Aces Wilde: Immortal Vegas, Book 5 (31 page)

Then I had won again.

I argued with Brody for another fifteen minutes about going to a hospital. In the end, I gratefully accepted the packets of aspirin and bottled water, as well as another blanket, then at length clambered gratefully back into Nikki’s SUV. Brody, apparently having given his keys to another cop, sat in the front.

“You gonna give me radiation poisoning?” he growled as Nikki started up the vehicle.

“Will you lay off?” Nikki protested. “She’s double wrapped in heat-reflecting blankets. She can’t help it if she’s a glow stick.”

“I have sunstroke,” I grumbled.

“Right. That’s what you have.”

We cleared the edges of the box canyon and turned on the interstate back to Vegas, Nikki cruising along at a positively sedate eighty miles an hour. She kept grinning at me in the rearview mirror, but I was too tired to object. Brody, however, cracked after the first three miles.

“What is your deal?” he asked, wedging himself into the door of the SUV, glaring at Nikki. “You look like the cat who ate the canary.”

“So you know how Gamon had the whole tech net set up to kill observation? And our trucks died convincingly?” At my nod, she grinned over to Brody. “It was a great move and even had me going. But apparently, this particular SUV comes equipped with an onsite generator.”

My gaze sharpened on Nikki, but she was reaching to the controls on the multimedia dash.

“You wanna see what really happened out there, Brody? Or would you rather check it out when it starts trending?”

“Nikki,” I said warningly, but Brody was leaning forward now too.

“You got it on video?” he asked. “The whole fight?”

“I haven’t looked at any of it since I headed out to the fight, but up to that point, it was all systems go.” Nikki flipped the video screen on and, for good measure, revved the SUV up another click of the speedometer. “You’re really going to love this.”

I closed my eyes as Brody started cursing.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I should have known something was fishy when Jiao contacted Nikki the following morning to reschedule the meeting at Soo’s Lake Las Vegas mansion, but I was too busy recovering from Post Traumatic Honjo Disorder. I floated in dreams that found me searching miles of open territory—for what, I didn’t know. Armaeus was there, waiting patiently for me to find him, but I could never quite seem to connect with him across the miles that separated us.

Nikki and I spent the day burrowed into Soo’s Vegas Summerlin mansion, overlooking the majesty of the Strip. The fact that we started drinking at eleven a.m. did not contribute at all to our reclusive moods. But it wasn’t our fault—the Council, most likely Simon or possibly Kreios, had sent over magnums of champagne to ensure we recovered suitably. Such was the life of the warrior.

“Which would you choose for yourself, if you could?” Nikki said now, leaning forward, her elbows on her knees as she gestured to the Strip with her flute of champagne. The sun was setting, and all the world was alight with magic. “You go in for all that stone and glass with Armaeus? Or you like that lava-lamp casino the Devil’s got going.”

I obligingly turned and frowned at the cascade of glittering towers along the Strip. “I’ve never been truly explored any of them except for Prime Luxe and Scandal,” I said. “I was in Viktor’s tower only briefly that one time and ugh—all that black.”

Nikki nodded. “And you just know he has mirrors on the ceilings.”

I pointed to the Council domain glittering above Bellagio. “No interest in anywhere Simon calls home,” I said, then glanced farther down the Strip, almost to the Palazzo, and smiled at the Hierophant’s white tower. “I would like to see what Michael is up to in there, though. I mean, what exactly does an archangel do for fun? Stop,” I said quickly, lifting my hand. “Don’t answer that.”

“What?” Nikki protested. “I wasn’t going to say anything.” But her loopy smile betrayed the quips she had stored up to describe Michael’s possible activities. She took another slug of champagne, and her gaze steadied on me. I tensed, knowing what was coming.

“You gotta stop, dollface,” she said, rolling what was left of the sparkling liquid in her glass. “It was always about the next job, the next gig. The next way to make a hundred thousand dollars. And all that was bad enough. You got banged up, but you recovered. Armaeus did his thing, and the next day, whammo, you were walking again, or at least you weren’t leaking blood from your ears. But this…” She shook her head, sitting back in the plush cushions. “This was bad. Ain’t nobody going to be there for Father Jerome like you are, if one day you turn up dead. I think losing you would break him.”

I frowned. “Father Jerome was helping people long before I came around.”

“Yeah, well, then you did come around, and you stayed, and he could see the value you brought to those kids. Not only with your money, although, sure, that helped. It became the currency of your relationship, the way he knew he’d be able to see you. But even that changed, right? Now you barely get out there every few weeks, and there are always more children to protect, so off you go again.”

I stared at her. “You’re not seriously asking me to give up helping the children.”

“
Helping
them, not at all. I love that you help them. It gives me hope for humanity. But you gotta be a little smarter is all.”

She tucked her bunny-slippered feet beneath her beach cover-up, the closest she had gotten to clothing today. “What’s up with you and Armaeus?”

I lifted my brows. “How much champagne have you had?”

“Not nearly enough.” She kept her gaze steady on me. “He isn’t helping you anymore. He should be, but he isn’t. I don’t get it. And yeah, yeah—I know. He’s pissed because of what happened in Hell. But there’s gotta be some kind of rule for that. Like if it occurs more than ten thousand miles away or in an alternate dimension, you kinda get a pass.”

I almost spoke but ended up shaking my head. It was simply too much.

“See, you’re doing it again.” She laid her head back on the cushion and closed her eyes, as if she was ready to let the warm sun seep into her bones. “You never give yourself a chance to reach out, to lean on someone else for a while. But you know if you did, you might find that they were there, ready and waiting to stand in the fire for you.”

“You stood in the fire for me today,” I said, and I watched as the smile curved her lips, her fingers going lax but somehow still managing to keep the champagne glass upright.

“I did, dollface,” she said sleepily. “And I’d do it again. I couldn’t imagine a better person to toast my marshmallows for.”

“Nikki, I—” But I cut off my words as her smile loosened further and her mouth fell open, the softest beginning of a snore drifting out between her lips. I watched her for a long time on that balcony, as the night drew down on the city, and I wondered what I’d ever done to deserve her.

The next morning, I wondered how cheap I could sell her at the circus.

“Coming through, coming through!” Nikki bellowed, sticking her head out the window and pumping the horn. She’d woken miraculously without a hangover, hungry enough to eat a bear—or at least a couple of bear claws, but we’d barely had time to grab coffee before the summons to Soo’s home had finally come. Then getting ready had taken all the rest of the morning, and now we were fashionably late to our own party.

Nikki had dressed to impress, but that didn’t stop her from screeching again as traffic slowed to a crawl. Her motif today was stilettoed superspy, with her black sheath dress and sharply angled white collar the perfect foil to her glittering silver-toed black heels and deep red hair slicked back into a severe chignon. Since everything at Soo’s mansion was available via speed dial, she’d insisted we bring in stylists for further consultation, and her fingers now sported a deep red-black polish that would have made Dracula proud.

By the time we reached the Soo estate by Lake Las Vegas, Nikki’d shut up. But only because it seemed like we were in line for Disney World.

“Did something happen?” Nikki asked, drumming her fingers on the wheel. “Did I somehow miss the jaws of life passing by? I’ve never seen traffic this bad out here. Swear to God, if it’s some sort of fender bender and my mousse gives out, there will be hell to pay.”

“I’m sure it’ll clear up soon,” I said, peering over the dash.

It didn’t, though. We’d crept forward another ten minutes when a motorcycle zipped by us going east—then flipped around and changed direction, coming up fast on our left.

“I so am not in the mood to hospitalize someone today,” Nikki said as I craned around.

“I think it’s one of Soo’s,” I said. Nikki begrudgingly lowered the window, letting in a blast of desert heat.

The motorcyclist flipped up her helmet, and a serene face I didn’t recognize beamed at us from a cocoon of plastic and leather. “Madam Wilde! Get out of line and come on up!” she shouted, gesturing ahead. “We’ll block traffic. And one of you should turn on your phone.”

She sped ahead, and I pawed for my phone—couldn’t find it. Nikki didn’t waste any time, however. She pulled out of the line, racing forward. A chorus of beeping horns immediately erupted, and I cringed in my seat as windows rolled down. “Uh-oh, I think we’ve upset the natives.”

“Think again, babe.” Nikki grinned. She nodded at the cars farther ahead, and the windows were down, arms sticking out—and hands gripping swords of all descriptions.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I stared, and Nikki spent the next ten minutes cackling as we reached the front of the line and darted around the remaining traffic into Soo’s home, cars already lining the long and winding drive. A stretch of desert had been converted into a makeshift parking lot, and I stared as we passed it, the workers picking up the jubilation at our passing and waving furiously at me. Dumbstruck, I waved back. “Is Jiao holding an auction or something?”

“I think we now know the reason why she made us wait a day,” Nikki said dryly.

We parked directly opposite the front door to Soo’s western-style mansion, and Jiao stood in her crisp suit, the young motorcyclist now beside her. They bowed as Nikki and I exited the SUV, my sword secure at my side.

“Your phones?” was Jiao’s only rebuke.

“Didn’t match our outfits,” Nikki said succinctly. “Sorry for the delay, but we didn’t realize you’d put out the call for reinforcements.”

“We didn’t,” Jiao said. “It appears that a truncated version of your fight with General Som was beamed directly into the computers of every Sword household that had the technology to support it. And those without the technology received visions, even dreams.”

“They what?”

She gazed at me, taking in my startled expression. “Not your doing?”

I frowned. “That would be negative.”

Nikki for her part looked equally bemused. “I hope you cut the part of me getting my ass handed to me,” she grumbled, and Jiao’s face creased in a slight smile.

“You’ll be pleased with the outcome, I think,” she said. “This”—she waved to the cars behind us, and the steady flow of people walking down the rolling bank—“is the result of that video feed. It would appear your people are here to see you take your rightful position, Madam Wilde.”

“About that—” I began, but Jiao lifted a hand.

“No matter what you decide, you have brought great honor to our House,” she said. Her eyes were strangely bright, and I blinked, taken aback by the show of emotion. “Madam Soo would have been very proud.”

Her attendant lifted her hand to her ear, her gaze fixing on Jiao. “We are almost ready. The grotto has been set up. By the time the ceremony is concluded, all the attendees should be in place. You’ll go through the archway to the overlook and can address them there.”

“Very well.” Jiao gestured us forward.

Nikki and I followed her inside, our heels clicking on the Spanish tile. I’d foregone my usual hoodie and jeans for a black pantsuit and boots, not all that dissimilar from what I had seen Soo wear. It wasn’t my choosing, exactly—it had shown up at the Summerlin mansion along with Nikki’s clothes, courtesy, I assumed, of the Council. The neckline certainly seemed redolent of Kreios, since it plunged down to my sternum and angled wide. There was no missing the artful beauty of Soo’s double pendant necklace across my collarbone, however, and the effect seemed to satisfy Jiao.

We entered the grotto, and once again I was struck by the idyll Soo had created, an oasis in the middle of the desert. Had she known that she would not be around to enjoy it for much longer when she’d purchased this home?

“Madam Wilde.” The voice that startled me was Ma-Singh’s. He stood in dark fighting gear, but the uniform seemed more formal, almost ceremonial, down to the white Samurai sword at his belt.

The other generals wore similar swords, symbols of their service to the leader of the House. They murmured their greetings to me deferentially. No one mentioned General Som.

I nodded to Ma-Singh and stepped forward into the center of the small gathering of Jiao, the generals and staffers, who stood like silent sentinels in the back of the space. There was no sound but that of the water bubbling in several basins, and I took the sword from my side—not in preparation to do war this time, but to end it.

Eventually.

“I will take the leadership of the House of Swords,” I said quietly. “But I am not Annika Soo. Her ways are not my ways. Instead, I choose to ensure our House is strong from Ace to King. I choose Madam Peng to manage its operations.” I turned in her direction. “If you would be willing.”

“I serve the House of Swords,” she said, bowing with her gaze upon the floor. I waited until she straightened, and met her eyes. There was no emotion there, but there didn’t need to be. This was the right decision. I had assumed Jiao’s guilt since the first time I’d met her, so certain that Soo had passed over her aunt deliberately.

She had, but I didn’t realize the reason why. Hadn’t realized it until I’d stared into the face of General Som.

“Madam Soo did not want you to die at the head of a warring household. She feared for your safety, after she had already lost so much. You must pledge you will stay safe.”