"Hola," she murmured, pausing at the foot of the pool to curiously stare at him.
"Que pasa?" Carlos said in a wary tone, looking her up and down. She was such an odd combination of contrasts that her beauty had a temporarily mesmerizing effect. Her eyes were jewel green, but her skin as smooth and dark as black coffee. Her waist-length, jet-black hair and the hue of her skin made the white fabric of her gown practically shimmer. The thin gold ropes that separated her heavy, pendulous br**sts added radiance to her overall appearance. But her smile was a devastating flash of white with the merest hint that her eyeteeth were a bit longer than normal human dimensions. She had Amanthra, or something close to it, written all over her. Maybe it was the fluid way she'd moved across the marble floor without effort in a tight-fitting dress, he wasn't sure. But the fact that she knew enough about him to hail him in Spanish worried him. "Word is out down in the valley that Cain's younger brother just tumbled into our realm. I thought I would stop by to inspect the rumor myself."
"I ain't his brother, by any stretch of the imagination, sis," Carlos said, watching her like a hawk. "So you need to state your business and be out."
She smiled, sighed, and sauntered over to a poolside bench and sat down, then reclined in leisurely repose. "Why are Neterus always so suspicious?" she murmured, but seemed totally nonplussed by his rebuff. "I see Cain left you in here all alone."
"He had something to do," Carlos said, keeping an eye on her and occasionally glancing at the door. "You his woman? That why the lions didn't rush you?"
She chuckled and shook her head. "No. Just a friend. I pose no threat. They only attack if they sense a threat or block an entry if he's in here and does not wish to be disturbed."
"What do they eat?" Carlos said, using his chin to motion toward the entrance. The fact that 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 br**sts. "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."
Tension made Carlo stare at her hard. Okay, if Cain had sent some half-dragon chick in here to put a hit on him, he had no problem smoking her, too, if it came to that.
"He was worried that you would panic, start breaking things to make a weapon, and then try to hurt his pets as you left--even though you are not his captive. They do not eat meat, and are pure energy, but they do bite." She sighed. "He did not wish for you to be harmed in his home." Feeling completely foolish, Carlos looked down at his hands. "I'm tired. I need to eat soon, or at least get something to drink, and I wanna to go home."
"Then go home," she said quietly. "Why stay, if this realm makes you so sad?"