Re-Vamping Las Vegas

by Jen Pretty

  “I couldn’t have this job?” I asked.

  “The boss thought you might like to be closer to the action.”

  True, I would most likely get bored sitting here all day.

  “So, this is what you will be doing.” Carson pointed to one screen. The woman behind the table was sliding cards out of a box and turning them over in front of people. “It’s called blackjack. The goal is to get a sum of twenty-one or as close as possible without going over. It’s a pretty simple game and the most popular.”

  “All right, sounds fun,” I said sarcastically.

  Carson pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket and sat down at a table in the corner of the room. I sat across from him, and he did a fancy shuffle then dealt me two cards. One face down, one face up and dealt himself the same.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “Now, you look at your face-down card and figure out how many points you have. If it’s a face card, it’s worth ten points and if it’s a number card, it is worth the number shown. An ace is worth one or eleven whichever will get you as close as possible to twenty-one.”

  He dealt me about a dozen hands, and I started winning, so he said I had the hang of it and handed me the deck. Then he brought out a strange looking machine.

  “This is a continuous shuffle machine. It shuffles the decks and prevents cheating.” He took the deck of cards from my hand and placed it in the machine. It made a slight sound and then a card peeked out of the slot on the front. Carson slid his finger down the card and slid it across the table. He did the same with another but turned it face up.

  “Cool.”

  He smiled and motioned to a monitor. “I’d like you to sit with Jay and watch the blackjack dealers for a while until you think you have the pattern of hand movements down. If you stray from the pattern, one of these guys will send an alert and security will show up at your table to check things out.”

  I moved to sit where he indicated and saw at least fifteen cameras were watching various angles on the tables. Several of the cameras were watching a close up of the dealer’s hands.

  “Is that in case the dealer steals or cheats?” I asked.

  “Yeah, it's surprising how often the employees try to steal,” Jay replied, his eyes never leaving the monitors.

  “Good, I will see you later for your first shift, Ren.”

  I waved bye to Carson and sat down beside Jay. There was no sound on the monitors, so the room was silent once Carson left.

  I rubbed my arms and legs, the air conditioning in the room was pretty high.

  “Why are you cold? You forget to eat?” Jay asked, eyes still trained on the monitors.

  “No,” I replied. My interest in learning something new had vanished. Time to go. I walked out of the room and I roamed the halls for several minutes before I found a human and asked for directions to the lobby.

  CHAPTER TEN

  I stepped inside the boutique clothing store and found a hoard of beautiful women dressed in expensive high fashion with hair to match. Made up plastic dolls. The heels of one woman clicked in my direction as I checked the price tag on a pair of pants. Ridiculous.

  “Can I help you?” the woman’s voice oozed with disdain. It was probably my Texas t-shirt. It was visually offensive. I hissed at the Barbie doll, and she almost toppled off her six-inch heels. I chuckled and stuck out my hand for her to shake.

  “My name is Ren, you have a uniform for me, and I need clothes too.” Matthew had money. I could spend his money.

  “Of course,” the woman said, reaching out gingerly to take my offered hand in a quick shake.

  “So, Deb,” I said, looking at her name tag. “I don’t like froo froo type clothes. I need jeans and t-shirts and at least one all black outfit. Plus something slutty.” I looked her up and down. “Like what you are wearing. You can gather me some things to try on while I wait. Off you go.” I sat in a chair by the dressing rooms and played games on my phone while Deb scurried around.

  She came back with some nice things that fit well, and I felt more like myself as I walked out of the change room in skinny jeans and a pale blue t-shirt that fit snuggly and didn’t have a caricature on the front. I slipped into some cute heels that made me tall enough to be intimidating to other women and walked back out, leaving my dirty clothes for Deb.

  “Thanks, I’ll wear these out. Can you have the rest delivered to my room?”

  “Sure. Thank you, Ren,” Deb called from behind me as I walked out of the store.

  I walked through the luxurious hotel lobby, and past a coffee shop as a young man stepped out. I bumped into him, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was young, maybe eighteen, but he was scrawny like he hadn't grown into his body yet or wasn't eating enough. Tucked under his arm was a laptop and he clutched it as he jogged to the door. The laptop was not cheap. I would have thought he stole it except it had stickers all over it.

  I stood and watched as he continued out. He was either a gamer or a hacker. The coffee shop he had come from had a sign advertising wi-fi. I knew it was fast too because I had connected to it when I was playing my games in the clothing store.

  I would have to keep an eye out for the kid.

  At the end of the hall, I walked onto the casino floor and found the bar with a long line of bar stools. It was early in the evening, but time seemed inconsequential in here. Every time I had come in, it was like the evening. Like maybe 9:30 on a Saturday night. My favourite time. I was starting to enjoy the lights and siren sounds of the machines. It was as if vampires belonged in this place.

  “What can I get for you, honey?” an older woman behind the bar asked.

  “Sorry, I don’t have any money,” I said.

  “I’ll cover her tab,” a voice said from behind me.

  I turned around to find a tall, muscular vampire giving me a cocky half grin.

  “No, thanks,” I replied, turning my back to him.

  “Aw, come on honey, It’s just a drink.”

  I sighed and rubbed my eyebrow, feeling a headache coming on. Males vampires did that to me.

  He swaggered up to the bar stool beside me and hooked one leg over it, so he was still standing but was hovering over me, his crotch in my personal space. Disgusting. I slid one bar stool over and flipped him off, but, persistent bastard that he was, he just followed me.

  “Look, I don’t want to cause trouble, so you need to go aim your fangs at someone else.”

  The bartender had wandered off to serve someone else, leaving him and me to fight about who would and wouldn’t pay for any possible drinks she would pour for us.

  “I just want to buy you a drink. I’m quite wealthy,” he said, flashing me his yellowed fangs again. God, that’s so pathetic.

  I flashed him my fangs, and apparently he hadn’t been paying attention when I said no before because he suddenly found somewhere else to be. I turned my attention back to the bar and realized someone had sat down on the stool on the other side of me.

  “Boss asked me to tell you, he is covering your bar tab until you get paid,” the security guard said. Well, that explained why the vamp had run off.

  “Ok,” I said.

  The guard stood and strode off again. I started to feel like big brother was watching. Looking up, I saw the small camera behind the glass dome, right above the bar. I waved. Someone was watching me. I would have to remember that.

  I ordered a drink the next time the bartender came past and sipped it while watching the people in the casino.

  It wasn’t like the nightclub; there were people of all ages and descriptions. All of them looked happy.

  After a few drinks, I went up to my room and changed into the uniform. Someone had delivered it, along with the rest of the clothes I’d selected and hung everything in the closet. That was handy.

  A few minutes before my shift, Carson found me and led me to a green felt-covered table.

  “You will stay here. This is usually a quieter table because it's so far back, but you shoul
d have some people and I’ll send a regular your way if he shows up. He likes breaking in the new people.”

  “Sounds painful,” I said sarcastically, and I turned my attention to the card shuffling machine. Carson laughed and walked away. Sink or swim, I guess.

  I stood at the table for half an hour before anyone came over. A bald man with a pot belly plopped his chips down on the table, and I dealt out the cards. He quickly lost and left without ever saying a word.

  I chewed my fingernail and tapped my toes. Standing around here was the most boring thing I had ever done. In my whole life. Two hundred years. Never. This. Bored.

  Also, I was getting damn cold. I started shifting my feet, trying to keep my legs moving. A group of giggly women came and sat at my table. One of them had a shirt that read ‘Bride,’ and the rest all had matching shirts that said ‘Bride’s Tribe.’ They were all pretty tipsy but very enthusiastic.

  They were amusing, trying to figure out how to bet and play the game. I dealt the cards and tried to keep from laughing at their antics. They lost every hand, and I had a ton of their chips when they finally staggered off towards the bar. I couldn’t bend my knees though, and my arm movements were awkward and choppy. The security guard stopped by my table and watched as I dealt out a few hands to an old couple. When the old folks left, he asked me to follow him. Another woman, wearing the same uniform as me took my place.

  My shift wasn’t over.

  Uh-oh.

  I gracelessly walked through the casino floor towards the door that led to the back hall. He was marching along as usual, but I was creaky and stiff and moved much slower. He noticed I wasn’t behind him and stopped to wait for me. When I caught up, he turned and walked more slowly until we were in the back hall, then he turned on me, pulling the earpiece out of his ear.

  “Why haven’t you eaten?” He said in an accusing tone.

  “Because, nosy, I eat on Saturdays. I’m just cold. It's like sixty-five degrees in there.”

  “If you had eaten, you wouldn’t be cold,” he scoffed before turning and walking to the boss’s office in silence. I wanted to have a hot shower, or maybe the hotel had a sauna. I would kill for a sauna.

  He knocked on Matthew’s door and pushed it open, then shut it behind me with a bit more force than necessary.

  “Ren, how was your first shift?” he asked, but I was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question, so I didn’t answer. “You only lasted for 3 hours.”

  This time he didn’t ask a question, so I didn’t have to answer him.

  He rubbed his face with his palms and leaned back in his chair. “Can you tell me why you only dine once a week?”

  The tone of his voice changed. This was the same tone he used last time when I was pretty sure he was trying to figure me out — his psychiatrist's voice.

  I smiled, flashing my teeth at him. “Keeps my teeth white,” I said with a lisp.

  I watched him struggle not to laugh. “This is going to be a problem. If you can’t stay warm enough to work, how will you work?”

  “I don’t work.”

  “Correction, you didn’t used to work. Now your life has changed, and you need to do this small amount of work in exchange for my protection. That is why you are here, remember?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. There it was. He didn’t need to rub my nose in it.

  “Fine, I will eat more often.”

  “Before each shift.”

  “Twice a week.”

  He looked like he wanted to continue to argue. “Fine, now that we have that settled, you did well otherwise. I would ask you not to scare the ladies in the boutique though. Deb was quite unsettled.”

  “Deb was rude. I didn’t appreciate her tone.”

  "Ok." Matthew rubbed his forehead like he was put out. "Please, try not to scare people. If you have a problem with someone, talk to Carson or me or Thor.”

  “Who is Thor?”

  “The head of security. He led you here,” he replied, shuffling papers on his desk.

  “His name is Thor?” I asked with a laugh.

  “Do not mock him.” He pointed a finger at me.

  “Ok, Matty, I won’t mock him,” I couldn’t control the giggles though.

  “Matthew,” he corrected.

  “Right.” I turned and walked back out of the room. Closing the door behind me, I caught sight of the scowl on Matthew’s face and laughed my way down the hall.

  After a few wrong turns, I made it back to the lobby where the elevators were, I went up to my suite and took a hot shower.

  Carson had left a message saying my next shift was in 12 hours, so I grabbed the swimsuit I had bought at the boutique shop and went back down to the lobby to find a hot tub or a sauna. I was sure there would be both; a place like this wouldn’t skimp on things like that.

  The man at the front desk directed me to the lower level, and I found what I had been looking for.

  The sauna was huge and had a dozen people in it. It was steamier than I preferred. I liked a dry heat more which was why my heated blanket was so perfect, but heat was heat. I sat on the hard, wooden bench and leaned back listening to the surrounding conversations.

  A small group of older men were here on business. They discussed market projections loudly for about twenty minutes, but hushed when a tall, beautiful woman walked out, then they discussed her assets for a while: men, all the same.

  After an hour I finally felt warm, and I went back to my suite to watch some soaps until I had to get back to work.

  An hour before my shift, I dressed in a cute, low-cut top and some tight skinny jeans. The top was short enough that I flashed some skin when I raised my arms. Perfect for the club. I wouldn’t have a ton of time, but I could hunt a bit and have a snack before work. That should satisfy my bossy boss. I was walking through the lobby when I spotted a truly beautiful man. He was tall, with a rough beard that made him look like a lumberjack.

  Usually, I didn’t like a man with a beard, but this man’s eyes were so green, they nearly glowed. Green eyes were so rare — emeralds in a sea of sapphires. Instead of continuing to the nightclub down the street, I stood and watched this man check in at the front desk. He had a bag in his hand and took a key card from the front desk clerk. I followed him to the elevator where he stood waiting for a car, checking his phone. I stood just behind him. Close enough to get his scent in my nose, but not to get his attention. He smelled like musky cologne and rain on a hot day. I relished it, and my teeth ached. The elevator stopped on a higher floor and my impatience made me twitchy. I wanted to take him somewhere private and bite him.

  He tucked his phone away as the elevator made a soft bing and then he stepped on, and I stepped on behind him. I brushed past him and felt the heat of his arm through his shirt.

  “Sorry,” I whispered, as I stood beside him.

  “No worries,” he said, smiling.

  I flashed my teeth at him, but he looked away before he noticed.

  “Are you staying here?” I asked.

  “Yes, for the weekend.”

  “You want to come up to my room?”

  He looked back at me, and I smiled again. This time he saw my teeth, and I heard his heart kick up a notch. His blood was just beneath the surface. I could see the small bulge pumping in his neck.

  “Are you a vampire?” he asked, with a slight accent.

  His voice shocked me out of my new love affair with his jugular vein.

  “Yes, never met one before?”

  “I’m from Canada,” he replied.

  That explained it. It’s so cold up north. Only a few vampires went there, and only in summer months. No vampire in his right mind would live where the snow flies.

  “Let’s go to your room,” I said. If he passed out, I didn’t want him in my bed.

  He nodded as the elevator doors slid open. I walked close beside him, and he found his room. He let us in and set his bag on the bed. His room was much smaller than mine — A bed on one side and a TV on the ot
her.

  “What do I do?” he asked.

  I took his shaking hand and wrapped it around my waist. I put my hand on his jaw and I tipped his head to the side. His Adam's apple bobbed nervously. I ran my fingers through his coarse beard. The whiskers gave way to soft skin at the bottom of his neck where it met his collarbone. I leaned in until my body was against his. I licked his neck low by his collarbone. The soft skin there smelled delicious. He shivered. Goosebumps rose on his arms, and his fingers flexed on my hip. His breathing sped until I thought he might hyperventilate. It had been known to happen. I took it as a compliment. I slid my teeth into his neck and he sucked in a quick breath, his body tensing before he relaxed into my arms. He was soft and pliant now. Boneless. His head lolled to the side as I drank from him.

  The door behind me opened, I turned with a hiss, gripping my prey like a greedy lion on the Serengeti.

  “That’s enough, Ren. Come with me,” Matthew said.

  I licked the puncture, my eyes locked on Matthew’s and then used every ounce of my strength to let go of my lumberjack. He was my prize, my prey. I had won him fair and square. I reminded myself I wasn’t an animal and slowly let go of the man. His beautiful green eyes gazed at me with adoration for a moment before I turned and followed my boss out into the hall where several security guards waited.

  I was sure steam was coming out of Matthew's ears. He was so angry I could feel it radiating off him. He was the one who said to eat before work. Hypocrite.

  Matthew didn’t stop until he was on the elevator. So, I followed him on. The security guards didn’t follow. As the door slid shut, I saw Thor give me a half grin. There was something weird about that guy.

  “What was the first rule, Ren?” Matthew asked, voice carefully controlled.

  “I don’t know, you have so many of them,” I replied, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. My heart was still beating, and I was flying high.

  “Do not eat the guests,” he said, his voice punctuating each word like a shot.

  “Well, you are the one who told me to eat before my shift. Am I supposed to go gallivanting around the city trying to find dinner with no money and no car?”