"Then..." Damali let the words trail off as she saw a new dimen�sion of her husband that she had never seen.
"Then what am I angry about?" Carlos said in a weary tone, still staring at her, but now with eyes that were slowly becoming a normal brown again. "I'm angry that you let him nearly seduce you because you were so angry at me. Probable cause, regardless, that's how I feel. You let him bite you and carry your sacred blood in his veins and feed off that in his head, when your blood carries a beacon. You'remy an�gel, and your blood is like a supernova in one of our systems... can track it through freaking dimensions, girl. And I'm pissed off beyond-" Carlos stopped speaking and walked away again to place both hands on the translucent wall.
He dropped his head and sucked in several breaths to steady his voice. "Damali, I have done a lot of shit, I'll grant you that. But Inever got with an entity because I thought they were better than you or be�cause I wanted to hurt you by going there. Don't fling Juanita in my face, either, because what went down with her wasn't me. I know that betrayal cut to the bone... yeah, now I really know it. But I'm not gonna revisit that discussion again as long as I live, Damali--just like I'm never gonna speak on this Cain thing again." He turned his head, craning his neck to stare at her. "Fair?"
Damali nodded, her voice quiet. "Fair."
"Then just like you had to get the betrayal out of your system, and get how you felt off your chest so you could finally either let it go, pack it away, or whatever, then I'm asking for the same courtesy."
Again, she nodded and spoke quietly. "Fair."
Carlos nodded, set his jaw hard before speaking, and then looked away again. "All right. Then, lemme say this. Here's what's f**king with my head, D. You went into that whole vibe with Cain wanting me to get messed up by it. Mission accomplished, sis. A part of me is still not right about that, and I thought I was, but him being able to send a throne jolt through me now that I'm clean from the old life... not in our bed. Not in our marriage. Not on our honeymoon while I was making love to my wife."
Carlos closed his eyes and his voice sounded like it was miles away as he spoke in a low echo within the box. "The blue-white Light of us joining in holy matrimony might have made him temporarily blind to you, but by him carrying your blood in his veins, his transfor�mation became partially mine. All that pent-up rage and raw lust in him flowed right into me and made me handle my wife like an ani�mal. Still f**ks me up."
"Oh, God, Carlos, I am so sorry," she whispered, tears falling with�out censure this time. "Iswear to you, I never knew that what I thought was one feed bite to send him packing with enough energy to go home could ever be harnessed like this... or could ever affect you like this. If I had known it could have future ramifications, baby, I wouldn't have done it-not even angry." Damali stared at Carlos's back. "I wouldn't have hurt my husband like that," she said quietly. "No."
"I know. That's the bitch of the dilemma. I know you didn't know and I know why he bit you, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I know where we were at when it happened. The relationship was messed up for a lotta reasons." He glanced up from the sand he'd been staring at and drew in a shaky breath. "But now, as head of the household, where I go, what I do, is linked... Jose, Yonnie, and a whole lotta people in be�tween. I'm not talking about ruling anyone, I'm talking about my en�ergy has to stay pure. Can't get all jacked up. What if I had made you pregnant while that was running through me? Shit... what if you're pregnant now, as my wife? Would it be his or mine, or some whack combination of both?"
Damali's eyes widened and she walked away to the far side of the box.
"Yeah. My point exactly. That's why I'm bugging, 'cause it ain't about aborting just 'cause we don't know, is it? And it's not like we can find out, can we-even if it presents fangs, still could be mine, right?"
"Carlos," she said, her hands shaking as she held them up before her. "I'll get Aset to scan me with the Caduceus, honey. I didn't know, didn't even think about-oh, shit."
"Cain isn't sterile, and is unlike any other vamp that ever took that throne other than me. We weren't using anything. Why would I think I had to, now that we're married? But his energy was riding with mine on the airwaves or vice versa last night. You wanna make a baby from a damned near vamp rape or the way we did in Australia?"
She bit her lip to stifle a sob and then closed her eyes.
"I agree. I liked the Australian method much better myself. How�ever, that said, this is the kinda so-called macho shit a man thinks about,a husband thinks about, when his wife brings him news like this. I love you, Damali... You talk about cuttin' a motherfucker's heart out?" Carlos's voice remained a low, fatigued rumble as he glanced around at the sand by his feet. "I know I had one when I came out here, but damn if I do now. Was already wondering if our genes were still compatible... hoping we wouldn't run into a fertil�ity problem with my fangs, your wings, hey. But I was hopeful... we made a kid once, even while I was dead, so figured we had a shot at it one day. Just hadn't added in a possible third party by way of blood with us in bed."
"Baby, don't..." Damali whispered, his image becoming blurred by tears that dared not fall.
Carlos pushed away from the box and came to Damali and touched her hair. "It ain't your fault, in total, that Jose is linked to me, or that Yonnie is, either. I'm not saying that... so whatever happens to them or whatever they do, you don't own that. I do. They'remy boyz."
"I don't see how you can say that," she whispered and went into his loose embrace. She held him tightly and pressed her cheek to his chest, her words becoming thick as she swallowed hard. "You were clean and I-"
"Nah. Let's just be honest, all right? I'm as mad at myself as I was at you. The only reason they're linked at all is because I took a tumble into a throne from the jump. I became a vamp while you were straight, pure white Light. So, if we get technical about it, then hey, a little topspin from Cain affecting everybody through his link to me is another cosmic spanking for even sitting my ass in his daddy's chair in the first f**king place. If I hadn't been down there, he could have bit�ten you, carried your blood, but I wouldn't have been a vamp, or had
any resonance off the throne for him to tap. I played myself, he played you, we both got played... and Lilith f**ked all of us around real sweet. Game over-until we run it again."
"Baby, I'm sorry," Damali said in a thick whisper against his chest.
Carlos nodded and wearily kissed the crown of her head, and then let the black box barrier drop as his shoulders relaxed. "Yeah. So am I."
CHAPTER FOUR
Cain reclined in his new throne, sprawling in a sated, lazy stretch. His long, black silk robe flowed over the clawed marble throne footrest and his billowing sleeves casually draped the arms of it. His silk belt hung askew, and he didn't bother to adjust it as the black corded tie precari�ously dipped when he reached for his golden goblet to refill it with blood. His eyes had normalized to their original intense brown gaze beneath heavy lids as he assessed Lilith across the Vampire Council Chamber.
"You want a cigarette?" she asked with a sly smile, smoothing her black gown and sauntering to the door.
He chuckled. "No. That is one vice that I do not own. It pollutes the blood."
She turned and smiled at him. "Then, by all means, please don't." Her voice had come out in a low, sexy murmur. "You look like a huge, satisfied lion. I love your hair. It comes alive in my hands like tentacles... did you know that?"
"I can accommodate that fantasy, if you wish... perhaps after I eat. Saber-toothed tiger hybrid Greek hydra?" He laughed quietly and shrugged his mane of thick locks over his shoulder, eyeing her.
"You would do that for me?" she whispered, moving back toward the council table.