The child beamed at her. "Uh-huh."
He carried Father Patrick up the stairs of theBrooklyn safe house like he was an infant, laboring up each step from heartbreak. He'd had to clean him up before he could transport him. The man had soiled himself, and yet the vestiges of his old self glimpsed through the haze just enough for his dignity to be assaulted.
Carlos drew a deep breath as Jose and Rider flanked him. The man in his arms was getting weaker, as though something was unraveling his life force like a ball of twine. And now there was an SOS transmission stabbing into his mind from Damali. The team had taken fire from Nuit. Carlos ran his tongue over his incisors. He couldn't respond,his hands were literally full. He was standing on the threshold of a synagogue, and all he could do for now was pray that they had enough firepower to keep the Darkness at bay.
Yonnie retraced his steps very carefully, going to the beach, which was now the only place Carlos would allow him along the property line-that and the mountains. But he had to get word to his boy that an all-out assault was about to go down . . . the kind that ruined people forever. They were taking no prisoners. Neither age nor gender mattered. His boss was a respecter of neither. They knew about Inez's baby girl. How, he couldn't fathom, but the Devil knew a lot of shit.Had spies everywhere. And that pu**y, Nuit, was trying to gain favor by doing something really foul. Truthbe told, the only thing that saved his ass, as well as the compound from a direct hit, was that Carlos and D had prayer blocked him when they did.
As he walked along the shoreline, Yonnie chuckled sadly. Who would have thought thata prayer, of all things, would wind up saving his ass from Lu? A prayer, mind you, that got put up as a barrier to keep his horny ass from straight-snatchingTara out of the house at dawn. Yonnie shook his head and then suddenly bent over laughing.
"Oh, shit! I can't believe it. Rivera, where are you, man?"
A silver-tipped arrow whizzed so close to his spine as he stooped over that it singed the back of his Armani suit as it passed him. There was nowhere to take cover on the na**d beach. Pivoting quickly, he avoided another one and threw up a translucent black shield against the onslaught of silver fire raining on him.
Fangs dropped, battle bulked and ready for war, he scanned the beach so outraged that a heart-snatch was imminent. But that's when he saw her. She touched down, wings spread,ebony skin drenched with sweat, platinum locks lifted on the wind-a blade in hand. No fear in her eyes. Dressed like a Viking.Dayum. He foolishly flung away the translucent shield to get a closer look.
"Yo, yo, yo," he called out, trying to stop her before she took a lunge at him. "I definitely come in peace, baby."
"Be gone, demon!Defiler of the Neteru sanctuary!"
She swung and her blade tip sliced the front of his suit as he backed up.
"Rivera was holding out on you, 'cause a brothernever told me you were on his squad. Good gotdamn! Where'd you come from?"
She swung wild, fury rising as he pivoted into mist and reappeared, forcing her to expend energy that he loved watching her use.
"To the end!" she yelled, yanking a dagger from her boots.
"To the bloody f**king end . . . whew, baby, sho' you right!"Yonnie whirled away as she swung again, stole a quick kiss, and backed up before she lopped off his head."Seriously, Ma, where you from? You a new Guardian recruit, Angel Company, or what?"
She released a war cry that made him shudder as she flung her dagger hard at his throat and then gripped her blade with both hands. He stopped the dagger a quarter inch from his Adam's apple.
"Let's talk, baby-it don't have to be all this . . ."
"From the edges of Nod to the ends of the earth, I will protect those I pledged to stand with, demon! Know that!" she yelled, heaving in deep gulps of air between swings. "There is no negotiation, liar,trickster !"
"Whoa, whoa, ma.You've got the wrong man." Yonnie grabbed the hovering dagger out of the air where he'd frozen it and tossed it back to her. "Do I look like I'm trying to fight you, sis?"
She caught the dagger with one hand, breathing hard.
"You ain't no joke with a blade, girl."
She pointed her sword at him. "Who are you-friend or foe?"
"Friend, baby.Meand Rivera go way back . . . me and D, too, kinda."
"Then where are they?" she spat, dragging in huge breaths. "Their windows are in shambles, a silver energy pulse was released containing toxin. My Neteru Queen's pearl shrieked all the way to Nod that Carlos was being attacked bythe Darkness! "
"Youse a baadass -gangsta, baby-shit! If you thought that's who I was and came out here buck wild, just swinging crazy, ready to die on the beach for family? Takes heart. Much respect," Yonnie said, slapping his chest."To see that in a woman . . . uhmmph, uhmmph, uhmmph."
"Do not evade my questions!" she said, frustration making her blade bounce.
"I'm not," he said. "I came here looking for them, too-because I know who's on their ass, but I'm not him, aw'ight?" Yonnie began circling her, watching the sun glisten against her dark skin and enjoying how she turned with him, never giving him her back. "You're really from the forbidden realm and got out . . . like a jailbreak and whatnot, too?"
"We are no longer incarcerated since the first two seals have been broken-we are not criminals."
"Hey, I was just saying, 'cause I found that rather sexy myself . . . that you broke outta the joint over the big edict," he said, pointing upward but unable to elaborate, "justto have Damali and Carlos's back. Like I said, respect. Plus you got a divine transmission . . ." Yonnie stopped circling her and shook his head. "So, uh, I guess if you're an angel, I could really get smoked if, uh, you know, we got to know each other better?"
"If you attempt to molest me, I will cut out your heart."