"He should be gifted with music, like no other entity but the angels that guide creative expression, because, after all, his grandfather was the most beautiful voice in Heaven's choir at one time, and was the most gifted in music of all the angels before he fell," Father Patrick stated bluntly.
The elderly priest drew a shaky breath. "If Damali somehow called him, and he is who we suspect, well... he would be handsome beyond imagination, be so musically adept, and tuned in to her near-angelic sound vibrations--because she's a Neteru--that an instant bond could be easily established, and would also dangerously hold the very fabric of information from the Tree of Knowledge that his father breached in the
Garden when he took Eve. He's smart. Do not underestimate him at all. The only issue is as long as he's functioning as a human Neteru, then by the mark of God, he cannot be killed--or we would be going against the law. If any of us do that, then our souls would bottom out in the dark realms... and given our lifelong profession of demon slaying, you can imagine the penance any of us would do down there." Damali let her head drop back and closed her eyes with a loud groan. "Oh, no . . ."
"Let me get this right, Father Pat," Rider said, sitting slowly on the edge of the weapons table. "Our girl accidentally hooks up with a mind-blowing cosmic choir director who is physically awesome by all female standards and has direct Neteru juice from the first female ever made on the planet. Which means," Rider pressed on when no one stopped him, "on the one hand, this guy has all the pull power-squared, of a Council-level master vampire, with all the knowledge and lovemak-ing skills, yada, yada, yada, of the species--directly from the Tree of Knowledge that his daddy breached, but came out in broad daylight and ain't sterile, and, I might add, just to keep it interesting, has a nose for female Neterus."
"When he-came to me, he was apexing," Damali said quietly, cringing with her eyes still shut tightly. "Oh, my God . . ."
Rider sighed. "Well, that does make it interesting, kiddo, because on the other hand, from what you're telling us, Father, this guy has his good days when he's all armor and honor, from his mother's side, so holy water, silver nitrate, hallowed shells, and whatever else we've got in our arsenal won't drop him--and, again, to keep it interesting, we're not supposed to kill him because of this human Neteru DNA giving him freedom of choice to be good or bad, and the Almighty's edict in the equation. Conundrum? Father, excuse my French, but this is well beyond a damned rock and a hard place."
"Our boy, Carlos, is screwed," Big Mike said, shaking his head. He stared at Damali. "If Carlos bugs hard over in Nod, like he did when he saw you in the brother's arms, and goes vamp--sounds to me like Cain will whip his natural ass. Fang for fang, if he's Dante's boy, plus, if Carlos wins and smokes Cain, he's also screwed, and probably doesn't even know it--"
"I know," Damali said, leaning forward with her face in her hands. "Girl, this is raggedy," Inez said, going to stand by Big Mike. "If the brother is a Neteru, too, and Carlos comes at him like that, he's been one longer, has come into his full powers over several generations, plus his momma had him--so even that wasn't diluted, D. He wasn't an elevated Neteru like Carlos. This guy was a natural birth. Same with being the Chairman's son... Cain didn't just get bitten to be made a vamp; he was made from doing the wild thing. That has got to have more kick to it, right?"
Juanita's hands went to her h*ps as she went to stand by Jose. "You should have been more careful, Damali. How could you put Carlos in a position like that? After all that man did for you, and the way he loves you . . ." She began to pace. "I cannot believe you!"
Damali felt herself beginning to rise out of the chair. "You don't know what goes down between me and him and I suggest you don't even go there." The urge to tell Juanita that she might remember some shit that would make her hair fall out was on the tip of Damali's tongue so hard she could taste it. Juanita's gall and audacity continued imploding in her brain, and she had to look at Jose to remember that there was more at stake than being right at the moment. But were it not for Dan jumping between them, they could have had it out in the middle of the floor.
"Plus, dude has an army," Dan said, raking his hair.
"Come again?" Damali said, snatching her focus from Juanita and looking at Dan in earnest for the first time.
"You heard Father Pat," Dan said, his blue eyes darting around the team as Damali angrily walked back to her chair and flopped down in it. "Father Pat said that Cain begged not to be killed by the inhabitants of Nod, right? You do the math. It was Adam and Eve, they had Cain and Abel, and Cain killed Abel, then later Adam and Eve had Seth after all that dust had settled. At the time Cain was pleading for amnesty, there were only three humans topside--Adam, Eve, and Cain, since Abel was dead and Seth hadn't been born yet. So who was around to off him?"
Again the room went still for a moment as Damali stared at Dan and then at the speakerphone.
"This is where old Kabbalah, the Bible, Quran, and some of the old Eastern tantra, among other philosophies, respectfully collide and agree to disagree," Father Patrick said with care.
"No disrespect, Father," Marlene said. "May I take a crack at this one to keep you and the other clerics from crossing the lines inherent within your various faith orders?"
"Please," Father Patrick said in a rush. "I can't, not sitting on a phone within the Vatican." Marlene walked back and forth like a schoolteacher as she spoke, holding the attention of the group and the strained listeners on the phone. "If we go with the whole Atlantis construct," she said, nodding as she spoke, "that was a place of profound knowledge, an advanced civilization, also the thing of old legends, just like the Greek and Roman gods. Actually, you can find the same references in every culture across the globe. There is a belief that angels and demons mingled with humans, creating a super race with profound intelligence, surreal beauty, and supernatural powers that made mere mortals think they were gods. The angels were finally forbidden to mingle with humans like that, and had to be etheric entities that simply assisted the human race, but couldn't actively participate with, or... uh, cohabitate with them. The angels listened to the directive but the other side, naturally, did not."
"That's crazy, Mar," Shabazz said while nodding his agreement. "But, get back to what Dan said. Even if we buy that theory or go with the legends, then who were they gettin' busy with, if there was only Adam and Eve as the first humans? We only have an account of Eve--"
"Shabazz," Marlene said impatiently. "Yeah, if we go by the Bible only. But if you factor in myths and oral traditions of many cultures, that was the second go 'round. We're only supposed to follow that text and others like it, as those old, approved books begin our human-only history. The other info was lost and/or destroyed so people wouldn't get confused, or do what these mad scientists are trying to do--resurrect something that should be left alone."
Marlene let out a weary sigh and stopped pacing to stare at the group, but she directed her voice toward the speakerphone. "In Eden, the Tree of Knowledge was off limits because of what had happened before. Our books begin with our human lineage, not the first experiment when everything was wide open, no rules and laws laid down. Humans were made, the angels and demons regularly interacted with them, and humans had access to the Tree--so it was assumed that with knowledge, they'd govern themselves accordingly. But that's not what happened. Knowledge without wisdom got all sides messed up, and all sorts of hybrid progeny resulted. The Most High probably got weary, told them to stop, they didn't, so . . ."
"He separates that too-live crew of mixed-up entities, sticks 'em in the Land of Nod, keeps them away from his newest, pure invention, Adam and Eve, puts those two in the Garden, and says, 'Don't even go near that tree,'" Berkfield said, awed. "And then He starts over again?" He shook his head. "No wonder He was really pissed off when Dante crossed that barrier. Probably freaked, called an army up, and was ready to dust Lucifer on the spot." Berkfield's eyes went to Krissy and hardened on J.L. "His new baby girl? As a father, I can dig it--thunder and lightning bolts, flames from the sky, floods, plagues, and all." His line of vision held J.L.'s until the younger Guardian looked away. "Frankly, I'm an Old Testament kinda guy, myself."
"I'll go back to the Greeks and Romans," Marlene said calmly, deflecting a new potential storm that was brewing. "Let's take that mythology as a blueprint, just because that's all in the same region as the old biblical issues we're discussing, but think about some of their gods and goddesses." Marlene glanced around the room, receiving nods of understanding. "Pan--half goat, half boy, with a penchant for mischief and owning musical abilities. I'd bet my walking stick on what realm sired him. Medusa, with serpent hair. Centaurs and Cyclops, ogres and giants. Land of the Titans. Mount Olympus, in my mind, wasn't nothing but a cliffside lair for old Zeus... bet his daddy was one of the old boys downtown the way he ran women."
Marlene sucked her teeth with disgust and the team's attention remained riveted on her. "But there were also some very fine goddesses, like Venus, that were good. As well as strong, honorable half-breeds like Hercules. Get the picture? I could do this in Native American, African, Asian, Slavic, Caribbean, and East Indian, pick a culture, and we could stay here all day. But the point is, these beings were given to tantrums, for all their sophistication--ultimate hedonists. They weren't about service to humankind, as is the foundation edict given to the angels, because their human side makes them, well, humanly selfish. If they've got anything else in them, it just, kicks it up to the third power, making them more powerful whatever they are--good, bad, and otherwise. Not to mention they lived such long life spans that they seemed immortal. Are you following? But these temperamental, spoiled kids, who were prone to excess--"
"Made slaves of humans, demanded sacrifices and ceremonies," Krissy said. "They knew they were special, like princes and princesses of something more than human, and couldn't bend the human ego in them to actually serve anybody or anything but their lusts--and got in trouble, right?"
"Out of the mouths of babes," Marlene said, slapping her hand on the table, pleased.
"That is absolutely wild!" Marjorie said excitedly She spun to gaze at her children, a look of glowing pride on her face as she stared at Krissy. "You see why education is so important, and why I kept telling you guys to learn world history, and geography, and science, even old literature? You have to know these things to function in the world. You must broaden your perspectives and--"
"Mom," Bobby groaned. "Please, not now. Dad... tell her to stop."
"If I'm getting warm, cough twice for yes, and once for no, Father Patrick," Marlene said with a smile, "so you don't get in trouble for cosigning my theory."
Two loud coughs came through the speaker.
"But because they had a choice, from their human parentage, to be either good or bad and to make the most of their powers," Damali said quietly, looking at Marlene, "they weren't destroyed outright."