"All right, Jack Rider," Marlene said, folding her arms and lowering her voice. She leaned in toward him to make him lean in toward her. "Listen," she said, as though someone else might hear. "You are never going to be able to make it rain rose petals in the bedroom, or whatever else vampire lovers tend to do-but never forget, you did something none of them can do . . . you loved that woman back from the grave. She sat up off a slab in a church, or did I get the story wrong?"
Rider sat back, awe in his expression. He looked away and then rubbed his jaw, and then stared at Marlene as though seeing her for the first time.
"Yeah," Marlene said in a conspiratorial whisper. "That's some hard-down,crazy love.Tara never struck me as a foolish woman, and if she was going to Yonnie, I know it had to be to threaten his vampire ass, not to jerk Val around . . . and to tell him she'd hunt him down herself if he got carried away and turned that innocent. Then, who am I to say, but I think my gut is right on this . . . she probably was gonna lay so much guilt on him, remind him about how she was turned while innocent and wide-open sexually, blah, blah, blah so that if that man had a glimmer of a conscience, he'd think twice before he bit her. Not to mention, she had to be sure he wasn't just playing with Val's head to try to play with hers-you know that old make-her-jealous-so-she'll-come-to-me move. If I knowTara , she was going to waltz out there and put her hands on her h*ps and tell Yonnie to go stroke himself. She'd never violate you like that, Jack. Be serious."
Again he rubbed his palms down his face and then just shook his head, looking at the floor. "How come y'all are so damned complicated? I would have never figured all that out . . . when she headed for the door, I sorta lost it."
"When he called her before, on a new daywalker high . . . yeah, you had a right to be worried. But since then, he went wherever and handled his business, so much that he was cool enough to pass Neteru Council inspection."
Rider's gaze traveled out the kitchen door. "I'm in the doghouse, Mar. Jack Daniel's will make you say some shit that is really, really hard to take back."
"Uh-huh, I hear you," she said, sipping her tea."Hence, why I'm always telling you brothers to chill on that particular remedy when you're angry."
Rider held up his hand. "I know. You're right."
"I don't want to be right," she said, meaning it. "I want you to be peaceful . . . who knows how this day is gonna go. So, how about if you go back upstairs and get some, uh, rest, and I'll watch the baby. Throw your hat in the door, fall on your sword, eat crow, but come down here in a few hours a much happier man, will ya?"
"I love how you think, darlin' . . . but I really . . ."
"I know you ain'tno punk, Jack Rider," Marlene teased.
"Been called many things, but not that," he said, slipping off his stool. He downed his coffee like he was downing a beer and set the empty cup down hard like they'd been sitting at a saloon bar. He then hitched up his saggy sweatpants in a way that made her laugh and swaggered toward the door. "I owe you, ma'am, much obliged."
Marlene waved him away. "Aw, shucks, sir. It wasn'tnothing . . . besides, I already got mine."
"This time, Mother, I insist." Abel stood across from Eve in her royal chambers with his arms folded. "You have allowed Seth to join the battle, why not me? He is my junior; I am now eldest and it is my birthright to fight with the Neterus at the end of days."
Eve stared at her second son, whom she'd lost so many years ago, and then let out her breath hard. He'd caught her in chambers alone before sunrise and wore only a simple white linen wrap around his loins.No longer a baby, she thought,no longer a gangly teen . . . .he had Adam's tall, proud carriage, and his skin was deep ebony, just like his father's. Thick Nubian locks the hue of midnight interlaced with gold threads hung down his straight back. But rather than owning Cain's thick, muscular frame, Abel was long and lean, his muscles moving beneath black skin like a leopard's. Her hand went to her mouth, her fingers nervously drumming her lips as she contemplated the inevitable.
"I lost you once," she said quietly, and then gathered her golden robe more tightly around her body. "I consoled myself by knowing that I'd have Seth with us his entire life, but you were cut down before you could even . . ."
"They cannot eradicate me here."
"You are young and think you are invincible. This is why I worry." She stared at her baby boy, now a man, a full spirit in his own right. "They can damage your spirit, set the Darkness upon it to twist it like it twisted your brother's." She pushed her Nubian locks off her shoulders as her voice dropped to a pained whisper. "You saw what they did to Cain's spirit. You know what that did to me. If they harm you again, I shall pass away from all existence. The earth shall have a mother no more."
She went to Abel and hugged him and laid her head on his shoulder. "And yet I know that, no matter what I say, you are going to war."
He petted her hair and nuzzled his face against her temple. "I love you, Mother, and respect you . . . but yes, I am going to war."
She held him away from her and then cupped his cheek. "You loved me best and respected me the most . . . and for all these years, you stayed with me here, despite your need to see the world."
He covered her hand with his own and stared at her with the clearest gaze. "I knew you couldn't take it, and there was time. This, Father taught me. There is a season for all things, and prior to now, it was not my season."
She nodded and hugged him again tightly. "What is the plan?"
Abel hesitated and then walked away from her. "I have the same Neteru tracer in my DNA that they need to track from the darkside, from Cain's blood ties to you. Since Carlos and Cain shared lineage as well, albeit from the wrong source, we can mask enough of the differences to cause confusion."
No apology in his startling gaze, he turned and stared at his mother. "I have the same rage as the newest Neteru," he said in a quiet, tense voice. "I watched my mother break down, wail for centuries at their hands. Let me help end this new dark line. It comes from the same pit that whispered in my brother's ear and stoked enough jealousy within him that he murdered flesh of his flesh."
"How can you ask me to thus put you in harm's way, yet again? You must know how this creates agony inside my heart." She walked deeper into the chamber and, hugging herself, spoke with her eyes closed. "Tell me your plan. Make me havehope that it is not an all-out assault on Hell."
"It is what they now call guerrilla warfare, Mother-but what we called shrewd strategy in eons past. I will shadow the male Neteru, making them send and waste valuable resources after me . . . I will act as a decoy,an energy body-double for Carlos Rivera. Seth will also help, but his rage is weaker, as he was never lost to you. Your wails for him were never as profound. Seth gave you grandchildren and made you happy . . . but he is outraged for his mother's sake, as am I. He and I will work in tandem to confuse the enemy. When they send retaliation toward Rivera, it will be Seth or I that will redress it, and then our father and the armies of Ausar will return fire-while the living brother is always in the shadows. This way, Rivera can hunt the Antichrist with some added measure of protection."
"It is a sound and approved plan," Adam said in a low rumble, entering the room. "The archon's tableconvened, and evenHannibal agrees with this approach to keep the darkside chasing after spirits to allow the living room to live. It is especially critical now. This also avoids the need to open another seal so quickly."
The two elder Neterus exchanged a meaningful glance that left Abel with a question in his mind.
Eve slowly nodded but her heart was heavy, making her words spill from her lips with weighted emphasis. "You will tell them, the young Neterus?"