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