"I know," she whispered, glancing around the room like a thief.
"I haven't seen you in a year... and then when you came to the house in Arizona, things were pure chaos. Then, once we got here, I thought maybe we could sorta pick up where we left off?" He smiled, glanced up at the bed, and then down at the floor. "It's real quiet down here," he said, pressing on the floorboards under the Oriental carpet.
She lowered her gaze, a rosy blush forming on her cheeks. "Butyour mother is here, right in the next room. I wanted to in the worst way, but..."
"We could have died today," he said, coming closer and kissing her bare shoulder.
"I almost did when that creature grabbed you." Jasmine gazed up at him and kissed him slowly. "But your mother is here."
Bobby rolled over and stood without using his hands, kept his eyes on her, and strode over to the door. "Yeah, I know," he said, locking the bedroom door with a sexy smile. "She'll get over it."
Marjorie and Inez looked up at the same time, their lines of vision meeting Juanita's and then going to the hallway that led to the bed�room.
"Marj, let's you and I go see of we can find some driftwood to, uh-mmm, make stakes?" Marlene said cheerfully, grabbing Marjorie's sleeve and hustling her out of the villa.
Juanita shot Jose a glance that saidDon't even try it. Dejected, he went back to sorting ammo. Inez went to the cabinets to rummage for grub to feed the team, while trying to ignore the intense sidelong glances Mike sent in her direction.
"Puhlease," Inez muttered under her breath. "After this morning, you must be crazy."
"I'm a Guardian, not a saint," Mike said under his breath, annoyed.
"Just like old times in Arizona," Shabazz muttered, shaking his head while reloading spent artillery.
"Gives me the hives," Rider said, scouring the cabinets with Inez. "Don't these kids know that at times like these, wine is like fruit punch? Damn, where is my old buddy Jack Daniel's when I need him?"
J.L. casually glimpsed Krissy from the corner of his eye. She smiled at him, and then redoubled her efforts to get a signal on the wireless laptop.
"Might get a better signal outside," he said in a slow, sexy tone. "Wanna take 'em outside and go take a walk... to uh, see if we can get a signal going?"
She giggled and then glimpsed her father, who was staring at them both, stone-faced. "Maybe later. Besides, we can't open up a wireless signal without a seal to be sure there'll be no demon interception." She kept her eyes on her father and offered him a broad grin. "I'd better stay here and get some regional maps of Central Mexico right now."
"Okay," J.L. said in a defeated voice, blue current suddenly run�ning down his hands to black out the laptop system he'd been touch�ing. He set the system aside and muttered a curse.
"Why don't you go walk it off," Mike said over his shoulder, chuckling, "before you fry another motherboard and get yourself smoked by Berkfield?"
CHAPTER SEVEN
Carlos walked out of the golden obelisk onto the beach, ready for war, blood in his eyes. He had never experienced such profound rage as what was quaking his system right now. But it took him a moment for his brain to sync up with the image before his eyes. The hacienda was in flames, full of spent gunfire, and the burning rubble carried a warning stench into the air. Fire engines and people were crawling all over what had been the Guardians' temporary compound. The faint scent of de�mon incursion was on the beach. He began running toward the blaze yelling the names of each team member before logic could stop him.
Mexican authorities pushed him back, and then took one glance at the blade he had in his hand, and drew on him. Carlos stepped back, stunned them with a quick energy pulse, and closed himself away into nothingness.
Frantic, he went back to the last place he knew there was a tracer of Damali. He had to contact her, get to her first before her mind broke from seeing that her entire family had been wiped out. Breathing hard, he spun around in circles, trying to get a lock on her and what�ever had razed their family to the ground.
Too battle-hyped to filter out friend from foe, the vibrations and sounds coming from his villa meant more than one aggressor was in�side. Invaders had already planted flags painted in blood on the beach, demon images fiercely emblazoned on sheets, boldly surrounding his villa with victory flags. It was Bobby's blood! The acrid scent of a
huge demon wafted from the infested dwelling. His family's bodies were inside, still warm. A fire had been built-fucking flesh eaters were about to devour his people! Carlos inhaled as renewed fury choked him, the scents blending together to make him go blind with rage. He spit the taste of battle and death out on the sand. The two newest females on his squad had even been violated!
Adrenaline was making his ears ring. A very weak message was stabbing at his mind from Marlene. He became the wind itself, blade raised, the door a flimsy barrier that blew off the hinges before he'd even kicked it. Two hands gripped his sword as he crossed the thresh�old and then stopped. Guardians froze, hands held midtask, and eyes not even blinking.
Carlos stood still for a moment, silver burning a path across the rug from his gaze, his chest heaving, his mind scrambling to sync-up faces with heat tracers from familiar bodies. Then he slowly lowered his blade.
"You all right, dude?" Rider asked nervously, stepping away from the counter with his hands raised. He nodded toward a bloody rag on the drain board that had demon blood on it. "They left you a phone number and were looking for you, General."
"I thought..." Carlos sucked in a huge breath, closed his eyes for a moment, adrenaline still giving him the battle shakes. "The ha�cienda," was all he could say.
"Yeah, we had a little problem," Shabazz said calmly "But we han�dled it, for now."
"In broad daylight?" Carlos said, coming into the villa and then leaning against the wall with a thud.