“Feeling lucky?”
Gunner

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, PM

GM: The pair lie upon the floor in one another’s arms. Their hair and makeup is mussed, despite their best efforts, but Josua doesn’t seem to care. Not if he may hold the goddess close—or rather, be held by her, his head resting just below her breasts, her hands stroking his hair. He rubs his hairless legs against Jade’s, shivering at the sensation.

“We’re sex bombs. You know that? Just look at us. We’re primed and ready to explode.”

“And we just did.”

Celia: “We just did,” she agrees. Her fingers run through the silky smooth strands of the dead girl’s hair. What had her name been? Brianna? Bree? Brittany? She thinks it might have been a B, but she doesn’t recall ever asking. Just draining her, swallowing every last drop, sinking into the warmth of blood and ecstasy.

Literal ecstasy.

God, what a night.

Jade’s lipstick does not bleed, but Joy’s had. So had some of the power around her eyes, and the wings she’d been given look a little… off-kilter. It will be a quick touch up to set it right, made faster still by the gifts of her clan. In a moment, though. Now, she wants to enjoy the weight of Joy pressed against her, the feel of those silken strands.

“A bit premature,” she says idly, “we could have ensnared a whole slew of mortals, brought them back here to worship.”

She touches a finger to Joy’s lips.

“I’ll see you on your knees yet, darling.”

GM: “Oh, yes, mistress,” purrs Joy, nuzzling her belly. “We both want to see me suck a whole army’s worth of cocks. These lips were made for cocks.”

Celia: “They make gags, did you know, that keep your mouth open. O-ring gags, they’re called. You’d just have to kneel there and take it while they fuck your face if I got you one of those. Strap you down. Let men fill you from both ends.”

“You’re such a fuckable little bitch.”

GM: “I really am. I dress like such a slut, too. I can’t even leave my dressing room without fucking someone. I’d probably take the entire casino in my mouth and up my ass if I tottered out of here.”

“I wouldn’t even get to feed, with an o-ring gag. I wouldn’t even be a real lick. I’d just be a piece of ass.”

Celia: That’s all she is now. A piece of ass. Jade’s piece. Jade’s creation.

Jade shifts, thighs spreading to either side of Joy’s hips. She uses the weight of her body to pin the slut down, reaching for the bag of cosmetics. A few tweaks and her face is set to rights again.

“Next time,” she tells Joy. “Next time, I’ll let them bend you over like the whore that you are and stick as many cocks in you as they like. Now, though, we have a game to play.”

GM: Joy beams and bats her lashes under the makeup artist’s touch.

“We do. I haven’t even sucked any cocks yet, but I just want to say how educational this has been, and how much better I understand women now. I’m just as promiscuous as I was as Josua, but when I’m Joy I’m this absolutely shameless, cock-ravenous slut who’ll spread her legs the moment someone looks at her. It’s so illuminating to see myself that way.”

“I’m just such a slut.”

Celia: She longs for a cock again. She’d make Joy swallow it.

“Such a slut,” Jade agrees. She rises, towering over the girl on her back. On her back, like sluts should be. Back or knees; that’s where they belong.

Jade fixes her appearance in the mirror. Only when she’s done does she return her attention to Joy the slut.

“I suppose it would raise too many questions to make you crawl after me. Pity. You look good on your knees.”

Celia: All the same, a snap of her fingers summons Joy after her as she strides from the cabin.

There are more people yet to admire her work.

GM: Joy dutifully licks her shoes as she fixes her face, running a longing tongue up and down the straps and heels.

“Are we going to see Marcel, mistress?” asks Joy, her own heels clicking after Jade.

Celia: “Is it time already?”

GM: “We have some time left, mistress.”

“I could really lick your shoes, get them up to polish.”

Celia: “Mm,” Jade hums, finally turning to look at her, “and how would your lover feel if he found you with your tongue on my shoes?”

GM: “He’d know this is where an enormous, completely shameless slut like me belongs. But he’d be too polite to say it.”

Celia: “Do my heels need shining?” Jade glances down at them. “Did you miss a spot earlier?”

GM: “Oh I bet I did, mistress, I was probably too busy imagining them as cocks down my throat to do the job properly.”

“Or you could take me out in front of the casino guests and show them what a complete slut I am.”

Celia: Jade taps the roof of her mouth with her tongue, tutting at the excuse.

“If he finds cause to be displeased with my appearance because of your oversight, I’ll see to it that the next man who touches you splits you open.”

She knows just the one.

“Come, Joy. Let’s give them a show.”

GM: “It’s impossible for anyone to be displeased by your appearance, mistress. Just my polishing job. I hope he is, though. Getting split open is just what a hungry slut like me gets wet thinking about,” giggles Joy.

She clicks along after Jade to the main gambling hall, where the pair are assailed by a riot of sounds, smells, and scintillating colors. The first thing they notice is the massive array of slot machines with blinking lights, whirring sirens, and tokens clattering into the metal payout drawers. Gold and bright primary colors glint excitedly everywhere. Rowdy jazz music plays from speakers and a live band. Crowds of clapping, exclaiming, shouting people are clustered around the array of games, including three-card poker, blackjack, roulette, craps, Mississippi Stud, and Ultimate Texas Hold’em—and the ever-present slot machines that make up the most of any casino’s revenue. An all-you-can-eat Creole/Caribbean-themed buffet and bar is set up in the corner, along with the band. Cocktail waitresses weave their way through the lively crowds while suited croupiers smartly deal out cards.

Celia: She’d been too wrapped up in Josua’s embrace to pay much attention to her surroundings last time. Now, though, freed from the blessing of her clan, Jade sweeps her eyes around the casino. Larger than she had anticipated for it being on a boat. Nicer, too; she’d been picturing more of the same from the racino.

She ignores the slot machines entirely—she has had no luck there and her particular skills suit her better at the tables where she plays against other patrons rather than the house. Hold ’Em, specifically, though she doubts the prince will take kindly to her robbing his players blind.

“What’s your poison?” she asks Joy. “Craps is always a crowd favorite. Maybe someone will let you blow on their dice.” High energy around a craps table.

And half the players don’t understand the rules, just throw their chips onto numbers and hope for the best.

GM: “Craps sounds perfect, mistress. I’ll lick those dice right in front of them, totally shameless,” giggles Joy.

Celia: “I bet you could blow someone under the table. No cameras down there.”

GM: “I’d want a camera to capture that, though.”

Celia: “Not some stern-faced security guard that drags you before your mistress and asks what you think you’re doing sucking a cock without permission?”

GM: “The guards would all want me to blow them too. And you’d say yes, a slut like me was born to swallow dicks down her mouth.”

Celia: “If I had a cock,” Jade murmurs in her ear as they wind through the floor of breathers, “I’d make you kneel under the table no matter where I was with it in your mouth at all times. I’d let other people take a turn for a red chip. You would work your way around the table, swallowing load after load, until I told you to stop.”

GM: Joy gives another girlishly delighted giggle. “Why don’t we do that, mistress? I can just suck the heel of your shoe, instead of your cock. See how many red chips you can pick up.”

Celia: “Your friend won’t mind the spectacle?”

GM: “Would you, mistress? If it were your casino?”

Celia: Probably.

She looks around to get the measure of the typical patron, wondering how far she can push this.

GM: New Orleans isn’t Vegas, and the Alystra isn’t Harrah’s. They look mostly middle-class. “The richer patrons usually go to the baccarat lounge upstairs,” Joy adds.

Celia: She’s less interested in their wallets than she is the sort of person they are. The kind who don’t bat an eye at a BJ under the table? How many other hookers are here this evening? Jade scans the crowd.

GM: This place seems higher-class than Harrah’s.

Which is to say, the hookers are more discrete, and any giving under-the-table blowjobs are being pretty careful not to get caught.

Celia: Jade won’t be the one to cause a scene within someone else’s territory, tempting though it is. She shakes her head at Joy’s insistence.

GM: Joy makes a pouty face. “We’re a pair of sneaky girls, aren’t we?”

Celia: Jade can’t help but smirk.

“Are you trying to get me kicked out so you can hog him to yourself? That’s rude, pet.”

“That makes you a selfish little slut.”

GM: “You need a self to be selfish, mistress. Joy is just an extension of Jade. She’s a piece of Jade’s art.”

“I’m definitely a slut, though.”

Celia: “The thing about sneaking, you know, is that in order to do so you have to be ordinary. Nothing about us is ordinary. We turn heads. We want people to look at us.”

The look she gives Joy dares her to disagree.

She casts another appraising eye around the room, looking for a likely target. Someone with whom Joy can get down and dirty like she wants to. Someone who might even pay for the pleasure of it, turning Joy into the literal whore that Jade knows she is.

And there they are, the sort of mark that Jade searches for. Seven of them at a Hold ‘Em table with their leisure suits or their t-shirts paired with jeans and their stacks of chips. Casually dressed, but to the trained eye—her eye—they scream what they are. Wealthy. Experienced. She pegs the short, dumpy, dark-haired one as a pro player. The thin, twitchy one as a dealer or bookie, maybe both. The old one as a retired… something. Something that hardened him, that makes him slow to smile, but she knows with certainty that it isn’t his pension or his 401k that he’s gambling away this evening. A larger one, black, with a silver watch on his wrist. Blancpain. She can see it from here; despite the loose jeans and too-large shirt, he’s a man of means. And a virgin. She can tell by the way he smiles at the cocktail waitress in her little corset and skirt, by the way he laughs too long and too loudly at her joke, by the way he hands her an extra green chip when she drops off the drink and touches a hand to his shoulder.

Clever girl.

Jade watches the play from the corner of her eye as she approaches the cage to exchange her cash, handing over five crisp bills to receive a plastic tray full of red and white. Jade thanks the cashier with a smile and moves off, tugging Joy with her. A word to the hostess and the two girls are on their way to the table.

“Stand behind me,” Jade murmurs to Joy, “and work out that knot in my shoulder. We’ll see where it goes from there.”

There’s no such knot. Jade’s body is flawless.

“Evening, boys,” she says to the assembled men as she takes the final seat, just in time to catch the little blind. She sets down two white chips and waits for the cards, lifting just the corners to check them.

GM: Joy murmurs for Jade to appear normally in the cameras. Marcel’s people are trained to look for players who don’t show up normally, and will automatically assume they are cheating.

There may not be a knot in her shoulders, but Joy relishes touching them all the same. Very clearly so. She flashes the other players a wide smile as she works her hands back and forth over Jade’s skin. Both girls draw immediate looks from everybody. Some of the players try to look less smitten than others. But all of them must be.

How can they not be, to play alongside a goddess and her creation?

The short, dumpy man smirks between the pair of them. He looks pretty young. “Evening, lovelies. Feeling lucky?”

The older one grunts, though his stare lingers on Jade. Is it lust?

Mr. Blancpain them both and repeats, “Evening, lovelies,” with a wide smile.

Definitely virgin, to be repeating the other guy’s greeting.

Joy eyes all three, and the others too, as if deciding who to blow.

Or blow first.

The dealer, meanwhile, deals cards. Jade gets a nine and six of spades.

Celia: Jade inclines her head toward the dealer, the man she pegged as the pro player (now reconsidering, since she’s never known a pro player to talk about “luck” at a poker table when they all mostly believe it’s a game of skill), and the virgin. She follows Joy’s advice to make sure that she appears normal to the cameras; she’s had so much practice with it, after all.

“Brought my darling charm with me,” she says all the same, making a vague gesture toward Joy, “how could I not?”

Not a great start to her night with that hand, but six and nine are rather auspicious for her, aren’t they? Blatantly sexual and all that; maybe she’ll catch a straight. She’s already in for two. She’ll call the five and limp in if the table lets her.

But when the betting comes back around and the short man raises by $150, Jade simply folds her hand.

GM: There’s three cards on the table now. Seven of clubs, ten of clubs, three of hearts.

“Good luck charm might work better than a darling charm,” says the short man.

“Oh, a darling charm can work for a lot of things,” smiles Josua, still working Jade’s shoulder.

The virgin’s stare lingers on them both.

The fourth card is an eight of diamonds. Another man folds. The others check. The short man raises another $50.

The fifth card is a jack of diamonds. Everyone reveals their hands. The short man has the ace of hearts and a six of clubs. The chips all go to him.

“I don’t believe that poker’s a game of skill,” he says as he collects his chips.

The older man looks at him like he’s stupid.

“If luck is on your side, it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are.”

“Should I suck his cock?” Joy murmurs in Jade’s ear.

Celia: The words draw a peal of laughter from Jade. She lifts a hand to cover her mouth, and if anyone glances her way she simply shakes her head. Amusement dances in her eyes.

He’s one of those.

The button moves to the left and Jade is now the big blind. She sets down her red chip before the cards ever pass to her.

“Luck,” she says with a faint smile, “or a large stack to buy the pot.”

She does not dignify Joy’s question with a response. It’s a clear no.

GM: She gets the ace of clubs and the ace of spades.

One man calls.

The short man just smiles and raises another $150.

The virgin calls.

The older man folds.

One man folds. Another calls too.

Celia: Pocket aces? There’s no hesitation. Jade calls.

GM: Everyone plays through the hand as the dealer deals his cards. There are some more calls, checks, and folds, but two aces make the hand a largely foregone conclusion. When all the cards are laid out, and everyone reveals their hands, the short man had a king and queen. A great hand, but not good enough. The virgin and the others didn’t even venture higher than numbered man.

The chips go to Jade.

“Luck’s on your side this time,” the short man says breazily.

The old man snorts. “I’da raised earlier.”

Celia: Jade stacks her winnings in front of her, one brow arched at the old man’s comments. She’d gone all in by the end of it.

“Sure,” she says, “and chased everyone off the hand.” Which means less winnings, but Jade won’t be so crass as to discuss money at the poker table. She just smiles.

“I s’pose my girl is a good luck charm after all.”

GM: “Yeah,” says the virgin, “she’s definitely a good luck charm!”

“There are places you can just buy it, kid,” says the old man with another snort.

Celia: “A cute, lucky charm,” Jade agrees. She blatantly eyes him. “You want to borrow her?”

GM: The short man grins. “I believe in luck, but not lucky charms. Though she’s clearly charmed the table.”

There’s nothing at all subtle about the hungry smile Joy flashes the virgin.

“You sure you won’t need her luck?” the virgins asks with a mildly forced-sounding chuckle.

Celia: “I can come off her for a hand or two. Just make it worth my time.”

“Those hands of hers are magic.”

GM: Joy gives a bimbo-ish giggle and touches her fingertips to her lips. Her eyes don’t leave the virgin. She doesn’t say anything. Just plays the dumb bimbo on Jade’s arm.

“Okay then, you bet I will,” the virgin readily agrees.

Celia: Jade waves a hand at Joy.

“Go on then, dollface.”

“Make the man happy.”

GM: Joy gives a delighted giggle and starts to work her hands up and down the man’s shoulders. She’s very intimate in her touch. She leans in close so her hair brushes against his shoulders, but she doesn’t stay still. Sometimes her breasts brush against him. Sometimes she breathes half-audible sultry-sounding things in his ears. Jade is pretty sure she fondles his dick under the table, too.

Far from being a good luck charm, the virgin is flustered to the point he can barely think straight. He places big bets and raises as often as he can, just to look big and bold when Joy coyly whispers what a big pair he has.

The cocktail waitress gives Joy a dirty look when she comes by again.

Celia: As if Joy or Jade care about the dirty looks given to them by the kine who carry drinks for a living.

Maybe the others at the table don’t notice the way that Joy’s hands slip beneath the table, but Jade, seated right next to the virgin, hears the sudden intake of his breath when Joy’s hands find the spot where he’s really tense. She smirks and plays her hand, taking advantage of his distraction to force him into a large bet that nets her half his stack.

Joy carries on while Jade plays with the boys, making idle chitchat as the time passes. True to his word, the short, dumpy guy who believes in Lady Luck seems to have a knack for getting exactly what he needs. Lucky plays fast and loose with his chips as if he knows that she’s smiling down on him, and more than once he flips his cards to show something Jade wouldn’t have kept—lower, off suit—but still manages to win the pot. One hand he forces another player all in and they reveal their hands; it looks like the other guy has him beat until the dealer lays out the last card and the gentleman who loses mutters angrily about “catching the nuts on the river” before he stalks from the table. Jade winks at Lucky as they watch him go.

There’s always someone waiting to take the empty seat. Players come and go as the cards are dealt and chips change hands. Lucky tips the dealer well when she rotates out to make room for one of her coworkers.

By the time Jade and Joy start thinking that they should get going to meet Marcel, Lucky has the rest of the table beat in stack height. Jade isn’t so crass as to count her money at the table (or reference the song), but she’s at least doubled her initial investment and is pretty secure with her “second place” earnings.

GM: The virgin tries to stay attached to Joy. He offers to buy her drinks. “Or food. Or whatever you want.”

Joy gives a delighted-sounding giggle and glances Jade’s way as if for permission.

Lucky grins at both ladies as the game concludes and walks over to a Mississippi Stud table. He promptly starts winning at that too.

Jade sees the pit boss and several guards and floormen all watching him now.

The eye in the sky, of course, is always watching.

Celia: Jade gives Joy and the virgin a long look, then finally nods her head. Of course Joy can play with her new toy. She pulls Joy close as she starts stacking chips on the rack to cash out, leaning in to whisper in her ear.

“You are going to take your new friend into a private, secluded area and blow his mind. Get on your knees. Unzip him. And suck his cock like the fuckable little faggot I’ve turned you into.” She touches a hand to Joy’s cheek, thumb tracing her lips. “Make sure you swallow.”

GM: Joy gives another bimbo-ish giggle.

“Yes, ma’am. Right on my knees, like I’m meant for. I’ll throw up in front of you, so you can be double sure.” She hungrily licks her lips. “Unless you’d like to watch?”

Lucky, meanwhile, soon wins a jackpot. He’s got so many chips.

Celia: He has to be doing something. No one is that lucky. And he hadn’t played well enough for her to think that he’s some sort of idiot savant.

Jade shakes her head at Joy, nodding for her to enjoy the virgin on her own. She’s tempted—she’d like to watch Joy be a slut—but the intrigue surrounding Lucky simply calls to her.

It’s not natural.

What is it?

It reminds her, frankly, of her Uncle Seb and his uncanny ability to win whatever his little heart desires. Jade watches from nearby to see if she can suss out his trick.

GM: Joy takes the virgin by the hand, rubs her hips against his flank, and makes off with him, promising to “blow your mind, sweetheart.” She’s all giggles and sly (or obvious) touches, constantly in motion, constantly teasing and caressing and flirting. The man stammers is assent as if unable to believe this is happening.

Lucky doesn’t seem to be palming cards or leveraging sleight of hand. If the dealers are in on it, they’re very good actors, because they’re watching him just as suspiciously. Jade can’t see anything untoward in what he’s doing.

Beyond the fact that he just keeps winning.

Or that he doesn’t seem to care how intently the casino is watching. He can’t possibly be unaware.

Celia: He’s still winning by the time the cashier finishes with her chips. Jade finally slides closer.

“You weren’t kidding.”

GM: “I was born lucky,” he replies breezily.

He counts his many, many winnings.

“Want to hit the slots?”

Celia: “You lucky there, too?” She sounds amused, but walks with him.

GM: He walks up to one, feeds in a coin, and pulls the lever. Three bananas turn up. Coins pour out.

“I’m lucky everywhere,” he grins.

“Want some of those? I can just get more.”

He indicates the coins.

Every employee eye in the casino is on him now.

Celia: “Lucky everywhere?” Jade eyes him as the coins pour out of the machine. It’s the sort of thing she’s only seen happen in movies. “How do I get some of that to rub off on me?”

GM: “Honestly?” smirks the kid. “You’re either born lucky or you’re not. Good things happen around me, though. Stick around and some will probably happen to you.”

Celia: “You mean like I’ll get to watch the security guys use your face as a punching bag?”

GM: His smirk doesn’t fade. “Didn’t I just say I was lucky at everything?”

Celia: “Even love?”

GM: “Yeah, I’ve banged a ton of girls.”

“Everyone likes a winner.”

Celia: “So you use your luck to rob casinos blind and get into girls’ pants.”

GM: “Yep. Can you think of a better use?”

Celia: Several.

“Probably. But I see the appeal.” Since he has none of his own.

GM: Lucky pulls the levers for a few more slots. He wins at every one.

“Hey, can I get a bag for all this?” he asks an employee.

“Of course, sir,” comes a very frosty response.

The pit boss and several security guards walk up to him.

“You need to come with us, sir.”

“Oh, sure,” he says absently. “Bag first, okay?”

Celia: Jade does that thing she does sometimes, the one that makes people like her and listen to her as if she has any right to be there. She says she wants to tag along and bats her lashes even though it isn’t strictly necessary.

GM: All of the employees prove more than amenable to her company.

“You’ll get your money from us, sir,” says the pit boss.

“Okay, that works,” shrugs Lucky.

Everyone goes back to what looks like the manager’s office. The manager is a bearded, balding, middle-aged man in a dark suit who does not look at all happy to see Lucky and Jade across from his desk.

“So,” he says, spreading his hands.

“You think we’re fucking idiots?”

“I’m just lucky. That’s all,” grins Lucky.

“You’re lucky,” says the manager.

“Yep,” says Lucky.

Celia: Jade wonders if they’re going to tie him to a chair and beat him with phone books and bats, or if that’s the sort of thing that only happens in movies.

She’s curious as to how Lucky’s going to get out of this one.

GM: “Is there a name we should call you besides ‘lucky?’” asks the manager.

“Gunner,” says Lucky.

“Gunner,” says the manager. “That’s a name I’d never give a kid, if it isn’t made up. I guess it’ll do.”

“You just won the privilege to play a very exclusive game with us, Gunner. You’re the only guy in the casino who gets to play it.”

“Really?” asks Gunner. He’s leaning back in his seat and not looking at the man anymore. He’s staring up at the eye in the sky.

The manager follows his gaze to the camera with a thin smile. “Yes, Gunner, we’re watching here.”

“We’re watching everywhere.”

Celia: Jade wants to play, too.

GM: “So what’s the game?” smiles Gunner, finally looking back at the man.

“We take turns beating your ass until you tell us why you’re so lucky,” says the manager with a nasty smile. One of the guards grabs Gunner’s chair, spins it around, and throws a punch at him.

The man trips over his own feet and crashes flat on his face.

Celia: Oh.

Oh.

He’s actually lucky in all things.

GM: Gunner clucks his tongue.

“So, can I have my money now?”

Celia: What does lucky blood taste like? If she drinks from him, will she absorb some of that?

She doesn’t know, but she wants to find out.

GM: The manager rises from his seat.

The ceiling fan snaps off and crashes onto him. He goes down in a heap behind his desk.

Gunner looks at the other guard, who’s pulled a gun.

“Hey, are you allowed to have those?”

The man squeezes the trigger. The explosively loud bullet ricochets off the wall and hits him in the knee. He goes down in a screaming, bleeding heap.

“So, should I go to the cage?” Gunner asks, removing his hands from his ears. He even covered them just in time.

“You… idiot…” rasps the manager’s voice from below his desk. “When our boss gets back…”

Jade smells blood from there.

“So he’s not here? Wow, lucky me,” smiles Gunner.

He looks at Jade. “Wanna visit the cage? I don’t think these guys actually have my money.”

“It’ll turn up, though.”

He peers down at the motionless first guard.

“Oh, wow. I think he actually knocked himself out. What a fucking clutz.”

Celia: Jade had nothing to do with this, but somehow she feels like Marcel is going to find a way to blame her for it. Maybe if she keeps tabs on the lucky guy he won’t have a reason to.

“How deliciously illuminating. I think you’re right that they don’t have your money; shall we?” She rises, stepping neatly over the prone man to move toward the door.

GM: The bleeding, sweating man on the grasps for his gun.

Gunner shakes his head at him.

“That’s a really bad idea.”

He kicks the gun away, slips an arm around Jade’s waist, and walks out with her.

“Believe me now?”

Celia: “You certainly caught my attention, and that’s lucky in and of itself.”

She’s a shameless flatterer.

Of herself.

GM: Gunner laughs. “You wouldn’t be here with me if it wasn’t.”

Celia: “Does that mean anything we do together is bound to succeed?”

GM: “Basically, yeah.”

Celia: She can think of so many fun uses for a lucky friend.

Jade smiles winningly up at him as they traverse the floor and head to the cage, already running through a handful of scenarios.

Maybe she’ll keep him.

GM: Gunner smiles back and squeezes her ass. He walks up to the cage and asks for his winnings. The man on the inside saw him go off with the pit boss. Everyone saw him. He hands over the money in a bag.

Celia: “We should make you really lucky,” she murmurs into his ear as he collects his winnings.

GM: “Huh, I think the pit boss ran off,” says Gunner, striding towards the exit with her.

“How do you figure there?” he asks, amused.

“You wouldn’t believe some of the things that’ve happened to me.”

Celia: “No?”

“Tell me.”

GM: “Let me show you.”

Celia: “Show me?”

GM: The two walks down the riverboat casino’s ramp. Gunner walks dead into traffic, spreads his arms, and falls over onto the road like he’s doing a snow angel.

Traffic screams and blares. Tires squeal. Cars furiously honk. Drivers shout from their windows. Gunner just lies there.

More cars madly careen past. Horns ceaselessly blare. Some tires miss him by bare inches.

He just lies there. Untouched.

Celia: Jade waits safely on the sidewalk.

“That’s hardly proof,” she calls out to him, “since they’d avoid hitting you anyway.”

GM: Gunner gets up, takes his time dusting himself off, and walks back as passing drivers scream after him.

“We’re pretty past proof.”

“I’m invincible. I don’t think anything can hurt me.”

“Believe me, I’ve tested it. I’ve jumped off buildings. Tried to shoot myself with a gun. OD’d on drugs.”

“I think I’m some kind of god or something.”

Celia: “A god,” she repeats, amused.

GM: “You got a better name?”

Celia: “I don’t know if I believe you, is all. If you jumped into a bathtub with a toaster are you telling me that you wouldn’t die?”

GM: “Yep.”

Celia: “You’ve never gotten sick? Broken a bone?”

GM: “Nope.”

Celia: “Have you ever actually been sad?”

“Lost your keys?”

“Been broken up with?”

GM: “Oh, yeah. But I always find someone new.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever lost my keys.”

Celia: “Hm.” Jade eyes him. “Did you grow up in New Orleans? I can’t imagine you’ve been able to hit the casinos here without getting caught for that long.”

GM: He just laughs. “Get caught and… what?”

Celia: “They’d ban you, wouldn’t they?”

GM: “You think that’d stop me?”

“But no, I’m not from here. Just visiting.”

Celia: “You in town for a while?”

GM: “Haven’t decided. Long as I have fun.”

“Where do you want to go shag?”

Celia: “My cabin is on the boat.” Jade eyes him. “Think you’re lucky enough to get out twice without the guards catching you?”

GM: “Sure am. You work for the owner or something?”

Celia: “His lover. I guess we’ll see if you can win me over.”

GM: Gunner grins, then shrugs. “I will or I won’t. Either way, I’ll end up in someone’s bed.”

“I can say basically whatever I want to girls. If I really want pussy, some will fall into my lap.”

Celia: “Funny,” she says as they head back inside, “I have the same effect on men.”

GM: “It’s probably what you’re best at.” Gunner follows her in. Things have seemingly gone back to normal in the casino, though employees immediately start watching him. He’s seemingly unconcerned.

Celia: “Mmm,” Jade muses, watching the guards watch them. She winks at one. “You’re probably right. I suppose you’ll have to let me know how I compare to the bevy of other beautiful women who throw themselves at you.”

Where had Joy gotten to? Jade scans the casino floor as they go.

GM: Joy’s back at another table, shamelessly flirting with several men at once. The slut must have sucked off the virgin already.

Celia: Jade wiggles her fingers at the girl in a sort of “come hither” motion.

“You don’t mind sharing, do you?” she asks her would-be companion.

How lucky: two gorgeous girls and one man.

GM: Joy murmurs something to the men, fondles both of their dicks, and saunters on over.

“Just my luck,” grins Gunner.

Celia: “Look what I found,” Jade says to Joy, taking her by the arm, “the luckiest guy in the city.”

“And he’s all ours tonight.”

GM: “Lucky us,” giggles Joy.

“You don’t know the half of it,” smirks Gunner. “I’m Gunner.”

“I’m Joy. I’m a slut,” beams Joy.

“Wow, I really am lucky,” says Gunner.

Celia: “She gives great head,” Jade offers.

“Spends a lot of time on her knees, you see.”

GM: “I was born to be on my knees,” nods Joy. “I’ve already sucked off one guy tonight and I’m hungry for more.”

Celia: “And did he tell you how amazing you are with that pretty little mouth of yours?”

GM: “Oh yes, mistress, he was ecstatic. He blew the biggest load into my mouth and I swallowed it all.” Joy giggles again and brushes against Gunner, all smiles and tender caresses. “But enough talking, talking isn’t what my mouth is for. Getting dicks crammed into it is what my mouth is for. If I’m talking and not sucking a dick, something is really wrong.”

“She your sub or something?” Gunner asks Jade, amused.

He’s already very, very hard, though. Joy smiles and strokes his crotch.

Celia: “She’s my pet,” Jade tells him. “If she’s good tonight she gets a little collar and everything. Isn’t that right, sweetling?”

GM: “That’s right, mistress. You can lead me around on a little leash and everything,” beams Joy.

Celia: “Only if she’s a good girl,” Jade says to Lucky. “Otherwise she gets the boot. You’ll have to let me know how she compares, too. Lucky was just telling me about all the women who throw themselves at him because he’s such a lucky guy. I don’t think any of them were as cute as us, though.”

GM: “Or as eager,” grins Gunner. “Lead the way, ladies.”

Celia: Jade leads the way toward Joy’s cabin, giving the girl a look as if to ask if it’s okay that they take Lucky back there.

GM: She nods, but also taps her canines, shakes her head, and mouths ‘permission.’

Celia: Jade knows the rules, but she appreciates the warning regardless. She gives a tiny nod and a shrug in response; maybe she’ll sip from Joy once she’s had a taste to see if they both get lucky from the kine’s blood.

It doesn’t take long to reach the cabin. Jade has Joy let them in and closes the door behind the three of them.

She doesn’t lock it, just in case Joy’s other lover decides he wants to get in on the action with Lucky.

GM: Gunner pushes them both onto the bed and starts hungrily pulling off the girls’ clothes.

Joy goes straight for his cock.

Celia: There’s not much to pull off beneath Jade’s dress; when the material clings so soundly to her body she doesn’t bother wearing anything beneath it to break up the clean lines. She lays Gunner out on the bed while Joy toys with him and searches briefly for the handcuffs to bind his wrists to the posters.

GM: “Ooh, nothing underneath,” Gunner grins. He starts to pleasure her breasts with his mouth while Joy sucks his cock. He doesn’t fight, though, when Jade cuffs him to the bed. Just grins.

After all, can they keep him there if he really wants to leave?

Celia: They’ll find out shortly, won’t they?

But why would he want to leave?

He’s got a girl on his knees for him.

And another one stretched above where he’s sprawled out on his back, teasing him by letting him kiss her mouth, then her neck, then her nipples, then finally positioning herself over his face so he can use his tongue between her legs while Joy takes him into her mouth.

GM: Gunner licks, nips, and tugs Jade’s nipples, burying his face against her breasts. He hungrily eats out her pussy and sounds like he’s thoroughly enjoying himself from the way Joy sucks his cock. Maybe she’s just great at blowjobs.

But Jade can smell the blood in her mouth.

It’s like nothing she’s smelled before. Somehow… electric.

Celia: She wants it. It isn’t fair that Joy gets to take his blood when Jade was the one to lure him back here. Joy hadn’t done that. She’d gone off to fuck the virgin and Jade had followed Gunner and stayed near his side and brought him back to the ship. Even his attention to her clit with his tongue doesn’t distract her from the scent of the blood.

Her fangs grow long in her mouth as she pictures herself leaning down to take a little nibble for herself.

There’s a compromise in here somewhere, isn’t there? Joy takes from Gunner. Jade takes from Joy. It’s a second-hand, vicarious sort of hit, but maybe it will be enough to scratch that itch. She bends at the waist, keeping herself positioned above Gunner, and pulls Joy’s hair to the side to expose the back of her neck. The tips of her fangs dig into skin.

It’s not technically poaching.

Blood wells. Jade licks it clean.

GM: Joy’s blood, or rather, Gunner’s, tastes like… gold.

Electricity.

Slowly but surely, an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity steals through Jade. She feels as though she can do anything, anything at all… and the impossibly seems suddenly not only possible, but positively easy…

But it’s only for a moment, and gone just as fast she pulls back from Jade’s neck. There’s only a pleasant buzz on her tongue, a sense of having touched something huge, something incredible… and walking away with a thimbleful.

Joy continues to rapturously suck Gunner’s cock.

Celia: Liquid luck.

It’s like liquid courage, only Jade knows that no matter what she attempts to do it’s going to turn out just right. Not just to her, either; it’s not the sort of thing that makes a sorority girl think she killed it at karaoke when she’s never been able to hold a tune. It’s the sort of thing that makes the same girl actually kill it when a record label exec just happens to be drinking at the bar and “likes the cut of her jib, why don’t you sign right there on the dotted line sweetheart so we can make all your dreams come true?”

It’s the sort of thing that puts a tingle in her spine and a fire in her core. It’s gold and diamonds and every home run and royal flush and winning lottery ticket.

Maybe he is a god. Maybe he’s the god of luck. Maybe he’s the god of luck and she’s the goddess of love and beauty and together they can make lucky, beautiful things happen.

Maybe the luckiest thing that could ever happen to him is that he meets Jade and she gives him immortality in exchange for the gold in his veins.

She struck gold.

And she keeps digging.

She doesn’t let up; she drinks from Joy until Joy ceases drinking from Gunner.

GM: She doesn’t.

But Joy promptly turns and throws her off.

“You got a taste already,” she purrs. “Rest is mine. Only so much I can take while playing it safe.”

She rapturously licks her lips. “God, what the fuck even is he…?”

“Hey, cock here, requires sucking,” says Gunner.

Celia: Her claws almost come out when Joy tosses her aside.

She almost throws down with the greedy bitch who thinks to deny her the spoils of her oh-so-clever hunt.

Only almost, though. Waste of luck, isn’t it? She can think of so many better uses for what thrums through her veins right now.

She leans in only to lick closed the holes her fangs left behind.

“You heard him, slut. Put that mouth off yours to use.”

GM: “With pleasure, mistress,” Joy beams, all submissive smiles again as she wraps her lips back around Gunner’s lick. There’s absolutely nothing fake about her pleasure. She pleases him real good. Gunner is gasping, straining against the cuffs, his toes all but curling.

“Oh, fuck, you’re good…!”

Celia: Jade’s probably better.

But she isn’t so crass as to say it. She watches instead: watches her tease him with a tongue along the shaft, watches her use her fangs to tear tiny little cuts into his flesh so she can lap at the blood, watches her close her lips around the head of his cock. She takes her pleasure from his mouth instead, muffling the cries about how good Joy is, putting his tongue exactly where she wants it to be: worshiping her.

And when she finally does find her release it’s the kind that makes her toes curl and her (useless) breath catch in her chest and drenches him with the evidence of a job well done.

Joy can’t take that away from her.

GM: “What should we do with you…” purrs Joy as the three lie spent in one another’s arms. Wet in one of their cases, sweating in another one’s, and satisfied for all three. There’s cum all over Joy’s face, but she daintily removes as much of his blown load as she can with her fingers and slowly licks it up. She swallows it down with an audible gulp, as if to give him the best of both worlds.

“Marcel should be back soon. It’s funny he isn’t here already, he normally isn’t late for anything.”

Celia: “Mm,” Jade muses, trailing a hand down Gunner’s chest, “maybe he’d be mad about this one robbing him blind and his luck saw to it that he was kept away.”

GM: “Or maybe it’ll be my luck he gets back and sees me in bed with his girl, before I get away again,” Gunner remarks lazily.

“Someone’s confident,” purrs Joy.

“It’s easy to be confident when you’re lucky,” says Gunner.

“Why isn’t anyone doing anything if you robbed the casino blind?”

Celia: “They tried.”

GM: “Maybe they’ll try again,” says Gunner. “Or maybe they just don’t know I’m here. Lost me in the crowd or something.”

“You never know what luck’s gonna be.”

“Guess not,” says Joy, resting her head against his shoulder now that his cum’s all licked up.

“You’re so tasty… I really wonder what we should do with you…”

Celia: Jade knows what she wants to do with him.

But she doesn’t share her thoughts.

She doesn’t even think her thoughts.

She fills her mind with images of watching Joy suck off a line of cocks while chips rain down around them.

GM: “Maybe we should get in touch with Marcel, just to see what happens…”

Celia: “Give him a ring, then.” Jade trails a hand down Gunner’s chest. “Let him know we have a new toy for him to play with. Maybe he’ll have you bend him over for being a bad boy.” She nips at his neck, careful not to draw blood.

“I’d offer to blow him while we wait to end that age-old debate about who does it better, but you’ve got the advantage of equipment there.”

GM: Gunner frowns.

“Er, what?”

Celia: Jade giggles, pressing a finger to Gunner’s lips.

“Shh, it’s okay.” She shifts, moving over him to straddle his hips. “Joy’s really good with her mouth, but I blow her out of the water when it comes to being on top.”

GM: Gunner’s erection is getting increasingly limp.

“You said equipment…” he says with a long look at Joy.

Joy gives a delighted giggle.

She lifts her dress and pulls down her panties.

Gunner blanches.

“You… FREAK WHORE…!”

Joy giggles again. “You loved every moment. We could tell.”

Celia: “It’s okay, baby, don’t be too upset with yourself. Joy’s mouth is magical. But so is my pussy, and all you had was a taste.” She wiggles a little, using a hand to stroke him firm again. “Don’t you want the real thing now?”

GM: Gunner twists and pulls at the cuffs. They come off.

“Oh no!” exclaims Joy.

“You’re fucking SICK!” yells Gunner, rolling off the bed and pulling up his pants.

Celia: He throws Jade off of him as easily as he gets out of the cuffs. She lands on the other side of the bed, giggling all the while, watching in amusement as he gets dressed.

“He’s so cute when he’s flustered,” she says to Joy. “Get Marcel in here, pet, he’ll be interested in seeing this.”

GM: “Sure thing, mistress,” giggles Joy, tapping off a text.

Celia: “Come back to bed, Gunner, let me show you how it’s done.”

She pats the spot beside her, reaching toward him with the innate gifts of the blood. Her clan’s gift. Her gift. Her gift more than anyone’s. Seduction, the thing that makes men want to bury themselves between her thighs and women fall to their knees in submission. Seldom used—when has she needed the assistance to make someone want to worship her?—but still a valuable tool in her kit all the same.

That sense of heady desire flares from the very core of her being, unfurling like a mist to surround him, to fill him with that same sense of lust and craving that ensnares so many others with just a tilt of her head and crook of her finger. Lucky guy, isn’t he, to have such an alluring woman like her interested in him.

Her smile promises such a good time, if only he’ll come back to bed.

GM: Gunner stares for a moment, then pulls his pants off. He pushes Jade down against the bed and buries his now-firm cock between her thighs.

Celia: With luck—and they seem to have that in spades—Marcel won’t see Jade rutting with the kine like some sort of breather herself. But she can’t think about that now. Now she’s focused on absolutely blowing his mind with her body.

Maybe it’s him. Maybe it’s her. Maybe it’s a combination of them both, or the fact that there’s danger lurking, or the effects of the star mode she whacked him with; whatever it is, he hits all the right spots on her and she hits all the right spots on him, and they fight and tussle and grapple for dominance. Jade lets him take top for a time, then flips him over and shows him how it’s done. Like this, she says with her hips and her hands and her mouth.

She lets him finish inside—her cunt is as dead as the rest of her despite its warmth—and feels it trickle out of her when she finally rolls off.

GM: They don’t fight alone, either. Joy clambers on too. Gunner starts again with instinctive revulsion, then Joy smiles and touches his cheek. All his disgust melts away. She sits on top of his face and lets Gunner suck her cock while she buries her own face between Jade’s breasts, licking, nipping, biting, and sucking. The coppery scent of vitae fills the air while while her fingers play alongside Gunner’s cock, mercilessly teasing and rubbing Jade’s sweet little nub.

Gunner feels pretty exhausted, though, and isn’t the best partner. His thrusts lack vigor. He seems relieved to just lie there as Jade takes top and does the heavy lifting. His face is pale. Joy did feed on him fairly deeply.

Celia: It’s enough for her, at least; she finds release between his cock and Joy’s fingers, and when it’s over she’s covered in cum and sweat and blood and—

“—desperately need a shower,” she says to Joy, “before Marcel arrives. Both of us.”

GM: “Oh, I think I rather enjoy looking at you three this way,” comes a man’s smiling voice.

Baton Rouge’s prince-in-exile is a tall and handsome man with rectangular features, a prominent nose, dark caramel-brown hair sculpted into a short mustache and goatee, and deep blue eyes. Two gold crucifix earrings hang from his ears. Jade’s never seen him without them. He’s dressed in a tailored navy silk jacket that flatters his trim physique, tan slacks, and a white dress shirt without a tie.


He glances at the large bag full of cash, then smiles back at Gunner. “It’d be my pleasure if you and your friends could join me for a late dinner. The Alystra’s biggest winner deserves some comps, after all.”

Gunner looks at Marcel with something between amusement and curiosity. “Your people tried to beat the shit out of me for cheating.”

“Yes, I’m terribly sorry about that,” replies Marcel. “They’re fairly zealous. Have to be in, this business. Gamblers always look for ways to cheat. But I’ve reviewed the tapes and talked with my people. I’ve concluded that you owe your winning streak simply to being very, very lucky. There’s no rule against being lucky.”

“I’m glad you see it that way,” replies Gunner. “I am lucky. Very, very lucky.”

“As this encounter rather proves, doesn’t it?” Marcel agrees amiably. “Come, why don’t you three put on your clothes—or leave them off, as you prefer. We won’t be disturbed.”

Celia: Naked, covered in blood, and smelling of sex isn’t exactly how Jade had wanted to greet the prince-in-exile.

Well, that’s not true. Naked and covered in blood seems appropriate given what Josua has told her about the lick. It’s the sex thing that gives her pause, and maybe the fact that he heard her call him “Marcel” to Josua, but a quick glance at his face—smiling—tells her that maybe he’s not bothered by it.

Maybe she’s gotten lucky.

Jade winks at the prince in lieu of an obsequious bow in front of the mortal—Masquerade and all that—and slips into her dress. She’s not modest or shy about her body, but she’d gone through all the effort of selecting the gown and by God Marcel will see her in it.

GM: The ex-prince smiles back, then looks at Joy. “This is a new look on you.”

“Does it please His Majesty?” smiles Joy, tilting her head and placing a hand against her hip. She’s still wearing her dress.

“Oh, yes.”

“Are you a king or something?” asks Gunner, amused.

He’s fairly sluggish in pulling on his clothes.

“Or something,” agrees Marcel. “Don’t forget your money. Leaving that much on the floor is tempting fate.”

Gunner puts on his shirt and slings the bag over his shoulder. The three proceed to a private dining room with a lone table seated next to a window overlooking of the dark Mississippi. Staff bring in plates of food that looks like it’s from the buffet. They don’t give funny looks or ask questions about the three’s messy state.

Gunner plops down heavily in his chair and digs heartily into the shrimp and sausage jambalaya. “God, that took a lot out of me.”

“I can’t blame you, those ladies look very vigorous,” smiles Marcel. He doesn’t move to eat any of the food on his plate. “Salt?”

“Sure,” says Gunner between a mouthful.

Marcel moves to pass him a shaker, but knocks it over. Salt spills across the tablecloth.

“Oh, dear. I hope you don’t believe in bad luck.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t,” Gunner smiles between a bite of shrimp.

“Really?” asks Marcel, before a broad-shouldered and well-muscled man smashes Gunner’s face onto the table. The grim-faced, suit-wearing man kicks out Gunner’s chair, then delivers two more brutally hard kicks to the man’s gut after he hits the floor. Gunner gags and jerks.

“You should.”

Celia: Jade ceases pushing the food around her plate at the commotion, looking first to Gunner and then to Josua. She sighs heavily, forcing the air from her lungs.

“How silly of us,” she says to the boy-turned-girl, “there are plenty of mirrors in your cabin we could have broken to save His Majesty the trouble.”

GM: “Yes, that’d have rather done the trick too,” says Marcel.

Joy holds a hand to her mouth and giggles. She hasn’t touched her food either.

Marcel glances at the large, suited man.

“Get my money back where it belongs.”

The man picks up the bag of cash and tosses it to another employee, who disappears through the door.

“Wh…” gasps Gunner. He tries to rise to his feet, but the suited man delivers another hard kick to his kidneys. He curls up and moans.

“I’m afraid luck can only get you so far without brains, Mr. Gunner,” says Marcel. “And by my estimate, you’re in rather short supply of both right now.”

“Not a good place to be, given how much you owe me.”

“Owe… you?” Gunner gasps out from the floor.

“Yes.”

“Got back your… mon… how th’ fuck di…”

“So I did. But you also owe me for my time and trouble, my injured employees, and not least of all, my casino’s loss of reputation. It’s your ‘luck’ no one heard the gunshot, but everyone saw you cheat. This sort of thing looks very bad. At least with most forms of cheating, the entire casino can’t tell when someone thinks they’re getting away with it.”

“And since I owe Miss Kalani for bringing you back after you got away, we’ll put you on the hook to her too.”

“Ooh, someone’s gonna get it,” giggles Joy.

Celia: She almost feels bad for the kine; it’s easy to imagine that someone as old as Marcel has plenty of ways to make a man pay, none of them involving dollars or cents.

Waste of blood though, isn’t it? Especially that blood.

Perhaps she has a solution.

In fact, she does have a solution.

“Madam Alsten-Pirrie has shown me a number of decidedly delicious punishments for those with grasping hands, my prince. I’d be delighted to take him off of yours and mete out justice on your behalf.” She smiles down at the man on the floor. “I’d offer something in return, of course.”

GM: “No doubt you’d be equally happy to make sure his blood doesn’t go to waste, Miss Kalani,” says Marcel with a knowing smile.

“But I’m a reasonable prince. Go on.”

“Listen… I can, get you money…” wheezes Gunner.

“I’m sure you can,” Marcel says to the kine. “But I have money, and if I let you go, I’m fairly confident I’m never going to see you again.”

“You’ll probably catch a lucky break, if any of us go looking for you.”

Gunner doesn’t deny it.

Joy clicks her tongue.

Celia: Jade smiles at Marcel’s words, giving a little shrug of her shoulders.

“Waste not, want not. Josua has told me you have a little problem with the rattlers. One of them owes me a favor; perhaps I can be of some assistance there.”

GM: “So you’d trade me the favor for Gunner’s blood,” considers Marcel. “Who’s the rattler?”

“Bl… ood?” Gunner gets out.

“Oh yes, Mr. Gunner. Your blood is worth a great deal,” says the ex-prince.

“You’ll be paying me back with it, one way or another.”

Celia: “He’s new,” Jade says, lifting her shoulders with another shrug. “But if you’d rather not take a gamble there, Your Majesty, then I understand if you’d rather utilize my skill set to find out what you need to know.”

She has already proved her worth, hasn’t she?

GM: “Yes, I only gamble recreationally,” says Marcel. “There’s no gambling at all in running a casino. Take it from me, Mr. Gunner: the house always wins.”

“That’s why you should just let the house fuck you,” agrees Joy.

Gunner gives a moan.

“There’s a variety of ways I can use the luck in your blood,” says Marcel. “I’m undecided on how, though.”

“I’ll tell you what, Miss Kalani,” he says. “I’m a reasonable Kindred, and you brought Mr. Gunner back after he gave my people the slip, so I’ll consider half the blood originally in his veins to be yours.”

“Help me with my cottonmouth problem, and I’ll tell you what Mr. Gunner is, how to use his luck—beyond the obvious—and how to witlessly spoil it. For us as well as him.”

“Deal?”

Celia: Jade only has to consider it for a moment before finally nodding her head.

“You have yourself a deal, Prince Guilbeau.”

GM: “Wait,” Gunner wheezes, raising a placating hand. “What if-”

“Be quiet,” orders Marcel, his voice heavy.

Gunner’s mouth works. No sound comes out. Joy smirks. Marcel turns back to Jade, then dismisses the suited man (ghoul?) with a wave.

“People like Mr. Gunner, you’ve probably guessed, are blessed with good fortune.”

“Some say they’ve made deals with a crossroads devil. Some say they’ve made a lucky prayer or tossed a coin into a fountain at some Japanese deity’s shrine. Some say they were born under a lucky comet. Some say they’ve ritually stolen their good fortune from others. And some just say they’re naturally lucky bastards.”

“Could be some, all, or none of those things. Who knows.”

“Don’t ask your average Tremere about them. Most warlocks won’t know a thing.”

“They’re drawn to casinos, though, for obvious reasons. Like flies to honey. Mr. Gunner isn’t the first one I’ve dealt with, though he is one of the stronger ones. They aren’t all as lucky as him.”

“There’s no reliable way to detect them that I know of. Besides tasting their blood, if you’ve had it before. Or seeing their luck firsthand. The smart ones, they play some losing hands, win a jackpot, play some more losing hands, and then never come back.”

“Of course, most of them aren’t smart. They live on the edge. And why shouldn’t they? Their luck always carries them through. They have no reason to change their behavior if they never experience consequences.”

Marcel smiles down at the curled-up and silently mouthing Gunner.

“If.”

“Omens of bad luck neutralize their powers, for a little while. Spilled salt, broken mirrors, black cats, walking under a ladder, you name it.”

“There’s no power without a catch. For them, us, anyone.”

Celia: “Everything has a price,” Jade agrees with a small smile. “Perhaps he should have realized that when I went to fetch him and brought in another just as lovely.” A nod toward Joy.

“He’s human, though? Or something different?”

GM: “Besides being preternaturally lucky, he’s as human as anyone not in this room.”

Celia: Jade nods. She leans back in her chair, contemplating the man on the ground and the exiled prince in front of her.

“Bit of a gold mine, isn’t he.” How fortunate for Marcel that Jade brought him back and all but hand-delivered him. “And aside from robbing casinos—” which Jade has no need for, since she all but cleaned house at the poker table on skill rather than luck and has no desire to wind up on the other end of that large ghoul’s fists despite her natural hardiness “—how might one best utilize that luck?”

GM: “There are four ways.”

“One, we can drink it. Some of the good luck will rub off on us. Outrageously good things can happen, or calamities can be turned aside. The deeper the drink, the stronger the luck. And before you ask, keeping kine like Mr. Gunner chained up in a dungeon surrounded by spilled salt so we can drink them forever doesn’t work out. Too much bad luck rubs off.”

“Secondly, there’s ghouling them. That makes their luck stick around quite a bit longer than drinking it. Eventually, though, that luck fades away too. Something within our blood just doesn’t agree with it. The Embrace would probably kill it even quicker, but that’s conjecture on my part.”

“Third, there’s stealing their luck and binding it to a talisman, like a rabbit’s foot. As long as you carry it, you’ll be lucky. The luck never seems to extend to keeping the talisman, though. They have ways of getting lost after a while. But they’re usually good for more luck than drinking it.”

“Fourth, there’s stealing their luck and transferring it to another person. A ghoul works like I’ve described. An ordinary kine, though, would enjoy Mr. Gunner’s good fortune for the rest of their life.”

Gunner’s eyes widen with horror. He reflexively tries to rise, earning another swift kick to his belly. The large ghoul’s foot stomps down over his back several times for good measure. Hard. His mouth works in a silent moan.

“Oh, yes, perhaps that’d be the most cruel punishment of all,” says Marcel.

“Letting you walk out of here, alive and whole, with only a few bruises and edits to your memories. But without your luck.”

He smiles down at the beaten man.

“And what are you without your luck, Mr. Gunner? Not much at all, I’m inclined to think.”

Joy titters.

Celia: There goes her plan to keep him locked in a room with an assortment of black cats.

“If you bind his luck to another kine, you’d run into similar problems as before: you can’t keep them. Unless they already like you and want to stick around, or owe everything they are to you…”

Or they love you unconditionally.

So much so that they’ll submit to being a ghoul and getting a tattoo and feeding you and learning how to fence if it means getting to keep their memories of what you are, and maybe a little bit of luck is enough to get them off the blood that hooks them so they can enjoy a mortal life without risking the Masquerade because, lucky them, no one ever looks their way.

“Can it be split between multiple talismans or people? If he’s as strong as you say, Prince Guilbeau.”

GM: “His probably can, yes,” says Marcel. “They’ll be individually less potent, though. You have the same amount of luck, it’s just a question of where you want to spread it around.”

Celia: “A ritual, is it? The stealing and binding?”

GM: “Yes, it is.”

“That brings us to our next order of business.”

“I’m going to stash away Mr. Gunner someplace safe and secure. I’m going to bleed him periodically, and he is going to make me very lucky. I’ll give it a week before his luck starts to atrophy, and probably a month before it’s gone completely.”

“You have that long to bring me actionable information on my cottonmouth problem. If you don’t, you’ll owe me a different favor in return for the information I’ve given you. "

“If you can go one further, and actually lift Marie out of her torpor, I’ll do you one better.”

“I’ll give you all that’s left of Mr. Gunner and his luck. You can drink him, or I’ll perform the ritual on a talisman, ghoul, or kine of your choice.”

“Also, if you’re tempted to steal him from me—don’t take this personally, I do run a casino, and you’re friends with a master thief—I’m probably the only Kindred in the city who knows the ritual. If you manage to spirit Mr. Gunner away, all he’ll be good for is drinking.”

Celia: “Not to mention it will sour all future arrangements between the pair of us, and there’s still so much we can do for each other.” Her smile is full of promises. “The earlier mentioned half,” she asks, “what of that?”

GM: “You’ll get that over the next few nights. Josua’s already bled him deeply and I don’t want to kill him from overfeeding.”

Joy titters again and strokes Marcel’s arm. “Just wait until you try him, my prince. He tastes incredible.”

Celia: “Will you tell me about Marie? What you’ve tried? What you know? I’d hate to waste time treading the same ground.”

GM: Marcel does so. Marie and Anthony were out hunting together when they were attacked by Setites, who torpored Marie and almost slew Anthony. Marcel has fed Marie his blood to no effect, and he’s fed her blood from another Kindred of comparable age, just to be sure the problem didn’t lie with his vitae. Both have had no effect.

“I think the Setites cursed her somehow,” he says. “The serpents who torpored her would likely know more. Perhaps how to lift it.”

“I’ve spoken to blood sorcerers from the Sanctified, the Anarchs, and the Crones, but they’ve been of little assistance.”

“And the Tremere will not help Marie.”

“So that leaves the serpents who did this to her, but my reach in the Quarter is limited.”

Celia: “The Tremere won’t help Marie?” Jade lifts her brows at that.

GM: “She’s a renegade from the Pyramid under sentence of death.”

Celia: “That sounds like an interesting story.”

GM: “Yes, it is. But it’s decidedly moot until she wakes up.”

Celia: Jade assures him that she will do what she can for Marie. His influence might not stretch far enough into the Quarter to be useful, but hers certainly does.

And she has just the friend to speak to about this.

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, PM

Celia: It’s with an additional spring in her step that Jade takes her leave of Marcel for the evening, their plans to share the prince-in-exile put on hold with the appearance of Gunner and the oh-so-tempting bait he’d dangled in front of her. The two Toreador return to Josua’s cabin to retrieve her things and collect her painting.

GM: Josua, still dressed as Joy, reports to his/her chagrin that Jade’s portrait has gone missing.

“Believe me, I’m as pissed off about it as you are,” s/he pouts.

“It was a really good portrait and I was going to charge you a decent amount for it.”

The pair are interrupted, though, when Josua/Joy has to run to the bathroom to vomit up the cum s/he’s swallowed.

Celia: “…it’s missing?” She waits in the doorway while he vomits.

GM: Josua/Joy wipes his/her mouth, and with it, some of the lipstick. Josua seems like he’s coming back.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I have no idea where it’s gone.”

Celia: “How could it have gone missing…?”

GM: “I wish I knew. It was such a good painting!”

Celia: “It’s a casino. Did you check the tapes?”

GM: “Oh, that’s an idea. I hadn’t gotten around to it.”

“Ok, I’ll ask the guys there to take a look.”

Celia: “Thanks. When did it disappear?”

GM: “Hm, I think a few nights ago?”

Celia: “Someone ransacked your room a few nights ago and you haven’t gotten around to finding out who?”

GM: “Well, you know, things and people to do.”

“And the painting was all that disappeared, it’s not like they tore up my room.”

Celia: “And you don’t think that’s weird?”

GM: Josua slips out of the dress and folds it up.

“Well, stuff gets stolen. It was a really good portrait.”

Celia: “Yes,” Jade agrees, “that’s why I want it back.”

GM: “I’ll get it back, don’t worry. I want you to have it just as much as you do.” He takes off his bra and panties.

Celia: “Didn’t you have other work go missing?” Jade crosses her arms. The word ‘hunter’ had been thrown around over that.

GM: “I did, yeah. Marcel’s really worried about it.” Josua unbuckles the straps to his heels.

“But nothing’s happened, so how bad can it be?”

Celia: “Hunters.”

“Or, you know, your sire.”

GM: “Maybe if I’m lucky they’ll ash her.”

“And I am lucky. I drank a fair bit of that guy’s blood.”

Celia: “No,” she corrects, “what I meant was maybe it’s her keeping tabs on you.”

GM: Josua pauses at that.

Something passes in his eyes.

“Okay, I’ll talk to the people who watch the tapes, first thing.”

Celia: “If you want assistance tracking someone, let me know.”

GM: “I will. Marcel would be, uh, really upset if he knew this happened again.”

Celia: “Especially if it means his security failed to prevent it.”

GM: “So I can’t really ask him to have his people look for it.”

“He’s already got them looking for my sire, anyway.”

Celia: “Might be worth letting him know his place is compromised.”

GM: “Maybe after we get the portrait back. Less bad news.”

Celia: Jade rubs a hand across her face.

“I have enough going on without getting picked up by hunters.”

GM: Josua steps behind her and rubs her shoulders.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it back. That’s a really smart idea with the casino cameras.”

Celia: “Unless she’s shadow dancing, or morphed, or came in through your window…”

GM: “You’re way too sexy to get picked up by van helsings.”

Celia: “Mmm, did I tell you about the pair who found me and how I convinced them to fuck and let me go?”

GM: Josua laughs. “Oh my god, for real?”

Celia: “‘Sex ritual,’” Jade tells him with a roll of her eyes.

GM: His hands wander down her breasts and hips.

“Oh, I’d like to do a sex ritual.”

Celia: “I bet you would,” Jade murmurs, leaning back against him.

GM: “You’re sex on legs, you know that? Someone could spend all day fucking you. And me. We have so much in common.”

He hugs her close, back against his chest. His mouth trails her neck, planting licks, nips, and kisses.

Celia: “No wonder Marcel didn’t tumble with us. He wouldn’t have gotten anything done the rest of the night.” Her head tilts to the side, exposing the long line of her neck for his mouth. “You’re insatiable.”

GM: “Only because you’re so, so much to state with… someone could fuck you forever, and it’d never get old… I can’t get enough of you… and I’m such a sexy sexy slut, you can’t get enough of me…”

He tugs her back to the bedroom, naked but for his wig. He falls back onto the bed with her, his supple hands caressing up her belly to squeeze and pinch her breasts. Then he crawls around and buries his mouth between her thighs in a 69 position. His firm cock rubs against her face.

Celia: It doesn’t rub against her face for long; within seconds she takes it into her mouth. Her fangs puncture his skin near the head of his cock, but she brings the whole thing into her mouth to show him once more that his words about it “never getting old” are absolutely spot-on.

GM: Josua’s fangs pierce the flesh above her clit even as his tongue seeks out her sweetest spot. The minutes pass, and her lover’s mouth leaves her screaming and clutching the sheets as wave after wave of sensation rocks through her loins, sating the Beast and the Man (or Woman) in equal measure. His hot blood shoots down her throat like cum as she rapturously sucks his cock. She can see why Alana gave the most enthusiastic blowjob she’s ever seen (from someone else). It’s just too bad all the things she can do with her tongue don’t do anything for him: now that she’s had a cock and had it sucked she does have a better idea of how to pleasure someone else’s.

She sups from him, and he sups from her. The two’s blood becomes as one. They leave each other in a spent and sated pile on the bed. That tingling sense of infinite possibility lingers on her tongue like electricity… and stronger than it did before.

Celia: She’s giddy by the end of it, her body a bundle of sensitive nerves and bliss that might have once left her lightheaded and dizzy and absolutely unable to bear the thought of prying herself out of bed to face the night. Now, though, now she’s electric; now she’s charged; now she’s fire.

She can do anything.

And there’s more. So much more waiting for her, all she has to do is skin some snakes for Marcel.

Marcel. Now there’s a lick she can get behind. Maybe she’ll reach out to her contacts in Baton Rouge, see if she can’t find out how to put him back into power up there, split her time between the cities on the lap of luxury in both. Pity he’d thrown in with Vidal; he’s so well-suited to the Quarter, isn’t it?

She giggles at the thought. She barely knows him. She’s just imagining.

“Do you think he liked me?” she asks Josua when she finally takes to her feet, reaching for the understated clothes she had arrived in.

GM: “I think so,” says Josua, leaning his head against his fist and laying another hand over his thigh. “I mean, maybe it’s a little early, since you haven’t even fucked him yet, but he’s definitely interested if you can help out Marie.”

“And you did bring back that Gunner guy.”

“I mean, probably the only way he’d be happier there is if you brought him the other one.”

Celia: “What other one?”

GM: “The other lucky guy.”

“He mentioned that to me once, a while back. He said there was one in the city.”

“Could be a lucky girl, for all I know.”

“But they’re smart and subtle and haven’t ever come to the casino.”

Celia: “Hm. How’s he know about them then?”

GM: “Couldn’t tell you. He just said he had his ‘sources.’”

Celia: “Mm, the old licks and their secrets.” Jade thinks she might know someone who knows someone who might be lucky.

GM: “But whatever. This Gunner guy is really lucky. Marcel’s really happy to have his hands on him.”

Celia: “I’m glad I lured him back in, then.”

GM: “Serves him right, robbing the casino. That was a really stupid idea.”

Celia: “Marcel was right about playing it smart. Play some losing hands, at least. Don’t brag about winning.”

GM: “Yeah, I remember. He said to play some losing hands, then win a jackpot, then lose some more, then never come back. That seems pretty smart.”

Celia: “He was pretty smug about the whole thing.”

GM: “He is Ventrue,” laughs Josua.

Celia: “Oh, I meant Gunner.”

GM: “Oh, I thought you thought Marcel was smug.”

Celia: “Marcel was… surprisingly approachable.”

GM: “I think he’s a little smug.”

“He’d be a great prince, wouldn’t he?”

“Gunner was pretty stupid, you’re right. I don’t think he even knew about vampires.”

Celia: “Well, neither did either of us prior to our Embrace.”

GM: “Marcel says a bunch of licks have tried to rob him before. That they see the casino as this great place for fast cash.”

“But he knows pretty much all the standard tricks, and he automatically assumes that any lick with a really lucky streak is cheating.”

Celia: “Uh oh. Is he going to send someone to break my kneecaps because I won at poker?” She sounds more amused than worried.

“I avoided the other table games so he wouldn’t think I was stealing from him.”

GM: “I don’t think so. He knows that game’s more skill than luck.”

“He’s okay if licks play at his casino, anyway, he just says they should view it as a fun evening rather than a place to make lots of money.”

Celia: “Never gamble what you can’t afford to lose and all that. It could be easy, though. To dip into their heads and see their cards, that sort of thing.”

“Stupid, though. Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever he could dish out. Unless it’s in like… a hot way.” Jade wiggles her brows at Josua as she finishes dressing.

“I’m going to head out. Let me know about the painting and what you find on the security footage.”

GM: Josua grins as he watches her pull on her clothes.

“This is like covering great art. It’s a public service if everyone gets to see it.”

“Oh well, you picked a good time. I don’t think Marcel’s really in the mood for sex right now.”

“Thinking about Gunner and his casino and everything.”

“That’s how you know he’s a blue blood and not a torrie, fucking always comes second.”

Celia: “What a terrible way to prioritize.” Jade smirks at him. “I won’t take it personally that we didn’t end up in bed, then.”

GM: “I know. It really is.”

“Feel free to send back Celia to pick up all your clothes.”

Celia: “So you can fuck her again?”

GM: “Why else?” he grins.

Celia: “I’m sure she’d enjoy that.”

GM: “You know I’d show her a great time.”

“There’s just nothing like the sight of a famous breather on their knees. You must fuck her all the time too.”

Celia: Jade just grins at him.

“You’ve no idea.”