Rider held up his hands in front of his chest. "Don't look at me-I don't have kids, and me and Tara are definitely out of range for that to be a possibility. We'reSwitzerland on the subject."
"No . . ."Tara said evenly. "We are notSwitzerland or neutral." She released a long, emotion-filled breath. "I was robbed of my chance-dead before twenty. If I had a child and I knew vampires walked by day, as well as something so much worse, that child would be on my hip.Period, end of story."
"My bad," Rider said with a shrug. "I was just trying to see it from Rivera's angle . . . a baby in the compound, as well as a civilian changes things dramatically-but, hey, I go with the flow. Y'all gonna make me take up smoking again, though, I swear."
"Anybody else got a problem with it?" Inez said, pecking her neck.
"Not at all," Heather said, stepping close to Inez and then out of the blue, she hugged her. "You're blessed. We'll all share her, okay? Can I be Auntie Heather?"
Inez's gaze held Heather's shimmering gaze for a moment."Sure, girl."
"Oh, for the love ofpete ," Rider muttered and walked to stand by Carlos.
"We'll need to give her momma a full tour of the house so she knows what alarms not to trip, and I'm gonna have to work on baby-proofing the artillery room . . . that would be tragic," J. L. said as he stood up and began walking the perimeter of the room. "Need door latches, or maybe retina scans to open certain doors . . . not sure, gotta redesign the whole house . . . I'll be on it."
"It's worth it," Krissy said, nodding toward Inez. "We can make this work." She looked away. "We need to address this subject anyway."
"Why?" J.L. said, jerking his attention toward her, panic in his eyes.
"Because it's gonna come up again," Juanita said flatly.
"Could happen to any one of us," Jasmine said, her gaze going to Inez. "We'll all help take care of her. I know what it is to grow up without my mom. She shouldn't have to."
J.L.'s shoulders dropped by two inches as Dan got up from the ottoman he'd been sitting on and began to pace. Jose simply stared at Juanita without blinking. Bobby stood and rubbed his palms down his face.
"Uh, yeah," Bobby said. "We need a contingency plan."
"Lawd have mercy." Marlene closed her eyes and allowed her head to drop back.
"All right.I guess human nature is what it is, last days or not," Shabazz said in a philosophical tone. "So we do Brooklyn and connect with theHarlem team up 'round 131st while D goes with Inez and Mike to handle their business."
The silver jolt hit the back of his skull like a sledgehammer, and, enraged, his talons extended to catch the offending orb. The throbbing, hot mass made his palm sizzle as he stared at it with a slit gaze. But soon, awareness washed over him in small increments. A wry smile tugged at one side of his mouth as he summoned his wife.
"Lilith-lookwhat that boy sent us," he said, throwing his head back and laughing.
The moment she materialized he held out the silver orb, amused as she hissed and recoiled from it.
"I forgot, you prefer gold, but youmust share this with me. He sent me back my visions from the priest's mind . . . all wrapped in silver."
"I can't," she stammered, backing away from him. "Have I displeased you, already . . . the day is not even over, my Greatness."
"No, no, no, you misunderstand my intentions. This has been a glorious day."
He sighed and held the smoldering orb away from his body and made a fist to shield Lilith from it. Soon it cooled, dried, and crumbled to a fine powder, and he allowed it to sift from his palm slowly onto the end table by his massive, black marble bed. With a toothy grin he sat down, produced two golden straws, and separated the powder into narrow, white lines.
"All of the iniquity of one of the largest churches on the planet . . . since the Crusades, including the Spanish Inquisition and up to the latest American scandals." He winked at her and licked his bottom lip. "Want a hit?"
"Oh, Lu," she murmured, coming to him and kissing his shoulders as he bent and did a line. She accepted a straw and flicked her tongue over his powdered nostril. "You really are in rare form today, aren't you?"
CHAPTER FOUR
Lilith strolled back into Vampire Council Chambers, blotting her running nose with the back of her wrist. Almost stumbling as she made her way across the expanse of veined marble floor, she adjusted her formfitting black gown before sliding into her throne.
"Damn . . ." she murmured in appreciation with her eyes closed as she leaned her head back briefly, lost in thought. "I swear one day that man will be the death of me." After a moment, she lifted her head weakly and stared at her mute councilmen. "And what are you doing here? Didn't you hear what the man said-you should be out there doing damage, stirring the cauldron . . . something other than gawking at me."
Fallon Nuit made a tent with his fingers before his mouth as though carefully considering his words before he spoke. "I think it's fair to say that the three of us needed a moment . . . to recover. It had been an eventful morning and no one wants to find out at high noon that their daylight powers have been rescinded."
"No lie," Yonnie said, smoothing his palm over his throat where he'd been choked.