Sixth Grave on the Edge(28)
“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. “Funny, I don’t remember you.”
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.