Ketch Me if You Can

Chapter 13

I gazed at the millions of neon lights as we came to the main strip. It was overwhelming. The amount of blinking lights, loud music, casino sounds, and strange smells was almost too much for my senses to bear.

"Wow. The door to Hell being in Vegas..." I mumbled, still dazed by the environment. "That's real original."

"We don't have the time for your sarcasm, sunbeam," Lucifer muttered, snatching up my hand again and pulling me onto the crowded sidewalk.

"You picked this place on purpose didn't you?" I smiled, "You're impossible."

He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled, "What better place than 'The Devil's Playground'?" He pulled me towards a nearby building, "Come on, we should get off the streets."

I scoffed as we opened the doors of a large hotel, "I have zero cash on me. Where, exactly, do you expect us to go?"

The devil shrugged and continued to drag me through the mass of bodies and cigarette smoke that filled the lobby. He pulled me past a large fountain in the middle and towards the slot machines on the other side. He took a seat at one of the gold and red machines, the screen lit up to display different virtual fruits and currency symbols.

"What are you doing?" I asked, standing as close to him as I could. "We don't have anything to play with."

"Amazing things can happen when you dance with the devil," Lucifer smirked.

I was going to question him more when I stopped to watch him reach forward for the machine lever. The lever pulled down smoothly and the virtual dials started to spin. I knew he hadn't put even a single quarter in the machine, so why was it working? Had he used grace to start the machine? I watched him closely as he inhaled deeply before touching the machine again. His eyes briefly flashed red before all the dials began to stop, eventually all five displayed the same image.

Immediately, loud horns sounded and the machine lit up even more than it already had been. And the slot on the font began shooting out change into a small silver shelf. Before long it was overflowing and we scrambled to pick everything up.

Lucifer laughed, "This will hopefully be enough." And he winced, a hand going to his head briefly. I knew he was low on grace. But was he low enough that even doing a simple party trick was difficult? How much was too much for the Devil? "You gonna help me pick all this up or are ya gonna keep starin' at me?"

I nodded and returned to pick up the mass of coins, a small blush coming over my cheeks. We picked up as much as our pockets and hands could hold and carried it all over to another machine to count it all. As soon as our hands were free, Lucifer snaked his into mine again. Was he just trying to comfort me? Or was he making sure I hadn't disappeared? Either way, it was nice.

Eventually, the machine was done with its counting and we made our way up to the front counter with the ticket it spit out. The workers there eyed us with suspicion. I didn't blame them, I could only imagine how it looked to have a man who looked twelve years older than me dragging me up to a hotel counter. We must have been an odd pair. I shrunk back behind him slightly. It was the only thing I could think to do, the only way to hide myself even a little.

I let Lucifer do all the talking at the counter, and he eventually got us a suite in the hotel. I'd tried to protest the large room, but he'd shushed me by squeezing my hand tightly. The elevator ride up was quiet. The door opened and I let Lucifer lead me down the small hallway to a golden door at the end. He opened the door for me, and I entered the large presidential suite. It was a gorgeous room.

"This isn't very subtle," I said, making my way over to where one of the walls was made entirely of windows.

You could see the entire strip below us. The lights glittered off the large fountain as it shot water into the air, sending rainbows and golden flecks everywhere. It was mesmerizing. I was so amazed by the light show, that I wasn't aware Lucifer had crept up behind me until his hands were on my hips, pulling me back into his warm body.