CHAPTER TWO

Whew," Damali whistled, stopping Carlos's awkward apology with one finger before it could even begin. "I'm okay... but, whew."

"I know," he said, still gasping air. He gently turned her head to the side and tried to stop the jugular flow with trembling fingers. "Does it hurt?"

"Hell, yeah," she said, chuckling with her eyes closed. "You didn't even pleasure taint the nick, just-"

"Aw, baby... damn... I don't know where that came from. But, I'm serious, it won't happen again."

She opened her eyes and chuckled. "It was good, though."

"No. That was almost a damned battle bite." He slowly extracted himself from her and rolled off her to go get a towel to blot away the excess blood. "You might be a Neteru, and everything else under�neath all that, but you're my wife, and I ain'tnever supposed to handle you like this."

Carlos's mind raced with panic as he walked to the bathroom. Something was seriously wrong, and any time something foul went down, the darkside was in it playing games. Damn!

"Relax," she murmured, trying to sit up, and then thinking better of it. She was dizzy from the sudden blood loss and exertion, and be�ing with him had never done that to her before. "I'm okay."

He paced back from the bathroom and came to her side. "Lift your head and tell me how many fingers I have up."

She laughed and glimpsed them. "Three."

"One," he shouted and began softly dabbing her neck and shoulder with a towel. "Shit, D. Never again."

"Definitely not in the house. That wasnot a silent scream episode," she said, wincing as he touched near the area that was beginning to puff and bruise.

Carlos closed his eyes, not sure if he should blow on the bite, kiss away the offense, or if he could touch away the pain. There was noth�ing in his old DNA that told him how to heal a battle bite, since those were supposed to be what they were, fatal. And if one was delivered from his old throne knowledge on a female adversary that suddenly became a sexual negotiation during a death match, chances were she'd be a regenerative species, and sealing it up wasn't necessary on his part. The Neteru side of him wasn't much help, either, since he was the only one that had fangs... at least the only one he knew about this side of Nod.

"You're a hundred percent Neteru, baby... you can heal a battle bite, right, if you concentrate?" Carlos stared at her for a moment as her eyelids briefly slid shut.

"Yeah, I should be able to do that," Damali said, but there was no confidence in her tone. After a tense minute she opened her eyes. "I don't know what's wrong. It's like something is blocking my heal�ing." Her gaze nervously searched his as her voice dropped to a pained murmur. "This hurts like hell and I can't stop the bleeding."

He almost couldn't speak as he stared at her, his heart thudding against his breastbone. If anything happened to her..."Baby, with�out the Caduceus-"

"Oooohhh... noooo. I am not going to the Queen's Council to ask for that forthis. No way. Ice. Food. Water. Rest. The basics and I'm good. This one feels so bad that I don't even want Mar to see it when we go home. This sucker might need stitches-now how would that seem?"

Carlos dropped his head into his hands and sat back on the bed. "I don't know how to fix this or make the bruises go away. I've healed seduction bites, regular mortal-type wounds, and even helped do a vamp purge with Berkfield, but I don't know. This is different in the way it's delivered. It was a combo bite, I think. Has regular injury mixed with a battle bite, and those are different than turn bites or a se�duction bite... I know what I'm saying probably doesn't make sense to you, but I can try a general healing if you let me touch it."

"Naw, that's all right," she said, laughing and edging away from him, then rolled over onto her stomach and smiled when he seemed hurt. "You made the other end feelreal good, though. What were you cumming, white lightning? Dang." She peered up at him bleary-eyed, laughed, and sprawled out flat in a flop. "It's just the throat that's ten�der. Go easy on the jugular for a few days. Damn, I feel like a virgin all over again behind this mess."

He gently lowered his hands to her bruised shoulders, splaying his palms above the tender surface of her skin. "You've never been nicked in a battle by a vamp, but let me warn you, the battle bites are ugly and are designed for optimum pain. It's gonna hurt like hell in a few minutes, D... ask me how I know. You're still high off the en�dorphin rush. But the minute the battle bite sets in... you're gonna feel it."

Carlos wanted to kick his own ass. He'd held her so tightly and loved her so hard and recklessly that her wings didn't even get a chance to unfold. Had they done so, she might be lying there now with a broken wing that couldn't retract. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder blades. "Even when you were a virgin, I didn't man�handle you like this and leave you this sore-anywhere."

"True," she said, trying to make light of the subject. "See what happens to a girl when she gets married? All the romance is gone- poof-once the honeymoon is over."

"Don't say that, D," he said quietly. "Please, I'm sorry."

"Hey..." she said, turning over with effort. "You're really upset, aren't you? I was just playing, baby. Now I'm the one who's sorry. Don't worry. This will heal."

"I'ma take you into the bathroom and show you in the mirror. All right? Then you'll see why I'm so upset."

"Okay," she said, weaving as she tried to right herself.

"Let me carry you, D," he said quietly, shame singeing his voice. "You lost a lot of blood, too. I could barely seal the bite when I pulled out of it."

"No shit?" she asked, now trying to focus on his face as he gingerly lifted her and began walking. "Ow, that does sorta hurt... like everywhere and then some. Dang."

"No shit, D, and you know I'venever come at you like that. Had you been on top, I mighta broken a wing if they presented. I grabbed you too hard."

"Baby, it's all right... You just got caught up in the moment."

He shook his head and nodded toward the mirror. "Tell methat's all right, Damali."

The gasp escaped before she could cover her mouth with her hand. Horrified, she couldn't turn away from their reflection. Silver tears were in her husband's eyes, and her throat had been mauled. She leaned forward to get closer to the mirror, turning slightly to better examine the side of her neck, when she noticed the shoulder bruises from his grip.

"Honey, put me down," she whispered, "so I can see how bad it is. Baby, this wasn't your fault. It was... it was..."

Damali held on to the sink, at a loss for words as Carlos let her down slowly to stand, and she looked at the loose flap of skin that bunched around crimson, angry flesh within a black-and-blue knot. Instant pain shot through her, just seeing it.

"Don't," he whispered, as she leaned closer to the mirror and moved the flap with her finger.

"Holy shit," she said, swallowing hard, and holding on to his arm. "I think I'm gonna be sick. Ohmigod, I saw a vein. Oh, shit, I'm go�ing into shock; that's why I can't feel anything. Ohmigod, ohmigod, I've never been battle nicked in the throat in my fucking life, ohmigod-this ain't a neat love-bite puncture. Move."

She went to the toilet in a wobbly path and hurled, clutching cold porcelain and breathing deeply as he held her up, rubbing her back. Hot coursing silver was running down her thighs. She was freaked out; he was freaked out, but she tried to play it off to help him deal af�ter she finished vomiting, her words coming out in a shaky rasp. "I'm bleeding silver, so I guess I'll be okay."

Panic had put a sheen on his brow, and he held her more closely as he inspected her throat again. "No. Just red-"

"Look down," she said, pointing at her legs with her eyes squeezed shut.

"I gotta get you to a hospital, you're hem-"

"No!" she said, breathing hard and holding up her hand while leaning against him. "That's painkiller." She tried to smile before her husband flatlined with a very human coronary. "I asked you were you cumming white lightning, but shit. If you hadn't, I'd be in ICU."

"Damali, I swear I'm either taking you outta here to Marlene or to an ER buck naked if I have to and-"

"Stop," she said, leaning her cheek against his chest. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. A girl's gotta learn how to take a battle bite, sooner or later."

"What? Bound to happen sooner or later! This ain't nothing to joke around about, Damali. I'm your husband and I fucking bit you like-"

"Baby, just get me about a quart of water and let me sit down be�fore I fall down."

"All right, all right," he said, picking her up very carefully but rushing to the side of the bed and then handling her like fragile glass as he deposited her on it. "Water. Right. Anything else? Talk to me."

"A banana, potassium. Garlic, an antiseptic in case any unwanted vamp buggies came with the bite. And bring me my purse. Mar taught me well. I always roll with a little somethin' something in there-a small vial of holy water, purified Red Sea salt, white sage, and anointing oil." She curled into a ball on her good side and panted through her mouth. "You were right. This shit hurts like hell."

"You're gonna try to do this purgeyourself?" He stood in the bed�room door, incredulous, torn between going to the kitchen or her, un�able to leave her immediately to go get what she'd requested.

"No," she murmured, suddenly becoming very sluggish. "We are one flesh now, so I'm gonna talk you through some serious female shaman healing arts, and you're gonna be my hands and strength."

She didn't have to tell him twice. He ran through the villa filling his arms with her antidotes and then found her purse and dashed back. On his knees beside the bed he dumped the full payload on the sheets and stared down at the gaping wound in her neck.

"Oh, God, Damali..." he whispered as he roused her. "It tore right over the first bite I gave you... that first time." He swallowed hard. "That was your sweet spot, baby."

"If we work fast, it might still be there," she said quietly. "If it doesn't keloid."

Carlos closed his eyes. "Tell me what I've gotta do."

"Clean it out."

He just stared at her.

"Old-school, honey," she said, reaching for his hand. "Don't worry. I'm in no danger of turning at my age, and you aren't all vamp. It's just gonna hurt like a mutha, but you know how to do this."

"I don't know if I can do this-I don't wanna hurt you any more than I already did."

Damali braced herself. "I'll be okay. Go ahead. Pour the holy water into the wound until it sizzles. Pack it down with salt; then make the sign of your faith-which in our case is the crucifix-over it, cover�ing the length and width of the wound with anointing oil-using your right hand as you say a passage from the Good Book... Then I want you to put my silver collar on to keep the burn going. The gar�lic and potassium is for me, and some mouthwash wouldn't hurt... neither would a trash can if I barf again. Light the white sage and ask for healing as you circle my body three times. Simple. Then, with anointed hands and a whole lotta love in your spirit, touch me wher�ever it looks real ugly and try to draw the bruised blood under my skin up and out. All right?"

He nodded, but was anything but all right, especially when she cried out. His whole body was shaking from sympathy pains by the time he was done. She lay there limp in a hot sweat, the wound leak�ing pinkish, sizzling ooze from beneath the silver collar, and he was practically rocking in a cold sweat from hurting her so badly. She took the mouthwash from the bedside table and swished her mouth out and spit in the wastebasket. He grabbed the trash can and lost his din�ner into it.

"Jesus Christ, I don't know what came over me, D... If you want a divorce, I can dig it. No contest. We don't even have to discuss it." He was talking quickly into the trash, fighting off dry heaves. When he looked up, he expected her face to be twisted into a hurt frown of disgust, but instead her eyes were serene and steady.

"You are so crazy, Carlos," she said, touching his leg and then let�ting her hand fall away for more comfort. "I love you." Her smile came out with a wince. "You're gonna be one of those dads that has to stay in the waiting room, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about, D? This was major. A battle bite? Having a baby is different. That's the culmination of-"

"Sheeit," she murmured, chuckling as she dozed. "I guess sitting in an all-male throne from a sterile vamp might not've had this info, but lemme tell you, brother. The way Inez, Mar, and Marjorie told me, this ain't nothin'. Try eighteen hours or more of hard-down work, your body convulsing in agony every three minutes without relent, a masked doctor standing over your stuff-your legs spread-eagle and all you hear is metal and all you see is lights, and dude is leaning way too close with a scalpel ready to put a stem-to-stern incision in a place youdefinitely don't want any loss of sensation or keloid scars, or maybe he'll just go through your stomach, move your intestines and whatnot out of the way-lay 'em on your chest to get the baby out, then will stitch you up later-just put a zipper right in your-"

"Oh shit!" Carlos stood up and began to pace. "They do a fucking Vamp Council wall on women in broad daylight like that, in this day and age?"

"Those are the better hospitals, not always found everywhere on the globe... and in those countries where women are having babies faster than you can spit it's in the bush with no clean water or meds, okay."

"How did we get on this subject in the first place, Damali? Can't they numb it up before-"

"Only if they get to you fast enough; otherwise, no drugs. You gotta suck it up like a woman or the baby is at risk, so you bite the bullet and holler. Then, after it's all said and done, you walk like you're tippin' on eggshells for a few weeks, they say" She looked at him hard. "That's why you guys have to wait six to eight weeks- who in their right mind would feel like all that after dropping an eight-pound baby and getting cut?" Damali sucked her teeth and then cringed as the mere action made her head throb. "Y'all are lucky to ever get any more in life, after that."

"Baby, I knew, but I didn't, you know what I'm saying... I-"

"Oh, please. The girls told me that your stuff hurts so damn bad as the painkiller wears off you can barely breathe, much less take a pee, with a hundred and fifty stitches in your ass... and there's sometimes this numb spot right in the most inconvenient place. But, you still gotta get up and take care of that little baby and nurse it, too, on real sore nipples." Damali sighed as she peeped open one eye to glimpse Carlos's stricken expression. All the blood had drained from his face, and she stifled a chuckle. "Life goes on."

"In this day and age? Oh hell to the no. A numb spot? For real, D, you ain't lying about that? Not my baby girl. That sounds like-"

"Medieval science. I know," she said, laughing softly to herself as she closed her eyes again, becoming peevish that her body hurt so badly from his drama. "Women go through some wicked shit in the name of love and life, brother... going into it, it's great," she added on a heavy exhalation. "Mind-blowing, life-altering, climb-the-walls fantastic. It's the aftermath that's the bitch. So a little roughhouse battle bite ain't nothin'. I can hang. Just don't do that shit again, or I'll cut you. I'm serious."

The man was so undone from the night before that he simply helped her into the Hummer, pecked her cheek, got in on his side, and drove. She couldn't keep the sly smile off her face. Dang, all she'd meant to do was use the truth to temporarily cool his ardor so he wouldn't get all rammy again and try her while she was healing. But in the morn�ing, she was fine, and hadn't been able to coax him near her for one last round before heading home. Her bad. Damali sighed out loud. Carlos didn't even respond.

"Okay, listen, before we get back to the house and everybody swarms us, can I at least have a kiss?"

He leaned over and kissed her on her cheek and traced his finger over her silver wedding collar. "I love you, baby. Until I figure out what got into me, that's it. I'm done. I'm not putting my hands on you. Something like that is nothing I ever want to revisit."

"Carlos, your skin is still practically leaking silver-so it's not some dark influence. You're just a strong-ass male Neteru, and if you didn't have fangs, that would have simply been a love hickey... but, given the circumstances and the little issue of you having fangs, it got crazy. Baby, you just came out of an apex not that long ago and your body is probably still-"

"Damali," he said, swerving the vehicle to the side of the road and bringing it to a hard stop. "No. My original mark is still swollen on you... the place that Irevered on your throat. My baby's sweet spot, and I dawged it like that? Me? Inever made you cry out in pain,always pleasure-no matter what was running through me. Something hap�pened, and I'm going to Ausar about this, because the last time we kept things all secretive, mad-crazy bullshit went down. This time you got hurt bad, and no. Uh-uh."

She opened her mouth and then closed it, and pressed her hand to her chest, staring at him. "Please tell me you are not taking our per�sonal business up to no Ausar on the Neteru King's Council." Her voice had come out in a panicked whisper. "Oh, Carlos, you will em�barrass me down to the toes of my shoes, if you-"

"Then what the hell happened?" He folded his arms over his chest with a look in his eyes that told her he would not be moved. "Sloppy, like that? Uh-uh. Nearly battering my brand-new wife's skull into a headboard 'til it split? Me? You crazy?"

Damali rubbed the top of her head, trying to make him laugh. "Did a sistah complain about that part?"

"Stop," he said, pointing at her. "A seduction fang entry is sup�posed to be dripping sensuality and feel so good on skin break that you bust a nut before the enamel is in your jugular full hilt, and-"

"Okay, okay," she said, hiding a wide smile behind pursed lips for a moment. "That part was a little rugged... but maybe it's your sys�tem converting back to not using that as a part of-"

"Shit... you think so, baby? You think I'm losing my bite?" He looked in the rearview mirror so fast and had pulled it so hard to turn it to him that it came off in his hands.

"Oh, Lord have mercy... no... but-"

There was no talking to this man.

"The other part was real good," she said, resting her hand on his arm.

"No, it wasn't," he said, his voice still laden with panic. "I had you in a caveman grip. Didn't do nothing to-"

"I was ready," she said, kissing his cheek. "Don't take no mess like that to Ausar. I'm healed, it's over, and... it's husband-and-wife stuff."

He let his breath out hard and rubbed his palms down his face. "I wasn't gonna go into that level of detail, but I need to know what that power surge I felt was all about. It was seriously go-to-war, pure adrenaline anger vibe all in it. But at the same time-the other side we try not to discuss-I was horny as shit, like I'd just done thirty years in the joint, or something."

Now it was her turn to just stare at him.

"You didn't tell me about that part," she said carefully.

"I didn't get a chance to last night. I was bugging so hard trying to get you healed up."

"How strong was it, Carlos?" she asked quietly, no judgment in her tone.

He closed his eyes and allowed his head to drop back against the headrest. "Damali, I felt something close to it on throne ascensions, all right. It was pulling my ass under in waves, sending fever up my spine 'til it felt like it would claw its way out the top of my skull if I didn't get laid. By the time I carried you into the bedroom, I couldn't even speak. Then the sensation flipped into war fury with you in my arms, and it took me to a place where I felt naked without a blade in my hand. Then it zapped back again, and the next thing I knew, I was hol�lering and cumming and slobbering on my damned self." He opened his eyes and looked at her hard. "That ain't hardly me by a long shot, now is it?"

"No," she said quietly, kissing him gently. "You always cared about making sure I was half outta my mind,first, and then whatever you did, under any circumstances, it never hurt. Even in the desert on the ground-on gravel and rock, I never got a scratch."

"That's what I'm talking about," he whispered, his eyes searching hers. "Never. I worship your skin. Leave a scar that might keloid over my original marriage to you... oh hell no. Make you scratch my back to get me off you during a lovemaking feed? What? Have so much fang in your throat that you're practically choking on blood, not pleasure. Me? You were calling my name, gasping, but not the way I ever wanna hear it coming from your mouth again. Then I don't lis�ten, just put my tongue down your throat to shut you up-are you crazy, Damali? On our honeymoon?"

He was so outdone that he flung open the car door, walked ten feet down the deserted road, and then walked back to the vehicle. He leaned on the door, heaving air for a moment, and then got into the Hummer and slammed the door.

She kissed him again more slowly, wiped her finger over his damp mouth with the pad of her thumb, and smoothed her palm over his hair. "Let's go back to base camp, go in the house, make the greeting rounds, and then go get a private divination with our councils, be�cause-"

"Do me this one favor," he said, stroking her hair. "Not that I have the right to even ask you for anything right now. But I'm asking you this as your husband, all right?"

"All right," she said, studying the deep pain in his eyes.

"This time, let me have a man-to-man conversation with Ausar first. Just a one-on-one. I do not want the queens in this, or Marlene, or anybody else. But if there's a problem beyond some transitional flux, then we come clean at the house. Together." She nodded. "This is between man and wife."

The way Damali had said that she'd keep his concerns within their sa�cred union until he got answers made him even sadder. Just knowing that she unquestioningly had his back and always would made him need to dig harder for answers. It was all he could do to play the role when they walked in the door of the hacienda a few miles down the road.

Rider was on him like a pit bull, teasing him so hard he made the women in the house shake their heads as they spirited Damali away after she got quick hugs and love from the fellas.

"Well at least this time when you dragged your tired carcass over the threshold, you're legal, Rivera. How's it feel?" Rider slapped Car�los on the back and hugged him hard. "Four days wasn't long enough, I take it, because you seem a little reserved for a man who just tied the knot-like the gravity of it all is finally hittin' ya, or is it that your ass is so bone weary that ya need to lay down before you fall down?"

Carlos laughed as the house erupted in male mayhem and ribald humor. "A little of both, man," he said, dropping his grip on the floor with a thud and hugging Rider hard. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

"You're putting the pressure on, my brother," Big Mike said, laughing and hugging Carlos off his feet once Rider turned him loose. "I'ma hafta get a danged ring myself now," he whispered and then dropped Carlos down, still laughing.

Carlos shrugged, "Hey, man, what can I say? A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."

Shabazz shook Carlos's hand then pulled him into a lightning fast chest-to-chest hug. Carlos wasn't even sure the hug had happened.

"Glad y'all made it back without incident. Nights get a little tense around here and we was worried about you two all alone. Figured you both had your radar down, and that's a good way for a man to get smoked. But you da man. Aw'ight." Shabazz looked in the direction of the family room, where Damali and the other female Guardians had gathered. He beamed as he looked at her. "You actually married my baby... in a church." Shabazz just shook his head, swinging his long, shoulder-length locks as though the whole thing had just occurred to him.

"Like somebody was gonna get in between them," Dan said, shak�ing his head at Shabazz's comment. "Be serious."

Shabazz just laughed. "The newbies will be next, watch."

"Hold it, hold it," Berkfield chuckled, slapping a hand down on Carlos's shoulder. "They've got a ways to go, but you, my man, I don't know what to say. How's it feel?"

"Fantastic, man," Carlos said, jettisoning the pain from his voice.

Bobby nodded and pounded Carlos's fist. "Good to have you back in the house."

Carlos raised an eyebrow and motioned with his chin toward Jas�mine and Heather, and then glanced at Dan and Bobby again. "How's life treatingyou, is the question."

Bobby beamed and looked away. "Aw'ight."

Carlos cocked his head to the side as Dan's face lit up with a megawatt smile. "Cool."

"Everything's peace," Dan said with a bashful shrug.

Carlos shook his head with a huge grin. "Very cool. I'm im�pressed."

J.L. laughed and refused to look at Berkfield or Carlos. "Good to have you home, brother. Whew!"

Carlos laughed hard and slapped Berkfield on the back. "He'll do the right thing, man, relax. If I did, then shit."

Even Berkfield had to chuckle. "That does make me feel better by comparison, trust me."

Carlos looked around, mentally doing roll call and missing Jose and Juanita. Quiet worry filled him. The one person who might not be cool with all of this would be Jose. Truthfully, Juanita might not, ei�ther. Come to think of it, she might have more of a problem than Jose with everything. But that was squashed, he thought. Then again, as he glanced at the women who were grouped by a table of gifts...

"Where's Jose?" Carlos asked as casually as possible.

"Burnt to a cider," Mike said, laughing, "but you didn't hear that from me."

Carlos chuckled. "Then it's all good." He couldn't ask about Juanita and remain politically correct, so he held his peace.

"Oh, yeah," Mike said in a deep baritone designed to make them all laugh. "It'sall good,oh, baby."

"See, Mike," Shabazz said, laughing harder, pointing at him. "You ain't right. You ain't supposed to be using your special powers to get in our boy's business like that."

"Dude is a-okay,hombre," Rider said, walking away from the group. "I'm just a nose, what do I know? But I didn't need freaking supersonic hearing. Shit!"

"I guess brotherman is aw'ight, then," Carlos said, laughing hard, following Rider into the family room to hug Marlene good.

"Jose is rightas rain, man. Dude is chill," Shabazz said, slinging an arm over Carlos's shoulder. "Hey, Mar, guess what the wind blew in."

"C'mere, boy, and give me a for-real hug," Marlene said, grabbing Carlos to her chest so quickly that she almost knocked the wind out of him.

The women had Damali hemmed in by a sofa with her arm out�stretched from her body, several hands on her forearm, turning her di�amond in the sunlight like her arm just happened to be attached to the rest of her.

"Girl, how was the honeymoon?" Inez said, bubbling with excite�ment. "The rock is off da meter, and I know I saw it fast before, but, girl... how many carats is that blue-white sucker set in platinum? I know, afterall that, the honeymoon was da bomb.How was it?"

Damali winked at Carlos. "Good. Real good."

Inez giggled and squeezed her hard, and Damali silently winced.

"It's too bad you kids couldn't have stayed away longer, but..."

Marjorie trailed off and sighed. "But at least you got away for a little bit, right?"

"I would hardly call being two or three miles down the road 'away' " Marlene laughed, cupping Damali's cheek as she passed her. "But not here works, I'm sure."

"I cooked, y'all, 'cause I knew you was coming home today." Inez raced to the kitchen behind Marlene.

"I just think it's so romantic," Krissy said, practically swooning as Jasmine and Heather joined in her sigh.

"Okay, tell ya what," Damali said, "I'm gonna go drop this luggage in our room and-"

"Our room,did you hear that?" Krissy said, closing her eyes.

"Why don't you let the girl go lay down for an hour, 'cause I know she's tired," Inez shouted from the kitchen.

Damali shook her head as everyone in the room fell out laughing. Leave it to Inez to just flat blast her in front of the team. Marlene was laughing so hard that she had to turn her back and wipe her eyes. But the fact that Juanita and Jose were nowhere to be found made her ner�vous. Either it was a good sign that those two were in deep cohabita�tion and not to be disturbed, or it meant that they were somewhere nursing very old wounds. Still too taxed to summon a scan, Damali just made small talk and enjoyed being home.

"Let them get settled, guys. Lawdy-B!" Marlene fussed, trying to force authority into her voice, and then just broke down against the sink, laughing.

Krissy squeezed Damali into another too-tight hug, and this time Damali felt the tender spot beneath her shoulder blades give way, al�most making her gasp as a damaged wing shifted.

"You're making me have to pee," Damali said with a tense smile, struggling out of Krissy's well-intentioned hold. "Oh, chile. I'll be back in a flash."

"See, Carlos," Inez teased. "You done sent her back here with a weak bladder-ya need to give her a break for twenty-four hours," Inez hollered, gaining more laughs as Damali slipped out of Krissy's love-fest embrace.

Almost numb from pain, Damali ran down the hall, leaving her bags, just needing not to be touched for a moment. Her whole body hurt, and yet pride kept her on her feet, smiling in front of the family. It was one of her best performances ever. But once in the still bath�room on the other side of the huge hacienda, she almost cried from the body aches that consumed her.

As carefully as she could, Damali opened the back of her silver col�lar to see if the redness and swelling from Carlos's bite had gone down. She placed the jewelry that was embedded with her seven col�lected stones on the sink with care and studied her throat. It was fiery red but sealed over, thank Heaven. However, the inside of the collar looked like an old Band-Aid, crusted with dried blood and wound ooze. Damali shook her head with disgust and glanced down at the necklace. The huge diamond Aset had given her covered her throat chakra, the same one that had screamed bloody murder, not passion, the night before. Even the pearl had splatter on it from the backside of the open settings. Carlos was right; this didn't make sense.

Damali rolled her shoulders and closed her eyes, stretching her back. A weeklong soak in one of the hacienda's old claw-foot tubs would be a luxury cure, but who had that kind of time? The team had been fortunate to get seven days of battle hiatus and, in a day or so, it would be time to move out to places unknown. Tonight, they'd party. Tomorrow, they'd sit in the makeshift war room, otherwise known as the family room, and figure out where the next safest place would be. In the interim, she and Carlos had to find clues as to what was going on while holding their shit together in front of the team. No emo�tion came. She was too tired to dwell on it right now. Tonight, after the welcome-home festivities, she'd slip into bed in her husband's arms and respect his personal space.

Damali plugged the sink with her eyes closed. The headache from the probable concussion was making her eyes sensitive to the glaring, bright light of Mexico's sun. She filled the bowl with cool water to splash her face, wondering how long she could endure the family hugs and slaps on the back before breaking down and begging them not to touch her. If Big Mike came at her-and he would because she'd slipped by him intentionally-one mighty crush from those huge arms... a two-hundred-and-seventy-five-pound-and-climbing weight category from Inez's loving pots, combined with an off-the-floor hug by the six-foot-eight team giant, would make her see stars and call on Jesus.

A light tap on the door jerked Damali's attention around, and she slowly said, "ouch," in a silent, openmouthed wince as she clutched the sink. Her necklace got bumped into the sink and was now sub�merged under cool water, but her arms hurt so badly at the moment she couldn't immediately move them to get it. If Carlos was sweating her to help fend off family, she couldn't.

"Come in," Damali said, breathing hard. "I can't come out; you'll have to come in."

When Juanita walked into the bathroom slowly, latched the door behind her, and kept her back to Damali, she tried not to bristle. Of all days... if girlfriend was gonna start some meeting-in-the-ladies'-room mess, today would not have been the day she would have picked.

"Hey, lady," Damali said, trying to be cool, and forcing herself to remember all the good things Marlene had told her Juanita had done from before.

"Hey, D. Welcome home."

The fact that Juanita kept her back to Damali wasn't helping mat�ters, but there was something in the sound of her voice that gave Damali enough energy to push off the sink and meet Juanita mid-floor.

"Girl, you okay?" Now Damali was concerned. Something wasn't right; even Juanita's voice was off. She held her body strangely, too.

Juanita turned around. She had on dark sunglasses, her hair was di�sheveled, and she was wearing a man's white cotton shirt with the collar flipped up and long sweatpants-in La Paz, in eighty-five de�grees? When, of all the women in the house, 'Nita always showed the most skin?

"Are you all right?" Damali asked again, her voice steady as she ap�proached Juanita.

"I have to ask you a question," Juanita said in a quiet, serious tone, unafraid. "This is nothing about your business. I'm just asking you this because I have a reason." She carefully lowered her collar and re�moved her sunglasses.

Damali didn't know where to look first. Juanita's eyes had dark rings under them as though she hadn't slept in days. Her neck was pocked by a series of purplish-red bruises, fresh ones that descended into scattered, older mulberry-hued tones that presented significant risks for blood clots. As Juanita did a slow striptease, removing her shirt to reveal a tank top and show skin, Damali slowly brought her hand up to her mouth.

"Father Mother God..."

"Did he ever do this to you?" Juanita asked, her voice just above a murmur.

Damali rushed to Juanita as fast as her sore body would allow, but stopped several feet away in the huge hacienda bathroom as the woman closed her eyes as though begging Damali not to touch her. Scanning Juanita's arms with a horrified gaze, Damali saw every easy vein point bruised. The insides of her elbows, her wrists, her throat.

"Girl, what happened?" Damali whispered through her teeth.

"When Carlos was half-vampire or part-vampire, did he ever do this to you?" Juanita repeated, her eyes opening slowly to stare at Damali without blinking.

"Let me see your throat," Damali said as softly as she could. "I'm a healer and won't hurt you."

"I'm a seer and never saw it coming," Juanita said sadly. "I only see very recent past events. I'm not like Mar or Inez, who see the future events in varying degrees of clarity. Marj can see a little, but is better at conjuring. If I was better, I would have seen it."

"Shushhhh," Damali whispered, allowing her hand to cover the left side of Juanita's throat without actually touching the tender bruise. "It's okay. When was the last time he bit you?"

"Jose bit me until dawn, then collapsed. You understand?"

The wild look in Juanita's eyes made Damali want to hug her. But for the sake of both their bodies, she dared not. The heat emanating from Juanita's skin was the closest human attempt at a vamp mate strike she'd ever seen. Raw passion almost arced a current in her palm as she tried to draw the blunt-edged strike off Juanita's skin.

"Where else?" Damali said quietly, going down Juanita's arms and lessening the pain. But Damali had to back up and breathe after a mo�ment. Taking this on and coping with her own body aches made tears almost fall.

"I'm sorry. I know it hurts, but I couldn't go to Marlene with this... or Berkfield," Juanita said quickly, her voice quiet and panic-stricken. "He's never done anything like this before... It would get intense, and I knew he had vamp way back in his family tree... but I swear to God-"

Damali held up her hand. "I know, I know, and baby, please don't swear to God about something like this." She sighed hard. "Look, I pretty much know where else a male vampire would bite you... and you can show me or not, but if it's bad, a femoral bite that gets a blood clot can be a for-real heart-stopping experience. I know we've had our shit between us, but-"

"It hurts so fucking bad I can't walk, girl," Juanita whispered through her teeth. When she shut her eyes two huge tears streamed down her cheeks. "Jose is the most passionate, caring, careful lover that... this isn't him, and you cannot sayanything to anybody,promise me."

"I know-I mean, I suspect, given his personality," Damali said, quickly correcting herself before anything crazy jumped off in Juanita's mind. For a moment, she wasn't sure what to do and couldn't commit to keeping a secret this huge. The team needed to know about this; Carlos definitely had to know, but she also wanted to pre�serve some of her teammate's privacy. She just prayed that Juanita had enough sense not to tell her something she didn't wanna hear about Carlos, whodid sleep with Juanita for years.

"Can you sit down on the edge of the tub?" Damali finally said. "And tell me you have on underwear because I'm not gonna be able to hang, unless you do."

"Yeah," Juanita said through a painful chuckle. "I was standing in the room by the door, trying to get dressed while he passed out. I knew you'd be coming home and was just trying to figure out how to get to you alone... God is good."

Juanita inched her sweatpants down in agonized degrees, moving slowly not because of modesty, but from the bite welts on her hips, belly, and inner thighs. Damali fought to keep her expression neutral, but Jose and Carlos were definitely from the same old vamp line. Moving with calm authority, Damali sucked in a deep breath and placed her hands gently over each wound, grimacing as the pain shot into her skin and lessened on Juanita's. After a moment, Damali dropped forward on her hands and knees again, panting.

"That's all I can do today, just enough to take away the danger of clotting and make it bearable. I'm too drained right now and really need some other stuff to work with. But if you can keep him off you tonight, by tomorrow I can try another draw with my mini-Marlene version of purifiers."

"Thank you," Juanita whispered. "Bless you." She wept quietly and looked toward the door. "What's wrong with me, D? I'm like a fucking junkie. This shit hurts, and yet..."

"Oh, girl," Damali said, too tired to front as she pushed herself up. "Been there. At least the brother doesn't have fangs."

Juanita stared at her with wide eyes, and Damali could have kicked herself for the admission.

"All I'm saying is, you have to tell him-too rough. Your body won't heal like a Neteru's, and you could get put in the hospital, or worse, behind this craziness."

"I know," Juanita whispered, pulling on her sweatpants with effort. "Last night was the first time he went off on me like that... got this crazy look on his face, and then the outside of his eyes, the brown part, flicked a little silver, then gold, and the next thing I knew-"

"What?" Damali whispered, coming close to Juanita. "Jose's eyes changed?"

"Yeah," Juanita said, standing up with a wince. "What time?" Damali was so close to her she could have grabbed her, but didn't.

"Like about an hour or so after sundown-Damali, he isn't a vampire, is he?" Juanita swung around and went to the mirror. "Please, God, tell me I'm not gonna change into the undead!"

"Keep your voice down. No. I'm trying to get a bead on what mighta happened-that's all." Damali raked her locks with her fin�gers. The coincidence was too eerie and completely unnerving. Both her Guardian brother and her man were linked by very old ties; that they went through some sort of simultaneous flip out was bizarre.

"Okay, can you re-create the episode for me? Spare me the inti�mate details," she added quickly, "but, like, what led up to it?"

Juanita nodded. "We was all eating dinner, and he didn't want any�thing but beef or lamb, something that you could cook rare and leave bloody, and told Inez not to season it. So you know that started some shit in the kitchen, right?" "Oh, my God..."

"Yeah, you know it." Juanita flipped her long brown hair over her shoulders. "Okay, so finally all that was settled, and we ate. After he got halfway through the meal, we was all joking around, like always, and he looked at me and said, 'Baby, can I talk to you for a minute?' I wasso embarrassed, girl, because it was plain as day that he wasn't try�ing totalk aboutnothing. So, me, I tried to play it off and said, 'Oh, sure, in a minute. Lemme help Inez get the dishes.' But he stood up from the table and said,'Now, Juanita. I'm not playing.' I was like,'O-kay. I heard you, but don't boss me.' He walked away from the table and called me again. Like shouting, and the other brothers stood up and asked me if I was cool, because if I wasn't, they was gonna step to Jose about acting like that with me up in the house-no matter what we mighta been arguing about. But that's the thing," she said, her eyes holding hurt and confusion, "we hadn't been arguing at all."

Damali began to walk in a tight circle. "Were any of the other Guardian brothers, especially the newbies, acting weird like this?"

Juanita shook her head. "Uh-uh. I told the older brothers I was fine, Jose was just tripping. That's when it got ridiculous. I went down the hall to his room, and he snatched me in the door. I was like, 'Hey, hold up,' and before I could say another word, he kissed me so hard my head banged on the door. I was about to fight his ass...

but..." Juanita looked away. "He bit me. I ain't ashamed to say it, but-"

"I know, I know," Damali muttered. "Girl... look... get some rest in a safe room where there's another body other than his, and give me twenty-four hours to figure out what-"

"D, don't get mad at me, but for a lot of reasons Idon't wanna go into,please don't go telling Carlos, okay?"

Damali closed her eyes. "That's my husband, 'Nita-my partner, the other half of this Neteru squad, and if anybody would know what's going on in a vamp line, even in a full human with traces, it's him."

Juanita walked away and lifted her hair off her neck. "I know... I just don't... Whateva."

"He won't step to Jose, if that's what you're worried about."

Juanita nodded. "I don't want that to happen. I shouldn't have even told you. Jose woke up this morning and was sick to death about what happened and made me promise I wouldn't tell a soul, but the wounds hurt so badly I had to get it numbed a little."

"Take some Motrin 'til I can go over you again, and-"

"You think I could be pregnant?"

"Oh, shit."

"I'm taking the pill, even though Marlene is dead set against any system-altering medications, but under these conditions..." Juanita looked at the floor. "I wanted to be sure that if some entity or some�thing got to me again, I couldn't get knocked up and drop Rose�mary's baby, is all I'm saying."

Damali bit her lip and went to the sink to begin picking blood out of her submerged necklace. It didn't matter that it was all gone by now; she needed something to do with her hands. "That's wise. I can't take anything that messes with my chemistry. So, if you're on the pill, why are you worried?"

When Juanita didn't immediately answer, Damali looked up into the mirror to see Juanita hug herself.

"Girl, what he shot was real different, is all I can say."

What color was it?" Damali said in as calm a tone as possible, scrubbing her necklace harder.

"Like, hot silver and sorta glowing. What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Damali said quietly, picking at the intricate silver etchings around each stone even harder. "Just try to get some rest. When I learn more, I'll hip you."

"Thanks, D," Juanita whispered, and slipped out the door.

"Ouch!" the pearl in Damali's necklace complained. "I thought she'd never leave and it's about time you put me in some water. I'd have more clarity if you jogged down to the sea and-"

Damali scooped up her necklace as the she-dragon's voice began to fade within the now-glowing pearl the moment air hit it. She rushed through the house making lame excuses about having to commune with the sea to coax out a new song that was wearing a hole in her head. She blew Carlos a quick kiss but her eyes said,Later, ask me then.

"Zehiradangra! Ohmigoodness, where have you been?" Damali exclaimed in a tight whisper as she made it down the steps and headed for the beach.

"Sitting on your nightstand withway too much information," the pearl said in a huff, losing power out of water. "Waiting, waiting,wait�ing for you guys to getdone honeymooning."