Cain had left him and might not return for a while began to add to his worries. All he had to do was remember his own pit bulls from the Chairman's chambers, and sooner or later the animals had to be fed. He wasn't trying to be dinner.
"What everything else in this realm consumes," she said with a sly smile. "Energy."
He looked at her with a distrustful sidelong glance. "Yeah, right. Those monsters out there eat pure vibe and don't chow down on two or three bodies a night. Gimme a break, sis, and be real."
She laughed and flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. "You are just adorable."
"Come again?" Now she was seriously getting on his nerves.
She rolled over on her side and rested her head on her hand, propping herself up on one elbow. "Sweetheart, have you not noticed there is no food or water in this realm?"
Carlos stood still and then slowly stooped down to dip his fingers into the pool. A tingling sensation rippled through them into his palm and up his arm, making him draw back his hand as though he'd been burned. He knew he'd seen energy coming off of it, running through it, just like the grass, but assumed that beneath all the illusion mind games Cain was playing, there had to be something that was real.
"I don't understand," he said quietly, wishing he hadn't admitted that to some strange female, but needing to know more than his pride needed a shield at the moment. If he didn't eat, didn't drink soon, after expending all the energy he had, the blood hunger would come back.
"We absorb what we need through radiation. The second sun. We have evolved to the point that slowing down the mental and spiritual capacities for basic bodily functions is unnecessary."
Carlos walked over to a bench adjacent to her and sat down slowly. If this chick wasn't lying, that meant that in a matter of days he'd die of dehydration or starvation, and what would become of him if the blood hunger hit?
He looked at her squarely, now really needing whatever information she could give. "I noticed you had a slight fang crest-- Amanthra overbite."
She nodded and sat up, holding him with her hypnotic gaze. "I am a hybrid. Is that a problem for you?" Her matter-of-fact tone carried no shame or anger, nor did her strangely pretty eyes.
"No, no problem," Carlos said, beginning to regret his offensive question. "I just wanted to be clear about who I was dealing with."
"I know all of this must be very disconcerting," she said, her eyes becoming sad. "I am no Amanthra, however." She lifted her chin a bit higher.
"Hey, listen, I'm sorry. It's just the green eyes, the slim angle of fang, too thin for vamp, not wide enough for general-purpose demon... I'm in a real strange place, I need to know what's up, and you walk in unannounced. I wasn't trying to signify, but you understand where I'm coming from?"
"I do. Then let us begin again. My mother was a sacrificial virgin, thrown to my father--a dragon deity," she said proudly. "But she was so gorgeous," she added with a wistful sigh, "he could not bear to roast her or simply feed off of her. I was the result. My father is a bit rash and has his bad days, but he does love his girls." She chuckled as Carlos stood slowly.
"Amanthra? I should have slapped your face." She stood and folded her graceful arms over her breasts. "I am a goddess, thank you very much. Dark realms, never. My family would never consort with that type."
For the first time in what felt like a long while, Carlos didn't know what to say. But it fit. Gorgeous East Indian human exterior. Dragon eyes, that at first glance could be easily mistaken for Amanthra. "I definitely owe you an apology, then."
Her lush mouth became friendly again as she gave him a dashing smile. "Do not worry. I do not breathe fire."
He chuckled and waved his hand before him to bid her to sit again across the pool from him. "So, you and Cain are friends. I'm sorry that I offended what has to be his prettiest buddy."
She sat with a shy smile. "Actually, he did ask me to leave court to check on you. He thought a female presence would offer you less concern, and might keep one of his male friends from having to endure an unnecessary battle."