“cmon Alex... Weve been waiting for ten minutes. Decide! Bither fold or call the damn thing!” ~ a bald fat ely pig ofa man was shouting across the lable at Alex “Chill the fuck out Tony Here wipe that sweat off your blufing face” Alex replied while totsng his not nearly clean enough handkerchlef across the table. “call Rather all in and I'l give this as well” Alex removed his signet ring. It was the only thing he ha leftover from his Sire. Not that Alex had any good memories about her. Stil the ring was nice. I had large ruby inthe middle carved to look like an eye. ‘The pot was two thousand dollars, the game was five cards draw. Alex asked fortwo and got his fourth king with ack or Sith Just s Alex was ready to lay down his cards, he heard the third player inthe pot Marcus say, “Well if wete not betting money anymore how about I Now; Alex wasnt really happy with this. He knew the man was bloodsucker just lke him. This was their third game inthis joint. Alex managed to find some refuge in Batton Rouge for the past few months, he met the damn Prince. Avery unpleasant succubus. It wat «good thing that anew painting ‘ame tothe prince about tan minutes before Alex made his introduction. The painting was far more interesting than Alex andthe Prince waived hi hhand and murmured something about hunting rights. Alex was happy to get te fuck out of there as soon as unhumanly possible, so he paid even less attention to what the Prince said then the Prince did to Alex. About two weeks lter he met Tony and started to play here regularly, Alex just finished a ‘case and scraped together a few dozen bucks. With Alex cheating nonstop it wasnt hard to turn that few dozen bucks int few hundred, That changed after Marcus joined. When fist meeting him Alex had no impression, but the man had a way of licking his fangs teth, Which kinda gave it away al the proof Alex needed to confirm his suspicion came two hours later when he saw Marcus overly enthusasically Kissing » gels neck in the bathroom two hour into the game. So, you have to understand when Marcus sai that Alex swore his heart skipped a beat or close enough to it anyways He felt a bead of sweat stream, dow his forchead ashe waited for Marcu to continue. “How about I raise for a story about two guns?” Marcus finally sad with a huge grin splattered across his face. “What fucking story Marcas? All bet are off you raised, I called and Alex did too” Tony shouted while spit flew from his mouth and hit Alex across the table igh in the spot his bead of eweat formed. Mildly annoyed but more than anything intrigued Alex wiped the sweat spit mix with his left hand and asked, “What guns?” While Alex had some dislike forthe man hie reputation warnt bad in the Society. Marcus was an occult expert much like Alex. But his forte wae academic research and analysis While Alex had a much more direct spproach All his Alex found out between game one and game three which was currently played. The only problem was that Marcus was «shadow, a strong one and if Alex wa lees than honest Marcus was downright rotten when it came to cards, ‘Av this point Alex knew that Marcus ad a straight in his hand which would make no problem for his king high poker but could the cunt poo a fast one ‘over him in the lst stretch? ‘Alex won with patience and the fact he could see what cards everyone had in hand. But Marcus was a mechanic with cards and the dealer button was just infront of his ashtray. Which meant that he could have tacked his hand. ‘See since two of them started playing eachother it came down to a showdown of who wat the beter chest between two of them, This relationship turned Into a beleaguered friendship and a clash of wit atthe poker table Alex had to pay extra attention in any hand Marcus dealt “What if lve?” Alex asked “Well then you have to get me the guns” Marcus calmly responded, “And if win?” “Then you can find yourself the guns” Marcus once again said with tht same grin acros his face. “And what if fucking WIN!” Tony shouted. His lifesaving was one the table and these two fucking cunts are speaking about stories and guns. His hands reached for guns inside his coat but he didn draw. Both Alex and Marcus threw a glance atthe huffed-up Tony. Alex knew Tony had two pair Ace/ Queen and ten as kicker and he presumed Marcus knew the same. But so Alex already had a whiff ofthe guns. He read Rant’s Book on Kindred and the Civil War but he had no other leads, so he spent the ast year hhanging around New Orleans getting close to others invested inthe occult. When Alex found out Marcus was one of his targets, he began forming & relationship with the cunt, “Calm the fuck down Tony” Marcus sid as an afterthought while throwing a quick glance in Tony’ direction, Alex ralsd his eyebrow because ‘Tony visibly did calm the fuck down. Alex onthe other hand did no such thing “Slowly put your cards down and wal away from the table. will too. Pete and Jobn her will turnover our cards and you got yourslfabet” Alex finally said. ‘To is surprise Marcus got up and moved two steps back, Alex followed, and Tony looked at both with bewilderment. n his heart Tony knew he lot Pete and John, two ofthe other four atthe tale turned over their cards, Marcus did nothing to hi cards an Alex had the wining hand. ‘Shit I should be happy but why do Thave a feeling I got fucked’ Alex thought grimly. (Quickly gathering his winnings and seeing that Marcus was already atthe door. Alex got ready to follow he glanced at Tony who had an empty look An his eyes and went towards the door. Outulde Marcus lita cigar and began to say what he knew about the guns. Alex listened intently fora while, but he already knew the introduction. However, he took ott his notebook when Marcus mentioned Peter Sammery, a shadow from New Orleans with whom ‘Marcus exchanged letters often. Peter mentioned be saw a strange gun and asked Marcus if he knew something about it “Tee days later Alex was on his way to New Orleans. He bought a small ofce in New Orleans to set up his PI. Agency and a cabin on the outskirts with his winnings, He settled some older debts he had from the road and wired the money which left him with precisely seventeen dollars to his mame when he reached New Orleans.