betagainstme | early 1949 // las vegas, nv

early 1949 // las vegas, nv

Alice was in her element.

The lights, the music, the glamour and glitz of Las Vegas' most exclusive casinos--this is where Alice and her gifts thrived. She had her hair curled and pinned, her makeup perfect, nails painted; her dress stopped just below the knee, a silvery-green color that draped at the waist and was cinched by a belt. Her shoulders were left bare, her neck decorated by sparkling diamonds that matched the ones at her ears.

She steps out of the car with the help of the valet, accepting the man's hand with her own. Turning, she intercepts Jasper as he comes around the side of the car, blinking at the pomp and circumstance of a casino in the late 40's.

They'd hunted extra this week, just before arriving in Nevada, to make sure he'd be okay for this night. His eyes are completely gold now--she's so proud of the progress he's made. And she's very proud of how handsome he looks tonight. His curls swept out of his face, his suit fitting perfectly. He turns his wrist, fixing the watch on his arm, and looks every bit at ease in that moment.

And Alice falls in love all over again.

She steps to his side, fixing his tie before looping her arm through his. "I hope you're ready to win big tonight, Mr. Whitlock." She nods at the bellhop who lifts their suitcases onto a cart and hands her a room key. Alice slips it into Jasper's inside pocket in his jacket with a smile. "I'm your lucky charm."

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Las Vegas is quite something, and Jasper is very glad they hunted more than necessary this week.

He feels Alice slipping the room key into his pocket, hears her words, and yet his gaze is elsewhere. Everywhere.

There are so many people. More than he thought possible in one place.

And they're drunk, well and truly. On winnings, on alcohol, on life.

He looks away from the spectacles to focus on Alice again. "I've already won big," he reminds her, swooping in to drop a kiss on her cheek.

"You big romantic," Alice whispers, tilting her head for the kiss. Her hand stays looped in his, the other coming to rest on his bicep, fingers curling around to keep him steady. She knows it's a lot--it was a lot her first time too.

But soon, they'll be focused at the blackjack or craps tables--maybe even poker if she's feeling up to counting that many cards--and he won't have to deal with so many of the people at once.

There's always dancing, too. They can hear the music and singers in the ballroom from here, over the hubbub of conversation when they step through the main doors. There's a lot to see, a lot to do.

"So, which table first, my love? The odds are...feeling good tonight." She grins up at him.

Her excitement has him returning the grin, chasing away any nerves.

"What was that one you were telling me about, just now, in the car? Blackjack?"

Might as well start there.

They move into the casino and earn more than a few looks in their direction, despite the whole of the room being decked out in glamour with the rich and the richer and the infamous.

There are a few men sizing Jasper up - he's tall, built, intimidating - and they wonder if he might have connections. A few ladies are admiring him too, but their feelings are of a different sort.

Alice is the star between the two of them though. She's beaming, glowing. She's beautiful and sexy in her green dress, the diamonds draped on her neck and in her ears catching in the light. The room might be half in love with her already.

Once upon a time, Alice got nervous when men looked her way like that--she hated the spotlight that being a vampire gave her, the model-pretty looks and allure, just wanting to be left alone so she could figure out what she was doing, who she was.

Now though, it's barely even noticed as she leads Jasper to a blackjack table with an opening. Her chips laid down, her fingers gliding over the carpeted table's edge, smiling prettily at the attendant. It's all a game, all of this, just one game of paying attention to the futures that will play out before her once the cards start flying.

A waitress offers them drinks and Alice takes a pretty looking Cosmopolitan as a prop, setting it down on the table as the attendant starts dealing. One card face down--she knows what it is already, an eight of diamonds--with another on top, face up: a ten of clubs. She holds, seeing the house bust.

She'll win the next few rounds before she purposely throws one to lose a few hundred dollars, just to make it look right. Can't have too much luck in a place like this. The man two seats down from her is already grumbling after a night of bad calls. "Ay, sweetheart," he growls down at Alice. She places a hand on Jasper's arm to keep him calm. "Why don'tcha come sit with me and give me a little of your luck."

"No, thank you." Alice replies serenely, returning her attention to the attendant for the next round.

The hand on his arm is not enough to keep him from turning his gaze to the man, staring him down. And just a stare is enough.

The table grows eerily quiet. The tension palpable.

The man fumbles with what chips he has left, begging his leave from the table.

A woman grabs his open spot. "'Bout time he left. He was a running joke." She winks at Jasper. "Thanks, honey."

Jasper turns away with a faint smile, covering Alice's hand, still on his arm, with his own.

The attendant lays out down a ten of clubs in front of her, and Jasper has been all too happy to watch her play, whispering in her ear when she fakes a loss, a kiss on the top of her head when she wins.

By the time she turns from the table, she's won several thousand dollars worth of chips, the little bag they give her jangling noisily as they wander further into the casino. Her drink is still in her hand, and the next time she passes a potted plant, she tips half of the drink into the pot.

Alice hums along with the music, adding a sway to her walk as she turns around to look at Jasper, walking backwards with a smile. "What do you want to play? I can just be your good luck charm--tell you when to bet more and when to hold back. Let the humans think you're some mobster's handsome son.

"Oooh--" Her eyes light up. "We could have alter-egos. You're the mobster's son and I'm some up and coming socialite from the east coast."

Jasper laughs, her exuberance and excitement is catching. "And what does a mobster's son do with his some up and coming socialite from the east coast?"

Does it involve glaring at men who look Alice's way? Because that's easy enough.

He glares at one now over the top of her head again, and he pointedly rests his hand on her lower back to pull her closer. And maybe slides his hand a tad lower too.

"Well," Alice smirks up at him, wrapping his tie around her hand to tug him down for a kiss. "I can think of a few things."

She kisses him, pressing herself against him and most of the men watching her have the decency to look away. Some, however, look even more. She sets her glass down on a passing waiter's tray without even looking. The kiss is much more important than knowing if the glass makes it.

(It does).

Jasper is all too happy to give the room something of a show with their kiss. Especially if it shows those few still looking just who Alice is with, and to eat their hearts out.

Not that the men are the only ones looking, a few woman are now turning their heads too.

"We're causing a stir," he murmurs when he pulls away, only a hair's breadth.

"Bunch of prudes," she mutters with a grin. They might not truly be prudish (in fact, some of them look quite lecherous), but they're keeping her from kissing the love of her life!

Alice sighs, makes a show of pulling back from him to take his hand as they begin walking along the walkway again. "So, Jasper, pick a game for me to teach you to win."

"Didn't say we had to stop," Jasper whispers in her ear before she pulls away, though he takes her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles as they start walking.

(There may be a sigh or two from some of the women still watching them.)

"What's this crap thing?"

"Craps," she giggles. "You place a bet--either a Pass Line bet or a Don't Pass bet--then you shoot the dice. If you get a seven or an eleven, the Pass Line bet wins. If you get a two, three or twelve, then the Pass Line bet loses, or 'craps out.'"

Stopping them near a craps table, Alice points out what she's talking about as others play. "If you get any other number, it's a point-number and they put a pluck on the number and you roll again. If the point-number is rolled, the Pass Line bets win and the Don't Pass bets lose. If a seven is rolled, the Pass Line loses and the Don't Pass bets win."

Glancing up at him, she makes a face. "There's other rules too, but that's the simplified version. It's easier to just play and pick it up, honestly." Her hand trails up his arm as she speaks. "But we should play. It's good luck for your girl to blow on the dice, you know."

Jasper thinks he can get the hang of it, with Alice’s instructions and just from watching the game before he joins it.

But, he leans down to whisper in her ear, an arm wrapping around her waist, lips brushing her bare shoulder, “How about you just call the shots, blow my dice, and I’ll roll ‘em?”

He moves them toward one of the tables as soon as there’s an opening.

She imagines her cheeks would be red if she were human—with heat, not rouge like they are now. As it is, she pinches his side with a scandalized gasp, as if she hadn’t just made the same innuendo.

Smiling, Alice stays curled into his side, whispering the bets to make as she observes the table before her. “Bet high,” she murmurs, reaching for his hand with the dice in it. “Make a wish—“

She purses her lips and blows air over his hand (and the dice of course), blinking big eyes up at him with a sly smile.

Jasper is not even sure what he bets - a lot, surely, by the sound of the murmurs around the table - and he’s only vaguely aware of flinging the dice across the carpeted table.

He’s definitely not paying attention to the cheers, the congratulations, or even the groans from some losses. He knows they won. He doesn’t really care. He’s starting at Alice, his gaze flickering between her eyes and her lips.

The intensity of his feelings starts to affect some of others at the table. A woman fans herself. A man shifts, clearing his throat.

Jasper’s handed the dice. He’s not sure who gives them to him. He just keeps looking at Alice: “Again?”

“Again,” she agrees, reaching for his hand to uncurl his fingers and reveal the dice again, repeating her earlier move, eye contact and all. When he shoots the dice down the table (seven—they bet on the Pass Line, another win), she wraps her hand around his tie to tug him down to her.

Chips are being pushed to their side of the table, but she pays it no mind. Alice has other things to deal with first: like making sure Jasper’s lips are thoroughly kissed, not to mention making sure said kiss is deep.

The woman beside her sighs longingly as she watches the couple. Alice pulls away from Jasper with a bright smile. “One more bet.”

Clearing her throat, the woman next to them taps Alice on the arm and offers her an open cigarette case. “That kiss made me need one, I can only imagine you, darling.”

Keeping her eye roll to herself, she takes one, for the prop. The woman offers a lighter as well—as do nearly every man at the table. She uses the woman’s. She knows the etiquette of such a moment, and certainly doesn’t want to offer any of these men false hope—or certain death from the vampire beside her.

The woman waggles the case at Jasper. “And you, handsome?”

Jasper is taking his cues from Alice, here.

As he does with most things when it comes to interacting with humans again in this way. It’s not as natural for him anymore. Not like it used to be when he was human, back in Houston, the charismatic, charming, young Whitlock.

And he’s certainly not here to beguile and lure away anyone for a kill.

He glances at Alice, puffing on hers as she lines up another bet, and then takes a cigarette from the proffered case.

The woman stands, moving into his space to light the cigarette, even with Alice close by his side.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he murmurs around the cigarette, around a puff of smoke, the pungent odor covering the scent of her blood at being so near.

“My pleasure.”

A wink as she turns away to place her own bet, as the dice are pressed into his hands again. And, oh - He’s supposed to be rolling, isn’t he?

Alice has completed a more complicated bet—a Don’t Pass bet, her bottom lip tugged between her teeth for a moment before she takes another drag of the cigarette and ashes it in the tray on the table. It’s a fun distraction—and probably helping Jasper with the smell of humans around them—but she needs to concentrate.

Jasper rolls the dice—a four, adding that to the points table. They need a seven to win. She knows the outcome when he lets go of the dice again, but still, she holds her breath. It lands: seven.

She jumps and claps, thanking the woman that congratulates them on their lucky streak. Alice starts pocketing chips as the dice are handed to the next group, knowing their streak’s gotta take a break now. Too many eyes watching them.

Alice grabs Jasper’s arm and wheels him around, grinning ear to ear. “Let’s wander through back garden a minute. Give them a bit to forget about us.”

Jasper doesn’t even know how much it is they’ve won. Only that it’s enough to warrant jealousy from the players around them.

“Probably a good idea,” he murmurs, though her excitement at their wins would keep him at the tables all night.

Their chips are stored away, heavy in his pockets, as he leads her away from the table and toward the garden.

For it being a desert, the grounds are lush, greenery alive and thriving, the pool water sparkles under the lights that dot the area. There’s still a few lounging by the pool, drinks or cigarette in hand, laughing, chatting. A few dressed in bathing suits swim, but a couple dressed in evening wear swim too, laughing.

It’s calmer out here, where people are relaxing.

“Think they will forget us?” Jasper asks, cigarette still dangling from his mouth, whispers of smoke in the air, when they’ve found a spot away from the others and Alice perches on the edge of a lounger.

Alice is pretty hard to forget.

Alice stretches out on the lounger, rearranging her skirt at her knees as she watches the cigarette in his mouth bob when he talks. Sitting back up, she plucks the cigarette with a pinch at the filter, taking a drag of it before offering it back to him.

She blows the smoke straight up into the night air, watching the cloud of it dissipate before answering. “Well, maybe not us. But the hundred and fifty grand we just won might be fuzzier though.”

She slips her hand into his, lacing their fingers around each other. “Love you. You having fun?”

“Love you too, and, actually, I am,” he says around the cigarette again, taking a puff and sending the smoke after hers into the night. It doesn’t do anything for him but the action is soothing in a way.

(It also helps to not draw attention. A couple, just having a smoke by the pool.)

He squeezes her hand, then flicks the ash off the cigarette with his other. A practiced move, like he’d seen other doing in the casino room, away from them. Wouldn’t want to burn the nice suit Alice has him wearing or the dress he’s quite keen on that she’s wearing. Though, it sounds like they could afford another or two.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself quite a lot,” he says, leaning over her to kiss her.

Her lips curl into a smile against his and when he pulls back, she rests her head on the lounger’s upholstered pillow, her painstakingly curled hair getting squished a little. She can’t find it in her to care—just utterly relaxed to be by his side. “I am. I love winning a little spendin’ money. And being with you.”

Humming softly, she kicks her ridiculously high heeled shoes off, stretching her toes out as the shoes clonk to the concrete below the chair. “Plus all the glitz and glamor—though, I have to say, having you by my side makes it far more enjoyable and not just for the usual reasons.”

Alice makes a face, her nose scrunched up, tongue out. “Last time I was here, the fact I wasn’t on a man’s arm automatically meant I was bothered all night. Pretty sure I met several actual mobsters...”

Jasper is not at all surprised to hear so. He laughs. “Well I’m happy to be of service in that regard, ma’am.”

He stubs the cigarette out on the concrete and flicks it away in favor of sitting with her, pulling her feet into his lap.

“You won’t even have to ask, if anyone bothers you.”

Especially any mobsters.

"My protector," she murmurs, arching her foot to touch his arm with her toes.

There's a scream and a splash from behind Jasper--one of the men had taken a running jump into the pool, spraying the others with water. A quick vision plays out--more splashing, laughing, one of the girls complaining about her hair.

Like clockwork: "Oh, Jimmy, my hair!"

Alice laughs to herself, pushing up toward Jasper, scooting forward so she can kiss him again. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

A scream might normally set Jasper off, his shoulders tense at the very least, yet Alice knows just how to distract him.

"I'm with you," he murmurs against her lips.

But it is more than just that too. He can see an entire night of Alice teaching him all the games. She'll be by his side, guiding him through them, playing her own games, letting him play on his own, figuring it out, losing and winning.

It's so normal, it almost makes his heart ache for all the wanting. These moments and days with her.

Edited 2020-07-15 00:07 (UTC)

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