Chapter 2

I pushed slowly off the cold cement floor. Breathing hurt, and I was in the uncomfortable situation of having to guess which ribs might be broken. My eyes teared up, but I stubbornly pushed back the pain and struggled towards the door.

I stumbled after two steps; I was too out of practice to be good at pushing back the pain.

I made it to the door after three tries, the pain having reached the point of numbness. I pulled the door open, and walked into the kitchen. The studious avoidance paid me by the staff told me that I wasn't the first battered individual to stumble out of the back room. I used the wall for stability as I walked to the back of the building, the chaos of the kitchen fading behind me.

The blast of hot, dry air caused me to stumble as I opened the back door. I cursed as I walked into the dry night air. October in Las Vegas was much more pleasant than the summer months, but still was hot for someone raised in Maine. I managed my way down the back stair case, and tried to get my bearings in the unfamiliar alleyway I found myself in.

One wrong turn and five blocks later, I found myself at the entry to O'Malley's. My shambling walk had drawn only a few stares as I entered more populous areas; I dismissed them as tourists. From long exposure to the drunk and desperate locals had developed blindness to the plight of apparently drunk individuals; I reveled in my current anonymity. I just really wished it hurt far less.

The door to my favorite pub never felt so heavy; I had always thought the heavy wooden door a quaint touch, but as my bruised body struggled to pull it open, I wished Shauna had switched to something lighter, like paper. I entered the familiar bar, and the garish city lights faded behind me as I entered the perpetually twilit bar. Shauna wasn't behind the bar, but Marcus looked up as I stumbled into the bar. He nodded hello, then went back to drawing a beer for a stranger sitting at the counter. Marcus looked back up in alarm as he noticed my condition, and nodded silently to the back. He knew I was there to see Shauna, and not for the atmosphere.

Fortunately none of the regulars were in on this Monday night, so I didn't have to field any questions as I stumbled through the bar. The end of tonight's football game was playing silently in the corner, triggering dancing shadows over the door to Shauna's office, the modern equivalent of candlelight. I rapped on the door, and pushed it open without waiting for an answer.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Will?" Shauna erupted as I caught her at her secret vice. She quickly stubbed out her cigarette, pushing the pot under her desk. She stood, clearly planning on launching a blistering tirade. She stopped as quickly as she started as I fell into her office. "Jesus, Will, are you okay?" She hurried around her desk, crouching down beside me.

"That damn coin of yours failed."

"Well, you shouldn't have picked a fight in the first place!" She took a quick glance at my eyes to make sure I wasn't drunk and trying to play her -- her lack of faith hurt decidedly less than my ribs -- and helped me onto the couch against the wall. I sank gratefully into the mushy grey faux leather, my right arm held tightly to my chest. Shauna frowned at me briefly, then ducked her head out into the bar. "Hey, Marcus, bring me a bag o' ice!" Everything with Shauna seemed louder than usual, but it was probably me. "What happened?"

"A family problem."

"I thought you didn't deal with those folks anymore."

"I don't as a rule, but I apparently dealt them poorly."

"Wait, is this a family problem, or a Family problem?" Shauna's natural paranoia asserted itself suddenly in the audible capitalization.

"Just the Saccardi's," I said, my left hand flopping in an attempted gesture of placation. Shauna visibly relaxed, and took the ice bag from Marcus, closing the door behind him. "I was apparently too flippant. Some large individual named George wanted to introduce his fist to my ribs."

Shauna shook her head. "How long has it been since you've actually been hurt, Will? You wimp. Let's get that shirt off and take a look." She stepped in front of me, her generous bust precisely at eye level. "You. Take. Your. Shirt. Off. My shirt stays on, got it?" Shauna was short, but her bust was still impressive. We were friends, occasional business partners, but never lovers. With her red hair, and short, stocky physique she could easily have been unattractive, but her athletic build instead made her distractingly curvy. Normally I was a gentleman in her presence, but I wasn't exactly in top form at that moment.

I struggled out of my shirt. The polo shirt had been a good idea earlier in the evening, but pulling anything over my head was a non-starter on my own. Shauna took pity after a few moments of watching me struggle. Even with her help it hurt like hell, and Shauna's probing hands at my ribs didn't feel any better.

I waited patiently as she pressed expertly at my ribs. Her rambuncious family life followed by years working the bar had given her a great deal of practical experience in trauma, so I bore the pain stoicly as she examined me. "Ow! Damn! Fuck!"

"Quit your whining, Will. You just have two cracked ribs. Here, ice them. I'll tape you up, and you'll be good to go."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have half your chest crushed in."

Shauna throw the ice bag at me, turning around and spinning into her desk chair. "You whimp."

I ignored the slight on my masculinity, and pressed the ice bag against my bare chest. The cold took my breath away, and I missed Shauna's next few biting comments. I interrupted her muttered tirade by pulling the gold coin from around my neck, and throwing it onto her desk. "What happened, Shauna? Your cousin got it for me, I know it works!"

Shauna frowned, annoyed at the interruption. She had been getting a good head of steam going, and didn't enjoy the interruption. It was my own fault for interrupting her private time. She shook her head, and picked up the coin. Her eyes squinted as she turned it over and over in her hands, her short fingers dancing surprisingly delicately across the engraved surface. "How long have you had this for?"

"Oh, seven, eight years? I don't quite recall. Clinton was in office."

"You have an interesting way of telling time. Ah, here's why. You really don't pay attention to the world at large, do you?"

"I know who the President is!"

"Yes, but you don't pay much attention to Family business."

"Neither do you!" I argued, knowing how much Shauna avoided notice.

"True enough," she replied, ignoring the baiting town in my voice. "The short version is one of Odin's kids screwed up an entire colony's protection. Gave it to some dead chick, from what I understand."

"All of it? Geez. I picked the wrong coin."

"You should have paid more attention," Shauna replied with a smile as she tossed the coin back to me, and began wrapping my chest.

"I can't predict anything with the family. Entropy doesn't apply very well to immortals," I answered, rather irritated by the implications. "Can you get me another?" Shauna lost her smile. I forestalled her immediate response. "I know, I know. It's dangerous, but some of your cousins must have connections. I can pay."

"It's not the money, Will," Shauna sighed. "The coin must be given freely by someone who knows how to reach into the store. Only one or two of my cousins have access. The pures caught on to the smuggling, and no one is able to leave the Emerald Isle while carrying."

"That isn't a no, that's an 'it might be hard.'" Shauna froze against me, finishing the taping in silence.

She sat back down, her eyes locked on mine. I could see her weighing the risks for her, as well as all her cousins. I knew the outcome before she spoke. "No. I'm not risking the discovery of all my family for a little bit of convenience for you."

The silenced grew uncomfortable. I knew Shauna's position; she was an illegal, and that was according to people far more dangerous than Immigration and Naturalization Services. At the same time, this was my convenience she was so blithly disregarding. I knew her inherent stubbornness would not allow me to gain any ground now, but I wanted a chance of setting up to reopen negotiations later. I waited for her to speak first, but she was obviously quite happy to sit and stare daggers at me.

I blinked first, turning away, allowing her to think I felt ashamed. She knew me better, but we'd both allow the convenient fiction to exist. "Is this worth anything?" I asked, holding up the gold coin, it's chain having slipped onto the floor unnoticed. I pretended not to notice the instant greed that passed across her face like a cloud. "It's worthless to me, but it is still fae gold. It's probably worth rather a lot, even having lost it's power."

Shauna refused to rise to the bait. I knew her well enough to know she would never admit how badly she wanted the coin sitting in my palm. I leaned forward, and threw it into the pot she had so hastily slid under her desk. Shauna blinked in surprise. I stood up, pulling my shirt on with a muffled groan.

I paused at the door as Shauna asked, "How are you going to raise five hundred thousand dollars in one day?"

"It's Vegas. I'll hit the roulette wheel."

"Not the slots?" Shauna awkwardly tried to banter.