Sweet Reckoning

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT GALAXY

At once Kaidan and Kopano became still, their eyes far away as they listened.

Oh, no. What were they hearing?

Kaidan’s eyes darted around the floor, landing on his duffel bag by the closet. He ran to it, unzipping it and pulling out my book bag.

“Here’s your bag. Get ready,” he said roughly. But with his hands he signed, Hide the hilt! The son of Shax is coming.

Marek! Not good. He was a possible ally, but I couldn’t take any chances.

I thought fast. As quietly as possible I removed the bag of candy from my backpack and put it in the trash. Then I took some napkins from the room service cart and threw them on top. Yuck.

When the knock came, my stomach dropped. Kaidan pointed for me to sit on the bed. I sat with the book bag in my lap as he opened the door. To my horror Marek came in, flanked by a whisperer. Marek was shorter than Kai, about Blake’s height. I’d wondered if he was friendly before—he’d seemed like it compared to Caterina—but his face showed none of that friendliness now. His eyes were like ice as he pushed up the sleeves of his black dress shirt.

He stopped in front of me, and I wished I were dressed instead of wearing that stupid robe. My Neph friends stood in a tense semicircle around us.

“We meet again,” Marek said. Without asking, he took my bag from me and began to riffle through it, tossing my underwear and shirts out.

“Hey!” I said, trying to seem indignant. “What are you doing?”

When the bag was emptied and he’d felt all the pockets, he glanced around the room.

“What did you take from the bag before I arrived?”

“What? Nothing—”

“I heard a sound! Like . . . crinkling. What was it?”

No, no, no.

“Oh,” I said. “Just some candy I didn’t want anymore.”

He turned and scanned the floor until his eyes stopped on the trash can. No! Without hesitation he reached in.

“Ew, man,” Blake said, but Marek was undeterred.

Panic flared like a rushing meteor inside me. Everyone stepped closer, faces hardened as if ready to fight.

Marek shook the food off the candy bag and proceeded to do what nobody from any of the airport security checks had done before. He ripped the bag open and dumped its contents onto the desk. I leaped from the bed and dove toward the exposed hilt, but I was too late. The whisperer hissed above us as Marek shoved me back, plucking off pieces of candy that I’d taped to it. Kaidan stepped forward, but Kope steadied him with a hand to the shoulder. I hoped Marek and the whisperer thought Kai was angry about what I’d hidden from him, and not the fact that the son of Shax was taking possession of it.

Marek didn’t seem to notice any of this. He didn’t act surprised or satisfied or . . . anything. He matter-of-factly opened the leather flap to reveal the shimmery heavenly metal underneath.

“Dude,” Blake said. “What is that? What are you gonna do with it?”

The whisperer had plastered itself to the ceiling as far from the hilt as possible.

Marek closed the leather flap over the hilt and slid it into his pocket before answering Blake. “Don’t worry about it.”

I watched the wheels turning in Kaidan’s mind. He looked prepared to attack. I gave him a tiny shake of my head, and Kope stepped slightly in front of him, as if signaling him not to make a move. As much as I wanted to jump on Marek and take the hilt back, I knew this was a pivotal moment. We could not yet let on that we were all allies. I needed to be the only threatening one until we had all the Dukes gathered. Then the Neph boys could take the hilt by force. If we tried to take it now, the whisperer would fly off and rat us out. Then we were trapped at a disadvantage.

We could still get it back. We had to.

Marek looked at Kaidan and nodded his head toward me. “She had it all along. Don’t you know never to trust a pretty face? Don’t let her out of your sight.”

“I won’t,” Kaidan said, his eyes hitting mine. “Especially now.”

Marek turned and headed to the door, seeming to speak to the air as he said, “I’ve got it.” And he left the room with the whisperer trailing behind him.

We all stood there, stunned. This changed everything. For one, my guilt was now proven. I’d lost my biggest advantage. What was I going to do without the hilt? All at once I felt small, fragile, and useless. My breathing hitched, a panic attack approaching.

I grasped for something positive, trying to slow my heart rate. We still had the surprise of our Neph alliance, as small as it might be. And maybe other Neph would join us when they saw we were willing to fight. I couldn’t pretend that a huge fraction of my confidence hadn’t disappeared with the hilt, along with the hope that Marek might end up as an ally, but I didn’t want the others to feel as desolate as I did.

We’ll get it back, I signed.

I could tell from the fierceness in everyone’s eyes that they agreed. Then both of the Ks widened their eyes at the same time.

Kope signed, Shax just told Marek to dispose of the hilt.

He said, “Bury it in the desert if you must,” Kaidan added, his hands moving fast.

No! We had to get it back!

Kaidan’s phone chimed with a text. He read it and slid the cell back into his pocket.

“Summit’s in one hour. One of us needs to guard the door at all times so she can’t escape.”

“I’m on it,” Blake said. He went to the door and leaned against it, crossing his arms.

“We’ll stay with her while she gets ready,” Marna said, guiding me to the bathroom.

I wanted the positive feeling of peace to return. If I was going to lead us into this battle, I had to have that hope. As I pulled on my new snug black leather pants, black tank top, and short leather jacket, I ran through the passage in my mind, reminding myself of the arsenal I had at hand. I told myself the Sword of Righteousness was just a crutch—I didn’t really need it, but crap! I wanted it! It had been my one tangible weapon.

By the time I zipped on the black leather ankle boots and stood up, my confidence was wavering back and forth. The twins watched me, sort of agape at my outfit choice. Ginger had an impressed half smile as she looked me over.

I pulled my hair into a high ponytail and went to the mirror to do my makeup. The demons might have labeled me as a mercenary of heaven, but I wouldn’t be wearing any white wings tonight. I darkened around my eyes with gray eyeliner and silvery shadow, blushed my cheekbones, and smoothed red lipstick over my mouth. The overall effect was even more powerful than I could’ve hoped. Over the tank top I placed Kai’s gift, the turquoise necklace, the one splash of color I’d be wearing.

Blake came into the bathroom in a black suit with an iridescent green tie. He wet his hair and helped himself to some spray gel, flicking pieces here and there. Ginger grabbed the spray gel from him and spritzed the back of his head, doing the same thing that he’d done to the front. I saw him visibly relax under her touch.

A speck of blue caught my eye in the mirror, and I looked up to see Kaidan leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets. He also wore a black suit, but with a royal blue shirt underneath that made the sapphire of his eyes pop. I had to swallow. He ran a hand through his hair as he looked at me.

I will drink tonight, just enough to hide the bond, he signed to me, and I nodded.

I wanted to kiss him again. One last kiss. He must have been thinking the same thing because he was ready for me when I turned and went to him, running my hands over his strong shoulders.

His mouth was tender, and he tasted of sweet bourbon. Maybe it was wrong, but I didn’t care if any of our Neph friends were watching or how they felt about it. The only thing that made me pull away was fear of whisperers flying in. Behind me I heard the twins and Blake walk out, flicking on the bathroom’s television and turning up the volume before leaving us alone.

Kaidan pressed me against the sink, kissing me deeply.

I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but he held me close and wouldn’t let me budge an inch away from him. I let my mind open wide, revealing the pinks in my emotional aura just long enough for him to see. He took me up into his arms.

When he set me down, he rested his forehead against mine, breathing hard. I knew he was scared. I could see it in his eyes. I lifted my hand and signed, We’re going to win this. He looked down at the floor between us, running his tongue over his lips. When he raised his eyes again, he pulled the ponytail holder from my hair, causing the blond layers to tumble heavily over my shoulders.

Now you’re ready, he signed, looking me over with dark-eyed appreciation.

I nodded. We needed his wits clear enough to be able to fight if it came to that. I watched as Kaidan leaned down, removing the knives from his pockets and fidgeting with the thick soles of his boots. He’d rigged tiny compartments to hide the blades.

Good thing he had such big feet.

When he stood, he took a small bottle of whiskey from his pocket and drank it, tossing the bottle into the trash afterward. The hot scent hit me and I shook with a moment of need, despite my lingering hangover.

My stomach plummeted at the sound of firm knocking on our room door. Kai and I stared at each other for a long moment before breaking apart. We met the others in the entryway, and Kopano answered the door.

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.