by Duval Alex
‘That wasn’t bad. It was this excellent little Hawaiian-themed place with surfboards on the wall.’
‘Three metres away from the Strip isn’t exactly the mean streets of Vegas,’ Zach told him.
‘Yeah, I don’t think theme bars really attract the downtrodden locals,’ Jason agreed.
‘I know. So I asked the waitress there where I could go to find real Vegas types. And she sent me to another place a few blocks further away. I think it was called McAllen’s or something like that. I got some great footage of these guys playing poker. They had all kinds of good, cinematic tats.’
‘Like the Grim Reaper?’ Jason guessed.
‘Yeah,’ Adam said sheepishly. ‘Anyway, they noticed me filming them and they asked me to join them. So I did. And I won, like, a thousand dollars!’
‘Let me guess. Once you were winning, they asked you to leave the nice Irish pub and go with them to the Red Lake,’ Zach said.
‘Right. Wait, how did you know that?’ Adam asked.
‘It’s a standard con artist move. Get the mark to feel all self-confident, then start the real con job,’ Zach explained. ‘They made you think you could win some real money, then they took you to a place where they could rough you up if you decided to bail on them.’
‘You think they were con artists?’ Adam gasped. ‘I thought they were just mean guys.’
‘Who knows?’ Jason put in. ‘But they thought you were a naïve rich kid, and they figured they could bleed you for all your money.’
‘I guess. Except I’m not rich,’ Adam said. ‘So instead they bled me for everything else. They took all my money, then when I ran out they took my watch. Then my camera. That’s when I sent you the text.’
Jason nodded.
‘They saw me do that, so they took my phone,’ Adam said. ‘I figured they were gonna make me keep playing until they had the shirt off my back! But it’s your shirt, Jason, so I didn’t care too much.’
‘What?’ Jason examined Adam’s button-down white shirt. ‘That is my shirt!’
‘Yeah, I can’t believe you really thought I was willing to iron,’ Adam said. ‘Anyway, then the skinny guy joined in the game, and I think he threw the others off, because I started winning again.’ He grinned. ‘I won it all back, and then some.’
He dug through his backpack, doing a quick count of the money as the cab turned back on to the Strip.
‘How much?’ Jason asked.
‘I’d say 15, maybe 18,000 dollars.’ Adam did a little dance in his seat.
‘Sweet,’ Zach commented with a nod. ‘Too bad it’s counterfeit.’
Eight
ADAM STARED AT Zach in open-mouthed horror. ‘Say what?’
‘It’s counterfeit.’ Zach took a twenty from Adam’s hand and held it up to the lights of the Strip. ‘Look. The watermark is wrong. Check it against one of mine if you want.’ He dug out a twenty and handed it over.
As Adam frantically held the two bills up to the window, Zach went on. ‘And I’ll bet you every dollar I won at the Rouge et Noir tonight that the serial numbers on those bills are sequential. It’s not the kind of thing you would’ve noticed in the middle of a poker game, but I bet you could line them up in order.’
‘Don’t take that bet, Adam. Zach won a ton of money tonight.’
‘Yeah, real money,’ Adam agreed, slumping back against the seat. ‘And here I thought I had suddenly turned into a poker god.’
‘I think the skinny guy wanted you to win so that he could funnel the fake money to you. Then you’d go spend it around town,’ Zach said.
‘But the Grim Reaper wasn’t in on the plan,’ Jason guessed. ‘He was just trying to take you for as much as he could get.’
‘So you’re saying I got taken in by two different con men with two different agendas, all in the space of one poker game?’ Adam asked. ‘Damn! I should’ve been filming that.’
‘Even you couldn’t film and play at the same time,’ Jason consoled him.
Adam was rifling through ten and 20 dollar bills as they talked. ‘I can already see four sequential numbers,’ he moaned. ‘Zach is totally right. It’s fake. Oh, my God!’
‘Don’t freak out,’ Zach said, glancing through the divider at the driver.
‘Why not?’ Adam cried. ‘I’m trafficking in counterfeit money!’
‘You are not,’ Jason said. ‘Trafficking means spending it. All you’re doing is carrying it in your backpack.’
‘That’s still illegal,’ Adam argued. ‘What if I get caught? My father will kill me!’
‘You’re not going to get caught,’ Zach said. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘But the cops won’t believe that. I’m sitting here with thousands of fake dollars!’ Adam clutched his head. ‘I can see the headlines now. Sheriff’s Son in Funny Money Ring Bust. I’m a dead man.’
The cab pulled up in front of the hotel, and Zach handed over another fifty. The driver just snatched it and peeled out.
‘I don’t think he liked us,’ Jason commented, watching him go.
‘He was just worried those guys from the Red Lake were going to come after us,’ Zach said. He yawned. ‘I seriously need to sleep.’
‘Sleep? We can’t sleep,’ Adam said. ‘You have to help me figure out what to do with this cash.’
‘Keep it in your bag and don’t spend it,’ Jason told him, leading the way across the empty lobby to the elevator. ‘The cops aren’t going to randomly ask to search your bag.’
‘What if they do, though?’ Adam insisted.
‘Then they would be breaking the law and doing an illegal search,’ Zach replied. The elevator whooshed up to the 17th floor. ‘You, of all people, should know that, Turnball.’
‘No. I have to get rid of it,’ Adam was saying as the doors opened. He stepped out into the hallway with Jason, still talking. ‘But how? That’s the hard part. Maybe I can just throw it away?’
‘Goodnight, guys.’ Zach let the doors close before Adam could stop him. Jason headed to their door and swiped the key card to open it.
‘I don’t think that will work, though,’ Adam went on as they stepped inside the room. ‘It’s hard not to notice someone throwing away thousands of dollars.’
Jason flopped face down onto his bed. ‘It’s almost five in the morning, Adam. Goodnight.’
Adam ignored him. ‘Maybe I could just put a few bills into trash cans all over Vegas. I guess that would take a long time, though. Or maybe I could just bury it in the desert …’
Jason pulled the pillow over his head and went to sleep.
The morning sun streaming through the hotel windows woke Jason at about ten o’clock. Yawning, he sat up and looked around.
Adam was gone.
‘Oh, my God, he actually went to bury his counterfeit money in the desert,’ Jason said aloud. He dragged himself out of bed and trudged over to the bar, where Adam had left a note propped up on the coffee maker. Jason rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and read it: ‘CSI shoot today. Meeting Grissom. Woohoo.’
There was a knock at the door. When he opened it, he found Brad, Van Dyke, and the Devereux girls standing in the hallway.
‘Did you just wake up? Lame,’ Van Dyke greeted him. ‘Got any mini muffins in your bar? I ate all of ours.’ He pushed his way past Jason and went to search the bar.
‘What’s going on?’ Jason asked as the rest of them trooped in. Sienna stopped to give him a kiss.
‘Maggie, Erin, and Belle are off shopping, and Zach is MIA,’ Paige told him. ‘We figured we’d wake you guys up before finalizing plans.’
‘Where’s Adam?’ Sienna asked. ‘You did find him last night, didn’t you?’
‘Yeah, he’s fine. He’s at the CSI shoot,’ Jason said. ‘But we didn’t get home until five. Maybe Zach’s still asleep.’
‘Whatever. He can take care of himself,’ Paige said with a dismissive wave. ‘The question is, what are you going to do?’
‘Huh?’
; ‘Will you be having a manly day with Brad and Van Dyke, or will you be getting pampered in the hotel’s world-class spa with Sienna and me?’ Paige gave him a mischievous grin.
‘That’s a trick question,’ Brad said. ‘If you choose the spa, we’ll all think you’re a loser. Men don’t do spas.’
Jason thought about that. Sienna in a little spa towel and not much else? That sounded like a good deal to him. ‘What does the manly day consist of?’
‘Van Dyke wants to go down to the MGM Grand Arena. Apparently there’s a press conference for the big title fight this weekend,’ Brad said.
‘Hey! Sometimes the fighters get into it at those press conferences,’ Van Dyke said with his mouth full of muffins. ‘That would be a really cool thing to see.’
‘And afterwards, we can do a little rock climbing out in the desert,’ Brad went on. ‘Work up a sweat after all that partying last night.’
Jason nodded. Rock climbing definitely sounded fun. ‘What happens at the spa?’
‘Um, salt rubs and chemical peels,’ Sienna admitted.
‘That sounds painful,’ Jason said.
‘Yeah, but afterwards there are massages and manicures.’
That settled it. ‘Manly day it is,’ he told Brad. ‘See you girls at dinner.’
‘Let’s meet in the VIP lounge in the lobby,’ Paige said. ‘Eight o’clock. Last one there has to buy me a sinful chocolate dessert!’
Sienna came over and gave him a long kiss. ‘I’ll be all freshly scrubbed and massaged,’ she murmured. ‘Can’t wait.’
‘Me neither,’ Jason agreed, watching her leave with her sister. No matter what the day was like, tonight promised to be amazing.
‘Wow!’ Van Dyke said just after eight o’clock that night. ‘She looks incredible.’ He clapped Jason on the back. ‘You’re a lucky man, Freeman.’
I definitely am, Jason thought, watching Sienna walk across the lobby toward the VIP lounge where they’d waited while Zach checked in. Either she was letting her true face show, or the spa treatments were every bit as good as she claimed. Her skin was glowing, her black hair shone like obsidian, and her luscious lips were as red as ripe cherries. He had to kiss her. Right now.
Jason walked over to meet her and pulled her into his arms. ‘Let’s blow off everyone else and have a romantic dinner by ourselves,’ he suggested, planting kisses up her neck to her ear.
Sienna smiled delightedly. ‘Now that would be an evening to remember,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately, our friends would never let us get away with it.’ She gestured over his shoulder, and Jason turned to see Erin, Belle, and Van Dyke all watching them with amusement.
‘Stop being so mushy, Freeman,’ Van Dyke called. ‘You’re making me look bad with Maggie. Now I’m going to have to be all gooey and romantic when she shows up.’
‘Why did we come with them again?’ Jason asked jokingly. He pulled away, but kept hold of Sienna’s hand. ‘You look nice and relaxed.’
‘The spa was great,’ she said. ‘And it was nice to spend some one-on-one time with Paige. She hasn’t been herself since she got back from Paris.’
Jason nodded. He’d had a feeling that was true. ‘Well, I can’t say rock climbing was very relaxing,’ he told her. ‘It was about a hundred degrees out there. But the views were killer.’
The private elevator opened across the lobby, and Brad and Maggie appeared. ‘Zach called,’ Brad told the others when he reached them. ‘He said he’s busy tonight.’
‘Doing what?’ Belle asked.
Brad shrugged. ‘Who knows? It’s typical Zach.’
‘He does enjoy being mysterious,’ Jason agreed.
‘Where’s Adam?’ Maggie asked. ‘And Paige?’
‘Adam isn’t back from the shoot yet,’ Jason said. ‘I’m sure he’s going to stay there until every single actor, cameraman, and grip has packed up and gone home.’
‘Where’s your sister?’ Erin asked Sienna. ‘Isn’t she late?’
‘I guess.’ Sienna checked her watch. ‘Wow. It’s almost eight thirty.’
‘Paige is never late,’ Brad said, an edge of worry creeping into his voice.
‘I know.’ Sienna frowned. ‘She was just planning to take a shower and get dressed for dinner. I don’t know why it would be taking so long.’
‘Maybe she fell asleep,’ Jason suggested. ‘She has been partying pretty hard, even since before we came to Vegas.’
‘Yeah, but so has everyone else.’ Sienna pulled out her cell phone. ‘I’m going to call her.’ She dialed, and gave Jason a smile as she waited for Paige to pick up.
Suddenly the blood drained from Sienna’s face.
‘What?’ Jason asked, concerned. ‘Sienna? What’s wrong?’
‘Paige’s phone …’ she said. ‘The message says that it’s been disconnected. But she’s been using that phone all week.’ Sienna’s eyes clouded with fear. ‘Something’s wrong!’
Jason nodded. ‘Let’s go check on her.’ He grabbed Sienna’s hand, and they jogged back over to the elevator. Moments later, they were knocking on the door of Paige’s penthouse suite.
There was no answer.
‘Paige?’ Sienna called through the door. ‘Paige! Are you in there?’
Still nothing.
Jason banged on the door.
‘Who … who’s there?’ Paige’s voice called from the other side.
Jason felt a rush of relief. Paige had probably just slept through all their knocking. She was there and she was fine. But then again … Her voice sounded frightened. More than frightened. Terrified.
‘Who is that?’ Paige demanded again.
‘It’s me, Sienna. And Jason,’ Sienna called back. ‘Let us in.’
After a moment, the door swung open. Sienna went right in, so Jason followed. Paige looked awful: pale and drawn, with sunken cheeks. She wore only a bathrobe, and her long dark hair was wet and clearly hadn’t been combed. She didn’t even say anything, just closed the door behind them and sat down on her bed.
Jason noticed that her hands were trembling. ‘Paige, are you sick?’ he asked gently. ‘You don’t look so good.’
Sienna went over and felt her sister’s head to see if she was feverish, but Paige shook her off. ‘The bathroom,’ she said. She drew her legs up underneath her and didn’t say anything else.
Jason strode over to the bathroom and glanced around. Everything looked perfectly normal.
Sienna came up behind him. ‘What’s going on?’ she murmured.
‘I have no idea.’ He turned back to Paige. ‘There’s nothing here, Paige. What’s wrong?’
Paige leapt to her feet with an energy that surprised Jason, rushed over to the bathroom, flipped on all the lights, and turned the hot faucet in the sink all the way on. Then she stalked over to the shower and turned that on full blast, too, spinning the handle all the way to ‘Hot’. Steam poured out of the open shower door.
‘Paige, I don’t understand,’ Sienna said. ‘What’s this all about?’
Paige didn’t answer. Instead, she pointed at the mirror that took up the entire wall behind the sink. It was already steamed up from all the heat.
And then Jason saw it: words, written on the mirror in the condensation that the steam had created … ‘See you soon’.
Nine
SIENNA GASPED.
‘Someone was here,’ Paige whispered, frightened, as she walked back to her bed. ‘Somebody was inside my hotel room!’
Jason nodded grimly as Sienna rushed over to the bed and threw her arms around her sister.
‘Oh, Paige, no wonder you’re all freaked out!’ Sienna exclaimed.
‘“See you soon”,’ Jason read aloud. He turned to Paige. ‘What does that mean?’
Paige bit her lip and looked down at her hands.
‘Is it a threat?’ Jason asked gently. He had a feeling Paige knew more about this than she was letting on.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Paige nodded. ‘It’s … it’s kind of a threat.�
��
‘From who?’ Sienna demanded. ‘Who’s threatening you?’
Paige took a deep breath. ‘In Paris, there was this guy. I met him almost as soon as I got there for college, and we started dating.’
Sienna nodded.
‘And it got pretty serious pretty fast,’ Paige went on.
Jason noticed Sienna’s surprised expression. He remembered Adam’s story about the three prom dates, and how Paige never dated anyone seriously. Somehow he got the feeling that Paige hadn’t meant the situation in Paris to get serious, either. Even now, she looked a little confused as she talked about it. In Malibu, Paige was always in control of her relationships, Jason thought. But it was different in Paris.
‘Who was this guy?’ Sienna asked.
Paige looked her in the eye. ‘His name is Marc. Marc Lessard.’
Sienna gasped.
‘Who’s he?’ Jason asked.
‘Lessard,’ Sienna said. ‘As in, the Lessards?’
‘Yes,’ Paige whispered. ‘His father is Pierre Lessard.’
‘Who are the Lessards?’ Jason demanded.
‘They’re one of the Thirteen Families,’ Sienna told him. ‘See, back when the vampire clans first decided to organize, there were thirteen particularly powerful families who got together and formed the first High Council. It was hundreds of years ago, in Paris.’
‘And these Lessards are still around?’ Jason asked.
Paige nodded. ‘Yes. Most of the original families died out over the years; there are only four left—’
‘Three,’ Sienna corrected her. She looked at Jason. ‘Your Aunt Bianca’s husband was a member of the fourth family. He was the last of his bloodline.’
‘And he didn’t have any kids,’ Jason said. He’d always known that, but all of a sudden some other things began to fall into place. ‘He didn’t leave an heir, except Bianca. That’s why she was so obsessed with turning Dani and me into vampires, to make sure that her late husband’s family didn’t die out!’
Sienna nodded. ‘You have to understand, Jason. There are a lot of vampire families. But the Thirteen Families were the most powerful. They had the most powerful vampire abilities, so their word became law. Anyone descended from those families is, well, special.’