It was just too bad for Mr. Trinity that this wasn’t a movie. Like I would give him the Light. Did he know who killed Kimano? Did he even know my brother had once lived? No. Could he find the demon who had taken his life? Doubtful. They were legion. A human couldn’t do it. Only a demon could.
And I had my money on Solomon. He wanted the Light just as badly as Mr. Trinity. It was easy to see why when you knew what it could do.
Like I told Mr. Trinity I knew.
Like I’d told Solomon at the battle.
All’s fair in love and war. Now imagine what’s reasonable in vengeance and fucking with my family. Mr. Trinity might be a ruthless leader, but I wasn’t sure he could quite imagine the things I was willing to do. Solomon was a demon. . . . Solomon might have an idea or two about my limits—as in none.
I patted my mouth with a napkin and folded my hands across my lap like the good girl I was. “Unless you have a red-hot poker in the next room”—I tilted my head just enough to let him know I didn’t think it completely beyond him—“you get nothing from me. At least not until I get what I want.”
By the way he clenched his fist, if that nonexistent red poker had been in his hand, I thought he would’ve used it. “And what, foolish, greedy woman, do you want?”
“Greedy.” I’d seen the money that went into and never came out of Eden House. It made me wonder . . . when had they forgotten that a camel would pass through the eye of a needle before a rich man entered Heaven? “Well, Mr. Trinity, this foolish woman has all the apples she needs, so I think you’ll find my price quite cheap for what the Light can do. It’s just one you can’t pay.”
He ignored the price check and focused on the rest of it. “What it can do. You think you know what it does?” Coldly but carefully lacking scorn. If I did know, he didn’t want to make me angry—it’s a pissed-off cow that gives little milk. I didn’t know if there was a folk saying in that exact form, but you could take it on truth in content.
“It’s the wall no horn can blow down.” Griffin and Trinity’s eyes were fixed on me. Leo’s weren’t. He already knew what I knew, what I’d known for a while. Trinity would assume I got the information from the Light itself via Wilbur. There was a calculating shift of his eyes—like Goodman, what Trinity wouldn’t give to pop the top to my skull and take an ice-pick jab and look for himself.
“If Jericho had the Light, it would still stand. The Light is neither of Heaven nor Hell, but before. Long before.”
“Blasphemy.” Trinity said it reflexively, without a lot of investment in it. He was more concerned about what I knew than offense to the Lord at the moment.
“It’s an unbreakable shield,” I went on. “Should war come between Heaven and Hell, whichever side had it would be completely protected.”
“What’s going on?” Griffin demanded.
“Torture, murder, and a race to the perfect weapon. Invulnerability,” Leo said matter-of-factly as he moved on to his next sandwich, unbothered by the violence that constructed those words. “That would make any war a short one.”
“God is invulnerable, not a Light,” Trinity said this time with a quiet certainty and power.
“Then why do you want the Light?” I didn’t even have to ask. Griffin did it for me.
“The Light is for Heaven. That’s all you need to know,” the older man replied brusquely. For Heaven maybe, but not for God, but no angel was going to tell the Eden Houses around the world that. Lose their human servants? Where was the benefit there?
“No one will stop us in obtaining it. Not a woman and not a demon,” he went on. Demon singular, as in Solomon, Trinity’s equal in Vegas. “Or hordes of demons. Every hell-spawn in existence can stand against us and it will not matter. Eden House has its orders.”
“Good for Eden House.” I stood and put the tray on the chair. “We should be going. Thanks for the hospitality, but I have a business to run and a Light to find.”
“I think not.” Mr. Trinity didn’t move, just as the three guards outside the door wouldn’t move—unless we made them. Then there would be reinforcements, and although I knew without a doubt that Griffin would back up Leo and me, someone would get hurt. And Zeke wasn’t even conscious. Griffin wouldn’t leave him if the fight went badly. I wouldn’t leave him.
It didn’t leave me with much choice. I didn’t trust Trinity, but maybe I should put a little trust in someone else—Solomon. Trust that when I finally came to the Light, he’d be right there for the bidding. He was involved. He’d shown that by appearing at Wilbur’s. I’d had to wonder why a demon stayed so long in one place, stayed so long in Vegas. Not simply for seducing me. I had ego, but I wasn’t a fool. It’d be nice to think all the eligible men and demons were after nothing more than my brain and smart-ass self, but it’d be nice to keep on breathing and living too. Delusion wasn’t very compatible with survival.
“I guess we have to negotiate, then.” I smiled with confident cheer. And I shouldn’t be so quick to assume Trinity couldn’t track down a demon. I shouldn’t be putting all my eggs in one basket with Solomon. I couldn’t afford to make a mistake. “Good thing I specialize in that.”
Trinity smiled back. There wasn’t any cheer in it at all. “Yes . . . good thing.”
The room I was provided with in Eden House was plush. No surprise there. Even if I weren’t quite as good at bargaining as I knew I was, Mr. Trinity wasn’t likely to put me in some sort of basement cell. He was too much of a gentleman for that. He might think I was a greedy woman. He might kill me Old Testament style, but bad manners? Never.
Once I’d made it clear that I didn’t know the Light’s location, only the whereabouts of the next bread crumb in a trail I didn’t know how long, and once I’d promised to deliver him to the Light and then talk price, he had let Leo go in a show of good faith. And Leo had gone in another show of good faith: that I could take care of myself.
Truthfully, I didn’t have to hit Trinity as hard as I’d thought with my skills of negotiation. I’d told him he couldn’t pay my price, but he hadn’t believed it. The head of Eden House was just like a common demon: He assumed everyone had a price and he could meet it. Shame on me—I was looking forward to seeing his expression when he was proven wrong. Then again, maybe he’d prove me wrong and do what I was depending on Solomon to do. Life is full of surprises that way. I’d had past plans combined with a smug attitude come back to bite me in the ass before. Best to stay open-minded . . . for Kimano.
I showered in a bathroom easily as large as my bedroom. Unbelievably thick towels in deep blues and greens, a whirlpool tub that could host a hot tub party. Soft lighting, a sea glass tile floor, and cool, creamy walls, it was beautiful and tasteful—a little too tasteful for me. It had no fire, no life. Although with all the colors of the ocean, Kimano would’ve liked it.
Close now, little brother, I thought as I wrapped myself in a towel and opened the bathroom door. My lips curved. So close.
“Such an evil smile. I don’t believe I could do any better myself.”
Solomon was on the large bed—dressed at least—back against the headboard, fingers laced across his stomach, legs crossed casually at the ankles. His gray eyes were amused as I dripped in the doorway and his smile was anything but evil. It was appreciative and full of heat.
I had to be reluctantly appreciative as well—at his sheer blazing audacity. “I had no idea demons had a death wish. This is Eden House. Eden House. Full of psychics and empaths. They’ll be on their way right now.”
“You know that’s not true.” His smile widened to show a flash of teeth. “Although you could scream. I’ll try not to enjoy it too much.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath.” And he was right. It wasn’t true. A demon as powerful as Solomon could block any psychic or empath. But he couldn’t block me if I cared to give a verbal shout of “Demon.” I didn’t. I kept my thoughts and emotions as carefully neutral as Solomon was keeping his. After all, this was what I wanted—him there when I found the Light.