Damali leaned her head back. Something inside her bubbled up, a strange heat that connected with sound and forced a battle cry through her lips. The primal yell echoed and bounced off the interior of the Jeep cab. Rider swerved to take the speed up to eighty as he rounded the corner onto Venice Boulevard on two wheels.
Rider glanced at his gun - Damali's eyes met his.
"Don't even think about it," she warned. "Draw it and you lose an arm."
"You hear that shit? You hear that shit, man?! What the f**k? Is she turning, what the f**k is happening?! Am I driving a vamp, or is our girl over the edge? Explain some shit to me! Now?' Rider's gaze shot between the radio, Damali, and the road.
"It's going down," Shabazz said in a controlled voice. "Phase one. Battle prep. Stay with her, Rider. J.L., get me audio to Big Mike."
"You do that," Rider said, watching Damali as she closed her eyes and began rocking again. "Yeah, you get that big, lurchy motherfucker on the horn and tell him I need backup, stat! We're getting ready to hit the Santa Monica Freeway - going west."
"Stay west," Damali said quickly. "Don't lose it."
"Li'l sis," Big Mike said softly. "It's time to come home."
She ignored Mike's entreaties as the images in her head tore at the gray matter in her skull. Blood was everywhere. A bedroom. A man. Mirrors. Police. Sulfur. A black cavern. Female eyes. A hiss. Waves. The beach. Then she saw Carlos and almost vomited. Thick, salty emulsion covered the inside of her mouth and her hand cupped over her lips while she choked the sensation back down.
"She's about to lose her cookies in this Jeep, guys. Our girl don't look good."
"Baby," Marlene said, calling to Damali. "Baby, talk to me. Tell me how you feel."
"Like shit," Damali replied, gulping hard, then taking in and letting out fast, shallow sips of air. "I'm burning up. Can't get the scent out of my nose. My skin - it's in my skin. The beach. It's down at the beach. Under the pier. But a house, or something. I can hear it hissing." Too nauseated to continue, she leaned her head back and panted, wiping at her forehead in anger. "I will cut that bitch's throat out! Five of our men, plus Jose - Dee Dee? I'll gut her."
"Rider. Did she pick up the scent before you did?" Shabazz's question had come quick, stabbing through the radio with its intensity.
"Yeah, now that you mention it." Rider peered over at Damali, then sent his gaze back to the highway signs on US-10.
"She's getting stronger."
"No shit."
"Rider. Chill. Put on a mobile transmitter so we can walk you through this."
Rider complied, watching Damali as she yelled again, writhing in her seat.
"Talk to me, y'all," Rider said. "I'm dealing with something here I've never seen happen. Understood?"
"You're in no imminent danger as long as you stay out of her way when she hunts," Shabazz told him. "Do not get between her and a kill. Stay alongside her, watch her back and yours, but do not try to bring her hunt down for her. Natural law is in full effect."
"You ain't gotta tell me twice, brother."
"Yo, Rider," Mike said. "Her hearing, her nose, tactical senses - everything is overloading right now. Don't touch her, because the reaction is swift. She's wired."
"I am looking at a young woman who stuck a sword into the floor of the Jeep - plunged two inches deep through steel like it was a butter knife and the f**king Jeep was Parkay - with a three-bladed dagger in the other hand, and you are counseling me not to touch her to hold her back? What are y'all? Nuts?"
"Rider, you need me to leave Jose and come out there for backup, brother?"
For a moment there was no answer over the radio from any of the guardians.
"No," Rider said slowly, still appraising Damali from the corner of his eye. "Can't leave Jose alone. I'm just worried, is all. She doesn't look good."
"Mike, man your post and stay with Jose," Shabazz said after a moment. "If he's better, bring him in tomorrow morning - do not travel at night. There's a lot of activity topside, right through here."
J.L. looked at his monitors, drawing nods from both Marlene and Shabazz. "It's not real good for any of you guys to be rolling at night," J.L. told them, strain lacing his voice. "The terrain is red-hot. Rider, if you can get Damali back in, and if Mike can stay put, we might be able to get everyone home in one piece."
"Got you," Mike said with a nod. He leveled his gaze at a nurse who came in to check on Jose. When she opened her mouth and looked at her watch to signal visiting hours were over, he stood. " This is my brother. I don't leave till he leaves - now handle your business. You want to be the one to call security on me?" He continued to stand as the nurse checked Jose's pulse and IV and then made a hasty retreat.
"How's Jose?" Marlene asked.