by Mia Knight
“Who. Is. It?” Gavin bit out.
Lucifer gave him a sly look. “That’s for you to figure out, isn’t it?”
Gavin cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You need to leave.”
“I don’t think so,” Lucifer said.
Gavin tensed. “She’s leaving.”
“No one’s leaving until I get my show,” Lucifer said.
“Show?” She was beginning to hate that word. They were in a brothel. What kind of show was he talking about?
“I don’t want her here for this,” Gavin growled.
“Why? You’re afraid she’ll see the real you?” Lucifer shook his head. “Besides, she has to come. She’s the only one who knows who he is.”
“I don’t,” Lyla put in.
“You do,” Lucifer said with such certainty that her stomach lurched.
“Are you hurt?” Gavin asked.
She stared into his eyes and pushed all her inner turmoil aside. She needed this to be over. She needed to see this through. “No.”
Gavin looked at Lucifer. “Take us to him.”
Lucifer eyed Eli. “You in?”
Eli Stark looked at Gavin. “We’re clear?”
Gavin glared at him. “We have things to talk about. Later.”
“You in?” Lucifer pushed.
“To go into the Pit? There’s nothing in it for me,” Eli said.
“You get a lot out of it.” Lucifer held up his thumb. “First of all, you’re gonna get a great show.” His pointer finger popped up. “Second, fighting at Gavin’s side will make him owe you.” He held up his pinky. “Third, you’ll please me, which may get you a favor in the future.” He held up a scarred ring finger. “Fourth, tonight’s going to go down in history.” The middle finger joined the others. “And last but not least, you’ll find out the identity of the man who called the hit on your mother.”
Eli didn’t move, but the corridor suddenly seemed a little smaller than it had been a second ago.
“What did you say?” Eli’s voice held no inflection, but his turquoise eyes were suddenly blazing.
“You didn’t think some street thug called the hit on your mom, did you?” Lucifer examined his fingernails. “I thought you knew that came from someone higher up.”
Eli clenched his fists at his sides. “Who is he?”
Lucifer’s smile was chilling. “That’s the big mystery, isn’t it?”
Eli took a step towards Lucifer and then stopped. Lucifer’s eyes were fixed eagerly on him, daring Eli to touch him. Lyla didn’t know who the fuck Lucifer was, but she knew enough about dangerous men not to trust a smile, a sedate wardrobe or a man with a sweet voice. She watched Eli rein in his emotions.
“Are you in?” Lucifer asked.
Eli gave Lucifer a look that said he would love to dice this guy into pieces. Lucifer was completely unaffected. On the contrary, Lucifer looked as if Christmas came early.
“This is fantastic,” Lucifer said and clapped his hands before he started down a god awful red hallway.
Gavin took her hand. There was a fine trembling in his hands. She knew it wasn’t nerves. He was revved up.
“I’m okay, Gavin,” she said.
He didn’t look at her. “You’re not.”
She swallowed hard. No, she wasn’t. “I will be once he’s dead.”
Gavin raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her hand.
“Where are we?” she asked over the shouts of a woman who had the filthiest mouth on the planet.
“This is Hell.”
She looked up and was ensnared by his blistering gaze.
Gavin jerked his head at Lucifer’s back. “He runs it. He’s off his rocker.”
They boarded an elevator. Gavin boxed her into the corner.
“How many men does he have with him?” Gavin asked.
“He has a board of twenty,” Lucifer said.
“Twenty?” Angel echoed.
“Twenty,” Lucifer confirmed with relish, “against you four.”
“Fuck,” Blade said.
“You got this,” Lucifer encouraged them as the elevator traveled down. “Gavin and Blade are veterans.” He pointed at Angel and Eli. “As for you two, I hope you have beginner’s luck and know how to use something to defend yourself other than a gun.”
Blade and Gavin were veterans of Hell?
“What about guards?” Gavin asked.
Lucifer snorted. “Their guards would wet their pants before they reached the door. You can’t pay any run of the mill security guard enough to come into Hell.”
“Good,” Gavin said.
The elevator doors opened. Unlike the noisy, hideous red corridor, this place was whisper quiet and opulent with gleaming white marble floors, walls and shimmering chandeliers.
Lucifer stepped forward with his arms spread wide. “Nice, huh? I charge the rich fuckers who don’t want to be in the stands a bundle to watch at ground zero. They like the gore just as much as the common folk, they just won’t admit it.”
Lucifer started down the wide hallway, Crocs squeaking.
Gavin’s hand flexed on her. “Maybe you should stay here.”
“No,” Lyla said immediately. “I need to see this.”
“There’s twenty of them,” Gavin growled.
“And you won’t let any of them touch me,” she snapped. “This is what we’ve been waiting for and I know his voice. You need me, Gavin.”
“I do need you. I need you breathing.”
“And I will be.”
Gavin’s eyes flicked to Blade. “One scratch and I’ll kill you.”
Blade inclined his head. Gavin whirled around and followed Lucifer who ran his finger along a gleaming table and frowned.
“Fucking dusty. Unacceptable,” he muttered.
“Lucifer,” Gavin clipped.
“Right. This way.”
Gavin murmured to Angel, “You want the underworld? This is where you take it.”
Angel nodded as Lyla and Blade brought up the rear. Blade had a knife the length of her forearm in his hand. A man who looked like a pirate was pushing a silver cart with two bottles of champagne and glasses to closed double doors. Lucifer said something to him and knocked on the door.
“Come.”
Lucifer gave them a shit-eating grin before he opened the door and rolled in the cart. This was it. Sadist was in this room. Years of death, nightmares and fear would be settled right here, right now. Her heart leapt into her throat when Gavin blithely walked in after Lucifer. No hesitation. She expected to hear the sound of gunshots, but there was nothing and that was worse. She moved forward swiftly, pulling against Blade’s grip on her arm. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but the sight that met her eyes took a few seconds to digest.
The room looked like an executive lounge with elegant furniture, a boardroom table and a wet bar all in snowy white. That’s where normal stopped. Twenty men sat at the table, all in black suits and metal masks. Each mask was horrifying enough to induce nightmares whether it was a snarling animal or a demon. One wall of the room was made of glass. Two men with medieval weapons battled on sand. She caught a glimpse of an arena before the screaming tension in the room forced her to focus on the men at the table who were half standing, staring at Lucifer, Gavin, Eli and Angel. Blade forced her to stop behind him in the doorway.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Pyre?” a man wearing a horrifying clown mask asked.
Gavin slammed his fist into the man’s face. There was the ping of metal and then the crunch of bone as the mask caved in. She saw a gush of blood slither down the man’s throat and heard a gasping breath as the man crashed to the ground and clawed at the mask with his legs kicking.
Another man leapt up from the table with a dagger in each hand. Blade widened his stance to conceal her. Lyla leaned to the side, heart in her throat as Gavin eyed the man with a nonchalance that made her want to scream. Gavin dodged the first swing and the second. On the third swing, G
Four men converged on Gavin. She saw Eli and Angel engage with them before Blade shoved her back. A second later, a man barreled into him. Lyla saw the whites of his eyes through a snarling rabbit mask before she saw a flash of silver and he slid to the ground in front of Blade. Lyla pressed against Blade’s back to look into the room and saw that Eli’s face and neck were now splattered with red and Gavin’s hands dripped with blood as he walked around the table.
“You all know why I’m here,” Gavin said over the muted sound of the battle taking place in the sandy pit and the masked men’s last rattling breaths. “And I know why you’re here.”
In the arena, a man wielded a weapon she had only seen in medieval movies. It was a stick with a chain and metal ball with spikes attached. She grasped the back of Blade’s jacket as it imbedded into a man’s skull with a sickening thud.
The scene with Gavin was just as disturbing. The steady clip of his shoes as he circled his prey gave her goose bumps. Despite the fact that Gavin was clearly outnumbered, none of the men moved. They watched his progress silently.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” a belligerent man wearing a wolf mask asked.
Gavin knocked the mask off his face and grabbed fistfuls of his suit. “I’m your fucking crime lord, bitch.” Gavin released him and even as he staggered back, Gavin’s fist flashed out. The man’s head kicked back and he sat on his ass and shook his head, dazed.
“Lucifer here was kind enough to let me know where you were meeting,” Gavin said with a politeness that clashed with the flashes of temper he was exhibiting. “Lucifer tells me there’s some debate on whether I’ve lost my touch since I claimed my wife. Let’s put it to the test, shall we?”
Gavin placed both hands on the table. Blood spread across white marble.
“I hear you had plans for my wife tonight.”
No one spoke, no one even breathed.
“You dare to desecrate mine.” Gavin hissed the last word, the veins on his neck popping as he tried to contain his fury. “I’ve been waiting two years for this moment. Two long years since my father and cousin were killed. Now, tonight, it ends.”
A loud pop made everyone jump. Lucifer made a “carry on” gesture as he poured glasses of champagne.
“He’s sitting here, in this room.”
Gavin accepted the flute of champagne Lucifer offered and took a sip. She had seen Gavin go gonzo, but right now he was control personified. This was the crime lord. Absolute control, absolutely terrifying. She could feel the chill from across the room. This was the man who beat that man in the basement with single-minded focus and detachment. There was no doubt in her mind that no man in this room was a match for him. Gavin wasn’t a mere man. He was a man born for this—to make others cower and beg for mercy. Wrath seeped from his pores. His sheer will was on display and it was beautiful to behold.
“Whoever my enemy is,” Gavin said as he stepped on a body in his path. Bones cracked. “He’s patient. He’s a great planner...” Gavin finished his glass and set it in front of the man with an eagle mask. “And he’s going to get everything that’s coming to him. So much so that anyone half associated with him will be annihilated.”
Gavin yanked the cord holding the mask in place. It clattered on the table and revealed a familiar face that sent Lyla inwardly reeling.
“Governor,” Gavin acknowledged as casually as if they were at a dinner party. “I stopped by your office a week ago.”
The Governor was ghost white and sweating profusely.
“You told me you didn’t know the identity of the crime lord and that you weren’t working with him,” Gavin said pleasantly.
“I-I came here for—” the Governor began and then stopped abruptly.
“For what? The show?” Gavin picked up the eagle mask and leaned in close. “Did you choose the eagle because you’re a patriot?”
The Governor’s mouth opened and closed. “Gavin, please, I knew your father—”
“And he’s dead.”
Gavin smashed the beak of the metal mask into the Governor’s eye. The man’s scream made every hair on her body stand up. Gavin slammed the Governor’s face into the table until the mask was flat. The Governor slumped over the table and didn’t move.
“I think there’s been some confusion about my title,” Gavin said calmly as he resumed his walk around the masked men who edged away. “Your presence here means you don’t see me as the crime lord and have hedged your bets on the other guy, which means your lives are forfeit.”
Gavin braced his legs apart as he surveyed the rest of the group.
“Give him up.”
There was a beat of silence and then a man at the opposite end of the table stirred. He tipped back his troll mask, revealing a face that wasn’t hard on the eyes.
“What are you going to do, Gavin? Kill us all?” the man asked with an insolence that made Lyla grip the back of Blade’s jacket tighter.
“Detective Malone,” Gavin acknowledged.
Malone looked at Eli. “What are you doing here, Stark? I thought you died in a hole somewhere months ago.”
“I’m looking for the guy who ordered the hit on my mom,” Eli said.
Malone’s eyes moved to Angel and narrowed. “You can’t bring another crime family into this. What happens in our city is our business.”
“Angel’s taking over so this is now his city as well,” Gavin said.
There was a touch of unease in Malone’s voice as he said, “Roque hasn’t served his entire sentence.”
“I’m flattered that you know so much about my family,” Angel said with a grin. “Raul can handle himself.”
“Everyone knows the Romans,” Malone muttered and switched his attention back to Gavin. “You can’t kill us all.”
“Can’t I?”
A smug smile curved Malone’s mouth. “You already killed the Governor. What are you gonna do? Kill a police detective, a senator, judge, gaming commissioner?”
“Why not?”
“You’ll cripple the city! Every cop and FBI agent in the country will be gunning for you!” Malone shouted.
“I think we need new people at the top,” Gavin mused, almost to himself and then glanced at Lucifer who was walking towards Lyla and Blade with champagne. “Hey, Lucifer, what do you do with the bodies in Hell?”
“I have my own crematory, of course. I’m not gonna waste time digging graves in the desert,” Lucifer said.
“You hear that, Malone? No evidence to convict. Lucifer will turn you into ash and flush you down the toilet. No fucking FBI will find even a tooth. What happens in Hell, stays in Hell,” Gavin said quietly. “That’s why you should’ve never walked through those doors.”
The masked men glanced at one another. The tension in the room rose to a screaming pitch. Someone was going to make a move.
Gavin tugged on the string of a man with a wicked demon mask, revealing Steven Vega who was visibly trembling. He raised his hands to cover his head as if he expected a blow.
“Steven, what are you doing here?” Gavin asked.
When Steven didn’t answer, Gavin gripped him by the hair and yanked viciously. Steven yelped.
“I asked you a question,” Gavin hissed.
“Y-you k-killed my father!” Steven whimpered.
“So you joined the other side? I warned you what I’d do.”
“What’s the meaning of this, Lucifer?” one of the men at the table asked.
“What do you mean?” Lucifer asked as he tossed half of his glass down.
“You brought Pyre here?”
“He arrived early, promised me a good show and I get to play godfather to his kid.”
Lyla jerked. “What?”
No one heard her. The men were all looking at one another, trying to communicate silently.
Long seconds passed. No one moved. Lyla’s throat closed up and she edged back. In the arena, two men fought with swords. Adrenaline, anticipation and fear stole her breath.
“Give him to me,” Gavin said.
“And you’ll let us go?” a man with a lizard mask asked.
“No.”
“You can’t take us all on,” Malone said.
“You think not?” Gavin asked and then all hell broke loose.
Men pulled out knives, machetes and axes from beneath the table. Gavin narrowly dodged a ninja star that cut his cheek. Gavin brought his hands up, brass knuckles gleaming as men rushed him.
“Gavin!” She couldn’t hold back the scream, but it was drowned out by the battle cries of the men.
Eli and Angel were lost in the scuffle and Blade backed her out of the room. She could feel him vibrating. The need to engage must be riding him hard. There were still too many men against Gavin, Angel and Eli and for some reason, no one had a gun. She heard something shatter and peeked through Blade’s arm. A man was using his chair to break into the arena. Apparently, he thought his odds were better out there.
“Look at them run,” Lucifer said gleefully.
Lyla caught a glimpse of a man on top of Gavin with a machete inches from his face. She shoved at Blade.
“Go to Gavin!”
“I can’t.”
Blade sounded pained.
“If he dies, I’ll kill you,” she screamed and shoved him again.
The knife in Blade’s hand trembled. The glass shattered and the fight in the room poured into the arena. Another masked man raised his axe above Gavin’s head.
“Blade!” she screamed.
Blade tossed his knife, which sank into the man’s belly. He screamed and dropped his weapon too close to Gavin’s head for comfort. The man with the machete was distracted long enough for Gavin to gain the upper hand. The man left Gavin holding the machete and ran into the arena. The masked men tried to leave the sandy pit, but the spectators blocked off the stairs. The masked men scrambled towards a wall of weapons in the arena, which included whips, chains, swords, spears and other primitive weapons.
Gavin, Angel and Eli hopped into the arena. There was a moment of silence and then the spectators began to cheer. It was like they were at a football game. The masked men made a circle around Gavin, Angel and Eli who were unarmed aside from Gavin’s brass knuckles and Eli’s knife.
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