"Oh, to be sure, but better," Nuit murmured low in his throat. "You've never experienced anything like it. Trust me."
"Send her home, y'all," Carlos said, his tone low. "Not this one. Not here."
"Yeah, he didn't even want Juanita when we was all living da life," Juan said in a wistful tone. "Told my crazy sister to do my boy right - but you know, Nita was raised in the church... prob'ly couldn't hang wit what my boy was throwing down. But, like, I was trying to keep it all in the family and shit, so our money would all be linked in the squad."
"You've got a wise group of associates," Nuit murmured, stroking the girl's nylon wig, his gaze roving over her scantily clad body. "We used to do that in the old days - arrange the marriages, keep the power lines uninterrupted. Your daughter marries my son, we all stay wealthy, you know how it was done."
Juan chuckled. "Yeah, but my sister was always in Carlos's face about leaving all that behind, so she got dumped. Prob'ly why he's squeamish about this one, too. I was gonna go home and turn Nita myself for him, and my mom, maybe hook my little brother up in the business, but they had this bullshit prayer line around them."
"Yeah, mine, too," Alejandro sighed. "Forget them. That was then, this is now."
Relief for the living dueled with the remorse that ate away at Carlos as he heard his life being reviewed, but not understood. They just didn't know. Nita had been pushed away for her own protection, so she could maybe have a normal life; even while he was alive he'd made that decision.
"This one ain't worth it," Carlos said, keeping his tone even, casual. He neared the girl, sniffed her, and turned up his nose and shook his head while his insides churned from the tension.
"I'm worth it. I can show you." The girl laughed. The vampires around her did, too.
Carlos just stared at the young girl for a moment then walked away. Juanita had said the same thing, always jealous of Damali. She'd also taunted him to take her just to prove a point, a misguided offering of her body to make her appear more grown, more woman, and more willing than Damali... until he'd succumbed to the temptation after Damali left - but it hadn't changed a thing. That was before he knew better; you couldn't replace what you really wanted. Carlos glanced at the girl. Baby, sometimes you ought to let sleeping dogs lie... sometimes when the big, bad wolf says he'll pass, you oughta let him. You might wanna be in the mix, but
some company you don't wanna keep. This child simply didn't understand. Neither had Juanita. Carlos sighed.
In those days, it wasn't a fatal bite; it was a fatal life he was trying to save an innocent from. At his side, Nita could have gone down one day in a war, and like Damali's, her heart was too soft to come to an end like that. He'd stepped away from both for the same reasons... albeit Damali was the one that he had never been able to forget. The other women after her had all been living vampires, like Raven, only with a heartbeat. This young girl was about to fall in the latter category, if she didn't die.
But he didn't have time to think about all that right now. The child had to get out of there. Carlos couldn't take his eyes off the girl who was getting ready to be dinner for a devil. Maybe if he could get them to hand her over, he could tell them he wanted her for all himself, and could take her to safe -
"We gonna eat, or what?" Alejandro smiled. "I'm hungry as a motherfucker, and Carlos is just playing with his food... walking around, sniffing it, trying to decide, and just looking at it hard."
"Can't wait for the concert, though, man," Miguel said, laughing and pounding his fists all around. "Will be off the hook - we're doing the tunnels wit'chu to watch your back - like old times, while you make that important delivery - might have to drop a few bodies... then, we gonna eat, drink, and be merry. Cool? You got our high-speed passes, right, Nuit?"
"Yes," Nuit said with a level gaze on Carlos. "Your inner circle will escort you to my door, then immediately take you back with them. We'll reconvene onstage shortly thereafter. I'll have food for all of you left at my front door. Like I told your brethren, eat it in New Orleans, or wherever, just help Carlos feed and get the drug out of his system so we can all stay brethren without incident."
"I feel you. Cool," Alejandro replied in a cheerful tone. "We got his back - won't let him do nothing stupid while high, then everything stays smooth."
His posse nodded. His homeboys gave Alejandro a fist pound and nodded in Carlos's direction.
"Exactly," Nuit murmured. "No unfortunate incidents."
Carlos's gaze shot between his homeboys, his brother, Nuit, and the girl. He was definitely in Hell. Everything dark that he'd ever done was now topside, twisted, but similar in so many ways to the predator life he'd lived. Nuit was skillful, his brother and his friends were thirds and an easy takedown, but hard for a weakened second to combat alone... and Nuit was banking on that moment of hesitation that he knew would be there - dead or alive, it was always hard to do family, so he'd sent them to escort him to New Orleans. Just to be on the safe side. Wise move. A variable he hadn't considered while under the influence. His bad.
In the split second of contemplation while he thought about his family, Carlos watched without being able to get in between the child and Nuit's body fast enough.
Nuit's hands had gone to the sides of her babylike face, and she'd closed her eyes and leaned up to offer her mouth with a smile. It happened so quickly that time seemed to stop and restart in slow motion. Carlos simultaneously reached for the girl, opened his mouth, and yelled, "No!" unable to get her before Nuit's massive jaw had unhinged while the child's lids were down. In a flash, Nuit's mouth had covered her nose, her lips, and had blown out a powerful breath. Her lungs expanded, Carlos came to a skidding halt as her ribs cracked, blood ran out her ears, then emptied the sockets that had once contained her pretty, doe eyes. Her back had exploded, sending quivering meat and organs flying, and then Nuit calmly dropped her at his feet.
"What's the problem?" Nuit asked with annoyance. "I gave you first shot, you declined."
"Yo, Carlos," Juan said with concern, "you can't expect a man to pull up from a kill like that, right in the middle, past the point of no return." His gaze nervously shot between Carlos and Nuit.
"Was your timing, hombre," Miguel said, shaking his head then shrugging. "We can bring you something else after we eat. Let it go. Nuit gave you first shot - you slow you blow."
"Well, shit, don't just stand there," Alejandro argued while laughing. "Have a rib." His brother closed his eyes and moaned when he put bits of flesh into his mouth. "The meat is just falling off the bones, Carlos. Try it - damn, this is tender."
The fact that saliva was building in his mouth as he watched them eat upset Carlos so badly he had to get away from the scent.
"I'm going to take a walk," Carlos muttered. A child was dead in his house. She would never go home. In the blink of an eye, she'd been murdered. There was no home for her to go to, anyway, but the concept just f**ked with him. He had to get air.
"Rivera, I am sorry," Nuit said, putting a hand on Carlos's shoulder as he passed him. He then looked at the confused group. "A hunt interrupted twice in one night, give him some space - he's ready to kill."
"Can we crash here, Carlos?" his brother called behind him. "This place is all that."