CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Breathing hard, sitting back-to-back, they kept their eyes closed and tried to pull themselves together before Bonpo Master Zang Ho, the Naksong, returned.

They heard him before his tiny little feet hit the ground. They knew he was scowling as he swished around them in a circle. It was not necessary to open their eyes.

"So!" their teacher said crisply. "It is near sunset. Have you aligned your energies?"

Damali felt a smile creep over her face and connect to Carlos's. "I think so," she said and offered him a slight bow by tilting her head down while she kept her eyes closed. If she looked the old man in the face, she knew her eyes would tell all and she'd burst out laughing.

"And you?" the master snapped to Carlos's.

"Oh, yeah..." he said, his voice slow and mellow. "I'm real straight."

For a moment, the Bonpo master didn't respond. He paused, fidgeted a bit, and then began walking again. "Good. Then would you care to demonstrate what you have learned?"

Damali's eyes popped open, she could feel laughter rising within her and connecting to a belly laugh swirling within Carlos. He broke before she did, and it was all over. He fell on his side and shook his head. She tried to keep her stoic facade, but it crumbled and gave way to gales of laughter.

"No, man," Carlos said, wheezing through heavy bursts of laughter. "Some secrets are not to be revealed."

The Naksong walked away and stood with his arms folded. "The swords," he said in a peevish tone. "In your hands. Now!"

"All right, all right," Carlos said, recovering and trying not to smile. "My apologies." He pushed himself to sit up and pressed his spine to Damali's again. He closed his eyes, laughter still erupting intermittently. "On three, baby."

"I got you," she said, unable to swallow away the mirth.

Carlos opened his hand at the same time Damali opened hers, and a sword appeared in both of their palms.

Shocked, they both stared down and marveled.

"That was deep, D," Carlos whispered.

"I know," she said, turning her wrist so the blade caught the setting sun.

Zang Ho rubbed his beard and allowed a half smile. He glanced at Carlos and then began walking. "Your eyes are silver," he said coolly. "I take it that you have been properly realigned."

"Master Zang Ho," Monk Lin said, bowing deeply as the party of three approached the small settlement camp.

Zang Ho frowned and returned Monk Lin's deep bow. "I am done teaching for a lifetime," he fussed as he stood with folded arms. "Incorrigible. Nondisciplined. Unorthodox. Slow to learn!"

"The oxen are slow, master. But the earth is patient," Monk Lin said with a quiet smile.

"They are ready," Zang Ho said begrudgingly, as he eyed Carlos and Damali, and then the rest of their team. The old master walked back and forth in front of the group, which was assembled before a large yak-haired tent. He glanced down at the ammunition trunks on the ground. "It was wise of you not to put innocent nomad protectors at risk."

"Yes, revered one. We let them know our approximate location, but have moved our team away from their campgrounds... just in case." Monk Lin smiled and kept his eyes lowered.

"He is apexing," Zang Ho snapped, pointing at Carlos as he walked away. The old man spun and folded his arms again, stopping his agitated movements. "Correction. Apexed. Past tense."

Monk Lin nodded and gave the Bonpo master a slight bow. "I know, esteemed master. We heard it echo through the glen."

She was done. She must have packed and unpacked and checked and rechecked artillery a hundred times, and there still wasn't a good place to keep her line of vision. She wasn't trying to see a single smile or smirk. She didn't want Carlos to say a word to her to make it any worse. Oh, my God, if her team had heard all that... no wonder the nomads had picked up tents and rolled.

Damali kept her eyes on the steel blade she was polishing. She'd begged silence in order to so-called concentrate. When she did speak, it was strictly business. Monk Lin, thankfully, was as discreet as ever, and worked at distributing night gear with Rider, whose expression remained unreadable. But Inez's glee was wearing her out. No, she was not discussing this with her girl. Not!

Conversely, Juanita still issued glances that could cut metal. Now that was one heifer that had better stay out of swing range - she was in no mood. Jose remained aloof. Damn. But that was cool. Had to be that way. Big Mike kept nodding to himself and showing off his silver-spiked hiking cleats while wearing a huge smile, and joking about kicking demon ass till it sizzled. He wasn't fooling a soul; Big Mike needed a diversion to allow him to belly laugh at something so they wouldn't take direct offense. Bottom line, though, Mike was all in their business. That was working her nerves to the bitter end. Bobby and Dan just seemed to walk around bumping into each other, all nervous, while Krissy and J.L. couldn't get out of each other's faces.

Damali let out a breath of frustration as she glimpsed Marjorie from the corner of her eye, noting that in the poor woman's distress, she'd brought some wildflowers into a daggone artillery tent, and was sprucing up the hovel like a spring wedding was in the offing. Berkfield seemed lost, his worried focus on his daughter, who was now clearly in full bloom. Hey, what did the man want? It was springtime in the mountains, and the girl was grown.

Damali let her breath out hard again. Her business was all in the streets. Was it possible to die of instant mortification, she wondered? The only ones who were somewhat cool were Marlene and Shabazz. They simply raised eyebrows with a knowing smirk and kept their conversation on neutral topics. But, that damned Carlos couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He was so cheerful that she couldn't even look at him.

Carlos plopped down behind her. Pressed his back to hers and began polishing his already gleaming blade. Damali laughed softly, unable to help herself.

"Get away from me," she whispered. "Your eyes are still flickering."

He smiled and turned his blade back and forth, catching the dim lamplights and tent center fire in it. "Really?"

"Stop," Damali said, working harder on the steel she held.

"That's not what you said a little while ago," he said under his breath, a low chuckle rumbling through his back into hers.

She had no words.

His laughter abated, but his mood remained light as he began polishing his blade behind her. After a moment, he abruptly stood and walked to the other side of the tent, blade pointed to the ground, studying it. No one paid him any particular attention, but she'd seen his lids lower by a quarter just as he'd turned to walk away. It was the sexiest of nuances, just a slight tremor unnoticeable to the others around them, but unmistakable to her. Then he quickly gave her his full back, as though trying to regain his cool.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down once more. She could feel his energy waft across the interior of the tent, enter the tip of her blade, and travel up the length of steel in her hand as though it were a giant antenna. Soon the blade in her hand became a lightning rod of sorts, picking up sensations that made it difficult to continue to hold the sword and keep polishing it. The more she rubbed it, the shakier his breaths seemed to become. She looked at the sword and stopped polishing it for a second, saw his breath hitch, and mouthed a silent wow... He was one with the blade. Very, very deep.

She'd promised herself that she would ignore him, but she couldn't help watching Carlos slowly sit on the ground and fold his legs Indian style, take in a quiet but shaky breath, and lay his sword across his thighs. Ever so slowly she noticed a slight mist of color begin to overtake his aura. It was a very deep navy, nearly indigo, that was close to black, with flicks of silver iridescence threaded through the hue. Although she kept the observation concealed within sidelong glances, the entire spectacle was mesmerizing as the vapor emanating from him began to fill the tent and mingle with the plume of smoke coming off the fire, and exiting the center chimney hole above.

Just watching him struggle for composure did something to her. With all the eyes around and the unseen dangers, she knew he was fighting a losing battle between the intellectual and the primal. Zang Ho was wrong, he hadn't apexed; he was apexing. This wasn't something that just happened quickly and was over. It was a process, and took a month to get out of one's system. She'd been there, almost pushed to the brink of her sanity when it had been her ripening time, and there was no one there when it happened... no one that she wanted to be with like she'd wanted to be with him.

Carlos's glance caught hers the very second the thought crossed her mind. You don't know how much I wanted to be there, mi tresora. His expression was stone serious as he looked away, leaned his head back, and sat as though in deep meditation. I couldn't. I was injured. I would have changed the fate of the world, anyway, if I wasn't. But, I promise, I'll make it up to you tonight.

She stared at his back. I know. But not tonight. Damali quickly glanced away and returned her attention to the sword that had practically come alive in her hands. Madame Isis never did this, she mused. The old girl never had a charge on it like what was running through her palms now. She had to distract herself, had to keep her focus. The brief mental answer she'd given Carlos was all she'd allow for a mind lock with others around. That had always been a volatile connection between them, and in a family tent with no options for privacy, there was no way was she going to keep this up.

You don't understand. The tone of Carlos's mental reply made her drop the polishing rag. The message was urgent, visceral, sent through the steel on her lap as a sensation at one with the thought. You never opened Pandora's Box, never tasted being with the only one for you while in this state. Damali, you cannot imagine... He took a deep breath. I have to laugh to keep from crying, right about through here. Once. Once? Baby, that was just enough to make me crazy. I can't stop thinking about earlier today.

Nope, she was not answering him or addressing what he'd just mentally jettisoned toward her. Yeah, he was crazy. Out of his dang mind. They were not alone! They were in the Himalayas near known danger - uh-uh. The family was at risk if they went off and did anything wild. She focused on the leather bindings that kept sections of the tent wall held together. Thankfully, the team was used to their Neterus sitting alone quietly at times, meditating, trying to pick up vibes, so nobody was in her or Carlos's face.

It was a nice ruse. Something very necessary to allow them to both cool off and recalibrate their nerves. She kept her back to the hubbub of conversation in the tent and to Carlos. He was on the other side of the tent doing the same. Good. Yes, she would mentally talk to him, but a sensual mind-lock in full view? Not here, not in front of family, and not with all that was possibly hunting them. On the mountainside was bad enough, where there was no way in heaven that she could have said no. However, that taste, as he called it, would have to hold them both for now. She smiled slightly and shook her head no with the barest hint of movement.

Immediately, she felt a hot kiss land on her lips that parted them with an insistent tongue. She almost moaned at the sensation, but sat there, staring at the tent wall, with wide eyes. He could do that - not as a vamp? Shit! She risked glimpsing him, and all she could witness with normal sight was his back slowly expanding and contracting with deep breathing. A sweat-darkened V had formed on his shirt between his shoulder blades. The blade burned against her thighs where it lay, and it felt more like him than metal. Damali closed her eyes. Oh, this was not good.

A few small pebbles slightly stirred on the ground, and made her open her eyes at the imperceptible sound. Mike hadn't heard it. Was it real or happening inside her head? Damali stared at the pebbles that began to move toward Carlos, as though he were magnetic. She glanced up at the hue of the chimney smoke, which was now richly colored with his scent, flickering silver as it made its way out of the opening, but then the dark hue suddenly doubled back, separated from the smolder coming off the fire and wafted in her direction to fill the tent. The fire in the center of the floor sputtered slightly, flaring with small silver flickers. Damali nervously glanced at the others, who hadn't noticed, but were fully engaged in whatever they were doing.

Stop, she mentally whispered, before you take us both somewhere we can't go.

I can't help it, I don't know what's happening to me, and I don't have control over this.

The scent of him was intoxicating, made her hands tremble, and made her breathing labor in response. Baby, you have to just chill. Take cleansing breaths, be still, stop sending thoughts of what you want to do. Don't dwell on it, okay? It'll pass. Remember what you told me when I fluxed vamp and tried to breach daylight to get to you? Focus on that, the impossible.

Why'd you have to remind me of that morning? Too erotic.

My bad! I meant, uh, focus on what is impossible. Not the incident.

She felt him nod from across the tent, felt it through her back, but also felt his hands cover her breasts in a phantom touch. Oh, no... the Naksong had told him to use what he used to know, not to fear it, and bring to it into his Neteru core. If he was bringing his old vamp talents of a mind-blowing phantom caress up in this tent...

She shook her head, trying to tell him, don't do it, and stopped breathing for a moment when his forefingers and thumb took her nipples in a slow roll back and forth between them. The sensation created a hard throb in her bud, and then sent a burn to cover her rim until it contracted, needing his entry. She fought not to move, not to arch against the pleasure, and couldn't make a sound, but was forced to sit there, stone rigid, as though nothing was happening at all. Cut it out.

Warm hands poured liquid heat over her buttocks beneath her pants, caressing her skin, setting fire to it, and slid over her belly to stroke the insides of her thighs. The blade pressed hard against them, reminding her too much of him. She could feel her inner thigh muscles contract of their own volition as the gentle stroke chased heat between them. For a second, she almost forgot where she was and who was there as a finger slid against the slick, wet folds that had become engorged with want. A gentle suckle played at one nipple while the other was teased with a steady thumb flicker. She bit her lip to keep sound from exiting her mouth. Stop... baby, before we both embarrass ourselves.

Her eyes literally crossed beneath her lids, as the sensation of his nose dragging along the edge of her shoulder and up the side of her throat stayed her complaint. Not fair. You know that's my sweet spot. Stop. Embarrassment made her face warm as she sat perfectly still, trying not to flinch, stifling a moan, and so wet that she was afraid she'd leave a damp mark on the ground.

Although her ears heard nothing but the chatter in the tent, she could separate out Carlos's breaths from that, pushing the noise and movements of the others further and further to the far corners of her mind. She glanced over her shoulder at the same time he did. His eyes were solid silver and he closed them and turned away. Oh, man, this was really bad, and truly tacky. She pressed both hands together, yogi style, and tried to chase away the thick desire that had erupted between them.

I can't, she heard him mentally stutter. It's worse than earlier today.

She could feel him about to hyperventilate, which she knew would draw attention. If he started babbling some sexy shit in Spanish, it was over. Baby, breathe. But she was the one who was beginning to hyperventilate. It was a slow, steady increase, stilled only by her horror of possible in-front-of-family humiliation.

Damali squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled sharply. He smelled so damned good, his mental caresses with an apex scent spike was blowing her away. She wanted to reach out and touch him so badly her palms ached to just allow her hands to cover his skin, feel the heat that radiated off his body. Her lips parted; she needed to kiss him hard, tangle her tongue with his. She could feel the dip in her lower back pulse with the need to jerk to his thrusts.

The Sankofa tattoo over her base chakra had ignited spinal fluids, releasing mental spasms, as well as every other liquid her body owned. By now the draw to touch him was beyond her ability to resist, so she picked up the sword, instead, and ran her fingers down the edge of the blade. His reaction was a sharp hiss. She opened her eyes and glanced around, but realized when no conversation had abated that, he'd apparently had enough wherewithal to keep that sound a mental one.

Put the blade down, Damali. Once, earlier today, was just a tease. After being apart for months, out of sync, no, once was not enough.

She heard him pause, but didn't stop stroking the metal lying across her lap.

The team is strapped to the gills, maybe...for an hour, they'd be all right?

It was surely a tender offer, one nearly impossible to refuse. Maybe, if they took a couple of weapons and a blanket somewhere... She knew she sounded crazy to her own mind, but this was like fighting one's own DNA!

I'm a female Neteru, I have no defense against this, Carlos. You have to be the one to hold the line, or... oh, my God, I can't stand it. She put down the blade very carefully beside her and kept her eyes closed, blotting at the building moisture on her forehead and the damp sheen that covered her neck. She could almost feel it pool right in the center of her neck, where her collarbone created a small V Her shirt was sticking to her; her pants felt like they'd been glued on. She wanted to, had to, get out of her clothes, or she'd suffocate in them.

Oddly, when she opened her eyes, Carlos's image was before her, sitting cross-legged in front of her, both staring at each other, but she knew it was just a vision. Carlos was actually sitting with his back to her, a good fifteen feet across the tent. Stop, she mentally repeated. It was bad enough that they'd made love on the mountainside without access to water, and she knew her Guardian brothers with the noses had picked that up. Now she was so wet again that it didn't make sense. The sexual tension between them had literally made the hair stand up on Shabazz's and Dan's arms when they'd walked into the enclosure to rejoin the team. J.L. was practically liquefied by it. No doubt Mike heard it all... and anybody else with half a gift had picked up on the deal. If they weren't real careful, in a minute Marlene would be in it with her second sight, and who knew if Marj or Juanita or Inez had that capacity strong enough yet to get in their business? Now, stop.

Damali's blade rested beside her leg as she made the request. The sword handle had been too hot to hold, felt molten in her palm. She wiped at another trickle of perspiration that rose on her forehead and slid down her temple. Was it her imagination, or did the heat in the tent kick up a few notches? Damn, this brother was drawing in elemental forces. She turned to glimpse him, and found herself staring as he slowly got up without using his hands to push off the ground. Carlos just stood in one lithe motion, sauntered over to her, garnering temporary glances and wry smiles from team members, who then went on about their business once he sat before Damali.

"I can't do this," he said in a low, private murmur. "I can't."

She held his hands as they faced each other, sitting in meditation position. "Yes, you can. I did. It's hard - "

His sly smile cut off her statement of logic.

"It's difficult," she corrected.

"For me, because of the time I was born, and probably because of what I'd been before, it gets worse at night."

She stared at him. She'd never considered that. All she could do was nod for a moment. "It'll pass," she finally said, trying to put conviction in her tone.

The pain in his expression made her want to look away, but she couldn't.

"How did you deal with it?" he asked in a low, hard, whisper, his gaze open, and no games evident in it. The sound of his voice was so gravelly that it sent a silent tremor through her.

She couldn't immediately answer the question, or continue staring into his silver-lit eyes. She wasn't sure how she'd made it through that ripening month when he was supposedly dead. She tucked away a new reality that made guilt twist the pit of her stomach... that was when she'd almost gone to Jose.

Damali kept her eyes on Carlos's hands. All of it made so much sense, now. She might be a Neteru, just as Carlos might have once been a vampire, but at the end of it all, they were human, flawed, and made of flesh and blood. Desire was a powerful entity all on its own, and to add a Neteru ripening or apex spike to the equation, anything could go down... just like adding a little vamp to the mix was a recipe for disaster.

She knew what he was going through. All she had to do was think back on those powerful urges, the procreation imperative that had her up at night, feigning... Yeah, she remembered wanting some so bad she was crying. Hysterics were not out of the question as her body had pressed against the sweat-damped nothingness of sheets and she'd clung to dream sensations in her fitful sleep, days offering no escape, as everything had reference to hot, raw sex... Celibacy had been a true bitch, there was no other way to tell him.

He squeezed her hands tighter, sending the message that he'd heard her. But the look in his eyes begged her to step outside for a little while.

"Where?" she said with a slow smile. "Don't even try it."

When he didn't smile back, the smile slowly left her face, too. Kinetic charge filled her palms through his and raced up her arms like a quick shudder. Suddenly, no one was in the tent. The walls seemed like that of a cave. Beneath them, thick, warm, unidentifiable animal skins covered the cave floor. Dark red, Neolithic rock art was set to glow by a fire, telling a moving story of humanity's struggle for survival against beasts. Stick figures danced across the rough walls, chasing predators with spears, arrows, and bows. The fire in the middle of the floor flared and danced with the moving frescoes. Tinder crackled within the blaze. Bits of glowing ember twigs leapt from it, striking Carlos's bare torso as he sat before her nude, holding her hands, each flaming contact leaving a red brand that went white-silver, marking him in what seemed to be war paint.

Her eyes filled with tears of pure need, the desire was so palpable that her fingers trembled as she touched his face. They left a deep, crimson mark where they'd landed, as though he'd been burned by her caress, and he closed his eyes and touched her face, marking her where his fingers fell.

Then trembling touches became a sudden, violent kiss. Her hair was in his fist, his bare chest pressed against hers, the markings on it transferring to her naked skin, sending white-hot pleasure from every stripe until she cried out. She immediately knew where she was, she had gone back to the dawn of time with him. First man, first woman, that was all that there was... the first tribe, cave dwellers - hunt, eat, survive, procreate - that was all that there was. He'd apexed and gone back to Adam's beginning... just outside the Garden when the true battle began, and where the first male Neteru had to step up. Be fruitful and multiply.

Carlos flattened her; the erotic scent of him caused instant delirium. She moved beneath him, urgently trying to get him to enter her. They had to create, stop the burn, and be as one. But his head jerked up, and he looked over his shoulder, growled, and stood.

Instantly she was back in the tent, no one else had changed position, no one had moved, conversations remained unbroken, no one even seemed to notice that Carlos was pacing.

She stood slowly, trying to regain her bearings. Her breaths were open, ragged pants. Two seconds ago, she wouldn't have cared less if he'd made love to her in a filled stadium. She was about to go to him when he held up his hand, breathing in shuddery gulps, his eyes keen on something outside the tent. She tried to focus in on what he was sensing. His scent permeated her skin, the animal skin walls of the tent. Small clumps of dirt rolled toward his feet, magnetizing to his highly charged energy. The fire sputtered and hissed as though water had been sprinkled on it, and the air swirled in a lazy dance around them. He'd inadvertently drawn the elements, and possibly something else more dangerous.

"I'm worried now," she finally said in a tense murmur, unable to chase away the desire burn that lingered. She was angry that she still felt it, angry that they hadn't finished what they'd started, angry that they'd been interrupted, angry that her focus should be elsewhere, but was still locked on making love to him -

"I know," he said quietly, scowling at the tent walls and then briefly closing his eyes. "That is a good way to have the entire team smoked. I'm sorry, but - "

"No apology required," she said in a quiet, breathy voice. "I'm right there with you, but I don't know what just happened. It was like some kinda dimensional distortion that shouldn't have gone down."

"I know, I know." He bent and picked up her sword and handed it to her. "It was reflex. I couldn't stop what I was feeling, was thinking about it so hard I just projected, I guess. I wanted to be one-on-one so bad that I couldn't shake the image, which could've gotten us all jacked." His voice remained low so only she could hear his words, and his eyes held hers for a moment. "Later."

She nodded and kept her tone private. "Later, but soon, I hope."

He closed his eyes briefly and nodded, sucking in a huge breath, and kept his voice intimate, like hers. "I am really pissed off, right about through here."

"Ditto, but can you sense what's coming?"

He tilted his head, stared at the wall, but a sly smile tugged at his mouth. "Yeah."

"All jokes aside, you just perfumed the entire mountain, brother." Damali pushed the tip of the sword into the dirt so it stood beside her and glimpsed up at the hole in the tent. The remnants of sunset were nearly gone. She raked her fingers through her hair. "If you hadn't pulled up, you would have had me calling your name in front of the team. Now try to think of what made you stop like that."

Part of what disturbed her, beyond the acute ache of the interruption, was that he'd looked up the way master vampires did when interrupted in their lair. She hadn't seen that look in his eyes, or heard that low resonant growl split his diaphragm in a very long time. She'd thought that had completely gone out of his system, and the fact that it was fused with a Neteru love-making dance really worried her no end. So did the time-distortion thing he'd just done. It was as though some of his old master's abilities had come back with the new apex, which really worried her.

"I don't know," he finally said in a quiet tone, his gaze slowly moving over the tent wall. "It was a large presence, female, dangerous."

The fact that Carlos's mating vibration was strong enough to produce a virtual hallucination still had her reeling. Her knees still felt like rubber. But it also meant that it was more than a lure to something they had to kill. It was here, somewhere, turned on, and on the move.

Carlos nodded. "I know. Was trying not to think about that." He paused and turned around to completely face Damali. "I thought you might also be worried about something else, too, like getting pregnant again." He stared at her for a moment and then looked away. "Definite possibility tonight. Restraint of intent ain't nowhere in me."

"I am worried about that," she said honestly, but kept her voice private and gentle. "But that's something long-term to consider, if we live through this mission. I'm more worried about what we'll have to face, short-term."

She looked around the tent at the team that was still scattered in groupings of conversation, card games, and general relaxed chaos. This was a bad position for any of them to be in, to have both generals mentally compromised by a genetic force, while something serious was on their asses.

"Our timing, once again, sucks," Carlos said, wiping his palms over his face. "I do not like being in a situation where my head ain't right. That's a perfect way to get jacked."

"I'm right there with you, brother - we're on the same page. My concentration ain't no better than yours."

For a moment, they both just stared at each other.

You remember how I was when you were ripening and I'd just turned vamp?

She nodded. Yep, and now I know what you were dealing with, because if you don't stop the mind locks, I will throw your fine ass to the ground in this tent with everyone watching. "Don't go there, or revisit that." I'm in a very fragile state - horny beyond your comprehension. Just the freakin' memories send chills, you clear! Damali turned away and wrapped her arms around herself and drew in a shuddery breath. But Carlos snatched her arm and turned her around hard, making the others briefly glance at them for the first time.

They both glared at the team, which sent lines of vision away from them. The message was implicit; the argument was private, stay out of it.

Then, don't even suggest something like that... Okay? Carlos mentally said, stabbing her mind with a low rumble once the team went back to their own conversation. Do not talk dirty to me in here, or even think about a ground body-slam, hear! Not right now, because I'm about to take you up on the threat. He looked at her hard, but there was a plea in his tear-filled eyes that made her measure her words. Know that I have complete respect for what you went through alone. Get back on the subject.

Damali nodded, went to touch his arm, but made her hand fall away. "It's on me and you, now," she said in a soft apologetic tone, running her fingers through her locks as she looked up at Carlos. This made no sense, both of them battling to breathe, both sweating like they'd been chased and had an entire team to keep safe, but also having to fight this apex thing going down to twist their brains. "We baited this thing; it's hooked and headed our way," she finally whispered, taking long pauses to collect herself. "I can feel it. We're responsible for what happens to this family."

"You think Zang Ho got the young bucks ready?" Carlos said, his gaze sweeping Bobby and Dan, then over toward Krissy and J.L. His gaze lingered on Marjorie, and then Inez and Juanita. Then he soberly answered his own question. "Yeah, D. This is tight."

Carlos and Damali moved closer together. They both stared at each other, the quiet plan implicit.

"Draw it away from the tent," she murmured.

"Give the family a chance to aim and fire." Carlos glanced around. "Two-by-two detail."

Damali nodded. "Okay, everybody. Listen up," she said, walking away from Carlos and blotting her damp forehead with the back of her wrists. "In about ten minutes, we'll have true nightfall. I want everybody who doesn't have night vision capacity, or a fully developed gift, with goggles on, even in the tent. Your gun is in readiness position, unholstered, safety off, and in quick reach range. Shield bracelets are on. Grenades hooked to your vests. Cold-body indicators are on your hip at all times and set to vibrate. Every person in here should have a Bowie or some type of blade. If it gets ugly, and you get separated from the group, make sure you have heat packs and switch your locators on transmit, because if you do make it to sunrise, we don't want to find you frozen to death. Until we get back down that mountain in full daylight, you look alive and stay alive."

Smiles faded, eyes hardened, heads nodded as the team stared back at her and Carlos, and teammates began to stand and comply.

"Me and D are doing this first night shift. At this juncture, I need to be away from this tent and as far away from any of you as possible. I'm bait, and trailing. So, the last person you get next to if it gets rugged is me. Home to Damali to take cover. Understood?"

Again, heads nodded. Silence made the tent feel smaller. Tension practically sucked the air up and out of the small center hole above.

Krissy slid the bracelet on her arm, lit a beam to surround her body in a shield, and tapped her indicator. "This one is defective," she said, glancing around nervously. "It's already buzzing."

Before she'd finished her sentence, a giant claw ripped through the tent wall where she stood. J.L. flat-kicked her in the chest and she landed by Big Mike as the tent collapsed. Something snatched J.L. out of the torn opening so fast that Carlos couldn't get to him as the heavy folds plumed down on the group.

Pure mayhem broke out as Carlos and Damali cut their way out of the tarp. They heard J.L.'s voice screaming a long descending echo. They glanced at each other; two seconds told them the deal. He was falling. Damali's sword dropped. A pair of eagle eyes replaced hers. Wind rushed beneath her. Talons outstretched. His body was too heavy. He'd take them both down. Zang Ho's voice stabbed at her mind. Dragon.

She became huge, strong; her muscles split across her breastbone and wrapped her legs in what felt like steel cable. J.L. was semiconscious; his body rimmed in blue-white light from his bracelet, and was reaching for a vest-hitched grenade. Friendly fire was about to kill them both. She snapped at his arm to send his hand back, circled the mountain, and dropped him as gently as she could near other blue-white rimmed bodies.

"You're ass was lucky," Damali shouted, to make J.L. know not to attack her. "The only thing that probably kept you from being gored was the bracelet. Hold your fire. It dropped you because the UV burned it."

Blue-and-yellow rapid-artillery ejections looked like fireworks from the distance. She left J.L. and circled, trying to find a safe place to come in for a landing without taking a shell. Then something slammed into her midair, a slash sounded behind her, and she ducked a razor-edged tail, but it got her wing.

Tumbling, she landed with a hard thud, rolled, and held her left shoulder. The gash was two inches deep and blood was everywhere. But she had to get back into the fight. It wasn't time to bleed or die. Damali scrambled over the ridge to where the unseen beast had fled trailing sulfur, knowing it was headed in Carlos's direction.

Carlos ran as fast as he could to draw it away from the others. He somersaulted behind a rock formation, but a bolt of black energy smashed it. The blade in his hand had snapped like a twig when he'd swung it with all his might, the beast ducked, and it made contact with stone. Carlos flung the useless handle to the ground. Two huge yellow eyes appeared in a black scaly face and leaned down from its ten-foot advantage, fangs glistening, one wing smoking, but not slowed in the least.

"I believe you were looking for me," he hissed.

Carlos's back was to air, his heels perilously crumbling pebbles. Even with the thunderous distortion, he'd know Dante's voice anywhere.

Claws extended as the beast lunged forward in an open-fisted reach toward Carlos's chest. His golden energy shield rose, blocking the heart-snatch, but he fell backward over the ledge.

He was tumbling so fast that all the air in his lungs instantly exited his body. Then something snatched him and stopped his collision with the ground. His stomach lurched and felt like it was in his esophagus; the change in direction was so abrupt. A long, red tongue splattered with black ooze licked the side of his face and covered his hair in slime. Grayish-green hooked claws held him to a cold, scaly torso with breasts. The thing that carried him was so large that he couldn't see its face. Carlos glimpsed down at the several-thousand-foot drop, then glimpsed up at the entity that clutched him. Options were limited, but it was not about going with her toward the destination of a cliff-side lair.

Carlos opened his hand. A new sword was in it. Death before dishonor. Unable to get a good angle to penetrate the creature's body, he swiped at one of the huge, leathery wings that beat the air.

The creature screeched, but didn't let go. A razor tail slashed at his blade, fending off another stab. The female beast that held him was listing to one side, injured in the joint, not in the webbed leather like the other beast had been. Her hulking body billowed foul yellow smoke, her narrowed gaze sought a landing, when something mounted her back. Carlos was flung against the dirt, his sword lost in the hard fall, and he backed away from the edge of a yawning drop, as two beasts collided midair, one black, one gray, and tumbled in a downward death-struggle.

"Take cover," the gray beast screeched toward Carlos, her eyes glowing black. "You cannot be destroyed. Not now during your apex!"

He didn't wait to watch the outcome, but rejoined the team, running a hundred yards toward the clearing where blue-white outlined bodies could be seen in the darkness.

J.L. was back on his feet. Rider and Shabazz had locked on targets and released cold-seeking missiles. Big Mike had released a shoulder cannon shell that took out a section of mountain over the next ridge.

The team ducked, scattered, and took cover in five directions as the smoking gray beast was suddenly hurled over the edge of the ridge, slid through the tent and equipment, and landed two hundred yards away against the mountainside. Big Mike was trapped as she rose, dashed forward, and snapped at him. But Mike's silver-spiked boot caught the beast's jaw, hurling her back and splattering blackish-green slime at his feet. She reached out with a deadly swipe; Mike ducked and rolled away from the tail that stabbed at him. Inez jumped up, not taking cover, squeezing rounds from an Uzi and screaming Mike's name. Rider opened fire with Inez and Shabazz to give his man cover, allowing Mike to scramble behind another huge rock.

"Lilith, you bitch!" A deep voice rumbled in the distance. "You will never supercede me to make him your heir apparent! Not in his apex, not ever!" Within seconds, the black beast flew over the cliff edge toward the injured one, his black tail swishing in fury as he gained momentum. The gray one tried to lift off, screeching and hissing, and sending a weak arc of energy toward the larger creature hurling toward her; then suddenly the black one ducked, allowed two cold-seeking missiles to pass him, and covered his face and chest with his wings. The mountainside instantly yawned, sending black, sulfuric smoke into the air. Lilith screeched as an unseen force yanked her body into the cavern "Nooo, husband, I beg you!" she screamed. The mountain sealed.

Missiles made contact, missing their target, Lilith. The explosion quaked the mountainside. Clips and weapons flew out of hands as human bodies flattened to the ground from the impact. A slow rumble sounded overhead. The team got up quickly. No one fired; everyone froze, looked up, and began running.

"Avalanche!" Damali hollered.

"It all comes full circle," the huge predator hissed, touching down before them to block their retreat. His focus narrowed on Carlos as he lowered his head. "I'll see you back in Hell, where you were born!"

A black arc snared all gunfire. A sword materialized in Damali's hand. She swung; Carlos pushed her to fall, and made her miss the Chairman's throat by a millimeter.

"No," Carlos shouted. "Not yet!"

"Bring me my book," a low voice rumbled behind the entity that disappeared.

The team's attention immediately shot to the fast-moving white threat behind them. Small knots of humanity fanned out, sought rock formations, anything to get behind as a shield. But there was nothing, simply a flat, two-hundred-yard glen, then they would fall over the edge of the world, pushed by ice, rocks, snow, and dirt.

"Everybody come together!" Carlos yelled.

"Hold the line!" Damali shouted, moving to his side. "Temple formation! Don't separate!"

Bodies slammed against bodies. All eyes turned toward the white-and-brown sea of mother earth hurling toward them. Carlos and Damali stood in a north-south position, back to back with the team between them. He opened his hands; she caught the end of his shield, arcing a dome of golden, impermeable light over the group.

Initially rocks and pebbles leading the avalanche bounced and skittered off the dome, making them cringe, but they all closed their eyes, said a prayer, and braced their bodies for the death impact.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of ice pushed the dirt over the dome, making all but the two Neteru's holding the shield, fall. Carlos and Damali could feel the entire team being moved inch-by-inch, backward while they strained to keep their position.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, all motion stopped, leaving the team sealed within an icy white tomb.

Breathing hard, Carlos kept his eyes shut while team members stood slowly, glancing up in disbelief. Damali's head dropped forward, her arms shook from the pressure, and for the first time since the chaos began, her injury started to burn and throb, making her painfully aware it was there.

Marlene's attention snapped toward Damali, as her side of the shield began to give way. "Medic! We've got a Neteru down!"

Berkfield quickly shoved toward her. Carlos peeped over his shoulder and his side of the shield buckled.

"Keep your concentration, man!" Damali shouted. "I'm all right. It's a flesh wound, Carlos."

She lowered her head but kept her arms outstretched, muscles in her arms shook as pain carved at her exposed shoulder blade.

"I'm looking at bone and gristle, hon," Berkfield said nervously, opening his hands and lowering them slowly toward her wound.

"Don't," Damali ordered. "It's a demon nick, Council level or worse. You're a sacred blood healer and the shit will burn like hell." Sweat covered her forehead and she coughed as nausea from slowly setting shock began to claim her.

"Seal her up," Carlos said through his teeth. "That shit will make her sick."

"No," Damali said, her voice losing some of its strength. "It'll fuck up my concentration when the burn goes down. I won't be able to hold the shield."

"You ain't gonna last another five minutes, baby," Marlene whispered, glancing up with the team as the dome began to buckle and yawn.

Bits of ice and rock began to rain inside the dome as Marlene spoke. Carlos's knees bent slightly, and he strained against the fissures like a man holding up the weight of the world. "You've lost a lot of blood."

"It was a vamp nick from the Chairman, not Level Seven. My system will fight it, I'm..." Damali's words trailed off as delirium from blood loss began to make her woozy.

"I said seal her up! That's an order," Carlos shouted. "I got this. Heal her."

Still the team hesitated, but the golden light protecting them got brighter. Carlos suddenly dropped his hands and turned, his focus beyond the group. Team members covered their heads in reflex but the dome never wavered. He walked toward Damali, who still had her hands outstretched, her head dropped forward, rivulets of sweat running down her temples and her nose, making her keep her eyes sealed shut.

"You have got to trust me," Carlos said near her ear. "Just like I have to trust you. We're both strong," he said, taking her hands within his, as she fell forward against his chest, "but sometimes we have to pick up the slack for one another." He looked at Berkfield. "Heal her."

Carlos handed Damali off to Marlene and walked to the edge of the globe they'd created. Damali's screams almost shattered his concentration, but there was something more important than individual pain: the survival of the family. Damali would live. But the wound had to be cleaned out and sealed.

As Berkfield slit his palm with a Bowie and sent the sacred to chase the unholy out of Damali's wound, Carlos allowed her screams of agony to make him stronger. Berkfield's agonized hiss as his palm's covered Damali's shoulder and the wound opened on his back made it all the more maddening while the healing happened behind Carlos. The sound of Damali's cries, breathing, the smell of blood, the exit of sulfur, the scent of spent vomit, sweat, tremors, tears, wails, pain. Never again.

He remembered it all so clearly now. Her screams of agony, hysteria, how they'd clawed his seed from her womb. Blackness had entered his lungs, polluting his system, making him a carrier. His vibrations had affected the team, had strained the dynamics for months, adding to the contagion, had threatened his woman's existence... had rendered confusion as an illusion. It wasn't a concussion from the car accident. He'd taken the Chairman's throne; it had attempted to take him by force, blood-rape sacrilege. They'd wanted the worst of him to step forward, then as Zang Ho had said, so be it. The head of the Chairman, then the book lodged in his double's chest would expel and open. A simultaneous hit had to go down. He had to kill the worst in himself. As far as Lilith went, he had no choice but to let the Devil deal with his own wife.

Carlos sat slowly on the ground and crossed his legs Indian style with his back to the frightened team and Damali as she recovered.

He was cool. He was one with the elements. He was snow - fucking ice. He was fire - molten lava. He was stone - a vast cavern of secrets protecting his family under his granite arch. He was the shadow of the night - never to be revealed to the enemy. He was the weapon.

Damali stirred slowly, her gaze immediately going to the holding shield and over to Carlos. All eyes followed hers as she sat up.

"He's in deep meditation," Marlene said quietly. "Do not break his concentration, or we'll die."

Damali nodded as she stared at the cold puffs of breaths expelled by the warm bodies around her. Lips were blue; frost had begun to form on people's eyebrows, turning hair white and skin gray. "We have to get out from under the shield and generate heat," she said quietly.

Carlos nodded but didn't turn, however, his slight movements made all eyes instantly land on him.

Fear was etched in frigid relief within all expressions. Damali knew what they were thinking; it was a silent scream at the forefront of everyone's mind. How long would this hold? How long would they be entombed? How long could their bodies withstand the elements before freezing, subzero temperatures killed them?... As the bodies dropped, and the days passed, would the worst of human starvation turn them into the beasts they all fought, making them hunger for human flesh to stop the pain?

She calmly crossed her legs where she sat and placed both hands together and closed her eyes. She envisioned an orb of red heat between her palms. Slowly her body began to warm and she offered the gift of heat to the others, becoming one with the elements. She was controlled fire. Her family was warmth, love, hope, joy; all that she had she would gladly share. She was sunlight and fresh air. She was a child of the universe... She was melting snow; she was spring, and dawn, and new rivers that flowed over the golden dome to offer Tibetan valleys the first element, the basis of woman - water.

They sat that way for hours through the night. Her back to Carlos on one side of the dome; his back to hers on the other. Large chunks of snow fell away in thunderous echoes, sliding over the golden circumference, opening the top to new dawn.

Carlos didn't move until enough of the snow had melted away from the edges of the protective enclosure. Everyone understood that soft walls could still pose a danger. No one moved until they heard Rider's "All clear." She and Carlos both opened their eyes, stood up at the same time, and craned their necks to a sound in the distance that even Big Mike hadn't heard.

"Choppers in the distance," Carlos said, stepping up higher in the snow and shielding his eyes to the sun.

"They've picked up our locator beacons," Damali said, facing the direction Carlos stared, watching the new day's light. She glanced at him and kept her words private. "You were awesome."

He glanced at her. "You weren't too bad yourself," he said, returning his gaze to the horizon. "Good teamwork. Woulda frozen to death without you." He looked at her for a moment. "I couldn't have done it all alone."

She nodded and kept her gaze toward the approaching choppers. "Neither could I have. Remind me to thank you properly, later."

The team stared at General Quai Lou in total disbelief. Damali and Carlos glanced at the two Black Hawk helicopters idling in the distance. Heavy guns were trained on their team; nervous eyes watched for a sign of resistance. Itchy fingers rested against triggers.

"You have destroyed the breeder female our agency was most concerned about. Therefore, it is time for you to go back to the U.S. and to leave China."

Carlos and Damali shared a glance.

"There's another one still out there. The male," Damali said, trying to keep her tone civil.

"We are aware of that, but after the potential reckless endangerment to the natural environment... an avalanche almost reached a village. If this had been Beijing, it would have been disastrous. The female is destroyed; the vortexes that Dr. Zeitloff described should be sealed."

"Your weapons caused the avalanche," Carlos protested in a low, threatening tone. "Monk Lin tried to warn you. Up here, conventional weapons wouldn't work. The only reason you aren't picking body parts out of the snow is because of the Naksong's teachings."

"Yeah, you need to recognize," Damali said curtly, her eyes sweeping her team and recounting heads to reassure herself that everyone was still there.

The general placed his hands behind his back. "Your service has been invaluable and most appreciated. The demoness that has been terrorizing our region and spreading infection is no more. The male is on the move and headed back to where you are from. We will assist you in visas, equipment, and reentry into your own country, and wish you well." He turned away, dismissing them with a wave of his hand. His officers dropped rope ladders and there was no more discussion to be had.

"You believe this shit?" Berkfield said, trudging forward.

"Yeah, I do," Carlos said and spat. "That's why I hate working for the government."