Blood Casino: Vampires & Vices No. 1

by Nina Walker

  “Adrian runs this place,” the dealer explains in a rush. “We’ll make sure your mom is okay. But trust me, you’d better go, Adrian is not someone you want to say no to.”

  “And why’s that?” I grumble, my mind already out of here and onto the next thing I’m going to have to do to clean up this mess. Maybe I can ask my boss for an advance? Ugh, that’s not going to work. I just started at Pops and they’re a place of business, not a charity.

  Mom’s eyes flutter open. I sink farther into the ground with a sigh. One of the nurses has switched her IV to fluids and she’s already starting to look alive again. “You’re going to keep a meticulous record of how much she donated, right?” I press the nurse. “So she doesn’t donate again before she’s safe?”

  “Of course,” the nurse replies as if that’s a given, but I don’t know if I believe her. She’s human but she still works for them.

  The dealer waves his hand in my face. “Hey, I’m still talking to you. This is important.”

  I roll my eyes at him. “What?”

  “You really don’t know who Adrian is?” The dealer frowns at me like I’m a complete idiot, like I should know everything that goes on in this casino, including who this Adrian guy is.

  “Whatever, I’m only eighteen.” I shake my head. The fact that I’m even here is total crap, and I blame it on the vamps. They were buying up places like this for decades before they ever went public, all part of their master plan. Places where they could convince humans to trade blood for addiction. And it’s as easy as it sounds.

  The dealer squats down next to me, getting right up in my face. He stinks of cigarette smoke just as bad as the carpet does. It makes my eyes burn. Another vice, cigarettes. I don’t care what it is, if it’s an addiction, I don’t want any part. “Adrian’s one of the North American princes. He doesn’t just run The Alabaster Heart, he runs New Orleans and most of the southern United States.”

  “A prince, you say?” I snort. The idea of this Adrian character is a spark that settles into me, an answer to a problem. I decide to pour gasoline on that idea. Yes, this vampire has the kind of power that could squash me. Yes, he could murder me in a second if he chose. But I’m the one in the power position here. I’m the girl he needs to convince to shut up. My idea started as a spark but it’s a full-on inferno now. Will it work?

  I only have to strike a deal with the devil to find out.

  Chapter 2

  My sparkly white flip-flops smack on the pearlescent marble tile as I follow the pit boss out of the noxious gaming area and into the attached hotel lobby. Being in The Alabaster Heart is like walking through a time capsule. It’s all reflective golden surfaces and polished white accents and deep, dark black everywhere in between. Magnificent crystal chandeliers hang from the ceilings and tufted black and emerald green furniture litter the space. The stunning art deco style is something my interior design-obsessed best friend Ayla would salivate over, but it does nothing but twists me into tight little knots.

  “Kelli will help you.” The pit boss steps aside, motioning toward a receptionist stand, and strides away. I wish I could follow and go back to mom. I hated leaving her back there, but the nurses insisted she wasn’t ready to get up anyway.

  A bright-eyed secretary slips me a demure smile. This must be Kelli. She’s a California-looking bleached-blonde with big roller-curled hair and high cheekbones. She looks like she would’ve had glowing tan skin in her previous life but her deadness spoiled that. I catch sight of her gleaming white teeth and try not to stare. At least she has the decency not to extend her fangs. Her beauty is vampiric and unnatural and it sets me on edge. She looks me over and grimaces, as if judging me in two seconds flat and deciding I’m not worth her time or attention.

  “Hi,” I say, the greeting slipping out of me.

  “Adrianos Teresi will see you now,” she purrs in response. She nods toward a private elevator and I walk inside, more than happy to put distance between us. I’m surrounded by reflective gold on all sides in the elevator box. Gold ceiling, gold floor, gold walls—super weird. Even weirder is that fact that there are no buttons. I’ve never been in an elevator without buttons and I can’t say I like it. As it rises, inertia settles low in my belly. I suddenly notice the lack of silver in the design. Nowhere in the entire hotel is anything silver. Makes sense, I guess. Vampires hate silver.

  When the doors slide open, I’m directly facing a large office.

  “First thing you need to know,” I announce, stepping inside, “is it’s going to take a lot of money to make me go away.”

  The office itself is a monochromatic cocoon of polished oak. The design is mid-century modern, like that TV show Mom used to watch obsessively, Mad Men. Everything about it screams masculinity and power. A twenty-something man stands before a vast, darkly-tinted window overlooking the Mississippi river. His hands are tucked together behind a crisp gray suit jacket. He’s tall, thin, and stoic, with golden-blond wavy hair that’s longer on top and cut close to his scalp on the sides. His suit contrasts perfectly against his pale skin like inky night and golden day. When he turns, an undertow of curiosity surfaces within me. It’s his eyes. They demand my attention with their glacial blue, biting to my center.

  He tilts his head to the side and runs those arrow-eyes down my body. I break out into a sweat. “You want money.” His gaze narrows and he sounds almost disappointed. “That’s all?”

  “Yes, that’s right.” I steel myself. His people hurt my mother. He owes me. “I want our money back and then some.”

  “Asking for money is so uninspired, don’t you think?”

  “That’s easy to say coming from someone who has it. Try living without money and you won’t be so quick to judge me.”

  Rubbing his angular chin with his long pale fingers, he slowly walks toward his desk and flicks a hand at the open chair across from it. A businessman in his lair, he smiles wickedly. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

  “I’d rather stand.”

  He stops. His jaw clicks, and something that’s either lust or thirst crosses his expression. “I’m sure you would.”

  Something tightens in my stomach. Is he toying with me?

  “You’re not what I thought you would be,” he says. The slightest of Mediterranean accents alerts my basest instincts that he’s different. If I had to guess, I’d say the tumbling melody of his tone, his light coloring, and last name Teresi, suggest that he’s of Greek descent. He’s certainly beautiful enough to have been the muse for those Greek sculptures. How old is he? Any accent he would have had is now watered down, likely through centuries of travel. He must be old if he’s in charge of all the vampires in the southern United States.

  He catches me staring and chuckles. The laugh rings like sweetgum leaves on a spring breeze, but I know not to trust it. Maybe he’s not what I thought either. Maybe he’s not the evil bloodthirsty vampire prince who’d suck me dry for dinner if he could, maybe he’s something much worse.

  Or maybe he’s not. Maybe he’s more human than I thought. I almost laugh at that stupid thought. It’s not possible. I’d be foolish to think it.

  “So how much?” I press.

  He laughs louder.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Normally ‘how much’ is the question I would be asking you.”

  So he bribes people often. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but my disappointment stings anyway. I don’t know why I’d hoped he would be better than my expectations, that he’d somehow care about humans. He doesn’t. He can’t. They never do.

  “Your other guests might like to sit and chat, but I want to get out of here as quickly as possible. So why don’t we cut the crap and finalize the money?”

  He steps closer. “What makes you think I’m going to give you money?”

  I glance down and glare at the lapels of his designer suit, not quite able to hold his gaze. It’s probably a vampire thing, that all encompassing “feel it in your bone marrow” type of loo
k meant to ensnare humans, but his eyes are too mesmerizing. “It’s clear to me that this casino has more than enough money,” I challenge, “and still, your pit boss ignored my mother’s obvious distress. Your employee broke the law. If I report it, not only will you have to pay a hefty fine, but I’m guessing that even you, Adrianos Teresi, North American prince, will have to answer to an even more powerful vampire than yourself.”

  He’s across the room one second and standing a foot away the next. The scent of warm cedar, bergamot, and honey wash over me. The curls of his golden hair catch the light. Up close, his youthful appearance is more predominant, almost startling. Even though he looks to be in his mid-twenties, there’s no possible way that he is. I don’t know for sure, but I think someone this powerful had to earn his position through many years of servitude, which is how I know he must answer to someone. Everyone does.

  “Are you threatening me?” he snaps, disdain eating his expression. Heat flushes across my cheeks. His pupils dilate and I lose my breath; he can smell my blood. How easy would it be for him to kill me right now? To sink his fangs into my neck and suck the life from my veins?

  Don’t think about it…

  “Maybe I am a threat to you,” I challenge back. “And why do you really care for my mother’s money? You got her blood. You don’t need to take her paycheck, too.”

  Amusement sparks in his eyes. “And what if your mother faked her incapacitation? What if it was all a stunt to extort us for money?”

  I gape, wanting to punch the smirk clean off his face.

  “That’s impossible. My mother loves this place. Besides, there were witnesses.”

  “Yes.” He smiles wide. “There were.” His tongue lightly runs across the tip of one fang as they slowly extend. My senses kick into overdrive, my pulse erupting. I need to get out of here.

  He’s dangerous. Beautiful––they usually are––but deadly as midnight.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” I lie. “If you kill me, you’ll be tried and will face true death.”

  Okay, I actually doubt that would happen, vampires are good at getting away with things, but still, I have to appear strong in his presence or else I’m going to crumble.

  He smiles and retracts the fangs. “How old are you?”

  I’m caught off guard by the question. “I’m not even close to twenty-five, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  He studies me as he leans back on his heels, still towering over me by at least a foot. I shrink.

  “I’m eighteen,” I finally say, irritation spreading through my body like a virus. I have absolutely nothing to hide here. He’s the one who hurts people, feeds on human blood. He’s the monster. “In case you suck at math,” I’m quick to add, “I still have seven more years to make your job difficult if you keep hurting my mom.”

  Actually, it’s closer to six. My birthday is coming up.

  “Your mother is a grown woman who is free to come and go as she pleases.” He says it like she’s to blame here, not like she’s a victim to their compulsion and her addiction. It curdles my stomach.

  “Don’t lie to me. I know your people use compulsion on her. You creeps love to prey on people like my mom.”

  “Compulsion is illegal.” His voice is steel. “I assure you, we abide by the law here at The Alabaster.”

  Lies.

  Sure, it’s illegal, but it’s also nearly impossible to track. No doubt it happens more often than people would like to believe. No one wants to think they were manipulated, especially not when they refuse to admit to their addictions, and especially not when they’re entering into what they believe is a win-win situation.

  Blood for gambling.

  Blood for drugs.

  Blood for sex.

  The vampires have no shame.

  “Like I said, I’m only eighteen. Let’s make a deal, Adrian. Are we going to talk numbers? Maybe I should just go ahead and file that police report now.” I raise an eyebrow.

  He looks me over for a long second and then steps back, peering down his nose at me like I’m a bug he’d like nothing more than to squash. “I’ll play your little game only because I am growing tired of you,” he sighs dramatically. “I’ll give you five thousand dollars.”

  I consider the option, ignoring the thrill of it. Be rational. Five grand is enough to get us through August and well into September. Hopefully, even longer. I could ask for more, negotiate, but I don’t want to risk more money for what I’m about to do.

  I don’t want to be greedy like those gamblers down there. Knowing when to walk away is the only way to win.

  “Fine by me.” I reach out my hand and smile as sweet as my Grammy’s pecan pie. Goodness, I miss that woman. She passed away two years ago and ever since it’s like Mom’s been in the casino nonstop. Grief does horrible things sometimes. We’d like to think so, but not everyone is strong.

  Adrian seems pleased with himself, but he doesn’t shake my hand.

  All the better.

  “I’ll call down to the cashier,” he says coolly. “They already know to look for you.”

  “Great.” I head for the elevator, eager to press the call button. His lingering gaze sticks to me like a tattoo. I stop and turn back while I wait for the doors to open. “If they already knew to look for me, then why play this game?”

  His smile is dangerous. “Maybe I like to play games. I do run a casino, after all.”

  I roll my eyes and turn away.

  “You never told me your name,” he says just as I step inside.

  But I’m already gone.

  As soon as I’m downstairs, I swing by the cashier, pick up the cash, and get Mom ready to go all in a matter of five minutes. I wrap her arm through mine, and as we make for the exit, I snatch my cell phone from my pocket. The number is programmed in, and the dispatcher answers on the second ring.

  “I’d like to report a crime,” I say, as we’re about to make our escape. “Vampires took too much blood from my mom at The Alabaster Heart Casino and she passed out.”

  As I back up against the first set of doors, I catch ice-blue eyes from across the lobby. Uh-oh. Adrian crosses to me instantly, so fast it happens in the space of a single blink, and grips my wrist between his steel-trap hands. They’re cold. His touch sends a shockwave through my entire body. Mom shrieks and I shift her behind me.

  “What did you just do?” Adrian clips.

  “Don’t touch me.” I shove him away, a feather against a rock. I have zero strength on him, but he lets me go anyway. He shakes his head, angry thunder rolling through him like an incoming storm. I cross the threshold and raise my hand in a wholly inappropriate gesture as my parting goodbye gift.

  I can’t help it. Like a fool, I look back for one last glimpse. It leaves me with dread in my chest. Adrian is watching me like I’m a whole new kind of game he wants to master, one where I end up dead. The sun is a welcome friend, but it’s setting fast. We need to get home. One thing I said I would never do is cross a vampire.

  But vampires can be deceived too. They’re not the only ones who can play games.

  Did we set any terms or conditions? Did we shake on anything? He never once required the money to be an exchange for silence, never once asked for anything from me. All he did was offer five thousand dollars. As far as I’m concerned, this hellish casino has exploited my Mom for years. Maybe now she and I will not only make it through another month, but hopefully Adrian will ban us from the casino altogether.

  Wouldn’t that be nice?

  I made a new enemy today. I know it was reckless, but the money is a thick wad of redemption tucked neatly in my pocket. And the truth is, cheating vampires feels really freaking good.

  Chapter 3

  The police requested we come into the station right away. I like this place. It’s all busy and bustling and no-nonsense. I’ve been considering looking into law enforcement and being here makes that feel possible, like maybe there’s more out there for me. I’m totally excited!
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br />   The whole college thing didn’t work out. I can’t afford it and don’t have good enough high school grades or test scores to land scholarships. Plus, growing up with a mom like mine made me scared of debt. It’s fine. Right now I’m a server. It’s decent money and all, but it’s nothing I would want to do for the long haul. Let’s be honest here, I’m way too sassy and independent to be in the service industry long term.

  As I look around the police station, I imagine myself here instead, dressed in a crisp uniform, packing heat in my holster, and with an important job to protect innocent people. It’s a nice thought, offering a chance at meaning in my otherwise murky future.

  “This isn’t necessary,” Mom crows to the officer. “It was an unfortunate accident. My fault, really.”

  I glower over at Mom. “Stop trying to play this off like it was nothing. The casino took advantage of you.”

  She waves her wrist around. “Oh, I’d hardly call it that.”

  “They could’ve killed you!”

  Officer Perez leans closer, tapping his pen against his notebook, worry etched onto his thick brow. “Facts are, Mrs. Blackwood, it’s against the human-vampire law to take that much blood. Now, we can’t go making any arrests in this case because it’s outside of our jurisdiction, but what I can do is report the incident to the Vampire Enforcement Coalition. They take these filings very seriously and have their own ways of punishing vampires.” His mouth turns down in a grimace. “I’ll tell you, I’ve seen some of it in action and it’s pretty nasty. I definitely wouldn’t want to be working for the VEC.”