Oblivious to the chaos around her, she connected beyond the compound perimeter to mentally meet him.
Instinct told her not to, cautioned her not to go there or open up a return response, but she found herself tilting her head, opening herself fully to him. She bit him, and nuzzled him in reply, kissed him hard, and scored him again with her nails. She felt his intense shudder through every cell of her body. He made her crave his entry with such force that her hand reached out to hold onto the wall once more. She felt the rough-texture cinder block, and in her mind she slammed him against it, kissing him harder, wanting to take more of him deeper. It's all yours, baby... just get me out of here, I'm guarded.
Just as quickly as she'd hurled the thought, something powerful, razor-sharp, scored her throat - it didn't hurt, but shards of light exploded behind her lids and a tremor ripped through her body, morphing into a convulsion. Frustration imploded, sent her next response to him as a dare, a challenge with the image of her room, her in it, and what she'd like him to do, then she bit him harder within the vision. All night, her thoughts whispered, till you fear me more than the sun.
A howl in the distance fused with his moan, welding his desire to her spinal cord, tearing through her vertebrae, and leaving her breathless. In her mind she could hear her voice cry out like it had its own will, the effect of it making him take her harder - she wasn't forming words, just deep, honest, uninhibited chants of ecstasy... harmonic expression, hitting notes way outside of her range - and now he couldn't catch his breath, was begging her not to stop. She smiled, telling him the cold-blooded truth. Yeah, I hear you, baby, been needing you like this for a very long time. She'd been trying to explain, but he never would listen.
He put up his hand to the prison glass of invisible distance that separated them, and she met it, raising her palm, spreading her fingers - it left a pang that traveled. The sensation was so raw that she continued to brace herself so she wouldn't fall. With her eyes closed she could literally see him exactly where he was standing in the thicket, washed with moonlight, total energy, shoulders bare, her mark on him, sharing adrenaline, needing to hunt, needing her more, his chest expanding and contracting, breaths were now coming faster, he sensed her locking in to feel him again, to hunt him. His deep, intense eyes said it all, his expression pained like hers. There was only one answer she could give him - yes. She could dig it. They needed to stop playing with this!
He'd caught her reply like a hard blow to his jaw, and it made his head snap back. Yeah, he'd heard her response loud and clear.
What? Don't play with him?. Who was playing right now? Then his summons became a command and transformed into an urgent request as he dropped to his knees in the tall grass outside. Please come to me, come outside, I can't take it, baby. Her mind wrapped around the fervent message and stroked it as she sent it back. Watching his chest expand, taut with muscle as he battled for oxygen, sweat running down his temples, arms outstretched, the blue light of the moon making every surface of him glisten, his Adam's apple bobbing with each ragged breath that he drew, the answer became so clear. His voice was an insistent refrain for mercy, telling her what she already knew: Damali, come to me. Now! I need you.
"I do, too," she said out loud. She started for the door. Whatever her guardians said, she was leaving. She had to. "Turn off the lights," she heard herself say.
Suddenly she was shaken hard. Dazed, Damali looked around. Marlene's grip tightened. A pair of wise eyes held hers; an aging hand touched her damp face, and broke the spell. Damali leaned against the wall and breathed. The need to go after Carlos made tears well up in her eyes as she resisted his call. Her team stood momentarily frozen - she couldn't address that right now. Her goal was too singular; her focus unwavering. The voice in her head was escalating, panicking as her attention divided, telling her: Baby, don't listen to them - this is about me and you!
The guardians would just have to back off, and deal with her decision, and let her out of there. Never in her life had her body ached for a man like this. This wasn't a democratic decision, something the group had to vote on - she was out.
And even with Marlene standing squarely before her, she could still feel Carlos losing his mind from the same fire that burned her. Every second of lost momentum to fill his arms - she suffered.
"I've gotta go," she whispered, hoping Marlene would understand.
"Right now, he'll hurt you." Marlene blocked her and her lips began to move quietly.
Slowly, but surely, she could hear the rest of the group speaking in panicked chaos. Only when Damali could push herself away from the wall and stand unassisted, did Marlene move away. Time immediately snapped back and picked up the pace.
There was no way to tell if she'd been locked to him for a few seconds or a half hour. Disoriented, she tried to focus her attention enough to gather conversation. But every now and then a wave of desire would ripple through her, and she would brace herself till it dulled and passed.
"I couldn't even get a shot off," Rider hollered, his crossbow still leveled at nothing. "If I did, I would have got both of them... Shit."
"We had a flat-out weapons room breach," J.L. was yelling, "right in our own backyard! I can't believe it!"
"A breach? Motherfucker, this was a full-scale invasion!" Big Mike stomped the ashes, which had long been out, and then started beating them with a stake on the floor. "I'm gonna stab that slick bastard, Carlos - watch and see, I'ma blow his ass up - bringing maps of Hell in here to our girl like he was bringing flowers - ain't that some shit, Shabazz?"
"Maaaannn... I know some people that know some people that know some people - feel me - I'ma have the motherfucker seen. I'ma kill him up good!"
Dan's gun barrel jumped as he continued to point it at the wall. "Look at the freakin' wall!"
The group stared at the five evenly spaced, inch-deep drags down the wall and fell silent.
"Big Mike, no offense, but that's a strong SOB - even you might hafta just blow his ass up. Long distance. Period. Fuck this crossbow." Rider jumped down off the table and shook his head. "We're history. Been fun, gang. I'm going to go get a drink."
"Wait, Rider," Shabazz said, making him stop. "This is some valuable info, dude. If we have to go up against one made before Rivera, and at the top of the food chain - we just learned a lot about how this predator functions, man. Rivera rolled in on us like he was a goddamned master, brother! Rivera just got made - which means he's either a second or third generation vamp. You dig? We just learned how strong they get when a female Neteru..." His voice trailed off and he looked away. "We learned a lot. Need much-improved weapons. For real, for real."
Silent horror mixed with a violating sense of humiliation fixed Damali's gaze to a piece of crumbled cinder block on the floor. Oh, my God... this was the new chant in her skull. Heaven help her, she almost went out there. Two seconds, and it would have been over. The guys ranted on, while she tried to become invisible. If she didn't die of the bite, then she would definitely die of shame. She closed her eyes. Please God; don't let them have seen anything that had gone through her mind. Oh my God. It was beyond personal; in fact, strike the request to the folks upstairs - even they didn't need to see that. She wrapped her arms around her waist, and pulled in small sips of air.
"You got a point," Rider muttered, oblivious that she had zoned out of whatever they were talking about. "An inch-deep slice into cinder block, times five fingers, done with his bare hands - and waltzed right in our front door, chatted, kissed Damali, and rolled? Blocked our alarm systems, too? Oh, no. This is over the top for me, fellas. We are talking about something that could cross every barrier that we've rigged. Thought I'd seen it all."
"Deep part was," Shabazz said very slowly, "he wanted her so bad you could feel the electricity in the air - it's still cracklin' in here. But he didn't bite her. That's real strange. You could see it on his face; he was trying to show respect, but lost it when she went to him. But he didn't nick her, that's the thing, or pull her out of here, when he could have. Something's up with that - we need to figure out why, especially before tomorrow night."
"Why didn't you hit the lights, J.L.?" Big Mike stood and drove a stake through the table and snapped it in half, and then cast the remainder across the room.
"I did!" J.L. was at the console, his fingers a blur as he checked and double-checked his failed systems. "What the hell!"
Jose walked into the room and everybody started.
"Shine some light on dude," Rider said, jumping back.