"This isexactly why we do not consort with the darkside!" Aset shouted, losing her composure.
"If I can get my man's side of the story . . . maybe that would clear things up?" Carlos shrugged."Then again, knowing Yonnie, maybe not. Depending on what he's tried to send by mental voice mail, the Kings might hot him on sight. These are some really tense times."
"I saw the images fromPearl of what he tried to do to the Valkyrie," Aset said between her teeth. "Spare me any further indignity."
Carlos hung his head. "Queen . . . it's not always the way it looks. But my apologies on behalf of my friend for anything you saw that didn't . . . that wasn't. I'm sorry."
Eve stared at Carlos, pressing one finger to her lips for a moment as Aset took in deep, cleansing breaths. "You could not receive any transmissions from any source from the darkside, Carlos, once you got tainted by the Ultimate Darkness. Your Neteru defense systems went into overdrive, surrounding the primary threat to your existence. The silver galvanized around all your major points of entry . . . your mind, your spirit, your body, like white blood cells trying to surround an insidious cancer. Add that to the protected hostels you were traveling to, and this is what kept you from getting his signals."
She let her breath out hard and looked at Aset. "I've had three sons, two who made it to the Light . . . but even they, at times, had friends I disapproved of, Aset. You also had a son, Heru." She waited until her Queensister looked away. "Might we claim that we are testing Carlos's immune system . . . to, uhmmm, open a slight channel to his mind. If it is an attack, we can certainly light-scorch it away quickly . . . and then he'll know. With male children, you cannot tell them; always, they must know for themselves."
"Up here?" Aset said, incredulous. "Allow a vampire transmission to reach here during the end of days? Have you lost yourmind! "
"It must pass through our filters; think of it, Aset," Eve lobbied with a smile, giving Carlos a sly wink when Aset paced away. "If the information is dark and meant to maim him or his family in any way, it will incinerate on contact. But if it is indeed sent in friendship . . . in love of their bond as true best friends, then that part will come through . . . even if the message is garbled, he will be able to get enough to ease his mind so that he may heal."
Eve walked over to Aset and hugged her. "Isn't that what we want, to fullyheal this young King's mind?" She glanced at Damali's calm, prone form. "Isn't that what we've dreamt . . . peace in their lives . . . just long enough?" Her eyes sparkled and then she backed away as Aset's gaze softened.
Aset nodded. "That is indeed what we want . . . in the larger view." She let out a hard breath."All right. Contact thisYolando and tell us what he says."
Carlos kissed the pearl, making it giggle, as he handed it off to Eve. Then he watched the two olderQueens , who seemed to be sharing a secret. They had somber eyes but it was as though they were quietly swallowing smiles. Excitement radiated off their skins . . . but he shook it off as he looked around, realizing that he was in a King's burial preparation chamber and not an OR. That fact, in and of itself, was sobering. This time, Yonnie really owed him.
"Are you ready to open your thoughts?" Aset scowled and shook her head, and issued a hard snap of her fingers before Carlos could even answer.
Bleating calls filled his mind, causing him to wince. There was so much information coming at him so fast that theQueens stepped forward, worried. But he held up his hand to stop their intervention.
"He was blowing up mental voice mail, third-eye video phone, brain two-way, and gut-instinct cell . . ."
Carlos closed his eyes, allowing the garbled message to come in fits and starts. Major sections were burned out, but in a few minutes he'd gathered enough to make him want to tweak the prayer shield on the property surrounding the house. Yonnie definitely needed a fallback position now, a place to go during a firefight-but, still, out of respect for Rider, and neverever being quite sure of what Yonnie might do . . . the house itself still needed to be off-limits.
"I need to ask Ausar and Adam to come in here. What I've seen isn't fit forQueens , and I'd never transmit this kind of information to another man's wife. But they've installed new councilwomen-Lucrezia Borgia and Elizabeth Bathory, Dracula's wife."
"Ausar!"Aset yelled, dropping all Queenly dignity and rushing to the chamber door.
Both Kings came in dressed for battle, brandishing blades. Adam stood by Ausar's side holding white stallion reins, clearly ready to ride.
"Mind-lock, open a channel," Carlos said."Male Neteru sensitive data given to me, through a light filter, straight from Hell."
Ausar and Adam looked at each other.
"Is his purge complete?" Ausar asked, unsure. "This could be residual synaptic contamination from the Beast."
Aset shook her head. "He's clean. This came from his friend, whom he wants given special wartime courtesies."
"I need to show you everything my homeboy shared with me-from there, you can decide how to edit the images to share with your wives and the rest of the Neteru Council. But Yonnie's intent is in there, too . . . as well as his image, his position . . . the tight spot he's in . . . and why he did what he did on the beach with the Valkyrie-"
"Speak it out in the open no more, young brother. Not in front of our wives," Adam said, taking off his helmet. "Damn. A Valkyrie and a vampire . . ."
"Where does this man select his alliances?" Ausar said, shaking his head. He lowered his blade and stepped forward.
"I know, I know," Carlos said. "But check it out for yourselves. This isserious information.Solid sterling."
Both Kings closed their eyes as the broken images transferred from Carlos's mind to theirs in jags. Ausar rubbed his jaw and shook his head. Adam took in a deep breath and walked away. When Carlos opened his eyes to end the transmission, the three male Neterus simply stared at one another for a moment.
"Kinda leaves you speechless, don't it?"
Adam and Ausar nodded, but said nothing. Adam rubbed the back of his neck beneath his long dreadlocks. Ausar sheathed his blade.
"Well?" Asetsaid, her gaze expectant.