Whew," Damali whistled, stopping Carlos's awkward apology with one finger before it could even begin. "I'm okay... but, whew."
"I know," he said, still gasping air. He gently turned her head to the side and tried to stop the jugular flow with trembling fingers. "Does it hurt?"
"Hell, yeah," she said, chuckling with her eyes closed. "You didn't even pleasure taint the nick, just-"
"Aw, baby... damn... I don't know where that came from. But, I'm serious, it won't happen again."
She opened her eyes and chuckled. "It was good, though."
"No. That was almost a damned battle bite." He slowly extracted himself from her and rolled off her to go get a towel to blot away the excess blood. "You might be a Neteru, and everything else under�neath all that, but you're my wife, and I ain'tnever supposed to handle you like this."
Carlos's mind raced with panic as he walked to the bathroom. Something was seriously wrong, and any time something foul went down, the darkside was in it playing games. Damn!
"Relax," she murmured, trying to sit up, and then thinking better of it. She was dizzy from the sudden blood loss and exertion, and be�ing with him had never done that to her before. "I'm okay."
He paced back from the bathroom and came to her side. "Lift your head and tell me how many fingers I have up."
She laughed and glimpsed them. "Three."
"One," he shouted and began softly dabbing her neck and shoulder with a towel. "Shit, D. Never again."
"Definitely not in the house. That wasnot a silent scream episode," she said, wincing as he touched near the area that was beginning to puff and bruise.
Carlos closed his eyes, not sure if he should blow on the bite, kiss away the offense, or if he could touch away the pain. There was noth�ing in his old DNA that told him how to heal a battle bite, since those were supposed to be what they were, fatal. And if one was delivered from his old throne knowledge on a female adversary that suddenly became a sexual negotiation during a death match, chances were she'd be a regenerative species, and sealing it up wasn't necessary on his part. The Neteru side of him wasn't much help, either, since he was the only one that had fangs... at least the only one he knew about this side of Nod.
"You're a hundred percent Neteru, baby... you can heal a battle bite, right, if you concentrate?" Carlos stared at her for a moment as her eyelids briefly slid shut.
"Yeah, I should be able to do that," Damali said, but there was no confidence in her tone. After a tense minute she opened her eyes. "I don't know what's wrong. It's like something is blocking my heal�ing." Her gaze nervously searched his as her voice dropped to a pained murmur. "This hurts like hell and I can't stop the bleeding."
He almost couldn't speak as he stared at her, his heart thudding against his breastbone. If anything happened to her..."Baby, with�out the Caduceus-"
"Oooohhh... noooo. I am not going to the Queen's Council to ask for that forthis. No way. Ice. Food. Water. Rest. The basics and I'm good. This one feels so bad that I don't even want Mar to see it when we go home. This sucker might need stitches-now how would that seem?"
Carlos dropped his head into his hands and sat back on the bed. "I don't know how to fix this or make the bruises go away. I've healed seduction bites, regular mortal-type wounds, and even helped do a vamp purge with Berkfield, but I don't know. This is different in the way it's delivered. It was a combo bite, I think. Has regular injury mixed with a battle bite, and those are different than turn bites or a se�duction bite... I know what I'm saying probably doesn't make sense to you, but I can try a general healing if you let me touch it."
"Naw, that's all right," she said, laughing and edging away from him, then rolled over onto her stomach and smiled when he seemed hurt. "You made the other end feelreal good, though. What were you cumming, white lightning? Dang." She peered up at him bleary-eyed, laughed, and sprawled out flat in a flop. "It's just the throat that's ten�der. Go easy on the jugular for a few days. Damn, I feel like a virgin all over again behind this mess."
He gently lowered his hands to her bruised shoulders, splaying his palms above the tender surface of her skin. "You've never been nicked in a battle by a vamp, but let me warn you, the battle bites are ugly and are designed for optimum pain. It's gonna hurt like hell in a few minutes, D... ask me how I know. You're still high off the en�dorphin rush. But the minute the battle bite sets in... you're gonna feel it."
Carlos wanted to kick his own ass. He'd held her so tightly and loved her so hard and recklessly that her wings didn't even get a chance to unfold. Had they done so, she might be lying there now with a broken wing that couldn't retract. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder blades. "Even when you were a virgin, I didn't man�handle you like this and leave you this sore-anywhere."
"True," she said, trying to make light of the subject. "See what happens to a girl when she gets married? All the romance is gone- poof-once the honeymoon is over."
"Don't say that, D," he said quietly. "Please, I'm sorry."
"Hey..." she said, turning over with effort. "You're really upset, aren't you? I was just playing, baby. Now I'm the one who's sorry. Don't worry. This will heal."
"I'ma take you into the bathroom and show you in the mirror. All right? Then you'll see why I'm so upset."
"Okay," she said, weaving as she tried to right herself.
"Let me carry you, D," he said quietly, shame singeing his voice. "You lost a lot of blood, too. I could barely seal the bite when I pulled out of it."
"No shit?" she asked, now trying to focus on his face as he gingerly lifted her and began walking. "Ow, that does sorta hurt... like everywhere and then some. Dang."
"No shit, D, and you know I'venever come at you like that. Had you been on top, I mighta broken a wing if they presented. I grabbed you too hard."
"Baby, it's all right... You just got caught up in the moment."