"Nada," a quiet, familiar voice said, making Carlos snap his attention toward the passenger's seat.
The translucent image of Padre Lopez stared back at Carlos. For two seconds, the interior cabin of the sleek sports car was way too small. It took everything within him not to bolt or attack, and for his mind to catch up with the image his eyes took in. Immediately his hot silver gaze burned through the apparition to scan it for authenticity. Padre Lopezwaited, his patient stare an answer to the invasive burst of silvery white light. Carlos's shoulders relaxed by several inches and his sudden battle bulk slowly ebbed as he realized his dangerous thoughts had summoned a friend and not the Devil himself.
Carlos let his breath out hard and rubbed his palms down his face. "Padre, you've gotta give a man a little more warning if you're gonna make a visitation from the other side." He then smoothed the bristled hair down on the back of his neck, never taking his eyes off the apparition.
"I am among many who help guard the child," Padre said softly. Even in his spirit form, Padre Lopez's youthful eyes held the same wonder and awe they had when he was alive. "I have missed the family, Carlos, but I stop in to pay my respects from time to time." He smiled tenderly and looked at Carlos for a long while before speaking again. "How have you been, brother?"
"I'm not sure," Carlos admitted quickly, knowing that if the Light had sent in a dead priest after he'd prayed for help, things were definitely not looking good.
Padre Lopez nodded and Carlos watched the sunlight that was coming in the windows beam right through the young priest. Seeing that was as eerie as having Lopez read his thoughts. This clearly wasn't just a social call.
"You are not reverting, Carlos, just remembering. There is nothing wrong with that which Damali carries. As it grows, every defense mechanism that is a part of your DNA will get stronger. So will hers."
"You sure?The baby is fine? My wife is cool, too, right?" Carlos massaged the tension out of his neck. "Positive?"
"This time, you will be able to trust the human doctors from the Covenant. They will not betray you again."
Carlos shook his head. "Last time, when they weren't sure what I was, they tried to sterilize Damali. So you'll have to forgive me if I'm skeptical. I'd rather leave it up to Marlene, Aset, and Eve, because in this frame of mind, Iwill take a body-human or otherwise, if they mess with my wife."
Padre Lopez nodded, but didn't smile. "I pray over her food, even when she forgets. Her system cannot take another poisoning. We all watch for murderous attempts from the darkside." His eyes remained sad and his unrelated comment was clearly avoiding the sore subject of the earlier betrayal of the team by misdirected humans.
Carlos released his breath in another hard sigh of relief and let the subject drop, picking up on the young priest's evasive statement. "Good looking out, man,thank you."
Still the apparition of one of the lost members of the Covenant didn't smile. The strained look in Padre's eyes prompted Carlos's next question.
"Then why am I remembering the old days when I was dead? I know I'm getting stronger . . . but I'm feeling some of the old things that I thought were finally purged out of my system, Padre."
Padre Lopez looked down at his hands for a moment and his image began to fade. "You are still our best asset. From the line of Dante, who was the progenitor of Cain-who thus helped beget that which we now hunt . . . the spawn of Lilith and the Unnamed One. You can still feel them directly when we cannot. You were once tethered to their dark thrones and know how they function; you are experienced in their ways. Once their drain to your energy lifted, you could again pick up impressions. That is why they sent me, your line brother, from life . . . one who can interpret those images and messages, too. Just call on me, Carlos, to gather up whatever you feel and I will carry it up to the battle stations in the Light."
He stared at Carlos when Carlos didn't immediately reply. "Remember Psalm Ninety-one, 'He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways . . . they will lift you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.' Never forget that-we have been instructed in your behalf."
"Cool." His voice was monotone. He didn't like still being remotely connected one bit, but what could he do. Carlos slumped back in his seat and briefly shut his eyes as he let out a hard exhale. "They're feeding him-the Beast's son-which means it's still alive, strong enough now to eat. I know that's goodintel but I don't wanna feel it. Maybe I didn't even wanna know it. Does that make sense?"
When Carlos opened his eyes, Padre Lopez was gone, but his faint voice hung in the cabin, leaving behind an eerie gentle answer.
"Yes."
When Carlos came back into the kitchen with her meal, she could tell by the mechanical way he walked into the room that something was seriously wrong. He moved like a robot. His normally fluid motions were now jerky. Gone was the smooth, almost feline stride that gave him a graceful, pantherlike quality that was one of the sexiest things about him. It was his trademark and it was gone, along with any ability he owned at stealth.
Tension had made the muscles in his handsome face rigid and he avoided looking directly at her-a dead giveaway. He seemed flushed, as though he'd battle bulked and then repressed it. Beads of perspiration rimmed his hairline, causing his precision cut onyx waves to glisten under the sunlight. Adrenaline sweat had obviously made his red T-shirt stick to him, showing off every brick in his stonecut chest and abdomen, because it wasn't hot enough outside this early in the morning for him to be looking like that. Even his muscular thighs now seemed to be straining, trapped beneath the black jeans fabric as he walked deeper into the kitchen. His Tims created heavy, weary thuds against the floor. This was not the same man that had left the house a little more than a half hour ago.
Damali quickly jumped up from the deck lounge chair she'd been sunning herself in and slid open the glass door that led into the house. What was wrong with her husband? She said a quick mental prayer-Dear God, don't let anything bad have happened. Then she amended the request with a whisper, knowing that something awful had already obviously gone down. "Please, God . . . just help us."
She stared at Carlos's intense expression and the way his deep brown eyes were still hidden by black sunglasses as he entered the house, studying every detail about him. The muscles pulsed in his jaw; his biceps twitched every few seconds like he was straining not to punch something unseen. The muscles in his broad shoulders were so tight that they'd bunched into thick cords. She surveyed his golden-bronze complexion, searching for any signs of demon attack, and came away wanting.
Damn. Why did she ask him for tahini . . . ? She could have figured out something else, eaten anything else-it wasn't that important. She should have stopped him! The entire team had been lying low for weeks; nobody had ventured off the compound grounds. But he'd seemed so happy to be finally getting out for a drive.So confident. She'd never forgive herself if she'd sent him on a stupid grub run and he'd gotten ambushed. She took a steadying breath and closed the door behind her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good . . . did you pray over those chips before you ate 'em?" Carlos glanced at her and then raced to the trash can as he slung her falafel platter onto the counter. "Benedicti-"
"Hold it, hold it,hold it, Carlos." Damali rushed up to him and held on to both his arms. "If you're doing ancient Latin benedictions over a dead potato chip bag like an exorcism, you mind telling me-your wife-what's going on?"
"Everything's cool," Carlos said, wiping at the sweat on his brow. "No need to getyourself all worked up. We just have to be diligent, have to be sure you don't get poisoned again. If you pray over your food-"
"Who came to you?" She stared at him without blinking.
"Nobody, it's just for good measure."