Page 59 of Love At the Gates of Hell (The Seven Sinners Trilogy #1)

forty

Gideon

The last time Gideon had found himself in a church was his father’s funeral.

It was at a small chapel on the outskirts of Cheltenham, and it was packed to the brim.

All of his father’s associates, Gideon’s baseball team, even men who Gideon now recognized as members of the Caruso crime family.

It had been an uncomfortable goddamn day.

He had spent most of the service half in a daze, half hoping his mother would show up.

That even though she had run off without a word, she’d somehow learn what happened and come back to take care of them, that Gideon wouldn’t have to drop out of college and they could rely on an actual adult to handle things.

But he had only set himself up for disappointment with that one.

She hadn’t been much of a mother even when she was around.

The one saving grace at the time had been Frank. The man had paid for the entire funeral. Even the casket and the grave marker. He had ensured that the boys didn’t have to do much more than show up. Gideon had been so fucking grateful. Like he had been a goddamn guardian angel.

Strange how shit worked out.

How quickly those allegiances could change.

How bitter the disappointment and betrayal felt.

Because when he and Luke crossed into the atrium of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and found Benny tied up in the center of the altar surrounded by lit candles like they were in some fucking pulp horror movie, his grip on his gun tightened with a fury he hadn’t felt in a long time.

And it wasn’t just about his feelings for Benny, as big and all-encompassing as they had become in the last month.

It was realizing he had trusted a man whose true nature was beyond anything Gideon could comprehend.

And he knew then that he wasn’t leaving the church until Frank Markos was dead.

Frank stepped from behind the altar table with a smug smile on his face. “About time you showed up.”

“You oughta be a bit more grateful we’re here at all, don’t you think?” Luke replied.

“Where are the rest of your friends?”

“None of your goddamn business, Frank,” Gideon said, stepping forward as he adjusted his hold on the leather duffle in his hands. “Can we get this little event over with, or are you gonna just showboat some more?”

Benny shifted against her bindings, her eyes dark as she met Gideon’s gaze.

He couldn’t help but look her over, inspect her, hoping he didn’t see one hair out of place.

But they had changed her into some flimsy white thing, the fabric might as well be see-through it was so thin.

His jaw set as he looked back at her face, watching as she shook her head.

There was an anger flaring behind her eyes that seemed to match his own.

He only hoped he’d be able to help her unleash it.

“Do you have what I need?” Frank asked.

Luke reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out the ruby.

“You’ll get it,” Luke said. “As long as you keep up your end of the agreement.”

Frank chuckled. “You know my offer still stands, Lucas.”

Gideon glanced sideways at his brother.

“What offer?” he asked under his breath.

“A bullshit one, brother,” Luke soothed, with a wave of his hand.

“I thought he might want to come back and work for me,” Frank said as he stepped down from the altar, his hands in the pockets of his suit pants.

“Both of you could. Everything is going to change from this moment on, boys. It’ll be a much smoother transition if I didn’t have to worry about you two suddenly trying to become heroes. ”

Frank gestured back toward Benny.

“I tried with this one,” he continued with a casual shrug. “But she didn’t bite the way I wanted her to.”

Gideon was pointing his gun at Frank before he even realized it was happening.

“Have you tested out bullets yet?” he asked. “With your dwindling immortality?”

Frank’s eyes gleamed. “Your father tried to play the hero too, you know.”

Luke stiffened beside him.

“He didn’t like what I was up to,” Frank continued. “I expected better loyalty than that from Eamond.”

Gideon’s jaw tensed.

“You told us it was a job gone bad.”

“Well, I needed a replacement,” he said simply. “And my little story earned me both Crawford boys. It was simply good business.”

All this time, all they thought they owed Frank. And he had just set them up. Everything about this has been a goddamn setup. He glanced at Luke out of the corner of his eyes, hisbrother’s skin pale, his eyes red. Luke was barely holding it together.

But before either of them could say anything else, a rumble deep within the cathedral shook through the walls around them.

His eyes flickered to the stained-glass windows.

The only light aside from the candles trickled in from the moon as it reached its peak in the sky, shades of orange and pink filtering in with the colored glass, leaving a kaleidoscope of color on the stone walls. A bell rang in the tower.

Gideon and Luke exchanged another look.

Harker had made it clear that everything began at the witching hour.

Gideon looked at his watch. It was three a.m.

“It’s time, Master,” a disembodied voice came from beyond the altar stage.

“Indeed it is,” Frank replied, turning on his heel to revisit the altar. “Ready the sacrifice. Lucas, give the priest the ruby.”

The church suddenly sprang to life, with men and vampires coming from the shadows.

Dozens. Two vampires with sledgehammers settled in the center of the aisle, while an older man was carried inside from the atrium behind them.

Gideon curled one hand into a fist as the priest was dragged by both arms, his lip split and his face bloodied and bruised.

Another victim they hadn’t accounted for.

He was running out of patience, and the ritual hadn’t even begun. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand here and let this bullshit continue. But he had to hope the window to get Benny back safely was still available to them.

One of the men handling the priest reached for the ruby.

Luke bared his fangs with a hiss before parting with it.

“This better fucking work,” he muttered under his breath as the men dragged the priest to the altar. “Because I’m ready to rip out some throats.”

“You and me both,” Gideon responded.

A sledgehammer slamming against the concrete floors caught their attention.

A low humming noise filled the church as Frank removed his suit jacket and hung it gingerly on the crucifix behind him just as Benny was pulled to her feet by one of Frank’s minions.

Gideon remembered him from the quarry. Mack.

All those years working with Frank, and Gideon had never seen him before. So much had been hidden from him.

With her hands tied behind her back, Benny wobbled, which made Mack roughly tighten his hold on her arm. Gideon almost took a step forward, but Luke touched his wrist. Right. Play the game. Keep cool. He wasn’t sure how either of them were going to manage that.

Not after what they just found out.

Benny hissed something at Mack that Gideon couldn’t make out, but it was enough to make the man flinch. He couldn’t help the swell of pride. He loved the feral side of her.

The humming was growing stronger as Frank unbuttoned his dress shirt, revealing an intricate tattoo on his chest. It looked similar to the symbols Benny had drawn on her arms that night in the quarry.

A language he couldn’t decipher. But it was another startling reminder of how little they’d really known about him.

He began to chant in a language Gideon didn’t know, the sledgehammers somehow punctuating each word as the ground seemed to crumble with every hit.

The priest was dropped at Frank’s feet.

Another rumble shook the cathedral. This time from the floor beneath them, the sledgehammers creating a sizable break in the stone in the center of the aisle. Gideon’s brow furrowed as he saw the light streaming through the rubble, the way it seemed to glow amber.

“Untouched blood to begin,” Frank continued in English as he reached for his knife on the altar table.

The opal hilt glittered in the light of the moon as he crouched down to where the priest lay, half dead, half muttering whatever prayer would give him the most peace.

Frank grabbed the man by his collar, a vicious gleam behind his eyes. “You gave it your best shot, Father.”

Without hesitation, he dragged the knife across the man’s throat.

The rumbling beneath them increased, the light growing stronger.

“The sacrifice of the Strega to appease Hell,” he carried on as he moved to where Benny stood. He tipped her chin up with the point of his knife, the blood from the priest leaving a mark on her skin. “How much blood should I take, Benedetta? How much will make Him happy?”

“Frank—” Gideon bit out before he could stop himself.

The older man pulled her arm from the bindings, and held it out straight.

He let the knife trail from her chin to her throat as he moved around her body like he wanted to consume her.

He pressed against her, his one hand holding her tightly while he gingerly traced the point of the knife from her inner arm to her wrist. Gideon’s whole body tensed, his fingernails biting into the palm of his hand.

She was shaking. Her fingers were twitching.

She looked terrified. But her eyes were steady, her lips parting as if she were about to say something, her gaze focused on Gideon.

But whatever it was Gideon would never know because Frank’s knife sliced through the flesh of her palm and she bit down hard on her lip as he clenched down on her hand to roughly squeeze the blood from the cut, pools of red dripping from their conjoined hands.

“Should I take more?” Frank said, his mouth hovering near Benny’s ear.

“It’s never going to be enough,” Benny said.

“You requested this fate, Benedetta,” he said, bringing his knife to her throat.

The gunshot echoed through the cathedral.

Benny staggered sideways as the knife clattered to the floor and Frank sank back against the altar, a neat bullet hole in his shoulder staining his dress shirt red.

“Benny, run —”