Juanita inched her sweatpants down in agonized degrees, moving slowly not because of modesty, but from the bite welts on her hips, belly, and inner thighs. Damali fought to keep her expression neutral, but Jose and Carlos were definitely from the same old vamp line. Moving with calm authority, Damali sucked in a deep breath and placed her hands gently over each wound, grimacing as the pain shot into her skin and lessened on Juanita's. After a moment, Damali dropped forward on her hands and knees again, panting.
"That's all I can do today, just enough to take away the danger of clotting and make it bearable. I'm too drained right now and really need some other stuff to work with. But if you can keep him off you tonight, by tomorrow I can try another draw with my mini-Marlene version of purifiers."
"Thank you," Juanita whispered. "Bless you." She wept quietly and looked toward the door. "What's wrong with me, D? I'm like a f**king junkie. This shit hurts, and yet..."
"Oh, girl," Damali said, too tired to front as she pushed herself up. "Been there. At least the brother doesn't have fangs."
Juanita stared at her with wide eyes, and Damali could have kicked herself for the admission.
"All I'm saying is, you have to tell him-too rough. Your body won't heal like a Neteru's, and you could get put in the hospital, or worse, behind this craziness."
"I know," Juanita whispered, pulling on her sweatpants with effort. "Last night was the first time he went off on me like that... got this crazy look on his face, and then the outside of his eyes, the brown part, flicked a little silver, then gold, and the next thing I knew-"
"What?" Damali whispered, coming close to Juanita. "Jose's eyes changed?"
"Yeah," Juanita said, standing up with a wince. "What time?" Damali was so close to her she could have grabbed her, but didn't.
"Like about an hour or so after sundown-Damali, he isn't a vampire, is he?" Juanita swung around and went to the mirror. "Please, God, tell me I'm not gonna change into the undead!"
"Keep your voice down. No. I'm trying to get a bead on what mighta happened-that's all." Damali raked her locks with her fin�gers. The coincidence was too eerie and completely unnerving. Both her Guardian brother and her man were linked by very old ties; that they went through some sort of simultaneous flip out was bizarre.
"Okay, can you re-create the episode for me? Spare me the inti�mate details," she added quickly, "but, like, what led up to it?"
Juanita nodded. "We was all eating dinner, and he didn't want any�thing but beef or lamb, something that you could cook rare and leave bloody, and told Inez not to season it. So you know that started some shit in the kitchen, right?" "Oh, my God..."
"Yeah, you know it." Juanita flipped her long brown hair over her shoulders. "Okay, so finally all that was settled, and we ate. After he got halfway through the meal, we was all joking around, like always, and he looked at me and said, 'Baby, can I talk to you for a minute?' I wasso embarrassed, girl, because it was plain as day that he wasn't try�ing totalk aboutnothing. So, me, I tried to play it off and said, 'Oh, sure, in a minute. Lemme help Inez get the dishes.' But he stood up from the table and said,'Now, Juanita. I'm not playing.' I was like,'O-kay. I heard you, but don't boss me.' He walked away from the table and called me again. Like shouting, and the other brothers stood up and asked me if I was cool, because if I wasn't, they was gonna step to Jose about acting like that with me up in the house-no matter what we mighta been arguing about. But that's the thing," she said, her eyes holding hurt and confusion, "we hadn't been arguing at all."
Damali began to walk in a tight circle. "Were any of the other Guardian brothers, especially the newbies, acting weird like this?"
Juanita shook her head. "Uh-uh. I told the older brothers I was fine, Jose was just tripping. That's when it got ridiculous. I went down the hall to his room, and he snatched me in the door. I was like, 'Hey, hold up,' and before I could say another word, he kissed me so hard my head banged on the door. I was about to fight his ass...
but..." Juanita looked away. "He bit me. I ain't ashamed to say it, but-"
"I know, I know," Damali muttered. "Girl... look... get some rest in a safe room where there's another body other than his, and give me twenty-four hours to figure out what-"
"D, don't get mad at me, but for a lot of reasons Idon't wanna go into,please don't go telling Carlos, okay?"
Damali closed her eyes. "That's my husband, 'Nita-my partner, the other half of this Neteru squad, and if anybody would know what's going on in a vamp line, even in a full human with traces, it's him."
Juanita walked away and lifted her hair off her neck. "I know... I just don't... Whateva."
"He won't step to Jose, if that's what you're worried about."
Juanita nodded. "I don't want that to happen. I shouldn't have even told you. Jose woke up this morning and was sick to death about what happened and made me promise I wouldn't tell a soul, but the wounds hurt so badly I had to get it numbed a little."
"Take some Motrin 'til I can go over you again, and-"
"You think I could be pregnant?"
"Oh, shit."
"I'm taking the pill, even though Marlene is dead set against any system-altering medications, but under these conditions..." Juanita looked at the floor. "I wanted to be sure that if some entity or some�thing got to me again, I couldn't get knocked up and drop Rose�mary's baby, is all I'm saying."
Damali bit her lip and went to the sink to begin picking blood out of her submerged necklace. It didn't matter that it was all gone by now; she needed something to do with her hands. "That's wise. I can't take anything that messes with my chemistry. So, if you're on the pill, why are you worried?"
When Juanita didn't immediately answer, Damali looked up into the mirror to see Juanita hug herself.
"Girl, what he shot was real different, is all I can say."