Chapter 26
DELILAH
Everyone tumbled out of Floor Lust in a mad rush.
Lucy was pacing in the waiting room, while Damien and Jaime sat in the alcove. She looked up. ‘I apologise for using my powers again—’
‘Now’s not the time,’ Delilah interrupted. ‘Howard’s been captured by Barbara.’
Lucy’s shadow lengthened into the shape of a massive sword. ‘How is that possible? In this place, she shouldn’t even be able to touch any guest without permission. This is my domain. The souls here are under my protection!’
‘She transformed to look like you, then tricked him into agreeing to go with her.’ Delilah groped to remember the exact words, because she had a feeling it could be important.
‘He promised to stay with her until she was done talking. That’s bad, right?
She could just claim to never be finished talking to him and use that as an excuse to hold him prisoner indefinitely. ’
Lucy snarled, and for a moment she was something else, a creature with crimson scales and pure white wings and very, very sharp teeth.
Barbara’s awful laughter drifted down from a floor above. ‘You never should have got attached to a mortal, Lucy. They’re so fragile and breakable. You shouldn’t let what you treasure wander the world unprotected, either. Now that I have him . . . I bet I could get you to do anything!’ she taunted.
With an unholy howl, Lucy shot up the lift shaft, the air around her burning. She moved so fast she was a mere blur of sparks.
Delilah waved at the lift. ‘Come on, everyone. We have to rescue Howard.’ She’d been the one to invite him on this entire quest, he’d saved her before and they were friends, so she was determined to do anything she could for him.
As Delilah grabbed the ladder, she heard Damien say, ‘John, you have a kiss mark on your collar. Floor Lust must have been quite a lot of fun, huh?’
Jaime giggled. ‘No wonder you wouldn’t let me come along.’
John cried, ‘Nothing happened! I was attacked by a flying lipstick.’
‘A flying lipstick?’ Damien snorted. ‘Sure. I’ve heard that lie from guests before.’
‘I’m serious! Why won’t you believe me?’
If only circumstances had been a bit less serious, then Delilah would have been amused at the cruelty of Floor Lust.
Five minutes later, panting, Delilah leapt on to the reception floor. The room still had extra tables with some uneaten sweets on top. Barbara had created a massive poker table in the middle, shuffling a deck of cards in front of her. Howard was nowhere to be seen.
The air around Lucy had grown painfully hot again, so much so that Delilah had to take a step back.
Lucy growled, ‘Where is Howard?’
‘Somewhere safe . . . for now.’ Barbara’s grin widened. ‘I’ll give you a chance to win him back. Do you like poker? I love games of chance.’ She shuffled the cards in the air. ‘They’re so chaotic. One card can mean the difference between life and death.’
‘That had better not be a threat against Howard.’ Lucy flung herself down in the chair with a snakelike hiss. ‘I will play your game, but you will later rue having pushed me this far.’
Delilah had a very bad feeling. If Lucy had designated poker as a sin, then she probably didn’t like the game very much, if she even played at all. There were only two chairs at the poker table. Delilah dragged over Heather’s receptionist chair. ‘Deal me in too.’
Barbara raised an eyebrow. ‘This game is invitation only, little girl.’
‘Huh? Are you scared to play me?’ Delilah put her elbow on the table and smirked.
‘Aren’t you a Harbinger of Destruction or something like that?
Yet you don’t think you can win against a puny mortal like me?
I’m not even a famous gambler – I’m an ordinary accountant from London.
Imagine what people in Hell would say if they found out you refused a challenge from a “little girl” like me! ’
Barbara smiled coolly. ‘I offered you mercy, but I see you do not want it. At this table, we won’t play for money or meaningless chips.
The only thing that you have worth staking is your immortal soul.
I see from your aura that you’ve passed your test to go to Heaven.
Are you prepared to go to Hell if you lose? ’
‘High stakes make a game more exciting. Deal me in.’ Delilah tried to sound breezy and cool, not terrified out of her mind.
She might be in over her head. But Howard’s eternal fate was at stake too.
He’d saved her from the shadows in Limbo before he’d even known her.
She owed him. If she’d been the one captured, then she knew he would have put his own soul on the line to save her.
He’d once stolen a ring from Lucy to save a friend from Hell, after all.
Lucy frowned. ‘Barbara, it is most unseemly for you to involve an innocent in our quarrel.’
‘Spare me the noblesse oblige! Since when are either of us good guys?’ Barbara dealt the cards. ‘The little girl already sat at the table and accepted my game, despite being warned. You can’t stop her now.’
‘I’ll handle this miscreant and protect you,’ Lucy told Delilah. She held up one of her cards. ‘I have a queen. How do I advance it down the board?’
Delilah winced. It was definitely a good thing that she’d come to play too. ‘What poker rules are we playing? And how do I bet? I don’t think it’s fair if I have to bet my entire soul at once.’
Barbara said, ‘You can bet a minimum of one year of your eternity. I picked the game, so you pick the variant.’
Delilah breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn’t have to bet everything on winning the first game. No player, no matter how good, could guarantee winning every game.
‘I pick Texas hold ’em.’ She had played that variant most recently and was most familiar with it.
Perhaps some good would come of all her practice for her endless battle on Floor Greed.
Turning to Lucy, she explained, ‘We each get two cards face down called the hole cards – you want to keep those cards secret, not show them to other people. The five cards in the middle are called community cards, and they will be dealt in stages. Your goal is to form the best five-card hand possible from the community cards and your hole cards. But you don’t yet know what all the community cards will be before you place your first bet.
That’s where the element of luck comes in – or calculation, because you can mathematically figure out the odds of the cards you need appearing.
’ As quickly as possible, Delilah explained the betting options and the rankings of the hands.
Barbara tapped her nails on the table. ‘I’m growing impatient.’
Delilah snapped, ‘She’s a beginner. At least give her time to figure out the rules. Are you even pretending to play fair?’
‘Nope.’ Barbara grinned. ‘I’m here to humiliate dear Lucy. You’re merely the collateral damage.’
Lucy sat up straight. ‘I have understood the rules of this game. It’s very simple. I’m confident that it will be no challenge for a brilliant architect like me. You can rely on me to win this, Delilah. I’m coming for you, Howard!’
Delilah wondered if Lucy had ever heard of ‘famous last words’. Also, she still had her hole cards exposed. Delilah reached over and flipped them to face down, even though it was too late.
Delilah’s own hand had a ten of hearts and a seven of spades. She didn’t like the odds, so she bet the minimum: ‘One year of my soul’s eternity.’
Lucy said, ‘I have only high-ranking cards! I bet a barony of Hell.’
Delilah winced, because 1. You should never tell your opponent what you have (although it had already been too late on that score); and 2.
By betting high, Lucy had forced Delilah to either match or fold.
They should be working together to defeat Barbara.
Alas, Delilah didn’t think Lucy understood the game well enough to be a team player.
Just in case, Delilah asked, ‘How much would I need to bet to match?’
‘More than your entire soul, little girl,’ Barbara said.
‘I fold.’ Delilah threw down her cards with a sigh.
Barbara still had that smug little grin on her face. ‘I’ll bet Howard’s freedom.’
‘I have this in the bag, as you mortals say,’ Lucy said confidently as Barbara kept flipping over cards. ‘I’m going to win Howard back in one hand. Then I’ll give you back your wager, Delilah. There’s nothing to worry about.’
Delilah was focused on the cards, counting them mostly out of habit.
She noticed they all had the same Purgatory Hotel design as the cards she’d been using on Floor Greed and all her practice games.
Had Barbara taken this deck from Floor Greed?
The disembodied hands must be annoyed at meeting so many troublesome people.
In the end, Barbara flipped over her cards. ‘Three of a kind, in tens.’
‘I win!’ Lucy declared. ‘I have a queen.’
Delilah coughed. ‘Um, I’m sorry, but you lost.’
‘I lost? How?’ Lucy looked around as if expecting a referee to materialise and call foul. ‘I have the highest card.’
‘In poker, the strongest combination wins. Three of a kind is a very good hand.’ Delilah’s heart ached with sympathy. It simply wasn’t fair to expect anyone to know how to play poker after a brief whispered explanation. ‘Luck was against you this time, I’m afraid.’
Lucy’s eyes welled up with tears. ‘Howard . . . This is all my fault. If I hadn’t got into that stupid argument and left him . . . I knew Barbara was in the building. Why did I leave him?’
‘You can play again.’ Barbara’s voice dripped with dark glee. She tossed the cards between her hands, shuffling like a professional. ‘Why don’t you bet something even more important next time? Perhaps your precious hotel? Or you could even bet your own soul!’
‘Stop!’ Delilah flung an arm in front of Lucy. ‘You’re bullying someone who doesn’t even know how to play this game, when you’re clearly experienced with cards. And I don’t like bullies. I’ll be your opponent from now on.’