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I nodded when Angel showed up. He stuck to the shadows at first, but once the game got under way, he went to work.
This was a game of luck and skill. It took total concentration. Damn it. I sucked at concentration. And I wasn’t all that lucky either.
Artemis watched the Dealer like a leopard watched its prey. Anytime he leaned close to deal or to gather cards or chips, a low rumble escaped her chest. No one there could hear it, of course, except for the demon. But to his credit, he never flinched. He pretended to be oblivious, but surely he could see what I was. He could hear Artemis and Angel. He didn’t seem particularly worried, though. Angel sucked at cards as bad as I did. I was down a cool seventeen mil. Or seventeen hundred. Probably seventeen hundred. I’d lost track a while ago and was now waiting for him to bargain, to offer to forgive the debt if I’d just give up my soul. He had yet to make that offer, but the night was young. Really young. We’d played only one hand.
Even with Angel walking around the table, telling me what everyone’s hands consisted of, I lost. Probably because knowing what everyone was holding didn’t matter. I had no idea what constituted a wi
“You gotta get better at this shit,
mijita,
” Angel said. “You only brought two thousand dollars and you just lost seventeen hundred. In one hand.”
A minuscule smile played about the Dealer’s mouth as he watched me. He could clearly hear Angel. Could probably see him, too. But I wondered if he could feel Reyes. The human body he’d inhabited may act as a barrier, making him unable to feel the heat that engulfed the room as Reyes watched without materializing. It was impossible to be certain.
“If you’re going to send a boy to spy on me, make it a boy worth my time.”
So he was ready to drop the charades. I was cool with that. I never could remember the difference between the gestures for words and syllables, anyway.
Angel was offended. Naturally. “Are you talking about me,
pendejo
?”
The Dealer spared him a humorous glance. “I could feast upon your soul, little one, and still have room for dessert.”
I leaned forward to get his attention back on me. “You can’t have his soul. You can’t take a soul unless it was handed to you willingly while the person was still alive. I know the rules, asswipe.”
“Such colorful language, Reaper. And you did your homework. I’m surprised. It’s not your style.”
The other men exchanged sideways glances, confused, wondering if they’d missed something as the Dealer studied me. “Is that really what I think it is, in your boot?”
My hand went to the dagger instinctively.
When I didn’t answer, he asked in awe, “You found it. I didn’t even know if it was real.”
“It’s real. Very real. But how did you know I had it?”
“Its glow, of course. You can’t see it?”
“No.” This not being able to see what other supernatural entities could was getting old.
He absorbed that, his expression calculative, then explained, “Let’s just say it makes an impression.”
The Dealer gathered the cards, getting a little too close to me, and Artemis let out another guttural growl. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Thank goodness she liked me. I couldn’t imagine what the demon was thinking.
He shuffled and said casually, “Call off your dog.”
I reached down and caressed her ears. “She’s fine right where she is.”
“Not that one.” He began dealing. “Rey’aziel.”
He did feel him. And he clearly knew who he was.
“He’s fine right where he is, too.”
He finished dealing, his long fingers nimble as they handled the cards like a seasoned pro. Then again, he probably was a seasoned pro. “Show yourself,” he said to Reyes.
And Reyes materialized behind me. I looked up at him. “I’m not doing well.”
“I can see that.”
The other men at the table were now completely confused. This was poker.
High-stakes
poker. Not the strip poker I usually played. I sucked at that, too. And the Dealer and I were talking crazy. Poker did that to people.
“Rey’aziel,” the Dealer said without looking up from the cards. “It’s been a long time.”
Reyes stepped to the side and leaned against the wall. “Fu
The statement seemed to sting him. He flinched—so quickly, I almost missed it. “You wouldn’t.”
Surprise flashed in Reyes’s expression. He pushed off from the wall and seemed to be staring straight through the Dealer. I looked again but saw nothing.
“You’re marked,” he said, astounded. “You were a slave.”
The barest hint of a smile lifted a corner of the Dealer’s mouth. “I was.”
“You’re Daeva.” Reyes scoffed as though suddenly disgusted by the creature before him. “You were created from the souls of my lost brethren. You never fell from heaven.”
The Dealer cast him a pointed stare. “And neither did you, or have you forgotten?”
“Not at all. I just thought I might have a fight on my hands. This shouldn’t take long,” he said as he stepped forward.
The Dealer stood, his chair scraping against the floor and falling back as he faced the son of the man who’d apparently created him as well. The light illuminated his face a bit more, and he let a wide, brilliantly white smile spread across it.
Angel grabbed my arm and pulled. “Charley, let’s go.”
“Still don’t recognize me?” the Dealer asked Reyes.
My nigh fiancé laughed softly in surprise, but it wasn’t a humorous laugh. It was filled with astonishment and, if I had to guess, an ounce of reverence.
“You escaped?” he asked as though that surprised him the most.
Angel tugged again.
I pulled him to my side and kept an arm locked around him protectively.
“We should go,” he said, whispering in my ear.
The Dealer’s chin went up, proud of his accomplishment. “I did. Of course, I didn’t have a map to get me through the void like you.” He gestured to the tattoos that lined Reyes’s upper body, the ones that made up a map to the gates of hell. “The gates of hell proved a bit tricky, but here I am.”
“And here you’ll die.”
He lifted one shoulder, unmoved. “I figured as much. I just need to have a conversation with the reaper, then we can finish this.”
Reyes stepped to my side at once, his expression hard. “I wouldn’t.”
Angel squeezed tighter, wanting out of Reyes’s reach and wanting me out of harm’s way.
“You’re in love with her,” the Dealer said. It wasn’t a question but a statement that held both wonder and admiration. I wasn’t sure why he would feel either. “It all makes sense now.”
“Don’t forget who I am,” Reyes said, his tone razor sharp, his stance rigid like a cobra about to strike. “You don’t need anything from her.”
One brow shot up, implying that the Dealer was so unimpressed, he didn’t know what else to do. “No, Your Highness, I don’t. But you do.”
Reyes stepped closer. “And what would that be?”
“Victory.” When Reyes remained silent, he continued. “It’s what I do, if you’ll remember. I win. And now, more than ever, you need a win.”
The air crackled with tension, the friction it caused creating a vortex of heat, Reyes’s anger was so palpable. He started for the Dealer, but I put a hand on his arm to stop him. Angel jerked out of my grip. I was too close to Reyes for his comfort. He stepped away from the melee, but to his credit, he didn’t disappear.
Reyes stopped at the feel of my touch and glanced down at me. It wasn’t a nice glance.