"Okay," Carlos said quietly, but he didn't move, just stroked Damali's cheek, making her shudder.
"It's in your hands," Damali whispered with a soft gasp.
"Okay, okay," Marlene said, taking Damali by the shoulders as Shabazz body-blocked
Carlos.
"Put your hands out for me, hand - don't punch me, I'm outta your way in ten seconds, but do me that favor," Shabazz said, studying Carlos's aura. Carlos closed his eyes when he opened his palms and spread his fingers. "I just gotta touch her, man."
'Tainted energy all in it," Shabazz said, surveying his aura. "Breaks at his tattoo, over his heart chakra, all the energy concentrating in primal meridians. This was some fucked up root work, if ever I seen it."
"That's what Marj was talking about," Marlene said, visually scanning Damali's hands without touching them and then pressing two fingers to Damali's third eye. "Damn, chile!" Marlene said, jumping back. "Warn your mother-seer, okay? You knew I was going in and I don't wanna know all that."
Damali covered her face with her hands and tried to breathe. "I'm sorry. That's what we're trying to tell you... it's that bad."
"Look, we'd appreciate it if this problem stays at the senior level, until we can figure out what to do, or if it's catching," Carlos said, putting his hands behind his back to keep from reaching for Damali.
"I need to get hi conference with Marjorie, Heather, and Jasmine - Marj is a blood relative, the girls were either tight with Gabby or in a coven with her as her initiates, and I'm gonna need the power of three to figure out what's all in the spell to counteract it."
"I know what you're saying, Mar, but damn," Carlos said, closing his eyes. "This shit is embarrassing."
"They're looking into the pearl up in Neteru Council. Maybe can you just let Aset and Nefertiti know, and wait 'til they come back with a verdict before we break it to the team?
If we ever have to break it to the team?" Damali's eyes furtively searched Marlene's and Shabazz's faces. "C'mon, guys, have a heart, like Carlos said, this shit is too embarrassing."
"Forty-eight hours," Marlene said, "with full disclosure to Aset - which I'll do tonight. But you guys try a white bath, and don't worry, I've got this room already barriered. Just stay in here, 'til... aw hell."
"White bath, never happen," Shabazz said, "unless you individually dunk 'em - which ain't gonna happen. The only thing you said that's plausible is for them to stay in the room for now." Shabazz headed for the door. "We got two Neterus down. Face it, baby."
* * *
"All right," Aset said, her eyes narrowing as she leaned forward on the oval Neteru Queens Council table, making the radiant colors in its opalescent finish shimmer. "What was your angle, Lilith?"
"A love spell to push the two together doesn't make sense," Nefertiti said, staring at the black translucent box.
"It does if you want the Neteru generals diverted," Eve said through her teeth. Nzinga nodded. "So that you can create a sneak attack... something is planned, and it has been too quiet on the earth plane."
"Open the box," Lady Fu Hao urged. "We must dissect the spell, now that Marlene Stone has told us of its debilitating effects."
"I stand ready," Penthesileia said, holding an Amazon battle-ax. "If cauldron parasites emerge, they will be slaughtered."
The Aztec Queen removed a long, sharp, golden-handled dagger from her sleeve.
"Anesthetize the oracle as you lower the black-box, Aset. It will be traumatic as I remove her from the necklace and submerge her into an alabaster bowl of Ma'at's truth elixir." Aset nodded. "If she's beyond repair, then, Chalchihuitlcue, you have the swift hand of sacrifices ... don't allow her to suffer."
The Aztec Queen nodded. "I shall indeed be merciful and make it swift."
* * *
"I know this isn't normal," Damali said, racing across the room to kiss Carlos the moment Shabazz and Marlene shut the door.
Both on the same mission, he cleared the sofa in a one-handed hurdle and they bumped into each other and almost fell.
"I knew it wasn't straight up when my fangs didn't drop," he said between urgent kisses, cradling her face as she worked on his clothes.
"Or I didn't see your silver," she said, stripping off her tank top. When her breasts bounced free, he covered them with his palms and leaned in, causing them both to release a long moan riding a shudder.
"Yeah, your wings didn't come out," he finally said, now panting and