Carlos sighed, tempered his annoyance, and continued to gaze at her through the glass. It reminded him so much of how he used to pine outside her window, able to see her but not touch her... and the way she was moving before the mic made him need to hear her voice. He remembered how they used to press their hands to the glass, heat radiating beyond the barrier, to feel each other's vibe.
He glanced up at the lit recoding light that was on and sighed. All right. He'd wait for her to finish and just watch her.
But as she moved and her hands caressed the mic, the morning erection she'd left him to endure throbbed harder, and he knew her voice would decimate him... he'd be as quiet as a mouse, would just slip into the studio and stand by the exit, just so he could hear her sing... and before his hand fully consulted his brain, he'd opened the door.
Carlos took two paces into the room, her song was winding down, and he was sad that he'd probably missed the crescendo of it. She was so beautiful, just wailing like that. Desire flared and drew him to her like a magnet.
He walked toward her as quietly as he could, vamp stealth. Her eyes were closed, her head back, and her hands were clenched in fists. It was never his intention to interrupt her flow, but as she opened her eyes she stopped abruptly and jumped back, almost screaming.
A gold blade ripped through the nothingness, just came at him from thin air. Millisecond reflexes made him dip back and avoid the swing that was aimed at taking his head off his shoulders. He heard her scream; fire and bright white light tore through the opening, and a huge entity stepped through the flames, radiating like the sun and wearing gold armor.
His natural response was to bulk and move out of the way of another potentially lethal swing. Carlos spun, pivoted, and dropped battle-length fang.
"Never in my house!" the entity thundered. "Never when she's with me!" Flames rippled down the edge of the blade and arced to draw a line between it and Damali.
Total confusion made Carlos hesitate for a second. It was as though he were watching events unfold in slow motion. Was it an angel, a demon? What the hell was it?
He saw Damali run toward the huge brother and shout, "No! Don't hurt him!" Was he f**king hallucinating?
"Somebody talk to me!" Carlos shouted. The entity before him stood seven-feet tall, had him by a head in height, and definitely had him by weight. Battle-length fangs glistened a warning that only his kind knew well, but it was broad goddamned daylight! He was the only one that could do that!
"Never, ever, come into my lair when I'm with her!" The entity growled, circling Carlos in preparation for an all-out battle lunge. Blue flames flickered at the rim of his nostrils and his eyes glowed gold-silver.
"Your lair, motherfucker, are you mad?" Carlos spat on the floor. He could still feel the burn mark where the entity's sword had grazed his throat. "In here, when I'm with her, and she's finishing a song, do not ever interrupt her!"
The sound of the entity's voice thundered. Carlos's gaze shot between Damali and the thing that was slowly circling.
"You promised!" Damali shouted. "Stand down! Put the blade away!"
Carlos's attention fractured as it tried to hold the deadly image before him and move counterclockwise to it, and also make sense of what Damali was saying.
"When I'm with you, and we are fusing, he is never to interrupt that," the thing said, snarling. "That is beyond my control point, woman-- know that."
"Oh, wait a f**king minute," Carlos said, the growl coming from him so low that it vibrated within his chest.
"Baby, listen," Damali said, unable to get between them. "It's not what you think, it's--"
"Tell him who I am to you!" the entity roared, leveling his blade at Damali. "He will assuredly get himself killed if you do not."
Judgment left Carlos at the same moment he left the floor. Carlos lunged, and the entity swung, missed, and he landed a hard right to its jaw. The entity landed, narrowed his gaze, and flung the blade down, and then ripped the gold armor from his chest as Carlos snatched the mic stand, broke it over his knee, and made a weapon to impale it.
"Let us do this as was once done," the entity said through a low snarl.
"Old-school, motherfucker--it's on!"
Carlos's gaze narrowed, but seeing a Neteru symbol blazing on the entity's massive chest was disorienting. Still, it was a matter of honor. Carlos flung down the sharp-edged pole. An apexing male had rolled up on his woman, had breached the compound, and had drawn on him. Instantly both were airborne and collided with a deadlock thud. His throat was being strangled by what he now knew to be the stronger male. A lot of shit had happened to him in his life, but never this.
Leveraging the heavier weight, Carlos flip-rolled the being off of him. But it landed on its feet and threw a punch that sent Carlos sprawling across the floor. Dazed, it took Carlos a second to flip himself back up and to regain floor positioning.
"Stop!" Damali yelled. "You two have to stop!"
She went for the blade; the entity drew it to him by kinetic force and flung it through the air to disappear on the other side of nothing. In the few seconds that had passed, Carlos gained a healthy respect for the strength of what he was up against. His woman's voice was screaming at fever pitch, but what she was saying was incomprehensible.
"If you hurt him, I'll never come to you again. If he dies, it's over!"
Stupefied, Carlos backed up. "Damali, what's going on?"
"Baby, you weren't supposed to find out like this, I swear!"