"I don't want to feed like that... Not until I know for sure - "
"Know what? If you've fully turned?" He stared at her hard.
His statement slapped her in the face. She took a deep breath.
"Baby, think about it," she said calmly. "I can't be carrying, if I'm turned."
He rubbed his jaw with his palm.
"And if I am already turned... wouldn't we have bigger problems than some low-level vamps sniffing around? Wouldn't you have to worry about the Vampire Council coming after you for turning their vessel?"
"True dat," he said, thoughtfully. "But, baby, you've definitely ripened." All of a sudden his head tilted and his nostrils flared.
"Will you forget about them, Carlos! They can't get in here. I've got other concerns right now. Look, my name would have burned into their books if I'd turned, you'd thought it yourself." She stared at him. Something wasn't right. Her turning and the Vampire Council's response should have been Carlos's top priority, but it wasn't. He was hiding something from her; she could feel it. What could be more important than the dark side losing its vessel?
She studied him hard and kept pushing him for answers. "If I've completely turned, all Hell would literally be breaking loose right now, and it's not. So, I'm not fully turned."
"Damned sure felt like it," he said and his voice sent a sensual shiver through her.
No, she was not going there with him again. They needed to talk. "This might have been a false ripening."
He shook his head, his gaze penetrating her. "No, baby, that I'm very clear about."
Her hand nervously rested on her abdomen. "If I'd conceived tonight, then wouldn't that register somewhere, too? Wouldn't the presence of a potential daywalker conception show up in the registers of Hell?"
Carlos crossed his arms over his chest. "After what I laid down tonight, you are pregnant as a jaybird, D. It might not have registered, yet, but I'm sure. Till I know otherwise, I'm treating you like you're carrying mine."
She opened her mouth and closed it again. She could not believe the macho bullshit coming out of this man's mouth. Half of her wanted laugh, it was so ludicrous, the other half of her wanted to punch him. She shook her head, but held her peace. Neither option at the moment would have been wise.
"Do me a favor," she said, exasperated. "Do the lower-level vamps - I'll even help you - but the humans, let them go. If you feed on them in my presence I'll - "
"What, D? Never speak to me again? Please," he said, gathering transport clouds about them. "Don't piss me off, woman. I'm not in the mood!"
"What?" She began to circle him, temporarily halting their transport. One hand went to her hip, while the other pointed at him. "Let's get one thing straight, Carlos. Pregnant or not, turned or not, you'd better cut the alpha male crap - now. I am not the one!"
"I hope Jose and Lopez are right," Rider said, checking the magazine in his gun. "Up till now, we've been real lucky - no cops, no public incidents, and now we're talking about running a Hum-V and two Jeeps through a gated community, taking out the south wall with a light shell and C4, and basically setting off what could be misconstrued as a terrorist action upon a private mansion. Anybody feeling me?"
No one in the platoon of warriors answered Rider, except Marlene.
"Blow the wall, Mike. I'm goin' in, with or without y'all, to get my baby girl."
There was nothing to say to this crazy man as she walked the perimeter of the mansion's upper balcony with him. The Hellhounds were baying in the distance and she rubbed her arms to stave off the creeps.
Out of nowhere, six lower-level male vampires appeared on the balcony. Damali braced herself for battle, but was shocked when Carlos walked over to one of them and hugged him.
"Talk to me," Carlos said.
"They got your cop," a tall, light-skinned vampire said. "You told us to watch your back, keep an eye out in the territory for anything shaky - and we did. Man, we heard the abduction, your marked man's energy dipped and his mind was screaming, and got to his house as fast as we could. It was definitely master energy lingering. Only thing left was his crucifix on the garage floor."
"Damn!" Carlos shouted. His gaze swept the bulked vamps.
Damali eyed the transaction. She was sure that she recognized the lead vamp from the drag race that had gone down at Carlos's old club. He was empire building, had made lieutenants. Fear collided with fury within her. This was not the man she thought she knew. She understood that he had territory to control, but somehow she could also feel that it was expanding. She and Carlos definitely needed to talk.
"We're picking up two lower levels with a human team coming toward your lair. Them, we can handle."
Carlos shook his head. "Me and my lady haven't fed yet. Leave them to us. We got this. See if you can find a tracer on which way they took the cop."
Panic coursed through Damali. She looked at Carlos's expression and noted how glassy his eyes looked. The man was obviously high, blitzed on Neteru. He wasn't making logical decisions. She already knew which cop they were probably talking about. He'd turned Berkfield, an innocent, into a vamp helper? When?