Marlene shook her head and sent her gaze beyond the group toward the window. "Wasn't your fault. Only a first- or second-
generation vampire can bring on blood lust like that in a Neteru. Instinctively, you'll go after the head of the hydra."
"Mar," Damali murmured, glancing around the group to try to better understand, "I've never done anything like that before." She looked at Marlene who held her with a concerned gaze, her expression unusually tender. "In all our battles, I've never flipped like that."
"You'll stabilize soon."
Chapter Thirteen
"Stabilize?"
Rider began to pace. "Isn't there anything you can do, or give her?"
"What's wrong with me, guys?"
Marlene glanced up at Rider, and then returned her focus to Damali. "What did ..." Her voice trailed off, and Marlene sucked in a deep breath. "What did the female vampire say that made you follow it like you did?"
Damali closed her eyes and took her time, her breaths steadying her. Marlene hadn't answered her original question, though. "It said, 'You can't have him.' Then something inside me snapped. It said, 'You can never take my place.' Whatever that means."
"A queen second," Mike murmured. "Just as Marlene suspected."
"Oh, boy. Here we go," J.L. said on a hard exhale.
"Jesus H. Christ." Rider sat down heavily on a stool, shaking his head. "Already?"
"Yeah," Marlene agreed quietly. "We've got one in our territory and the vampire huntress picked up the scent... and it's defending her own territory. Damali won't stop until she gets it, or the contrary. The female vampire's aggression is a sure sign that we've got a master male vamp in this quadrant. It just confirmed my suspicions. Until last night, I was just playing a hunch."
"I don't understand." Damali slowly pulled away from Jose and wrapped her arms around herself, intently watching her team.
Shabazz looked at the map and traced it with his finger. "The energy a guardian team casts will draw weaker members of a vampire line - because the perpetual hunger is not only blood, but power. The blood of a guardian is like a drug hit, too. So, from time to time, we get sniffed out, is the only explanation. But as Neteru energy matures, it throws a scent to a pack that's stronger than anything a guardian team can throw off."
Shabazz looked at Damali, his gaze softening as he glanced away. "When we found you, you were still a little bird ... you didn't leave that much of a trail, or a marker."
"Wasn't long before a couple of 'em came for you, then we turned the tables on the situation, and went on the offensive - per Marlene's wisdom," Big Mike murmured. "The idea was to flush out the nest and wipe out that line before you came of age and had to deal with all of this." He looked away, and his voice dropped so low that Damali had to strain to hear it. "Marlene will tell you about why we had to clear this nest, or at least back it up, before your time." His eyes met Marlene's. "Right, Mar? You'll tell her today."
"Tell me what?"
Jose nodded to the map, his trembling finger touching the edge of it. His gesture temporarily drew Damali's attention away from her question, and it stilled the group. They let him talk uninterrupted in a weak, scratchy tone.
"My grandfather's people, the Creeks, believed that night feeders divide territory and mark it like wolves. Shamans say if one outside their line is caught hunting in the wrong territory, the others will attack it. Told as legend, the old ones say the night feeders migrate and are nomadic - but travel within the same route that they've been following for centuries."
Jose wheezed and straightened himself, and then leaned on the workbench for support as Damali's hands fell away from her sides. She folded her arms in front of her and waited with the rest of them for him to continue.
"There's at least one known vampire line on every continent - but like all predators, we're not sure how or why, but something limits their growth. Most times, they snap the victims' necks first, and then immediately feed, while the blood is still warm, fresh kill. Usually that just leaves a corpse, and there's no problem. Their numbers remain stable that way."
Rider let out his breath hard and rubbed his palms over his face. "Yeah, but we've got mugs jumping up off morgue slabs now in record numbers - so they're building in ranks like I've never seen before - not that any of this is normal, mind you. But comparatively speaking, something big is brewing."
"Okay," Damali said, taking her time. "So, Marlene was originally attacked, and like all of us, had a run-in with one of them solo, but made it out alive. Then, we somehow got guided to each other to form a team, right? That part I get. You've all told me this before, remember. Tell me something new."
"Divine intervention, how we all got together," Jose whispered. "We were shown, were blessed with the gifts to keep us out of that vampire line, and that light force drew us together by what others might call strange coincidences - but, by now, we know there's no such thing as a coincidence."
"True dat," Big Mike whispered.
"Okay. I know that. So what would make them move on a coupla record companies and a club - and not just feed and leave, if they have this growth limiter? And, what's this queen thing?" Damali's question hung in the air, and the group shifted nervously.
"We don't know what supernatural laws limit their growth," Marlene said softly. She glanced at the team, her expression tense. "Or, what specifically has sent them into a feeding frenzy ... at least not all of what may have."
"Oh, shit, Marlene," Rider yelled, frustrated. "Just tell the girl!"