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.

A long bar stretched the entire length of the room, with bartenders flipping bottles and shaking tumblers. Thamuz’s two sons slithered straight to the bar, telling us the Dukes would get us when it was time, and telling Kaidan to watch me. They didn’t seem to feel the need to babysit us anymore—probably because the entrance and exit were covered.

I peered around for other exits. It was hard to see exactly how high the ceiling was because every surface in the club was painted black. The black ceiling and walls were dotted with tiny twinkling lights in an exact replica of the galaxy, like a planetarium.

“Where are we meeting?” I dared to ask Kaidan, having to shout.

“The VIP room,” he said.

I nodded. We walked farther in, following where our friends had gone. When we were surrounded by people, I saw Kaidan stealthily bend down and mess with something. I glanced, trying not to be obvious, and saw him lifting the flaps in the soles of his boots and taking out the blades that had been hidden. I felt one being slipped into my pocket and I pressed my lips together to hold back a smile. We kept moving until we met up with our group, clustered by the bar. They all stared around the room, appearing calm, but on guard. I looked around, too.

Almost the entire room was a dance floor. I hadn’t noticed at first, but along the walls, giant black cages hung from the ceiling with females inside—cage dancers—who used the bars to flip expertly or hang upside down before landing gracefully and dancing perfected individual routines.

As I watched, the already dimmed lighting seemed to waver in the room.

“Legionnaires,” Marna murmured next to me.

Hundreds of demons swarmed above us. I held my breath, feeling helpless and ill at the sight of their attack on the room. Every few seconds one of the spirits would dart down and whisper in an unsuspecting ear. Within one minute there were more people flocking to the bar, and the dancing was steamier. Two guys got into a fight on the dance floor, and bouncers ran to break it up while people around them screamed.

Ginger and Marna looked at Kaidan and me, staring purposefully back and forth between the two of us—at our bond. Crap! Kaidan moved away from me and went straight to the bar. I gave the twins a nod to thank them for the heads-up, then turned when someone bumped me.

A girl, no older than twenty-one, staggered by and after she passed us she bent over and vomited. People around her screamed. Her puke splattered up on the heels of the couple nearest her, and they spun to face her. The offended woman’s aura was dark with rage, worsened by a whisperer pouring its vile message into her head. She poured her drink over the girl’s back, causing her to stumble to one knee. A demon swooped down on the man, who lifted his beer bottle as if to throw it at the girl.