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“Luck is or other people,” the ghoul tells me. We’re in a penthouse suite on the Strip. Through tinted windows, the row o asphalt and glass stretches out into the desert dust and sunny glare like a gold-studded bracelet let le t in the sand. Rubyred cars and onyx-black limos glide along. We’re in the bedroom, o an attached kitchen, keeping our voices down. In the other bedroom, on the ar side o the living room and TV hub o the suite, hal a dozen men in sunglasses are playing poker around a red elt table. The buy-in was $50,000. These are tycoons, investment bankers, retired magnates and heirs. They’re all dressed like suburban nobodies, though. Danny, the ghoul I came here to see, tips his head back as he drags on his cigarette. He looks young, maybe 28, but his gold chains and visor help him t in with the balding milli onaires at the table. This year he’s a proessional poker player, but last year he was the ull-time retainer o a vampire called The Sharp. “Luck is what peasants hope or,” he says, leaning orward and blowing out smoke. He’s shiting his weight back and orth on his stocking eet. The carpet in here is amazing. “My old reg used to say, ‘better lucky than good,’” I tell him, in my lousy approximation o my old blood-giver’s trashy English accent.
“Oh, he’s still around,” says Danny. “I’m sure o that. I think he’d just rather get ahead based on his abilities rather than his rep. He owes. The living and the dead. He just doesn’t want to be ound.” Danny smiles through all that. He loves, I think, the idea o his old regnant on the run, as a coward . Danny shes out another cigarette. “But you don’t see him?” “No,” Danny says right away, then lights up. “No, I don’t.” He exhales. “And thank God.” “Would “W ould he be looking or you?” “Doubt it, but I want to keep my money, so I also hope not.” “Things ended bad?” He squints a bit, turns his head like he’s going to say “No,” but instead he takes another drag. He eats cigarettes in three or our bites. “I let. I’d had enough. I would’ve let sooner i I’d known you buy the shit. I I’d known other cups were around to drink rom. Money I had, you know. Not like now, but still. But I was araid to leave.” “You “Y ou thought maybe he’d—” “Punish me. I gured he’d let me go, but not without tearing me up pretty good rst. A nd not without ucking with my head to make sure I couldn’t go talking about him.” “But here you are.”
“Yeah,” he says beore taking another long d rag “Yeah,” to nish o that cigarette. He leans back and throws it through the door into the bathroom bathro om sink like it was a dart. “That’s a loser’s maxim.”
Danny tilts his head to the side and back as he says, “But here I am.” He takes a drag, exhales. “I paid him o. Good money, too. Saved me a lot o hurt. Set me way back. Was totally worth it.”
When he says it, I can’t tell i he’s put quote marks around “loser’s maxim” or not. Or maybe he’s capitalized it. Whatever he means, it sounds like he’s reerencing something, and maybe I should recognize what he’s getting at. Or maybe he’s reciting a lesson he learned rom his regnant proessor.. I just nod like I agree with him, or like proessor I get the joke, or something. I’m here, o course, to talk about The Sharp. What’s true, what’s not. He was a Vegas vampire and a Lord, yet he never rose up through the ranks o society. (I’m telling you this, but the o nly reason I even ound Danny again is because The Sharp’s sire sent me to see i he still exists. They haven’t seen each other since 1969.)
He used to drink blood rom r om a gash in a gambler’s breast (“Irish kings used to have vassals suckle at their tit, as a symbolic thing,” he said, as i that makes it any less bizarre), so it seems air to presume he knew the guy well enough to judge.
Danny and I talk ghoul talk to soten each other up, get a sense o what’s what. It’s clear to both o us, I think, that Danny has more experience with the Kindred than I do. He’s also, despite ewer years supping rom “the cup” (is that expression universal?), more experienced with what it means to be a ghoul. Though now he plays cards to get enough money to buy Vitae rom the unaligned bloodsuckers who reeload in the casinos, trespassing on private fes. “You hear a lot about the Sharp,” I say to him, “but most o it’s old stories. The eighties. Is he still around?”
“You said you wanted to know why he never pursued power in Vegas, i he was such hot shit, right?” Danny’s making eye c ontact suddenly. “Yeah. I—” He leans back, takes a drag, looks over at the card table. I’m not going to get much o his time. “He was never very Lordly, in the way we think o it, I guess.” He exhales, straightens up. “I’m curious i you know where he is.” “Not going to speculate. I said I’d tell you about him, not where he i s or what he’s doing. You want that, or are we nished?” “I’ll take whatever you got.” “Okay,” he says, launching another butt into the bathroom. “First, let’s dispel a rumor. He was a Lord or sure, but his rep got sullied because he didn’t give a uck about Kindred rules or titles or any o that shit. He wants to go wherever, drink whoever, play whatever. He doesn’t want to have to go through the Duke o No-Limit or any o that shit. Basically, he thought the whole idea o ‘vampire society’ was a joke.”
“Doesn’t sound very Lordly.”
“Holy shit.”
“Oh, but. He wanted to do, you know, living things. Human things. He just wanted to do them, you know, until the end of time.” time.” I laugh with him at that. He goes on. “He thought o himsel as being a lord over mortal men, not a lord over the Damned. He didn’t think Kindred should associate — it was bad cover, it invited trouble, and it just threw o his game.”
“Yeah. The guys at the plant? None o them, none o them, remember the order coming in, or the inspection, or why they manuactured a run, or i they did or sure, or where it went, or what happened to all the materials. The Sharp’s walking around with three-quarters o a million dollars in casino-grade, ofcial chips worth actual money, and no one’s even sure i anything’s happened.”
“His game?” “Yeah. “Ye ah. He was playing cards all the time. Craps. Roulette. Blackjack. But he was a poker-player at heart, taught me a uck load, and Kindred kept trying to get in his games. They’d sit down, all ush with blood, which he basically never did, and they’d say things to the living players. Like ‘old’ or ‘re-raise’ or whatever whatever.. And that drove him ucking nuts, ‘cause it destroyed his game. He wanted to be good , you know? He didn’t want to just voice his way through it all.”
I realize I’m nodding and smiling. “There was a story in the paper, pap er, but it was short, nothing, because nobody knew anything.” Wait a minute, I think. “Wait a minute. The place has to have cameras and logs and shit, right?”
“Was he good?” “Fuck yes. I’ll tell you what he would use the bloody voice or: Getting chips to the table. He used to, I don’t know, compel high-stakes players to play with him. And sometimes he would lose, but the game was legit. Well, it wasn’t rigged.”
He smiles to himsel again. “No.” “So what I don’t understand is, how does he owe? Can’t he just get money to pay his debts? I mean, easy?”
“But he was buying in with his own bankroll? Legitimate money?” Danny laughs to himsel. He’s rolling an unlit cigarette back and orth in his hands. “No. Sometimes, sure. But he didn’t think stealing away rom the table was a problem. Only xing games at at the the table. So he’d get guys to back him, pay his way by telling them what he wanted them t hem to hear. And, actually,, he did better than that.” actually Danny leans back to check on the game, then leans in closer to me. He’s practically whispering now. “Back in, shit, like 1995? The Sharp put in a call to the place that manuactures chip or like hal the houses on the strip. Well known operation, tightly controlled, on the up and up. He talks to a guy on the phone, says he wants to order something like a million dollars in chips. Guy wants to talk to the supervisor at the casino, so The Sharp puts the supervisor on the phone. Tells him what to say.” “So The Sharp had the casino order a million dollars in chips?” “It gets better. The supervisor tells the guy that in a ew nights, somebody’s going to come out and inspect the run. Make sure the chips look right. They want this order to stay discreet, to avoid trouble.” “Okay.” “So The Sharp goes out there himsel. It’s like 10pm. He’s all, ‘sorry, sorry I’m late.’” “Right.” “And the guy at the plant, ‘cause they’re running all night, takes The Sharp in to see the chips. They’re on the oor. They’re alone. The Sharp’s got him right there. there. An hour later, The Sharp drives out with everything they’d manuactured or the order up to then. $770,000 in chips.”
“Yeah. The staf deleted them. Or didn’t put tapes in. They’re not sure. Polygraphs all around, eve rybody’s passing, everybody’s just kind o whistling and walking away like, ‘Not my uckin’ ault!’” “Did you see any o that action?”
“He put the voice to some people he shouldn’t have. People gave him money that can’t just un un-give it to him. Employees. Ghouls. Company guys. Even i he pays the money — even ater he has paid has paid some o these guys — they still want to extract a little something. And he doesn’t want to be connected to anybody. Doesn’t want avors, doesn’t want debts. None o it.” “So now he’s hiding.” He looks at the carpet, then back up to me. Eye contact. “Listen, he was no great Machiavellian genius or anything, and he’s never going to be Prince or anything, but he’s a smart guy. He’s He’s got people around here trained to do what he wants. You can call him a coward i you want... and I guess he is, in his way. But he’s also got balls enough to go it alone and make his own ucking way when he’s surrounded by secrets rom the living and the hate o his own kind. He pulls all kinds o strings around here, and he does it without paying rent or homage or kneeling beore anybody. That is why your other Lords hate him. Why the Prince and his cronies hate him.”
I nod. “Okay,” I say. “Okay, I hear you.” We stand there or a second, quiet. “You think you’d work with him again? I you ound him? I he ound you?” He puts his unlit ci garette behind his ear. “Listen, I’ve got to get back to this game. I’m getting blinded to death, I’m sure.” He looks at me, head sort o down, out rom under his eyebrows. He’s not going to tell me anything else. “Okay,” I say. “Thanks or taking the time, Danny.” Danny .” As we walk back into the center room o the suite, I decide to do something stupid. I stop at the door and turn around. “Danny, I’ve still got some o my stipend or this trip. Are you going to be around later? Eleven, twelve? Maybe get a game together?” “No,” he says. “I don’t play cards at night anymore.”
SJ: What you said sounds like most of the rich men in this city. You don’t kill them. BC: There’s that little matter of him being the walking fucking dead. SJ: You could say the same about me. BC: And that’s why I don’t trust you. But you, you’re a little
fsh in this big pond. I know you
don’t like Graves, and I know you been looking to undermine that asshole for a long time. Plus, I ain’t heard rumors about you like I’ve heard about him. SJ: Rumors? BC: The children. I hear he only… feeds on kids. Pre-teens. Plus, I hear he’s into weird rituals. Sex shit. Pagan shit. You wouldn’t know it from looking at him. H e l o oo o k k s l s l i ik k e h e’ s w s w o ou u n n d t d t ig ig h ht t , b u ut t t h ha a t t ’ ’ s t s t h he w a a y y i i t is t is w w i it t h a h a l l o ot o t o f f o u ur co n ns se rva t tiv i v es s t t h he s e d a a y s s, a i in n ’ ’ t t i t t? T ? T h he y y p p ro t te s t t t t o oo m o m u uc h , n ext t h hi i n n g y y o ou k u k n no o w t t h w he y y ’ ’r e i n a n a rres t t s t to o p w i p w it t h a h a g g a a g g l le o f f qu qu eers . S J J : Y : Y es , w el l l, t h ha a t t’ ’ s a s a p p ro b b l l em w i i t t h h o u u r k i i n n d d . N o o t t t h h e , a h h , “ qu qu eer” p p a ar t . T h he re p p res s si i o o n n . T h he m o or e y o o u r u re p p res s s , t h he m o o re i t t… b l le ed s o s o u u t e t el s se w h he re. S o o y y o ou ’ u ’ v ve d o o n ne q qu u i i t te a a b b it o it o f i f i n nv v es t t g i a i at t i i o on n i n nt t o G o G ra v ve s ? A ? A n nd w d w h h y h a y h av v e n ’ ’t t y y o ou u m o ov v ed d a a g a a i in n s st h t h i i m m? ? B C: : B B eca u us s e t h he g u u y ru n y r ns t s t h his c i s ci t t y li ke ke a a ef do do m o m o r s h ho o g u un n at a t e o r s o om e m s h hi i t t . I t t’ ’ s a s a l ll l l l o o y a al l t t i i e s s a a n nd p d p ro t te ct i io o n n s s . H e’ s s g g o ot h t h is l is l i ie u t te n a an n t t s w s w h ho h o h a av v e t h he i r k n n g i h i ht ts w s w h ho h o h a av v e t h he i r s h hi i t t - - ea t ti i n n g p p ea s sa a n n t t s b s b en ea t th t h t h he m … a n nd d t h he y a y a l ll s l s u u p p o or t t t t h he t o o p d o p d o g . B a ar e y l a n n y w ea k l y w k l i in n k k s i s i n t n t h ha a t c t ch a ai i n n .
S J J : E : E xce p p t m t m e. B C: : E E xce p p t t y y o ou . u S J J : : W h h a a t y t y o o u u ’ ’ re w i i t t n n es s s i i n n g i s s o u u r s y s s t t e m o f p f p a a t t r o n n a a g e. G ra v ve s s i i s o s o n ne o f t f t h he ci t t y ’ ’s c s ch i ie f p a at t r o n ns s . T h ho o s s e b en ea t th h h h im c im cu r y r y f a av v o o r w i it t h h h h im b im b y s y s u u p p o or t i in n g g h h i im m . T h he y y o f ff f e r h i im m g i if f t t s s o f f b l lo o o o d d , s l la a v ve s , t erri t t o or y y . I n n t h he o r y y , h e h a an n d d s t s t h he m m d d o ow n h w n h i is s s s u u p p o or t , h e h e p l s t s t h he m m s s h hi i f f t t p p o ol li i t t i i c s s t t o ow a w a r d t h he i r n eed s s, h e s u u p p l li i e s s m m u us s c l e w h he n h i is s p eo p l le a re t h hr ea t te n ed . I t t ra re y l w o or k s s o u ut t t h ha a t t w a a y , t h ho o u g u h h, w h hich i ch i i s o s o n ne o f t f t h he ch ief ief w ea k kn n e s s se s s o o f s f s u uc h h f f eu d da a l l i i s s m . m I t t b eco m me s l es s s a b bo o u t u t ea rn in in g h i is f s f a av v o o r a n nd m d m o or e a b bo o u t a u t a v vo o id i d i in n g h i is w s w ra t th h . S t ta a y w i y w it t h h h h i im a m a n nd h d h e d o oe s n n’ ’ t b t b rea k k y y o ou r t h u hi i n n g s s. B C: : A A n nd d y y o ou d u d o on n ’ ’ t t p p l la a y t h y t ha a t w t w a a y ? ? S J J : : N o o . I ’ ’ m m a ‘ ‘h h o o n n e y y - - o o v v er - - v i in n e g g a ar r ’ m ’ m a an n . B C: : D D o oe s y o o u ur r R en el d d k n no o w w t h ha a t t ? ? G a ar r ci a a? ? S J J : : G a ar r ci a a l i ik k ed t o o p l l a a y b o ot t h h s i i d de s o f t f t h he el d d . I d o o n n ’ ’ t t n d d t h ha a t e t en d d ea r r i in n g . B C: : S S o o y y o ou cr u u u s sh h e d d h h i is s h ea d d w i it t h h a a cci n nd d e r r b b l l o oc k . S J J: N : N o ot m t m e, p er s so o n n a a l l y l . A r l re y o ou u t u ur r n n i i n n g y o ou u r a r a t tt t e n t ti i o o n ns t s t o m o m e n ex t t? ? T h ha a t w t w h ha a t t t t h hi i s i s i s s, a a t t h hr r e a t t? ? B C: N a a h h. I j u u s st t w a an n t t y o ou t o u o k n n o ow w t h ha a t w t w e k n n o ow . G a w ar r ci a h a h a ad d a r a r a a p s h he et t l l o on n g a s m g a s m y t y t h hi i r r d l d l e g g . D o o p een d d ‘b ‘b a an n g er , g l l a ad t d t o s o s ee y o ou u g et t ti i n n g r i g r i d o d o f f h i i m m. S J J : : T h h a a n n k k y o o u u f o o r r y o o u u r r a p - - p r r o ov v a a l l . I t w t w a ar r m m s t s t h he h ea r r t t . B C : S o o w h h y d o o y o o u u w a a n n t t G r r a a v v es g g o o n n e?
v e s i s a b r u t e i n J : G r a v S J ca n n cer. F ree ra d di i ca l l s r s ro a am m i i n n g t h g t he g i n e b t a s y l a a pl p e H . s e o h s goood g s y s s t t e m , a n n d d y y o o u u e e i t t h h e r k i i l l l t l t h h e phhistica ted , b ut he’ s n ot. H e so p g o o o o d d c c e l l l s s o o r m a a k k e ‘e ‘ e m p a p a rt t o o f f f, y o d oes wha t he d oes f or himsel f o u u r t u u m m o o r a r m y . y . f tthe cit y d oof dr ed n ot f or the K in d S J J: T : T h ha a t t ’ ’ s a s a l l i it t t t l l e m el o od d r a m ma a t t ic, i c, B esid es, he’ s n ot the f uture, we b u u t I s t I s ee y o ou r p o u oi i n nt t . y b od y b y mod el , ev er y n our cit y m a re. I n o a c y is y . P riv a B C: b od : D y b D o oe s n n’ ’ t t h e p l t h ha wa tches ev er y a t t G ra v ve s . p. p u o gr g r e h t f t f o a n n d o d d d o h o i is s go g p e eo p l le o a at t f ro m l ost f or th m s p o ot t . r e z l l i a u qu q e t a e r t gr g o o a s p s o o i t t , j o oi n ce i n n t an t t o j l a o j o oi i n n t S urv eil l t . T h he y y ’ ’r e l i i k k e f a a rm ers ch eck i i n n g o n n e g g g s s . y sso. y y ou sa f y B C: I f On e p l l ac e t h a he y c y co l ll l e ct p ro t te ct i io o n n b ou t l m e mor e a b J : S o t el l S J m o o n n e y , a n y n o o t t h h er p l l a a c e t h h e y y ’ ’ r e no w the in s d tto k n n eed I n v es. I G ra v h a a m m min m i n g it u p w i it t h h s o om e l o m oc a l l we’ re f w n iif peera tion f hhis o p d outs of nd o a n b o o y s s- - i i n n - - b b l l u e . N ext u t n n g i h i ht t t t h he y y ’ ’r e bo ut it. g a b n y thin d tto d o a n peected ex p m eet i in n g s o g s om e o n m ne a t t t t h he t ra i in s n s t ta a t t io i o n n, l b ll d tthe in tel , n ow we’ l le cted Y ou col l u y u in in g u g u p g g a a r b a a g e s c o w w s s f f o o r n o o Deeta il s. n . D an l a pl execute the p ex p l l i i ca b b l l e f u u ck i i n n g rea s s o o n n a n n d d s p e n d d i in n e g a g s a f u f e o w h w h t h n o o e u u r P s a s a e t t t h t t h h e t a ai i l l o v es o r B C: H e l ea v g e t t t i i n n g g e t k t t l i e d f d f e o o l l l r e n r e w s w e t s n n u u a h it s it s. S uite of the C , M M P 5 4 : 7 , g, g n n a a B g cl ock work . f uck in S J J: A : A n nd d y y o ou h h a u av v e a l ll t l t h he s a al l i ie n t t m i h h i t w w e he’ s out. T he cr a d d d d r e s s s es ? ? gh i hts. T hree is the sa me most n g suits, big guys. Always packing. B C: : Y Y o ou b b et . I u I w w a an n t t y o ou t t o k u o k n no o w w One attaché, female – s o om e t h m hi i n n g . W e co u ul l d d ’ ’ v ve en d de d d t t h hi i s s . W e co u u l l d d ’ ’v v e en d SJ: Mirabelle. d ed G ra v v es . W e h a a v v e r e s o o u u r c e s . W e g o ot w t w ea p o on n s s . BC: Right, Mirabelle Santos. And H i i m m w w i i t t h h h h i i s s c c o c k y s y s w wa a g g er, w e one right-hand-man, a Charles c o u u l l d d ’ ’ v v e g o o n n e i n n h h o o t. B u t ut t p p eo p l le Walburgh. Old fucker. Dick w o o u u l l d d ’ ’ v v e g o o t t t t e n h u u rt , y o o u u s ee Cheney look-a-like, but with t h h a a t t ? ? I I a a i i n n ’ ’ t t i i n n t t h h i i s s b b u us s i i n n e s s t s t o o more hair. We tried to surprise g e t i t i n n n n o o c e n t t p e o p l l e h u ur t , I ’ ’m i i n i m n i t t Walburgh a year back. That t o o k k e e p t p t h h e m s m s a a f f e a n nd s d s a an n e . N o ot t chubby sonofabitch is built a l l l l t t h h e b o o y s s i i n n t t h h i i s s r ra ck et t t t h hi i n n k k like a… like an Abrams tank. I l i i k k e I d I d o o . S o o m m e o f f t t he m h m a a re h a a p p y watched him take a bullet to the t o o t h h r o w w s o o m m e c a s su a u a l l t t i i e s i n nt t o o face. He still kept coming even t h he m i i x x i i f f i i t t m m e a n n s s t t h he y y g g et t t t h he i r with his eye ruined and his teeth rev en g e . S o o m m e o f f t t he m j h j u us s t w t w a an n t t exposed through the cheek. w h ha a t y t o o u u m m o o n n s s t t e r s h s h a av v e , w h he t h he r Creepy smile, too, never changed. i t t’ ’ s m s m o o n n e y o y o r k n n o o w w le d l g e o r s o om e m He got in one of my guy’s heads g o ol l d d e n g g o o d d d d a a m m n n m m on o n k k e y i y i d do o l l . N o ot t and it was over. Jesus. We had m e. N o o t t u u s s . W e ’ re in in i i t f t f o or t h he to put Jake down. I had to put co m mm o m n o n m a a n n . A nd n d t h he co m mm o m o n n him down. Double-tap. One in the m a an c n ca n n ’ ’ t t g e t h t h u u r t , s o I o I n n eed y o ou r u head, one in the chest. That’s p ro m mi i s s e o nn t t h h a a t t . Y ou n o n eed u d t t o m o m a ak k e how you people work. You’re like g o oo o d o d o n t n t h ha a t t .
S J J: A : A n n d i d i f I f I d d o o n n’ ’ t t ? ? B C: T h h en w e co m m e f o o r y o o u u n ex t t . I I k k n n o o w w y y o o u u g g o o t e t en em i i es o u u t t t h h e r e . A l l r e a d d y s p o o k k e n t o o t w w o o o f f t h h e m , t w w o o w h h o o w o o u u l l d d n n ’ ’ t m t m in in d s d s eei n n g y y o o u u r h ea d d o n n a f en ce p p o o s s t t . A n n d d I k n n o o w w , b l l a a h b h b l l a a h h , I ’ ’ m t m t h h rea t t en i i n n g y y o o u u , y o o u c u co u u l l d k d k i i l l l m l m y f y f a a m m i i y l l , a n n d I d I k n n o o w w t h h a a t t . B u u t t y y o o u u g g o o t t y y o o u u r b o o y s s , a n n d d I I g g o o t t m i i n n e. I f f I d ie, ie , t h h a a t t ’ ’ s o s o n n y l l g g o o n n n n a a g g et t t t h h em fr ed d u u p . S J J : : F a i ir en o ou g u h h. G iv iv e m e t h he a d dd d res s a s a n nd a d a n n y o t y o t h he r i n nf f o o y y o ou u h a a v ve . T h ha a t s t s h ho o u l u l d b d b e en o ou g u h h. B C: : H H o ow s s o w o o on w n w i il l l i l i t h t h a a p p en ? ? S J J : S : S o oo o n n. T h ho o u g u h h, I ’ ’l l l c l ca u u t ti i o on n y o ou : m u : m y v y v ers i io o n o n o f f “s “s o oo o n n ” m ” m g i h i ht t n o o t b t b e t h he s a am e a s m s y y o o u ur s .
g.. g l b e wa tchin ’l l l b B C: F in e. B ut I ’ g l e a s u r e d o i n pl a p J : B e e n a S J ithh y ou. b usin ess wit
y eev er y b od n y b y , a n y tthe wa y B C: B p y cree p a c ot a go y ou tha t y ou g l y tel l smil e?
y e, J ohn . l the time. B l l t J: A l S J