House Always Wins

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Holly Earthwind pushed her blonde hair off her face and smiled at the front desk clerk as she stepped inside the massive Las Vegas hotel. It had been a long drive and she was tired. Not to mention there was still people to talk to. 
The young woman stopped at the opulent counter and stared at it for a moment, looking a her own reflection. She was looking older these days. Her last fight with her sister had left her with dark circles of worry under her eyes. For her that was an unusual sight indeed. 
"Is Hermes Vanderbuilt here today?" She asked, jumping slightly when the sound of a tiger roaring sounded so near to her. 
This hotel was not a place she cared to come to, even if she had a fair few friends that worked and did business there. "I was hoping to meet with him before I checked in..." She added, still not really looking at the clerk as she turned her head to see if she could see what the evening's entertainment were advertised. 
She needed something to get her mind off her sister for a little while didn't she?

"I can see that." Molly snorted. She narrowed her eyes at his obvious state of wrinkled dress. "You and I need to have a talk with your employees down there. I want them to explain to me what was going on down there tonight. You're a terrible manager by the way." She said, tucking in his shirt before she'd thought better of it. "Your plants in the lobby are dying." Without waiting for him to respond she grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the elevators. 

"I knew you would say that." Hades said with a sideways smile. He still didn't look up. "You can see why I sent her back to her seat. It was a good thing her sister came. She was useless." He tapped the chains on the floor, the metal glowing a sickly green. He'd wasted too much energy for nothing that night.

The large man seen entirely amused by this whole situation, the only reason they were back inside the elevator. Only Molly likely wouldn’t realise they were automatically heading back up to his penthouse. “You always this bossy, or am I just lucky?” He finally he asked, his voice deep and silken.

“You never send anyone back, no matter how worthless their soul ultimately is.” Hera pointed out. “This smells bad, and you know how much I dislike... unpleasant smells.” She added, yanking on his chains for good measure.
What Hera wouldn't know, was that Isolde was currently back in the theatre, sat in the middle of the stage with her eyes closed, a palm pressed to the wood beneath her. She could feel pain, a great deal of it, and it was screaming so loudly.

"Ask my sister." Molly sighed. "Besides, you're deflecting." She tried not to notice the change in his voice. It made her insides warm. She also tried not to notice the fact that her fingers were still resting tightly around his massive hand. "Why haven't you seen the show? Have your staff talked to you about it? Are you seriously ignoring them?" She frowned up at him. 

Hades ignored the exhaustion he felt as he again got to his feet. His laugh filled the room with ice. "Considering how terrible your own smell is, my queen, I wouldn't think you'd mind it so much." He stepped around her, every step taking more of his energy than the last. "My, my, Hera. You are looking rather ragged tonight...shall I give you a pick me up?" He touched the elder god's arm, drawing a ghostly blue color from it. "Just as I thought, the soul is dried up. But...there will be no more until the weekend. What will you do?" He chuckled darkly, taking his fingers and the soul away from her.

“I’m a busy man, you think I have time to watch every show that comes through my doors?” He asked, cerulean eyes slowly looking Molly over. “You’re awful tightly wound, lovely. Why don’t you relax?” He asked, his free hand reaching out and carefully ticking some of Molly’s hair behind her ear.

Hades was correct. Hera didn’t have the strength to even push back when he taunted her. She had been trying so hard to hide it, but Hades always knew. That was why she was so angry at him sending that girl back to her seat. She no longer cared how powerful a soul was, she simply needed it. “Get out of my sight!” She roared at last, her golden eyes blazing.
Isolde jumped slightly, certain she had just been shocked by something quite physical just by touching the stage. It was rage. Rage stoked by something older than ancient.

Again Molly found herself with little to say. His warm blue eyes reminded her of the ocean. She hadn't been there since she was a child. She and her sister had nearly drowned there....
"Stop." She pressed her hands against his chest, remembering what it felt like to be unable to breathe. "You're changing the subject! People are afraid and you are ignoring it! Gods when does this stupid elevator stop! I can't breathe in here!" She shouted at him.

Hades was unsurprised by the red smoke that surrounded him and planted him directly into his cage. Hera and Isolde and the entire hotel would hear the sound of his wicked laughter. He'd gotten under his captor's skin. He'd have to do that more often.

“You saying I take your breath away, girly?” The large man asked with an amused chuckle, though a brief moment later the elevator pinged to announce its arrival at the suite that looked out over the strip.

Isolde suddenly felt as though she couldn’t breathe, the taste of smoke was chocking her. She bounded down the steps of the grand stage and burst out the doors. It was only then was she able to breathe again.

Molly felt stupid when she realized where they had ended up. She should have known he wasn't listening to her. As she stepped out she heard the dark laughter and assumed it was him. "Don't mock me." She breathed, staring at the plush carpet. With that she turned and marched toward the elevator and stood with her back to him. "We are done here, sir. I shall go over your head."

“It’s cute you think there is someone higher than the owner.” He purred, those deep eyes watching Molly’s rigid back. “How about this... you have one dinner with me, and I will forget you accosted me in my own hotel.”

"I did not. I wanted your help." Molly said softly. "You need to see what is happening." She added, finally turning to look at him. "If you come with me to the next show, I'll go to dinner with you. Do we have a deal?"

The large man seemed to mull this over for a moment, though in reality he had already made his decision. “Two dinners, and I’ll go to the show.” He finally offered.

Molly chewed on her lower lip in thought. She knew she had a few days to do some digging before the next show. If she didn't like what she found she and Izzy would be gone. Besides, he didn't know her name. What could it hurt? 
Blessedly, the elevator door opened back up and she turned to step back inside. "Sure." She shrugged. "Two dinners. I like seafood." She said with a grin that left dimples in her cheeks. The doors closed and she let out a breath. Hermes was going to kill her.

Isolde was back in her room, curled up almost defensively in the large bed. Whatever it was she had felt in that stage had shaken her, not that she would tell her sister this.

Molly found herself back in Hermes showroom the next day, looking over the flashy dresses his show girls used. She held one of the sea green gowns up to herself and turned to the mirror. 
It didn't suit her at all. Her mother had always called her a hippie and she wore the title well. A lady of elegance she was not.

Hades laid on the floor on the other side of the mirror, deciding to take a soul. He didn't want to, but he needed energy. He was too weak to even lift his head. He no longer had a choice.

“This is where you’re hiding?” Hermes asked with a amused chuckle from the doorway behind her, watching Molly in the mirror. “That little sister of yours has been asked after you, should I tell her you’ve run away to become a showgirl?”

Isolde had woken early in the morning and knew she had to speak to her sister, after all, the last time she had seen the other girl she had been disappearing with a talk and handsome stranger. Something felt off when she couldn’t find any trace of her.

Molly turned and smiled at Hermes, hanging the dress back on the rack. "I figured she was sleeping so I didn't want to bother her. I didn't think you'd mind if I stayed here last night." She stepped away from the mirror, missing the slight sickly green glow emanating from it. "I suppose she told you what I did. I really hope no one knows that you know me." 

Hades cursed, pulling his fingers back and turning to another view. The dark haired girl from the night before. She was not the soul he intended to use. He needed her. He didn't know how or why he knew that.

“She didn’t need to tell me.” Hermes replied with a grin. “The entire building is talking about the crazy girl who ruined a sold out show and is giving the owner of Neptune’s Bounty the worlds worst hangover by forcing him to refund every single ticket.”

Isolde was sat in the restaurant, directly beside one of the opulent mirrored walls as she picked at the eggs on her plate. It wasn’t like Milly to act as crazy as she did last night, least of all for her to fall completely off the radar like this.

"He's actually doing it?" Molly asked in surprise. "By the way he reacted last night I didn't think he would. He said something about not having time to pay attention to everything happening in the hotel." She shook her head. "The feelings from yesterday...before either one of us even got near there and nothing was even happening yet... Hermes...who is the owner?"

"Hey...you were at the show..." A young light haired man sat down next to Isolde, also trying to nurse a drink. He too looked a little worse for wear. "What a crazy night, huh?"

Hermes seemed to lose his smile for a moment, then quickly ran his fingers through his hair before he grinned again. “Why do you need to know that? Not like your sticking, around, right?” He added, clearly avoiding answering her question.

Isolde barely glanced up, merely tucking some of her dark hair behind her ear. “I guess... If that sort of thing interests you.” She replied, troubled more now by her sisters disappearance than why Molly had disrupted the show in the first place.

The fact that Hermes didn't immediately answer her questions bothered her. This entire place was filled with a strange feeling. The effect carried even to the pent house. 
"What use would I be here?" She asked. "I'm not special like my sister." She added, shaking her head. 

"You know...it doesn't...to be honest..." The young man said with an awkward laugh. "I don't remember how I got there until some boho chick showed up and started telling." He rubbed the back of his neck and downed half his drink. "Why were you there?"

“Special?” Hermes asked in confusion. “If ruining your life and and being incapable of holding down a job a special skill now?”

Isolde shrugged her shoulders and picking up the black coffee in front of her. “It passed the time.” She replied simply, more startled that he had just raised a very valid point; how had she gotten there?

"That's not funny." Molly sighed. "Izzy has nightmares. You would too if you had to tell futures that often see people dead or dying." She shook her head at him. "Hermes...you have to tell me who the owner is. He asked me to dinner. I can't very well go on a date with him if I don't know his name. Besides...I was hoping you could give me a make over for it. I can't go as Molly....he'll never agree to help anyone. Please?"

"I mean sure but...I don't remember getting to that point." The young man admitted. "I was gambling. At the black jack table...speaking of which...want to go there with me? The name is Adam." He smiled warmly at her.

Hermes looked genuinely sad this time. “Molly.:. He asked you to dinner seeing the real you, why would you want to change that?” He asked gently. “And you know who he is, his name is in lights up the side of the building, he’s anything but subtle.”

Isolde finally glanced up at the man speaking to her, her strange coloured eyes seeming tired and weary. “I only gamble with my soul.” She told him softly. “Blackjack is a child’s game.”

Molly rolled her eyes at this and groaned. "No wonder he just decided I wasn't going to say no to him." She laughed. "He should have seen that odd look on his face when I started bargaining with him on his date. It was like he thought I was going to immediately say yes." She shook her head. "But to be fair, I thought he was going to just march down there and solve all the issues because I shook a poster in his face. Hermes...you have to make me look better. No one likes a frumpy girl."

The man speaking to her had impossibly crimson eyes. He shook his head at her. "More fun was had at children's games than anything else. More souls lost as well. You'd be surprised." Adam said with a soft purr.

“Frumpy? That’s how you see yourself?” Hermes asked sadly. “I think you and I have two different meanings on that word.” He added. “I can give you as many dresses as would please you, but I promise it was the real you that promoted him to ask you to dinner.”

Isolde was staring intently at Adam now, wore worried than her poker face let on. Nothing. She was getting nothing from him. It wasn’t just unusual; it was unheard of. Isolde read people as easily as breathing, she felt their pain as much as she did their misery. But Adam... she may well have been talking to her own reflection for all the emotion she read form him. “Alright... one game.” She finally replied rather carefully.

"Will you at least station yourself at a nearby table so you can save me t some point?" Molly asked with a sigh. "I need to get some rest. I haven't slept in two days and there's a hot tub in my room."

Adam held out his arm to her and led Isolde to the casino floor. It was loud and filled with flashy lights and people. He hardly seemed to notice. "Isn't this better than that boring show?" He asked her.

“I know.” Hermes replied with a suggestive wink. “You know, if I agree to be your safety net... you owe me a date too, right?”

Isolde was doing her best not to scowl against the sudden assault of people emotions coupled with all the noise and bright lights. “I think you and I have very opposite views of better. There were eggs and bacon where you just kidnapped me from!” She wailed.

Molly rolled her eyes. " You are so not my type." She teased, pressing a kiss to his cheek. 
She turned and yawned deeply intending to head towards the elevator. But before she knew it her eyes were closing. She was far too tired go anywhere else...

"Then order more. The food here is the best on the strip." Adam told her, waving over a buxom girl. It wasn't hard to see he was a high roller. The girl was quick to obey, her thoughts buzzing instantly.

“I never said the date was with you...” Hermes chuckled to himself, winking at a well built young man who happened to be walking by. Despite his flirtatious nature, Hermes was there to catch Molly, though he knew he couldn’t keep her safe forever.

Isolde groaned loudly when she felt the rush of desire as the tall blonde looked Adam over, then the instant disdain when her green gaze fell upon the small woman he was with. “Would your little sister not be better suited back in her room?” She asked, a sultry out to her voice once her attention was back on Adam.

Molly slept for the remainder of the day. She dreamed of the day she and her sister had been at the beach as young girls. She also dreamt of the sensation of drowning. Her sister had predicted Molly's death to their mother that day. The dark haired woman had been silent. Neither of them knew then that she had brought them there to kill them. If it hadn't been for the boy who breathed for her, their mother would have gotten her wish. 
Molly dreamed of him too...

Adam's lips thinned and all at once he turned his head. "It would seem our adventure is over." He snapped, grabbing the girl by the arm and leading her towards the black jack table. The two of them disappeared into the crowd before they ever made it there. 
On the far side of the room, the man from the night before stood watching them from a mirror on the wall.

Hermes had made sure Milly was safe, then reluctantly reported to his own master. He hated who he was, that his very nature pushed him to trade in secrets. He had left two dresses hanging in Molly’s room, one he knew was very much to her taste, the other the very opposite.

Isolde was left standing there with wide amethyst eyes. She hadn’t been offended by what the other woman had said, it was all par for the course now. Her ‘gift’ left her unable to form friendships, and she often dressed in a manner that was meant to give the signal to keep away from her. She hadn’t always been this way. She remembered having a somewhat normal childhood, up until the day her mother had called her wicked that fateful day at the beach.