BloodStar

Nero and Xenia gracefully climbed the stairs leading up to the mansion entrance. As they approached the main entrance they passed ornate columns supporting a three-story tall awning overhead. A muscular man in a suit welcomed them with a clipboard in hand, “Welcome to the Masquerade Ball, may I have your names.”

Nero grunted at the man and then in a rough voice said, “I am Nero. This is Sareena Night, my date.”

The man looked up and down the pages and flipped through his clipboard pages, “I am sorry sir. You and your date are not on the list for tonight. I will have to ask you to turn around and leave at once as this is a private party.”

Nero took an aggressive step forward and several hidden and armed Scorched Shadow members stepped out ready to attack if Nero made one more step out of line.

The tension was diffused though as a voice called out, “Nero! Welcome!” A beautiful and muscular woman had opened the front door, “What are you boys doing? This is BloodStar Immortal Nero. He doesn’t need to be on the list to attend this party. And what were you all going to do, huh? Nero would’ve made a mess of you all.”

The man with the clipboard bowed his head, “Please accept our apologies General Preston.” The man then turned to Nero, “Please accept my apologies as well, BloodStar Immortal Nero.”

Nero replied, “Apology accepted.”

Nero and Xenia walked into the ball following General Preston. General Preston turned around and looked directly at Xenia, “I’m sorry, I know you are Nero’s date. But what did you say your name was?”

Xenia began, “My name is Saree-“

General Preston cut her off, “Oh its of no consequence. Shoo shoo.” General Preston made a motion with her hand telling Xenia to get lost.

Xenia hesitated out of such unusual behavior towards her, and General Preston continued, “I said shoo girl. I have to discuss a few very private matters with Nero. Now get along you little thing. Drinks over that way, poker table over there, cigar bar up ahead, and dance floor over there.”

General Preston then turned her back to Xenia ignoring her completely as she turned to Nero and took hold of his arm, “I am General Mallory Preston, the 3rd General of Scorched Shadow.”

Xenia communicated to Nero via bloodbending as she entered his thoughts, “I’ll be listening in. Just tell me when you need me.”

All Nero had to do was think to respond, “Will do. Enjoy yourself, my empress.”

An announcer suddenly came on overhead, “There is still one spot remaining for the high-roller sit-n-go no-limit Texas hold ‘em game. Who will be our last entrant. Buy-in is only $10 million!”

Xenia thought to herself, “My funds have been severely limited with Ramses and Zara appropriating my funds back to the BloodStar Empire after my ‘death’. This could be an opportunity to shore things up.”

She then communicated with Nero, “How much is in your private account?”

Nero responded, “$10.7 million.”

Xenia communicated back to him, “I am entering the poker game.”

“Of course.” Nero smiled to himself as he heard Xenia’s voice inside of his head, “I can’t imagine you will lose with your refined bloodbending.”

Xenia approached a roped-off table with one seat remaining. She sidestepped the rope by squeezing her perfect figure through an opening. She drew the attention of every man at the table as she walked up in her tight leather dress and mask. She then confidently sat down at the last seat, “Put my buy-in on BloodStar Immortal Nero’s tab, I am his date for the evening… Sareena Night.”

The dealer made a call to quickly confirm the credibility of the funding source and then promptly looked to Xenia, “Welcome to the table Ms. Night.” The dealer looked around the table and continued, “The game is No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em. The winner takes all in a 9 person Sit-N-Go for a grand prize of $90 million. Shuffle up and deal!”

________________________

An hour had passed, and the pace of the poker game was a brisk one as it was already down to heads-up play with Xenia in the chip lead by a very slim margin with 51% of the chips in play.

With her bloodbending mindreading abilities, it was impossible to bluff her. Furthermore, if she reached the river card, she could extract maximum chips from her opponents with perfectly sized bets. She had an edge at every turn of the game knowing her opponents’ whole cards from the very beginning of each round.

Her final opponent was a loose and fast gambler named Ken Spangler. Xenia knew that even though she could read his whole cards from the very beginning, there was still an element of risk playing against someone who loved to gamble as there was no way of knowing what card would come next from the deck.

The next hand was dealt, and she looked at her cards: ‘suited 9 J of diamonds.”

She then looked directly at her opponent as he glimpsed at his cards, and she read his mind via her bloodbending, “suited 8 10 of diamonds.”

Both players limped in to see the flop which read: A K Q with two diamonds present.

Both players had royal flush draws although Xenia knew neither would complete the draw as they each had the missing piece the other needed. Nonetheless, they still both had a straight draw and a flush draw, a powerful drawing hand even if they didn’t have a made hand just yet.

Ken Spangler lead out with an oversized bet, betting twice the pot size. Xenia casually called the bet.

The turn card came, and the board now read: A K Q 7 with two diamonds present still.

Ken Spangler once again was off to the races with a pot-sized bet. Xenia pretended to be in distress but ultimately made a call. She was all but telegraphing to Ken that she was on a draw with her worried body language and weak back-to-back calls.

The river card came, and the board read: A K Q 7 2, still with only two diamonds present. Both the straight draw and flush draw had missed for both players.

Ken Spangler checked to Xenia knowing he had no reason to bet as he put Xenia on a draw which his hand likely beat anyways with 10 high.

Knowing this, Xenia over bet in response hoping to goad Ken into coming over the top of her obvious bluff.

She played right into her opponent’s aggressive nature, and it worked. Ken Spangler responded with a quick, “All in.”

Seeing as Xenia had him covered with 51% of the chips at the start of the hand, she had all but won. All she needed to do was call him down.

She gave out a huge sigh and leaned back in her chair with a smirk.

By now, a very large crowd had gathered around the roped off table, and everyone was dead silent as this huge hand played out.

Xenia then stood from her chair and stood behind it acting as if this were an extremely tough decision. The crowd couldn’t help but admire her pristine body and stylish outfit as she did so. The men in the room, and even many women, gawked at her cleavage, curves, and smile wondering who the woman behind the mask, Sareena Night, was.

She then smiled at Ken and said, “I don’t think you have it. I call.”

Ken groaned and flipped over his hand showing 10 high. Xenia then flipped her cards over and threw them out into the middle of the table and said, “Jack high. It looks like I win.”

She smiled in Ken’s direction, and he went into a rage, “Jack high!!!??? JACK HIGH?!!” He stood up and began to pace by his chair, “No one would make that call for $90 million! YOU CHEATING BITCH!”

He pointed his finger at her and continued to yell, “Someone is helping you! You’ve made outrageous calls all game long. You are CHEATING!”

Ken Spangler looked to the dealer, “I demand General Preston review the security footage. This is outrageous.”

He then looked back to Xenia, “Do you know who I am, Miss Sareena Night?! I am a high-ranking member of Scorched Shadow. If we find out you have cheated us here tonight, you are a dead woman!”

Xenia stood silent smiling at him all through his rage which only angered him more and more. She then finally responded, “My my. Someone is a sore loser.”

Ken Spangler smiled back at her. Xenia heard a commotion behind her and suddenly read a loud thought from Nero, “General Preston is fast approaching and does not appear to be in support of you. At all. Please, no matter what happens, let it pass.”

Xenia turned just in time to catch a forceful slap from General Mallory Preston sending her straight to the ground with a bloodied lip. General Preston was a physically strong woman and talented ki user. Xenia was suppressing her ki; however, she wish she hadn’t been as Mallory’s slap packed a punch.

Xenia winced on the ground with a bloodied lip and looked up at General Preston who yelled, “Stay down you insolent bitch! No one comes into my manor and humiliates my branch of Scorched Shadow as you have tonight. If Colonel Spangler says you cheated, then you cheated. End of story.”

She huffed and puffed, “And out of respect for Nero, I am not going to kill you.”

Xenia immediately sent a thought to Nero, “Get her back to Bella Domina, tonight, by any means necessary. Or I will!”

Nero simply nodded to her and threw her a handkerchief, “Miss Night. Please find your own way home tonight. I never want to see you again.” He then turned to General Preston, “I hate to ruin such a lovely night with a beautiful woman such as yourself. Let’s forget about my distasteful date. Might you be interested in continuing our conversation about business back at Bella Domina? Have you seen it? It’s a modern wonder of the world.”

Mallory looked to Nero, “Nero, you are such a charmer. Why I’d just love to.”

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