Marlene's gaze was firm but nonjudgmental. "This Richards-Rivera pair is a perfect fit. You mighta spied some shiny new red stilettos in the window, girlfriend, but before the night is over, they might hurt your feet and might not be practical, no matter how good they look in the store. Got it?"
Damali chuckled and began rooting in her drawer again. "But they was a fine fly-ass pair of^shoes--da butta." "How fine?" Marlene asked with a smirk.
"Oh, girl . . ." Damali whispered, her eyes holding Marlene's with mischief.
They both covered their mouths and laughed hard behind their hands.
"This fine," Damali said, finally recovering and letting her voice dip to a sexy, sensual octave, before throwing her head back and crooning in a low whisper.
Lover... just love me hard and tender. You asked, and I surrender. Don't forget, when stars are falling Your colors make me blind. 'Cause, see, lover... Tonight I'm where I'm not supposed to be. Not sure where that is or where you're from... But lover... I'm about to, oh, yeah... lover... Just breathe and I'll answer. This thing is beyond right, but is it wrong? When the moment is what it is... The solstice burns the night to cinder, Cuts hot gold and sends wet shivers Lover... I'm trying to tell you... Your whisper melts... my... yeah, my mind... C'mon lover... don't play with the divine. I ain't right when you stop time
"That is dangerous," Marlene whispered hard, shaking her out of the song.
"Marlene, Marlene, Marlene... the brother stepped out of the astral plane, or some-danged-where, six-five, carrying a gold blade, older... a little silver at the temples, built like a brick-shit-house, and packing enough iron to make you squint--and is a musician."
Marlene shook her head, let out a silent whew, and ran her palm over her locks. "Chile, please, be careful. Ask yourself if you're ready to risk the loss, because that's what it will come down to, a permanent decision based on your actions--you're in control of this dance. Always remember that. They don't have the emotional makeup to take it, if what I think mighta happened almost did. Don't do nothin' crazy, hear?"
"What are you, psychic now?" Damali said, chuckling at her own bad joke.
"Yeah," Marlene said with a conspiratorial smile. "So, talk to me. Who is this guy that had you calling on Jesus for help, huh?" Marlene smiled and closed her eyes. "Girlfriend, that was real bad form. Coulda caused a cosmic standoff."
Damali laughed quietly, wiping her eyes. "He was so fine and so smooth, he scared me, Mar. I ain't never had one roll up on me like that, I swear. I didn't know what to do."
"Who is he?" Marlene asked again, this time her tone carrying more concern.
"I don't know, but dayum!"
"Okay, sister. Pull it together. At least give me a name to run through my mental database and black book."
Damali stared at Marlene for a second and then burst out laughing. She covered her mouth and shook her head. "I don't know," she mumbled.
"You don't know?" Marlene was incredulous.
"I don't know his name," Damali said, wheezing through a sudden case of the giggles. "Didn't need it. If you'd seen him, you wouldn't have been focused on the details, either."
"Oh, Lord," Marlene said, placing her palm over her forehead as she stared at Damali. "Markings, description, something so I know not to flat-out ice this brother if he rolls up on you quietly in the compound."
Damali glanced around the room as though someone else might be there, and she leaned in to Marlene so closely that their noses almost touched. Her voice dropped to a hissing whisper. "Mar. He's a Neteru!"
"What!" Marlene said louder than she'd intended. "Oh, shit." She yanked Damali deeper into the room and then dragged her laughing into the bathroom and shut the second door. "You have got to be mistaken. Get out of here!"
"For real," Damali said, her gaze leaving Marlene's to scan the abandoned tub. "Girl, he had this sexy Neteru tattoo on his chest, eyes blazing gold and silver. Stepped out of nowhere, apexing, chile! Soaked up the colors from the light on my bathroom floor, and busted a move on me like... I get the shivers just telling you." Damali began walking in a circle as Marlene opened her mouth but didn't close it. "But I had enough sense to tell him to back up, I didn't know him well enough yet to jump into anything too wild, and... but, shit, he was apexing, and--"
"On the summer solstice? And you're a Leo--a child of the sun... ooohhh... shit!" Marlene ran her fingers through her locks and also began walking in a circle. "Chile, now you listen to old Mar, hear? This is nitroglycerine. Waaaay too volatile a situation to be joking around and playing with. Carlos, God bless his soul, will freak. Do you hear me? And, by rights, I need to diplomatically get up with Father Pat to find out when and where a second male Neteru could have been made. That's not even supposed to happen." She looked up at Damali with pure terror in her expression. "Unless we're at the exact end of days and Heaven is opening its gates." "For real, Mar?" Damali said, new realities killing her mirth. "This is it?"
"How else would another one have gotten made?"
"He said he had to incarnate for this one last time to learn the lesson of selfless sacrifice, and I was going to be his biggest challenge yet." Damali was breathing hard and fast as she spoke in run-on sentences. "He said he could deal with guiding and teaching me, as long as he was in spirit, but the moment he came into the flesh, he was losing it. I mean, you should have seen this brother--but, but, I thought Nzinga was my guide, my Neteru mentor off the female council. How did he get to be my mentor, Mar? How come he's my music muse?"
"What!" Marlene nearly shouted again, and then clasped her hand over her own mouth for a second. "Your muse?" She grabbed Damali by both arms and her voice came out in a fast, rushing hiss. "Muses are supposed to be spirit-manifested inspiration, not flesh!"
"I know, I know," Damali whispered quickly. "He came to me while I was mentally composing in the tub!"
Marlene's eyes darted around the room. "He pierced the veil? Shit! Music is the most sensual... girl... oh, Lawd. Listen, sweetie--"
"Mar, he gets turned on and turned out every time I compose. How the hell am I gonna work, now?" Damali's voice had become a fervent plea. "He said I'd had him in abstinence for a year, hadn't communed with him, feel me? You should have seen him. Said, and I quote, 'detriment to my soul, I need you now.' The brother was begging so hard and so smooth... I almost fell on the floor. Then, then, Mar, he kissed me, sent a sound wave inside me that blew my freakin' mind. He was so upset he walked across the room, tripping, talking about how he had to go, wasn't supposed to be all in my face, but I guess since I'm at the apex of my craft, he's apexing within me, or connected to me, or some wild mad-crazy drama... and I have to create, have to sing, have to compose, that's as much a part of my life as fighting evil, but if my muse just up and manifested into rock-hard flesh--Marlene--he was hung like a damned Georgia mule!"
"I don't know, I don't know," Marlene whispered, swiftly spinning around to look over her shoulder. "We have to send him back, close the hole in the universe. This is a good entity, but you can't do him. It's like... like... sleeping with an angel--not done! If he gets put out of his realm, and if he rules music, music could die!"