Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy #3)(77)

“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.