mojo, plotting and scheming and sending instant airborne messages to him saturated with every lust-filled mi�rage she could create with her succubus, skank-ass illusions.
The way Lilith had run her seduction game had been smooth, she'd give her that. Damali shook her head as she walked, making her locks slap her shoulders. Girlfriend had been the one to use the airwaves, courtesy of her deranged husband, to send her voice over the cosmic Net to torture Cain-that much she knew in her soul. Then Lilith had let that poor bastard twist.
Stomping in the sand as she walked, Damali's eyesight blurred from repressed rage. Lilith had hit him with sensation the moment he'd tumbled into the gray zone... a half-vamp Neteru going through changes. Lethal cocktail primed for disaster. She'd seen Carlos wig under those conditions, and he hadn't been locked up for centuries. And the way this was set up, every Council Neteru would be con�flicted, divided. Like they said, every woman knows her husband, and Lilith no doubt knew Adam's weak spot, 'cause girlfriend just did the cha-cha on it.
Damali stopped walking and stared up at the house once she'd reached the front steps. What was she gonna tell Carlos? She had been the carrier of Cain's vamp virus to him, right at the throat. For all the drama Carlos had brought to her door in the past, he'd never dropped the beginning of the cold-blooded Armageddon at her feet.
If Cain was doing Lilith onDante's throne last night while linked to Carlos,no wonder he bit the bullshit out of her in the throes. And mild-mannered Jose just got swept up in the male vamp passion tor�nado by extended lineage. She wondered if Yonnie had practically flatlined Tara yet. Yonnie was all vamp and no doubt a power surge had run through that brother hard enough to have him speaking in tongues. Half the squad of serious warriors was gonna feel the fallout of this crap.
Red-blood-running meat au naturel made sense-feed then... Damali didn't even want to say the word when thinking about her and Carlos, or even Jose getting with Juanita, for that matter. But it was a feed then fuck then fight vamp paradigm rush going on for sure. The scenario ran through Damali's mind in an endless dark loop.
Cain would have to feed for strength, then fulfill his next core de�sire, and if he met the Devil face-to-face while doing his wife, who knew what had ultimately kicked off? The only saving grace and rea�son Juanita could do sunshine now was because Jose was working with blunt edges. Damn! Carlos was right. This time, she could only blame herself. She shouldnever have allowed another male vamp to bite her forany reason.
Damali closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. There was no damage control option here. This was one of those times a sister just had to fall on her sword.
"Hey, baby," Carlos said, coming to the front door. "Just checking on you. Folks wanna know what you want for dinner. Better make the most of it, because tomorrow it's back to drawing straws for chores. But today we get served." He smiled and strolled down the steps, and then stopped. "D?"
"Walk with me on the beach for a few. I ain't ready to go in the house."
Carlos looked over his shoulder. "Cool." He ignored several sug�gestive grins behind him. "You look like something's spooked you. After everything that went down," he said more quietly as he neared her, "maybe the sun and exertion isn't a good idea."
Damali just began walking and didn't speak until they were several yards away from the house. She then began kicking sand as she walked along the shoreline, wanting to be well out of earshot of the team when Carlos started yelling. The man would go off. Correction. Herhusband would go off.
"Baby," she said, putting her hands behind her back as she kept her eyes on the ground and continued walking farther from the house. "See, what had happened was... uhmm... remember that thing with Cain?"
Carlos stopped walking. "Yeah. That motherfucker try to contact you while you was out here alone?" "Not exactly." She peered up at him.
"How exactly?" Carlos said, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at her.
Damali sighed. "Remember I love you when I tell you what I'm about to tell you." "What happened?"
Damali took a deep breath and then began her rapid-fire explana�tion while wildly gesturing with her hands.
"Cain busted out of Nod with Lilith's help