Hugo sighed, put down his beer and stomped purposefully toward the restroom. He didn’t like being an errand boy and he made that clear. He shoved open the door and took three steps in. The door closed behind him just as he spotted the two men lying on the floor. His first thought was a bad batch of cocaine finally got them. Then there was a wrenching pain.
Lucca dropped the third body over the other two. There was no point in blocking the door. If he was lucky, maybe Ed would check on his men himself. He had to have drunk so much by now, he was going to have to visit the men’s room soon anyway.
Ed paced back and forth, glaring toward the booth in the back and then at the poolroom. He snapped his fingers for the bottle of tequila, took a long pull at it and then jerked his chin toward the front door.
“Thomas, Adan, go see what’s taking them so long. What’s got into everyone?” Ed demanded. “Is it just me? Carl? Is it just me?”
“Hasn’t been that long,” Adan muttered under his breath as he stomped out the door, Thomas behind him.
Geno rode the shadows and stalked them every step of the way. Thomas lagged behind, not wanting to bother going too far from the lights. He snapped his fingers at Adan and sent him toward the darker side of the building. The moment Adan disappeared, Thomas pulled out a joint and went to light it up. Geno was already on him, snapping his neck and lowering him to the ground before rounding the building and following Adan into the darkness.
Ed paced to the front door, took another healthy swig of tequila and handed the bottle to Carl. “Fuck it. Let’s play pool. Come on. Benja, you can watch these fools.”
Lucca and Salvatore were already waiting in the room. It was easy enough as Ed and Carl entered to get behind them as they stood staring, shocked, their alcohol-fueled brains unable to process what had actually happened to their friends. The two Demons dropped to the floor with broken necks as Benja stood with his back to them.
Salvatore gripped Benja’s head and wrenched. “Justice is served,” he murmured softly. Very carefully, knowing the three bartenders were most likely looking toward the poolroom, he pulled Benja inside and to the right of the doorway before laying him down on the floor.
He and Lucca caught a shadow to outside, where they joined Geno. The three shadow riders began the journey back to New York.
The bartenders washed glasses, waiting for the Demons to emerge from the poolroom. It was suspiciously silent. The music blared, but there was no more laughter or threats. No more loud conversation. They couldn’t hear the sound of pool balls striking together. They looked at one another, but it took another few minutes before they ventured out from behind the bar to go look. What they found was more terrifying than the Demons coming into their establishment had ever been.CHAPTER FIFTEENStefano is on his way here with two of our cousins from Los Angeles, Nicoletta,” Taviano announced. “Are you ready for this?”
“Why would the cousins from LA be coming here? Did something happen to my friends?” Nicoletta spun away from the plants she was inspecting.
Taviano had overgrown greenery everywhere. The windows allowed light to come in from so many directions that the houseplants grew easily. They climbed toward the ceiling, thick and heavy, leaves green and silvery. That was another passion they both shared. He had discovered very early on that Nicoletta really loved plants. She had gravitated toward working in Signora Vitale’s flower shop, much to his dismay.
Theresa Vitale’s grandson Bruno had taken over the shop for his grandmother. He’d always been a bit of a hell-raiser, and he’d begun to run drugs out of the store once he’d taken over as manager and was without supervision. Nicoletta had even been accosted by one of his friends when she’d worked there. Later, Bruno’s body had been found in a Dumpster, murdered, a victim of the ongoing feud between the Ferraro and the Saldi families.
An uneasy truce had continued over the last couple of years, but beneath the surface smoldered something deep and ugly only waiting for the lid to blow off. Both sides knew it, and both sides were preparing for war.
“Your friends are safe, amore mio,” he assured. “I don’t know why the cousins are here from LA. I’m sure they’ll tell us. I’ll put out some refreshments. We never serve alcohol before we work. We still have our run to make when Rigina or Rosina gives us the word.”
She followed him to the bar and watched as he put ice into a bucket and then put out soda water and various organic syrups to make refreshers.