Luscious Craving (14 page)

Interesting choice
, I thought. There were no sharp edges, nothing that could cut me. The restraint was not designed to put an end to my existence. Only, depending on the circumstances and how I reacted to them of course, to make it very, very uncomfortable.

Without warning, I heard a low rumbling sound. The floor beneath my feet began to tremble,
then
shifted abruptly.
One sudden motion that had my wrists pulling against the silver in agony before I could right myself.
But in that painful moment, I was sure I understood. Had Edgar Allan Poe been a human servant of the Board? For surely the floor was going to drop away, little by little, inch by inch, until all my weight was on my arms, a process that could take hours or days. There was absolutely no way to tell. Only one thing was certain. I would be in agony before the end.

Think, Ash
, I commanded myself, even as I felt the floor shift once more.
Use your mind to get you out of this. It is a test of the dark.
A test of will over matter
.

The floor slipped again, and I shifted up to my toes. The seconds ticked by. I put my feet flat up against the wall at my back, desperately trying to keep myself upright. It simply could not be done. With a second great groan, the floor dropped away entirely. My feet slid down. The manacles tightened against my wrists, searing like acid, as my arms took my full weight. Pain screamed up my arms, spread throughout my body like wildfire. I fought to subdue it, to force my mind away from the pain even as my body thrashed like a fish on a line.

My vision went gray around the edges. Spots danced before my eyes.
Don’t black out
, I chanted to myself.
You are strong enough to hold on. Don’t black out. Don’t give in to the dark
.

And in that moment I understood. I was getting it all wrong. I had provided the clue myself: not surrender of will, but conscious dedication to a greater cause. This was what the Board demanded. This was the true test of the dark.
To surrender not my will, but my ego.
To give it over to the pain and the dark.

I let my body go completely limp. Screaming in agony as the silver slid along skin already scraped raw.
Surrender is a voluntary act
, I thought. An act of will that seems like defeat but, in the end, brings its own kind of triumph.

And at that moment, the manacles snapped free and I felt myself begin an endless fall through what I had just chosen of my own free will: the darkness.

Nine

Las Vegas
, present
Candace

Early the next evening I was back at the Scheherazade. After an entire day of getting nowhere with my con investigations, I had decided to come into work for two reasons. First, if I got as familiar with the overall tournament setup as I could, maybe it would be easier, come New Year’s Eve, to spot where something was going wrong. And second—a far less noble reason—was that I wanted a distraction against further thoughts of Ash, even if that distraction meant wearing the
I Dream of Jeannie
uniform.

I walked toward the poker area. I saw Michael sitting at one of the tables. I didn’t think he noticed me, but it was hard to tell for sure. He had his sunglasses on and seemed to be staring at the center of the table where the dealer was putting out the flop, three cards
faceup
that all the players used to make their best hand.

Then I saw another familiar man standing a dozen feet from the area marked off for the tournament. Senator Cabot
Hamlyn
. It was impossible to pick up a newspaper without reading about the brilliant
New England
senator who appeared destined to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

He was even better looking in person, tall with an Ivy League polish. I watched him walking past the tournament tables, chatting with the players, seeming engaged and interested in what each player had to say.

Randolph Glass was just a few steps behind him, a chic blond woman on his arm. I hadn’t ever given Katherine Glass much thought. I just assumed—based on comments from
Bibi
and a few from
Randolph
—that she was an unappealing bitch. In fact, Mrs. Glass was Grace Kelly–gorgeous. She appeared gracious and had a friendly word for everyone at the tournament. She laughed at something her husband said, her hand on his arm.

They were the perfect image of a power couple. Worse, a power couple who shared intimate jokes and looked comfortable together.
Bibi
wasn’t going to be happy.

I walked into the tournament area and went over to Michael. He had a huge stack of chips in front of him and looked relaxed. Things were obviously going well.

“Would you like something, sir?” I asked.

“I would.” He wasn’t playing that hand, but he was watching the other players, looking for anything that might help him the next time he bet.

“And what would that be?”

“What would
you
recommend? I need something on the rocks to ease the heat here.” His smile made it clear that I was the cause of the heat. It was the first time he had seen me in my costume. “Can you get me an All Night Long?”

I gave him a wide-eyed innocent smile. “Let me check with the bartender, sir.”

“I was hoping
you
could answer that.”

I returned to the bar with my drink orders, my thoughts circling back to Ash once more.
You have to hold him at arm’s length, Candace
, I thought. I knew how persuasive Ash could be. Getting too close to him again was a risk I was not prepared to take. I had already been down that road.

I gave my drink order to the bartender and turned to watch the activity in the casino. Everything seemed normal.
The calm before the storm?

One of my favorite coworkers appeared at the bar. Marlene has been a cocktail waitress at the
Sher
ever since
Randolph
took it over. She dropped a folded napkin on my tray.
“For you.”
She nodded toward the tournament area.
“From the guy at the middle table with the dark glasses.”

I opened it. Michael’s note was to the point.

Dinner?
After this round.
Choose the place.

Picking up another napkin, I scribbled a message.

Can’t tonight.
Previous plans. Sorry.

I folded it and gave it to Marlene to return to Michael. If I took it over myself, he would have questions I wouldn’t want to answer.

“And it’s all about the children. Nothing’s too good for them,” I heard Senator
Hamlyn
saying as he walked past with the Glasses and the rest of his entourage in tow. I could pick out the bodyguards, because they were looking everywhere
but
at the senator.

All of a sudden, I just felt depressed. I was getting nowhere on every front. I was no closer to figuring out how the con would go down, and I had just turned down a date with a very attractive living, breathing male to keep one with a vampire.

“I’m packing it in,” I told Marlene, as she swung back by. Thanks to Al, I wasn’t officially on the schedule anyhow.

“Go on ahead,” she said at once. She sent me a wink, clearly thinking I was ditching out to be with the guy at the poker table. “Have fun.”

After changing into my streets, I headed for the rehearsal halls. Classical music filtered out of one of the smaller rooms. I opened the door and saw
Bibi
, dressed in a pale pink leotard with a ratty gray sweatshirt over it, working at the
barre
in front of the mirrored wall. Her motions were slow and graceful. She was in her zone, the place she went when she couldn’t endure what was going on around her.

“Hey,” she called as she caught sight of me. Grabbing a water bottle, she turned off the music and walked over to me. “How’s it going? What are you doing around?”

“I came to see you,” I said. “Things are kind of weird out on the floor, what with the press and all.” At the mention of press,
Bibi’s
face grew taut.
Nice, Candace
, I thought.
Way to go. Rub her nose in the fact that Katherine’s in the casino, why don’t you
…

“It’s okay,” she said with a strained smile. “I know what’s going on with the meet-and-greet. So, have you seen her?” she asked.

I didn’t have to ask who “her” was. “Uh-huh,” I nodded.

“Gorgeous, isn’t she?”
Bibi
asked,
her tone glum. “Not to mention blond.”

“You could be a blonde if you wanted to be,” I said loyally. “And your legs are longer.

“So how are you, really?” I asked.

“Actually,” she said, “I’m fine. It’s amazing how a good night’s sleep, even one with the strangest dreams, can take the edge off a hangover.”

“Still don’t remember much?”

Bibi’s
forehead creased.
“Nope.
I remember talking to you, meeting at the
Bellagio
. There was some guy.”

“Theo.”

“Oh, yeah, Theo.
That’s right.” All of a sudden, her eyes widened. “I didn’t go home with him, did I?”

“No way,” I said. “You were never that far gone. We went to a club, Taste.” I hesitated,
then
said, “Taste turned out to be a vampire club.”

Bibi’s
eyes widened.
“
Omigod
.
Candace, are you okay?”

“Fine,” I said, completely taken by surprise.

“Ash wasn’t around?”

“No,” I said firmly, as I understood her concern. She thought I had been in danger, when it was actually the other way around. “We did not run into Ash last night.” Sometimes, sticking to a half-truth is better than no truth at all.

“Maybe he’s left Vegas,”
Bibi
suggested.

“No.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“How?”

“Ash and I are…connected,
Bibi
,” I said. “If he left Vegas, I would know.”

“New Year’s is coming,” she said with an attempt at a smile. “I propose we make some serious kick-ass resolutions.”

“I second the motion.”

“
Here’s
mine: I’m going to do a serious reassessment of my relationship with
Randolph
. I didn’t come to Vegas for him, after all. I came here to dance. I’m a good dancer.
A really good dancer.
I know it, and so does everybody else in town. If
Randolph
doesn’t want me at the
Sher
, so be it. There are other jobs, not to mention other men.”

“Good for you.” Grinning like idiots, we high-
fived
.

“And what’s your resolution?”
Bibi
asked.