," J.L. said, glancing at Bobby. "Band made a mint; Dan handled the paper, still getting royalties. Family is family; we got you."

"Cool, wow ... thanks," Bobby murmured.

Berkfield ran a palm over his gleaming scalp. "Yeah, geez, you boys don't mess around."

"Hey, we gotta have this thing on lock," Shabazz said. He looked over at Carlos.

"Wherever we finally put down roots, Adam's black-box is a go, right man? An extra layer on top of what we insulate with."

"Yeah," Carlos said in a far-off voice. "He gave me his word. It'll also keep dumb humans messing with technology and weapons off our doorsteps so we don't have to cap one of those sonsofbitches."

"Don't even take my mind there, bro," Shabazz said. "I will lose my soul and smoke a motherfucker in a heartbeat if they come for Mar or anybody else again like they did when they blitzed our Beverly Hills joint."

"You ain't said a word," Rider muttered.

"Hey, the way I read it is, 'Thou shall not murder' - note the word 'murder' was supplanted for the word 'kill' later on - two different meanings altogether, hence the problem with translations."

"Aw, shit, you know our team's paperwork man is on this," Jose said, leaning forward.

"School us, Danny boy -  you oughta have been a lawyer, man, for real."

"If you go to the old books and original Aramaic that was then translated into Hebrew way before King James butchered the book for his own political reasons," Dan said with conviction, "murder means unjustifiably taking a life -  but self-defense and keeping somebody off your wife and kid or yourself by killing an aggressor, human or otherwise, will not keep me up at night. I'll sleep like a baby, believe that. I don't call that murder - so the 'Thou shalt not kill' part has caveats ... we need a translation from the Covenant on this - but if fucked-up military types rush us to turn us or our loved ones into weapons,

I'm shooting first and asking ques tions later. They could be human helpers of the darkside, and during the Armageddon, too? Shit. Game over, man. If you chose the wrong side."

Mike nodded and glanced at Dan. "We feel you, brother. I got the same situation." Everybody's attention immediately shot to Inez.

"No, no, not like that," Inez said quickly, causing shoul ders to relax. "But my daughter, Ayana ... I need some where for my baby girl and my momma to be, if this mess is getting crazy worldwide."

"Oh," was released in a collective harmony as people slumped back into their chairs. Damali just watched it all from a very remote place in her mind. The brothers were nesting - actually nesting. She'd never seen a male version of this before in her life, and it was eerily interesting as well as disturbing. She glimpsed

Carlos, who still had his back to the group, his emotions locked behind searing sterling and reinforced with an impenetrable black-box.

"I gotta get Rabbi on the phone," Dan said, beginning to pace as he raked his hair. "My parents think I'm on a kibbutz in Israel, and with that region at war, my mom and dad are gonna be freaking out." He stared at Heather, his gaze gentle on the surface with repressed terror only a thin layer beneath it. "I want them to meet you ... and I've gotta update my liv ing will, get everybody's wills in order, open another IRA, make sure I move some things around in my 401 (k) ..."

"Don't panic, man," Shabazz said calmly. "We're gonna make sure it's cool."

"All right," Dan said, leaning against the wall and taking deep breaths. "I'm good. I'm good."

"This joint in San Diego," J.L. said, "we find it on the other side of the fault lines, the ones dormant for years, and if something jumps off, our section of ground breaks whole." He looked over at Heather and Jasmine, then Krissy. "We're gonna need you ladies who do stone work to feel out the area before Dan negotiates a closing on a property."

"We got it," Heather said with pride. "Thank you."

"Hey, it's for everybody, kiddo," Rider said, pounding fists with Shabazz.

"We can go in with Marj and Marlene to see if we can see a good spot or primo property," Juanita offered, glancing at Inez, too.

"Definitely," Inez said, nodding and giving Juanita a long-distance high-five across the room.

"We'll wire the shit out of the joint, too," J.L. said, his gaze scanning the room. "I've been thinking about this ever since Mexico. I'm sure I can figure out a way to supercharge the perimeter from a bounce off tactical energy so Carlos doesn't have to take the energy drains all the time. Silver stakes deep in the ground around the perimeter, and me, Bobby, Dan, and Shabazz can square off that - each linked to a cardinal direction - to put a firstalert energy band around the property that will go off like a tripwire and hit all four brothers like an internal security alarm."

"You's a bad, boy," Mike said, impressed.

"Then I'ma link that to your audio, dude, going through the vibrations our earth energy folks on the team have," J.L. said, "and you'll be able to hear a fly catch in that net, Mike. I can hook up our noses like that, too."

"Damn ... you go, boy!" Jose said, nodding and pounding Rider's fist.

"We use a combo of state-of-the-art technology rigged with our standards from the old compound days, like holy water sprinkler systems, UV floodlights and all of that, plus we rig this new joint with every gift we own. Mar's strong prayer lines, Damali's, the stones on the property, down to the bricks, supercharged by our ladies, the Covenant standing at the four corners consecrating the ground after they bless the interior like that, so we're on hallowed ground and can't nothing come up from subbasements. Paint the floors with colloidal silver for insurance. Fabrics ready to rip off furni ture upholstery and go to work, if necessary, by Jasmine's hand-painted designs. Berkfield's blood in the paint mix over all doors, windows, anyplace anything foul could get in. Alarm plants by - "

"Alarm plants?" Inez interrupted in awe.

"Marjorie has that earth energy, white-lighter Wicca thing going with Kris, and with Bobby's wizard topspin," J.L. said with confidence, "plants, which are living organ isms, should scream bloody murder if anything makes it into the yard, same with houseplants. Give them a voice."

"Now you done went deep, Zen master," Mike said with a wide grin. "What happened last night that took you all the way to the ultimate creative plane, man?" J.L. laughed with the other brothers and simply shrugged. "I was inspired."

"Yeah," Jose said laughing. "Me, too ... like ... I think we should go on tour after we get this joint built."

The entire team looked at him hang-jawed.

"Our music is dying, yo," Jose said, not the least bit fazed by the group's reaction. "We need to be able to move around after we get situated to get our message out and let the dark-side know we ain't scared of them, ain't hiding."

"The youngblood's got a point," Rider said. "Our primary mission is to go root this bullshit out. I'm with Jose. I say we get a good base camp established, one where there's an iron

clad haven for us to return to at all times, or if we need to bring somebody in for safety reasons." He glanced at Heather and then back at the group. "Whoever has to stay home, can man the communications gear and keep us in touch with the Covenant, or coordinate logistics. Then we hit the road and do our thing."

"Keep moving and keep the pressure on while they're weak," Jose said, lifting his chin toward Rider.

"The music gives us energy, keeps us in touch with the Divine," Shabazz agreed, his gaze roving the group. "It also energizes populations who've lost hope, and we can drop some protection anointment on folks in the audiences like Mar used to do in the old days when she poured liba tions."

"I can definitely do that," Marlene offered. "And with all the juice on this team, now ... puhlease, we could blanket stadiums of people."

"Good," Dan said quickly. "I'll see what I can start to arrange - a World Peace Tour, guys? Tell me the promo and PR angle, and I'm on it."

"Sounds good to me," Shabazz said, standing and stretch ing. "We are gonna have to start earning some cold cash to refill the deficit spending going on." He looked at the group. "We've been gone, what, two years - and have been lucky. So, I don't give a shit if it's the last days and the Armaged don, that bull ain't gonna go down in one day. It won't be one battle, but a series of battles in a long, protracted war. That's why we hunker down, get ready for the long haul." He strolled over to Marlene, who had yet to make tea,

and pulled her near. He nuzzled her neck and made her blush.

"We take life one day at a time, do our job ... work hard, play hard, you feel me?"

" 'Bazz, stop," Marlene said quietly. "I feel you. You had the same vision I did, baby?" He chuckled in her ear. "Yeah."

"I don't know about y'all, but I'm hungry," Mike said. "Throw me that room-service menu, D."

"You're hungry again?" Inez said, shaking her head. "Dang."

"It ain't your cooking," Mike said with his nose in the menu once Damali had tossed it to him. "Don't stick to your ribs. That's why we gotta get that new joint soon."

"Y'all, can I design the kitchen?" Inez asked, her eyes darting around the room. A group "Yes!" rang out, much to her delight.

"Hey, throw me that menu when you're done," Jose said, glancing at Juanita.

"Me, too, man," J.L. said, joining the developing food fest.

"Can we get a place that has a pool?" Juanita asked, her gaze going to Jose first, and then the group.

"Baby ... if you want water on the premises," Jose said seductively, "I'll make sure there's one in the room."

She blushed and looked away as four Guardian brothers literally got up from where they were seated to cross the room and pound Jose's fist.

"We'll get the property already built, then go in, modular fashion, and retrofit it to whatever you want, ladies. So start thinking colors, what type of furniture - "

"And once you get a clear picture in your heads, I can save you a lot of time and burn it in as a special delivery," Carlos said without turning. "Place your orders."

"Much obliged," Rider hollered across the room to Car los, seeming oblivious like the others to Carlos's darkening mood. "Throw me that menu when you're done." Marlene caught Damali's eye. Can we go into the bed room and have a session, you and me, for a minute? she asked in a mental whisper.

Damali nodded and stood. "Y'all get something to eat. Me and Mar are going to the back where it's quiet to see if we can get a bead on a first location." There was no objection as Marlene and Damali slipped away from the group. Marlene quietly closed the bedroom door behind Damali, as Damali crossed the room and sat down, hugging herself.

"Okay, what happened?" Marlene leaned on the closed door, and then moved in to prop her behind against the bu reau.

"Nothing happened," Damali said quietly, staring at the floor. "We did the shower, and the white bath, and we talked, and I held him until we went to sleep. My husband is really freaked out."

"That process was just placebo," Marlene said in a sad tone. "Oh, baby ..." Damali's attention snapped up to stare at Marlene. "What do you mean placebo! We've all done that routine a hundred times, if once, coming out of demon battles where some

body got nicked. It's standard operating - "

"Not last night," Marlene said with a weary sigh. "Yeah, we do the baths - but after you hit every guy with the Ca duceus, that's like nuking any demon buggies that could have latched on. Those guys were clean as a whistle when they left the suite last night, D. The baths were old tradi tional methods, good in a clinch if we didn't have the healing staff at

our disposal - which is why they were a must before."

"Then I don't understand," Damali said, now talking with her hands out of frustration.

"Mar, why - "

"It was to bring each couple closer, heal the trust and ego breaches that may have opened up ... a little psychosexual therapy so that understanding, communication, and har mony would return."

Damali closed her eyes and ran her palms down her face with her head leaned back. "Glad it worked, Marlene. You're a genius, as always."

"But, from the tone of your voice and the vibe that Carlos is throwing off, it sounds like you two were the only ones that didn't take my medicine?" Marlene looked at Damali until she returned her gaze.

Damali shrugged and began picking at a nap in her jeans.

"You two are always so danged stubborn, D. Why'd you give that man the blues for doing what his natural impulse is to do?"

"I didn't," Damali said, staring at her jeans and watching them become blurry. "Not once we got alone. He's scared to death, Mar, but would never say it and I'd never put that in his face. He is trying so hard not to make a mistake now, feeling like he's got everybody's life on the line - plus babies, too - that the poor man is in shock. He was cool as long as it was demon to demon, an eye for an eye, a fang for a fang, street justice in full-effect type of thing - like he thought hitting Lilith's lair would be. He was ready for that, could handle it in his head, knew the ins and cuts and had worked the best-case, worst-case scenarios in his brilliant mind down to the bone ... But the moment he really dug it, really realized that On High had sent him that battle charge and it was for real on... I've never seen Carlos quietly freak this hard in my life."

Damali looked up and tried to fight back tears. Marlene pushed off the dresser and came to sit by Damali, moving a stray lock over her shoulder.

"D, baby ... this was what he's been groomed to do all his life. His walk on the darkside and maybe even still owning his fangs so he'd be a hybrid, able to hit them while they were down, come at them like Adam never would, be sly, cunning, courageous, outrageous ... Damali, you've got to make him know what every man in here knows - he was chosen, this time, to set the ball in motion, because only someone as wild and crazy as Carlos could do that - and do it with honor."

Damali slid into Marlene's embrace, her tears wetting Marlene's shoulder. "I tried to tell my husband that," she whispered through thick mucous. "But he keeps thinking of those who died in Morales, seeing their faces on the battle field, hearing their screams, seeing their loved ones break down at all the funerals we went to. And I felt it turn like a hundred parasites under the skin of his brain, struggling with self-created scenes of what would happen if Armageddon forces swept down and took a very pregnant Heather - and then imagining what Dan would do ... shit like that, Mar, is eating him up alive. He's got this kamikaze thing happening in his head, telling himself that he should have gone alone, he was the one that had a beef with Lilith, directly, and this time maybe - even for him - he'd gone too far."

"Aw ... maaaan ..." Marlene breathed against Damali's hair as she rubbed her back.

"His libido is shot to hell, Mar," Damali whispered, squeezing her eyes tightly. Thick mucous from tears collect ing had formed in her mouth, slurring her words as she spoke

in quick, urgent bursts. "After a battle... that they won? Nada. He kept walking around in a circle saying, 'D, I gotta think. Gotta figure out the best way to keep this team safe.' And you and I both know there's no surefire way to do that."

"But every man in here knows it's not Carlos's fault if something happens." Marlene held Damali back from her to stare into her eyes. "They all went, ready to ride or die, like Guardians. They're all celebrating the fact that they were there to kick it off and were a part of making biblical history, and still made it home from the first battle alive. That's why they're so cool about it - what other way is there to be? It was coming, sooner or later, all the signs were there... didn't really matter who started it, and truthfully, after Cain's plummet to a throne and executing Guardians on earth - it was seriously in the stars and close at hand, so ... just tell Mr. Rivera, this time, it's not his fault." Marlene tried to smile. Damali couldn't as she wiped her face.

"Yeah, well, this time, after all those times before when it was his fault, he can't shake the feeling down deep that it might be. Every mistake he ever made is kicking his ass, Marlene. I can feel it like a serpent right under his skin." Damali let her breath out in a frustrated rush. "I mean all the way back, Mar. To like getting his brother killed because he was in the drug biz with Carlos, and Nuit got to him."

"Damn..." Marlene whispered.

"Yeah. Damn. And my husband is in some type of self-gratification exile, trying to be a monk, focused completely on selfless sacrifice, and gets pissed off at himself if he even re

motely thinks of anything that would just be about him." Damali stood and began walking, raking her locks, her voice low and frantic. "It's crazy. I sat up with him almost all night and listened to him telling me about how, after all the self-indulgent shit he'd done in his life, he didn't have the right to drag the entire planet into his beef, and definitely wasn't trying to lose a brother or sister-in-law to anything he'd done. So his way of trying to make up for it was to give up any of his vices."

"Oh, shit," Marlene said, standing and beginning to walk in a dizzying circle with Damali.

"But you're married - even ministers - "

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Damali said, holding up her hands. "But he wants to save that for procreation, which we're not ready to do, okay?"

Marlene stopped pacing. "Are you serious? Carlos?"

"Would I lie about something that freakin' serious, Mar lene?" Marlene covered her mouth, gaping, eyes wide.

" He wants to stay in conference with Adam and Ausar. Wants to remain battle focused and alert to deflect any incursion. Wants to have committee sanction from the archon's table before making any moves ... wants - "

"But his best weapon was the fact that he was unpredictable!" Marlene nearly shrieked and then monitored her voice. "He was our side's loose cannon, our machine gun of high risk, our ace in the hole because his ass was so damned crazy...you have to heal his mind, Damali. Put the Caduceus - "

"He wouldn't let me near him with it," Damali said between her teeth, panic roiling so hard and fast within her that she was becoming nauseous. "Said if the Unnamed One did Lilith in a throne, and he had an old tie there, he didn't want any possibility whatsoever of that blackening the Caduceus, or entering me through him, and - "

"Go to Nefertiti," Marlene said, breathless. "She'll know what to do, maybe her or Aset,

and then they can get Ausar to scan him, check him - "

"If I do that without Carlos's permission, have you any idea the humiliation that could cause, and then the fallout from that shit, Marlene?" Damali paced away to stand by the windows, hugging herself.

"You're right, you're right," Marlene said, her hands up before her chest. "I stand corrected. It's just that my placebo was designed to bring back joy, a reason to live, a reason to focus on the here and now between each pair, with hope burning brightly for the future - no matter the circumstances or how dark it looks right now." She slowly brought her hands down and used the gentleness in her voice to make Damali look at her. "Love was there, strong, but hope was dimming. I used love to take us to hope. Hope is pure silver, Damali, you know that," Marlene said quietly. "Add it with love and it brings back weakened faith, white light even at the darkest hour. Once I truly understood what we were up against I knew in my soul that those guys needed a prime directive, a mission to remain cohesive so that fear and blame wouldn't splinter the team. After we wigged and brought down their battle high, because we were so scared, I needed a surefire way to get all the nagging doubts to stop. They needed a shot... er... in the arm, so to speak - and the women needed to feel that confidence so they'd rally with them. One mind, one body, one spirit -  unbroken. Last night, everybody but the main one who needed it, got that. Listen to them out there. Carlos's booming laughter should be leading the trash-talking fest."

Damali nodded and fought a sob. "He has no joy in him right now, Mar. Fear has eclipsed hope - not for fear of what will happen to him, but to me or the team. His faith that he's being guided by the right side is shaky at best. The only thing grounding him is love. Guilt from things past is eating him alive ... he even told me not to open my wings around him, in case something that will remain nameless from that throne accidentally attached to him. He won't let me lay healing hands on him, and barely let me hug him to drift off to sleep." Marlene let her breath out hard and closed her eyes. "Baby, the man cannot carry that kind of guilt trip on his shoulders. Carlos being overly cautious is just as dangerous as his being overly reckless. You have to get him to understand that it was because his instincts were razor sharp that he picked up on an opportunity to hit Lilith's installation while it was vulnerable ... while, I guess for lack of a better way to put it, while she was being coronated as queen vamp."

"It's the retaliation he's worried about. They hit her resources hard, and as long as it was a Chairman from the vamp legions, or whatever, he was mentally ready. But when he found out Lucifer had personally throned Lilith... I watched my husband walk away from the cleansing bath in a daze. He just kept saying, 'Oh, shit, D... That's whose head I pulled up while he was getting busy? Oh, shit.' Okay, Mar. That's where he's at. Now he is bracing for a retaliation that will make Cain's battles seem like a schoolyard brawl."

"They'd be coming for us like that anyway, though, in the final days," Marlene argued.

"The Neteru Councils have been preparing for this for eons, and it was destined to happen at some point on our watch in all likelihood. Plus, Carlos had to know that if he hit Lilith's lair and even got her, that there'd be Hell to pay. It's just the fact that he actually interrupted the Devil and his wife that has Carlos so freaked out."

"Ya think?" Damali said, not meaning to be sarcastic, but having nowhere else to vent her frustration. "Plus," she added, mellowing her tone toward Marlene, "Carlos now knows

that the strength of the newly installed Chairwoman is unparalleled to anyone else who ever occupied that seat - Dante included. That also means that the making of the Antichrist is not far behind. That's why Carlos is bugging. He feels responsible for the tuning, for stirring the hornet's nest at a time when we, as a team, weren't iron-clad ready for what would fly outta that sucker."

"Look, he didn't know what schemes the Ultimate Darkness had," Marlene said, throwing up her hands. "Who knows such things? The man took a calculated risk, temporarily won, and made it out alive with all his men -  weakening forces at a time when they seriously needed to get hit." Marlene began walking again, scratching her head, deep in thought. "Besides, if that's who had to install that bitch on a throne, wouldn't that seem like we'd done our job by seriously depleting their power options all the way down to the core?" Marlene stopped and turned to stare at Damali head-on. "That's our job. Tell the general, he did his job like a master... like a councilman, in fact. Totally unexpected, but right on time."

"I tried to tell him," Damali whispered from where she stood, speaking more for her own benefit than Marlene's. "I tried to tell him that his fangs were given to him and left within him on purpose, just like my wings were ... that his learning about the Dark Realms is our strategic advantage at a level never known before by the Light. I tried to tell my man that all his business savvy from the streets, his fury, his charisma, his double-dealing, sexy ways were part of the grand plan."

Damali drew in a shuddering breath and hugged herself tighter as new tears rose in her eyes. "And I tried to tell him that above all things, I respected him to the last cell in his body, no matter how much I might fuss from time to time... Mar... that's my man... my baby, and he's bleeding to death inside. But I can't stop the hemorrhage because this time he won't let me."

* * *

lilith stood in the topside clearing in central Europe calling the covens of old. "From London to Romania to Transylvania, worldwide, those who still remain in dark spirit and able to hear my cry, I beseech you ..."

Her dark energy swirled from her outstretched talons, icy winds viciously whipping her death-black gown about her legs and arms, her hair eerily floating out from her body in a chilling black charge. With her head thrown back and all the passion of fury within her, she called them to her like wayward children. It was time.

"Mine, those of the most powerful among you left who took the dark oath of the covens, arise!" Lilith shrieked into the starless night. "Make good on your evil oath to serve the Dark Lord. Come to me, those of my blood pact, dark warlocks and witches, do my bidding!"

A night-cutting energy bolt left Lilith's talons to sear the darkness with black flames, opening what looked like a seam in the pitch-black horizon. The sound of missiles whirring filled her ears and made her laugh and screech in ecstasy as dark, torpedolike shapes hurled ever closer as though they were black comets.

"Yes! Yes! Come my children, we have much work to do," she screeched, whirling around in an excited frenzy.

The first projectile landed with an explosion that forced her to step back. Brilliant orange,

red, and midnight-blue flames shot up vertically ten feet, and then a tall, gaunt warlock stepped out of the curtain of fire, swathed in a black cape covering his royal attire.

"Sebastian, you came ..." Lilith cooed, and swept over to the warlock. He took her hand and passionately kissed the back of it. "I pledged that I would be the first to always answer your call, milady."

"What has it been?" Lilith whispered. "How many centuries?"

"Too many to count," he replied, embracing her. "Tell me your bidding while I am still rational."

Five additional blasts rocked the area, causing Sebastian to release Lilith and shield himself from the flames.

The first warlock to step out of his fireball did so with chilling grace, and then fluffed his long black tresses and brushed off his formal black-and-white theater ensemble.

"Machiavelli," Lilith gasped, her eyes going to slits.

"At your behest," he said, glaring at the first warlock, and sweeping over to Lilith. He took up her hand and then caressed her cheek and looked around curiously. "I had heard rumor that Fallon Nuit was returned?" He closed his eyes as a shudder of anticipation swept through him. "Tell me this is so."

"He may be available, he may not," she murmured seductively, teasing him. "I could be jealous, unless you both share."

Machiavelli chuckled softly. "Fallon taught me Dananu, you know ... even though he never gave me the full pleasure of bearing fangs. Callous brute - tell me, is he about?"

"Bargain with me in my language," Lilith said with a sinister grin, "then I might tell you."

"Do you remember where you marked me so many, many years ago?" he murmured in her language, making her briefly shudder.

"Like it was yesterday," she crooned, brushing his mouth with a kiss that left him swooning with excitement as she ran to greet the next flame.

"Jezebel!" Lilith screamed, not even waiting for the witch to leave her flame capsule. She barreled into the inferno with her, coming out of it carrying Jezebel, who was locked in a deep French kiss with her legs wrapped around Lilith's waist and her arms about her neck.

"You called," Jezebel said, breathless.

Lilith set the amber beauty down gently, running her talons through her long, thick, wavy hair. "He called, you know."

"Noooo ... The master!" Jezebel fell backward, her sheer, black and golden bell-dancer's outfit beginning to smolder.

"In Vampire Council chambers," Lilith murmured, twirling a long strand of her jet-black hair around her finger. "Was amenable to a visit with me, you, and Delilah."

"When?" Jezebel whispered, appearing nearly faint.

"Soon, beloved. Soon. But first we have a quest."

The warlocks gave each other distrustful yet conspiratorial glances.

"And he did not call for me?" Medusa said, stepping out of the inferno in a huff, thousands of her baby serpents snapping. "Lilith ... it has been ages." She adjusted her black Grecian robe and tried to adjust her tone. "Thank you for calling me now, however." A battle-ax sliced through the fifth flame and a thickly muscled warlock stepped out in full black battle-armor regalia.

"My queen," he murmured, looking at her with a sidelong glance.

"Genghis," Lilith hissed. "We must catch up very soon." He nodded and looked at the others with curiosity. "So many missing?"

"So many slaughtered by the Isis blade and the blade of Ausar," Lilith spat, sudden rage making her dark eyes glow. "I await one more transformation, and then we shall convene with the six oldest of your kind who can be raised."

"What Lilith says is true," Medusa hissed quietly, her serpentine gaze roving over Genghis. "Perseus, like Hercules, was a Guardian, but not a Neteru, or I would not be here, either."

Lilith clutched her chest in relief as the last flame flickered out with a blue-black wave of energy. A nude being stepped forward, her long, platinum hair her only covering, then it instantly grew out black at the roots to change into a curtain of darkness around her. She air-kissed Lilith on both cheeks as they embraced.

"Siren ... you came." Lilith held her back, pleased.

"I was lost at sea, Queen," she said, her voice sounding like it came from within the endless echo of a seashell. "Your bidding is my pleasure."

"I have a riddle," Lilith said, gathering the witches and warlocks around her. "Something to challenge your skills and that of all the covens that follow you." Wicked smiles of glee surrounded Lilith as the winds be gan to increase to lift her gown.

"Here is the prize ... winner takes some," she said, laughing and teasing them as she turned in a slow circle. "I never give all. But, for those who can ensure this plot works, there is a council seat available on The Vampire Council - you are looking at the newly coro nated Chairwoman!"

She screeched and ran between them as their shocked ex pressions met her, and they slowly, one by one, dropped to their knees.

"Yes, I am still the Dark Lord's wife and familiar - his favorite among all others, but a plot more evil than any I could have devised has left Dante slain, as well as his son." She nodded slowly as she walked between her subjects. "Yes. Hard to believe but true. They both died at the hands of a Neteru, their fates sealed with a beheading by an Isis blade." Machiavelli was on his feet first, followed by the others. "No ... heresy."

"Indeed," Lilith said in a low hiss. "So, as you can see, pardon the pun, the stakes are high - are you game?"

"Just speak the challenge," Sebastian said in a superior tone, looking down his nose at the others.

"I want a spell ... a spell like no other spell," Lilith mur mured as her eyes slid closed and her arms outstretched. "I want a spell that will make you believe I have taken leave of my senses when I ask you for this, and it must spread like a virus worldwide to all covens to permeate the atmosphere where it can be inhaled."

"A plague," Genghis whispered. "Done."

"Not so hasty - that in due time." Lilith clapped her hands with twisted joy. "You'll never guess." She swept away. "It is genius, just genius - so absolutely wretched the Light will dim when I'm done."

Walking in a circle in the middle of their ring, she spoke in a low, conspiratorial tone. "I have called for Sebastian for his expertise in poisons and potions; Machiavelli for his shrewd political mind and intrigue in this time of planetary politics, to embroil the Neteru Councils and the Covenant at war with themselves; Jezebel for her lustiness and idolatry -

her ability to sway worship of things false; Medusa for her venomous jealousy that had taken over her mind like a thou sand serpents; Genghis, you, my general, will provide me battle insight to lead legions under spells of Darkness; and my Siren for your voice to affect the music, and to call the Neterus to their ultimate demise."

"This spell," Sebastian whispered tensely, raw lust caus ing beads of sweat to form on his brow, "the elements you seek can be easily included, but the delivery system ... I must know your requirements."

"Up to this point," Lilith said, one finger on her pursed lips. "Men have ruled the Vampire Council - and in their blindness, they attempted to create a break between the mil lennium male and female Neteru. A nearly impossible task where soul mates are involved." She walked away with her hands on her hips. "No attempt worked. They tried to im pregnate her to make a daywalker," Lilith screeched, throw ing up her hands in disgust. "Men! So egocentric. Of course it failed. Then they tried to go after her mate, Carlos Rivera, and turn him permanently dark - but that failed, because they didn't factor in the pure white light essence of love. He'd never be completely dark as long as he loved her, for Light would be in his dead, black heart -  there of all places! Dante should have known when he couldn't break him on his torture wall for loving her so." Lilith walked away, gown billowing out from her legs as a sulfur trail burned in her wake.

"Fools! That man loves the very ground Damali walks on; even a demon-child could see it She is his breath, was even his heartbeat when he was dead! And it is the same for her -

and now that they have married under the seal of holy matrimony, we cannot even see where they are all the time."

"Then, how ... my queen," Jezebel asked, unsure and glancing around, "are we to destroy them?"

"Create an aphrodisiac." Lilith looked at the stunned faces and laughed in a loud, screeching cackle. "It is so mad, so completely insane, it is perfect." When bewildered expressions met her, she allowed her voice to sing out her answer in teasing bursts. "I have a little blood in my keep, from when Cain bit Damali, and she will

ingly gave him her throat." She skipped over to Sebastian. "It wasn't rendered at V-point, but there's heat and need and desire for the exterminated grandson of Lucifer in it."

"Say that you are simply stoking my appreciation for you with mental foreplay," Sebastian whispered, swallowing hard.

"It isn't strong enough to spark the creation of new life," she admitted, looking at her nails,

"but it's toxic, that I assure you." Lilith looked up at those newly incarnated who had as

sembled to do her bidding. "I want that team to implode from the outside in. I want her so desirous of her Neteru husband that she's like a bitch Hellhound in heat - worse than a natu ral Neteru female ripening. Pure lust to darken and taint any love bond there is. I don't want her simpering understanding, her willingness to work through his issues; I want her fucking pissed off when he doesn't screw her on demand. Crazed is what I want!

Totally offended that her Neteru female charms don't move him. I want her ego crushed, and her focus at tacked, and his understanding patience of her flaws pushed to the breaking point when she smothers him. Corrode his silver so it never gleams again."

"Damn," Jezebel murmured with appreciation and wiped her brow.

"Yes," Lilith agreed, her eyes glowing and her expression tense as she walked away from them. "The male Neteru also sat in Dante's, and subsequently Cain's throne - both shared a

link to Dante ... one by paternal seed, the other by the pa ternal bite. There is waning residual energy there from Rivera ... but what we have we shall use!" She spun on the group. "Dampen his libido - use guilt. Use distraction. Use duty and honor. Use whatever, but put out that flame. Make him so good and honorable that he is sickening," she screeched. "Strengthen his good attributes so that the Light does not detect foul play." Lilith stopped and cast a glare around the half-ring. "A wife hotly pursing her husband would not set off alarms to the Light. A husband pursuing lofty goals is honorable -

would not set off a Heavenly disturbance."

"But they would be at odds, soon enough, as frustrations claimed them both," Jezebel whispered. "It would be a quiet, slow, painful parting that begins with them not seeing eye to eye, not meeting each other's needs, and then they'd look up one day and might still love each other, but would not be in love. All passion gone. Other lovers could then enter the house to make it collapse on its own - free choice."

"Cain almost broke the code on that," Lilith said with a cool chuckle. "But his own ego got in the way, and he rushed it. Had he held out a little longer and allowed her a bit more frustration, he would have had her." Lilith shook her head. "Alas ... but dear dead Cain was apexing and hadn't been laid in eons, so he was thinking with the little head." She smiled. "I don't have that problem."

"And the Neteru female leads a team of female Guardians, her sisters who are cloaked to our dark visions by their bonds of matrimony. But this Neteru is female, and her sisters will be happy while she languishes," Medusa hissed with a wicked laugh. "In their human frailties, they'll be so caught up in their own joys and futures, that they'll miss her sad eyes, the tone in her voice, the tension in her as she puts up a good front to preserve her pride and to try to be happy for their good fortune as any dear sister should be ... all the while they will be blinded to her silent cry for help. Soon quiet, insidious, slithering jealousy will creep into her heart as she weeps and wonders, why not her? It is only human." Medusa's sick laughter rang out into the glen and drew conceding nods and applause from the others.

"You get it," Lilith said, opening her arms for Medusa and then nicking her throat. "I knew you would see the ge nius of my plan."

Medusa clung to Lilith and leaned her head back to re ceive more attention as her serpent hair squealed in delight.

"And as men blindly prepared for war, the primary goal to protect their village - especially any women and children in their midst - dissension in the ranks would make their confidence wane," Genghis said. "Their male Neteru general distracted, divided, cannot effectively lead and will make mistakes."

"Talk dirty to me - you know I love it," Lilith murmured toward him seductively, handing off Medusa to Jezebel. She approached Genghis. "I knew your expertise would titillate my sensibilities."

'Through this devious plot, you have worked with the Light, the Heavenly edict of the One we leave unnamed. According to their laws - what has been put together, let no man split asunder - so you are not in violation of any edicts from On High ... it is free will if the Neterus create their own household demise." Machiavelli laughed with a sinister chuckle and raked his ringers through his long, wavy, dark hair. "Bella ... grazie, and done so lentamente."

Lilith pointed at him, and sent a pleasure charge his way. "Now there's a man who understands politics. Plausible deniability at every turn, especially during the onset of the Armageddon."

Machiavelli bowed with a shiver. "Always glad to assist, milady."

"It will affect her voice," Siren said in a faraway tone.

"Her words will become sharper, her attitude brittle as bit terness sets in. Her comments sarcastic. Her music riddled with anger, not hope. But her voice will also be trapped, for whom will she admit this devastation to? It would be shameful for a leader, a female general - a heroine who is supposed to embody all wisdom and compassion toward humanity - to be so mired in her own personal battle of such humiliation. Her Guardian sisters would be disappointed and hurt that she felt any resentment toward their joy for any reason whatsoever; her Neteru Queens would be aghast. In her pain and isolation, Damali will ultimately call her Neteru mate to his own demise as he runs headlong from his household to get away from her... which will make the rest of their ship vulnerable, their crew shark bait. I love this plan, Lilith. It is perfectly beautiful, just like you." Lilith blew Siren a kiss that made her hug herself. "You are the last important piece - her voice." Lilith closed her eyes and made black static-charged fists at her sides as she spoke.

"Put it in the air, in the water, in the food supply. I do not care the delivery system. That is your mission and your conundrum to resolve. I don't want it to affect a single human except Damali Richards. I want her to be the one climbing the walls and distracted, and completely focused on - "

"Things of false importance," Jezebel said in an impas sioned whisper. Lilith shuddered. "Yes, and you can have this night with me for the most profound understanding of this objective. You win the door prize. You and Medusa, for her deep, ser pentine insight." Lilith smirked. "Tsk, tsk, Sebastian. It is not like you to miss out on ducal rights. I'm almost disap pointed."

"My potion, which is what is required to collect the spells and blood remnants, regardless of specialty, will redeem me and make you wish you had chosen me as your first option. I will let my work speak for me thus." Sebastian flung his cape over his shoulder in a huff. Sighing with complete satisfaction, Lilith looked at the witches and warlocks and ignored the disgruntled first-night losers. "You know what the reward will be, something none of your wicked spirits ever attained before your deaths. But as a Level Seven entity with powers to confer your dark essences to a Vampire Council throne ... do my bidding," she said in a low rumble. "And do it well."