"Don't be sexist," Yonnie said with a half smile. "Them bitches-I mean, females on council, 'scuze me-ain't no joke, either."
"Yonnieain't never lied," Carlos muttered, staring at Damali's jugular vein until every pulse point he'd bitten in the past flared red and then raised into two angry puncture wounds.
"Dayum," Yonnie said with true admiration in his tone, shaking his head."You da man."
The Detroit and Chicago teams were on their feet.
"Talk to me," Earl said, a Glock cocked first at Yonnie, then Carlos and Damali.
"I'masay this once," Carlos muttered in a deep rumble. "Take that gun outta my wife's face or this is gonna be a real short training session."
Earl snapped the gun up to a safety position, but his gaze remained on Damali's wound sites. "You did that to her . . . or, or something got to her? What da hell . . ."
"Precisely," Carlos said in a flat tone, returning Damali's skin to its former unmarked beauty as he spoke. "What the hell. This is what we're trying to tell you. When I was on the other side, not biting her wasn't an option . . . but I cared about her.That right there you see are love nicks. Rider can tell you all about it, too. But trust me, if I didn't love her, you woulda been staring at cartilage." He smiled and pushed back in his chair as the color drained from the local team's faces. "Any of you all got a deep bond with anything coming up from the pit? If so, then we don't need to tell you nothing. If not, take a seat and go to school."
Nuit slowly strolled up to his key human don, a careful smile on his face as his human helpers angrily surveyed the veritable army that surrounded the drug czar at la casa. Nervous energy kept gazes steely and fingers flexed over automatic weapon triggers. Trust had never existed on either side of the border, but the latest incident made it completely evaporate.
"They seizedtwenty-six tons of my coc**ne in Manzanillo?" Nuit said in a lethal murmur, beginning to circle the sweating don. "That would be twenty one thousand, carefully cut, and processed packets that made it safely all the way here from our friends in Colombia to arrive in Mexico in a cargo container." He neared the man and wiped a finger down the side of his ruddy, pockmarked face, and then tasted the oily residue with flourish."How?"
The man bowed and backed away from Nuit. "Senor, I sincerely do not know where the human leak came from, but we will-"
"No," Nuit hissed between his lengthening fangs. "I will tell you where the leak came from." He spat out each word, eyes beginning to glow red with fury as the don's army backed into the muzzles of Nuit's bodyguards' Uzis. Drawing in a deep, nasal hock, he spit in the don's face, his narrowed gaze daring the man to wipe away the offense. "You stupid, superstitious bastard-you were the f**king leak!"
"No, senor!I havenever betrayed the family and have never-"
"It's in your goddamned sweat!" Nuit bellowed, bat wings ripping though the seams of his black Armani suit. "My palate is many things, but wrong . . . never." With an iron grip he held the man by his jaw, watching terror leak from his eyes. "You went into a church for your godson's christening,oui ?"
Nuit tightened his grip when no answer was forthcoming. "Frankincense and myrrh-the bullshit incense of cathedrals pollutes you-then as you said the prayers over that baby, you stupid f**k, you thought of one to say about this shipment . . . hoping that it arrived without incident." He flung the man away from him, leaned back, and roared with frustration. "Weak, sniveling, human flesh, how could you be so stupid in the end of days to take our business in your soul into a house of worship where angels there for the sake of the child could hijack our f**king intent!"
Before the man could gain his footing after stumbling away from Nuit, a black current snatched him back into Nuit's grasp. "The Cosa Nostra was just hit for this same type of idiotic bullshit!" Nuit yelled, making the blood vessels burst in the man's eyes as he raged on. "He typed a Ten Commandments of their rules-aTen Commandments -as though angels wouldn't read something like that over his shoulder and out him," he added, laughing cruelly as the don wept blood. "Putting things on there like, respect your wife, do not take another man's wife, do not take money that isn't yours, do not frequent bars-my partner who runs Europe will suck the goddamned marrow from his bones and feed him to the Harpies for this travesty! The f**king Mafia is now writing down rules of engagement like they're chivalrous Templars . . . oh,monami , we are indeed in the end of days. But you have cost metwenty-six tons ofproduct with a street value that I am currently at a loss to even estimate." He shook his head and released a weary sigh. "What should I do?"
"For all the years I've served you, been loyal . . . mercy,por favor ."
Nuit looked at the man with blas� detachment."Mercy?" He shook his head as the man began bleeding from every orifice. "I do not even know the definition of the word."
Yonnie pounded Carlos's fist, leaning past a few members of the Neteru team to reach him. For the next hour, the Neteru team updated the local squad about the phenomena of daywalkers, the differences in strength between master vampires and those of the Ultimate Darkness, Council-level. Sparing no details, the Neteru team went over the last battle, as well as fully deconstructing what happened with the New York squad.
Carlos looked around at the stunned faces and jumped in as soon as there was a lull in commentary by his teammates.
"Yeah, like I said, your sister, with Phat G and them in Harlem, were fighting some of Vlad's old army plus two Council-level vamps. The only reason the squad made out like they did was because the two council vamps were punks . . . wanted to use Vlad's army as cannon fodder and not get in the mix. But I guarantee you next time, it ain't gonna go like that."
"My sister said the things they fought were different, stronger . . . the numbers of them was crazy," Alicia said, her gaze tense, but in full command.
"She was right," Damali said flatly. "Here's the thing-don't think we're coming up here trying to act like we've never been where you are right now." She glanced around the table. "When our team first started out, we were doing what you all have no doubt been doing . . . battling local, strong, second- and third-generation vamps, the occasional werewolf, beating back the tide. But we lost almost half a squad in Mexico, body count-wise . . . plus the entire Brazilian team."
Alicia crossed herself. "We heard about the losses in Mexico . . . and you know, stories been running rampant in the underground-but you know how that goes.People been in battle with the Neterus, heavy casualties, and the whole nine yards, means that stories get embellished.I'm not hating , just telling you how I know human nature can be."
"I feel you," Damali said, ruffling her locks up off her neck to relieve tension. "But whatever they told you about Cain's crazy ass was true . . . whatever they told you about Fallon Nuit was mild-he's stronger now."
"Fact," Carlos said abruptly, standing and beginning to pace. "So, it's almost like, when we come to town, expect to lose squad. Seeing us on your doorstep ain'tno happy occasion. That shit stresses me, and I don't mind telling you." He waved his arm out to indicate his squad. "Stresses the whole Net squad . . . especially after breaking bread, laughing, chillin' . . . in wartime, people get to be your family real quick, which means leaving them on the asphalt with a stake in their chest ain't easy."
Silence sliced through the room, swirling with the dull hum of the fan blades as all eyes remained fixed on Carlos.
"I wanna develop a new protocol," Carlos said, turning away from the team and looking at Damali. "It just came to my mind . . . might be stupid . . . I don't know. But, I've got a bad feeling that's giving me the creeps."
"Talk to us," Shabazz said, leaning forward with one hand resting on the other fist. "Something giving you the willies is making the hair stand up on the back of my neck."
Carlos nodded and shot a glance around the somber faces in the room. "If it gets too hot, situation critical-I jettison anybody I can to a sanctuary. Period," he said, waving his hands as protests began to erupt.