"If you touch me, reach out to wipe a drop of sweat off my brow, you'll draw back a nub. I promise you."
Fully transformed, a low rumble came up from Carlos's insides to back up the threat. Nuit smiled, and simply inhaled.
"My friend, I don't need to. The air is so filled with her scent, I'm getting a contact high just standing in your kitchen." Nuit shook his head as the sensation riddled him. "We sent a tracker - to watch your back - and they followed you to her sanctuary."
Carlos pushed away from the center island. His gaze narrowed. He was prepared to attack, but needed to know Damali's condition. That was the thin thread of reason that held him like a frail choker chain.
"Talk to me!" A section of the island fell away, made instant rubble under Carlos's fist.
"Relax. We followed you because we thought you were in imminent danger, and you're valuable - you're family."
Carlos kept his gaze steady while Nuit circled, watching him become intoxicated and aroused by the air around him. The hair stood up on Carlos's arms, and he could not retract his incisors now if his life depended on it. Even sharing her scent with another male was intolerable at this point.
"We have had men stationed beyond the light border at her compound to protect her from incursion by the Vampire Council since last night," Nuit explained. "We are on the same side, you and I. Remember that. And our trackers saw you arrive, call her right through the barriers - just breach the compound and slice through significant prayer lines."
Nuit opened his arms in total disbelief. "It was the most awesome piece of undercover work, and demonstration of pure lust - power - I have ever experienced. We all stood out there, watching you - awed."
Carlos relaxed his stance a bit, the imminent danger to Damali making him garner reason. Logic thrust past the battling emotions he could barely contain.
"You seduced her to tell a team of guardians to literally turn off the lights? We were all out there just dumbfounded, looking at each other. We watched you through the gates once you'd breached their prayer lines. You stood before guardians, Rivera! Walked past holy water. Goddamned brilliant execution! Then gave them some ruse that flamed up in their hands, and took her - right in front of them, scored their wall, slammed their generators, and walked out." Nuit shook his head. "I'm still trembling from just watching you work."
Nuit put shaking hands behind his back. "There's not enough territory to mark for something like this. My remaining dons stood with me; I called them. They had to see it for themselves. I brought them away from a feeding fest just to witness the incomprehensible. A brand-new second? Then you rent the air with her scent and howled till it ran through us all. She had you under the moon, on your knees with your arms outstretched begging her for mercy, setting off coyotes in the hills. It was unbelievable. And she came to you, snapped a cord to them, and said yes. We heard her broadcast it. We all just looked at each other - stunned. The connection was so hot, Rivera, she sent you back an evolutionary step into practically a level-five werewolf transformation!"
Nuit paced like a caged animal as he spoke. Total, gripping fury mixed with vampiric humiliation tore at Carlos till he had to send his line of vision to a point on the wall. But then he had to pull his glance to anything but a wall. This violation might as well have been a wooden stake, and that, with the frustration of his request being heard and blocked was almost more than he could bear. If she only knew. Only a very thin thread of his objective remained... play the game. This time for her. So, he said nothing, and took the abuse, thinking of how many different ways one could kill the same entity.
"Carlos, we were in a state of pure awe," Nuit ranted on, too excited to be anything but oblivious to Carlos's reaction. "You looked back at her compound and through UV - called her again - even after they knew what you were, and she came to you? Her guardians had to hold her to keep her from your call... Neteru - a vampire huntress? Unheard of! Absolutely unheard of... I told them, we were watching a new generation of vampire being evolved, and I had made it - invented it, and it was born within my line. Maybe the demon alliance is creating a new mutation within us, a stronger hybrid when there's a serious vengeance issue at hand? Who knows?"
Nuit threw his head back and laughed, totally high, and then looked at Carlos. "I am so proud. What do you want? Name it... except her."
"I want the Jamaican's territory. Tonight. I want access to the third-level demon tunnels so I can travel at high speeds. I like New Orleans."
"I don't know..." Nuit hesitated.
Carlos wiped his brow and walked over to Nuit, and slapped his face with a lightning strike of force. "Think about it." Then he stalked back to a neutral position. "I want access, and power, and the package I'm delivering is worth it. I told you. Don't f**k with me, I'm in - and she's got no natural defense against me."
The blow made Nuit hold onto the edge of the sink for balance as the drug of Damali's scent washed his system and convulsed him. It took him a moment to recover, and he pulled himself up slowly. He gazed at Carlos with open admiration. "It's pure Neteru. She's never been with anyone... at her human age? Undiluted. There's undiluted first-love passion in it... not illusion. Even transformed, she had no fear of you - and the woman wanted you back as much as you wanted her? Do you know how powerful that is? How rare?"
Stunned, Nuit touched his cheek where Carlos's hand had landed. "The Jamaican and I have had a long-standing relationship as far back as the sugar plantation export days in the islands, but business is business. That was then, this is now. His territory comes under new leadership tonight."
Carlos nodded, trying to collect himself. "What's the plan at the concert? How do I bring her in? My cover is blown with her people. My personal defenses are down - I'm compromised. I don't know if my system can handle another invasion... I'm too near the border... real close to the edge of taking a stake to try to get to her. Almost got torched tonight." There was so much truth in what he said that Carlos could feel his hands shake.
Nuit noticed it, too. The credibility of the emotion couldn't be denied, and it sent a shudder through Nuit as it passed through Carlos's system and connected them for a moment. Nuit exhaled sharply and hissed.
"Damn, the drug is so pure - we'll have to help you detox before you try to go in tomorrow night. You've got one-hundred-percent, totally open Neteru in your nose. Carlos, listen to me. You have to clean your palate; you must eat and get something to bring you down - you're too high right now. You're not in full control, and that's never good. You'll OD, and I'll have to kill you. You're shaking like a junkie."
Carlos closed his eyes. "I know," he admitted, not able to deny it. "It was the kiss, and the telepathy spar. Don't ask me to go back in without a plan. One more hit like that, and you will definitely have to kill me. The Vampire Council already sent a sniffer for me - put one of their marked human helpers on the force... had to do him tonight."
"We saw it in the newspapers. Heard about it in the alleys - but couldn't get to the innocent cop, because he'd said a prayer out there in the darkness. The light got in our way, so we had to let him go. But we do know they're setting you up to have your assets taken. No matter. We'll give you everything in the Jamaican and Dominican's zones. Your human territory was small anyway, by comparison. We have plenty of people in the media to reverse the story to give it a better spin to your advantage."
"What's the plan?" Carlos steadied himself, trying to keep his focus, his bearings. He had to know.
"I have compromised human stars. The Stars D'Nuit - the stars of the night. They get a few drops from my veins each night... the human digestive system is so fragile and their food is so easy to taint. It keeps them connected, but not fully turned... they have to cast an image, but they also have to do my work."
Carlos nodded, listening intently as he watched Nuit lower his guard.
"Each one will keep the crowds mesmerized at the five concert stadiums in Russia, China, Australia, South America, and terminating in North America - L.A. If you noticed," Nuit added with a smile, "it forms a giant pentagram, with Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and much of the Caribbean in the middle. The lines mark our borders. Everything in the center of it is the sixth jewel - the territory."
"I thought you wanted her to perform in my club, not the stadium." The change of venue without him knowing about it first made Carlos wary, and it was going to be a stretch to convince Damali of anything now. Surely by this point, like him, she was coming down, and coming to her senses - which meant she'd be on full alert against him.