Awe slowly dawned in her eyes.
"Damali, you ever think that maybe the reason the queens never came or their powers were of no use in that particular situation might have been because... you got some new serious powers blooming?"
"I never thought about that, Carlos." She stared at him and slowly brought both hands up to cover her mouth.
"Don't you always tell me that the Light always adds, but doesn't take away?"
She nodded, wide-eyed, with her fingers still shielding her lips. "All I know is, hombre probably didn't bank on that. Doesn't know how my wife will patiently lay like a cobra for his ass and strike like white lightening when he least expects it." Carlos nodded and stood, and then sat down beside her on the edge of the tub, holding her gaze in an intimate lock. "Keep crying. Keep wailing. Keep seeming inse�cure around him, 'cause I know that ain't you, but he don't. Keep beg�ging for the safety of your family... and the next time he rolls up on you, slay him."
Damali shut her eyes and stood so quickly, Carlos almost toppled into the tub.
"That no-good, lowlife, sneaky, arrogant demon..." she said, walking in a slow, deadly circle with her eyes closed, just shaking her head. "Next time, I'll have a dagger on my hip for the tail." She stopped walking and looked at Carlos hard. "Thank you for the battle bite. I know I can take one, now And I'm glad he hit me good and hard, because now I know how strong the bastard is-it wasn't a punch, but I can guestimate. I also found out the hard way that as long as the queens are divided, my Isis won't shear his blade. Okay. Experi�ence is the best teacher. So if I call for your sword in a firefight- work with me, and throw me yours."
"Done."
"Shape-shifts ain't working," she said with an angry smile, "I guess because I'm supposed to use my real wings... and maybe I'm not supposed to be turning into anything crazy anymore now that I have them and they're fully matured."
"I'll go with the theory." A slight smile crept out on one side of his face.
"Yeah," she said, her head bobbing as she folded her arms over her chest. "No coincidences or accidents in the universe. We're supposed to useeverything. Every lesson, every heartbreak, and every game that was run on us... gotta keep your head in the battle."
He just looked up at her, both proud and amazed.
"I need to meet with Eve... maybe give her a little hope to send some white Light down into a brother's chair. If Darkness can sub�tract, then the Light can add. Whatchu think, baby?"
Carlos smiled wider. "Sounds like a plan."
"Honesty is the best policy, right? With a little diplomatic omis�sion."
He chuckled. "You getting ready to f**k dude up, ain't you, baby?"
"Did I tell you I loved you?"
Carlos laughed and stood, going to her to pull her into his arms. "Yeah... you just did."
She watched Carlos slip out of the bathroom and she stood in the cen�ter of the tiled space using her hands to make a pyramid. She called to Aset softly, not even bothering to put on her clothes. A robe, wet towel, and bare feet would have to do. Slowly the violet entrance opened, and Damali stepped through it with her head held high. As soon as Aset neared her, she held up her hand.
"I have news for the full oval. May we meet, and bring Eve?"
Aset stared at her for a moment. "Queen Sister, are you sure?"
"Never more sure in my life," Damali said, and strode past Aset.
Damali opened the large chamber doors and entered the Neteru Council of Queens' session room that already had a heated summit underway. All voices ceased as Aset calmly entered the white marble-ensconced gallery behind Damali and shut the large doors with a wave of her hand.
"Damali has recent news from the front," Aset announced.
Eve looked up with anger and released a weary sigh. "So you have come here triumphant." Eve stood. "Then I need not hear the details, now that my son-"
"Cain is very much alive," Damali said, staying Eve's departure. "Aset, can you reveal wounds that have just been recently healed?"
Aset nodded and slowly approached Damali.
"Show them everything that my body sustained in the last few hours," Damali said, unceremoniously dropping her robe and standing nude before an aghast council. "Show Eve how strong her son is... I want her to see what he did to me when I went down there to con�front him-to tell him to go back to Nod and to convince him that he shouldn't have bargained with the Devil, and I even explained how your soul was crushed." Damali shook her head. "Yes, I went armed and furious, yeah, with indignation, but I also tried to tell him the truth and give him a last-ditch option, once I learned my family was still alive. Look at this. I tried your approach, Eve. Talking. This is the result." Damali set her jaw hard. "And, oh, by the way, when I told him about his momma, he said 'Her condition is unfortunate.' Now get to that."
Aset closed her eyes and turned away as every wound Damali sus�tained overtook her body. Eve gasped and held on to the edge of the oval table and backed away, but as much as the injuries hurt when she moved, Damali neared Eve to make the point visually sink in.
"Wait until you see my back." Damali slowly turned around and showed Eve and the assembled queens the third-degree burns, huge demon talon welts and gashes, and then opened her thighs to show the thick ropes of black-and-blue marks and raw scrapes where Cain's scaled tail had forcibly parted her legs. Convinced that the queens were sufficiently mortified, judging from the shocked expressions on the regal faces around her, Damali turned her attention back to Eve. "And let me add that I might be carrying for him, dear queen. I could be pregnant."