by S A McClure
They stood like that for a moment before she cleared her throat and stepped away from him.
“Tell the LaRues that we want to meet again in one week,” she said.
He nodded once. “I look forward to seeing you again.”
“Find a trainer,” she said. “Learning to control your abilities is worth it.”
“I will,” he promised.
She nodded. A smile crept across her face. If nothing else, she could help make a positive change for him. Her heart fluttered slightly at the warmth in his return smile. She shoved down the elation she felt bubbling within her. This was decidedly not what she wanted.
She slipped past him without another word. He didn’t try to stop her. She felt his eyes lingering on her as she left. For the slightest of moments, her stabilizers tingled as energy coursed up her arms and a sense of foreboding enveloped her. It passed quickly, and she didn’t give it a second thought as she collected Jasper from the tunnel and made her way back to the Underworld.
Chapter Five
Amber twirled a strand of her hair between two fingers as she looked at her cards again. She had a king and a two, both hearts. Scooting several chips forward, she raised the bet. She’d been sitting at this table for well over an hour now, and her fingers had tingled the entire time.
Someone at this table was cheating.
Furtively, she glanced at the rest of the players. One of their regulars sat next to her. He shoved his shades up the bridge of his nose as he stared down at his cards. Sweat rolled down his temples. He’d already lost ten thousand credits during the time Amber had been at the table. He dropped the cards onto the table and called her bid. He was down to the last of his chips. Anymore betting from him could only mean one thing: he’d leave—which Amber doubted—or he’d request a house loan.
Amber swallowed. He clearly wasn’t the cheater.
She directed her gaze towards a couple at the other end of the table. She wore a red dress so form fitting, it left little to the imagination. Cutouts around her sides and back gave the impression the dress was little more than strips of fabric tied together. She’d already drank three sangrias while Amber had been at the table, and she giggled every time her partner leaned in to whisper in her ear.
Unlike the woman he was with, the man seemed almost stoic as he observed the game table. He wore a pressed shirt and tie. Muscles strained beneath the fabric when he pushed more chips onto the table to further raise the bet. He’d won several times during the game and Amber couldn’t tell if he was just lucky, counting cards, or cheating.
Between the man to her left and the couple across the table sat an older man with white hair and a younger, single female with startling red hair. The older man was another regular. He spent a lot of money on drinks for younger men and women who joined him at tables. On more than one occasion, Amber had seen him convince an unsuspecting beginner to leave with him for the night.
The single female glanced nervously at her cards and then at the dwindling chips before her. She leaned in close to the older man and whispered, “What should I do?” before flashing her cards at him.
Although not strictly forbidden by the Underwold, players showing their cards to other members of the same table was frowned upon by not only Morta, but also the other enforcers scattered across the various tables in the casino. Amber sipped from her wine glass and watched the older man drop his hand onto the woman’s back as he peered closer at her cards. His lips curled into a soft smile as he told her to call the bid instead of folding.
The flop followed, and Amber knew that she might have one of the best hands. Two more hearts, a ten and an ace, and the two of spades. She resisted the urge to smile as she shoved a healthy bet forward.
The nervous regular beside her glared, more sweat coating his upper lip. He licked it off, smacking his lips closed again as he glanced between his cards and the ones revealed in the flop. He shoved the remainder of his chips forward.
“All in,” he said, gruffly.
Amber tapped her fingers on the table. She couldn’t affect what happened during card games as well as she could in something like craps or roulette. But, she could tell if someone else was using an ability to manipulate the odds or straight up cheating. The moment his fingers lifted from the chips, her stabilizers flared to life and a sting of hot pain coursed up her arms.
She caught one of the guard’s eyes. She liked him. They’d even gone on a date once. He turned out not to be her type, but he’d been fun. She tucked the strand of hair she’d been playing with behind her ear and rolled her eyes at him. He smirked before casually strolling over and sinking into the empty chair to her right.
He didn’t say anything as he placed his chip reader on the table, and the dealer nodded at him. New players had to wait until the end of the hand to enter the game.
As anticipated, the older man called, the younger woman folded, the stern man across the table raised, and his companion also folded. Amber pushed in more of her chips. What the other players at the table didn’t know was that she had an unlimited supply of credits to use when working the room. Morta expected her to watch the elite tables during their peak times and sit in the lower grade rooms whenever she could. It was part of her contract.
The man beside her tapped the electronic pad in front of him and signed into his account. Amber averted her eyes as he made a few selections, and the pad went blank again. The dealer counted out another ten thousand chips and pushed them in front of the man.
He ran his fingers over the tops of the chip stacks before finally dividing his new inventory and shoving in a third.
The white-haired man blanched. He looked between his cards and the ones on the table before folding. He leaned in close to the girl and asked her what she wanted to drink.
“Club soda,” she responded, a smile dancing across her lips.
Smart girl.
Unsurprisingly, the man across from her called.
The turn revealed the queen of diamonds.
Amber did some quick calculations. She still had a good hand, but if someone had a jack, they could have a straight. She still needed another heart to have a flush. The best she had right now was a pair of twos, which wasn’t enough.
“Call,” she said, sitting back and sighing.
To her surprise, everyone else called, and the river was turned without any additional bids.
Amber’s heart dropped when she saw the flash of red as the last card was turned. And then sank deep into the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t a heart. Four of diamond.
Her hands shook as she looked at her cards again. Her head ached, and all her senses screamed that there was something else going on. She gripped the sides of her chair as she slipped her cards over to reveal that all she had was a pair of twos.
Arrogant lover had the ten of clubs and the ten of spades. Amber narrowed her eyes at him. He had three of a kind, a decent hand for sure. The tingling sensation in her hands began to burn the longer she stared at him. She couldn’t tell if he was the one cheating or not. She nudged the guard, Anthony, as she turned to face the man sitting to her left.
He smirked as he revealed the jack of heart and a king of clubs. Amber scowled at the cards as the heat in her hands grew beyond a comfortably warm sensation to a raging fire. She elbowed the guard in the gut and hoped he would catch her meaning as the regular began to rake in his rewards.
He stood, strode to the spot directly behind the regular, and placed his hands on the man’s shoulders. The regular jolted, his eyes bulging from his head.
“What in the stars!” he began as he turned to face Anthony
“Come with me,” he said, his face emotionless.
Amber closed her eyes and breathed out slowly. The pounding of her heart in her chest thrummed in her ears as she prayed that the man went quietly.
He wiped sweat from his brow with the back of hand and glared at Anthony.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” he spat.
A
nthony flashed his badge, the one all the guards carried with them for this exact reason, before yanking the man out of his chair.
“Put me down!” he yelled. He flailed his arms out, knocking Amber in the back of the in the process.
She was more stunned than hurt.
“You need to come with me,” Anthony reiterated. “There’s no reason to cause a scene.”
The man growled and flung his head background, knocking Anthony straight in the nose. Amber heard the distinctive crunch of his nose breaking. The other women at the table screamed, both leaping to their feet and backing away from the table.
Great.
Amber laid a hand on the man’s arm and squeezed gently. She leaned in close and whispered, “Do you know who I am?”
He trembled beneath her grasp, and his breathing hitched. He recognized her. His skin faded into a pale cream, dark bags under his eyes becoming more prominent.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he stammered.
“You and I both know that’s not true,” she replied. She tightened her grip on his arm.
He sagged beneath her touch. She doubted herself for a moment. It was rare, but there were times when she incorrectly determined who was cheating at a particular table. It made the most sense that the cheater would be him. He’d been losing. He’d just taken out an additional, large sum of credits. And then he’d miraculously won after driving the pot high.
He squirmed beneath her grasp. “Please, I swear I won’t do it again.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. She hated when she was right.
“There is nothing I can do for you,” she whispered.
Anthony gagged the man with a proficiency that made Amber uncomfortable. He punched the man once, then twice over the temple. Bruises spread across the man’s skin, dark and spidery. She looked away.
“Take him to the holding room. I’ll send someone to deal with him,” she commanded, not meeting Anthony’s gaze. He made an affirming sound before throwing the man over his shoulder and slipping from the room.
The room had gone still and silent. The two other women who had been at their table were sitting quietly in their chairs, their skin pale and eyes swollen. Amber rubbed the back of her hands. They were still warm from the stabilizers heating beneath her skin.
Sometimes she wondered what it would be like without the stabilizers to help her control her abilities. She would be stronger, more capable of controlling the world around her, but her abilities would be less predictable. Although her ability wasn’t as violent as some of the others she’d seen over the years, it could still be dangerous.
“You certainly have a knack for getting yourself into trouble,” a low voice whispered into her ear.
She cocked her head towards him. She’d learned the less she emoted, the more power she retained.
“Have you been watching me?” she asked, a hint of amusement in her voice despite the squirming in her stomach.
He moved to take the seat next to her, and she glanced at the speaker. There was something familiar about him, but she didn’t quite know where to place it. His coppery brown hair curled slightly at the ends as he swept a hand through it.
“You’re hard to miss,” he said as he slipped his hand into his jacket and pulled out a tablet. The retina scanner ignited as he stared into the camera. He held the screen close to his body, and he punched in his security code and handed it to the dealer. “You’ll join me for a game,” he said.
It wasn’t a question.
Amber considered declining. She did need to notify the guard center that there was a new occupant in the holding room. But she also couldn’t deny the curiosity brimming within her.
“Who are you?” she asked as she picked up a chip from her pile and began flipping it back-and-forth over her fingers. When he didn’t respond, she asked, “Have we met before?”
“I’m hurt you don’t remember,” he said, pressing his hands to his chest. He looked aghast at her, but his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Then again, it was the reigning of a new year, so who knows how high you were.”
It was her turn to pretend to be offended. She didn’t drink often and had only tried the psychotropic drugs popular in the casinos when Morta had insisted she understand the substances’ effects. She didn’t enjoy being called out like this.
“Oh, did I misjudge? It’s just that you slammed into me with little regard.” He shrugged. His golden-brown eyes smoldered as he lifted one of his chips and placed it before him to enter the game.
“I normally prefer blackjack, but since you were here, I suppose I’ll just have to test my luck.”
Her back stiffened at the way he said the last three words. She didn’t feel in danger, and her ability didn’t pulse within her, yet his words left her feeling unsettled. She shoved forward her bet without looking at the two cards dealt to her.
She retraced her steps the night of the new year. There’d been a guard wearing a black outfit and a devil mask and she’d been joined at the bar by a man wearing a fox’s mask. She studied his profile as he looked at his cards before raising the bid.
Straight nose; smooth, olive skin that glowed slightly when the light hit it; full, dark eyebrows; a narrow face and chin.
He was handsome, in his tailored clothing. A ruby ring glistened on his finger. She took in his toned shoulders and strong arms. He clearly spent time in a training facility. A silver ring hung from his belt with different items attached to it. Some of them glowed.
“See something you like?” he whispered exaggerated the motion of looking towards his crotch.
Her eyebrows rose, and she felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she quickly turned away from him. Flustered, she wiped her hands on her dress.
He ran a hand down her arm. Electricity exploded in the places his skin met hers. He paused on the place where her tattoos covered the worst of her scars and scowled. Rubbing his thumb over the raised tissue, he met her gaze.
“You should not have had to experience this,” he whispered.
She pulled her arm from his grasp and turned her back to him. Her heart leapt in her chest. The way he engaged with her, it felt as if he were looking straight through her. Like he could see into her very soul. And Amber wasn’t even sure she believed in souls. For all she knew, they could be nothing more than meat sacks that decayed when the heart stopped pumping.
“Keep my bid as a tip, Rinald,” she said as she slipped from her chair. “I won’t be back tonight.”
She swept what remained of her chips into a small black pouch and stormed from the table. Who did he think he was? She had thought only Morta knew of the scars. She wanted it that way. She didn’t want or need their pity. Despite the odds stacked against her, she had been strong enough to get out.
She had survived.
She didn’t need a reminder of what she’d come from. They seeped into her dreams almost every night and, despite the reconstructive surgery Morta had paid for, the scars could not be healed. There were too many of them that were too deep and had killed too much of her flesh.
She clenched and unclenched her fists as she wandered around the casino. If she had wanted him to know about her past, she would have told him.
Lost in thought, she didn’t pay attention to where she was going. She drifted to the back of the casino and into a secluded area. Round couches formed pods where private conversations could be had. Noise cancellers were installed at each table for that very purpose. She sank into one them and sighed in relief.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” a voice said from behind her.
She jumped and smacked her head on the wall. Even lucky people could be clumsy. Go figure. She groaned as she rubbed the back of her head.
“Go away,” she said and reached for the other device installed at each table. If engaged, it would form a pod of energy around her, protecting her.
“Please, don’t,” he said as leaned his head into the section. “If you engage that now, you’ll kill me.”
> “Would serve your right for interrupting my alone time,” she hissed. Her thumb hovered the button.
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“I never get uncomfortable. I was just done with the game.”
He smirked at her. “We both know that’s not true.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, I know.”
He stepped into the small section and sat down on the other side of the couch, opposite her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“You intrigue me,” he replied simply.
“You barely know me.”
He shrugged. “I’ve heard of you.”
She heaved in a deep breath. That was the second time in only a few days that someone had told her that she was noteworthy on this planet. All she wanted was to fly under the radar. She didn’t need people coming after her. To use her. She’d had enough of that on Earth. With her uncle. She’d be damned if she let that happen to her here.
“What do you want?” she asked.
He smirked at her. “I would have thought that was obvious.”
Okay. Well, then. She narrowed her eyes at him. Most men who wanted to get intimate with her in that way only wanted one of two things: a favor or power.
She was about to politely decline him when a scream broke through the hum of the casino. It sent a shiver down her spine, and she shot to her feet. It sounded close. Too close.
She waited for a second, to see if she’d imagined it—praying that she had. A second blood-curdling scream rang down the hall. This time, Amber didn’t hesitate. She ran towards it, the small pulser pistol she carried with her in the casino already in her hand.
Chapter Six
She slipped on the blood pooling on the marble floor. Hissing, she caught herself on an overturned seat cushion. What the hell happened here? she thought as she leapt to her feet and around the corner.
The sight before her made her stop in her tracks. She doubled over, a dry heave already wracking her body. There were at least three of them. All women. Their torsos were sliced down the middle. Chunks of hair with pink flesh still attached lay on the floor where they’d been ripped out.