A combination of fury and humiliation gripped him. Carlos snarled, and rolled his shoulders.
"That's better. You've got to pace yourself. I've heard a hit of Neteru will do that to you... You broke her off from the herd, didn't you?"
Carlos growled low in his throat. "You never gave me a name."
"Did I have to? You said name any one of them. I just did."
Nuit smiled and circled him, breathing in deeply. "I can smell her on you. Amazing... you got close to her, but had the presence of mind to remember our deal. I would have been able to pick up the scent if you'd violated her, too." Nuit relaxed. "Very good. I won't have to kill you."
Carlos narrowed his focus on Nuit, wondering which limb to tear from him first - not answering.
"Now I better understand the block to my calls to you all night... if you had that hunt rush pumping through your system... yes... makes sense."
"Then how did you find me?" Carlos paced back and forth, adrenaline spikes hard to shake as Nuit stoked and toyed with his anger.
"Your agony could be heard for miles. I began to worry that you'd just been staked." Nuit laughed at his own joke, his guard seeming to become more relaxed.
The two vampires stared at each other. Carlos analyzed the information contained in Nuit's statement, and immediately realized that it had opened an advantage - something he'd temporarily forgotten. One of his deals had made good. Nuit was blind to him, but didn't suspect the Vampire Council or the Covenant. Nuit assumed that the blocks to his calls had been produced by interaction with a Neteru's strong telepathic ability overriding his mental clarity. Perfect cover. Carlos almost smiled. Yeah, he had slayer in his system.
He needed to play this to the bone. To kill Nuit now would be premature - two masters in a death struggle would go beyond dawn. Nuit needed to believe he had the advantage in order to open another opportunity to get to the cocky bastard when there was more time. It was all about power and control, as well as perception, illusion. Who had the power... and who believed they had the power. Plus, Nuit had eaten, he hadn't. Right now, Nuit possibly had the endurance advantage. Carlos carefully weighed his options. Even though he had the rage advantage, this would be a long fight. But if he garnered patience, another opportunity could be created to bring Nuit down. Carlos studied the situation, and put the roulette wheel in motion.
"I got close, and couldn't raise anybody from our territorial pack by telepathy," Carlos finally said before Nuit became suspicious. "My focus was totally compromised... maybe overwhelmed is a better description," he added, feigning submission.
Nuit looked at him hard, and then grinned. "I guess you did get close to her, or you wouldn't be down here in a sewer losing your mind. But, odd... it requires a master's patience, will power, and discipline not to have just taken her in public, which is where I can only assume you found her. Unless you do have some deference to your maker... hmmm. I bet it was positively torturing you not to have been able to - "
"Fuck you!" The wound was too fresh for Nuit to dig his claws into it with a snide remark, and it was impossible to stop the visceral response. Carlos walked away from Nuit, but kept on his guard. The only thing that helped keep him from going for Nuit's throat was the fact that Nuit's comment exposed an important variable. Nuit didn't know he was looking at another master vampire.
Nuit returned a cruel smile, taunting him with a slow, seductive response designed to stoke Carlos's rage. "Fuck me? Ahhh... Anytime, but not tonight. What happened to Raven?"
"She went after the Neteru and got her ass kicked."
Nuit studied his nails. "That's a damned shame - she was good pu**y. Well, you can always go make more."
Carlos stared at him, disgusted. He would kill this motherfucker.
"Oh, that's right - you're a second generation, and can only make thirds." Nuit laughed. "All right, all right, I know - you need me to make a female second to be on your level. We can arrange that. Just pick her out, since Raven misbehaved. I had also told her not to do the Neteru - ever. Just so you know, you and I are on the same page. Women can be so jealous at times. Foolish."
"Yeah, well, she almost botched the delivery by sending six vamps after Damali's team, and then by going after the huntress herself."
Nuit stared at Carlos hard. "The guardians are always expendable."
Carlos shook his head. "Not if you want the huntress to feel safe and come out of hiding on her own."
"That is brilliant... You do have a point."
"You told me to bring her to you, untouched. Correct? And, that she had to comply of her own free will, or some shit like that, right?"
Nuit nodded, no longer nonchalant. "You can get her to come to us freely?" Excitement exuded from him and he licked his lips, and then rubbed his jaw with his hand.
"Your fangs are showing," Carlos said evenly. "Chill."
"She'll do that to you. Forgive me," Nuit said on a deep breath. "Just one question... how in the hell did you back away?"
The question gave Carlos pause, because in all honesty, he didn't know.
"A sense of self-preservation," he finally replied, casting a disparaging glare toward Nuit. "I may be new, but I know better than to go against my maker... or a master vampire. If I chill, well, then it's all good."
"The ability to govern such restraint is laudable... and very wise. Maybe making you wasn't such a bad decision after all." Nuit studied him for a moment and rubbed his palm over his jaw. "But you've never come to me to feed from my kills."