The Battle at Masada

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Daylight couldn't come soon enough, but at the same time, she felt like she could have used twelve more hours of sleep. The emotionally harrowing night was over, but then after such things always came a cold-light-of-day review. This morning, like no other in recent months, she was ready for the whole team. They were gonna squash the internal drama once and for all. She could feel a spirit of dissension wafting about the atmosphere around her like an unseen slurry of negativity that literally made the air thick. Damali patiently waited as Marlene sealed the room with prayer. Carlos went right for logistics, and she gave him a moment on the floor before jumping in. That allowed her a chance to watch body language, see how bad it was, where people's heads were at. Damali folded her arms, not liking what she saw at all.

"All right," Carlos said, clearly exhausted. "The Covenant came in yesterday. Rabbi Zeitloff got 'em all situated at their safe house so they can summit. That gives us a day or two before we need to meet up and thoroughly debrief the clerics, and in my opinion, we need to get out of this hotel. I'm feeling boxed in."

Damali watched as no one agreed or disagreed. It was as though everyone's hackles were up for no reason at all. Carlos glanced at her, but pressed on.

"So, all right... Dan said we can pick up the keys any day - the place was for immediate availability and a full-cash-on-the-barrel-head wire transfer means we own the joint. We just gotta furnish it and - "

"How we gonna furnish a joint that big that fast? Be serious. It'll be weeks, if not months before we can get settled," Berkfield complained.

Carlos frowned. "What are you talking about, man? We do like we always do. The Covenant seers have a blueprint from the images you all sent me. They go to their local donation warehouses and pull from that or dredge from estate sales that have been left in their charge."

Clearly not understanding the bad vibe, Carlos looked around the team with his brows knit. "What's new about this process? We wire transfer the money so they can refill their coffers and help folks that really need help. They bless every stick of furniture, linens, technology they've purchased for us to spec, whatever comes through the door, so nothing slithers in there with it - and it comes to us by their vans to haul off and place, or we can do it the efficient way and let me drag it in by energy transport. Either way, it gets a white light blast and I've got a visual on how you want the new joint set up, room by room. Isn't that why we did a full team walk-through?"

"Yeah, well, you better leave it to the vans to bring it, because right through here, man, you ain't looking like you can do all that," Mike said, folding his arms. "Means me, Rider, and Shabazz will be muling furniture for about a week."

"How about a month, when the ladies keep changing their minds about where they want a damned couch set," Rider muttered, his gaze going out of the window.

"Hold it!" Damali was off the sofa and she immediately gave Carlos the eye to stand down as she walked into the center of the room. "We sealed the room, which means that anything else that's in here with us that ain't right is blind and deaf to us." She allowed her gaze to land on each face for a moment. "But I want you to all get real still and pray for

peace, clarity, and understanding ... and I'ma watch the room. Tacticals - on the ready." Begrudging glances met hers, but as she drew her baby T is dagger and unsheathed it, slow awareness replaced the resistance.

"Three minutes to breathe deeply and still yourselves," Damali murmured with her eyes closed but her second-sight wide open, scanning the room. "Find that very mellow place within, the you that is a spirit of Light energy, positive, attract the good, compassionate, be willing to help, want the best for all, for the group, where laughter emanates, where love flourishes ... where you heal rifts and forgive and touch the Divine spark that creates all life and created you." She drew in a deep, steady, calm breath through her nose and released it through her mouth. "Now each in your silent communion in your own way and in your own religion, bond with the One Above All and ask that the spirit of dissension be removed from your being."

Within seconds Damali heard a high-pitched screech and her eyes snapped open. A greenish-yellow crablike creature the size of a football with small hooked claws, roachlike antennae, beady little red eyes, and jagged yellow teeth exited Rider's back. It scrabbled up his spine, ran through his hair like a giant louse, and jumped onto Tara, screeching, then leaped with flea-hopping buoyancy over to Berkfield and his wife. Guardians were hollering, chaos was rampant, Carlos had grabbed at the pest, knocking over furniture and leaving silver glare scorches everywhere. But the thing was too fast and once it got on someone, it hung on for dear life, every jagged hair and part of its crablike legs catching onto skin, fabric, and hair.

The fat, oily-bodied thing stank to high heaven, too, making it a revolting experience to have its touch make contact in any way. Its hooked claws were nearly impossi ble to dislodge once they grabbed on, and Juanita almost knocked herself out trying to run from it but colliding with a door frame. Krissy had gotten up on the dining room table and was doing a screaming wiggle dance as it found her hair.

"Tacticals up!" Damali shouted, jumping across furniture to get at the thing. "Pen it in, blue charges!"

Male Guardians were in the middle of the floor practically knocking themselves out trying to swing at the nasty little critter. Inez was doing a strip jig in the middle of the floor, screaming and thrashing wildly as it clung to her mi crobraids and then slid under her tank top.

"Get it off me, get it off me!" Inez shrieked hysterically. Damali turned just in time to see Jose draw and she roundhouse kicked the gun out of his hand. "No convention als! You'll hit your own team and if you shoot it, the little sucker will divide. Everybody stop, let it crawl on you for a second, and we'll pen it in with blue charges."

Inez covered her face, her leg bouncing but trying to be still. "Get it off me, y'all - like right now," she whispered in a faraway voice that was reminiscent of a person quickly be

coming deranged.

"Buzz her," Damali said, looking at the three closest Guardians near Inez - Dan, Shabazz, and J.L. "Three united on three. One ... two ... now!" The moment the tactical charge hit Inez, the defiant little creature bit Inez's thigh as it came out of her shorts, trying to burrow back under her skin and hold on like a tick.

"Pray, girl!" Damali said, her blade held tightly in her fist. "I want all of the little bastard

out of you."

Inez was hiccup crying and it messed Mike up so bad he rushed over, but Damali held up her hand.

"No, Mike, these little beasties are crabs in a barrel, hon. They move through a group real fast, mate, and multiply real fast, and I have to get the head out of her leg or the damned thing ain't dead. A new body will grow right out of her." Damali looked at Mike hard to get him to respond and spoke no nonsense in her tone. "I don't wanna cut her leg - you've gotta back up and trust me. Hold her hands and say psalm 91 with her or Something, but back up off me while I'm working, hear?"

"C'mon, baby, give me your hands," Big Mike said, trying to c oax Inez's palms away from her face. "No plague will come near my tent... a thousand will fall at my right side, ten thousand at my right hand, but - "

As soon as Inez's mouth began to murmur with the same words Mike was saying, the creature pulled its head out of her thigh, threw its head back, and hissed. Damali got it in the forehead with the tip of her blade and then grabbed the smelly loose skin of its back.

"Keep the charge with me, fellas," Damali said as she sneered at the squirming creature.

"Hit me with some city-strength juice for this nasty bug, Carlos." Carlos squatted and looked at the demon, silver heat making its skin bubble and sizzle as it squealed.

"With the power of the Almighty, I banish the demon spirit of dissension from my team," Damali said, adding her charge to its body through her blade as it lost its grip on Inez's leg.

The moment it let go of Inez, Damali held it to the floor and Carlos put his Timberland on its back.

"Crush it slowly," Damali said, pure fury in her eyes. "I want a name of who sent this." Carlos began putting more pressure on the bug, making it twist and squeal louder.

"Somebody bring me some holy water," Damali mut tered, her gaze never wavering. "It will talk."

Marlene tossed a vial to Carlos and the moment he opened it the little beastie began to scream, "Lorelei! Lorelei!"

Heather and Jasmine covered their mouths and gasped.

"You know her?" Carlos asked, looking up with Damali. Heather nodded. "She was second in command of the New Orleans covens ... after Gabrielle - but Gabrielle never approved her methods. There was a feud."

"She hid in Denver until we lost Gabrielle," Jasmine said her eyes frantic as she stared at Heather. "She would do something like this, has the skill. Tries to seem like she doesn't and plays dumb, but is more vicious than she looks "

"Thanks, ladies." Carlos nodded. "I'ma run this name by my boy, Yonnie, for more details. He needs to know what's operating in his territories, and definitely not get himself jacked in one of the brothels."

"Douse it." Damali rammed her blade all the way through the small creature's forehead and removed her hand quickly from its fat little body as Carlos doused the head and squashed the demon under his shoe. Green gook squirted out around its eight legs and anus, and then the whole body went pop. Smelly, sulfuric gook came out in a splat. The entire team made a face and muttered, "Eeeiiw."

"Damn, that was a brand-new pair of Tims, too!" Carlos wiped his foot off on the carpet with a grimace at the stench. "You know this is gonna be a helluva bill in here, between this and Mike's door."

Damali held her hands out away from her body and headed toward the dining area sink, yelling over her shoul der to the group. "Somebody open the windows!"

* * *

it took a few minutes for the group to settle down, and everybody agreed without any dissension whatsoever that the meeting needed to resume in Shabazz and Marlene's room - any room but the one that had the dead demon stench. Carlos looked at Damali, and she looked at him.

"You wanna school 'em, professor?" Carlos said, still seeming pissed off about his ruined Tims. "Or you want me to teach this morning?"

"Nan, I'll go," Damali said, hands on hips, but making a face at Carlos's boots. "Baby, you gotta take that down the hall and put on some sneakers or something." Jose and Rider pounded fists while Tara and Juanita shielded their faces with their hands.

"Please," Juanita gasped with tears in her eyes from the fumes. "He's already tracked it onto the rugs - let's go to our room, and don't come in there 'til you change shoes, Carlos."

Carlos laughed. "Meet y'all back in five. I tell you, I ain't feeling no love. I help kill the bug and now it's, 'Oh, Carlos, could you wash your hands before you - '"

"Man, stop givin' the group noses the blues," Damali said, laughing. "Change your shoes. We're out."

* * *

carlos jogged down the hall, but wasn't offended. The Tims were going in the Dumpster; it smelled like he'd stepped in a hot pile of fresh dog crap, and Juanita was right, the scent was following him everywhere as long as he had on those boots. But as he reentered the room, he watched the bug essence decompose in the sun. The claws and feet and mouth flared first, and then some of the green gook splattered. It burned the way vampire ash would. Much as he hated to, Carlos neared the bubbling ooze and sniffed, and then shut his eyes, grimacing. His old vampire capacity to know a blood tracer kicked in. Yeah, the damned thing had been feeding off Yonnie, then probably jumped to him, didn't get Damali because knowing his wife, she'd said a prayer before she drifted off or while he was down in the bar.

He stood, backed away, staring at the mess on the floor and unlaced his shoes. Yeah, he needed to warn his boy. That shit he'd picked up from Lorelei at a dark coven brothel was one helluva sexually transmitted demon.

* * *

"all right," Damali said, "we just saw it with our own eyes, and how many times have we seen mess like this in one form or another?" She waited, walking around the room with her hands on her hips. "No shame in the game - we're human. We laugh, love, fight, argue, throw pity parties, whatever, ain't nobody in here perfect." She let her breath out hard. "But that's why we have to have solidarity, one household, especially in the last days,

because who knows?"

Carlos nodded and sprawled out in his chair. "D ain't lied. I go there, get down, start thinking about woulda coulda, shoulda - but like my wife said, all that does is leave you wide open for something to slither into your psyche that shouldn't be there... and it's easy to forget to give it a white light jolt of prayer to get it up outta you once you've started to spiral."

"Word," Shabazz said, glancing at Carlos. "And Jack Daniel's don't help." He leaned forward and pounded Car los's fist. "Mighta come in through me, my head wasn't right." Marlene gave Shabazz a tender glance. "It doesn't matter where it came in, baby. All that matters is that we got it out before it multiplied and hurt the team."

"Hey, man - I'm sorry I went there last night," Rider said, looking at Carlos. "That's a whole scenario that pushes my buttons ... detonates 'em like nuclear warheads."

"I feel you," Carlos said, reaching over to pound Rider's fist across the coffee table. "No harm no foul, man."

"Good," Damali said, letting her breath out in relief. "Here's the thing we have to keep in front of us at all times. Family might get on our nerves, but they are not the enemy. That nasty bug we killed in there is. Stuff like that can have us at each other's throats. So, if we see a partner spiraling emo tionally, we have to support and spread the love - just like we would if somebody had a gunshot wound. I can't always do it ... shoot, I might be trippin'

that day myself, and have, upon occasion," she said with a slow smile, glad when everyone chuckled and began to relax.

"C'mon, y'all, at this point we've seen each other's dirty drawers. We've been beat up, tore down, sick as dogs, mad as wet hens, done heard some stuff ... that uh, I know no body wants to speak on, riiight?" Damali leaned over, bend ing at the hips to look at people, making a funny face.

Everybody laughed and waved her away.

"Uh-huh" she said, bobbing her head and mocking the team but not excluding herself. "Oh, baby - Arizona, was some tight quarters."

"Girl, shut up," Inez said, falling over on the couch as several male Guardians hooted and slapped each other five.

"See..." Damali said. "After all of that, c'mon, folks." she looked around, her smile going from ribald to gentle. "I thought I would die when Carlos did," she said quietly. "When Jose was so sick back in the old L.A. compound that he was in intensive care... Lord. Marlene and Shabazz," she said, tearing up, and then she put up her hand. "No words." Damali drew in a shuddering breath as the team sobered and couples slowly slid closer and arms and hands threaded together. "Yeah. Mike, how many times we sew your big, burly ass up, huh? That deck rail through the gut, though - I thought I was gonna lose you, man. If I did...

uh-uh."

"I love you too, baby-girl. 'Member them early days before you could take a nick, D?" Big Mike looked at Rider, then Shabazz. "We used to make bets while playing cards about who'd put a nine to their skull first if you came home bit."

"Sure did," Shabazz said, drawing Marlene closer. "Was some tense times, but we made it"

"Guess I have lived long enough to see a few miracles," Rider said, glancing at Tara.

"We've been blessed, despite it all."

"That night I got made - got brought to the team," Dan said, first looking at Carlos and then Damali. "It was the most terrifying ordeal of my life, but also the most... I can't explain it. The whole thing was like walking through a doorway in the universe. I felt my old life and reality leave my body, and when Mike and Damali pulled me out of that car, alive, unnicked, when vamps had ripped the freakin' roof off... then we survived a firefight - I knew. I knew I was blessed, put here for something, some reason." Murmurs of agreement coated the room with warmth and love and bonding as each team member recalled their defining moment and who had helped them through it, who made a difference. Berkfield openly wept when he detailed for the group for the first time how he was abducted from his previ ously serene, staid suburban life into the clutches of a master vampire, and held captive like a POW in a coffin on a yacht. Emotional scars bled but also healed. Everyone listened everyone shared one small piece of their soul, and respect for each man and woman's journey was reestablished in full

"Some healing ... angel," Carlos finally said, pulling Damali against him. "I think we all needed that."

"Sometimes we have to look back just to see how far we've come," Damali said quietly, kissing him gently and then looking at the group. "I might have wings," she said with a self-deprecating chuckle. "But I've got a potty mouth, and ain't been no angel. She closed her eyes and laughed at herself. "Oh, the many offenses I'll have to answer for on judgment day ... the many asses I've kicked, whooo ha." Carlos laughed with her and the team. "Me, sheeeit. I'm jus' looking for a plea bargain. I know I've gotta fall on my sword for my shit." The group erupted into rowdy cheers and high fives.

"But that's why, after they sent that nasty spell shit in here, I wanted to do this," Damali said. "Get us back to center. They can't break us - right?"

"Mighta messed our heads up for a minute," Carlos said. "Like Damali was saying, we're human. But we're family. We're one team, one love, we're strong."

"Yeah," she said, hopping up to pace. "We're blessed. Don't ever forget that. How many times has this team cheated death?"

"Many," the team shouted in one voice that rang out.

"How many times we been to Hell and back, y'all?" Car los said, standing.

"Many!"

"How many purges have we done - nicks healed and sealed?" Damali said with a wide grin.

"Many!"

"How many places we lived, roads we've traveled, shit we overcame at the eleventh hour?" Carlos folded his arms over his chest

"Many!"

Damali and Carlos looked at each other, smiling.

"So the next time a brother or sister Guardian gets on your nerves, you're gonna remember the many times they might not have been here - 'cause if it wasn't for Heavenly Grace, they ain't have to be," Damali said, her gaze roving the group. "You're gonna imagine what life on this team could be like if their aggravating ass wasn't here. You're gonna do a self-check, put your bullshit on hold, and step back and get perspective, and

pray that demon up outta you before it affects the team, your partner, or you."

"That's right, baby!" Marlene shouted, waving her hand from where she sat. "Tell it like we used to do! That's right! We've gone too far to turn back now."

"Our jobs may be hard, not like the average person has -  but we've been blessed beyond measure along with that, too... what'd they tell me, when they snatched me up and out of the pit? To whom much is given, much is expected - I got a lot of shit in the transaction, so a brutha gotta work... that's how I see it." Carlos shrugged and opened his arms. "Ain't no use in whining. Ya saw what happened to me when I wasn't grateful. Do as you like, but I'ma tell ya, you don't wanna go there."

"That's the stone, cold truth," Shabazz said, glancing at Rider. Rider slapped Shabazz five. "My bad. My serious bad, brother."

" Hey," J.L. said, looking around the room. "Many are called, few are chosen, and even fewer step up."

"No, lie - might be your choice, but that's a bad move," Jose said, shaking his head. "Real bad move not to heed the call from up there."

How we gonna complain about anything, even this insane job description, when we've got an embarrassment of riches?" Berkfield asked, glancing around the group. Marjorie's head bobbed up and down. "There are people who never did anything wrong, per se, who haven't been blessed with good health, or can't find that special someone to love... or are destitute due to no real fault of then-own."

"Or are living hi war-torn lands in refugee camps," Jasmine said sadly. "If they live long enough to make it there."

"Or have family so crazy and mean-spirited," Heather said quietly, "they never knew this... this oasis of love from people that they weren't even blood-related to." She glanced around the team and then at Dan. "I d'not know I was already fighting demons, didn't understand they were inside people, I mean really inside them. But I would have still signed up for this tour of duty to get you all as my gift." Dan pulled Heather into a hug. "When I think of how it could be, I'd take this any day."

"I hear you," Inez said quietly and then looked at Mike. "This is it, for me."

"Me, too," Tara agreed in a near whisper, her gentle gaze going to Rider.

"It's easy, especially when things get tough," Bobby said, looking around the team, "to start bitching and moaning about what isn't right, instead of looking at all the things that are. Guess we're all guilty of it... and having a demon jumping around the family like head lice definitely doesn't help."

"That's why you gotta guard your head," Carlos said, looking at everyone.

"I think I finally get it, what you always meant when you'd tell us that, Carlos," Krissy said, looking at him straight in the eyes. "During early training, I didn't get it. Not until I saw it today."

"Better late than never, girlfriend. Ask me how I know -  and I'll definitely tell you all about it. Had me acting real crazy, I won't lie," Juanita said, her gaze catching Krissy's and opening to a new bond.

"Aw'ight, then," Carlos said, nodding as he scanned the group. "You're gonna realize that if you can do Hell, loading furniture into a new house ain't shit," Carlos said, new energy making his fingertips tingle. "You're gonna say, Thank you, God, that I have a house,

'cause some folks are homeless."

"Now, you ain't said a mumblin' word, brother," Mike said.

"Yeah," Carlos said, patting down his body theatrically. "You gonna say, Thank you, 'cause not only am I healthy, alive, able-bodied, and whole, but even got a few extra gifts that the average bear didn't get"

"Aw' right, brother, preach," Shabazz said with a wide smile.

"Uh-huh," Damali said, nodding as she walked. "You're gonna say, Thank you, because not only do I have a really gorgeous roof under which to lay my head, and my health and strength and gifts ... but I got me a family, yo . . . a lover and spouse and Me partner and best friend all rolled into one, somebody who is my soul mate to go with me into any battle, got my back, watches my six, is my confidant, helps make this raggedyassed world whole  -  so when I go out there to do my danged job, and I come back all beat down and twisted around, I gots me a place of peace to lay my weary burden down. That's when you really say, Thank you, good God!" Damali shouted, pointing up at the ceiling with her eyes closed. " That's who's my daddy! Don't get it twisted. No disrespect -

just be clear  -  that's where everything we got comes from!"

"Lay it down, D!" Jose hollered. "That's concert track, sis! Get me some paper, somebody! She done crossed over to hip-hop gospel on us!" Guardians were on their feet cheering and hollering. Hotel management was knocking on the suite door again, but who cared? They were out.

* * *

"I don't think I've ever seen the team move that fast, in such lock-step coordination when we weren't in a firefight," Carlos said with a smile as he set the long, butter-toffee-hued, leather sectional sofa down hard on the Persian rug in the living room part of their bedroom suite, positioning it to face the flat-screen, wall-mounted HDTV and Bose stereo system. "Where you want the bed?" he asked, slightly winded.

"That's 'cause you took 'em to church," she said with a smile, beginning to unpack suitcases. "Ummm ... under the skylight," she said offhandedly. Carlos stared at the solid oak, king-sized, four-poster bed, and then glanced at Damali.

'Two minutes, look at the room, get a good look and be sure, boo. For real."

"Over there's cool," she said, not looking up.

"That's what you said about the sofa, until you decided the feng shui alignment to the door was off. C'mon, D. Help a brother out - I've been moving stuff all day."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." She looked around. "I'm sure. Under the skylight - but, oh, yeah, the cedar chest and armoire have to fit without blocking the energy vibe from the windows."

Carlos stopped struggling with the furniture for a moment and stood up, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his forearm. He was gonna remember today's sermon on being thankful. "Energy vibe from the windows ... the wife wants the room politically, energy correct."

Damali chuckled. "Of all things in the room, you want that piece of furniture placed well.... Hmmmm."

"I'm remembering better now why it's important not to have a spirit of resistance." She laughed. "I'm sorry the pieces they sent from estates are so heavy. The good stuff always is." She looked at him, concerned. "Can I help?"

"I'm good. Inspired by the pep talk," he said, putting his shoulder against a post with a grunt.

"You pulled the team together," she said, leaning on the long oak dresser behind her.

"You're the one who took the team to church, not me. That was really inspiring to watch, all joking around aside."

"Naw, D. You took 'em there. I just opened the door. Got a part of the conversation started. You were officiating." He stood and stretched his back once he got the bed in the exact position under the skylight, then looked up. "I gotta double seal that breach point, girl," he said, muttering to himself.

"If something crashes through that glass while I'm with you under the stars...man."

She stopped sorting clothes and looked at him. "We were officiating ... as one, then."

"Huh?"

"The team meeting," she said. "We rallied everybody together, me and you, for the first time, really."

He stopped pacing the perimeter of the bed, trying to figure out how to securely reinforce the room and gave her his full attention. "Feels kinda weird, doesn't it?" She nodded. "I'm sorta used to Marlene and Shabazz always pulling the team together when we get attitudes or splinter."

"Bound to happen sooner or later... you know, getting the baton passed. They told us, as Neterus, we'd be heads of household, but I never really felt like I was until today."

"I know what you mean," she said softly. "It's kinda scary, too."

"A lotta responsibility."

They both looked at each other.

"Think having kids feels like this?" she asked, searching his face. Carlos rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah ... I guess. Never really put all that together, you know?" He looked at the bedroom door. "Dan must be wigging right now. Settling into a house, wife possibly pregnant... a lot to think about."

"Yeah," Damali said, and then began sorting clothes again. She blew a stray lock up off her damp forehead. "Soon as we get the bedrooms in shape, one more meeting about the concert basics, then maybe we should just let people fall back... chill, bring in some grub. It's been a lot to absorb. Inez got the kitchen done with Marlene, then Mar broke off that detail to work with 'Bazz, Heather, and Dan on tactical sensors, double prayer barriers, and the works. J.L. and Krissy have the tech centers pretty much up and running for a second level of security. Mike is on weapons with Berkfield, getting our war room righteous. Jose's work ing on the studio with Rider. Tara's good to go with Marj on the family room, living room, dining rooms; they got some cool stuff to - "

"Damali," Carlos said, drawing her attention with the gentle tone of his voice. "We're gonna have to blow the groove sooner or later and tell 'em about the fawn." Damali briefly closed her eyes. "When we have breakfast with the Covenant tomorrow morning, okay?" The plea in her voice made him come over to hug her. "Carlos, just one night in our new home, family all tucked in safe around us, breaking bread, laughing, making love, whatever, just peace, be still, man ... before we have to go back out to war."

"We gotta count our blessings, even if they do weigh a ton." He kissed her forehead and tried to get her to joke about the weight of things every woman had selected for the house, but she only gave him a sad smile.

Damali looked around their partially furnished bedroom suite, forlorn. "I am truly thankful for everything, but I'm also being real about what's ahead. I know we're gonna have to go to our councils on this. I may have to revive my oracle, even though she's not fully healed.... The Covenant will be in it, because it involved Nod banishment edicts, we've gotta track down this Lorelei heifer... I feel like I should be saying, 'Hi, new house. Bye, new house,' because we're maybe gonna get a shower, change clothes, pick up weapons, and be out again - and I'm praying to God this time when we come home, the house is standing."

"With no demon habitation." Carlos kissed the top of Damali's head. "No argument." He pulled back and looked at her and smiled, pushing her locks over her shoulders. He dropped his voice and gave her a mock-serious expression that made her laugh. "Hannibal would tell me, 'Brother, sometimes you must water your horses.'"

"What?" she said, laughing.

"Sometimes," he said, kissing her nose, "you have to let your warhorses rest. You have to stop, give them water, c hill heal, replenish. Even vamps regenerate. Then live to fight another night." He kissed her again. "But you can run me into the ground, until I get this bedroom exactly the way you want it ... then you've gotta water me, baby. Oh, yeah, I'll be your warhorse."

She hugged him hard and closed her eyes as she pressed her cheek against his chest.

"Thank you."

"when did you do all this, 'Nez?" Marlene asked in awe.

"Girl!"

"I wanted to have the first real sit-down meal when everybody was up in here be real down home, since who knows when we might have to hit the road again," Inez said, beaming as she brought another huge dish to the table.

"Makes every piece of furniture I moved," Mike said, closing his eyes and shaking his head, "every time I had ta move it again," he added, making the group laugh, "whooooo, worth it all, baby."

Inez hugged him from behind and whispered in his ear. "Made you a peach cobbler."

"She's talking dirty to me at the family table, about peach cobblers and such. Woman, stop."

They laughed, they ate, they communed. They said thank you a hundred times, blessed every corner of the huge house and every plate that got passed. They gave themselves the right to be human and partake in butter-dripping macaroni and cheese, greens, cornbread, corn on the cob, snap beans, limas and rice, fall-off-the-bone baked chicken, pan gravy, and Inez's audacious desserts. Those in the group who had sworn off meat and dairy were spoiled just as well by her vegetable lasagna, baby asparagus so sweet it would make you cry, and her tofu garlic teriyaki stir-fry, and dips, chips and fruit plates dripping with natural fructose nectars.

Inez put down love hard in the kitchen, the way Marlene put down her prayers... and J.L. put down security with authority, no less than Carlos and Shabazz put down weapons check, and went over security again. This was home; every. one contributed their best, their all, and invested heavily, mightily with their hopes. Damali looked across the table at Carlos, so glad he'd agreed to hold the news about the fawn. They all needed one night to say thank you privately, too.

Absently munching and just feeling the mellowness of the vibe that surrounded her, Damali picked up on a strand of conversation that she really hadn't been listening to. What was being said wasn't all that important, what was being felt at the moment between everyone was paramount. If things could just stay this way ...

"Yeah, I know," Dan said. "International travel right now sucks for getting the band through all the security measures - even with our special connections. Like, they've even gone so far as to ban books on flights at Heathrow, and we'd been negotiating to do London as a major stop."

"Maybe we're going about this all wrong," Carlos finally said, leaning back in his chair with a stretch. "We wanted to do concerts in the twelve hot zones so our people could pick up our tracers, right?" He waited until everyone nodded. "But we've got typhoons sweeping China, and we did Tibet already. Teams there know us. We've done Sydney under deep cover circumstances, but we hit 'em hard there, so our ground forces are strong all the way to Melbourne. We got South America covered - got back in Brazil, even though we lost a squad."

Carlos fell silent for a moment, and leaned forward. "It's gonna be hard to go into India, with the bombings picking up, just like we can probably get into Japan easier than North Korea right now, due to the nuclear standoff drama there. From Japan, though, we can go down through Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, but just like India and Pakistan, the political tensions are making it hard to move or gather people there...don't want to put innocents at risk for a Bali event happen at a concert." Damali watched her husband's logic hold the group in thrall and just the sound of his voice as he dissected the problem calmly, resolutely, without tension, just stating the facts, talking with his hands as though envisioning it in his mind in the air, then moving dishes around on the table so could see it in their minds, too, was melting her where she sat.

"We've been to the Motherland," Carlos said, glancing at each face on the team, "but Africa is so huge that we need to break it into like three or four zones to get the word out, and the Sudan is crazy-hot right now. The Canadian-Greenland and Mexican teams, as well as the Central American and Caribbean Guardians know us from Morales. We just came out of the South Pacific, while we were in Tahiti, and our U.S. teams all the way up through Alaska got us on lock from all the cross-country battling over the years."

"So, where's that leave us?" Shabazz asked, rubbing his belly and leaning back in his chair.

'Tokyo, Moscow, Delhi, London, Rome  -  just because of the Vatican, for a nice worldwide spread . . . Ireland for the standing-stones community," he added, looking at Heather, "Gambia . . . But I see nobody mentioned the obvious."

"Where, Antarctica?" Rider said with a wide grin.

"Oh, he got jokes," Mike said, laughing and unbuckling a notch on his belt.

"Yeah," Dan said, running his fingers through his hair. "You know that's why the Covenant is meeting. The Middle East is hot, we know the deal with Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey  -  the region ... so many troops from so many nations, pulling our Guardians to our signature there will be asking for a tragedy. One false move by any side of the equation and it'll pop off another whole wave of insanity. But now, with Israel and Hezbollah squaring off, trading missiles over Lebanon, Beirut, getting close to Tel Aviv . .

. one hit to the three main religions' complex in Jerusalem, and it's on."

"I know," Carlos said. "That's why, after thinking about this hard and long, I'm suggesting

a more conservative ap proach."

Mouths dropped open at the table and didn't close.

"I'm serious," Carlos said, glancing at everyone's expres sion.

"We know," Mike said, leaning forward and glancing at Shabazz, then Inez. "Baby, you ain't root the man, did you?"

"Naw, that would have to be Damali," Inez said. "Carlos, you feel all right?

Conservative?"

"You?" Marlene said, fanning her face. "Oh, now I know it's the end of days."

"C'mon, y'all, I'm not that bad," Carlos said, laughing, but he glanced at Damali for support. He smiled wider when she could only shrug on his behalf. "Okay, maybe conserva tive is the wrong word. Maybe I should have said smarter... hit 'em how they don't expect."

"Okay, now that's my husband," Damali said, leaning forward with her elbows on the table and making the group laugh. "Semantics. Let's go before he starts talking in Dananu."

"I'm crushed, girl," Carlos said, flinging a balled-up nap kin at her, that she caught. "But we did this before in Sydney, sort of."

Damali closed her eyes and laughed. "And the man said conservative."

"Can I state my case, please?"

"Go ahead," Damali said, waving her hand. "At least this time we get to hear it before you make it up as we go along."

Carlos laughed. "Yeah, well, I'm mentally designing this on the fly, so think about it. J.L., I need your technology ex pertise on this." He looked around and J.L. leaned forward and nodded. "Cool. I'm thinking, since you know who owns the airwaves, and we have solid Guardian signature patterns in several locations already, we simulcast the concert, live, just like they do the international New Year's Eve count downs, into zones too hot to get our team in and out of quickly. This means teams don't have to necessarily gather."

"I'll be honest," Dan said, "I really wasn't feeling drag ging the team in and out of all these airports ... uh, right now, with things being as hot as they are."

"We feel you, man," Shabazz said. "We know the deal. But we've still gotta work - just find a way to work smarter, not harder."

"That's where I'm going," Carlos said, nodding to ac knowledge Dan's concern. "We've gotta use the technology like they do. Shabazz said it - work smarter. So, we get un

derground units of Guardians that we already know to send clips from the concert to each other on the Internet, bounce 'em through the Covenant, who can flip 'em to teams we haven't yet met. When they make the clips, they can edit the tactical energy wave pattern for me and Damali right into the clip like a subliminal message or code encased in mental silver - white light."

"That's smooth, man," J.L. said, rubbing his chin.

"This way our own can know what to hone in on." Carlos stopped for a moment and looked out toward the beach. "Yeah, by doing it over the Net, we have a way to secure the data bursts with some type of prayer encryption code or password - so when the darkside hacks it to try to see what this special flurry of messages are that're spiking on the In ternet, it fries their brains, their tubes, their sight. It oughta backward protect the sender and receiver's machines, too, if they're our people - so if the wrong side gets it, bam... smoking black hole. They don't even know where it came from, no trace. In and

out, smooth."

"That is nasty, man," J.L. said, reaching around several Guardians to slap Carlos five.

"Like our teams caught be hind firefights in Lebanon, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Iraq, we could ask Rabbi, Imam, and Father Pat to give us some strong prayer ammo, word phrases, specific passages in the old texts that if the wrong side opens it - "

"Yeah," Carlos murmured. "Like a silver shot virus that keeps imploding throughout their network, and the only way to get at it is to shut down cells, cut it off, black out a part of their network before they can bring it back up again. We've been going about this the conventional way. High body count on our side. We saw what one backfired spell did - -shut 'em down for twenty-four hours. We've got to fight nasty, like them. Send them some bugs they can't shake in their house."

Damali watched him take a slow swig of sweet tea and set the glass down with precision, and run his fingers down the glass's condensation absently as he spoke. Watching the general work, his mind on fire, was the sexiest shit...

"Me and 'Mali are always bait, this protects the team, second line of defense. Guardians need to be homing to us, not the team, especially in a firefight. Trapped teams in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, anywhere it's hot, they get Internet transmission from their nearest Covenant con nection, from downloads doctored by teams in strong loca tions that know how to capture our patterns through their tactical units." Carlos glanced around the team. "Now, this way, when we do hit London, Rome, Tokyo, Moscow, et cetera, which we will, our teams will feel the energy signa ture the moment we hit their soil. Right now, the only ones that feel us like that are the wrong side - which is crazy. Our people gotta know, and not just by calls from the Covenant, when we're in their zone."

"But, Carlos, doing such a big concert, even if it's here in the U.S. and broadcasting around the world... won't that let them know who we are?" Marjorie glanced around the table nervously. "I'm not trying to be negative."

"You're right, and you're not being negative, Marj. Your point is valid. Here's the thing," Carlos said, talking with his hands. "People, the darkside already knows who we are, so it's not like we're blowing our cover, they just can't pinpoint us at any given time. Our Guardian teams are in places we can't reach all over the world, and they aren't all sure who we are - bad position to be in. Once we do the concert, they'll know. They'll be able to feel our exact-match energy signature in a territory the way vamps know when one of theirs has left or entered a zone, or a zone has been breached."

"So you did learn something valuable while taking a walk on the wild side," Rider said, smiling.

Carlos play-boxed him across the table. "Use every gift you've got, brother." He dropped back to his seat, smiling. "While we do the concert, just like any other firefight, we're open for a minimal time of exposure. However, the darkside will watch us ... they'll be curious, trying to see what our angle is. They'll be baited in, wondering, and then all of a sudden all these blogs and video packages, podcasts, and e-mails will start flying. Our inside man, Yonnie, can help with the hype, tellin' them he got word from me that we'd be passing secret messages. That way I know they'll open up anything about us with an encryption seal on it."

"Or, we could tell them that he compromised me," Tara said, staring at Rider. "To make it more credible." She reached for his hand and held it under the table as he conceded with a

nod. "And we should let them open one or two of the first ones to draw them in to download it deep into their network... and let it be something they can't figure out readily, referencing the Holy Land or Nod to keep them hungry for more." Tara glanced around the table. "I do remember how they think," she added quietly. "Carlos is dead on. Let them put their best vampire and demon minds on it, and then when they open subsequent packages, they fry."

"Girl..." Juanita said, as Krissy tipped her glass of sweet tea against hers. "Remind me to stay on your good side."

"Right," Heather said, clearly impressed. "Good lookin' out."

"Just like Tara said," Carlos pressed on, making his point with conviction. "We don't have to find them, they'll find us. They'll grab everything that's gift wrapped, try to decode it to see what hidden subtext in the lyrics or battle logistics we might have been communicating, and ka-boom. Meanwhile, we're back home, chillin'." He looked around.

"Minimal team risk, maximum exposure. Dan can set us up to play L.A. with no stress instead of beating his head against a brick wall with uncooperative venues, and we could drive up, wouldn't even have to take a flight."

Carlos opened his arms. "Sometimes the universe is trying to put stumbling blocks in your way to make you change direction. Normally, we just grind through it, too damned stubborn to yield, back up, and punt. Gotta change that dynamic. New situations are happening, and we have to make course adjustments." He glanced at Heather. "Might have to change the way we do business all the way around - our team is young. Got a lot at stake here. I heard everybody loud and clear." He briefly glanced at Damali and held her gaze for a moment. "I'm right there with you."

"That's deep," Shabazz said quietly. "Damn, man."

"We need to evolve this operation," Carlos said, leaning forward. "We got teams trying to hold it down, so they need to be able to reach out to us and call us in as their Green Berets, ya know? Like, the way that thing went down ,in Morales, still ain't sitting right with me, man ... they came and helped us, and we lost a lot of good men and women. From this point forward, after the concert to get a beacon on the horizon, they should be calling us to say, 'Yo, we need backup.' Then as the hard-hitting Neteru squad, we go get our people some relief. In and out. Can't lose a whole team again like we lost Brazil." Carlos sat back in his chair hard and rubbed the tension out of his neck and then looked at Damali. "I don't know - that's my two cents. It was off the cuff, on the fly. D ... what's your take? How you think we should play this? Concerts are your specialty; I'm just mapping it out based on old power paradigms I knew."

It took her a moment to make her vocal cords work so she could answer, and a few seconds more to keep from sliding out her seat. He'd blown her mind with an ingenious plan, one that had the best odds of keeping the family safe, and he had yielded the floor, no macho bravado... and had moved furniture all day, too, and was sitting there actually waiting for her plan or endorsement, not just saying that... she could feel the strain in his voice when he'd said it. He wanted her opinion, her view mattered. Talk about evolution -

her mind was singed at the edges from the straight silver charge he'd shot into it. Her throat was dry, her mouth had gone dry, but she had to sit very still and keep her knees together because all the moisture from those sources had collected at the other end of her continuum.

She couldn't believe the words that were forming in her head. Her, a Leo - a Neteru, a Queen. Her breath came out in a rush, coating her reply. It wasn't supposed to, after all, she was co-leader, co-general, partner, but... dang! Could dinner just be over now, and dishes wait 'til the morning?

"Everything he said works for me," she said quietly, then stood up and walked into the kitchen with both of their plates.