by L. A. Banks
Inez laughed and kept bop-time with the music. “Brother is scary strong, girl!”
“But gentle—just don’t be no vamp or he’ll blow your ass up.” Damali laughed and shook her head.
Inez gaped at her, hanging on every word with the pride of ownership emblazoned on her face. Damali smiled wider, yeah, it was all good. She’d let Inez vent and would then fill her in. The mood she’d been in was beginning to lighten and she was suddenly glad Inez had come along for the ride. Where was she going, really, other than away from her own home that had just been built? Crazy.
“I saw him sucker punch a werewolf, once, coming at him full charge. Was like in the cartoons,” Damali said with sisterly pride, laughter becoming a tonic throughout her system. “The mug stopped, shook its head, like yada, yada, yada, and Rider got him, single shell. But it was Mike’s swinging wild, cinder-block hit that slowed that sucker down.”
“Yeah …” Inez said with a breathy sigh. “I’ve been scared of stuff all my life, girl, but when that big tree trunk steps in front of me I know everything is gonna be all right.” Inez leaned in closer to Damali. “He likes kids…. I showed him my boo and everything, and he carries her picture in his wallet now—can you get to that? Her own daddy don’t even do that. This is the craziest life—I mean, I never expected my life to turn out like this, much less meet somebody like him under these circumstances … but … D… Lawd, chile …”
Damali started humming to the next cut. This is where the conversation was about to take a dangerous turn. She was one beat away from shouting, la, la, la, la, la—I can’t hear you. “Yeah, Mike loves kids,” Damali said as a diversion. Yup, go back to basics, family, and very generic topics—please. “Worked with a lot of kids from the neighborhoods through his church, rec centers, schooling the little knuckleheads, and I don’t imagine, even with a nine in their hands, too many were about to start no mess with Big Mike. Like I said, he’s the last person you wanna step wrong to and have on your ass.”
“Correction, girl,” Inez said with a giggle. “If anybody is gonna be on your ass … daaaayum!”
“See, now!” Damali said, laughing and turning up the music volume. “I do not need to know that.”
“But, D—”
“La, la, la, la, la—I can’t hear you!”
“But, oh, my God!”
“No, do not tell me no mess—that’s my brother!”
“I know, girl, and we was cool for all them months, got to know each other first, ’cause I had to calm down from trippin’ so hard about having to put my baby girl somewhere safe and the fact that there were actually demons, and shit, and plus, had to learn how to fight, and, but then, D, last night—”
“Stop!” Damali shouted, turning up the car stereo so loud that the button wouldn’t click to the next level.
Inez laughed hard and turned it down. “For real, what had happened was—”
“Not listening, glad y’all are in love, TMI, not my business, uh-huh, not my business, it’s your birthday, whateva, I ain’t listenin’, ’cause it’s my brutha, shut up, ’cause you my sistah, whoop, whoop—”
“Girl, you crazy!” Inez laughed so hard that her head nearly collided with the dashboard. “Stop!”
“You stop, and I’ll stop.” Damali wiped her eyes still laughing and tried to focus on the road. “We’re going in here, get some licka, and go home. I don’t wanna hear no mo’, got it?”
“Girl, neva in my life have I seen fourteen—”
“La, la, la, la, la, I am not hearing you!”
Inez laughed as she watched Damali literally run from her through the store aisles. Yeah … maybe Damali was right. Some of this she couldn’t tell another living soul. She was so happy she was about to burst, and had to keep telling the little butterflies in her belly just to calm down and be cool. But every time she thought about her man, a new wide smile flashed across her face.
She leaned against a shelf, almost crushing the snacks, but damn, a sister was too content. The brother moved real slow, methodical, they way he stripped off his shirt—she could still see it in her mind. Dark Hershey’s chocolate, that was the color of his skin … with a chest and abdomen cut so righteous she had actually covered her mouth. She closed her eyes and smiled, remembering the lopsided grin he gave her when she’d done that … and the way he never lost eye contact with her as he undid his pants and stripped them off, causing her to gasp in awe.
Inez wrapped her arms around herself. Damali needed to hurry up, she had to get home. What was she thinking out here shopping with her girl, when her six-foot-eight pleasure giver was back at the house? They was girlz, and all, but shoot. Especially the way his big ole country hands could cover her entire behind like he was palming a basketball … legs like tree trunks, and how he had so much rod she had to sit on his lap or get split, have mercy!
All she could think about was how he was strong enough to actually stand up … stand up—and walk with her, talking yang in her ear, asking her what she wanted while holding her heavy ass four feet off the floor … neva missing a stroke—the man could wurk. In his arms she felt like the prettiest, thinnest, tiniest little thing, and she’d never felt like that in her life … told her the sweetest things, made her cry it felt so good.
She was getting the chills just thinking about those arms of his, the way the muscles stood up in them she could literally see each strand while he’d held her, and his back … and shoulders, and his butt, Lawd save her. Then, before the night was over, she’d finally figured out how to make him holla and lose his mind. It had been a pure victory to take him there, to make him stop acting like she was made of glass, and stop whispering all low thunder and cut the natural fool. She’d felt like a queen. Mike was her man. That’s what he’d told her. Called her baby … suga. Inez shivered.
“D, you wanna hurry up getting that wine, girl?” Inez called out, swallowing hard.
Damali glanced at Inez and hastened her steps away from her girlfriend. No, she was not hearing any of it, and the vibe coming off of Inez had enough static charge in it to make her hair stand up. Damali almost ran into the adjacent aisle trying to mentally blot out the too graphic images of her big brother.
But Inez followed her around the store like a stalker. Every aisle Damali went into, Inez was right on her heels. Her best girl was harder to shake than the press. Each time she tried to tell her some amazing attribute of her brother, Damali held up her hand and made a guttural sound. People in the packaged goods store must have thought she had some type of disability, because her responses to Inez were a series of up, ot, ut, hupp, hut, and nopes with her hand jerking up every five seconds, which only made Inez laugh and pursue her harder.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Inez said, teasing her in a forlorn voice. “But if I can’t tell my best girl about the best time I’ve ever had in my life, then who can I tell?”
“Tell Jesus,” Damali said, laughing harder. “Take it to the cross,” she said, singing the old spiritual through the aisles.
“Girl, you crazy? This I cannot take to noooobody, especially not Him!”
“Then, there you have it. Your secret is safe between A and B, that would be you and Mike, and I’ma C my way out of it.”
“You wrong, girl.”
“It is not wrong for me to preserve my sanity,” Damali fussed, putting two bottles of champagne and a merlot on the counter. She eyed the cashier skeptically, and slid her cash across the counter, not touching his hand. Then she ignored his offended scowl and discreetly waited until he put her cash down and slid it back toward her, hoping Inez didn’t notice as she collected her change and rattled on with her complaint.
“Here’s the thing, ’Nez. I do not ever want to be sitting across from y’all at dinner in the compound and not be able to look my brother in the eye because I know too much of his business. So, on this one, spare me the details.”
“Aw’right, aw’right, aw’right, I get your point.” Inez sighed but her smile was still bright
. “You happy, though?”
“Yeah, I’m happy,” Damali muttered, as the cashier rung up Inez’s purchase. “Wait. Let me get that,” she added quickly, as Inez was about to place cash in the guy’s hand. Nobody needed to touch anybody, especially in this potentially infected town.
“That does not sound like happy.” Inez’s hands went to her hips.
Damali watched the cashier load her bottles into a bag. “My happy isn’t going to sound like yours, because yours is brand spanking new. What you hear is mellow happy. Been-to-Hell-and-back-and-I’m-okay-with-the-situation happy. There’s a difference, which is not to be confused with unhappy.”
Inez fell silent for a moment and Damali clasped the verbal respite and hung on to it. She marched out of the store with purpose and looked down the strip of small shops. It wasn’t such a bad town. Decent people all just trying to live. The reservation retail operation was sparse, but farther away toward the open tourist areas, there were a reasonable amount of things to do. She prayed the demon had visited only her.
“Y’all had a fight?”
Damali climbed into the Hummer and started the engine.
“He didn’t stay last night, did he?”
Damali sighed. “No. And it wasn’t a fight, just a disagreement. He hates this place; it’s so different from L.A. But we all know why we have to be here, so, sometimes you just have to make the best of the hand you’re dealt.”
“He’ll come around, girl.”
“Yeah,” Damali said, pulling away from the curb.
“You know, he ain’t even trying to get with Juanita no more, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not worried about no damned Juanita.”
Inez smiled and riffled through her purse for a new CD. “Cool, ’cause her and Jose got that on lock.”
“Good.” More information that she didn’t wanna know. Damali let her breath out hard and checked the rearview mirror as she pulled out.
“You know … maybe me and Mike and you and Carlos could go hang out sometime?”
Damali kept her eyes forward on the road and her mouth shut.
“I mean, after you guys patch things up, have some alone time, maybe we could fall by, open up some wine—I’ll cook, watch some movies, or go find a nightspot? You’ve got an extra bedroom over there, right?”
She wasn’t exactly sure where the new spike of irritation was coming from, but it made her ears and face hot. “Yeah, girl,” she finally muttered. “Maybe we can do that.”
“You all right?” Inez asked, finally catching on to the tension in Damali’s voice.
“No,” Damali replied. It was time to spill the beans.
“What happened?” Inez clicked off the music. “Y’all really fell out this time, didn’t you?”
“When we get back to the house, I’ll fill you in. But I had a little visit from an old demon, but I smoked his ass.”
Inez covered her mouth. “Gurl! No! Was Carlos there?”
“No. He was out cold over at the family house.”
“Get outta here!” Inez folded her arms and shook her head. “No wonder you’re salty. Chile, if I had been by myself when that mess popped outta nowhere on me, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“That’s why, all fun nights notwithstanding,” Damali said, keeping her eyes on the road, “you have to learn to protect yourself. One night, Mike might not be there—not because he’s doing anything wrong, he just might not physically be there when something crazy happens.” Damali let her breath out in a rush. “So, you have to know what to do and can’t freak out.”
Inez nodded and tossed her braids over her shoulders. “I’m just glad he was there when the mess rolled up on us in Houston. Girl, if it wasn’t for him, I’d—”
Damali slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the curb. “What happened in Houston?”
“Chile, don’t worry. We were out in the park, had the baby with us, and you know Mike … easygoing, but he heard something. Told me and boo to get in the car. So, we did. But I saw him tilt his head, roll his shoulders, and walk toward the trees. I was hollering for him to just get in the car, and he told me to put up the damned windows. Wasn’t nothing messing with his woman and her kid while he was around.”
Inez fanned her face, excitement glinting in her eyes. “He is such a gentleman, all that … something pushed him. I couldn’t see it all the way. But he body-slammed whatever it was to the ground and stomped it so bad all it left was a black puddle. Then it was gone.” Inez shrugged. “He told me that, in our line of work, things tend to seek us out, but it was handled. After I saw him do that … girl, once we got the baby back to Mom’s, hugged everybody good-bye and kissed the baby, I had to slip out to the hotel with him. That was some heroic shit, D. I can’t explain it, but it turned me on … like I’ve never felt. Does that make sense?”
Damali nodded, nearly hyperventilating. “Did he tell you what it looked like?”
“He didn’t want to scare me … but you know me. I had to know. So I bugged him till he told me. Said it was a revenge demon. Head half blown off, chest and stomach all opened, talking shit about getting me back as it disappeared—just to mess with Mike’s mind.” Inez closed her eyes and hugged herself. “Girl,” she whispered. “That’s when he pulled me into his strong arms and told me he’d never let anything happen to me or my baby girl … or he would die trying. For the first time in my life, being there with him, I wasn’t afraid. After that, forgedaboutit. We made love so hard I thought the front desk would call the police.” Inez opened her eyes. “You’ve been there, right? I’ma marry this man, girl. He’s the one.”
Tears slowly filled Damali’s eyes and her hand slowly went to Inez’s face to cup her cheek. Her best girlfriend … her dear, honorable brother, Big Mike, and every single person they had touched … even Inez’s baby, her mom, plus every Guardian that Mike pulled into a big bear hug when he got back—her entire world had been infected.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Guardians who were still in the house sat down slowly as Damali spoke in gentle, soft tones. J.L., Krissy, Dan, and Bobby stared at her, unblinking. Big Mike folded his arms and drew in shuddering breaths, then pulled Inez into an embrace as silent tears streamed down her face. Rider kept his chin up and his gaze fastened to the window as he dragged on a cigarette. Jose stared at his fist—he had given a welcome-home pound to Mike—then glanced at Juanita, who simply appeared numb. Carlos leaned his head back on the doorframe and closed his eyes.
“Marlene and Shabazz, Marjorie and Berkfield, are the only ones, besides me and Carlos, who aren’t infected,” Damali said quietly. “But, there’s no way they won’t be, eventually.” Her gaze drifted out of the window, as she spoke. “I’ve already mentally alerted Mar, and she’s breaking it to Marjorie and Richard as we speak.” But, in truth, how was she going to split up the team? Human touch was so automatic, such a reflex that sooner or later, when someone is in tears, when food was being served …
Father Patrick’s voice came through the speaker in heavy, fatigued jags. “All of us have been infected, too, Damali. We’re just finding out that the only cleric available to come to your team for assistance is Monk Lin. The rest of us are quarantined.”
“Then don’t send him here,” Carlos said, pushing off from the doorframe. “The man is safe, and—”
“He’s the only one among us who has not been fully compromised. Therefore, his judgment is sound. He is seasoned, his many issues are resolved. There is not much within him for the darkness to dredge from his soul to turn his mind. His code is to serve; his life is one of selfless commitment to humankind. There is nowhere to hide from this, nowhere to run. He will accompany you to wherever you must go.”
“What do you suggest, Father? Beyond the obvious,” Carlos said calmly, not opening his eyes. “We can’t stay here quarantined if we have to move around the world to find the Chairman and Lilith. We’re all walking biohazards. Every hotel we check into, restaura
nt we eat at, plane we fly on, limo we take, we’re potentially bumping people in airports, train stations … How do we move without spreading this shit?”
“Live your lives as normally as you can and find the antidote … close the portals. Every human being may potentially be already infected; it could be dormant and resident everywhere worldwide. That’s the issue; we don’t know, because they have been moving about as you indicated.”
“Then why don’t we do this all together, Father, one last time, like old times?” Carlos asked, beginning to pace. “If it doesn’t matter now that this shit spread, then, what difference will it make if we’re all strapped and go out in a blaze as one?”
“Because,” the elderly cleric said, his voice a shaky murmur, “those of us affected earlier are already beginning to show deteriorating signs of change.”
Damali and Carlos stared at each other as the mute team passed terror-stricken glances.
“We’re sending you an unaffected spiritual warrior … who, by the time he reaches you, may have been bumped or touched just handing his plane ticket to someone. It doesn’t matter. But for the moment, he’s the one that is strongest.”
“How much time we talking, Father?” Rider asked, looking at Damali.
“Your team has maybe thirty days until it begins to implode like all the others. We aren’t concerned any longer about the spread—that’s imminent, whether your team does it, or it happens organically from others. What has to happen is you all must work quickly while you have time and your minds are still functioning correctly. Stay steeped in prayer; if you can find the book, all the better. That way, if any of us must be put down … then at least we’ll know we’ll see each other one day in Heaven.”
