"The last place she's staying is with you, motherfucker," Jose said.
"Here's my problem with that," Carlos said evenly. "She called me when you people botched the purge job. I frankly don't see what the f**king hype is all about, or what's left to talk about, man. She made her choice." He began walking in Damali's direction, issuing a silent command for the dogs to stay. "And you've got some nerve bringing two real low-level vamps with you to track me while I'm with her. Total disrespect, 'Bazz, man... very uncool," he added, dismissing Jose's comment. "I thought we were beyond that."
Confusion wafted through the teams as Carlos's form disappeared.
"What's he talking about, Shabazz?" Big Mike muttered. "Two vamps with us?"
Imam Asula gripped his machete tighter. "This is a ruse to distract us from our mission to recover the huntress. Stand firm. Ignore his demonic trickery."
"Oh, so now I'm a liar," Carlos said loudly, coming back toward them with Damali in tow. "First of all, look for yourself. She's fine," he said, removing his arm from around her waist. "Second of all, how you gonna roll up on my lair with some eighth- or ninth-generation wanna-be vamps?" He shook his head and gazed at Jose and Father Lopez.
Damali remained very still. Whether what he said was true or not, she knew that Carlos was showing much restraint on her behalf, and the only reason that he hadn't wiped her team out was because he'd been temporarily sated, or perhaps because they were under his protective seal. At the moment, she wasn't sure. All she had to do was think back on the Nuit incident... if the team had tried a rescue two hours ago... She couldn't even allow her mind to complete the thought.
But just the brief flicker of the dead master's name in her thoughts made Carlos bristle. "Don't go there," he warned her. "Yeah, I'm being cool, so you can settle this family bullshit once and for all. But don't push me." He eyed her and then returned his attention to the posse in front of them.
"Brothers," Carlos said, his voice filled with disgust, "one hit of this would knock your head back and make your tired asses grow fangs. Do not ever try to mind lock with me when I'm with her!"
Members of the group moved back from Lopez and Jose. Their motions were steady, controlled. Uncertainty was trapped in their glances. Damali's hand rested on Carlos' forearm.
"Don't f**k with them because you're in a shitty mood, Carlos. They're still family, and they only came - "
He whirled on Damali and opened his arms, leaning down at her, as his voice got louder. "Why is it that I can never tell you anything? Huh? Why is that?"
"Because your ass is high," she shouted, pulling away from him. "I told you, watch your tone with me!"
He walked away from her and stood by his dogs, thoroughly outraged. "These brothers got a lock because we share the same freakin' DNA - by blood relatives, waaay back." He pointed at Lopez, and shook his head. "Your great-great-grandma got nicked in the old country, Padre, sorry to be the one to tell you... but back then in the villages," he said, glowering at Father Patrick, "they used natural methods to try to reverse a turn before the bitten died. She finally did die human, true, but the baby didn't梥o there's a tracer."
"That is bullshit!" Shabazz said. "Don't let him get in your head, people." Shabazz looked around at the members of the group. "Don't let him divide and conquer us. That's how he got Damali!"
"You need to relax, hombre," Carlos said as he walked with his hands behind his back, satisfied by Jose's stricken expression. "D and I hooked up the old-fashioned way - no fraud necessary." He glanced at her, but couldn't read her expression. That concerned him. He tried to wipe the Neteru haze from his mind.
"All right," Carlos went on. "Then how did the Covenant find me in the desert?"
"Lopez was our tracker," Father Patrick said cautiously, glancing at his brother cleric.
"Right," Carlos spat. "My point exactly." He shook his head, so disgusted he was about to explode. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. The night was calling him, Neteru was thick in it, and until her family showed up, Damali had been beyond comprehension in his arms... and the only reason he wasn't dropping a body was for this crazy woman! If that would get her back inside, being cool, chilled-out, and sexy mellow, then fine. So be it. But these bastards were burning up time.
He took a deep breath, and spoke to them like they were children. "If a master is at critical blood levels and is about to be extinguished, everything in his line aligned to him will scramble," Carlos said, beyond impatient with their stupidity. "Everything is designed for the preservation of the line - so when I was dying in Lopez's region, he could track and find me faster than anyone. But that's the only reason dude should have done a lock." He glared at the young man. "Fucked you up, too, didn't it, Padre? Just like that first night in the safe house. But I owe you for finding me." Carlos chuckled, thinking of what an eighth-generation must have gone through with a master lock. "And, damn, Jose, man... you're from 'round the way. You know better than to roll up on a man like that. That was a punk-ass move, if ever I saw one. She's mine. Get over it."
Jose's bristle made Carlos walk forward and the dogs growl. "I know you are not standing outside my lair trying to f**king challenge me for her? Are you that crazy?"
"Carlos," Damali said quietly, then raised her voice to also address the warrior teams. "Let's keep to the point. It's not even like that between me and Jose. What is wrong with you?"
She was too through, and Carlos seemed like he was too high to be totally rational. Anything could go down, but it was good that he kept talking, working it out in his head. Maybe the air would help dissipate the scent - that was the hope. She wanted to bring them both back to center, not have something crazy happen. But the sure thing was that if she said she was leaving now, in this state, he'd hurt somebody.
"All right," she told the group. "Let's assume that this generational vamp thing is true for a minute."
"Thank you," Carlos muttered. "Finally, progress."
She took her time to speak, monitoring the horror in Jose and Father Lopez's expressions. "Then, if this is true, Lopez was born with vamp trace elements but like Jose made the choice to be a Guardian. Their spirits are good, Carlos - nobody can be held responsible for what happened in the past before they were even born. And yeah, it might have made them more susceptible to certain leanings. Like I understand why Jose couldn't immediately shake Dee Dee's hold. But in the final analysis, baby, they made the right choice, to be who they are."
"See, Damali, there you go again, always twisting my words." He pointed at her, but he was looking at her teams as he spoke. "You see this? This is female logic, the most treacherous shit in the universe!"
"But she's right," Father Patrick said, his gaze galvanizing the teams. "Whatever Lopez or Jose's distant pasts, they made a choice. And, as you know, we had you marked for Guardian status. The reason we found Lopez so fast, as well as you - is because we, too, have a homing instinct to find our own when felled." His thick white brows knitted with suppressed anger. "And tonight we've come to reclaim at least one of our own!"
"Word," Shabazz said. "So save all the rhetoric, Rivera. We takin' baby girl outta here, and I don't care how Jose or Lopez got made as long as - "
"This is not open for negotiation," Carlos said evenly. He looked at Damali. "She's already made her choice."