Chapter 14: Chapter 0014 – Gambling and other Sins

Upon entering the casino proper, Ravela was drowned in the shining lights of the rumbling, jingling, blaring slot machines.

 

Ravela walked around for a while. She ignored the slot machines, they were not for her. She wanted to win with a bit more style. Every table had two or three workers. Ravela soon figured out that the one with three casino staffers was a learner's table. The third man was there to entertain any newcomer's curiosity and discreetly explain the rules.

 

Sic Bo was a game of dice with a long history. Its roots were positively ancient. Originating from the old lands, it had become a secret favorite of cheats, which made the work of the attendants that much harder, Ravela learned.

 

That certainly disqualified Sic Bo for Ravela’s purpose. So she kept on searching.

 

Keno was another game that didn’t strike Ravela as her game.

 

Next, there were a bunch of games she didn’t even want to delve into.

 

Pai Gow didn’t appeal to her either. The tiles would be too difficult to manipulate in her favor. She was getting a bit frustrated when the ‘click-clack’ of a metal ball and an audible spinning could be heard.

 

Following the noise, Ravela arrived at an area of tables dedicated to a spinning wheel with numbers all around them and a small metal ball being tossed against the spin into the pit bouncing around and eventually settling in a small box with a corresponding number. Ravela found the learning table.

 

‘This was made for me.’ Ravela thought with a big grin on her face.

Roulette was a game of chance for most people, but to Ravela it was a game of absolute certainty. The rules were easy enough, place your bet on a number or color, evens, or odd, first twelve to third twelve, first half or second half, all of which came with the mathematical winning quote. The rules were easy enough, and Ravela didn’t take long to make her choice.

 

She searched the hall for a relatively empty table. Three other people stood at the table she chose. Two men and a young woman were gambling, but only one of those three seemed excited with the game. Commenting on his bad luck and lamenting the difficulties of running his business.

 

Ravela put her chips in a free player’s area.

 

“Good day.” Ravela threw into the round.

 

She got some curt nods and nothing more. ‘Tough crowd.’

 

Ravela looked at the field and placed her first bet. 5000 on 32 red…

 

The other players already had placed their bets, and the attendant began to spin the wheel.

 

Ravela grinned. ‘And so it begins.’

_________________________________________________________

 

*Meanwhile back in Gradjia*

 

“You shouldn’t even be in here. If Ma catches us snooping she will lose her mind. So as soon as I switched out the pillowcases and towels, we’re out of here. No ifs and buts.”

 

Safora rolled her eyes and started to look around the room. The closet contained a bunch of clothing. ‘Boring.’

 

She began looking around the room for things more interesting than what amounted to ‘dad clothes’. Laena huffed and puffed about what she got talked into by her friend.

 

Safora looked under the bed and spotted a big suitcase.

 

“Lookie here, a clue,” Safora said confidently.

 

Laena frowned and bent down as well. “Oh my, you got him now. A suitcase? For a man seemingly on a journey by train before losing his memory and ending up here?” Laena sarcastically remarked.

 

“Haha, then why hide it under the bed?” Safora bit back.

 

“Maybe it is a large suitcase, and it bothered him just sitting in the room?” Laena speculated the obvious.

 

Safora balked at the simplicity of the explanation. “Silly Laena, that is what he wants you to think. He is hiding his pirate gold in there. Nay! He is concealing the map to an ancient ruin filled with his treasured pirate gold.”

 

Laena gave her imaginative friend a skeptical look. Safora shooed her friend aside and tried to pull out the suitcase. 

 

“Ugh, so heavy,” Safora said as she pulled. “I was wrong. The pirate gold is definitely in there.”

 

Laena put her hands on her hips and said, “Stop joking and get on with it already.”

 

Safora looked hurt. “I am not joking. That thing is really heavy. Quit your disapproving routine and help me get it out.”

Laena looked at her for a second, probing. She prepared herself to be thrown on her ass when Safora catapulted the featherweight suitcase out as soon as Laena helped pull it. To her surprise, the suitcase was heavy.

 

“Okay, on 3. 1, 2, 3,” Safora said.

 

“Hngh,” both girls huffed as one.

 

With a reluctant scraping sound, the suitcase came out from its hiding spot. Safora was all over it in a second.

 

“Argh bubbles, it’s locked! Hm, what do?” Safora sat on the floor considering their options.

 

Laena asked without any hope, “We push it back under the bed and leave it be?”

 

Safora looked at her like she had grown a second head. “Who are you and what did you do to my curious and adventurous friend? Seriously Laena, help me out here.”

 

“Fine suppose we want to open it we, and by we, I mean YOU would have to try out combinations till we find the right one. So, Ma said Ramiel would be back Monday morning which means we have like three days to work through all possible combinations. My suggestion is, to start with the low numbers and get us a cover story so Ma won’t come looking for us. Then I will spend my weekend sitting right there looking at you wasting our holidays in disapproval.”

 

Safora put the tips of her finger together. “Excellent.”

 

It infuriated Laena, even more, when her barbs were just taking in stride. “You just stop obsessing over Ramiel after we are done with this. I don’t want all the badgering you put me through about our big holiday plans to have been for nothing.”

 

“But friend, the fate of the world is at stake!” Safora tried to defuse the situation.

 

“My holidays are at stake.” Laena bluntly retorted with the line she endured for the entirety of the school year.

 

Safora made a pouty face and started to dial away at the combinations.

 

Laena made her way to Ma and told her some tall tale of another sleepover with Safora to talk about the things that happened. She felt horrible pulling on her Ma’s heartstrings like that but if this finally got Safora back to normal she was willing to do it just a little bit.

 

Safora made a phone call to her parents later that afternoon shamelessly wrapping her father around her pinky. Laena was impressed with the cunning and will Safora could muster with anything but math-related topics.

 

Soon enough they were back in Ramiel’s room dialing away at his privacy, and Laena was uncertain how she felt about it.

_________________________________________________________

 

*La Heumö*

 

Ravela had a blast changing disguises a playing different characters. By the time midnight approached Ravela had played as seven different people in all of the casinos.

 

Playing as various types of gamblers was a grand time. She also enjoyed wearing dresses again with the two female rings she had taken with her. But all that fooling around left her with only 140,000 dollars of laundered money.

 

She would have to become more disciplined in the following days or she’d run the risk of not achieving her goal in La Heumö.

 

Ravela sat in her luxurious bathtub enjoying the hot bubble bath. Towering the foam on her head like a huge silly hat. She had fun today.

 

After the long and relaxing bath, Ravela hopped on her bed. Ramiel’s ring sat on the nightstand beside her bed. Sleeping as yourself was a blessing.

Ravela drifted into a soft and dreamless slumber.

 

*Eight hours later*

 

Ravela woke up well-rested and full of energy. She could hear someone knocking on her door. Throwing on the hotel’s morning robe she made it to the door of the main bedroom before realizing that something about her current attire was severely lacking.

 

She was hurrying back to the bed she put on Ramiel’s ring. ‘There. I am me.’

 

When she opened the door a hotel staffer with a service tray greeted her. “Good morning, Mr. Roice. Would you like to have your breakfast in your room?”

 

Ravela decided that she’d indeed take the room breakfast. Motioning for the young man to enter, Ravela gave way. To her surprise, the staffer pulled one more tray behind him.

 

It turned out, there was quite the construction behind it. By the end, Ravela had an entire buffet complete with a choice of fresh drinks, baked goods, sweet and hearty cold cuts, and scrambled eggs. While this all got arranged for her she went for her wallet and got a fifty-dollar bill.

 

“Perfect, thank you.” She bribed him, so he’d hurry out of her suite.

 

She grinned. It was breakfast time. Ravela took off Ramiel’s ring. Breakfast as herself, another luxury.

 

It wasn’t an amount that one person could eat. For the money, she paid Ravela expected great service and if breakfast was anything to go by she could stay in her suite all day and get pampered.

 

Ravela juggled that thought for a while. ‘I needed someone to feed me grapes, so I can think undisturbed’ Ravela thought while reaching for the fruit platter again and again. ‘Where was the servant to save me from this tedious task? Hard labor like this is unbecoming of a lady.’ Ravela snorted and laughed.

 

‘Where did those pampered thoughts come from?’ “No, no, none of that,” Ravela called herself to order.

 

She lay on the couch for a while wiggling her toes into the morning sun, pretending they were interesting, before getting up for a bath and to take on her mission.

 

Three hours later Ravela realized that she wasted the entire morning “getting ready”.

 

So she tore herself out of her self-indulging laze and got into her next disguise.

 

Ravela clad herself in a white shirt, and a light grey suit and put on the eighth ring of her little travel collection. Turning into a slightly curly-haired blonde man. There he was the con man with steely blue eyes, staring her down from inside the mirror.

 

Ravela grinned, and he smiled back. 

 

“And who….am I,” Ravela asked her mirror image.

 

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Ravela gave herself another spin. “Call me, Michael Manus. I am here to rob this casino blind.”

Ravela walked to the safe and got 20,000 dollars out of the safe. “Time to streamline the process, gentlemen.” Ravela addressed the faces on the bills.

Ravela closed the safe looked the room over one last time and then when on her merry way to becoming a headache for the casinos in this town.

 

‘Michael’ would become the worst kind of customer for any casino, beloved by lady Luck.

 

Ravela made her way to Casino Cernunnos. Today would be a day used to its capacity.

_________________________________________________________

Atla Jaest watched from the bar as another stranger joined her project table. At it sat the most notorious swaddy family head, a crime boss that controlled most of the west coast. Charron ‘The Lynx’ his family called him.

 

Atla knew him to be anything but vulgar, boisterous, and moody. Not at all the businessman and Galant, most papers made him out to be.

 

Next to him sat his righthand man. The sharp suit couldn’t hide his brutish nature. Just a few more pictures of the hidden warehouses and stashes of guns and drugs would get Atla her long-waiting prize. Title page:

 

‘Lone Journalist brings down entire west coast mafia’

 

As so often in the last few months a new guest settled in at their table. 

 

“10,000 on four, black.” The attendant announced a bit stiffly. “Any more bets?”

 

“Four, black, hm?” Charron Jütland rumbled. “Well, if the clanless wants to bet that much on it. I say first third for 10,000. Let’s see if you’re right, man.”

 

Atla held her breath calling a man clanless were fighting words by any measure, but the man just grinned and acted like he didn’t know what those words meant. A powerful mafia boss wanted him gone and that man just ignored it.

 

It was too late now, the wheel was spun and Atla watched as the ball bounced and rolled through the spinning pit.

 

*Clink*

 

“Four, black.”

 

The blonde man laughed and winked at the swaddy man glaring daggers at him, wanting him gone from this table.

 

“Guess I’m in luck today. As were you.” The blonde man got up and took his considerable winnings.

 

Too late to escape the hatred of the powerful mafia boss. Atla watched from her spot at the bar as the blonde man made off with his winnings, seemingly oblivious to the men glaring after him.

 

Atla had bigger fish to fry, as she saw the current subjects of her investigation leave the table after one of the underlings came in a hurry.

She prepared her camera inside her purse. ‘Last day of the investigation, time to get the big guy implicated.’

_________________________________________________________

 

Ravela walked away from that table 350,000 dollars richer. 350,000 dollars she planned to lose as different people over the next few hours. Of course, they wouldn’t be from the money she was about to cash in.

 

Leaving the casino only four hours after entering it, Ravela was ready to

have an early dinner.

 

After stowing away her new clean money she got out a strap of the old cash and went out for dinner. She wanted to explore more of the city and find a restaurant where she could eat good food.

 

Ravela felt peckish. Wandering the streets of La Heumö for hours before choosing a tiny local. Inside there was a live stage with a single female artist playing her instrument. Sensually, lovingly, room-filling. She captured the entire restaurant in a lovely melody.

Ravela waited for a while until a waitress reluctantly placed her. Ravela ordered from the menu. and listened with closed eyes to the young woman on the stage pour her soul out.

 

Ravela looked at the full restaurant and was saddened that so few paid attention to the wonderful melody played just for their enjoyment. It did take some time before the food arrived but she didn’t mind. The melody soothed the yearning in her soul.

 

Ravela studied the different patrons as they ate and talked. She knew the woman that was sitting in the far corner of the dining room. Ravela wondered who she was watching with such focus.

 

Following her line of sight, Ravela spotted another player from her favorite table. The man that called her clanless sat at a table with a bunch of his men. A seemingly innocent dinner, however, Ravela could taste the atmosphere. It brimmed with malice and deceit somebody would die tonight and whoever it was wouldn’t see it coming.

 

Ravela was about done with her dinner and ordered dessert. The sweetest they had, to be precise. She watched as the group of gangsters left the local followed by the woman.

 

Ravela enjoyed her dessert. The sweetness, the crusty crunch of the caramelized sugar on top, and the creaminess harmonized perfectly on her tongue together with the soloist’s performance on the stage. But like any good meal, there had to be that last bite.

 

After paying her bill, Ravela left in a bit of a gloomy mood. She walked down the street. After around two blocks, Ravela heard a loud *Bang!* in an alleyway to her left. Ravela looked down the alley directly at the band of gangsters dragging one of their ranks into a trunk. Ravela took a step back and watch silently.

 

“Boss, I found this woman hiding in a doorway. I think she saw.”

 

Ravela saw a young woman getting dragged into the middle of the group. She knew that woman and could see the camera lens inside her purse from the end of the alley. She straightened her suit and slowly walked down the alley.

 

“There you are.” She announced her presence and kept walking. Ravela kept walking right into the middle of the small group. Her behavior startled all present for a moment.

“I was looking for you, darling.” Ravela kept on the charade.

“Wait y-you’re the one from the casino. The lucky clanless from this afternoon. What the hel are you doing here?!” The boss of the gangster exploded.

 

Ravela was now standing among the gangsters. Grinning, Ravela looked directly at the man man. ‘Good, all eyes on me.’

 

“I believe, that we haven’t made proper acquaintance yet. My name is-”

“Like hel! You’re dead, clanless. You shouldn’t have walked in on my business.” The boss cut her off as he signaled to his men. The woman was forgotten about for the moment.

 

Ravela shrugged. “Be that way, it will hurt more not knowing my name.”

She pushed one of the henchmen into the next building wall. Knocking the wind out of him. Eight to go.

 

She pushed the next guy into the other wall. They all pulled out their guns. Ravela looked at them amused. A thin layer of energy built around her.

 

Gunfire started flashing in the dark alley but no bullet reached her. Ravela watched as the boss reacted immediately by retreating from the scene with one of his henchmen leading the way. The man who always sat beside the boss at the table sprang into motion after seeing that she was bulletproof. The punch he tried to land looked clumsy but Ravela assumed it was stronger than an average person’s punch. She chose to underrun his swing grabbing his thighs and lifting him off the ground.

 

She threw him after a spin, right into his underlings. Ravela pulled out her pistol aiming for the hoods of the cars parked in the alley. One currently occupied by the boss making his escape. Her shots blew off the hoods of both cars.

 

The underlings were still on the ground as was the man she suspected of being not a normal human. She walked over to the open trunk. The man inside was dead. Ravela was too late to help him.

 

Her gun swung around. The boss of this gang was currently trying to escape on foot. Ravela trained her pistol on his leg. She could blow it off right now. It would feel good. She held off. That man couldn’t run from what he had done for long.

 

Instead, Ravela ran after the young woman whose life he just saved. She kept firing her gun into the air. There were already faint noises of sirens coming closer. She would be gone by then. Together with her slow friend, who for some reason was still near the alley taking photos of the scene.

 

Ravela looked at her, wondering if she was looking at an alien species.

“What are you doing? Move it!” She didn’t wait for a reaction and just picked her up.

 

“Wha-” The woman tried to protest as Ravela jumped up to the next smallest building. Once up there, she put the baffled woman down.

 

Ravela looked down to the street where a very angry but also very much limping mob of gangsters streamed out of the alley into the arms of arriving cops.

 

“Who are you?” The woman behind him asked.

 

“I am Michael Manus and who do I have the pleasure with?”

 

“Atla Jaest, journalist. What are you?” She kept on asking him.

 

“A Journalist, hm. It would be mighty wide of you if my name wouldn’t appear in your story or in whatever you tell the police.” Ravela stepped away from the edge and looked the woman in her dark clothing over.

 

“My story? Do you know who that is down there? I have to leave this entire city, thanks to you.”

 

Ravela thought she heard wrong. “Thanks to me. The way I remember it, you were already dead to rites if I hadn’t injected myself into this situation. So you want to leave the city. Probably a good idea.”

 

“You didn’t answer my question. What are you?”

 

Ravela shrugged “Because I have no idea what you mean.”

 

Atla rolled her eyes. ”You’re a Super. Are you a hero, a villain? Some gentleman criminal?”

 

Ravela laughed. “Oh, I am an interdimensional fiend. I managed to get onto your planet through supernatural means. What do you expect me to say here, Atla? Let me offer you a deal and before you say anything trust me it is a good one.”

Atla was insulted by this diversion, but she was currently on a roof with nothing better to do.

 

“You want out of this city? Great I buy you a train ticket to the other side of the country. Till you need to take your train I have a safe place for you to stay, conditions here may apply. My fee? My name doesn’t appear in your story nor does any of my friends who are going to help you.”

 

“That’s all?” Atla asked.

 

Ravela looked at her probingly. “Well, breakfast is included.” She attempted some humor. ‘No, sane person would turn down breakfast.’

 

Atla held out her hand. “Fine, deal.”

 

“Deal, indeed.” Ravela held the handshake for a moment. “and your firstborn,” she whispered fast before letting go of Atla’s hand.

 

Atla looked mortified.

 

“Just kidding. Just kidding. Oh deary me, your face. You should have seen your face. Ridiculous. Alright, hop on. I will get us down somewhere safe and get us a cab to the hotel.”

 

“The hotel?” Atla asked.

 

“Well, naturally I am not letting you sleep in a run-down apartment without someone guarding. What do I look like? Some low-level devil?”

 

Ravela cackled as she jumped to the next roof.

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