Sweet Reckoning

by Higgins, Wendy

  My stomach flipped at the sight of the sons of Thamuz in the doorway, looking us over with disdain. Their long brown hair was pulled back in low ponytails and they wore brown suits. They were completely healed from the last time I’d seen them, but pure malice lived in their dark eyes. They all but snarled as they stared at me, promising pain and evil deeds if given the chance. I fought to hold their stares and not back down.

  Marna shuddered next to me and cringed back.

  “Evening, sons of Thamuz,” Blake said with false politeness.

  “It will be a good evening once the punishing begins,” one of them said.

  Fear coursed through me, thick and bitter for all the evil we’d have to face tonight. Marna made a pitiful sound. When the sons turned their eyes to her, Ginger stepped in front of her sister and crossed her arms with challenge. Ginger had given me a lot of stink eyes in the past, but nothing close to the one she gave the sons of Thamuz now.

  They sneered at her. Blake stepped to Ginger’s side and jutted out his chin at the newcomers.

  “We leaving or not?” Blake asked.

  One led the way out of the room while the other waited so he could walk behind us. The Dukes would be proud to see a brood of their children surrounding me as if to protect their fathers from a would-be mercenary.

  When we stepped into the hall I spotted two whisperers dashing down the long space as if racing. As if this were all fun and games. I wished so much for my father at that moment. Where was he? Had he heard about this summit through one of his ally spirits? And what about Lucifer’s spirit messenger, Azael, our unlikely ally? I wished we had more information, more allies, more time.

  My body craved quiet peace so I could concentrate on the task, but making our way through levels of shopping and casinos was sensory overload, even at two o’clock in the morning. Whisperers were everywhere, darting through the spaces and whispering in unsuspecting ears. The noise was outrageous, like a dozen carnivals crammed into one massive building. Electronic games from the casino went crazy with overlapping bleeping and dinging. Hundreds of human voices fought to be heard. Their angel guardians were grim and on guard.

  Each laughing face that we passed was a possible victim. I wanted to scream out to them all to leave, but it was a useless thought. The Dukes had been meeting here for as many years as Las Vegas had been popular. It hadn’t gained its nickname of Sin City by accident.

  I silently meditated as we left The Venetian and crossed over to an independent casino with a stairway on the side leading underground.

  Music played, but it seemed to be coming from under our feet in gentle vibrations. At the bottom of the stairs, out of public sight, we stopped at a set of solid metal doors with a sign above the entrance that said GALAXY NIGHTCLUB. My heart sank to new depths at the sight of the Nephilim standing guard at the door. Marek. I forced myself not to look at Kaidan or do anything suspicious.

  Marek ran a metal detector wand over one of the sons of Thamuz, then the twins, Kopano, and Blake, then patted them down. I felt a hard poke in my back and turned my head to the other son of Thamuz, who was staring down at me with angry impatience.

  “Move,” he ordered.

  I stepped forward, and Kaidan discreetly stepped between me and the angry Neph without looking at me. I faced Marek, who would not meet my eye.

  “Lift your arms,” he said.

  I did everything he told me. When he was done with the metal detector, he patted me down, concentrating on my pockets. I heard Kaidan shift behind me and clear his throat when Marek’s hands were feeling my back pockets. Thankfully he finished quickly, giving my ankles a pat and then standing and motioning me through.

  “Thank you,” I said softly. I wasn’t sure why I thanked him—maybe just the years of manners ingrained in me, but it made him look at me, surprised. Maybe even a little shaken. I dropped my eyes and walked through the door to where the others waited in the darkened entrance with its low ceiling.

  I moved to the side where I could see Marek waving the wand over a straight-faced Kaidan. It beeped at his waist, and Kai removed his belt, displaying the metal buckle as if bored. He put it back on when Marek nodded. More beeping sounded when the wand got to Kaidan’s feet. He untied his boots and kicked them off, letting Marek step down to inspect them. I could see the bulge under Marek’s shirt at his waistline where he packed a gun.

  My heart pounded.

  Marek was the son of Shax—known for clever tricks of thievery. He would know ways to hide things in shoes. How could Kaidan stand there acting so cool? My body was going crazy and I could hardly stay still. I watched as Marek’s fingers ran along the edge of the thick heel, right where the secret compartment lay. His movements seemed to slow, then pause, and I watched Kaidan’s jaw clench. Holding my breath, I felt like the wait dragged on forever.

  Then Marek stood abruptly and gave Kai a nod, moving past him to begin running the wand over the son of Thamuz. All the breath left my lungs. Kaidan put his boots back on and joined me. His arm brushed against mine and I wanted to sing. Three knives between us weren’t much compared to the guns we knew the Dukes had, but at least they were something.

  At the end of the hall we went through another set of doors and down more steps into a gigantic, dark room blaring techno music. The loud sound seemed to cause all my senses to open up. I could smell the bodies—a mix of sweat and skin and perfumes. I smelled alcohol everywhere, fresh and in the cracks of every surface, and marijuana somewhere nearby. My body buzzed.

  Kaidan’s hand touched my lower back to urge me forward, and I sucked in a ragged breath at the wonderful feeling of the contact. He glanced at me with wide eyes, his badge giving a spin, and I realized even my sense of touch had been let loose. I needed to reign it all in. I focused, forcing every sense back to normal except my night vision, and moved forward.

  We were in a warehouse-sized underground club already packed with people. To the left was a DJ booth, which made me think of Jay with a pang. I hoped with all I had that he was okay. And Patti. It brought me joy to think that after tonight they might never have to hide again.

  A long bar stretched the entire length of the room, with bartenders flipping bottles and shaking tumblers. Thamuz’s two sons slithered straight to the bar, telling us the Dukes would get us when it was time, and telling Kaidan to watch me. They didn’t seem to feel the need to babysit us anymore—probably because the entrance and exit were covered.

  I peered around for other exits. It was hard to see exactly how high the ceiling was because every surface in the club was painted black. The black ceiling and walls were dotted with tiny twinkling lights in an exact replica of the galaxy, like a planetarium.

  “Where are we meeting?” I dared to ask Kaidan, having to shout.

  “The VIP room,” he said.

  I nodded. We walked farther in, following where our friends had gone. When we were surrounded by people, I saw Kaidan stealthily bend down and mess with something. I glanced, trying not to be obvious, and saw him lifting the flaps in the soles of his boots and taking out the blades that had been hidden. I felt one being slipped into my pocket and I pressed my lips together to hold back a smile. We kept moving until we met up with our group, clustered by the bar. They all stared around the room, appearing calm, but on guard. I looked around, too.

  Almost the entire room was a dance floor. I hadn’t noticed at first, but along the walls, giant black cages hung from the ceiling with females inside—cage dancers—who used the bars to flip expertly or hang upside down before landing gracefully and dancing perfected individual routines.

  As I watched, the already dimmed lighting seemed to waver in the room.

  “Legionnaires,” Marna murmured next to me.

  Hundreds of demons swarmed above us. I held my breath, feeling helpless and ill at the sight of their attack on the room. Every few seconds one of the spirits would dart down and whisper in an unsuspecting ear. Within one minute there were more people flocking to the bar, and
the dancing was steamier. Two guys got into a fight on the dance floor, and bouncers ran to break it up while people around them screamed.

  Ginger and Marna looked at Kaidan and me, staring purposefully back and forth between the two of us—at our bond. Crap! Kaidan moved away from me and went straight to the bar. I gave the twins a nod to thank them for the heads-up, then turned when someone bumped me.

  A girl, no older than twenty-one, staggered by and after she passed us she bent over and vomited. People around her screamed. Her puke splattered up on the heels of the couple nearest her, and they spun to face her. The offended woman’s aura was dark with rage, worsened by a whisperer pouring its vile message into her head. She poured her drink over the girl’s back, causing her to stumble to one knee. A demon swooped down on the man, who lifted his beer bottle as if to throw it at the girl.

  “Don’t!” I yelled.

  The man looked up at me with haunted eyes.

  “Don’t you dare,” I said breathlessly, going to the girl’s side. The man slowly lowered his arm, seeing Kopano and Blake watching and not wanting to chance it.

  I helped her up by the arm. Yes, it was stupid of me, but my secret had already been revealed. I was working for the other team, so these demons could just kiss my heavenly ass.

  “Donna?” the drunken girl mumbled.

  “No. Do you have a friend here named Donna?”

  She looked around, bleary-eyed, without responding. I led her to the end of the bar, half carrying her, and reached over to take napkins from a pile. I wiped her face and dabbed at her hair. Another girl her age ran up to us, out of breath.

  “Oh my gawd! There you are, you stupid hooch! I thought you were going to the bathroom. Rob keeps asking about you. He bought us another round. Come on.”

  “Are you Donna?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Why?” She looked at me for the first time.

  “Your friend just got sick. Maybe she should go back to her room.”

  “Excuse me? Who do you think you are, telling me—”

  I didn’t have time for this. I used my influence. “If you care for your friend, take her back to the room.”

  She looked at me with big eyes as she dealt with her inner turmoil. Then she glared at me, pulling her friend’s arm around her shoulder and walking off in the direction of the exit.

  Oh, thank goodness. I sighed. A whisperer swooped down on me, then another, shouting their telepathic messages.

  What was that? You disgust us!

  Kopano sidled up, looking serious.

  “Leave her,” he told the whisperers in his low, ominous voice. “She’ll get what she deserves soon enough.”

  It worked and they left me alone, a shiver rippling over my skin at the double meaning of Kope’s words, whether he meant it or not. Would I survive this night?

  The demons had to be destroyed. If it took my death to make that happen, so be it. It broke my heart to think of Kaidan left behind without me and how he would cope with that, but he would cope. And we’d be together again someday, in a different way, but together nonetheless. I tried to gain confidence from these thoughts, but my heart was too heavy.

  My Neph friends had formed a box around me, and I wondered if they were trying to protect me from whisperers, or keep me from helping anymore humans. Whatever the reason, their close presence gave me strength.

  Kaidan returned to us with a double shot of something amber-colored over ice. I got a strong whiff of bourbon, which made me want to kiss him again. His eyes captured mine and held them as he tipped back the glass until it was drained.

  The sons of Thamuz returned to us, holding their drinks and looking disgusted by our presence. They signaled for us to move, and we followed. The music thumped through my whole body. The fierceness on the faces of my surrounding allies fueled me.

  We came to a set of double doors with a sign saying lunar room. My body was alight with adrenaline. In the Lunar Room of the Galaxy club, heaven and hell would meet.

  Pharzuph practically burst through the doors, his avid eyes on me. He frowned.

  “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I said to get her different clothes,” he said to Kaidan. Pharzuph grabbed my arm and pulled me forward, not caring to hear a response from his son. I met Kai’s steely stare and knew those eyes would be on me all night.

  With a deep breath in my chest, and a prayer in my heart, we entered the summit.

  Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish,

  is dear to me, and I will defend it.

  —Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

  UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

  HarperCollins Publishers

  ..................................................................

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  LUNAR ROOM

  Nine sets of blood-red eyes landed on me, making adrenaline run a race through my body. Everyone was there except my dad, Rahab, and Jezebet. The nine Dukes present looked me over with complete disdain before nodding at Pharzuph with admiration for my capture.

  Pharzuph shoved me forward, a proud look on his face, and said, “Go sit down until we’re ready to deal with you.”

  I moved, sensing my allies close behind me, and took in our new surroundings. I’d never been able to picture this final summit—and now here we were. I wouldn’t have imagined this most deadly fight taking place in a swanky VIP lounge.

  The room was all black, like the main club, with similar stars twinkling overhead. The same music played, only at a lower volume. Tables shaped like phases of the moon and modern, black leather seats filled the floor space. The lounge area surrounded a circular dance floor with a gleaming black surface that reflected the ceiling’s stars. Next to the entrance was a bar with a middle-aged male Neph bartender I didn’t recognize. He ignored us and focused on the Dukes, who gathered around the bar, talking and laughing as if this gathering were nothing but a social event..

  Long, black couches lined the walls of the room. We went to the end of the lounge and sat against the wall. Kaidan, me, Marna, then Ginger sat on a couch together. Blake and Kope sat on the next one. We didn’t have to wait long for others to begin arriving. The Neph all came to this far side of the room, then spread out their numbers along the wall couches, acknowledging one another with nods, but never talking.

  Kopano’s two older brothers approached and sat next to him. More allies! My hope grew at the sight of the three of them sitting on the next couch in stoic silence. His brothers had the same large body frame as him, but their eyes were a deep brown.

  A gross sensation slithered through my belly when Caterina came in, the tight bun in her hair looking like it would give a normal person a migraine. As she walked toward us and sat on a lone couch, she smiled at me—the creepiest smile I’d ever seen. I guessed she knew why we were gathered and was looking forward to it. I found the twins glaring murderously at her, so I gave Marna a discreet elbow to the arm to make her stop.

  Duke Jezebet walked in then, and Caterina sat up taller, watching the Duke of Lies with adoring reverence. The stunning Russian woman in her crisp gray suit never even glanced at her daughter. Instead she scanned the Neph until she found me. Our eye contact lasted only a brief moment, but seeing the lack of hate in her eyes and knowing she was an ally lifted my spirits, while also making me long for my father.

  I felt Kaidan stiffen next to me when Pharzuph and Astaroth looked our way. Then Astaroth gave a shake of his head and they went back to drinking. Marna inclined her face toward me and Kaidan, leaning forward enough to check our bond. She gave a small nod. We were good. Kai relaxed again. It made me wonder how long his buzz would last and hide the bond. Probably not long. All of our secrets would be revealed soon.

  Watching the Dukes socialize, unconcerned about a so-called mercenary Neph girl, gave me a strange sense of resolve. They believed they were untouchable. They saw their enemy tonight as just one girl. One stupid girl who might be working with someone, but their complet
e lack of concern showed their weakest flaw.

  Foolish pride. We would use it against them.

  Though my resolve fueled me, my body still behaved with traitorous nerves when I thought about how I no longer had the sword, and no clue how else to physically get rid of these demons. Kaidan bumped his leg against mine when I started chewing my thumbnail. I dropped my hand. Okay. Nobody was going to try to kill us this very minute. I sat up straighter.

  A young Asian man walked in with a green badge, looking like he could be a Chinese model—Melchom, the Duke of Envy. His shiny black hair was a few inches long and he styled it much like Blake’s. I glanced at Blake, who was staring at his father’s new body with awestruck horror. He quickly schooled his facial expression when Melchom looked over and inclined his head. Blake returned the gesture.

  While the Dukes warmed up, drinking and laughing, we all stared blankly around the room, doing our best not to draw any attention to ourselves. I counted ten of the twelve Dukes.

  Then Duke Rahab entered with his deep purple badge, and a hush settled. I swear a chill swept the room as the Duke of Pride’s eyes scanned us, flashing bright red for a whole second when he saw me until he composed himself. He turned to his comrades and smiled tightly. Someone turned off the music. Marek came through the doors behind Rahab and closed them, locking them from the inside and standing guard. The momentary silence was deafening.

  Rahab nodded to the Dukes at the bar, and they all filed into the lounge, sitting at the small tables that circled the dance floor. Rahab made his way to the center of the black circle and stood with his hands clasped behind his back like a dictator. He seemed to have aged since I’d seen him a year and a half ago—his face looking gaunt and too dour to be handsome. He was tall and elegant, but too thin. I was surprised he hadn’t opted for a new body yet. Maybe his overabundance of pride caused him to hold out longer than the others.

  He began speaking in his rich, loud, French-accented voice.