"Same way you knew to put a pain siphon in that mental convo we had on the way back from the funeral."
For a moment she just looked at him.
"Thank you, baby," he said quietly. "I needed that . . . just like you need to put something in your stomach. Want a salad or fruit?" He glanced around the train station and then back at her.
Damali just shook her head. "Thanks, maybe later . . . wrong as it is, this was what I had a taste for."
Carlos took the huge plastic tumbler from her so that she could ferociously dig into the bag of buttery pretzels and he chuckled as she popped a large piece of sesame pretzel into her mouth with a moan.
"I should have gotten you something to eat," she mumbled. "You haven't eaten in days."
"Oh, don't worry-I always get mine," he said with a sly grin and sipped her lemonade.
She smiled as he dug into the bag and opened up one of the little mustard dip containers and then sat there holding her lemonade with one hand and a dip in the other as though he were a human tray. She broke off a piece of pretzel and fed him and they went on that way in companionable silence, both eating and coordinating the meal so that the butter from the bag didn't soil their clothes.
Before long, Big Mike was back with Inez carrying large Styrofoam trays. The aroma that wafted off them screamed great soul food. Damali and Carlos looked up and had to laugh.
"I don't know what's in the containers, and it isn't my business, but you know Shabazz and Marlene are gonna get on your cases," Damali warned.
"That place over there called Delilah's is off the chain, D," Mike said with a wide smile as he plopped down on the bench and opened his meal.
"You let him go to a place called Delilah's?" Carlos said, teasing Inez. "You know what happened to Samson, right?"
Inez smoothed a palm over Big Mike's bald head as he hungrily bit into a crispy piece of fried chicken. "He's got the jump on Samson-no hair . . . so what could I do?"
"Greens, mac and cheese, candied yams, corn bread, fried chicken, humph, humph, humph!" Mike declared, shaking his head as he devoured his platter. "Three days and three nights of vegan food and a brother just got broke down when I passed the place."
"I'm jealous," Inez said with a smile as she tore into a golden fried wing."Might have to step to that sister who owns the joint for making my husband get that look on his face."
Much-needed laughter filtered between the couples as they waited for the rest of the team to return. In those short minutes the tension temporarily abated. It was a tiny sliver of normalcy that found its way into their lives in a very mundane place. But each person took it for the gift it was-just a few moments where one could laugh, break bread together, and just be like every other human being on the planet.
Carlos kissed her cheek as she dug into the bag to begin tearing apart the last pretzel.
"Rabbi was right," he said with a sad smile, glancing around the train station as Guardians made their way back to the benches.
"Yeah," Damali murmured. "This was just what the doctor ordered."
It was the strangest of post-funeral repasts that he'd ever experienced, but truthfully it was one of the best. Momentary peace claimed him as the old team banter went into full effect.
Limousines had returned people to the safe house on Haines Street so they could change into comfortable gear. Gone were the suits and dresses. Jeans, sneakers, tank tops, and T-shirts replaced all of that. There was time enough to pack a change of clothing in their mud cloth bags, and to stash a weapon in them for the road. The squad knew what time it was, but they also knew that living in the present, laughing in the moment when one could, was the key to life. Who knew what was next, or if tomorrow would even come. So you buried the pain, cried hard and deep and true, and then walked forward-embracing love and laughter with no less force than you'd embraced the pain. Monk Lin would have been proud, if he'd known they'd finally figured it out.
Carlos let his gaze drift to the large train information board as his wife's buttery hand slid into his. It was time to catch the bullet.
"Lilith! What is your plan?"
The double, black marble doors to the Vampire Council blew off their hinges at the bellowed question. Flames roared across the floor and encircled thrones, making the blood veins in the black marble blister and pop. Tiny, bony, little bat-winged demons fled the sea of flames baring jagged teeth and brandishing miniature pitchforks and daggers, hissing and spitting at Lilith's protective Harpies, causing them to flee. Vampires cringed where they'd previously been sitting in regenerative repose, their stricken gazes on their chairwoman as hooves sounded in ominous footfalls.
"I have only been away for three days and three nights and all you have done is monitored the Neteru team, who is now en route to be ever nearer to my heir?" an incredulous, disembodied voice roared.
"Yes," Lilith said calmly, leaving her throne and stepping through the swirling flames at the base of it. "That was prudent."
"Prudent?"
An invisible backhanded slap connected with her cheek, sending her stumbling against the bargaining table. She straightened herself with care and dabbed at the bleeding, open gash on her face with the back of her wrist.
"Yes, prudent," she repeated with no hint of tremor or submissiveness in her voice. "Archangels had shielded them, had inserted themselves into this conflict. If we had acted prematurely to block them from their travel plans, attacked them directly, then that would have been an immediate red flag that our heir was nearby."
The flames that licked at the hem of her gown receded.