"Yeah, girl," Marlene said on a heavy rush of breath, shaking her head, chuckling. "Brotherman was strung out. But our team had enough adrenaline still running through their veins to shock his system back to normal. For him, normal human blood with adrenaline or terror running through it is like methadone. You are pure crack. You understand?" Marlene shook her head. "Problem is, y'all are both strung out. It'll take a full day and night for your system to purge the vamp trace in it. Until then, you're gonna feel it."
"Oh, my God, Mar."
"Yeah, sweetie, that's how it goes. Your temper, your passion, your appetite, your draw to the night is gonna make you bounce off the walls. Right now, we've got four innocent clerics over there trying to contain a master vamp who's jonesing for you so bad he's howling - and looking at them with a very hungry stare. The blood packs just aren't doing it for him anymore. Not after you. The fellas are concerned."
Damali nodded. "You don't think Carlos would..."
"That's the variable," Marlene said flatly "We don't know how much he ingested, truth be told. That's why you and I are standing in this kitchen. How bad was it, D? Not to get in your business, but we need to know."
Damali turned and faced the sink and closed her eyes. She had no idea... "It was bad, Mar," she finally admitted, unable to look at Marlene.
"How many bites?"
"Six... maybe seven, and then I lost count."
"Oh, my God... past daylight?"
"Yeah, I blacked out a couple of times after that. That last time was just before noon."
"Noon! Noon? You kept a master vampire awake feeding and... and... past noon? Oh, Lord have mercy!"
Marlene's silence made her turn around. Her stricken expression drew Damali's hand to her own throat. It was healed, but she then looked at her wrists, and the insides of her elbows, and closed her eyes, not even wanting to think about the bites that had landed on her inner thighs. But damn... it was so good.
"Don't even think it," Marlene said quietly, chuckling despite herself. "Oh, girl." She covered her mouth and then laughed. "Pretty soon we're going to have to get you sunglasses and a transfusion."
Damali wrapped her arms around herself trying to stave off the tremor the memory produced.
"Look at you," Marlene added, shaking her head. "Your eyes are flickering gold... pretty soon, you won't have a reflection."
Pure alarm raced through Damali and she ran to the refrigerator and stared at herself in the shiny stainless steel surface of it. "Oh, Mar... shit. My eyes!" She whirled on Marlene who was now chuckling with her hand over her mouth. "I won't turn, will I?"
"No, but you wore his ass out," Marlene said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Damali, listen, okay? He can't get you pregnant, so you're cool. He can't pass any human disease - if he had any - because everything that could have killed him died when he became a vamp. In that regard, you're safe. His vamp virus only has a temporary effect. But you can hurt him, so you have to cool it. Plus, he now has a full tank of Neteru in his system. It'll draw other male vampires to him like flies, looking for you, then they'll fight him. But, he doesn't have the strength, tonight, to ward them off. Dig?"
Marlene walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You've gotta let him recover, and let the team's blood thin out and dilute what he's ingested. By tomorrow evening, he'll be fine. He just needs to chill."
She nodded, and let Marlene put her arms around her. Marlene stroked her hair and kissed her temple.
"This is going to be a rough night, baby," Marlene warned. "Hold onto your seat and get ready for the ride."
"What am I gonna do?"
"I don't know, baby. The choice is yours," Marlene chuckled. "But tonight, you're gonna walk a mile in that man's shoes."
Four armed clerics barred the door, and his gaze shot around the room for a way out. Turning over a table and a sofa, Carlos snarled, "I have to go to her!"
Father Patrick remained calm. "If you don't have the energy to take us, or to project yourself past simple steel and wood, you're staying until tomorrow night. Then there's the not so small matter of our prayer line, Carlos." He sighed. "Why don't you watch some television?"
Asula cringed as the television lifted and smashed against the cabin wall, then he let out a weary breath. "I was going to watch the football game, Carlos. This is ridiculous."
Even Padre Lopez sat down as Carlos paced. Monk Lin fished in his robes and pulled out a deck of cards.
"Poker, anyone?"
She couldn't sit still. The room was closing in on her as the team worked on weapons, talked about general goings on, idly chatted about everything and nothing. They were getting on her nerves. In fact, she had no nerves left. She stood before the large picture window, willing her mind to see beyond the steel grate. The moon was siphoning her, calling her. Carlos.
The image of him immediately sent a shudder through her. Five-o'clock stubble covered his jaw, darkening it. The tips of her fingers tingled, remembering what it felt like first thing in the morning. She saw him stop pacing in the monk's cabin, close his eyes, and run his hand over his cheek. Yeah, baby, I miss you, too. It was agony.
She saw him go to the window and place his hand on it, splaying his fingers, then drop his head in defeat. It drew her to the window, and she rested her palm on it slowly, splaying her fingers to match his distant handprint. Sudden warmth filled her, and she felt his knees buckle. Phantom thrusts entered her, sending a tremor to wash through her. She stifled a gasp. Torture. She could hear the silent plea from four miles away echo into the night. Wolves howled outside梟ot all of them wolves... some third-generation vamps. Fuck it. She was out.