Who's ready to ride - uh-huh, what you say? Who's taking a stand - uh-huh, what you say?"
"Just get your gear and move out. Draw the line - what you about?" Carlos said in the same steady-beat baritone as the brothers had, but then changed up the tempo to a
syncopated, Latin influence that made them all shake their heads with appreciation.
"Who's down for whatever, whenever, whoever, however it's gotta go, yo? Who's willing, and able, and ready to go back - back to the hood, back to the block, back to backing this bullshit up while holding your Glock? My beef starts right at home, 'round the corner all alone. Who knows enough is enough; ashes ain't ashes 'til dust is dust, man? You gotsta be crazy letting this madness up in your mind, up in your hood, up in your woman, up to no good - inviting in evil at every turn, you're like a wide open virgin about to be burned -
but I'm school ya now, brothers, so you all can learn - the insanity you're fighting can't be won, 'til you man up, and face up, and stand up, and be done. Roll call, who's ready, tonight I'm getting my gun."
Mike slapped Carlos so hard on the back he almost knocked him down.
"Ooooh, maaaan!" Jose hollered. "That was ridiculous, C!"
"We definitely can't bill this as the World Peace concert - I'm not even sure Stop the Violence applies," Dan said, impressed.
"Hey, go with Take Back the Block, then," Shabazz said with a wide smile, " 'cause this brother definitely took that shit."
"Didn't he," Inez said. "Damn, C, I didn't know you could spit like that."
"That was pretty awesome, Mr. Rivera," Marlene said, "and I've been in the biz for a fair piece of time - raw talent, brother. Mind like a razor to be able to come up with lines on the fly that fast - which also tells me how fast you can lie," she added, making the group erupt again in laughter before she hugged him.
"You definitely have to use a God-given talent like that, especially if it's calling Guardians to take a stand right in their own neighborhoods," Marjorie said, looking around. "You're calling people to say no to craziness in their own lives, first, and to monitor their own blocks and stop the insanity in their own homes before going anywhere else to stop it."
"Marj," Berkfield said, rubbing his palms down his face. "We're not in showbiz, leave them to - "
"But you used to say that all the time when you walked a beat," she argued. "I know what I'm talking about. This is true."
"I just didn't know you had it in you like that, dawg," J.L. said, laughing.
"Neither did I," Damali said quietly, unable to keep how proud she was from seeping into her voice.
Embarrassed by the attention and Damali's breathy tone of appreciation, Carlos walked over to the minibar and hunted for a beer, quickly realizing that the team had been in their suite for a long time and any stash that had previously been there was long gone.
"I was just adding-in here in the living room. Onstage takes the pros and I ain't that," Carlos said offhandedly, but still very pleased that he'd made Damali proud. It didn't mean he was down for a concert, but that he finally felt that he could relate to a part of her world that had felt so foreign before. That felt good. Really good. Maybe too good, given that it looked like the team was gonna probably be dug into their suite, concert planning for the duration.
An unexpected knock at the door gave the team a start. Bobby cautiously answered it as the room became quiet and tense, everyone's weapons concealed but at the ready. The concierge stood at the door, his face solemn. "I am sorry to disturb your gathering," he said, glancing around with disapproving eyes. "But our other guests have asked if it is
at all possible for you to keep it down just a tad?"
CHAPTER TEN
Yonnie looked down at Lorelei and withdrew from her body in disgust. He'd bedded another damned witch, who looked more like an imp begging to be made a vampire - and not one of them worthy, couldn't even come close to his Tara, or Gabrielle, for that matter.
"Why not?" she asked quietly, clutching the damp sheets to her rail-thin body. Yonnie didn't even turn around as he buttoned his shirt the energy-saving way by hand. He didn't want to look at her sal low complexion and dyed black hair with its garish streak of purple running down the left front panel. His temper was such a short breath away from becoming murderous. With every thrust against her piteous frame his body had cried out - not Tara. There was no lavender, even though the wash of purple hue in her hair had drawn him to her... maybe that was it. Or it could have been the initial wide brown eyes that reminded him, but then only to find out as he'd moved in closer that she was a fraud
... all games and deceit as any dark coven witch would be ... except Gabrielle.
"Make me tell you no again, and that's your ass," he said through a sudden presentation of fangs. He had to get out of her room and pull it together.
"Why don't you just do it, Yonnie?" she said, challenging him as she stood.
"Because you don't have tits," he said, turning to leave. Rather hurt her self-esteem than her. But as she walked up loser, dangerously close, he wondered, why not? His chances for the Light had died long ago ... his boy had left him hanging, had sided with a Guardian, Jack Rider, over him. So what if his turn bites would make her instant cinder? She'd rimmed his ass**le with her lovely tongue, and that Was worth something.
"You wanna take a walk on the permanent wild side, and can't take no for an answer." He smiled and began circling her. It had been so very, very long, and she had no idea.
"I want to be the undead," she said, looking up at him and trembling as he made her keep turning to hold his line of vision.
"Your treacherous ass is already the undead. Your soul probably fled your body years ago with all the foul bullshit you did." Yonnie stopped walking and then pushed her away from him so hard that she fell. "You dumb bitch. My bite would incinerate you on contact. That's the only reason you still got a throat. I'm out." He was breathing hard, the urge to feed from her suddenly so visceral that he couldn't immediately retract his fangs. She stared up at him with a wide, foolish smile.