CHAPTER SIXTEEN

L a Paz was a beacon. Fight or flight hormone rocketed through him. He had to get off the island. Get back to the mainland. He had to get away from the house. Space. Distance. Anywhere but here. The small colonial town of La Paz had his name on it. He'd wade into the human pool of two hundred and sixty thousand people and disappear for a while. The City of Pearls.

Carlos headed straight for his room to grab his gear. His mind was so besieged that he couldn't materialize anything but a normal, physical escape. That's when he heard it, the distinctive click of a Glock nine hammer going back. A woman's wails---Juanita!

He skidded into the living room. Guardians had made a semicircle around her as she kept her shuddering body pressed against the fireplace mantle, a nine to her temple and her eyes closed. He stood helplessly watching as Jose's voice crooned to her in a steady, pleading tone.

" 'Nita, baby, listen," Jose said in a calm voice singed with hysteria. "I don't care what happened. I didn't see anything. I'm not blaming you. Let's talk about it. Just put the gun down, sweetheart. Do that for me, all right?"

Juanita released a piteous wail as her arm shook, sweat covering her body. Her eyes snapped open, tears streaming down her face. "But I'll know, forever," she whispered. "I can't live with that."

"Tell her something, man," Jose said through his teeth, his furious gaze briefly going to Carlos, and then becoming gentle when it went back to Juanita.

Sunlight danced off the gleaming silver. Carlos's line of vision sought it, then found Juanita's eyes. "I am so sorry, 'Nita. Please put the gun down."

Suddenly Juanita yanked the gun away from her head and trained it dead aim on Carlos, holding the weapon with both hands, just like Rider had shown her. "You bastard," she whispered. "I, of all people, didn't deserve that."

"No, you didn't," Carlos said calmly. "Of all the people in the world, you didn't deserve any of it."

Her arms shook as she lowered the gun. But as Jose took a step forward, she instantly returned the nine to her temple. "That's all I wanted to hear," she said quietly.

"Baby, listen," Jose said, slowly going to his knees. "I love you. There isn't anything else in the world that's important." Huge tears rose in his eyes. "Do you love me?"

She nodded as a fresh torrent raced down her face. "That's why... I don't deserve you," she said thickly, her hand shaking as she fingered the trigger. "You've been through so much. I betrayed you. You're such a good man. The whole family... I--"

"You'll kill me," Jose said quickly. "Pull the trigger, and you'll kill me. I swear to you I'll die without you."

The team held its breath as Juanita slowly pulled the gun back and lowered the weapon. Bitter sobs rang out through the house as she dissolved into a puddle of humanity on the floor. Jose went to her on his hands and knees, pried the weapon from her grip, put the safety on it, and slid it to Rider, and then gathered her into his arms to rock her as she wept.

Transfixed, every muscle in Carlos's body had been temporarily paralyzed by what he'd just witnessed. Profound agony; profound forgiveness. What had he done when he hadn't been in his right mind?

His younger Guardian brother had just shown him life-saving magic. Jose had demonstrated selfless healing, a power stronger than any he'd witnessed to date. Love that went beyond pride... a stronger contender had taken Jose's woman, yet he'd still possessed a quiet dignity that didn't fear the public humiliation, could care less what others thought or said. It wasn't about them, it was about salvaging what he had, saving a soul, repairing a broken spirit, letting the past rest, forgiving the weaknesses of the flesh, putting balm on a tortured mind, mending a shattered heart, and bringing all of it back into the Light with love. That was strength.

But the destroyed woman Jose rocked had also shown him something very deep in those sweat-tense moments. Emotional pain from being betrayed, the way that ripped through a woman's soul, shredded it, courier delivered it right to Hell's doorstep, then tipped it over the edge of the abyss and let it plummet with a mind, a beautiful body, and a gentle heart and spirit. Life, and all the generations of potential it contained, could have splattered against the stone fireplace wall just like that. From bullshit.

The huge living room was too small. He couldn't breathe. All eyes slowly turned to him. He knew the attack was coming, the emotional lunge eminent.

"That was your brother, man," Shabazz said quietly. His expression had gone to a serene place beyond rage to contain total disbelief. "Now I understand why Damali did what she did."

Accusation glittered in all eyes. He was out. They didn't understand shit.

"How could you?" Marjorie whispered, her eyes holding so much hurt that it scored his mind and opened it.

"How could I?" Carlos shouted as the faces around him became blurry. Something fragile within him frayed and snapped. It happened so fast that it burned past his internal filter.

Everything that had happened to him ripped to the forefront of his mind. The angels' commands. His accidental fall into the Chairman's throne... and oh, did he let them see the transformation in living color. A shriek pierced his ears. He didn't know if it was Krissy's or Inez's, but he didn't care. They wanted to know why he would have done anything to get out of Nod. They wanted to know why he'd die, first, before ever being incarcerated in a foreign realm again? They wanted to know why he feared being weak and at the mercy of another more powerful entity?

He gave them Hell on the silver platter of his mind. His mind spit out the horrid slurry it contained. The Chairman's torture wall, the burning sun. Every entity on every level that he'd seen when he'd tripped into the pit. Then he let them see his prayers on the Arizona plains in Damali's backyard. Let them feel the battle to get something so terrifying out of his system and the white-knuckle- producing fear of knowing that he was a virus, an agent of destruction, a carrier of demonic possession, a disease he feared more than cancer.

He didn't care that their bodies had sunk to the floor. He didn't care that the team was breathing hard, panting through the fantastic images that not even their worst nightmares could have produced. He didn't care that Bobby vomited, or that Rider was clutching his chest. Fuck it, they wanted to know. Fuck it, they'd already judged him. Fuck it, they could walk a mile in his shoes!

"That's what happened!" Carlos shouted, his gaze a laser on each Guardian in the room. "No, it wasn't her fault. Yes, it was wrong and fucked up. Am I sorry, oh... you have no idea."

Glassy-eyed stares met him. But the only person who had not dropped to the floor was Marlene. She stood straight, not a tear in her eyes. Her arms were folded over her chest, and her voice was scary calm.

"Now that you have blown our minds and stolen our peace forever," she quietly said, "we have a better understanding of what went down."

Carlos nodded. "Good. Then we're clear."

Marlene nodded. "Clarity works both ways, darlin'. Let me show you something, all right?"

"No," Carlos said. "I don't need to see--"

"Oh, yes you do," Marlene said, her voice so slow, so deadly that he instantly raised a shield to his mind.

"Lock with me," she whispered. "Just me and you, one-on-one."

Carlos shook his head no. He'd never been afraid of any human in his life, but as he looked at Marlene, something told him she was about to mentally kick his ass. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, she smiled a tight, angry smile of knowing.

"Drop that fucking mental shield," she said, sweeping toward him at a velocity he didn't know she owned.

It freaked him out so badly that he actually raised the golden shield of Heru to keep her back, and to his complete horror, a purple arc deflected it. Marlene drew his energy into her palm and sent it crashing to the floor. Guardians started, but didn't get up off the floor. Everyone seemed rooted where they sat.

"I have had enough," Marlene said, never raising her voice. "This family is on the brink of collapse. A house divided can never stand, and we must stand united against the unimaginable, or all will be lost. What would have been our purpose?" She cocked her head to the side and folded her arms again. "Generations are to be built on your Neteru shoulders. The family is the cornerstone of communities yet to come.

Decimate that because of lusts and passions and rages and foolishness, and there is no family--no foundation, therefore, no future."

She got up in his face, unafraid. There was something in her eyes so old, so wise, that the strength of ancestral knowledge wafted from her in molten energy bands to surround him.

"So, today, you are going to mind lock with me, or we'll fight all over this hacienda until I tackle your young, stupid ass to the floor, sit on your chest, and force-feed the knowledge to you!" She walked away from him and stood across the room like a Western gunfighter. "Open your mind. Don't make me go in there by force."

The challenge bristled within Carlos. Fucking Harpies hadn't been able to go into his mind by force, and Marlene wasn't gonna stand there and threaten him, not today! Not after all the drama he'd been through. "You can try, but I'd advise you to back off. You've seen what's in there, and that was just a peek."

"I don't want what's in your brain," she replied coolly, "I'm gonna give you what's in mine."

Carlos set his jaw hard and looked out the window toward the vacant beach. "There ain't nothing you can tell me, Mar, that I don't already know."

"How did I break your shield, then?" Now she had his attention.

"Because what I've got can go through any substance in the universe." Carlos just stared at her. Now he really wasn't letting Marlene get all up in his head. Uh-uh. He folded his arms. "I said, back off." "I told your ass no, boy. Come here!"

"What?" he said, so indignant that he almost couldn't get the words out. "I ain't no boy."

Marlene shook her head. Shabazz stood up.

"Mar. Don't do it," Shabazz said. "You're tired, baby, and he doesn't know how--"

" 'Bazz," she said quickly. "I got this. Don't step in between me and this kid. I'ma spank his ass today, so help me. It's bigger than him and Damali. The rest of my family got put at risk. He has to get this lesson down, now, once and for all!" Her voice escalated as she began pacing. "I will not tolerate dissention in the house to this degree! I'm not having it! I'm not going to have my family splinter and fall apart while he learns!

Enough, 'Bazz. Sit down." She spun on Carlos. "I'ma ask you one last time."

Carlos had backed up to a far wall. The fact that Marlene was slightly scaring him made him worry. He didn't want to be in a position to have to fight her. If she got hurt, then they'd really never forgive him. "Mar, I'm warning you--"

"Don't make me snatch you across this room. I said, come here." Her eyes blazed with righteous indignation.

The sight of her challenge with the threat embedded in it did something crazy to him. She'd called him a boy in front of onlookers. What was left of his pride had already flattened on the beach. He just couldn't take it anymore. Not another indignity. He battle bulked, dropped fang, and glared at her, feeling the hot scorch of silver enter his irises. "I said no. What part of that didn't you hear, Marlene?"

"That's it!" A violet current ejected from her outstretched hand and seized Carlos's chest. "Nothing I feed, nothing I hold to my heart, nothing I care for and let into my home to be with my daughter will ever threaten me or this family! Ever!"

Jose was up with a gun in his hand, but to Carlos's surprise, Marlene slapped it away with an arc, yet could still hold him.

"This is between him and me," Marlene said coolly. "Nary a Guardian move, hear! I'm not afraid of him, never was."

Carlos battled Marlene's hold, trying to send a silver arc through it to break it, but her hold was too strong. "Lemme go, Mar!" he shouted, twisting in her violet light and trying to get it off of him.

But Marlene's eyes remained steady. "You wanna blow me away? Do it. You wanna punch me or knock me down? Do it. Want to rip out my throat? You already tore out my heart, so do it. I can take it. Hit me with your best shot."

Fury and frustration collided within him as he grappled with this old woman's superior mental hold. She'd found the black box, hit the invisible seam of it with what felt like a crowbar and was lifting it.

"Get off me, Mar!" he screamed. "Get out of my head!"

Marlene didn't speak as his conscience began to slowly leak out of the black box in his mind. It oozed onto the floor of his psyche like sepia-hued blood. Suddenly he was on his knees sobbing, and she'd pissed him off so badly that he hurled an energy ball at her, but to his surprise she caught it and cast it away. "Put that down, boy," she said softly, "and come to me without a fight."

The tone of her voice lifted the lid off the box and everything came out, just poured it all on the floor until he was mentally standing in it waist deep.

"Stop, Mar," he begged, sobbing harder than he ever had in his life. He could feel her warm body come down to kneel beside him. A pair of aging arms surrounded him, even as he tried to shrug them away. Healing hands petted his back. A gentle rock made more liquid sludge pour out of the black box. He was drowning, couldn't breathe. Marlene breathed for him.

"I didn't mean to hurt anybody," he said into a strong, bony shoulder.

"I know, baby," Marlene whispered. "Get all the poison out. Give it to me, I know what to do with it, but I'ma hafta show you what it feels like to carry it on the other side."

Emotional pain so severe stabbed his conscience until he wailed.

"That's what she's feeling," Marlene whispered. "Because that's how much she loves you." Marlene allowed everything that Damali had been through to pass from her heart into his.

"Oh, God, stop, Mar."

Marlene just shook her head. "You know how much that girl loves you, baby? You know how conflicted she is? You know what she felt each time you did some man-crazy drama and twisted her heart into knots? Feel it. Embrace it. Know it, up close and personal."

His fist went to his chest. His heart stopped beating and seized, and then restarted. He turned and vomited, but Marlene didn't move or let him go as his body slumped.

"She carried your baby... feel her womb contract and ignite with life. Feel that joy and the fear--the cold sweat of it," Marlene whispered through her teeth. "Now feel it clawed out of her, and her heart along with it."

"Oh, shit, oh shit... Marlene, for the love of God . . ." His sobs had turned to hiccupping wails.

"Yes," Marlene said calmly. "For the love of God."

He sobbed so hard and long that other Guardians stood and came to circle the twosome on the floor. He could feel fangs in his mouth, yet Marlene still held him.

"That's enough, Marlene," Shabazz said in a tender voice. "Let the boy go before he has a nervous breakdown."

"No," Marlene whispered. "I'm taking him to the rock."

"Mar, darlin', please listen to Shabazz," Rider said, going down on his knees beside her. "Can't no man endure going to the rock like that. C'mon, baby, I know you're angry . . ."

Marlene kept her eyes tightly shut. "Rider, back off, before I take you there too, for Tara. There's not a man in this room that I can't take here, to you go find a place of peace and rest while I work--but do not interrupt me again. We clear?"

Rider stood quickly and paced away to the wall. Berkfield backed up, glanced at his wife, and lowered his gaze. Big Mike began to walk in a circle as Carlos's wails escalated to the point where it made him cry. Jose squeezed his eyes shut and clung to Juanita. Dan, J.L., and Bobby were leaning on furniture, the walls, anything that would hold them up while they sucked in hard breaths. But the women in the group remained steadfast, standing in a ring around Marlene as she worked.

"Bring it all up, Marlene," Inez whispered. "I remember my girl... how she loved him when we was kids." "Uhmmm, hmmm . . ." Marlene muttered and then sent a whisper into Carlos's ear. "When she held out hope that you would leave the streets."

His head dropped back as a new wave of nausea claimed him.

Juanita had left Jose's arms and moved forward on her hands and knees. "When she had to leave you, and I took her place," she said quietly. "She was devastated."

"For every woman you burned. Every heart you played with. Every hope you dashed. Every man you left feeling some type of way, because his woman was marked by you, feel it," Marlene whispered harshly against his temple. "A woman's mind is not a playground, Carlos, whether you love her or not. Her body is not a jungle gym... her heart not a roller-coaster to take on spiking highs and plunging lows. Noooo... baby, you gonna get this straight today. You took Damali and Juanita on the tilt-a-wheel, honey. Let's go there now."

A new wave of sobs invisibly split Carlos's chest wide open, carving at the soft tissue from the inside out. "I know . . ." he choked. "I know."

"The look on her face," Marjorie whispered, her eyes distant as the vision entered her mind. "When you came back from the ashes . . .

"Don't tell me, don't tell me," Carlos pleaded, but Krissy was now touching his shoulder.

"The way she would look at you every time you entered the room... oh, Carlos, she loves you so much. Why would you think otherwise?"

"I don't know . . ." he wailed, finding Marlene's shoulder to bury his face into it.

"Now do you understand what's at stake? What's at risk? What you were about to throw away?"

He fervently nodded against the older woman's shoulder, so completely exhausted all he could do was breathe.

"Do you understand," Marlene said, "how your actions, no matter how justified you think they were, still hurt her... still sent her to a place no lover should go?"

Again, all he did was fervently nod.

"She could forgive your transgressions. But what continually ate at her until it broke her down was that you wouldn't take part ownership, wouldn't validate how she felt. You could only see your side of it, how you felt. But in all these changes you've gone through, she was the injured party. She was the one holding the line while you learned and bumped your head against life. But you never acknowledged her sacrifice to regally hold the line on behalf of something greater than her--your relationship, and you never called her a queen--which is what she is! That was the crux of it. She instinctively knew that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts... old mathematics, ancient wisdom of synergy. Women invented it. It comes from beyond Kemet. We gave it to them."

A sheen of sweat had formed on Marlene's brow, but she wouldn't relent or release Carlos from her tight grip as she spoke slowly, with purpose and definition in every word. "It's not that she couldn't forgive what happened several times for various reasons, but your acknowledgment that she had a right to feel the way she did about it never came from a true place of contrition within your soul--and she felt that, too."

Marlene's warm hands continued to pet his back, rubbing the purification salt of truth into the freshly opened wound, making him wince with every stroke across his sweat-drenched shirt. " That is how another man got into your household, baby. It wasn't because of anything she hurled at you on the beach."

When new sobs overtook him, Marlene's voice became gentler, but also more firm. "If your fortification was strong... you could be blind, crippled, poverty stricken, disease ridden, and no knight in shining armor could have ever breached your barriers. He didn't seduce her. You abandoned her heart. He didn't pull her, you pushed her away. He didn't have more power, you relinquished yours. It is just that simple, honey."

"Marlene, I didn't know... I didn't understand," Carlos whispered harshly, unable to even lift his head. His body went limp against hers. His size normalized and his fangs retracted. All the energy within him felt like it had spilled out onto the terra-cotta stone floor.

"That's how a woman's mind works," Marlene murmured, now stroking his hair. "And she would have had your babies, fangs and all. Would have raised her Isis against any encroachment of disrespect to your kingdom. And would have died fighting to protect your dignity, your ego, and your honor... but you didn't validate how she felt--you did that. Not Cain. He didn't pull her away because he was the better man. He's strong, yes, but no man can go up against a pure love like that and win. That's a wall of pure white Light. That's how I was able to cast aside your shield--with pure love... because I love you like a mother, Carlos. Ain't no shield for that. 1 want you two kids to work it out. Heal this family. Get yourselves together. Stop hurting each other and therefore hurting the rest of us. You muddied the waters, not just by your actions, but by what you didn't validate within her. That's where the first, critical brick fell away from the wall... the tower began to lean, and then you both kept chipping at it until it came down. Now you've gotta rebuild from the rubble, brick by heavy brick." She sighed. "It didn't have to be all of this." He could hear his mother's words, his grandmother's entreaties, could see every pair of hurt female eyes looking at him. His brothers' women, wishing their men weren't in the drug life. Mothers from the neighborhood standing over caskets so bereft that no more tears would fall. Mothers with young sons sending prayers up to God on their knees to spare theirs from the same fate. Women pacing the floors at night waiting on some errant male that was connected to his energy to return home. Damali's worried eyes, that time she'd come to his club, decimated him. Moreover he could feel the vastness of their multiple feminine disappointment, their broken spirits, their unrequited hopes... the magnitude of it nearly sprawled him out on the floor.

"How do I make it right?" Carlos whispered. There was no resistance, no game, no fraud, or false pride left within him. He'd been taken to the rock so hard and body slammed against it that the Chairman's wall now seemed like it had been made of foam rubber.

Marlene gently held him back and wiped his face with her hands. Love seeped from her palms as he stared down at the floor, too ashamed to meet her tender gaze.

"Baby, look at me," she murmured.

He shook his head. "I can't."

She lifted his chin with an easy, slow placement of her palm beneath his chin until their gazes locked. "You are a good man. Just young. This lesson you just learned in fifteen agonizing minutes, some men take thirty years to get. Some never learn it at all. You're blessed, even if you don't feel like it at the moment." Marlene sighed and smoothed his disheveled hair. "This was a hard gift, but I had to give it to you." She smiled. "You saved my life, so it was my debt to save yours. Like you always say, fair exchange is no robbery, Carlos."

He smiled weakly and closed his eyes, too fatigued to reply.

"Do you understand that I did this from a place in my heart that is held especially for you?" Her tender gaze made him open his weary eyes and stare at her. Marlene nodded. "That's right. I've claimed you as one of my own, baby. That's why I called you 'boy' Not because you aren't a man. But because you're mine. Hear?"

He nodded and looked down as new tears streamed down his face. "I'm sorry, Mom."

"I know you are," she whispered. "That's why I'm willing to go through all of this with you."

"How did you get so wise?" he asked, his voice raw and thick. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and stared at her.

"Because I've had the privilege to lie under the wings of angels," she said, closing her eyes as the group simply looked at her. A serene expression came over Marlene's tired face, adding a surreal glow to it that was lit from an inner, unknown source. "I crossed over, too," she murmured without opening her eyes. "My body was burning. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even scream, then this magnificently caring being dropped over me and shielded me from predators. He sent healing white Light of pure love into the very marrow of my bones. The pain receded, even as someone slit my throat. He didn't know me from a can of paint, but he loved me, cared that I survived, and hoped if I died I'd go out in the white light of blissful surrender."

Tears rolled down Marlene's cheeks as she spoke. She stood with effort and clasped her arms about herself. "He made me see the wrongs

I've done, too. Made me purge my secrets, rethink my actions, feel the effects they had on others. I had to face my own shit for the pain to stop." She glanced down at Carlos and offered him her hand to help him stand. "I'm not perfect. None of us in this room are. We don't judge you, because you're right, we've never taken a walk in your shoes. But now that you know how we feel, that should temper your behavior from this point forward. This gift that was given to me, I pass it to you." She glanced at Shabazz. "I owe you a serious apology. But we'll talk about that later, privately."

Shabazz nodded and swallowed hard. "You got all that over in Nod?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

Carlos's gaze sought the window, hoping he'd see Damali down at the beach. "I just wish I could fix this, Marlene. I don't even know where to begin."

She came to him and gently cradled his face with both palms. For some unknown reason, every time that she touched him, new tears fell. It was as though her hands contained a siphon, finding deeply hidden reservoirs of unspent emotion tucked away in wells he was unaware of until now.

"First, let me tell you... I know my daughter. She loves you."

"After all I've done, she has a right not to, and I can't blame her."

"She has a right to, but her heart made a choice not to follow that advice." Marlene offered him a tender smile and kissed his third eye in the center of his forehead. "Open that up. She still loves you." Marlene pressed her forefinger where her lips had swept. "May I go in and tell you something?"

Carlos gave Marlene a half-smile. "Do I have a choice?"

She chuckled and shook her head no.

"I didn't think so," he said, yielding to her.

Marlene hugged him and rested her head on his shoulder. You are her king. There will never be another one that can ever take your throne. Another man might sit in it, but you own it. She stands behind you, before you, beside you... as a queen, she moves, her role shifts, depending on the circumstances to guard the kingdom--which is what you two build together. If she ever stands before you, it is not because she doesn't respect you, it's because duty calls.You must understand that. Wlien she stands by your side, it is because she is your equal partner. When she stands behind you, it is not because she's to be your submissive mate; she is choosing to stand aside because it is your time to reign.You must learn to be what you are, a king. Your queen has been waiting for you to accept the responsibility with dignity... because she'd tired and wants to stand down for a while... all you have to do is be ready to stand up--without taking her dignity in the process.

But, Marlene, there's no denying he's better--

Hush, boy, and listen to your mother, hear what this old woman's got to say. Carlos nodded and relaxed again.

You've been bitten by another, now she's been bitten by another. That was a breach of flesh. It is done. Inconsequential, given all you two have endured as one. But Cain never entered her royal chamber--not what's between her legs, I can't speak to that. That's simply her court. Yes, there were thieves in the castle. Regrettable, but not-- Marlene petted his back when he bristled. "Shush," she whispered. "Hear me out, baby, what I'ma tell you is profound."

She waited until Carlos settled against her again, even though his hug was tense. Her royal chamber where her deepest secrets are held, the blueprints to an empire, the keys to all that matters, is her heart. You are in there. He couldn't pry that open with a crowbar. She held her Isis high, stood before it, and fought him off valiantly. She didn't even allow him to nick her throat over the first bite you gave her... think, man, think.

Carlos pulled back and looked at Marlene, his hug slowly easing to a gentle embrace as he quieted his spirit and laid his cheek against the crown of her head. Oh, Mar . . .

Yeah, baby, now you listen to old Marlene. She reserved an ounce of hope that her king's cavalry would come. You're her kin. I keep trying to tell you. She's standing at the door, guarding her heart, exhausted, bone weary, nearly defeated, but would rather die than allow another to take your throne... and she's weeping down at the beach, spent. She knows she went too far with her words, I know my child, if I don't know nothing else... but her king, you, her lover, her friend accused her of treason, and she lost her mind, drew on you, because all she could think of was how loyal she'd been. Go to her, after you contemplate all that I've told you. Take back your throne, majestic child of mine... filled with potential, and start you a world. Never look back.

Carlos nodded and slowly withdrew from Marlene's embrace.

She patted his cheek and folded her arms. "Now, was that so bad?"

"No," he said quietly, his gaze slipping beyond the window. "Thank you.

"I want you to do something for me," Marlene said, bringing Carlos's attention back to her.

"Yeah, Mar. Anything." His gaze searched hers. After this, Marlene Stone had his utmost respect and loyalty.

"I want you to use that exquisitely analytical mind of yours to work out a puzzle for me."

Somewhat taken aback, for a moment he could only stare at her. The other Guardians did, too.

"All right," he said slowly, not sure where she was headed.

"Let me say this straight. I don't like him. Too smooth. Something's shaky."

Nervous chuckles passed around the team, and a half-smile tugged at Carlos's face.

"Like I said, Mar. Anything."

She walked to the window, leaned on the sill, and gave them all her back to watch as she spoke. "Number one," she said, her voice no longer mellow. There was battle strategy in it. "I want you to step past the pain and insecurity, Carlos, and dissect everything that older, smoother Neteru male showed you how to do."

Her words stung, and he didn't immediately answer. She turned and looked at him hard, like a mother sending her child out to fight a bigger kid in the neighborhood to squash the bullying once and for all.

"You listen to me, Carlos Rivera. You have the best mind that I have ever sensed on the planet. That guy is older, so suck his brain dry. I want you to go back over everything you saw him do, and master it. You got that? Learn from your enemy. That is your charge. You saw him heal in a new way, use the Caduceus. You saw him materialize raw ether. Saw whatever, but learn it. Don't let him beat you because you don't feel like you measure up. You're a Neteru, too. Both have a little vamp in your DNA. He's a king, but dammit, you're one, too, and this is your yard!" She walked a hot path between the window and him.

As Marlene railed he could feel new vertebrae being added to his spine, making him taller, making his head lift higher. Sho', she was right.

"That's right, man," Shabazz said, pointing at him. "You learn quick. He developed his shit over several thousand years, but on this side of the rip, you got him. You just have to sidestep the rage."

Big Mike pounded Shabazz's fist. "That's a slick bastard. Shit, you one, too. Sooo... feel me?"

"Right," Rider said, nodding and coming to Carlos to shake his hand. "Listen, young buck, he ain't coming into this family without a fight."

"One team," J.L. said.

"One cause," Dan echoed.

"You family, he ain't," Jose said with a nod. "Peace." "Peace," Carlos murmured. "And many apologies." "I don't even know whatchu talking about, man," Jose said. Both Carlos and Jose nodded.

"I done tol' y'all I ain't like him," Inez said, her hands on her hips. "If I have to feed him, I'll poison his ass first. And, if he gets in my girl's face, I'll work on her mind and talk about him like a dawg until she screams, hear? Oh, I know how to break 'em up, if it goes there, puh-lease." Inez sucked her teeth and made everyone laugh.

The release that went through the room was so torrid that one by one, people sat down to rest not only weary bodies, but spirits.

"Carlos, we're not supposed to be in it to this degree," Marjorie said, her soothing, motherly tone breaking through the mirth, but also adding to it. "But we moms know how to mount a campaign to... sort of... derail things, if we must. You're our favorite... sooo . . ."

"My mother can derail anything," Bobby said, laughing and giving her a hug.

"My aunt Gabby ain't no slouch, either," Krissy offered. "If you need an extra ace up your sleeve... uh, we know some people who know some people, like Shabazz always says, right, Mom?"

Heather and Jasmine shared a glance.

"With me and Jasmine and Krissy on it, we could probably make him have all sorts of problems," Heather said with a shrug. "Warts... lesions?"

Jasmine smiled. "I could draw him very, very small." She winked and then covered her mouth to laugh behind her hand.

"Not allowed, ladies," Rider said, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "That's cold. I'm gonna have to talk to Gabby, and you two are gonna have to do a round with the Covenant before we turn you loose on anybody. Sheesh!"

"Okay, Rider, maybe not warts, but I could zap him," Krissy said, glancing at her mother. "What? He'd never know it was me."

"Well, maybe just a bee sting zap... aimed just so," Marjorie said, pointing low on her body.

"Aw, Lawd," Marlene said, chuckling. "The Berkfield girls are ready to work juju for you, son, and put roots on Damali for ya, so you'd better handle your bizness."

"I got this," Carlos said, chuckling. "Aw'ight, aw'ight, nobody do nothing crazy. I've done enough of that myself."

Juanita's quiet move to the sofa made everyone go still. She looked up, her face red and puffy. But her eyes glittered with a level of strength that no one had ever seen. "All this was supposed to happen," she said in soft, faraway voice. "Sometimes you have to burn down a whole house to get to one rat." She looked at Carlos tenderly. "You aren't that rat. Cain is."

All eyes were on Juanita as she twisted her hands in her lap and kept her gaze lowered. "It's not Yonnie that Lilith is gonna put on the Chairman's old throne... it's Cain." She peered up at Carlos. "I felt it as I was ready to die. I had some of the other Carlos inside my head--that's who hurt me, not you."

Marlene and Marjorie were at Juanita's side in an instant, each holding one of her hands. Jose was at her back, both hands on her shoulders, his forehead resting on the crown of her head with his eyes closed. Carlos went to her and knelt to be eye level with her.

"Oh, my God, Juanita," Carlos whispered. "I'm so--"

"I saw it," Juanita said quietly. Her voice was so peaceful and so far away that it almost echoed. "Padre Lopez held my hand. He said not to let Cain learn more about the advances and weapons on this side." She glanced at Carlos and then Jose. "He's not supposed to learn this realm."

The rest of the team gathered near her as she stared at Carlos. Suddenly her body convulsed, sending panic through the group as her eyes rolled back in her head, showing only the whites. Carlos was on his feet as the two seers held her tightly. Jose began to rock her against him in horror.

"She's burning up," Jose said, rushing around the couch to better hold her. "Do something!"

"Don't touch her," Marlene said. "She's in a trance. I got her." Marlene moved around and waved to stand Carlos closer. "Let her pull from you."

"I was the only one on this team who had ever slept with you before you went vamp," Juanita said in garbled voice. "I was the one who knew your weak spots... your entire family, from mother, to grandmother, to brothers. They couldn't get to Damali, but they got to me to break this family down. I was the weak link, and when they thought I was about to commit suicide that darkness went down to the last place they'd had you--my essence linked with yours on the throne of Dante. For a split second, I saw it. Cain doesn't even know he's being manipulated. Lilith must have a Neteru with Dante's line in him to appease her husband. Without that, she cannot appease the Beast. I'm female, she's female, Damali is female; Lilith's fear of her husband is also resonating from that throne. She cannot fail."

"Mar, she's going over the edge," Jose said, terror gripping his every word as Juanita's voice became more gravelly. "She's not an experienced seer, and she's going in too deep! Pull her out!"

"Pull her out, Mar," Carlos warned. "Fuck a Level Seven extraction--we'll figure out another way, but shut 'Nita down before something happens to her."

Marlene just shook her head. "Let her work, this is what we do. It's scary... talk, 'Nita. What does the Beast want?"

"Lilith has worked on this family night and day... worked on Damali to get her to break the walls of Nod. To break you, Carlos. If Cain sits on Dante's throne, he'll be the only ruling-level vampire, other than you, that has ever tasted Damali's blood... in the woods at the old house, they worked on them both, drove you insane... will break Eve's heart... will fracture the Neteru Queen Council... will come for your old line... Yonnie, Tarajose... will release the forsaken. The Beast is waiting for this to occur. They think all have been positioned for the fall... but they didn't know how much I loved you all, my family, more than heartbreak. They didn't know the priest angel held my hand... or was in the line to know, to remember."

Just as suddenly as the trance began, Juanita lurched forward, shaking, sweating, and threw up a black mass of tadpole-like creatures, then slumped against Marlene, panting. "That's all I got," she said through heaving breaths. "Did I do okay, Mar?"

"Douse it, Mike!" Marlene said quickly, scattering Guardians to bring whatever purifiers they had in their arsenals. "Get my black bag--baby, it's gonna be all right, you did good, real good, for a first vision out."

Guardians bombed the black slurry on the floor with every salt, holy water, anointing oil, and garlic concoction they could find. Marlene rummaged in her black bag as Shabazz held it open, and extracted crystallized frankincense to hurl at the dark puddle, her lips moving in a fervent murmur. Hands clasped, prayers filled the air, and they watched the abomination sizzle and burn away in a sulfur plume, then disappear. "All this time . . ." Carlos stood staring at the floor, remembering exactly where the dark fluid filled with black, maggoty parasites came from. He almost vomited himself as he turned away, disgusted. And that it had been deep within Juanita from the breach shamed him to no end.

"It wasn't you, bro," Shabazz said, shaking his head. "Now all this shit makes sense... from the contagion on--from Philly really, they've been jacking with us from Level Seven, sending bullshit our way day and night. Damn!" He looked at Carlos and walked over to him to land a hand on his shoulder. "You all broken up and emotional, me, Damali all out of sorts, Kamal flipping, this scene in here, think about it, my brother, even vamps tripping, Rider, no one was exempt in the house... everybody was all fucked around, man... it wasn't just you."

"Cain's gotta stay in Nod," Carlos said, his tone serious and even. "Not just for personal reasons, the brother is being set up. His queen mother's spirit will die of heartbreak, if Lilith pulls this off... then Adam will turn over the Roundtable and wig. This is way bigger than some bastard in Damali's face."

"Yeah, but like you say, Carlos--knowledge is power." Marlene's arms enfolded Juanita as she smoothed her hair back. Marlene looked up at Jose and then Carlos. "Didn't I tell you, love conquers all? They were banking on jealousy, team dissent, but our girl Juanita here came through like a champ--forgiving Carlos, loving him and this family hard, and loving Jose harder... enough to wanna live. Plus, they never banked on a young cleric they'd killed, one still connected as a brother to this team, still bound by love to three souls: Juanita, Carlos, and Jose. Have mercy! Bless this chile; her spirit followed the thin white line up and out of the darkness holding information in her."

Marlene closed her eyes, crooning to Juanita to calm her. "Bet the bastards never counted on that, though, and now we've got their asses."