clip up in this piece."
"Okay, okay, lemme get Duke on it," Rider said, leaving the group. Then he stopped and went back to Tara. "Darlin', why don't you come with me so I won't have to blow that sonofabitch sitting at nine o'clock away."
"See what I mean," Damali said without missing a beat. She kept unpacking gear, pulling out instruments with the team, just to hurry the process.
"Okay, all right, sue me," Rider fussed, pacing away. "What did you guys want on such short notice? Gimme a break. This is Death Valley, not Vegas. Geeze!"
* * *
Sated and spent, Fallon Nuit lay prone within the heap of bodies in Lilith's subterranean chamber bed. Rousing himself to feed was even too much of an inconvenience at this point. However, when a familiar deep voice entered his consciousness, he drew away from the pile of nudity very slowly, thinking out each muscle pull before he extracted himself. You remember when I asked for a bargaining chip?
Nuit nodded and stood very still, not breathing.
Bring me one from Death Valley tonight. I want a hostage. The Dark Power released his mind and his shoulders slumped. Lilith stirred and smiled at him, crooking her finger for him to come back to bed.
"I'm afraid that Sebastian, even with his cunning sorcerer ways, is too new to our fanged existence to have built up endurance yet." She blew Fallon a kiss as she shoved Sebastian's sleeping form aside. "Maybe if you and Yolando could stop bickering... I could coax him to join us one evening?"
Fallon feigned a smile and began to dress. "Not likely. We are from two different classes entirely, and our sensibilities hardly mesh. Yolando prefers Tijuana ... what would he and Rivera call them - putas, I believe, if memory serves. But after being with you, dear Lilith, the sudden urge to hunt something has me in its talons... shall I bring you back something freshly killed from topside, or would you prefer for me to bring it to you still struggling and screaming?"
"Ah ... chivalry is not dead, no matter how many times I've tried to kill it." Lilith licked her lips. "Always the consummate gentleman, monsieur, please bring it to me screaming its head off."
Nuit presented her with a grand sweeping bow. "Be naked and wet when I return. This won't take long, madame, I assure you."
* * *
This was quite possibly the worst gig they'd ever done in their lives. While libations got poured, folks screwed up their faces and yelled loudly to passing semi-topless waitresses for more beer. Cigarette smoke hung so thickly in the air, every eye was watering. Damali was just glad that they got the first song off, the call to arms for all Guardians, without incident. That might have had something to do with the fact that Duke and a table of six burly Guardians sat in the front hollering and cheering like they were at a Smack Down event. That was real cool of them.
Carlos was done, though. They had run the lyrics so ice cold and so on-point that it even gave her the shivers. Her man had broken a sweat, rolled the lyrics off his tongue so fast that the band was slapping each other high fives.
But the crowd was getting restless by the third song. The band had been giving it up, playing their hearts out, bass thumping, axe walking the scales, percussion section going bananas, keyboards stoooopid, cowbells ridiculous - however, the people in the audience weren't feeling it at all. It was a team decision not to let the ladies dance - uh-uh, not in here, they'd have to shoot somebody.
Half of her knew it was to be expected given the vibe people walked in there with; wrong place, wrong audience. Then again, another part of her wondered if foul play was involved. One could never tell. One thing was for sure though, these were humans, and if they were gonna get stupid, the best option for all parties would be for her and the band to leave.
"All right, Death Valley - give it up!" Damali shouted into the mic, getting one lone clapper in the back, and Duke's poor table trying to ignite an audience fire that refused to be lit. "We're gonna take a little break and uh, we'll be back." She ignored the boos, but her peripheral vision caught a bottle leaving a guy's hand at the
same time Carlos saw it, at the same time Shabazz