Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(39)

The dealer glanced up at that. It didn’t sit well with me. I wasn’t discussing vampire politics with so many humans within earshot.

“Is there somewhere else we could talk about this?” Maybe I was being paranoid, but we had enough trouble already. Jenner might have had the Vegas FPA in his pocket, yet that didn’t mean they’d be happy with me speaking so candidly in public. And one thing I did not need was to catch hell from my local sector when I got home.

Roscoe rolled his eyes. “Whatever’s going on over there, it must be good. Go grab a seat at those slot machines over there. I’m on a bit of a roll here. I’ll join you in a few.”

Was he kidding me? I glared and opened my mouth to tell him to f**k the cards. Jez steered me away before I could blast him.

“We don’t have the f**king time for this,” I fumed.

“No, we don’t. Either he doesn’t give a shit, or he doesn’t think it’s his problem. Losing your temper on him won’t help though. Let’s give him a few minutes, then we walk. We can handle this without him.” Jez dropped into a seat in front of a slot machine and produced a twenty.

Reluctantly, I sat at the machine next to her and watched her play. I considered reaching out to Arys but feared the connection would drop me again. Or worse, distract him when he needed focus. I squirmed, impatient and anxious.

Jez had played her way down to three remaining dollars when Roscoe sidled up with drinks in hand. He set them in front of us and took the free chair beside me.

“This better be worth interrupting my game. Did you see the fox working the table? I want a nip of that.” He grinned wide, flashing me a glimpse of gold fang.

I wasn’t sharing his mischievous humor. “The blood ring launched some kind of attack on the club. They’re over there with Arys and Jenner right now doing God knows what. We made it out, but they stayed. They need us.”

Roscoe’s head bobbed. “Uh huh. I warned Jenner that this would happen. He was so insistent on getting out of the blood ring. He failed to secure his replacement. It was only a matter of time until they came to collect.”

I stared at him as if he’d sprouted a second, even stupider, head. “Ok, so what are we going to do about it?”

“We?” He chuckled. “Jenner should have known better. You don’t just tell an organization like that you won’t be supplying them anymore. Not without finding a supplier to fill the hole. He’ll have to do some fast talking to weasel his way out of this one.” Roscoe’s throaty laugh picked at my nerves. This was a joke to him.

“I thought you were Jenner’s right hand. Doesn’t that mean you should be there with him instead of Arys?” Jez piped up. She sipped from the long island iced tea and made a small noise of satisfaction. “Damn, this is good.”

With a shrug, he popped some money into the slot machine. “I am Jenner’s right hand. He’s like a brother to me. He’s also a know-it-all who gets too arrogant for his own good.”

“Sounds like every other vampire in your bloodline,” I muttered, tasting the iced tea. It was pretty darn good. Sweet and smooth.

“Yes, it does. Harley wasn’t big on the meek and mild type.” The vampire’s gaze traveled over me, lingering on my br**sts before meeting my eyes. I raised a brow in question. He didn’t bother to fake being apologetic. “I bet he really liked you. When he wasn’t busy hating you, of course.”

“That mother f**ker tried to blood bond me against my will. He was a selfish monster who saw us all as toys to collect, but he didn’t want us to play with each other. Twisted bastard.”

The slot machine made a bunch of noise, and Roscoe swore appreciatively as his money doubled. “Harley got what he deserved. But if anyone asks, I never said that.” He laughed and gave me a nudge that almost knocked me off my chair.

“And what about Arys and Jenner? Do they deserve whatever’s happening to them right now?” I asked.

Roscoe tapped away at the screen of his machine, silently playing a few hands of video poker. When I was ready to flick him in the forehead, he drawled, “Aw, they’ll be fine. They’re no use to the blood ring dead. If anything, Arys’s presence will keep them interested in working out a deal.”

For someone who had come to Caesars to threaten us as soon as we’d arrived, Roscoe wasn’t showing much concern now that Jenner was facing serious trouble.

“I can see this was a waste of valuable time.” The words felt funny in my mouth, like I was speaking with a cotton ball on my tongue. “Forget we even came.”

When I stood up, the room tilted dangerously. I grabbed onto my chair to keep from going down, barely keeping myself off the floor. What the hell?

“What the f**k…did you put in our drinks?” Jez’s demand came out slurred. The half-empty glass slipped from her hand. It spilled on the floor, and she went down with it.

I made a clumsy attempt to grab for her. Everything spun. I tried to stay on my feet, but it was difficult to tell which way was up. The disorienting sensations grew quickly, stealing my ability to speak coherently.

“Shifter sedative,” he said with a sly grin. “Handy little mix of wolfsbane and a tranquilizer strong enough to take down a bear. Sorry ladies, can’t have you getting in the way.”

The last thing I saw was Roscoe’s mildly amused face. Then the black abyss of drug-induced unconsciousness swallowed me whole.