And then her mind pried open.
Horrific images poured into her brain as she stepped back from Carlos. The battle in the tunnel; his wounds riddled her body, contorting her, making her cry out with his invisible pain. Starvation claimed her, and she felt a section of her face get torn away. Her eye was gone, and she regenerated herself in agony; cold blood splashed against her cheek, strength entered her body, and she weaved, and held onto the weapons table for support. Marlene backed her team away from her, shouting that she had to do this herself.
Confined, she couldn't breathe, she was in a casket. Dirt was under her fingernails. Locked, trapped, she yearned for the night. Messengers brought her to Hell, and she stood in terror before an evil council. She could smell their old, rotting forms, and then black smoke choked her and deposited her topside. A deer stood frozen in the forest - "Run!" she screamed.
She took flight, branches breaking against her body, becoming primal, hunting to bring down fresh kill. Sated, she was mist, and she saw herself through Carlos's eyes. Felt his desire, so close but yet so far. Her mind was burning need. Her head jerked back as she took a hit of Neteru, experienced the thing that drove him insane, and felt it wash through her system in an erotic wave. Damn... She was breathing hard. Carlos glanced away. Her team looked confused. She had to get out of his mind. She struggled to open her eyes, but when she did, the visions still wouldn't stop.
The images kept hurling through her brain. Pain, not physical, sobs of deep regret. "Please, baby, believe in me... just one more time." Her voice was foreign to her own ears. She covered them, squeezed her eyes shut. Cried hard. "I'm sorry!" She couldn't catch her breath. She was afraid because she was hungry.
Panting, she stood up, wiped at her eyes, and looked at the stone-faced exterior of the man before her. The muscle in his jaw pulsed. She ran her tongue over her teeth. She could feel her gums nearly splitting. She sucked in a huge breath. Her gaze darted to the other humans. "I have to go," she said, the words coming from inside her head. "I can't take it anymore."
Carlos closed his eyes. "Her sight is back," he said. His voice escalated, becoming more urgent. "I did what I was supposed to do. Now shut down the exterior lights and let me the f**k out!"
Damali stared at Carlos. He was frantic, his breathing was ragged, and she could barely catch her own breath. He turned away. "I saw it all. I'm not afraid," she told him.
When he slowly turned around to look at her, her team again raised their weapons. Not even Rider said a word as a collective gasp passed through the team. A pair of red glowing orbs had replaced Carlos's intense, dark eyes. His incisors had come down, two inches and had not stopped lowering, and his shoulders had increased in bulk.
Something strange was happening to her. She was not afraid as her gaze traveled down his solid chest, studying the brand over his heart, then the tight bricks of his torso, and allowing it to slide over his belly, dipping into his navel, clinging to the silky black wisps of hair that disappeared under his belt. His nostrils flared at the image in her mind that stripped him bare. She registered his anger at her blatant hunger in front of the team, and checked herself. It wasn't her fault; she wasn't playing games; it was pure reflex. Dayum, she'd never felt it like this.
"I told you to let me out of here," he said coolly, quietly, his even tone belying his rage and desire. The need to be with her was so thick in his tone that the statement had come out as an open warning.
"Shut down the lights, JL," Marlene ordered. "Now!"
"No," Damali said in a too-calm voice, walking toward Carlos. "I'm going with him. We need to talk."
The look Carlos gave her was pure electric current, one thousand volts.
"Damali, not a good idea!" Rider said with a frown and worry clear in his voice.
"Li'l sis, he ain't himself. You'll make us have to shoot him." Big Mike spoke in an easy tone, his gaze steady as he dropped the crossbow in exchange for pointing the barrel of his shoulder cannon at Carlos.
"You'll get hurt, or someone on the team hurt, if you try to attack > him," Father Patrick warned.
"Everybody stay cool, let the man out, and everything will remain chill," Shabazz said, raising Sleeping Beauty's barrel above Damali's shoulder line.
"Dan, talk to your boy," Jose said fast, his tone urgent. He couldn't get a clear crossbow aim because Damali blocked his shot. "Talk to him, before we have to do him."
"Let her out of the trance, Carlos," Dan begged, clutching a holy-water grenade. "Don't do this, man."
"She's not in a trance," Marlene said in a quiet voice. "Stand down. She's made a choice."
"What!" Shabazz turned toward Marlene, but she shrugged away.
The room again went still, the tension in the atmosphere was so tight that the walls threatened to bleed.
"I saw it all," Damali told Carlos. She moved toward him, following him, until he backed up to the cinder block wall. She continued to come closer until there was only a breath of space between their two bodies. "And you will not hurt me."
This woman had no idea. He closed his eyes as her hand found the center of his chest. "There's so much about this that you don't understand."
"Then, talk to me," she said quietly as she laid her head over his heart. "I thought you were gone forever."
He cringed and pushed her away. "There's no heartbeat, for starters."
She noticed his eyes had gone from red to gold. He was coming down. "What else?"
"There's no future," he said in a low tone, his fangs retracting.
She could feel relief sweep through the teams.