"You want her to submit willingly, or the seed might not take. Be smart."
Outright indignation accosted her, and she stepped toward the beast. "Seed? You must be on drugs." She would ice this sucker.
"I am, sweetheart. Totally blitzed by you. But you are mine."
Damali glared at Nuit. Oh yeah, she would cut his heart out. "Who I choose is my decision, ass**le! And I haven't made up my mind! But it's safe to say, if you're one of my choices - not."
Nuit stepped back from her for a moment, and then laughed. He inhaled, and closed his eyes briefly and began circling her. "Carlos... you were right. She's fabulous. Absolutely intoxicating. The defiant rage in her is like a power hit."
From the corner of her eye she noticed Carlos had slipped into the chamber behind Nuit. She knew she needed to hold Nuit's attention to give the other stalking vampire the advantage - then they could cancel each other out. But, again, as soon as the thought crossed her mind Carlos stopped, looked at her, stunned, and Nuit had spun around to see Carlos well inside his lair.
"We'll discuss your territory later. I told you, for this delivery the bride price would be high and well worth it!"
Carlos nodded and backed away. Mortified, she leveled her blade to defend herself from both of them. But she needed to even the score with Nuit first.
"Nuit! You killed my father and my mother! Took out several of my guardians, made Raven. We have a debt to settle!"
Unharnessed fury coiled within her and she could feel it nearly curdle her blood. But the effect of her increasing anger seemed to only strengthen the thing in front of her, as well as Carlos. Suddenly Nuit reached out, and as she swung her blade, Isis ringing, he drew back his hand and licked the ooze coming from the slash.
"Carlos, close the doors on your way out. You can have all of South America, Africa, whatever... she's amazing."
"I will cut your f**king balls off," Damali said evenly, flexing her wrist that held the dagger.
A shudder ran through Nuit, and his eyes glowed a deeper shade of crimson. "Close the doors, now, Rivera - she's blowing my mind."
She heard a low growl coming from beyond Nuit's shoulder, and she knew he would turn to address it. The moment he did, she swung the long sword, and rolled over the slab to keep it between her and Nuit. He threw his head back and roared at the slash that had slit his suit and drew black blood. But it gave Carlos time to spring from his crouched position by the doors.
In an instant the two entities were in the midst of a death struggle. Carlos had opened a huge second gash in Nuit's back, and when they fell, Carlos had scored Nuit's face with a swipe on the way down. But the returned swipe from Nuit had gashed Carlos the length of his abdomen, beginning at the center of his chest. Immediately the two beasts parted, circled, and then lunged at each other again, taking out a corner of the granite slab and a section of rock wall when they hurled against it.
They were moving too fast for her to get between them to get a decisive strike in to cripple Nuit. She couldn't understand it; the Isis wasn't drawing smoke. It was cutting like a regular blade. It seemed like both of them were now impervious to the normal Isis-delivered wounds that rendered vampires impotent - but the more she fought, the more she tried to claim her part of the battle, it seemed to heighten their blood lust to destroy each other.
Rock and marble fixtures along with torches went crashing, as teeth locked upon sections of bone that wouldn't give way. She could also feel herself getting stronger, and was soon able to keep pace with them and get out of the way, as she jockeyed for position to get in lightning-quick strikes, slashing Nuit's back, which made him round on her. She threw her dagger, and he caught it before it opened his chest.
"Stay out of it so you don't get hurt! You are too important!"
Nuit yelled at her, casting away the dagger, and pushing her so hard that her body slammed against a jagged wall.
The silver suit ripped. Blood oozed from Damali's elbow and shoulder where it had connected against stone, and Carlos's eyes went from gold to red as he hurled a punch.
"Motherfucker, I will kill you!" Carlos roared. "Don't you ever touch her!" He'd grabbed Nuit by what remained of his suit at the chest, raised him overhead, and slammed him to the floor.
Nuit scrambled quickly, nursing the blow that he seemed to now feel, finding a neutral corner as his eyes went from red to gold. "You're a master? What the f**k... When did that happen?"
"Shit happens, and I made a deal - several, in fact," Carlos breathed out, sucking in huge breaths. "You made her bleed. You did my squad, so I had to watch my back." He inhaled again deeply and cast off Nuit's ring. "She's mine."
"The Vampire Council?" Nuit's eyes began to normalize, only flickered gold intermittently.
"Yeah," Carlos snarled. "And I'm coming for you to pull a bone out of your ass."
He was on Nuit so fast that when they fell, Damali almost lost her sword. Nuit's leg was exposed, and she raised the long blade above her head and came down vertically, pinning Nuit's leg. The trapped beast let out a howl and Carlos looked over his shoulder.
"Back off," Carlos roared, "My kill. Check the doors - company."
She pulled her blade out of Nuit's leg, who was scrambling to get away from Carlos. Damali rushed to cover the open entrance as fluttering sounds came from just beyond it. But Nuit's attempt to evade another blow from Carlos was in vain. Carlos had grabbed the back of his suit and flung him across the room. Nuit's body slammed the rock, and when he looked up, dazed, Carlos bitch-slapped him with the back of his hand.
"Remember Alejandro!" Carlos bellowed, taking out the bottom section of Nuit's jaw with one powerful swipe. "You're neutered, bitch. Fair exchange is no robbery."
Gurgling in agony, Nuit covered his face with both arms as Carlos's foot found the center of Nuit's chest. Like a cobra's strike, Carlos tore away one of Nuit's arms, bones snapping, as the forearm bent backward unnaturally. Damali stood transfixed. In a blur of fury Carlos's hand immediately went to Nuit's throat, the other inside Nuit's mouth, and came away with tissue and incisors. Carlos stepped back, spit on the ground, and showed Nuit what remained of his vampire powers, then his fist slowly closed over the dripping teeth and meat.