Big Mike looked out the window. "If you're telling us something we need to know as a team, man, you know that's some dangerous shit. Even I only did Mardi Grasonce -and it ain't nothing to wrap a love jones around. That's a sure way to get f**ked up."
Carlos watched the team dynamics in the aircraft unravel. Stunned clerics took a very cautious position, and he could almost feel their muscles go to readiness. But Rider had had his back on the cliffs. His secret wasn't a dangerous one, to his way of thinking. He knew for a fact that Rider hadn't been nicked in a year. This was his boy, and it was time to cover his man and take the weight.
"He's cool," Carlos assured the team. "Every man has a woman he can't forget. Tara was his, so squash it."
"I don't want to f**king discuss it," Rider snapped. "Obviously, what we had was history. All she was talking about was Yonnie and Carlos! Who the hell is Yonnie?"
Marlene studied Rider, her gaze gentle, but her voice was firm. "No judgment. We all have some dark corners in our minds that we don't want anyone, even God, to know about. That's what makes us human. All I'ma say is, you need to letme know if you need something out of my black bag, on any given night."
Carlos just stared at Rider's back.Yonnie ...
Jose went to Rider and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Yo, man, it was a succubus. They're supposed to jack with your mind. What did you tell her, man?"
"Nothing," Rider said, shrugging Jose's hand off him as the group continued to stare. "Why do you think I'm so pissed off?"
Shabazz swallowed away a smile. "Yeah, you cool."
"Yonnie made it?" Carlos said carefully, staying out of Rider's swing range. "I really need to understand what she showed you, man."
Both men stared at each other for a moment.
"Who the f**k is Yonnie?" Rider said, slowly approaching Carlos.
"A good brother. He had my back when I was in the empire. I gave him master status while me and Damali had to do the thing in Australia so he could keep my territory cool."
"What?"
Before Carlos could react, Rider hauled off and hit Carlos, knocking spit and blood from his mouth. Carlos went down hard in a seat. Rider was coming over the seat before him with four team members pulling him back.
"You made a master, and let that sonofabitch run loose in my backyard with my woman out there? She's a fourth! You f**king know that, Rivera! I thought we were cool and had an understanding. If he finds her and calls her, she has to go to him! If your territory is disintegrating out there and there are no vamp females left but mine, what the f**k do you think is going to happen?" Veins were standing up in Rider's throat as his team brothers tried to restrain him. He pulled back and shrugged off his stunned Guardian team's hold. "For more than twenty goddamned years I've kept her from whatever master was running the Los Angeles yard. That house is a f**king shrine to that woman-and a succubus waltzes onto a supposedly prayer-guarded plane and throws that bullshit in my face?" He walked away from the team. "I'm done."
"Oh, shit..." Shabazz walked in a circle, raking his locks as his eyes scanned the group.
Stunned expressions stared back at him. Marlene closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
"Over twenty years?" Big Mike said, shaking his head. He looked at Imam Asula who was about to move on Rider. "He's my brother, man. I got him, if there's a problem. Chill."
Father Patrick nodded, and the clerics stood down. Jose, Dan, and J.L. sat down slowly, frozen in shock.
Carlos rubbed his jaw as he stood slowly, amazed when he tasted his own blood. He'd never even seen the punch coming.
"Clearly, he's no longer vamp," Big Mike said, glancing at Carlos and then Shabazz.
"No. Not at all," Shabazz said, shaking his head. "Okay, one problem solved."
Carlos watched the team from a remote place in his mind. Rider, a forty-five-year-old guy had caught him blind and tagged him. Shit. He wasn't sure if he was stunned more from the fact that Rider actually laid hands on him, or from the punch itself.
"Next problem," Shabazz said, looking at Rider, "is how long have you had a relationship with this female vampire?"
Father Patrick cast a nervous glance at his brothers. "Maybe we should all calm down before we try to dissect-"
"To answer your accusation, Rider, if the Covenant hadn't been double-crossed," Carlos said, spitting blood, "there wouldn't have been a breach in the prayer line."
"Tell me about Yonnie," Rider said, breathing hard. "He exists?"
"He does," Carlos said. "But that also means so does Tara. If they're the only two left standing from my old territory, then they're also on the run. But if they're holed up in your safe house, and your lines around the safe house are solid, they can't be gotten to."
"That isnot a safe house for vamps! It is a sanctuary for my lady!"