"Not out here in the open," Carlos warned. Both Marlene and Father Patrick nodded in agreement.
All the issues hit her at once. "Marlene, what if I don't cast an image on stage, or, wake up one day to go out to run an errand, and sun bake!"
"That's what I'm saying, Mar," Carlos said pulling Damali near him. "This shit's gotta be clear cut. She can't be going back and forth, not knowing. My damned nerves can't take it, either. If she shows up in the registers again as a full turn - all Hell will literally break loose. And if she has a false ripening... no, that can't happen. There are four other masters topside, with full regions in Europe, Asia - what-the-fuckeva, and my territory is bled out from the last wars - and all I've got backing me up to protect her is two Hell-dogs and a team of new, remade seconds. That ain't worth shit against four masters and their armies. Plus, this other issue, which we need to speak on under closed circumstances, is going to require both of us to be on top of our game."
He walked away from her, and raked his hair hard. "I mean, for real... I can't be going down to council chambers like that, either - or have my nose, or any other sense off. What if my transport stalls in an emergency situation? Or if I go into a battle and have my power outright fail - not be able to drop fang because I have some punk-ass Guardian shit in my system. Aw, hell no..."
When Damali touched his arm, he shrugged away from her touch.
"Where I have to roll, that's beyond dangerous - and with the kinda forces that eventually could go after her," he said, motioning to Damali, "girlfriend has to be on her toes at all times. Can't have a fluctuating daylight problem. She has to know for sure."
"Now you see our point," Marlene said, drawing out each word. "But before, we old folks couldn't tell you - "
"Mar," Carlos shouted, pointing at her as his nerves snapped.
"I've still got a lotta vamp in me, sis. Don't say it, because all I know is - I knew what my bite would do to her, based on what you all told me... which was supposed to be nothing!" He glanced at Damali, ignoring her hurt expression. It was the truth. "And based on trust, pure trust alone, I let her do something to me that f**ked us both up! So don't stand on my property telling me shit, Marlene, but I'm sorry!"
"This is crazy, Marlene," Shabazz said. "I never thought I'd want a vampire to get back his full faculties, but this is - "
"Fix it!" Carlos yelled. "Marlene Stone, you taught her how to do this, now teach her the reverse for the cure!"
"You two are inextricably linked, at the moment. Probably always have been, which is the other part of our problem, but I'll deal with that later." Marlene wiped her face and sighed long and hard.
"Aw'ight," Carlos said after a while, his cool facade totally gone. "So though the exchange had the desired effect, it helped her, right? She's alive. I just need you to break down what else all this means. How bad is it really?"
"Correct, it helped her live," Marlene replied, her gaze narrowing. "But it's bad. Real bad. The purge almost killed her because you are in her system at the heart chakra level - that's why she flat-lined, brother. If she goes into a vampire episode, even though she probably never died as required for that to happen, we can't bring her out of it. The vampire state will have to pass on its own and we'll never know the duration of it."
"Why not? If she hasn't died, there are slow healing methods - "
"No, Carlos. Not an option. When we purge, we're killing, extinguishing the vampire in her and the virus is in her heart. So she'll flat-line, not because we're amateurs! So don't you ever go there again. Got it?"
Fired up, Marlene paused, and when Carlos didn't challenge her, but instead looked off toward the line of trees, she continued. "It means that no matter what you see manifest, it's temporary, most likely. It means that if she bears fangs and blows your mind, brother, she's no fully turned female master. Unless you happen to accidentally kill her one night while y'all are playing too rough! And it means that if you happen to get a whiff of my daughter ready to conceive, it's placebo, and you'd better keep your hands off her and bring her home! She has work to do!"
Marlene walked in a hot circle, her face flushed from fury. She whirled on Damali. "The things I taught you were never supposed to be used under these circumstances. Are you crazy? The vampires have the bite, but we trained seers have something, too, sister-girl, and our Ju Ju is just as deadly, is supposed to be used under very controlled circumstances. Not played with in some house on the beach. I taught you better than that!"
Chapter Eleven
Damali and her team stood there watching Carlos's back as he turned from them, waved his dogs off, and simply folded away into nothingness. It was the way he did it with none of his usual decisive flair that concerned her. But there were many things competing for her attention at the moment, most immediately was her family, most importantly was the missing biblical key.
Gradually, her Madame Isis sword materialized at her side. Again, it was in the way it had been returned with such resignation that, for a moment, she and her team only stared at it.
"We never leave our own," she said, holding her head up high, and pulling the Isis from the earth. Damali tossed the blade and it landed point down in the grass at Marlene's feet. "You keep this until you think I'm worthy to have it. But my mission hasn't changed. I'm going to clean out some nests, as planned, and bring back the thing we need."
Full authority was in her tone. It was a command, not a request, as she pushed her shoulders back and stood firm. "Just understand that I never left you all, and I never left him - herein lies my dilemma. In my soul I know that he is just as much a part of my mission as being with you is."
Marlene studied the blade and went to it, extracting it from the ground with a sharp tug. Her eyes met Damali's and a quiet understanding passed between them. She ignored the nervous bristle of the other Guardians as she stepped in close to Damali, turned the blade handle out and offered it back to her, waiting patiently until Damali accepted the ornate handle.
"You did teach me better, Marlene," Damali said, no anger or apology in her voice. "That's why I did what I did - I wasn't playing. I wanted him on our side... still do, always have, and I wasn't afraid to go where I had to go to reach him." She gave Marlene a slight smile.
Marlene smiled, her finger moving a stray lock off Damali's shoulder. "You scared us half to death."
"Scared myself... still do sometimes."
Both women's eyes held a level of amusement that only the night could witness. They both turned back toward the team, feeling the group behind them growing restless.
"You coming with us, or what?" Rider shouted, his frustration rippling through the night. "Tell me after this you are leaving hombre - 'cause, girlfriend, you are way off mission, right about through here."
"She can no more leave him now than I could leave Shabazz," Marlene said firmly, dismissing Rider's question with a wave of her hand.