on the planet. Which means," Rider pressed on when no one stopped him, "on the one hand, this guy has all the pull power-squared, of a Council-level master vampire, with all the knowledge and lovemak-ing skills, yada, yada, yada, of the species--directly from the Tree of Knowledge that his daddy breached, but came out in broad daylight and ain't sterile, and, I might add, just to keep it interesting, has a nose for female Neterus."
"When he-came to me, he was apexing," Damali said quietly, cringing with her eyes still shut tightly. "Oh, my God . . ."
Rider sighed. "Well, that does make it interesting, kiddo, because on the other hand, from what you're telling us, Father, this guy has his good days when he's all armor and honor, from his mother's side, so holy water, silver nitrate, hallowed shells, and whatever else we've got in our arsenal won't drop him--and, again, to keep it interesting, we're not supposed to kill him because of this human Neteru DNA giving him freedom of choice to be good or bad, and the Almighty's edict in the equation. Conundrum? Father, excuse my French, but this is well beyond a damned rock and a hard place."
"Our boy, Carlos, is screwed," Big Mike said, shaking his head. He stared at Damali. "If Carlos bugs hard over in Nod, like he did when he saw you in the brother's arms, and goes vamp--sounds to me like Cain will whip his natural ass. Fang for fang, if he's Dante's boy, plus, if Carlos wins and smokes Cain, he's also screwed, and probably doesn't even know it--"
"I know," Damali said, leaning forward with her face in her hands. "Girl, this is raggedy," Inez said, going to stand by Big Mike. "If the brother is a Neteru, too, and Carlos comes at him like that, he's been one longer, has come into his full powers over several generations, plus his momma had him--so even that wasn't diluted, D. He wasn't an elevated Neteru like Carlos. This guy was a natural birth. Same with being the Chairman's son... Cain didn't just get bitten to be made a vamp; he was made from doing the wild thing. That has got to have more kick to it, right?"
Juanita's hands went to her hips as she went to stand by Jose. "You should have been more careful, Damali. How could you put Carlos in a position like that? After all that man did for you, and the way he loves you . . ." She began to pace. "I cannot believe you!"
Damali felt herself beginning to rise out of the chair. "You don't know what goes down between me and him and I suggest you don't even go there." The urge to tell Juanita that she might remember some shit that would make her hair fall out was on the tip of Damali's tongue so hard she could taste it. Juanita's gall and audacity continued imploding in her brain, and she had to look at Jose to remember that there was more at stake than being right at the moment. But were it not for Dan jumping between them, they could have had it out in the middle of the floor.
"Plus, dude has an army," Dan said, raking his hair.
"Come again?" Damali said, snatching her focus from Juanita and looking at Dan in earnest for the first time.
"You heard Father Pat," Dan said, his blue eyes darting around the team as Damali angrily walked back to her chair and flopped down in it. "Father Pat said that Cain begged not to be killed by the inhabitants of Nod, right? You do the math. It was Adam and Eve, they had Cain and Abel, and Cain killed Abel, then later Adam and Eve had Seth after all that dust had settled. At the time Cain was pleading for amnesty, there were only three humans topside--Adam, Eve, and Cain, since Abel was dead and Seth hadn't been born yet. So who was around to off him?"
Again the room went still for a moment as Damali stared at Dan and then at the speakerphone.
"This is where old Kabbalah, the Bible, Quran, and some of the old Eastern tantra, among other philosophies, respectfully collide and agree to disagree," Father Patrick said with care.
"No disrespect, Father," Marlene said. "May I take a crack at this one to keep you and the other clerics from crossing the lines inherent within your various faith orders?"
"Please," Father Patrick said in a rush.