9 Chapter 9:

〰 Proximo 〰

The phone ringing beside me woke me from my slumber as I groaned and leaned over to grab the phone. My skin felt cold from the lack of sheets making me glance over the side and see them across the room.

How in the world did that happen last night?

"Good morning, Demon. Enjoy your late night fucking?" Hrudra asks through the phone causing me to snap my head to where she was nestled up the previous night and see that she wasn't there anymore.

Her clothes were gone as well.

"Son of a bitch." I curse through the phone, getting off the bed and looking for my clothes so I could chase her down.

Why did I continue letting her play me this way?!

"That's not very nice to say, Demon." She says in a pouting voice when chuckling softly. "Looking for your clothes? Yeah, some homeless guy needed new ones so I gave them to him. I hope you don't mind." She says in an innocent tone as I growled and carried the phone box with me to the window.

I noticed the cars were still outside, confusing the shit out of me. A couple walked past, seeing me naked as I closed the curtains quickly and started looking around the room for my things.

"Where the fuck are you?" I snarl into the phone, the need to protect her while my demon reminded me of what I had said last night about us. Rolling my eyes, I pushed him away and grabbed a sock from the ground in irritation.

"That doesn't matter does it?" She asks in a defeated tone before there was loud arguing. I tried to zone into what the argument on her side was about, but I could only hear them talking about a jack?

I was definitely missing something in that conversation.

"Where are you?" I snap at her, wrapping the sheet around my waist and grabbing the room card.

"Why do you suddenly care?" She asks in a defensive tone. "We wanted to have casual sex and now you are acting as if you are my husband or something," Hrudra says before telling someone something about twenty to someone on the other line.

"I'm your fucking mate!" I yell at her as she chuckled.

"That's not what you said before you were balls deep inside me." She says easily, a gasp resonating from the other line.

"Hrudra..." I growled at her darkly, knowing I shouldn't have said that to her but I thought that was what she wanted to hear.

Did I misread her?

Did she really want something between us?

"Gotta go Demon. I have a mean hand. Chow!" The line went dead a moment dead, her words not making any sense before I placed the phone on the table and left the damaged room.

I needed to find her.

Walking towards Valrun's room, I knocked on it and looked around me. I noticed a man walking down the hallway, seeing me and raising an eyebrow at me in curiosity. Thank god my horns weren't noticeable in the night time.

"Girlfriend lock you out?" He asks me once he passes by. I sighed and knocked on the door.

"Something like that. Let's just hope she returns my clothes." I admit, thinking that I wasn't going to get clothes from her as the man stopped and gave me a look over.

"You're the same size as me. Want to have some of mine?" The human man questions when I knocked on her door and sighed once it remained closed.

"If you don't mind..." I mutter, embarrassed that I was seen in such a way.

How could the best demon general be seen in only a sheet because of a woman...

Jesus, this is what my life has taken a turn too.

"It's not a problem. Give me a few minutes and I'll be back with something for you. I'll give you something nice to make up for your girlfriend." The man says, patting my bare shoulder and heading back to the room he came from. I smiled, thankful for the man before continuing to rapt my fist on Valrun's door.

〰 Hrudra 〰

I glanced around the table, my copper hair pooling over my shoulder as the light grey dress revealed some of my cleavage. I twirled my hair in my finger before grabbing a stack of chips from my hand and placing them in front of me.

"I raise to one hundred." I smiled seductively, knowing I had a shit hand but challenging the mob boss himself. The hoops in my ears showing off the glimmer of my silver eyes to the men at the table who had poker faces.

The man to my right looked at his cards once again, the pile of chips in his hand growing smaller with each round. He had very bad luck and had always been the first to raise it by hundreds.

Though the man was smart this time and folded his cards despite the good hand he had. He had a pair of jacks which was fairly good, but his challenging days were over if he wanted to remain in the game.

There was only three of us playing now, I had stripped the other two men of their cash using my manipulative ways to get more money from them. Now just remained the man on my right and the mob boss in front of me.

"You must tell me your name, darling." He purred, his slick hair pulled back into a small bun as I held my hand out to him.

"The name is Hrudra. Pleasure being in the presence of a good player." I bowed my head before he took my hand and pressed a chaste kiss on my palm.

"Interesting name, Hrudra. Is that Scandinavian?" The mob boss asks when I released his had and smiled at him in surprise.

"Close. It's Norse." I nodded to the game as he smirked and rose to my bet.

"Norse? I've never met a woman who was Norse." He admits, the dealer placing the next card down giving me a flush. Smiling wider at him, I rose the bet another hundred.

"My race is long dying. I continue to be a proud woman from the Norse." I confess to the man, both of us watching the man on my right stand and leave us. It seemed like he didn't want to deal with the fact that he too, would eventually lose to me.

It makes this twice the more fun to play.

"Very noble of you to continue your heritage." The man says, glancing down at his hand and meeting my bluff. "What's a pretty woman like you doing here though? This place is for men not beautiful women like you." He compliments as I flashed a smile at him.

For a mob boss, he's very sweet.

"You flatter me..."

"Claus. The name is Claus." He introduces, apologizing since he forgot to mention it earlier.

"You flatter me, Claus. But you should know a woman needs to make her money. My boyfriend never wants to spoil me, so I sneak away at night to win myself money." I tell him, still upset at the demon for saying those words but knowing I shouldn't be.

I've said far worse and he was only agreeing with me.

With a sigh, the dealer flipped the last card for us. It didn't affect my hand as I smiled softly and knocked on the board, not raising it.

"You're boyfriend must be a horrible man. If you were mine, I'd treat you like the damn queen." Claus tells me making me shake my head and place my cards on the table. He looked at his hand before knocking on the board as well.

"Your woman would be very jealous if she heard you saying that, Claus." I tease before flipping my hand and showing him my flush.

"I don't have one to make jealous, Hrudra." He flipped his as well, showing me his full house. I laughed under my breath while the winnings went to him and leaned forward.

"I'm surprised. Why didn't you raise, Claus?" I ask him, knowing his full house would have beaten me either way.

"I didn't want to steal all your money yet." He says in a joking way and leaned forward. "The more you have, the more time you'll remain here." The mob boss was so thoughtful that it surprised me.

Was this a coy or was he being serious?

"Is this a game you are playing with me, Claus?" I ask him, leaning away and handing the dealer my hand so he could reshuffle. Claus followed suit but remained against the table so he was as close as he could be.

"What if it was? What would you say?" He challenges when I smirked and pulled my hair behind my ear.

"I'd say my boyfriend doesn't need to know," I say, looking at his deep brown eyes as he nodded and leaned away.

"May I join you both?" A familiar voice says from behind me as Claus's eyes hardened and nodded to the man.

"Please." Claus waved to the seat closer to him but the man pulled the chair that was to my right and sat down. I didn't look at the man and merely covered myself with my arms. "Here, my dear. Please wear this if you are cold." Claus handed me his suit jacket as I smiled in thanks.

"Thank you, Claus." I nod, glancing over at the demon who was glaring at the mob boss. He barely had any chips! This was going to be a very quick game for him.

"So... How do you play this game?" The demon asks us when Claus and I shared a look of disbelief.

"This is a very elite game. We do not play like children sir." I said in a cool tone, shaking my head and peering at the demon. "There is a kiddie place down the street if you wish to play games." I insult making Claus chuckle.

The demon stared at me for a long moment before sighing and nodding to the dealer. "I'm ready." He says confidently as the dealer handed out the cards.

"So how long have you been around here, Hrudra?" Claus asks me when I glanced at my cards and rose it to twenty.

"I only started coming to this casino. The other one nearby kicked me out." I lie while both men rose to my challenge. The dealer handed out the cards as I smiled at the pair of aces I had.

"Kicked out? How so?" Claus asks in curiosity, both of us ignoring the demon's presence. I could feel him trying to figure out the game out, but had no clue so he placed fifty in the pot.

"I won more than I lost. Many people rioted against me and I was banned for being too good. So I decided to try my bets with an elite casino such as this one. Though I won't be surprised if those men cause a disturbance." I nod to the three men who I beat earlier. They were drinking heavily and started to argue with each other, accusing me of being a witch but not coming up to me.

I rose to the demon's bet while Claus folded and leaned on his arms.

"I won't let them kick out a beauty like you." He assures me as I smiled and pulled his jacket tighter on me. "I'm good friends with the owner of this casino. If anyone causes trouble for you, just tell me and my men can deal with them for you." Claus nods to the men who were stationed all around the casino.

Raising my eyebrow, I scanned the area for others and saw that there was more of his men than the actual security in the security.

"You must be very important," I comment and saw that the demon rose the bet again. Raising to the challenge, I flipped my cards and showed my two pairs. "Beat that, child," I smirked as the demon narrowed his eyes and flipped his cards over.

Three fucking aces?!

I scoffed, rolling my eyes as the dealer pushed the chips in the demon's direction. Claus leaned back, giving the man beside me a strange look before looking back at me with a kind look.

"What would you say if I was a mafia?" Claus says while I smiled and brushed my hair over my ear.

"I wouldn't believe you. You're too kind to be a mob boss." I smiled encouragingly when I felt a hand snaking up my leg. I didn't make a reaction and leaned back to smack the hand that was traveling up the inside of my thigh.

"So Claus? Are you going to rise up to my bet?" The demon asks me, shoving his chip in front of me when the demon kneaded the muscles in my thigh causing me to grow red with embarrassment.

"It's Mr. Gibbs to you." Claus narrowed his eyes at me, seeing that I was turning red while leaning forward and folding my cards.