Blood Casino: Vampires & Vices No. 1

by Nina Walker

  “I realized that the vampires are the winning team.” The green glow of the neon lights gives his red hair a sickly filter as he stares down at me. “I’m a realist and I want to win. It’s simple.”

  It’s evil is what it is, but I can’t let him know what I really think, so I nod. “I get that but how can you be certain?”

  “There’s more to this war than you realize. It’s not just vampires and humans, you know. Leslie Tate is using us.”

  I stop short. “What do you mean?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  I snort. “Not as far as I can throw you.”

  “That’s fair.” He smiles. “But I like you. And I think we should talk about what happened to me so you understand me enough to maybe start trusting me.”

  “Okay, what happened to you?”

  “I joined the hunters because I thought vampires were the evil I needed to fight but I was wrong. Something else is a lot worse than the vamps.”

  “Something else?” I sound skeptical even though deep down, I believe him. There aren’t other supernaturals that we know of, just vampires, but wouldn’t it stand to reason that if vampires are real, then other things are real, too? I’ve always thought so.

  “Just hear me out, okay? Let’s go over there.” I nod and we move to a quieter corner of the room and stand side by side, looking out at the club. We’re up on a platform so we can see everything going on down below. These people are having the time of their lives and here I am with creepy Cameron. My life sucks.

  “My kid brother got sick with cancer,” he says, and suddenly I feel like a brat for coining his new nickname. “Tyler was fourteen and I was seventeen at the time. It was terrible. The doctors did everything they could but Tyler was terminal.” His voice cracks and he stares at his shoes for a minute. Part of me feels bad for the guy but the bigger part is still angry about what he did today. “So anyway, my father got desperate so he found a vampire and made a deal. The vampire would turn my brother immortal and in exchange my parents would be willing blood donors.”

  I grimace. “That sounds pretty brutal.” It also sounds like something the vampire royalty wouldn’t condone. Brisa doesn’t seem like the charitable type.

  “I didn’t know anything about it until after Tyler’s funeral when my father broke down and admitted to me what happened. He said that the vampire came to see Tyler on his deathbed. He watched him cry out and die, but refused to help. He just stood there watching it all unfold like he enjoyed it or something. And then when it was over, he left.”

  My heart hurts for the family. Nobody should have to experience something that horrific. “I’m sorry. That’s terrible.”

  “Yeah, it was messed up. So you can imagine that when I went to college and got the opportunity to hunt vampires, I jumped at it. It was my way to heal through the pain of losing Tyler. But my parents? They never got over Tyler’s death. They ended up getting divorced a couple years ago.”

  Okay, I still hate Cameron, but he’s doing a good job of making me feel bad about that. This story just keeps getting worse.

  “Here’s the thing,” he continues. “My mom never knew about the vampire. So she starts dating this guy, right? Something was off about him but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Well, one day my dad comes around and starts freaking out, accusing the guy of being a vampire, saying this is the same guy that was supposed to help Tyler.”

  “Was it?”

  His face hardens. “Same guy? Yes. Vampire? No. Remember, I’m a hunter by this point so I know how to spot a vampire a mile away and this thing definitely wasn’t a vampire.”

  “So what was he then?”

  “I still don’t know for sure, maybe a demon, a fae, some kind of warlock, I don’t know. But I do know this; that guy was truly sick. He fed off Tyler’s illness and then my parent’s grief to sustain him.”

  I scowl. “That doesn’t make sense. What do you mean by fed?”

  “It’s hard to explain and that’s why I wanted to show you.” The song changes and techno music blares through the room. The neon lights shift to blacklight and Cameron points. “The blacklight allows you to see what they’re doing.”

  I gaze out into the crowd, unsure what I’m supposed to be looking for.

  “Whatever they are, they’re real and they’re even more dangerous than vampires. They hide their true selves easily, blending right in with humans, but they feed on us, too. The day I decided to turn on our group of hunters was the day I found out Leslie Tate is one of them.”

  Chapter 25

  I blink rapidly, realizing the implications of this information. Tate is immune to vampire compulsion. Tate can erase memories. All this time I’ve been obsessing over the vampire threat when maybe I should have been questioning my leader. “Leslie Tate is one of… what now?” I ask for clarity. I still have no idea what Cameron is on about and he’s starting to sound a wee bit delusional.

  “He’s one of the vampire’s mortal enemies, the demons, or whatever they are. I’m still not sure. In my mind, I call them demons.”

  “I always thought werewolves were the vampire’s enemies.” I lean back against the wall and keep staring out into the crowd of dancers. Sure, they’re lit up with the blacklight, a sea of blue and white, but there’s nothing strange going on that I can see. Certainly no demons.

  “The werewolves were enemies with vampires but they were hunted to extinction hundreds of years ago. It’s whatever these things are that are the bigger problem.” He points again.

  “Cameron, I’m so confused. I don’t see anything.”

  “Look harder,” he growls. “Look! Don’t you see? They feed off of us. There are some doing it right now. Use your eyes, Eva, and you’ll understand why I’m done being a weak and pathetic human.”

  I’m starting to think this guy is on drugs and never listened to his DARE officer.

  “Kelli knows what I’m talking about. It’s how she got me to be her fledgling. And once I’m turned and she can trust me, she’s going to tell me everything.”

  “Talking about Kelli isn’t going to help your case,” I say. “She hates me.”

  “Adrian then. Ask Adrian.”

  I close my eyes and gather a breath deep into my lungs, trying to focus. I push away the fear bubbling just under the surface––Cam is really starting to scare me––and open my eyes again. I blink out into the room of dancers, looking for a change, anything at all.

  And that’s when I see it.

  Most of the people here are the same.

  But some are not.

  Their features are the same as ours. They laugh and dance and kiss and are clearly here to have fun––just like us. But there’s something different about them. There’s something lacking. I don’t even know what it is exactly.

  “Okay, I think I see them.”

  He laughs with relief.

  “But how are they sinister?”

  “Look closer,” he whispers against my ear. “See the energy?”

  I squint and catch on to what he’s talking about. It’s so subtle I didn’t notice it at first. The humans have light glowing around them. The others––whatever they are––do not. “Are you talking about the glow around the humans?”

  “Those are auras,” Cam says. “All humans have them. They’re supposed to be all different colors but we can’t see all that. We can see the outline of the aura in the blacklight. And we can see the ones who are being fed on.”

  I rub my eyes and look again. Still there. “This is so weird.”

  He leans back against the wall and for the first time tonight, his vibe isn’t so frantic. “Tell me about it. I never thought that woo-woo shit was real. Kelli says it’s the human’s soul energy. Suckers don’t have auras, which makes sense considering they already died. And whatever the demon things are, they don’t have them either. And do you see what they’re doing to the humans?”

  He nods toward a tall man who is dancing close to a human girl. He smiles down o
n her like she’s the only person in the room. She’s beaming, and her energy is clinging to him like a magnet. Not just that, but some of it flows from her and into him. “You’re right. He’s feeding off of her energy.”

  “Yes. Exactly that. He is sucking away her life force. I believe this is what makes humans weak. This is why we get sick and why we’re frail. These things are everywhere and they feed on us all the time. I wish I could carry a blacklight everywhere I go so I can spot them. One of these things came to feed off of my brother while he was on his deathbed, and then came back to feed off of my parents in their grief.”

  “What happened to him, this demon thing?”

  He releases a long sigh. “My dad killed it and then he went to prison.”

  My mouth falls open. I have no idea what to say.

  “And this, Eva, is exactly why humans are going to lose in the end. We don’t stand a chance.”

  “Are there a lot of them?” In this room of hundreds, I can spot six, but it’s hard to tell because they don’t look much different than humans except for the no aura thing. The music changes and the blacklight switches back to the neon. Everything appears as it was before.

  “Yeah, I come here every weekend and count. There’s always at least ten by the end of the night and it’s usually different ones, too. That tells me there are a lot. The vampires and these demons are fighting a war over their food source and guess what, babe? That’s us. One feeds on our blood, the other on our energy. Since it’s impossible for me to become whatever this is,” he motions toward the dancers, “I’m going to become a vampire. I’m done being at the mercy of more powerful creatures. If you can’t beat them, join them, right?”

  “Right,” I mumble once and then say again louder.

  What Cameron is saying makes sense, and I need him to think that I agree. But to betray his team––his friends––in order to become part of the evil he claims to hate? That’s dead wrong.

  The next night as I’m riding home on the bus, I try to stay awake despite feeling as if I’ve been run over by a herd of elephants. This morning I had to drag my butt into training super early and then had a long dinner shift at Pops. Exhaustion paws at me like a demanding toddler. I haven’t slept well at all during the three nights I’ve been staying at the casino, and I have at least one more to go. I’m stressed out about Mom who still hasn’t answered my calls even though she has the freaking mafia after her. And the cherry––or rather cherries––on top is all this fledgling crap, the blood vow, and now everything going on with Cameron Scout. I know what I saw, but I still have a hard time believing him. I need concrete proof of what he’s claiming and that there’s actually a war going on. I mean, sure, he calls them demons, but he doesn’t know what they are.

  I scroll through the rental ads on my phone, but there’s just nothing in my price range. Putting on my big girl pants, I send a group text to Seth, Kenton, and Felix.

  Hey guys. This hotel situation sucks. Can you ask around to see if anyone you know has a room for rent?

  Kenton replies immediately, You got it. I know people.

  Seth pops in with the all annoying, K

  And Felix adds an, We will find you something by tomorrow. Hang tight.

  I smile. It feels good to let someone else help me for a change. I’m so used to doing things myself and being Miss Independent that I sometimes forget that there are people out there who care about me. I slip my phone into my pocket and get off at my stop. If the guys come through, and knowing them they will, then this really will be my last night at The Alabaster. I just hope that Adrian is right and Brisa forgets all about me. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I can’t help it. That place is toxic. Those people are toxic. All the things I regret lately are things I’ve done there, things that have involved them.

  I have to walk a block to get to the hotel, which isn’t normally a big deal, but it’s later than usual and much, much quieter. This area is tourist central, but right now there isn’t a soul in sight. Vampires are probably nearby. I won’t be able to hear them coming––they’re too silent––and I don’t have a stake on me. It’s colder than normal for September, so maybe that’s why I feel weird. Maybe I’m just imagining things and freaking myself out for no reason. Goosebumps crawl across my skin. The streetlight above me flickers and goes dark. I walk faster.

  Arms grab me from behind, one around my waist and one over my mouth. My scream is muffled. A man drags me into an alleyway and shoves me up against the wall. The back of my head cracks against the bricks. Tears fill my eyes as I fight, clawing and kicking, but he’s twice my size and my efforts are worthless. He keeps his hand pressed against my mouth.

  I don’t know him, but he looks like a mafia thug. He’s human. Middle-aged and balding, the man is dressed in all black except for the gold chain around his beefy neck. It’s like he’s trying to live up to a henchman stereotype. “Listen closely, Princess.” His voice is that deep thunder that comes before a storm and I’m suddenly very, very afraid. “You tell your mother that if she doesn’t give Armondo his money, then not only will we find her and kill her, but we’ll kill you right in front of her first.”

  Tears blur my vision.

  He slams me against the wall again. “You got that?”

  I nod against his hand and he smiles like this is any other business transaction. “That’s great, Princess. Get it done.”

  My knees give out when he releases me, and I drop to the filthy concrete as he disappears into the night.

  My head throbs. I reach around and gently press my fingertips to the back of my scalp. I wince at the pain, fingers coming away wet. My mind swims through mud as I try to process what just happened. The guys after my mother know where I am. I was just assaulted by one of them. I’m wounded. Bloody. And I’m sitting outside of the building where over a hundred thirsty vampires live.

  Chapter 26

  Why am I always the poster child for what not to do around the vamps? I need to make some better life choices. I hiss as I try to hold back the tears. And now I have to get inside and upstairs to the room so I can take care of this. That’s if I don’t get eaten first.

  I stumble out of the alleyway and around the corner, up the long set of stairs, and through the double vestibules. I keep my hand pressed to the back of my head the entire time even though I can feel the blood dripping. I’ll be fine once I’m alone. Head wounds are bloody. Everybody knows that. I just have to keep going and get to safety. One foot in front of the other. Head down. Move quickly. Adrian’s private elevator to the penthouse floor will help as long as I don’t run into Hugo.

  Blood splashes onto the marble floor.

  Well, it’s a blood casino, right? It’s not like people don’t bleed in here all the time. It’s fine. I’ll be fine, I tell myself, simply because thinking of the alternative is terrifying.

  Across the lobby, Kelli sits behind her receptionist desk. She watches me carefully, her nostrils flared, but doesn’t say anything. She tilts her head, inhales deeply, and then picks up her phone. I make it to the elevator bank and press the button for the one I need. There are four more elevators here that go to the other hotel floors. The one next to mine dings and opens; a young man steps out. He’s pale, vampire-beautiful, and looking right at me with unimaginable hunger.

  “You’re bleeding,” he speaks each word slowly, like they’re the punchline to a joke.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. No big deal.” My voice is shaking. He wouldn’t attack me, would he? It’s not allowed. We’re in public. I know that the vampire hierarchy is a definite thing after yesterday, and, for whatever reason, the higher ups don’t want humans to have their venom in us under any circumstances unless we’re going to be turned or going to die. That’s why the whole blood bag thing even exists in the first place. Sure, they’ll kill us when they can get away with it, but otherwise they need us alive. We’re no good to them dead.

  Where is my elevator? I uselessly press the button again and blood smears
against that, too.

  “You smell good.” The young man circles me like a shark.

  “Uh––thanks.” I press my hand harder against my skull, but that just makes it worse. “The blood bank is back that way if you need a meal.” I nod toward the casino.

  Footsteps echo through the lobby. “Tray, what’s going on here?” Hugo approaches, and for once I’m actually happy to see the guy.

  “She’s bleeding. Doesn’t she smell amazing?” Tray’s voice sounds far away. “I’ve never had the pleasure of virgin blood before.”

  Hugo stares at me. He steps forward, runs a finger along my cheek, and then licks the blood clean. His eyes go dark. “You,” is all he says. One word––it obliterates my confidence.

  Tray pounces.

  He’s so fast I don’t even register what is happening until I’m on the floor and the guy is on top of me. He holds my arms down as his fangs extend. Hugo rips him off and throws him clear across the room. He crashes into a couch, breaking it in half, but rebounds lightning fast. He comes running back at top speed, diving for me with outstretched arms. His fangs glint under the golden lights.

  I’m dead.

  But I’m not going down without a fight. I ready my stance, prepared to defend myself to the bitter end, when the elevator dings. A flash of white and black flies out. Adrian Teresi is on Tray, ripping his head from his body, the blood splattering across Adrian’s crisp white shirt. Tray disintegrates into a cloud of dust.

  “I had it under control,” Hugo screams at his brother.

  “Clearly you didn’t,” Adrian roars back.

  “He was my child, I would have been able to get him to stop. You can’t kill what belongs to me. Brisa will––”

  “You won’t speak of this to Brisa! You have no case with her considering your protégé tried to sink his fangs into my fledgling.”

  Hugo growls, “I could have stopped him. I could have saved them both.”

  “Not since his bloodlust was so strong.” Adrians voice lowers. “This is exactly why you can’t take on too many protégés. They’re weak and they make you weak.”