Big Mike walked in an agitated circle and began wringing his hands. "Oh, brother, brother, brother. That's some powerful feelin's. You ain't scared of your momma, your daddy... will walk through fire to - "
"Mike, why do you think me and Mar have been a nervous wreck? She's grown in human terms, but in Neteru physiology... Damn. Look, problem is, poor baby girl does not understand that she could host a daywalker. Her protective instincts would never allow us to drive a stake into an infant vamp when it comes into the world bearing fangs... then they'll have her. She would flee to be with them, if for no other reason than to protect it. She'd hide in their lairs, they would provide her hybrid child food, amnesty, teach it their ways, and it would be daywalker royalty. And our Neteru would willingly agree, once humans attempted to eliminate it, because what mother doesn't want her child to belong to a society that accepts and protects it and gives it opportunity to thrive?"
"Basic instinct," Jose whispered, his tense gaze fixed on Shabazz.
"We thought Mar just didn't want her to go to New Orleans because she'd try to rush a master's lair when she was too young, before she was strong enough to hang. Didn't know they could do something like that to her." Mike scratched his bald head and looked away.
"Damn..." Dan whispered. "This whole experience is so freakin' deep..."
"You ain't seen nothin' yet," Rider said, giving Dan a disgusted glance. "She's just vulnerable for this first time out, though, right, Shabazz?" He searched Shabazz's face for confirmation, growing more alarmed as he talked. "I mean, after this one, then she's cool, right? Can handle herself... like Marlene said?"
"My brother, Lord have mercy," Shabazz sighed. "While that may be true, if they get to her on any of these ripening cycles, they'd take very good care of the huntress queen in the den. She'd be the only productive female in the line that could keep siring more daywalkers - because the master male vamp would risk his very existence to protect his empire builder... which means she'd definitely become his woman. We'd lose her from our topside family for good."
"Damn, Shabazz," J.L. whispered. "Imagine, a Neteru, with mother instincts and warrior capacity, thinking she was protecting the ultimate innocent - one that she'll be telepathically connected to from the moment life sparks. Brothers, a normal human female gets superhuman strength when her young are imperiled. Women have lifted cars up to get their babies out from under a wheel. Wanna do that times ten, and go for a Neteru's child? And we just witnessed what the potential daddy can do."
"Now we are on the same page," Shabazz breathed out slowly. "Worst part is, if one of us does get to that vamp progeny, assuming that we even could... her spirit would wither. She'd never forgive the forces of light. She'd lose hope, faith, love, and she'd die."
"So, this seventh sense thing all boils down to... basic, natural... Wait. You mean to tell me that - "
"Don't even say it, Rider. Yeah. We're guarding her honor on her first time out, so to speak."
Silence held the group hostage. For a moment the team just passed stricken glances between them.
Shabazz walked away from the table. "You saw her morph in the street, yourself, Rider. You couldn't stop her. The second-generation female vamp set it off and marked a territory - that vamp wasn't telling Damali she couldn't have Dejesus, the body in the morgue. She was talking about the head vamp, Nuit. Raven was made by that master vamp. She was a second generation, and probably Nuit's present, but sterile, queen... Raven was strong - was made by two guardians, and gave off heavy DNA-generated scent when she was abducted and then bitten. But she wasn't the real McCoy." Shabazz rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes.
"Wait," Big Mike boomed. "I thought you said it had to be a choice? Raven got abducted, and that wasn't a choice. Plus, she got bitten. Probably not her choice either."
"They'll look for a Neteru before it comes of age and will try to inculcate that huntress into the vamp lifestyle, topside, by placing the poor kid within human vamp-helper reach. When it's time, by then, a Neteru will comply of his or her own free will - after years of brainwashing by darkness. But when they grabbed Raven, and sniffed her out - once they were sure she was a decoy, she was history. Marlene never really came to terms with that."
"We need to go easy on our boss lady," Big Mike murmured, and received a nod from Shabazz. "She's on our side, too. Don't get it twisted. All this is deep, y'all. I don't know how Marlene dealt with it."
Shabazz nodded. "Right about now, since the ranks seem to be closing in, Nuit can probably pick up Damali's scent, or has a conduit to pick up her trail - that's why Mar was guarding so hard lately. She had reason. And now we know which new second-level vamp he'll use as a conduit."
Rider and Jose looked at each other. J.L. whistled and then sighed. Mike just shook his head. Dan's shoulders slumped. They all spoke as one. "Carlos."
"No wonder baby girl was crying so bad..." Again, Mike just shook his head. "Damn. She loved that fool, anybody could tell. Even I prayed he'd get his shit together, straighten up his act and fly right. Now, can't nobody cure them blues. Her hope just died. She's gotta ride this one out by herself."
Rider blew out a long breath of frustration. "Been there. Wished she didn't have to ever visit living Hell. Ain't love grand."
"That's where Mar was coming from," Shabazz murmured.
"Let's stay on the point," Rider said with a weary tone. "We'll know when the exact ripening hits, right? Twenty-four hours of a birthday window is a lot of hours where anything could happen." Rider's gaze tore between the members of the group and finally settled on Shabazz. "I mean, after all, the team trackers... We should be able to - "
"No, unless you're her 'destined pair' guardian, even you guys with the noses won't be able to pick it up when the exact ripening starts."
"All right," Rider finally said. "Then, what happens if we just hook li'l sis up on a blind date, with a regular guy - one that we all approve of, one that she likes... and then go from there? Huh? That sounds like a plan."
"He wouldn't make it through the night."
"What? She'd rip his throat out or something?"
Rider looked at Shabazz, his eyes wide, but the others had the same expressions on their faces as well.
"No. The male master vamp would. He'll hunt for her till he finds her, and will fight to the death to claim her. Even if her first season passes, he will look for her until she's no longer reproductive. He's got a one-month window every seven years. She's twenty-one, that means we keep vigil for at least another twenty-five years."
"Twenty-five years?" Rider was walking again, shaking his head and mumbling to himself.
"Jesus," Big Mike whispered on a long breath. "What about her having other normal kids and - "