"Hey, man, it's all good," she said, mopping up the slight spill from when he'd bumped her.
If he couldn't sense incoming that close, right over his left shoulder, then what the hell . . . there wasn't that much relaxed in the world.
Marlene had that look again that saidopen up a private channel . He shook his head and took a deep swig of his drink, shocked to find himself blinking back tears. The request became more urgent, and he set his drink down with precision and shook his head again, tears burning away.
Pasting on a false smile, he leaned around Krissy's back to speak to Marlene while everyone else was talking.
"I can't," he said in a tense murmur. "Something's worming inside my head, and the only one that I could open a channel like that with is laid out from it already. I don't wanna chance it, Mar. I don't even want D near this."
She nodded, their gazes never leaving each other's. "I've been watching you all day. You two need to make a Neteru Council run, given what you went up against earlier. Let them white light scorch it out before it gets too far in you, Carlos."
He sat back quickly and gave her a curt nod. Senior Guardians picked up on it, but let it ride. That was the way things worked on the team. Go with the flow; deal with the details later. God . . . where was his wife?
He moaned as blueberries mixed with pancakes, butter, and syrup to create a sugary confection in his mouth. As it slid down his throat he braced himself against the table for the expected violent reaction. When he opened his eyes, Valkyrie was staring at him with an unblinking gaze. To his surprise, the sweetness createda warm , comforting slurry inside his belly-not the scorching pain of a dead body rejecting normal human nourishment.
"I've wanted to try these since I was a little kid," Yonnie breathed out.
"Why didn't you?" Her brow creased as she watched him shove another heaping forkful into his mouth. "You were onthis side," she said, her gaze open with wonder. "You were allowed to flee and stay here as a hybrid. I would have triedeverything my heart desired."
He swallowed, slowing his chewing . . . thinking of how to answer her. "When I was on this side, I wasn't free." There was no bitterness in his tone, just a statement of fact. "Back when I first wanted these, I was a little kid, but a slave."
Her hand went to her mouth in horror. "The humansenslaved hybrids?"
He covered her hand. "That was two hundred years ago. Eat your breakfast before it gets cold."
"But you were achild ." Pure indignation flared in her eyes."A little boy!"
He put one finger to his lips as patrons turned to stare at her. But he also smiled. The fact that it bothered her so much meant something. At this juncture, he wasn't sure just what, but it did.
"They don't still do that barbaric practice-and please tell me they do not do so to children?"
"Naw, after the Civil War that ended," he said, swiping a piece of bacon from her plate. "Can I have this, since you're not a meat-eater? Damn this is good."
"But you said two hundred years . . . you were able to live that long outside of Nod?"
Yonnie looked up over the edge of his coffee cup and then set it down very carefully."Yeah. And they fed me, until I learned to feed myself." He looked down at his plate, unable to meet her innocent, trusting gaze. "But I prefer this." To keep from telling her more, he quietly ate, savoring every flavor that covered his tongue and warmed his insides.
However, her unexpectedtouch made him stare at the graceful hand that had covered his and then look up into her serene gaze.
"On our side there was a Civil War, too," she said quietly. "It left manycasualties, many are wounded in their spirits, still, even after the Neterus came to help our bodies. The food there is not this . . . freedom of choices . . . menus. I'm sorry that I prejudged you because of what you looked like. We had been battling demon forces that cannibalize we blood carriers, and yet, some on our side have the same outward appearance as you . . . when your teeth grow. But evil is not in their hearts. Do you understand my meaning?"
"I have come to learn," he said very slowly, enfolding her hand within his, "that this whole deal is about choice, no matter what.Doesn't matter who your people used to be . . . look at Cain.Perfect example. The brother was a king and lost it all for bullshit. His mom was thefirst Queen, and look how he turned out. And my homeboy . . . now that's a brother who made some ridiculous choices and came up in the Light." Yonnie shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers. He couldn't answer her directly, but he could give her a bit of personal philosophy to ponder.
"You mean, Carlos, of whom you speak so fondly?" Her voice was quiet and reverent.
"He'd died, crossed over, took a hell throne, was the baddest mutha in the valley-still is-but his ass was crazy-dark for a minute. Then, he made a choice and it's all about the silver, feel me? So, right now, I'm choosing to eat blueberry pancakes, steak and eggs with a side of bacon, while talking philosophy in the sunlight with thefinest sister I've seen in a very long time."
She smiled and looked away, but didn't pull her left hand away from his as she began picking at her meal.
"When they sent food allotments over there, did they send strawberry pancakes with whipped cream and hot chocolate?" He smiled when she looked up and shook her head.
"Good, ain't it?"
She smiled and licked the excess stickiness from her mouth. "Yonnie," she whispered. "Wenever had anything like this over in Nod. We could dream of it, even manifest it-but to truly taste the full flavor of it . . ." She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "To feel it going down into your belly, oh . . ."
"Tell me about where you used to live," he said, sending pleasure sensations into her palm. "What else couldn't you do?"
She hesitated and then pulled her hand away from his to take up her hot chocolate.