yank her sorry spine right out of her - "
"Before you get melodramatic," Carlos said calmly, studying his nails, "here's what's up." He waited until Yonnie had calmed down enough to listen, and took his time laying out the pros and cons, risk factors to both Yonnie and the team, then stepped back.
"So, that's why I'm saying, you might wanna let her thank me and you don't talk like that... not where I'd let you know we had to kill a dissension demon you carried to us. But, however you wanna play this is up to you. I'm trying to figure out ways you can pass them bogus info so that you can put your hands up and claim plausible deniability, if you get caught."
"Cool," Yonnie said, nodding. He was about to pound Carlos's fist when Carlos drew back his hands with a smile and held them up in front of his chest. "No offense," Carlos said.
"None taken - my bad," Yonnie said, wiping his hands down the front of his Armani. "It's gonna take a lot of re straint not to just wring that bitch's neck."
"Well, at least she didn't give you nothing permanent that could cripple you, like a were black blood exchange."
Yonnie walked away from Carlos, pointing when Carlos laughed. "You ain't right, man. You know down in the realms we gotta do a lot of insane shit to survive. And, yeah, I've done some shit I ain't proud of, but - "
"Relax, man, damn, I'm just messin' with you." Carlos shook his head. "I almost got jacked by a were-jag in the Amazon, that's all I'm saying ... just warning my brother to be more careful with your shit."
"Oh, aw'ight," Yonnie said, shaping up his Afro. "Thought you was signifying."
"No." Carlos folded his arms over his chest and kept a straight face for a second. "I ain't got shit to say about Lilith." He couldn't hold it when Yonnie cracked a smile, and they both burst out laughing.
"Maybe Lilith wants the little critter back tonight?" Yon nie said, chuckling hard. He winked at Carlos. "By now, they oughta be good ta go in my system." Carlos cringed. "Aw... man... that is so nasty. You defi nitely don't have to go there for the team. Go get your shit cleaned - "
"Fair exchange," Yonnie said, shrugging. "She's gonna try to kill me anyway ... so, what's a little dissension down in council? I didn't know." He opened his arms. "I got blind-sided by one of her witches."
Carlos's face was still contorted with disgust. "But, Lilith? Naw, man, you don't have to go there."
"Listen to me," Yonnie said with a sly grin, and then pro duced a toothpick in his mouth and began manipulating it with his tongue. "She liked some Yolando, okay. And girl
friend got some throne installation moves that date back to the dawn of time - first female type shit."
Carlos held up his hands and began walking toward the house. "I don't wanna know." He
had to get all images of that out of his head before he stepped to Damali.
"You might wanna know this, though," Yonnie said, staying Carlos's leave. Carlos turned and simply looked at him.
"Aw'ight, yeah, when I came up here I was gonna bargain with you, man ... for just one more time to holla at Tara. But, given my situation and that I've gotta go get blasted to get this STD shook loose ... I'm not trying to bring that home to my baby - so ..." Carlos's gaze hardened as he waited.
"She installed me in my throne when she was weak, when forces down there had been drained, feel me? Under any other circumstances, it's doubtful that any of her shit would have bled over to me, being how old she is comparatively - but I was topside and unaffected when contagion hit subterranean. Now fact, girlfriend got so much game, I couldn't even begin to get all the shit she did eons ago - way deep. But there's something real new going down that's worrying the shit out of her . . . real close to the surface. It's somewhere she can't see into and none of us can, either. Maybe it's in a church, I don't know."
Nod reverberated inside Carlos's head, but he just kept listening and rubbing his jaw as Yonnie talked.
"All I'ma say is this," Carlos warned. "Next time, Lilith will be real strong. She'll siphon your ass dry, if you don't watch yourself."
"Yeah, yeah, aw'ight."