075 The Price Of Stealing A Heart

"How many people do you have here?" Erebus dialed Kitty's number, and put the phone on his ear as he asked the two young wolf in the car.

"We have only two units here, my Lord." Harrison answered. He was sitting at the front seat, "We are the unit leaders."

"I see, go get your people ready and wait for my order." Erebus nodded, frowning at the busy tone in the phone, "Where is the casino?"

"Casino? Downtown..." Harrison and Quinlan stared at each other, having no idea where this weird requirement came from.

"Well," Erebus pulled the car over in a haste stop, "I'll be there then."

The two got off the car in shock, but they soon snapped out of it and went back to gather their troops.

Poker WAS Erebus thing. But this time, he didn't come to play --

Erebus pulled up at the huge golden entrance of the casino with a smirk: those old crackers, they were still showing their defiance in the same style after a thousand years--

The casino, is the penal colony.

He gave the car key to the waiter at the door and went straight in.

The casino was just like another in the world: people laughing, crying, taking in much overly priced drinks; some of them excited on the table, others calm and low key.

But if you are an observant one, you would notice that there were some weird ones among them, too, hiding themselves in the forest of other lunatics.

Erebus got himself a buttle of gin tonic at the bar before he went straight and sat down at the poker table.

"Sir." The dealer welcomed him into the game.

"How much are we playing, guys?" Erebus gave the table an innocent smile.

...

It took him less than three games to take away more than one billion dollars from the table.

Of course, setting the bet at fifty million help a lot.

"Where are you going?" Erebus gave a very genuine surprised look as he watched the dealer left the table after his third game.

Two HUGE men came to take the dealer's place instead. They stood on each of Erebus's side, and took him by the arm.

"What?" Erebus stood up with no resistance: "House cannot take such a small loss?"

"We will honor the bet." One of the huge guards said in a low voice, "You will get your money, but you are banned from this casino on suspicion of counting cards."

Erebus smirked: "So what? It's not like you can use your money anyways."

He could see that his words paused the guard's movement.

They were taking orders from the earphone. His words WERE for the people on the other end, and as expected --

The guard hit him hard on his stomach.

Erebus bent over and fell on the ground, laughing.

And the two guards started throwing their feet on his body where it hurts, and Erebus didn't even put up a fight.

There was a crowd around this sudden farce, but what was weird was that most of the crowd just watched it with a calm face, as if just watching a boring TV show.

Erebus coughed a gulp of blood after a hard kick into his abdomen. He curled on his side with his hands clenched into fists in pain. The guard raised his leg for a stomp, only to stop in the middle of the air --

Erebus gave a heavy cough and wiped off the blood on the corner of his mouth as the guards Grabbed his arms and lifted him off the floor.

The crowd circle around them was broke when they dragged him to the elevator. He stood up straight as the door shut slowly between them and the crowd, smirking as the guard pushed "97".

"You ripped me off of a billion." A cold, dark voice rose when the elevator door opened again.

They arrived at the top floor.

"I HELPED you off with a billion. What's money good to you when you cannot go outside?" Erebus corrected the voice as he shook off the two hands on his arms, " Such a high price to get to see you though. I wonder if that’s why you are still single."

"You needed to be taught a lesson, young arrogant alpha." The slow voice said in the dark.

"Sure, the first punch I do deserve." Erebus squinted his eyes, walking towards the shadow, "But you called them off twenty kicks late."

"You got the first punch for my one billion dollars." Finally the shadow in the dark rose and came to Erebus, "The kicks were the price for stealing my heart."

And a woman emerged from the shadow in an elegant night gown, showing her tempting figure in the most delicious way under the dim light.

"In that case, maybe you should take a few more as a down payment." Erebus grinned as he took hold of the woman's hand, stopping her attempt of wiping the blood off his lips, "Uranus."

Uranus took her hand back in a cold snort: "And here I thought you came to visit. You came only because you want something. Why would I help you?!"

Erebus returned a big smile to her snort and went ahead for a seat without her offering it: "They can leave the building freely, but they won't. Why?"

"You know damn well why!" Said Uranus hotly.

"They are all supernatural creatures imprinted with the mark of exile. This, is their prison. Except this prison doesn't lock they up, does it?" Erebus sat himself comfortably in the soft sofa, and outed his words lazily.

"No." Uranus squinted her eyes dangerously, "it only takes the magic from a witch; the shift from a werewolf; the eternal life from a vampire--"

"In short," Erebus took over her sentence, "the soul, from a sinner."

"Yeah, they are all sinners," Uranus said with her hand shaking, "Except me! I am NOT a sinner."

"Yes, you are." Erebus took away his jokingly look and said seriously, "Your only sin, is that you were born in the royal family, that you were born, with the responsibility of guarding this prison."

"You think that's the best way to get me to help you? To remind me that I have nothing?! I have nothing, okay?! And so I want nothing!" Uranus finally had enough.

She wheeled on Erebus with an ice sword forming in her hand and tip of the blue sword ripped into Erebus chest.

Blood oozed out of his body, and Erebus frowned deeply as he pressed his hand around the wound with a muffled grunt of pain.

"W-why didn't you dodge?!" Uranus yelled in panic as the sword fell from her hand and dropped on the ground.

"Does inflicting pain on others make you feel a bit better about the unjust you are suffering?" Asked Erebus with his soft, rough voice.

"It won't!" Uranus shouted, "Nothing ever will! Why did you come?! Why couldn't you just let me rot here?!"

Erebus waited a bit for her to catch her breath, and he said slowly: "I'm sorry you are forced with such a fate. And I came, to offer you a shred of freedom."

"You are the devil!" Uranus burst into tears and rushed over to check his wound.

Erebus stopped her hand again, with an annoyingly silly grin on his face:

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have a little kitten now. She won't be too happy with other women putting their hands on me."