Eleven

“Vegas?” Darby laughed, “You took me to Vegas?”

He grinned, “I figured you’d want to get away for awhile.”

“What brought this on? Does it have anything to do with Seth and the light faeries?”

“No,” he lied, knowing she wouldn’t be able to tell, “I just thought it might be nice, and that you would want to go.”

She smiled, “Thank you. So,” she looked around her in awe, “now what?”

“We get a hotel. We’ll hit the slots and bar later,” he winked.

“But we aren’t old enough,” she frowned, “we can’t do anything.”

“Love, there’s such a thing as fake ID’s, and with you slightly adjusting your glamour we’ll look exactly twenty-one. Besides, the casino we’re going to, the owner has a faerie son in my empire. He’s cool with the whole thing and allows me to gamble there. Perk of being king.”

She seemed insultingly amazed, “You have it all figured out.”

“For your sake you better hope I do. Lets check in, I want to show you around,” he didn’t wait for her reply, he put an arm around her waist and took her into the hotel with him.

Darby threw her backpack on the bed and released her glamour, giving her wings a chance to be present before she had to hide them again. After a moment of consideration she pulled out the dress that Christopher gave her, feelings overwhelming her as she recalled his beaming face when she took it from the wrapping. 

She slipped it on, enjoying the way the fabric clung to her body, emphasizing her curves. She thought of what Christopher would think if he saw her in it, his eyes would widen and he would demand that she took it off and changed into something less revealing while he went to return it.

She smiled.

At least Kellen will like it.  

But as she looked at herself in the mirror, reluctantly putting the glamour back in place, she couldn’t help but remember that she wanted to wear it to prom. She shook her head, trying to clear away those negative thoughts.

Human thoughts. 

She had accepted that she was a faerie, but tonight was going to be the night that she was really going to be happy with her new life.

Kellen gaped when Darby walked out of the bedroom. The black dress was floor length but it was the strapless front that got his focus.

High enough to not be s****y, but low enough to keep me interested. 

“You ready?” She asked, completely aware of the affect the dress was having on him.

He nodded, not quite getting his speech back. She smiled and followed her out. 

“Where to first?” She questioned on the street, speaking loud to be heard over the noise that filled the space around them.

“Bar,” he responded quickly.

Wonder how many drinks she can handle. 

“Lead the way.”

He could see she was a little uncertain.

Not an underage drinker, I see. This could be fun. 

“Kryptonite for me and a margarita for the girl,” he told the bartender.

“Can I see some ID,” The man behind the counter eyed him.

“How about you call the owner and tell him Kellen’s here,” he sighed. As much as he wanted to be alone with Darby, having Eric around made everything here easier.

In a couple of minutes a distinguished man in his early forties arrived, he greeted Kellen with a grin, “Kellen, always a pleasure. Who’s your beautiful guest?” He shook Darby’s hand.

“This is Darby. It’s her first time here.”

“Well, Darby, is there anything that could make your stay here any better?”

Kellen answered for her, “Drinks, your bartender is a very suspicious man. Good at his job, though. And maybe you could hang around, you know how people here get.”

Eric nodded and said to the bartender, “Could you get my guests their drinks? One me, of course.”

“Wonderful,” Kellen smiled, putting an arm around Darby. He watched in amusement as she took a cautious sip of the margarita, then a longer drink after she realized how good it was. He chuckled.

“Are you up for a game, Kellen?” Eric challenged, focusing back on them.

“Aren’t I always?” He cocked an eyebrow before answering Darby’s confused look, “It’s always a competition between us who loses the most money to the other each visit.”

“Kellen has yet to win,” Eric brought up.

Darby laughed as he glared at Eric, “This time I have a good luck charm,” he kissed Darby’s cheek.

“We’ll see,” Eric pulled out a chair for Darby at the blackjack table. She carefully sat down and Kellen took the spot beside her.

He placed his bet down on the table and Darby followed his movements.

The dealer dealt the cards and he grimaced.

Three.

“Hit me.”

Ten.

“Stand.”

“I’ll stand too,” Darby said at her next turn, an ace showing.

He flipped his hidden card and groaned, “Twenty-three. I’m over.”

Darby beamed, “Blackjack.”

And so it begins.

Darby took another long drink as she collected her money. 

We’re doing pretty well. But I’m doing better.

Eric laughed, “Perhaps you are lucky.”

“Told you,” Kellen smirked, putting money into the slot machine. She pulled down the handle and three sevens came up. They stared at the screen in disbelief.

“One hundred thousand dollars!” She gasped out. 

Jackpot. 

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. He seemed more surprised than she was by the gesture. He collected the money and said to Eric, “We’re going to go eat. We’ll see you later.”

They grabbed an empty table in the small restaurant. She looked down at her hands as he gazed at her.

“You’re absolutely lovely,” he told her, pulling her hands onto the table and rubbed his fingers over her thumb.

She changed the subject, the color not fading from her cheeks, “You better lay off the alcohol. First a kiss, you don’t want to get in deeper.”

He was stunned, “You think I kissed you because I’m drunk?”

She shrugged.

“Well there’s some things you should know. I kissed you because I wanted to, being drunk had nothing to do with it. And also, it takes a lot of mortal alcohol to get a faerie drunk. Now faerie alcohol is a completely different story.”

“Hmm, that changes things.”

He laughed, “I hope in a good way.”

“It is,” she told him.

“Do you want to eat?” He asked her.

“Yeah. But, what would happen to me if I ate human food? We’re drinking human alcohol, it can’t be bad, right?”

“We can eat it, but it doesn’t feed us. We couldn’t survive on it but nothing bad happens if we eat or drink it,” he chuckled, “how long has that been bothering you?”

She shifted uncomfortably, “Ever since you handed me the drink.”

He laughed.

“Anyway, what’s on the menu?” She settled back into her seat.

“See if you can guess.”

She licked her lips, “Citrus?”

“Excitement,” he informed her.

“That’s a dark emotion?”

“Of course,” he lied, “I’m a bit insulted by how little you think of your empire’s emotions.”

“You surprise me.”

I’m surprising myself too. This is a new low even for me.

She looked at him expectantly, “Well, aren’t you going to have anything?”

“Oh, I already ate. See over there,” he motioned to an overweight bald man standing over by the slots, “I drank his longing for that waitress over there,” he then gestured to the young asian waitress to the side of them. He grinned, “mortal hopes are always fascinating.”

She concentrated on them and frowned, “I don’t even smell anything.”

S**t. 

“Longing is a bit more complex and difficult to pick up on. You’re still young.”

She nodded, “We’re doing really well tonight.”

“How about we turn this into another competition? Whoever wins the most money by three gets to decide what we do in the hotel room,” he said the words innocently but there was a raunchy gleam in his dark eyes.

“Alright,” she accepted.

No way am I letting him win.

“Just so you know, I never lose there kind of games.”

Darby leaned her body across the table, knowing full well it wasn’t her face that he was staring at, “Wanna bet?”

Kellen handed Darby another drink, hoping that even if he lost he’d still get what he wanted.

So far, so good. 

But the games he was playing made him far from lucky. He had lost more money than he had won, but Darby wasn’t doing much better. If he won one hundred dollars in this machine then he’d tie up with her.

“Damn,” he growled.

Nothing.

He glanced over at Darby.

At least she lost too. Maybe Eric could lend us some money. . .

“Let’s go back to blackjack again,” she suggested, nearly tripping on air as she walked back.

That time they were victorious, after the next few games, not so much. 

Eric handed him another ten dollars in quarters.

He lost that money as soon as it hit the table. But he didn’t care, he just bought another drink and placed a new bet with Eric’s money.

Darby leaned against him, “I’m winning,” she drawled out, her voice soft and giddy.

“I know, but thanks for the update.”

“Don’t be a sore loser,” she giggled as the dealer took away their chips.

He muttered to himself as he reached into his pocket for the rest of his chips.

Where’d they go?

He looked around but Eric was no where in sight. He turned to Darby, “Do you happen to have any money or chips?”

“I have a dollar left,” she handed it to him, “why?”

“Let’s try the slots.”

“Use your own money.”

“I would, but I don’t have any.”

“Well don’t use mine,” she took it back but still went over to an empty slot machine, “I’ll do it.”

He came back behind her and put his arms around her waist as she leaned her head back against his shoulder while the machine’s cards flipped.

Nothing.

She turned around and kissed him, “Now what?”

“Let’s go back to our room.”

“Who won?”

“You did.”

She laughed, “Told you.”

“Yeah, well, lets go. What do you want to do?”

I have some ideas. 

“I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”

Please be what I’m thinking.

Darby fell back onto the bed and Kellen took her into his arms. She picked up a deck of cards, “Want to play gin?”

He downed the rest of his champagne, “You deal.”

She took a gulp of wine and dealt out the cards. It didn’t last long, soon they were both on the floor laughing hysterically, the cards untouched.

Kellen finished the last bottle of wine and tried to get the last drop out from it, falling over in the process.

“You’re so wasted,” she giggled.

“Me? You haven’t stopped laughing since we fell off the bed,” he thought a moment, “how did that happen?”

She shrugged and crawled into his lap, “This is fun.”

“Better than any other time I came here,” he agreed.

“Think you won against Eric?”

“Probably. You’re my lucky charm,” he kissed her.

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him back, this time not allowing him to get loose. He seemed perfectly fine with that.

“I’m not going to lose you to Seth,” he murmured.

“You never were,” she told him, not sure how he got into the conversation.

“Promise that you’ll stay with me.”

“I’ll always stay with you,” she said honestly.

Then, she blacked out.