It's called... Presntation! (Alexis Jackson/invite)

[Zodiac]

The CW Casino.

"What the hell does CW even stand for?" She wondered as she stood across the street from the place. Every time she looked at the place she wondered, but it never occurred to her to ask. She was usually too busy having fun freaking out the clients in the place to think that hard.

Zodiac glanced into the depths of her oversized purse and checked. Yeah, she had what she needed to have some fun. A quick check of her appointment planner and watch confirmed she had a hour or two to simply enjoy herself.

With a smirk, she heads across the street to the doors and walks in as if she owned the place. A few of the workers knew her on sight and she could imagine their thoughts. It was either groans or laughter. Regardless, they knew some of the clients here would be in for a confused time now that the gypsy was here.

She walked to the cashier and traded in her money for chips and slot coins and glanced around. Rarely did she play the card games. Her telepathy gave her an unfair advantage-simple. If she knew what others were holding, she could hedge or increase her bets and eventually shut the place down. She figured if she ever decided to finally leave town for good she would consider it, but then again she imagined if this was a vampire owned business they had telepaths on the payroll watching for such things. The chips were simply for tips or a few quick spins of roulette (and even then she would reach out mentally to see how honest the wheel actually was. So far, the CW was quite honest in that at least.)

"Save roller ball for later," she decided and headed off towards the slots. Zodiac looked around and picked her targets carefully. Ah, on the left. A small group of slot junkies working away. They were not the 'big fish' a place like this sought to get its claws into, so no real attentions would be focused on her. Zodiac spied three machines that had been ignored for awhile. Her fingers feeling the surface and seeing they were cool to the touch. The beeped and flashed in desperation for attention as they were programmed to do. She scooted the flanking chairs away and took a seat in the center chair, claiming the three machines. A few curious people looked as she began to set up.

Zodiac began to write with a black marker on three slices of paper from a special pad. It was a confusion of symbols and apparent mystical writing which anyone trained in such things would see was total ********, but to an untrained eye, it would be a warning evil was afoot. She taped one each above the displays of each machine.

Next, a bizarre chicken foot with feathers and other bangles attached to it came out of her purse, followed by an imported Havana cigar and a lighter. She lit the cigar and began to blow the smoke over the fronts of her three machines while waving the chicken foot at them each in turn. Now she had the attention of the other slot players near her. A few more motions and the mystic took the cigar and touched the lit end to each bit of paper. The flash paper burned in a bright burst of flames as she smiled and pulled three coins from her bucket and dropped one in each of the slots. Getting comfortable in her chair, Zodiac rolls the cigar to the corner of her mouth and with a flourish of her chicken foot 'wand' begins to pull the levers.

[Alex]

"She's at it again," came a voice floating over toward her. Alex stood in the midst of the high roller area, making sure that everything was right there, despite the fact that there weren't any whales that week. On a typical week she had between one and four high rollers eating out of her hand, spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars without blinking an eye. That was her specialty, parting the uber rich from the ir money, but making them enjoy the experience as she did so. She did it by using the three B's: Brains, Boldness and Beauty. She was the top casino host in the world, despite having shifted her home base from Vegas to a little known Canadian city called Harper's Rock.

Despite not having someone in particular to take care of, she was at work. Most of the time that was where she stayed. Hell, she had a little closet of clothes in her office, and a couch. Why did she ever have to leave? She had a human that she'd bewitched, Arimil, and so she stayed well fed, and if she needed some practice she'd take out a gangster that wandered in. The main staff of the casino knew that she was most likely always there. She wore a tight little red dress, one that was sexy and revealing enough to entice any man toward her goals, which was to spend more money. Her fingers moved absently across a blackjack table as she asked, "Who is at what Gary?"

The man stepped further into the area, his hands on his hips as he grimaced at the nickname. Alex had always called him that, since they first met back in Vegas, and she was the only one that could get away with it. He might not be a big guy, pretty average, but he knew his stuff and was the best second tier casino host that Alex had worked with. They worked well together, but the only reason Alex got away with calling him that was that he'd always had a crush on her. He knew that it'd never happen, but Alex never crushed that hope and so he as putty in her hands. "The weirdo with the chicken leg, flash paper and her mumbo jumbo," he replied, waggling his fingers as he ended the line. He obviously didn't believe in magic or voodoo.

At one point Alex might have joined in that disbelief, would have just thought it was all some sort bull, but that was before she'd come home to set things in order when her mother was dying a couple of years back. Had it already been a couple of years? Sometimes it seemed like longer, other times it felt like just yesterday. Ever since that fateful night, when she'd been cleaning out her hoarder mother's garage and been stabbed by her junk then saved by her sire, the world had been a very different place.

She kept hearing stories about this woman with long dark hair that would come in, do some weird things at the machines, then leave a little ahead of where she'd begun. None of it would break the bank and so it wasn't a big deal. She sometimes drew a crowd, but nothing had been really disruptive. First Sam, the Chief of Security, had brought it to her attention, then Sarah, the Lead Cage Cashier. After the first visit Sam had Robby, the electronics wiz, take a look at the machines, to be sure that no cheating had happened, but everything was on the level. Since then everyone in the place seemed to have encountered the woman and so the myth that was her had grown. Inevitably though, whenever she came Alex was with clients. Never had she witnessed the spectacle herself. "Sarah said she bought some chips and slot coins, then moved off, but it was definitely her,"

Besides being the lead Casino Host, Alex was basically the manager of the casino. The owner, Chad, rarely came in and he left the running of the place to her. She had a bit of a crush on him, but it was another situation where it would never happen. Leaving the high roller area, she ducked into her public office, punching in a code that made a monitor spring to life with a live feed of the casino floor. Chocolate eyes scanned the tables before moving on toward the slots sections. There was the woman that she'd been told of. She caught the little show, eyes dancing in mirth at all that the woman was doing. She had a way about her. In fact, before she even realized that she'd done so, she had shut down the monitor and was halfway across the casino.

In the area of slots that the gypsy sat, Alex stood back and just watched the show live for a few minutes, taking in the act and the view. She was an attractive woman, and Alex sensed the altered nature of another vampire in her midst. With a sexy smile and a swing to her hips, she moved over closer to her. Once beside her she pulled up one of the discarded chairs then sat down, crossing her shapely legs as she poured on the allurist charm. It was almost an unconscious thing now, to use her allurist talents, whether to encourage someone to gamble or to distract them. In a sultry tone she spoke, "Mind if I watch?"

[Zodiac]

It wasn't rocket science and it certainly wasn't the black arts in motion. Zodiac had spent much of her life watching how things worked, mostly because since she could not speak most automatically assumed she could not hear as well. So she was privy to sit and observe things as others talked around her in their ignorance.

Slots. What a wonderful concept they were. Big, bright, flashy fishing lures tailor made to hook in the smaller and weaker fish while leaving the larger games for the sharks to dance in and be netted. She had seen a couple of the older, purely mechanical ones as a child, but the new ones were all electric and computerized within. No magnets would work on these in a desired fashion at all (as her grandfather told her once could be done).

In fact, it might be harder to win at the newer ones than the originals, so what was the catch?

Like anything made in an electrical sense, it had to have presentation. She understood the concept very well herself in the things she did as her norms. She had watched them in the past enough to know how to disrupt an entire room of slot junkies with ease. A little smoke and mirrors and the rest was easy.

Her first pulls came up dry. 'Three dollars' she began a mental tally. More cigar smoke and few more gestures before three more coins were dropped and the levers pulled. Machine three chimed happily as it disgorged a token amount of coins in reply. Zodiac scooped them up and dropped them into a second bucket while amending her mental math. 'Six dollars in. Thirty nine dollars out. Plus thirty three.'

It was part of the 'presentation' too few ever noticed. Ignored machines were programmed to encourage people to play them once they got attentions. Most people parked themselves at what was considered a 'hot machine' and fed the thing from dusk till dawn hoping for the elusive big money pay out, but Zodiac prowled the ignored machines.

Another three dollars and machine one added to her pile.

'Nine dollars in. Sixty three dollars out. Plus thirty three equals ninety six.'

The trick worked perhaps twice for each machine. The programmer's idea was after a payout or two, the player would be deluded in thinking the REAL payout was just lurking behind the next pull, so the feeding frenzy of player dropping dollar after dollar into the 'one armed bandits' would begin.

Machine three chimed again. Two would give up something soon and then either it would repeat or one would again.

"Mind if I watch?"

She caught the vibe a mere second before the voice spoke up. Allurist. Odds are it was an allurist on staff here. Probably to encourage people to play. Zodiac took a deep mental breath as she set up her mental defenses before glancing at her newfound company. Pretty girl.

She stopped what she was doing and placed her palms together and inclined her head. A quick glance about found some watching the pair intently now. 'Definitely she works here,' she concluded. She gestured from her own forehead to the woman's before turning back to the slots. Her mindspeak barely a whisper to the new comer's thoughts.

"Please forgive this intrusion into your mind and if it disturbs you I shall stop, but unless you know sign language, this is the easiest way for me to speak to you. I assure you, I can hear you speak normally quite well." Zodiac went into her little act again and pulled the levers. Machine two sounded off again and this time the payout was a bit beyond token.

"Just playing the odds. My odds, not yours of course," she winked at the woman as she pulled the coins into her intake bucket. One finger acted as if it were counting while she did the math. "So let's see here. Spent fifteen dollars so far, been here almost 20 minutes, have made close to two hundred dollars." Two hundred and seventy nine actually. "Average that out by the hour and I imagine I am doing better than any shark over there in the danger zone."

A wave of her hand caused a business card to appear and she offered it to the woman as she began to work her 'magicks' yet again. "I am Mistress Zodiac. And who might you be?"

[Alex]

All around them the familiar melodic chord of C, G and E filled the room. Studies had been done that proved that those three notes, in tandem, soothed people more than any other grouping of notes. Of course that was what each machine used as the sound effect, to make people comfortable, allow them to relax. The more comfortable that they were, the more likely they were to spend money. For the most part, Alex had tuned the sound out of her mind, given that it surrounded her nearly all of the time. Now she hoped that their almost hypnotic effect would keep the beauty before her from taking flight.

Where were thoughts like that coming from? Yes, she was an Allurist, but she was also a sensible person. She used her gifts to tempt others into parting ways from their cash, but she never felt anything, especially for a client. She'd spent her life steeling herself against emotional attachment. Perhaps that was why when she'd become a vampire, the emotions of an Allurist overwhelmed her. She'd turned into a mess for a little bit, though losing the man she loved cured her of that. She put those thoughts firmly behind her as her eyes followed the movements of the Mystic before her. She sensed the Mystic Path, the Path her sire was on and that she was planning on studying next.

Observing the woman she found it interesting that she was still using coins. Most put cash into machines anymore, then chose to have their final payday printed on a ticket. That ticket could be fed into another machine or converted into cash. It made things less cumbersome as it meant no more balancing this bucket and that. On top of that, the woman had two buckets, her bag of accoutrements a chicken leg and a cigar. She caught the scent of the cigar and it made her wish for one herself. It wasn't often that she smoked, but a good cigar was always cause to.

The way that the woman responded to her was a bit of a surprise. Alex had seen men and women react to her in different ways, though since her turning they both seemed to react positively. The woman's hands coming together in almost a pleading gesture, before inclining her head seemed to be some sort of greeting. At least it didn't seem aggressive. Then was the motioning between her mind and Alex's before she turned away. Turned away? She wasn't used to that reaction to her, but then she'd not spent much time around any other of her kind in quite a while.

"Please forgive this intrusion into your mind and if it disturbs you I shall stop, but unless you know sign language, this is the easiest way for me to speak to you. I assure you, I can hear you speak normally quite well." Zodiac went into her little act again and pulled the levers. Machine two sounded off again and this time the payout was a bit beyond token.

Suddenly a soft voice murmured within her mind and for just a moment Alex froze. She'd learned telepathy, however she'd had little to no occasion to use it. Now, there she was, surrounded by random guests, the cameras, her own staff, and one of the most intimate things that had ever happened to her was going on. She swallowed a moment, however the sexy smile never left her lips. Her eyes were upon the woman's face even as she waved her chicken leg and pulled the lever. Thinking herself clever, Alex responded in sign language with, 'This way works for me, but I am not as fluent as I once was.' As though she'd not done anything she heard the voice in her mind once more.

"Just playing the odds. My odds, not yours of course," she winked at the woman as she pulled the coins into her intake bucket. One finger acted as if it were counting while she did the math. "So let's see here. Spent fifteen dollars so far, been here almost 20 minutes, have made close to two hundred dollars." Two hundred and seventy nine actually. "Average that out by the hour and I imagine I am doing better than any shark over there in the danger zone."

Between her teasing words about odds and the wink, a soft chuckle slipped from Alex. She would have to up her game. Before she could consider how best to tackle things now she heard the tally of cash that the woman had accumulated in such a short while. Hell, if she wanted to she could play as a high roller, if this was her quick result. Of course, if the woman continued on the roll that she was doing she'd have cleaned the CW out pretty quickly and Chad Worthington III wouldn't be too pleased if his business went under, especially with Alex sitting and watching.

A wave of her hand caused a business card to appear and she offered it to the woman as she began to work her 'magicks' yet again. "I am Mistress Zodiac. And who might you be?"

Taking the proffered card, Alex's eyes finally dropped from the woman's face, down to the card. She saw the name just as the introduction came and so she chuckled low in her throat before she tucked the card into the top of her dress, barely one corner sticking out past her breasts. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mistress. I am Alex," she replied simply, though her eyes danced at the playful use of the woman's title. Rarely did she go by her full name of Alexis any longer, not since she was a teenager, before she'd run away from home after graduation. The only one to get away with it since then had broken her heart a couple of years ago and so she didn't even identify herself with it.

She knew that it would look odd, only one of them talking aloud, though she really didn't care what anyone thought about her. Leaning in closer, she glanced down into the buckets, then back up into the other woman's eyes as she asked, her tone soft and silky, "Planning on taking me for everything Mistress?" She was enjoying being playful for once. It was odd, she typically didn't respond to women but this one had her excited. Was Mistress Zodiac somehow reflecting Alex's Allurist powers back at her?

[Zodiac]

"...I am Alex."

"That's a pretty name," Zodiac replied as she dropped three more coins in her machines. She looked at the woman again briefly. Definitely an allurist. The pose, body language, the way she held herself and the trick with the business card all screamed it. The mystic had not felt anything to suggest this woman was using her powers on her so far, but she kept her attentions 75% to her fun. Focus was the key.

"Planning on taking me for everything Mistress?"

Her hand fell away from the lever and looked directly at Alex with shock in her eyes. 'Taking me' suggested this was the owner or one of the co-owners of the place.

"Is that what you think this is about? Oh no,no,no, you miss the point entirely, dear. I am just having fun here and the real fun will be starting in a few seconds." she explained as she blew another bit of smoke over the slots and pulled the levers. Machine one finally yielded to the laws of the odds and disgorged another twenty five dollars.

"Now, Miss Alex, follow me and watch the fun," she giggled in the woman's thoughts as she gathered up her things and stood up. She stretched and frowned as she looked about till she saw a few other slots sitting in forlorn silence. She picked up her purse and buckets and motioned for Alex to follow her. Zodiac took exactly ten steps away, then turned to look back at the three machines she had abandoned while encouraging Alex to do the same. "And now the fun begins."

Several people had descended upon the abandoned machines are were debating on who got there first. Zodiac laughed as she turned away and walked to another set of slots that sat bleeping softly for attention. "An experiment in human nature and a touch of psychology dipped in showmanship is all this is. The money is a windfall, a side note to the entire deal," she began to explain to her host what she had learned over time concerning the machines and how they seemed programmed to act. "Everyone wants that one, big, spin. How high honestly are the odds against it? They see me, doing a little magick act and playing the odds I know exist just long enough to make the machines appear to be doing what I tell them, and they go berserk! That one big spin is just waiting now, they think, and the witch just primed the pump for them. By the time I am done in here, whatever I walk out with cash wise those people will replace three times over trying to get what I left behind."

Zodiac ran her fingers over the surface of a new set of machines to judge how recently they had been used. "The bit of money I get? Pass out to my employees as a bonus, throw them a party, get something new for my shops." she shrugged. "As I said, the money isn't the reason I am here. I just amuse myself watching how stupid some people can be is all."

She finally faced the woman and gave her her full attention. "In a way, you could say I am good for business for you." Zodiac then took a seat and sat up her act again. She discreetly pointed back to where they had come from at the people who lost out on the slots she abandoned and now watched them like hungry vultures. "This happens a lot, I'm afraid."

[Alex]

When she heard the compliment to her name she mentally snorted, not a sound to be heard, but just a gut reaction to her own name. She'd shortened it long ago, to make it in a man's game. In Vegas so many of the whales thought that the only one that could understand them was a man. The guys figured that they needed someone like them to know what they liked, and the women felt like they should be handled by eye candy and didn't care what they were doing. When she'd first started in the game she would pretend that she was Alex's assistant, handling everything for them while Alex was doing things behind the scenes for them. After their second or third visit she'd reveal the truth and the whale would be impressed and everything ran just fine. She had a reputation for getting her clients exactly what they wanted, whether that be tickets to a show, an appearance by a favorite singer, or to keep their family busy while they gambled. She knew how to take care of her clients.

Seeing the look of shock upon Zodiac's face made Alex's smile deepen in amusement. She'd infused the statement concerning taking me and Mistress, in the same sentence, with as much teasing suggestion as she could. She could only assume that the woman had gotten her playful reference. That was when she began to explain and Alex realized that the entire reference had been missed. There was an old saying that said if you don't use it, you lose it. Had she lost her touch? Or had she lost her Allurist powers for not having put them to use on anything but humans.

She was shaken from those depressing thoughts by the sound of more coins clattering upon one another in the tray. The payout and what Zodiac was mentioning about fun, caught her attention back to the moment and so she rose, following behind the woman, her hips automatically swaying. It puzzled her when they stopped so soon, only to look back at the machines. The was a look on the woman's face that seemed to say she was amused about something, then between her statement and the descent of the others, that was when Alex got it. She'd not spent too terribly much time around the slot machines since they only yielded so much at a time. She was familiar with the principals though and so as Zodiac continued onward and began to explain her actions, it all sank in and made sense to her.

By the time Zodiac had picked out another set of machines, Alex was chuckling softly at the ploy. She listened dutifully even as she settled easily upon the seat beside her. Once more she crossed her long legs, smiling sincerely at the mischief that the woman was about, relaxing for the first time in a very long while. "Perhaps I should put you on retainer then Mistress," she teased, eyes dancing from the flirtatious joking. Slowly she licked her lips as she sat facing the woman. From there she could watch those that watched them, as well as watch what Zodiac was doing. With her legs crossed, her knee was a mere inch from the other woman's hip.

Leaning in closer, she tipped her head to the side a bit as she asked, "and does the Mistress have a spare cigar then?" Slowly she licked her lips again, as though anticipating the flavor of one, her eyes upon Zodiac's interestingly colored pair. Perhaps it was the light of the machines that gave them that interesting cast.

[Zodiac]

"Is she trying to break my concentration?'

Zodiac thought to herself as the woman posed herself perfectly beside her. How much more honest did she have to be? If a place like this was that worried how much money she was draining from the slots, then perhaps the owners needed to sell it off to someone else if their books were in that bad of a condition.

She considered it again, and decided that wasn't it. If this was indeed Alex's job, then she could not help dropping into type when on the floor like this. Perhaps away from the sounds, lights, and sharks she might be totally different. She didn't know.

"Perhaps I should put you on retainer then Mistress,"

That made her laugh.

"First off, Zodiac is fine. Most call me just Zo and a few still call me Zoey. Second, I doubt you could afford me. Besides, with all the stuff I have my hands in normally, the idea of yet another job would leave me zero social life at all. Thank you for the thought though." She was making a new set of flash paper 'hexes' for her new toys. People were watching now, and if given enough time the mystic would have a small congregation following behind her. The Devout Followers of the First Chapel of The Aching Slots or something.

"and does the Mistress have a spare cigar then?"

She grinned. If that's how she wanted to play, was fine with her. Zodiac taped the bits of flash paper to the three slots and then reached into her purse. She pulled out another Havana and cut the end before offering it to her. A lighter followed as she lit the cigar for the woman. "I know the smoke doesn't do much for us now, but I can still taste it and the entire act of smoking feels....alive? The actions and motions are relaxing to me I guess."

She shrugged and went back to doing her little act. She turned her gaze and saw a familiar face glaring at her from across the room. She didn't know his name, nor did she care to but it was obvious this one was some kind of security operative for the club. He always had a look in his eyes that seemed to scream "I want to grab the gypsy girl by the scruff of the neck and see how far I can drop kick her' She gave him one of her most dazzling smiles, winked and waved before turning with her own cigar in hand to ignite the flash papers.

"Your buddy back there needs to learn to relax, doll. If he is human, he is gonna blow his heart if he don't find someway to chill out." she nodded at Alex as she dropped the first three coins into the waiting machines. "Probably thinks I am corrupting you or doing some voodoo spell on you. Somehow, I don't think either would work on you, honestly."

With a flourish for those watching her, she pulled the levers.

[Alex]

Despite the instruction to call her Zodiac or Zo, Alex found that she liked teasing her, even if she seemed to completely be missing the flirting that she was doing. She felt as though she were practically giving every sign in the book and it was only serving to make her both more excited, and frustrated at the same time. She didn't normally even flirt with others of her kind, only with humans and only to encourage their efforts further. She hadn't even been with anyone in quite some time so she must have just lost it was all. At least it still worked on humans.

Her eyes followed Zodiac's motions as she set about beginning her act again. She leaned back to let her do her work, though she fought the smirk that threatened her lips. Instead she took on a reverent look, to support the woman's efforts. She'd just settled into that role when another cigar appeared from the woman's bag. Even as the tip was cut, Alex could catch the rich scent, over the smell of bodies, cigarettes and booze. If her mouth still watered, it would have been at the mere scent of that cigar. Placing it between her lips, she took a few sharp drags on it as Zodiac held the lighter up. Once it was going on its own, she leaned back and watched her 'magic'. "The flavor is still delicious, even without the effects," she replied, agreeing with the woman.

Chocolate eyes darted around those assembled, that watched what was going on, and so she missed Sam's glare from across the room. At the sound of Zodiac's voice in her mind once more, she turned her head to see the six foot tall Chief of Security glaring over at Zo. That elicited a soft chuckle from Alex. Some might think that Sam was a meathead or a goon, and he was quite muscular and kept in shape, but he had his occasional funny moments. Since a lot of the main staff at the Casino had followed her from Vegas, or rather she'd hired them away from the casino she'd worked at in Vegas, she knew them all very well. They had almost their own little code for different things. She lifted her hand, as though to wave to him, but made a separate little movement with her fingers too. Immediately Sam huffed, but he nodded and headed away. She was alright and there was nothing to worry about. He knew that she could take care of herself, oddly more since moving north than before, but he'd always sort of been a brotherly, protective type, since their first meeting.

"Sam's alright, he just worries and he doesn't know the way of things here in Harper's Rock," she replied easily, settling to watch and continue the conversation. She placed the cigar back to her lips and took a stronger drag on it. As the machines spun, she added another puff of smoke to each, perfect O's hitting the front of each of the machines, in the order they'd had their levers pulled, as though she were adding her own little zing to them, with Zodiac. She grinned over at her, forgetting about flirting and just spending some time around another of her own kind.

[Zodiac]

So, the man had a name and Alex had control over him. Good, good. Probably was a thrall.

Alex now got into the act and exhaled her own smoke at the slots. The mystic grinned around her cigar and watched. Machine three chirrped happily as it disgorged a better than token amount of dollars. At once, her fingers counted as she scooped it into her 'win' bucket and did the math in her mind.

'Spent eighteen dollars, won fifty six, plus two hundred and seventy-nine equals three hundred and thirty-five dollars.' she thought to herself. She looked at Alex again and decided two could play. She leaned closer and batted her eyes a bit.

"Careful now. People see you helping me they will think the game is rigged here or that I am teaching you how to charm the slot machines." she kept her 'voice' low and teasing. "Or at least your pet muscle will come to some odd conclusion. Maybe I hypnotized you into giving what ever okay sign you gave him. That would have to be it. Anything beyond two people just having a few laughs would have to be the reason why you are sitting with me now." she flashed her fangs at Alex for a moment before going back to her rituals before the machines. She blew more smoke as she dropped three more dollars in.

"Oh, but trust me, there are far worse fates out there than being enslaved to me." she cackled as she pulled the levers. The three machines came up blank this time, which was not a surprise at all. She added three more dollars to her mental list of expenses and started again. The first machine bleeped and tossed out pocket change this time.

'.....thirty four plus three hundred and thirty-five equals three hundred and seventy-nine...'

[Alex]

As she watched, the third machine spit out a great number of coins and out of the corner of her eyes she could see the onlookers salivating, ready to pounce upon it the moment that they moved. She was good for business. Hell, there were still people trying to get the machines they'd just left to pay out!

The voice in her mind made her laugh lightly, eyes dancing. The idea of people thinking that she'd ever cheat was preposterous. She had her reputation and it spoke volumes. Then the idea of Sam believing that she was under some sort of a spell was ludicrous as well. She was honestly laughing and almost missed the flash of fangs at her. The sight of them excited her for some reason. Then came her comment, about being enslaved and suddenly Alex felt the urge to shift in her seat. There was a decided rush through her body, her being responding to the flirting that Zodiac was sending back her way.

Leaning back, her lower body sort of thrust forward, would have been her next step, sort of a way to display the options and fake indifference. However, that wasn't a possibility with the way that the seats were. It was a stool, but it did have a back to it, though granted the back was only about four inchest tall. That was hardly enough to lean against. Instead, she found herself leaning forward, almost conspiratorily. She took another hard puff on the cigar, then exhaled across the machines once more, as though adding to the mystique.

"I'm sure that there are Mistress," she purred, a playful smile upon her lips. She tried to catch the woman's eyes once more even as she squirmed in place again. She should probably get back to doing some of her work, distract herself, do something that would keep her mind off of the naughty thoughts that this woman was making pop into her mind.

She took another drag on the cigar, letting her eyes play out around everyone that was watching, even to dance up toward the nearest security cameras. She shot the camera a little wink, knowing that Robby would be watching. Thankfully they didn't have an audio feed, or the staff would have heard just how badly she'd bombed with the woman there. It had to look odd anyway, to have Alex talking to the woman, but her never saying a word back. She turned her back on the crowd, once more focusing entirely on Zodiac. Given how much the woman had won already, she just hoped that she wouldn't choose to go ahead and leave, much too soon. It was nice, to have someone to tease and flirt with, someone that she was enjoying spending time with.