It took a second for the image to form in her mind's eye, and then she was on her feet with a screech. "My lair? They desecrated my lair with white light!" Horrified, she covered her mouth as she saw her familiar's multiple beheading. "My baby! My sweet, sweet baby -
oh, Lu, they killed my hydra!"
"It's all right," he shouted. "I'll, I'll... don't worry - I'm so enraged and f**king energydepleted, I can't even think, woman. Give me space! I need to eat, goddamn it - bring me some bodies, now!" He paced back and forth, leaving black plumes of sulfur in his wake.
"My wife's lair? Never in all of history - this is unacceptable! It is a slap in my face; the gauntlet has been thrown down."
Transport bats attempted to stir but failed. Messengers crawled forward, unable to stand. Lilith backed up, her eyes widened.
"Adam was with them," she whispered.
"What!" The Unnamed One's voice blew out wall torches as his size began to rapidly increase in height and bulk. Fis sures began to open in the walls and floor from the fury emanating from him like mini-earthquakes.
"How would Adam find your lair?" he seethed, his voice now deadly and his eyes slits of potential violence trained on her.
"He rode a white war horse," she shrieked, backing up, "and tracked the Guardian team. Adam would have never been there if the Guardians weren't at my door to retaliate for Cain's attack on their homestead in Mexico. Adam followed the male Neteru's energy tracer!" She quickly put the table between them as his gaze narrowed. "In all my treachery, I have never, ever, ever had a liaison with Adam; even I have a limit," she cried.
"You're exhausted, husband, irrational - think. If Adam rode a white - "
"The first seal..." he said quietly, stunned and going to the righted Chairman's throne to sit down heavily in it. "I cannot believe they began the Armageddon without me, like this," he added in a tense, bewildered whisper. "I was sure that we had years after my mark had been upon the popula tions for a time ..."
"The National ID Card mark that spread through Europe to the U.S. - they cannot buy or sell without it - was bril liant, beloved." Thoroughly undone, Lilith wrung her hands trying to console him. "It will take years for it to proliferate, and surely they cannot start the war without the mark of the beast? That will happen."
"In due time. It hasn't taken root yet, hasn't hit other continents!" He leaned back in the throne and closed his eyes. "While I was for once experiencing a sense of utter peace . .. and f**king my wife nearly to death .. . they do this? Low. Just foul, and so unlike Adam, but I must give him credit for that move. It was more like something our kind would do. If they ever catch on and battle like us, then we shall indeed have a long-term problem." She stood watching her husband, frozen by the table, holding her breath lest his slowmoving wrath take a sudden turn to claim her.
"Lilith, darling," he murmured, causing her to back away farther as his tone dipped to a sensuous purr. "Raise the dark covens - dark witches and warlocks worldwide. Raise any vampire not slaughtered by an Isis or holy instrument. We need numbers, quickly. Bring Nuit's pathetic ass up from my torture chambers and put him in a chair - pick one. He knows this team best, regardless of what I think of him ... and in stall two females at your helm. You must see that our heir in Nod survives. Midwives, make them strong and reliable."
Her husband stood slowly, rubbing both palms down his face and breathing out fire behind them. "I must strengthen all the realms above yours to the surface myself - just like the old days. I know I owe you eighteen more days of mind-melting ecstasy, but we will have to
defer given the circum stances."
Absolute horror gripped her as she stared at her husband. This particular Neteru team had confounded even the Devil? Oh, yes, this was indeed the end of days. She watched, incredulous, as her husband began walking toward the chamber doors, shaking his head and talking out loud to himself.
"I always envisioned Dante or my heir at my side when this time fell upon us - or initiating it myself, Lilith," he said in a tone that contained charged, repressed fury. "I must repair all the damage the Neterus have caused.... Always busy, al ways more work to do; when do I rest? Do you know what it takes to keep what I've built for us going, have you a clue?" He let out a roaring bellow that made rocks fall. "Kiss my ass! I never believed the Light would be so hasty! The realms above were always so methodical in the days gone by." He shrugged, eerily collecting himself to his former control. "Go figure - new millennium, new era."
"What else will you have me do?" she whispered, now deeply concerned for his state of mind.
He began walking, then turned and glanced at her over his shoulder. "I haven't decided yet. But I will tell you this - eventually I want to meet this Carlos Rivera Neteru and his lovely, Powers angel-Neteru hybrid wife. They absolutely fascinate me ... and I may need a bargaining chip."
* * *
They walked through the folds of nothingness into Carlos and Damali's suite. Father Pat was shouting on the speakerphone when the pandemonium broke out. Dirty, demon-gooksplattered warriors were covered in ash and smoke, eyelashes crusted with black-blood cinders. They stood weary in the middle of the floor now that the adrenaline rush was ebbing. Shrieks made Mike and Inez cringe as battle-weary arms opened and bodies slammed against chests, forcing embraces to lock. Then just as suddenly, female Guardians tore away, pulled back, and began examining for nicks and demon-incursion skin rips.
"Anyone injured?" Father Pat yelled into the din.
"Every man in here is nicked up bad, Father," Marlene shouted, holding Shabazz's hand for a moment and then looking at Big Mike's fist.
"Douse everything," Damali said. "Father Pat, we're gonna have to get back to the Covenant on the phone in a bit, after our healers work. Every one of these guys needs a full system purge, given where they went. Any opening, down in Lilith's foul lair, could have them dragging home who knows what."
"Good, good, you do that," Father Patrick said.
"We will keep the vigil in prayer," Imam Asula assured the group.
"We must come to you," Rabbi Zeitloff said, his tone strident. "You cannot fly here; we must meet somewhere neutral to decide how and when you can make it into Jerusalem." The men on the team shared concerned glances.
"That is the wisest alternative," Monk Lin said. "Call us the moment you rise in the morning and your full team is assembled. We will send prayers your way that your purges are not painful and your healings swift."
"Bless you," Father Patrick murmured. "We shall close with a prayer just as we opened