Page 28 of Love At the Gates of Hell (The Seven Sinners Trilogy #1)

seventeen

Luke

Luke had always been the wild card.

He was the one who needed to be reined in, reminded of the plan, convinced that there was a track to stick to when things started to get a little chaotic.

Luke had a short fuse and a problem with impulse control.

He got into trouble a lot when he was a kid, and if he wasn’t careful, it was easy to fall back into bad habits.

Especially now, especially after Chicago.

Because vampires took what they wanted. It was a heady concept for someone like Luke.

Gideon had spent much of their adult lives—hell, much of their lives in total—keeping Luke on track.

They had both learned how to adapt at a fairly young age, but it was Gideon who kept them in line.

When their dad died, it was Gideon who gave up a baseball scholarship to make sure Luke finished high school, working in a chop shop owned by Frank Markos to make sure he could pay rent and keep them both fed, boxing in some piece-of-shit gym to win the fights Frank wanted him to.

Now, the rules had reversed.

Now, it was Luke ensuring Gideon stayed on track.

Which should have been frustrating. It should have pissed Luke off.

All that time following the Eamond Crawford mantra of “Keep your head down and the heat out,” and at the first sign of a pretty witch in distress, Gideon became some lovesick teenager mooning over Benny whenever he thought no one was paying attention.

But there was actually something kind of liberating about it.

To not be the problem this time.

“I’m impressed,” Luke said from his spot holed up at the island, his legs kicked up onto the countertop.

He was swirling a finger of whiskey around in a glass, his eyes locked onto his brother, intrigued by the vein that seemed to pulse in his neck.

“I would have thought something would have happened by now.”

They had settled into something of a routine these last few days. Once they knew they had a concrete timeline in the charity gala, the Crawford brothers had gotten to work. Accessing blueprints, securing tickets, working their way into the security company hired to take care of the event.

The last three days had been busy.

But not so busy that Gideon didn’t find time to train Benny.

They spent every evening up on the roof, tossing each other onto the mat.

“Don’t be gross,” Gideon said, his hands braced against the counter, his eyes watching as Benny paced the length of the living room and back again, her voice quiet, the Italian growing more and more aggressive with each step.

“Listen, brother,” Luke started, holding his hands out in mock surrender, “far be it for me to lecture you on women—”

“Great, don’t.”

“I just want to make sure you’re going into this with clear eyes.”

Gideon’s eyes narrowed in Luke’s direction.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Luke kicked his legs down from the island, his palms resting flat against the counter as he held his brother’s pointed stare.

“What happens when this is all over?” he asked. “We slay a demon, save the girl. What exactly comes next? You think we just go back to robbing banks while you date Angelo Torretta’s daughter?”

His brother seemed to want to say something, his eyes darkening as he leaned forward on the island.

But he said nothing, instead taking a step back and walking toward the bar cart.

He reached for the decanter of whiskey and gave himself a generous pour.

Luke couldn’t remember the last time he had seen him this way.

Even when Luke was struggling with adjusting to his second life, Gideon seemed to have a plan. He was a problem solver. He always had been. It was an easy role for him to fall into.

“There’s just something about her,” he said, so quietly Luke might not have heard him if he didn’t have enhanced hearing. “But you’re right. I don’t know what happens next. I don’t even know if we can survive this, Luke. If I survive this. I’m not exactly Buffy the fucking vampire slayer.”

Luke had no intention of letting his brother think anything less than survival was possible, even if he, too, was a little nervous about what had fallen to their feet.

Tefi had told him things when he turned, made grand promises about his destiny and his role in this new world.

But Tefi was unpredictable and usually full of shit.

So, did Luke think they could pull this off?

He still hadn’t decided.

But they didn’t half-ass anything. And they weren’t going to start now.

“Well, not with that attitude,” he scoffed.

Gideon rolled his eyes, his glass hovering at his mouth as he struggled to stop himself from laughing. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

“Says the asshole who kicked everyone out of the loft,” Luke countered.

When Benny disappeared into the bedroom the other night, and the chance of her returning grew slimmer and slimmer, Gideon had called it for the night.

Had all but kicked everyone out of the loft with a promise to reconvene in a couple of days.

It was the friendliest “get the fuck out” he’d ever seen.

“We needed a break,” his brother countered. “My eyes were starting to cross. Those books smell like actual fucking death.”

“Well, if legend is to be believed, the Devil’s Bible is actually written on human skin,” he said, adjusting his glasses. “They do this weird ritual to thin out the—”

“Jesus Christ, Luke.”

“What?” he asked. “I was just reading—”

“I want to know so much less than what you’re saying to me right now.”

He shrugged. “Your loss, brother.”

Gideon huffed a breath, his head shaking with a little laugh.

But his brother’s attention reverted quickly to the wandering witch behind them just as Luke heard the voice on the phone go silent.

A heavy sigh accompanied the footsteps that echoed off the hardwood floors.

When he spun around in the kitchen stool to find Benny approaching, he was surprised to see her face twisted up in a mixture of disgust and something else. Embarrassment?

He took note of her hands as she returned the phone to Gideon.

They were shaking.

It took everything he had inside him to suppress the urge he had to pounce on that.

Her blood was ringing through her body, buzzing with every little bit of anxiety he could see radiating off of her.

It was an inconvenient aspect of his abilities.

Of her own. Like it was unnatural for them to be around each other.

“Everything okay?” he asked, swallowing his urges down.

“Yeah,” she grit out, looking up at him with a nod of her chin.

Gideon cleared his throat and looked to Benny with a knowing raise of his brows. Luke watched curiously as a sort of wordless conversation seemed to pass between them. He finished the last sip of his whiskey to hide his smile.

“They found him.”

She ran her hand across her face, her fingers pressing into her temple. Something flickered behind her eyes, something heavy. She plucked Gideon’s glass from his hand, downing what was left in the tumbler in one gulp.

“God, how do you two drink this garbage?” she grimaced.

“It grows on you,” Luke shrugged.

“Like a fungus,” she muttered, shaking her shoulders.

Gideon was watching her intently, his brows furrowed.

“Who is it, Benny?”

She ran her tongue across her teeth, like she was trying to get the taste out of her mouth.

She was twitchier than usual. Even her heartbeat was thumping like crazy.

Luke was incredibly intrigued, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his thighs as he watched her.

He wasn’t used to this side of her. He was used to the confident, offbeat Benny.

The one who always had something to say.

“Just some guy,” she said, tapping her hand on the counter.

Luke and Gideon exchanged a long glance.

“Just some guy,” Gideon repeated.

“A lot of yelling over there for some guy,” Luke added.

Benny closed her eyes as she sucked in a breath.

“It’s not important,” she said tersely. “I just… need to get up there.”

“And do what?” Luke asked, leaning back in the stool, crossing his arms against his chest. “Help daddy with a little interrogation?”

“Yes,” she snapped. “I’m owed that, aren’t I?”

Luke would never deny her that. And frankly, he would be lying if he said he had no interest in seeing whatever was about to unfold. But there was something she wasn’t sharing, he could feel it.

“We’ll take you wherever you need to be, princess,” Gideon said. “If you chill out on the light show.”

Benny’s hands were glowing.

Luke could feel the heat emanating from her magic. He watched as she held up her hands in front of her, a dazed look on her face. She let out a huff of breath, almost a slight laugh, as she shook her head.

“I guess anger really is a good motivator,” she breathed.

“Jesus, Ben,” Gideon said. “Who is this guy?”

She sighed and her hands dimmed, the light and heat dissipating just as quickly as they had appeared.

“A huge mistake,” she said, shaking her head.

“We met through my dad, he runs with some of the trade guys. We— I mean, it was nothing, really. A couple of dates? We only… you know, the details aren’t important.

I just don’t know how he knew. I never told him. Unless he—”

“Found out from someone else?” Luke suggested. “Knew before you met?”

“Any of those options suck,” Benny said, sinking into the stool beside him. “I never told my dad. He has this rule… Men under his employment aren’t allowed within ten feet of me. So him finding out this way, it just kills me.”

Luke blew out a breath he didn’t have and watched as his brother processed all of this information.

Watched as Gideon propped himself against the island, his fist curled so tightly his knuckles turned white.

He wouldn’t look at Luke, wouldn’t let his brother see the emotion swirling behind his eyes.

But Luke knew. He could hear it in his heartbeat.

“When do you want to leave?” Gideon asked tersely.

Benny lifted her head to look at Gideon, a mixture of shame and regret all over her face.

Luke frowned. He didn’t think Benny had anything to feel ashamed about. It wasn’t her fault some douchebag she used to date sold her out.

“Whenever we can,” she said. She chewed on her bottom lip. “If that’s alright.”

Gideon nodded, “Fine. Wheels up in fifteen.”

Luke leaned back into the stool.

This was going to be a hell of a visit to the Caruso Family compound.