Carlos looked at the entity, looked at her; renewed fury sent him headlong into the entity's abdomen. The entity lost his footing from the force of the collision. Carlos swung and landed a punch that sent red blood splattering. But the returned punch knocked him across the room to slam against the wall. He was off it before the entity blinked, and the two combatants hurled against the studio glass. Pain shot through Carlos's system as his spine and head took out a section of the double-thick glass plates. The next thing he knew, he had been jettisoned outside the studio, and a lair seal as strong as the shield of Heru kept him at bay.
Rage and frustration made him bang on the golden seal to no avail. He knew how strong a. master's-lair seal was, as well as the impossibility of breaking a Neteru's gold shield. The dichotomy only spiked his adrenaline higher. Everything about this entity told Carlos the interloper was from the old dark realms. Panic, fury, hurt, confusion filled him as he hollered and banged to no avail, sending his shoulder against the shield, yelling at the tops of his lungs.
Guardians' footfalls pummeled the steps like soldiers called to war. He was beyond speech. His voice was a series of roars. His woman was on the wrong side of a seal. A male vamp had her. The contender had council-level strength. It carried a Neteru blade. Came out in daylight. Arched gold-white energy. Had a Neteru tattoo, just like his. "Damali!"
This thing on the other side of the barrier was whispering to her, holding her arms, trying to talk some shit--he could see it through the glass. His woman was listening to the bullshit! She hadn't gone into battle mode, what the f**k? His ass was taller, older, wiser, and built--cut up! Dropped twelve inches of fang to his ten. Oh, hell no!
"Stand back," Mike said, "a cannon might blow the seal."
"No, my f**king woman is in there with some motherfucker she knows, and she's been with him before!" Carlos shouted. Tears fused with blood in his mouth as he pounded the impenetrable divide like a madman. Hysteria blacked out judgment. She'd left his bed to be with another man. There was a lair in the family house--for another vamp, not him? He whirled on the family, every conceivable weapon was drawn and pointed at the seal, but he didn't care. Saliva and snot slung from his nose as he roared rapid- fire questions. "How long have you known she had somebody else? How long has she been playing me, y'all! Talk to me, I'll kill this motherfucker, if it's the last thing I do! Y'all feed him, too? He family, or what the f**k?"
A sob stole his complaint, and he turned back to the seal, then charged it, only to fracture his collarbone for the effort. But when he saw the entity stroke Damali's face, lower his mouth to hers, and the Guardians look away--he lost it. Something within his fragile psyche snapped. His collarbone didn't hurt; he was going through that seal. And the instant the entity dropped focus for a split second during a good-bye kiss, Carlos was through the barrier with the team behind him.
His feet never touched the floor. The velocity of the hurdle whirled him past Damali to intersect with the entity's midsection, and they both flew backward and were gone.
Chaos imploded. Damali was walking back and forth in front of the invisible rip with her hands clutching her hair, sobbing. Unfired rounds remained in gun barrels, but everyone was yelling at once.
"We couldn't shoot it, Mar, without hitting Carlos!" Big Mike yelled.
"They moved too fast, and with D in the room," Rider said, breathing hard. "No way to get a shot off."
"Shit, oh, holy shit," Jose was yelling, walking back and forth in front of the invisible place Carlos had disappeared. "D, how could you do my boy like that, baby? In his house, the family house--girl, he ain't neva gonna be right!"
"It wasn't like that!" Damali screamed. "You of all people should know!" "What the hell does that mean?" Juanita shouted, whirling on Damali.
"Fuck you! I am tired of your signifying ass!" Damali said, tears making her sputter. "Marlene, get that bitch outta my face. Where's my blade? I'm going in!"
"Going in where?" Shabazz shouted. "How, D? You know how to breach that void?"
"If she called him before, maybe she can call him again," Marlene said, breathing hard. "That'll open a--"
"What do you mean, called him, Marlene?" Shabazz was walking in circles. "You knew about this?"
"No, Mar, this time you've gone too far!"
Shabazz stalked away from Marlene and Damali. Big Mike put a hand on his shoulder.
"D, listen,-if you can explain to Carlos about what happened earlier this morning, maybe--"
"Shut up, Inez," Damali said, bitter sobs making her rock. "They're over there on the other side in a death struggle. There isn't time to explain!"
"Earlier this morning?" Bike Mike looked at Inez. "When you left the room, you knew what was up?" "Baby, see," Inez said. "It was--"
"Aw, hell no!" Big Mike boomed. "You keep some serious shit like this from me, then what else you got to hide?"
"Stop it!" Damali shrieked, covering her face. What was happening to everything she knew?
"If she was in here with it earlier, and was recording, we have it on disk," J.L. said, running to the board. "They've f**ked up the boards, but I can maybe pull something off there that can open a door to the other side."
"No! Don't play that!" Damali said, body-blocking J.L. "You can't. It'll make him stronger, more determined than ever to kill Carlos." "What's on the hard drives, D?" Rider said, hocking and spitting on the floor. "There's only one thing I can think of that would take him there, and I'm praying it ain't that."
"It is," Damali wailed. "Okay? Satisfied?"
"Who is it?" Berkfield said, his voice filled with judgment. "If we have to take a body, we need to know what we're huntin'."
"He's older, stronger, and a Neteru. You're not going to be able to take him down, like that," Damali said, her voice leveling off as she wiped her face. "Carlos doesn't even have a blade on him."
Marjorie ran her fingers through her hair. "Then, honey, you're gonna have to coax him to our side with sugar. Call his name; beg him sweetly not to hurt that man. We've all been there, had somebody that we shouldn't have, and--"