Carlos exited the lot and crossed the street, avoiding the glass windows of the stores on Rodeo Drive by staying close to the curb. If he played his cards right, he could keep Nuit blinded by the Vampire Council - but get on the inside of his operation and close enough to hit him. He could also keep the Vampire Council blinded by the upper realms, who might be still hoping in vain that he'd go for their no-win deal. He could also keep the rest of his family from being turned, marked as off-limits, as well as manipulate the Vampire Council's extra boost of power to ensure that he stayed alive for a few nights, long enough to avenge his brother's death - and then slay his boys to hopefully release their souls. May Alejandro's soul rest in peace.
A long sigh found its way up from Carlos's lungs. He'd find all his family, and release them. Then what? At the end of the equation it still came back to the fact that he had to get to Damali, and in the end he'd be the walking dead, or worse. The Covenant hadn't even told him where to bring her, should he be so foolish as to bring her to them...
Carlos slipped into an alley, the streetlights and the normalcy of pedestrian traffic too much for him to bear. The lights flickered and he willed them to blow out. Only moonlight shone down the narrow asphalt corridor. An alley cat fled the Dumpster when he stared at it. Wise choice, kitty. Carlos stooped down and touched a glass-block basement window. Leaning his cheek against the coolness of a tiny cube of darkened pane, he spread out his hand that now gave off no heat and looked at the glass, trying to get it to shine back a reflection of his hand. What had he done? He wanted to weep, but his heart had no tears left in it - all it would produce was a mournful moan that made him close his eyes once more, and breathe in the only living thing that gave him comfort. Damali.
Static on the compound radio crackled as the guardians listened to Dan's voice lead Damali to him. Marlene glanced at Shabazz, who was sitting beside Jose's prone body. J.L. peered at her, and then fixed his line of vision on Jose.
"Put it on mute for a minute," Marlene ordered, going to Jose and Shabazz, and placing her hand on Jose's forehead. "He's burning up."
"I know," Shabazz said quietly. "We've gotta get him to a hospital."
Jose's complexion had turned ashen, and he was shivering so hard that he had to keep his eyes closed and breathe in quick, labored pants.
"They're inside my head, but the transmission goes both ways. They're splitting up the herd," Jose whispered through bursts of exhales. "Breaking her off from the group, and drawing her out. I'll be fine - stay with Damali."
Marlene and Shabazz exchanged a glance as J.L. stood.
"He's right," J.L. said, trepidation clear in his tone. "But we have to move the man."
Jose leaned over the side of the sofa and clutched his abdomen, retching. Marlene grabbed a nearby wastebasket that Shabazz had brought into the room - just in case - and thrust it under Jose's face.
"They're crawling inside of me." Jose choked, heaving and trembling, holding onto the side of the wastebasket.
"Three - make a circle, all of us hold hands, start praying over this man," Marlene ordered. "I'm going inside him telepathically."
"Don't," Shabazz warned. "You don't know what's in him." He covered his mouth and backed away from the horrible stench. He held onto the side of the weapons table and took deep breaths to stave off his own nausea.
Out cold, Jose didn't move, only his chest did.
"He's in way worse shape than we'd imagined, Mar."
Marlene nodded. "I'm going in and we have to get him rehydrated - or he'll flatline."
J.L. bounded up the metal steps to the rack of computers in the room, and took the radio communication to the Hum-V off mute. "Damali, we've gotta move Jose. He just puked up maggots - and he's out cold."
"You can't go out alone. It's hot out here tonight! Tell Marlene I said stay put," Damali commanded. "I know what she's thinking."
"I know, D, but our boy is..."
"Okay, okay - have Marlene call down the white light around you guys. We're going to get Dan, and we'll meet you at the hospital."
"God willing," Shabazz murmured, keeping his gaze on Marlene. "Mar, I'm going to have to carry him, which means anything that tries to breach us as we go into the garage, you and J.L. are going to have to deal with."
"No," J.L. said, looking at the security panel. "I can put on the UVs in the garage to flush it, and then simply leave the systems on and - "
"No," Marlene snapped. "You'll be outside of the van, broken off yourself. The lights might not be enough for what's out there. Plus, if we leave the whole place hot, the generators might be dead by the time we get back, which means the compound could be infested."
"We gotta move this man fast, and don't have time to argue. We leave the compound idle all the time to travel to do gigs, Mar - you know that. Systems are up on normal electricity, then have a generator backup."
"Yeah..." J.L. added in, but his words trailed off as the overhead lights temporarily went dead, and then came back up on generator power.
"What just happened?" Damali's shout could be heard in the background coming from the communications panel.
"You guys need us back at base?" Big Mike asked.
"No," Marlene said. "Our direct power got cut and came back up on generator."
"We've never done a night move, or an extraction - and we've never taken a direct power-line hit like this," Shabazz warned.