The Hunted

by L. A. Banks

  She stared at her team, but another image in her head eclipsed her physical sight. An erotic touch ran down her arms, and a deep, sensual kiss covered the side of her neck. She struggled for composure as the sensation created goose bumps on her arms. Her nipples stung with need and she felt herself get wet.

  “Is it me, or am I the one who is crazy?” Rider said flippantly. “Give girlfriend a mirror.”

  “Uh, D,” Big Mike said slowly, “baby, your eyes are going gold again.”

  “Two minutes from now she’ll be bearing fangs, if she doesn’t sit her ass down and chill,” Shabazz fussed.

  Rider folded his arms. “You’re creepin’ us out, Damali. You gotta let this shit wear off. Play some music; watch some TV. Damn I need a drink!”

  “You still got that bottle of Jack Daniel’s?” JL said, standing and heading toward the kitchen to look for it.

  “Bring a coupla glasses,” Dan shouted behind him.

  “Hell, why stand on ceremony?” Jose added. “Get the cards out and just pass the bottle around. It’s gonna be a long night.”

  There were no words. Never before had she felt so exposed, and so thoroughly out of control. Her business was all in the street; the team was all up in it. Her man was locked up. And her body was talking to her. How in the hell was she supposed to fight this?

  “Mar, can I talk to you alone, for a minute?” Damali searched Marlene’s face and found a patient but weary expression in it.

  “Yeah, hon. In your room.”

  Relief swept through Damali as she picked up her sword and paced quickly down the hall, listening to Marlene’s slow footfalls behind her. As soon as Marlene shut the door, she cast the Isis blade on the bed and began walking in a tight circle, talking fast.

  “Mar, I’m losing my mind. What part of this is normal?” She was now breathing hard, trying to collect herself, beyond shame.

  “About seventy-five percent of it,” Marlene said with a smile, taking a seat on the bed as she studied Damali.

  “Okay, okay, okay.” Damali continued pacing. “That’s a good thing, right?”

  “Yeah,” Marlene chuckled. “I remember those days . . . the pull was just as strong as a vampire’s bite. Uhmmph, uhmmph, uhmmph.”

  “Well, how do you shake it, get it out of your system?” Damali fought off another shudder and briefly closed her eyes, drew a deep breath, and looked at Marlene for an answer.

  “Turned you out, didn’t he? Uhmmph.” Marlene shook her head.

  “It’s not funny, Mar. Stop laughing. Don’t you have an antidote for this shit?”

  “Nope.”

  “For real? Aw, man . . .”

  “Nope.”

  “It hasn’t been twenty-four hours!”

  “Nope. And it’s gonna get worse before it gets better,” Marlene said, swallowing away another chuckle. “That part didn’t have jack to do with him being a vampire.”

  “Oh, man . . .”

  “Yup.”

  “But, Mar . . . if I just go out one more—”

  “Nope.”

  “But—”

  “Deal with it, honey.”

  Damali grabbed the sides of her skull. “He’s in my head, Mar. My full vision is back, and . . . oh, man . . . listen . . . Mar . . . for real, for real . . . I gotta go out.”

  “You wanna kill him?”

  “No,” Damali said on a pitiful wail. “No. I do not want him to be hurt.”

  “Then stay put.”

  “But—”

  “Remember how he kept trying to tell you?” Marlene’s question made Damali open her eyes and look at her. “Remember the night he came in here to deliver the information about the tunnels to the team?”

  Damali nodded but didn’t speak.

  “Remember at the concert when you were walking around him and he kept telling you to be still, stop stirring the very air around him?”

  “Yeah,” Damali finally said on a quiet breath.

  “Remember the look on his face when he had to carry you . . . and the sound of his voice when he let you go in that last battle in order to save your life?”

  Remember? Was Marlene crazy? It was a tattoo in the middle of her brain. “Yeah,” Damali whispered.

  “Well, then now you know how hard it was for him to do that.”

  Damali nodded. Tears of frustration filled her eyes.

  “It was just as hard for him to back off when he wanted you like this, even before he was turned. The brother loves you. Always has. He had the will power not to try to bring you into his life at a time when you were vulnerable . . . at a time when he knew you couldn’t hang, and his life would have been dangerous for you—gotta respect that much about him.”

  “I do,” Damali said quietly, sitting down hard on a bedroom chair. She leaned over, placing her elbows on her knees and stared at the floor. “Always did.”

  “Can you image how difficult it must have been for him to know how much you wanted him, how willing you were to be with him, all new to the game, filled with passion just ready to explode for him—and he had to push you away for your own good?”

  Damali closed her eyes. Marlene’s words shredded her conscience.

  “Tonight, you gotta do that for him.”

  “Oh, Mar. I thought I knew, but damn . . . Now I really know.”

  “Pure agony.”

  “In a word, yes.”

  “It’ll pass.”

  “I hope so.”

  “It will.”

  “It has to.”

  “It will.”

  “Oh, Mar.”

  “I know.”

  “Get some rest.”

  “Yeah, right!”

  The two women sat in companionable silence for a moment, then suddenly Damali jerked her head up. Her heart was beating fast, and she was on her feet. “Got a cold-body reading on monitor one.”

  JL burst through the bedroom door, the full team behind him. “Got a cold-body reading on monitor one!”

  “So we gathered,” Marlene stated in a blasé tone.

  “What do we do, Mar?” JL said nervously.

  “Hit the lights . . . and let Carlos in.”

  “Are the monks okay?” Damali ignored the disgruntled team that flopped onto stools and chairs behind her. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. However, she was glad that the guardians had lowered their weapons.

  “Yeah,” Carlos said slowly. “But they have to repair the south wall before morning.” He smiled, appraising her from head to toe.

  “Awww, maaaan.” Rider just shook his head.

  “About that Jack Daniel’s,” Shabazz said in a disgusted tone, standing and leaving the room.

  “Wanna go out?” Carlos murmured, moving one of Damali’s stray locks over her shoulder with his finger.

  “Maybe just for a little while,” she whispered.

  “Card game, anybody?” Marlene said, leaving the room with the team slowly filing out behind her.

  “Wanna go to a club?”

  Damali shook her head. The sight of Carlos was practically paralyzing as he ran his hand up and down her arm.

  “If you’re hungry, I can take you to dinner, or a movie, maybe we could just take a walk on the beach . . . or whatever you want to do, just name it,” he murmured, stepping in closer to her.

  His scent filled her as she inhaled him deeply. “It’s too dangerous for you right now outside. You shouldn’t have risked coming out. They explained everything to you, right?”

  He nodded, tracing her collarbone and slipping the edge of her T-shirt off her shoulder with his finger. “I love you in red,” he said, his eyes burning her, igniting an internal fire. “Noticed you’ve been wearing that color a lot lately.”

  She swallowed hard. “Baby . . . uh, listen. You’ve gotta go back home.”

  “So early?”

  “Yeah, like right now, okay,” she stammered, closing her eyes as his nose trailed across her shoulder, past her neck, and his lips captured her earlobe.


  “I missed you . . .”

  “I missed you, too,” she breathed. “But not here. Not in this compound with my whole family here. Some things are just not done.”

  He chuckled low in his throat. “You’re right.”

  “I know I’m right,” she whispered, melting against him as his arms enfolded her.

  “Then you wanna get your blade and go somewhere?”

  “Aw, Carlos . . .”

  “Please.”

  “Well . . . maybe. Just for a little while.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  DAMALI PUSHED open the compound door, then locked it, and staggered down the hall. She couldn’t even hold her blade steady, and she dragged Madame Isis behind her, scraping the tip of it along the concrete floor. She swayed in the doorway as her team yawned and looked up, and then dropped to her knees. Marlene held up her hand to stop the guardians—who had summarily abandoned their card game—to keep them from rushing toward her.

  On her hands and knees from fatigue, Damali pushed herself up and slowly stood, picking up the heavy sword, weaving where she finally righted herself. “I woulda called,” she said in a weary tone. “But—”

  “We know, we know,” Rider snapped. “Something literally came up.”

  JL hadn’t even checked the monitors when she’d approached.

  “Don’t look at me, fellas,” Marlene said, studying her cards. “We ain’t got a single weapon in the house for this—and no, I do not have a cure.”

  Damali yawned as the steel gates began to lift to let in the sunlight. Out of reflex, she raised her forearm to shield her face from the rosecolored glare.

  “Damn. Reminds me of New Orleans,” Big Mike chuckled, glancing at Damali, and then shaking his head, slapped down a card. “Relax, y’all. The girl is going out. You know you can’t do nuthin’ ’bout mojo. It’s the most powerful shit in the world.”

  “Don’t go there, Mike,” Shabazz said, slapping down a card over his. “This shit ain’t funny. The girl’s probably a quart low.”

  “Relax,” Marlene said with a weary sigh. “She’s protected and grown. I ain’t got nothin’ to say.”

  Rider tossed Damali his pair of sunglasses from his vest pocket. Too uncoordinated to catch them, they hit the floor with a clatter.

  “Pitiful,” Rider said, looking at the now-chipped glasses. “Reflexes are all off . . . just outrageous. I paid seventy-five bucks for those.”

  “And, how’s our boy?” Marlene said, unperturbed.

  “He went home,” Damali said through another yawn, and headed toward the kitchen. Damn . . . what a night.

  “This is a full-scale crash and burn,” Father Patrick said, shaking his head.

  “You do know, Father, that the monastery has asked if we’re harboring more than one illegal vampire. They are becoming concerned about the donations . . . after all, we cannot continue to feed him at this rate, if, well, if his present activity level continues.” Monk Lin’s nervous glance darted around the group that studied the body in the middle of the cabin floor.

  “I know,” Father Patrick admitted, glancing at his team, then down at the floor. He stooped where Carlos had fallen through the door to touch his shoulder, noting the fingernail marks that had scored his skin and where his T-shirt was ripped. “We’ll figure it out later. Right now, just get him down into his lair.”

  “He’ll be in no condition to deal with Brazil.”

  Father Patrick nodded at Padre Lopez’s comment.

  “Okay, that’s it,” Marlene said, her hands on her hips. “Enough! We’ve got work to do on this concert tour you’ve had Dan try to set up—and you haven’t even been home or awake long enough to decide on which contracts you want him to sign, what venues you want to do first . . . chile, I swear! You’re in no condition to travel anywhere to fight anything, and haven’t worked on a single routine in over ten days.”

  Guilt swept through Damali, but she was still going out. Okay, so she’d taken ten days to block out the world and to claim a little happiness for herself, and yeah, she wasn’t on point, wasn’t on the job. But she was only human, and this thing with her and Carlos was new and white-hot.

  However, Marlene’s glare wasn’t one of judgment, just defeat. It slowly made her think about all the things she’d promised herself after she left Inez’s. Plus, there was something else in Marlene’s eyes that she couldn’t put her finger on.

  Conflicting emotions battled within her. Marlene was right. True, the world needed a champion. But, damn, did it have to be tonight?

  Marlene looked away and ran her fingers through her locks, then glanced up at the ceiling. So help me Father, I wanna slap her. She drew in a steadying breath and closed her eyes, then focused on the threat that Damali was still oblivious to. All right, she wouldn’t slap the child’s face with that information, and would give her a few more days of peace to get it together. No more innocents would be killed until the next full moon. Had to be demons, vamps had to feed nightly. But it was patently clear that, if Damali was so scattered, she had to pull her thing together on her own in order to be in mental condition to fight. “The fellas are worried, if we’re going to a foreign country somewhere to do battle. Everybody’s head has to be on straight.”

  “Yeah, but we’ve laid down all the new CD cuts, and wherever we finally sign for venues will be cool,” Damali said quietly, hoping that Marlene wouldn’t make her feel worst than she already did. What was Mar so worried about, anyway? She wouldn’t turn, Carlos was fine . . . it was all good.

  Damali tried to steady her hand as she put on her lip gloss in the bathroom mirror, mentally fending off Marlene’s words. Just a few more nights, Lord . . . that’s all she needed. Marlene just didn’t understand. There was no such thing as the word “no” when it came to this Carlos-thing that gripped her.

  “There’s nothing I can say to get through to you, is there?” Marlene sighed. The poor chile was still so blind. Something was blocking her third eye—love. All she could see was Carlos, and was seriously off her job. But having been there, too, there was no judgment, just sheer frustration.

  Damali set her lip gloss down and looked at Marlene.

  “I’m crazy about him, Mar.”

  Marlene sighed again and leaned against the door frame. “I know. Heaven help me, but I know.” Please, Heaven, let this child wake up.

  “We haven’t been attacked.”

  “Yet.” Lord, don’t make me have to go in there and have another argument with Shabazz.

  “I know. We’re being careful, though.”

  Marlene just stared at her for a moment. She’d have to take this mess to the pillow with Shabazz. The man was gonna be off the hook, if she went in there and told him another night had passed and Damali was still not tuned in to Brazil.

  “You two have been lucky, that’s all. And even thought your sight is partially back, it’s totally focused on one thing. And that’s not good. My poor overtaxed brain won’t even go near you guys to monitor for safety. There are some things I just don’t need to see. Do you know that even Father Patrick’s second sight is blanking on him, because of the images you two left in a monastery safe house!”

  “Oh, man, that wasn’t supposed to happen, and we both apologized for that. It was that first night, things got carried away, but we never went back there again. Swear we didn’t.” And what did Marlene mean by her sight being partially back? She could see just fine. She always heard Carlos in her head loud and clear, that was for sure.

  “Regardless. You’re out in the streets till all hours, and neither of you has your guard up. You’re both blind, and can’t see beyond each other, or the stars in each other’s eyes.” Marlene stared at Damali hard. “Plus, one night, that brother is gonna scare the mess out of you.” Marlene paused and sighed. “You’re gonna find out how strong he really is, gonna see him come out of a bag that’s going to freak . . . you . . . out.” Marlene ran her fingers through her locks and closed her eyes. “Don’t ask me how I know.”


  For a moment neither woman spoke. Marlene silently prayed for patience and a healthy dose of discernment. There was no competing with a new lover, especially as a mom. But if Damali didn’t snap out of it, before the next full moon came near . . .

  “He won’t hurt me, Marlene. We’ve been through that.”

  “I don’t doubt his heart. It’s his nature that concerns me, sweetie.” Marlene smiled sadly. “He is what he is, and he won’t mean to, but one day, you’re going to push a button, girl . . .” Marlene sighed hard again and looked at the floor. “You are so on the edge and don’t even know it. But, we all have to see for ourselves. I did, too, so I ain’t talking bad about you.”

  “No, seriously, Mar. Okay, I admit that a couple of third-generations tried to push up on him a few times, but you know, when both of us stood side-by-side and stared them down, it was cool. Most of the second-generations were wiped out on his order after the Nuit thing went down. It’s cool. Really.” Even to her own ears, her words sounded contrived, despite the truth in them. Besides, Marlene didn’t know anything about something like this. Marlene’s look of total disdain didn’t help matters, so she pressed on. “He’s been hunting at night to replenish—”

  Marlene gasped.

  “No, no, no, not like that. Deer. We found this cool little place in the woods that—”

  “I don’t want to hear any more,” Marlene said quickly, holding up both hands.

  “Oh, Mar, but he’s wonderful.” Damali sighed and leaned against the sink. She needed a good girlfriend right now so badly to share her experience with, and while Marlene was part girlfriend, she was also part mother. That mother part stood in the way of a total confession. And God knows Inez wouldn’t understand. She allowed her gaze to go toward the steel-covered windows.

  “We talk about everything,” she said in a distant voice. “What it feels like to be the only one of your kind . . . growing up, knowing what it was like to be different. What made us each choose our different paths.” She looked at Marlene in the eye. “He’s changed so much, has seen so many things. All he needs is a second chance.”