OOC – I guess I "own" these characters, but Joss owns me, so they are technically his. Also, I am going to bring these character into the battle with Wes, so it is a brief intro. Sorry it seems rushed, but it was...
IC - "Look alive team," the man dressed in all black said as he stepped through the door of the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. "We need to find Rodian and extract him as quick as possible."
He was flanked by three other members of his team: Thurki, a Chithon demon; Sara, once Potential, now Slayer; and Teletha, a Coven trained Witch.
"I'm friggen freezing" Thurki conplained, none too quietly, as he pulled his heavy parka tighter to his body.
The stone skinned Chithon demons were native to tropical climates and could be comfortable wadding in lava pools, but the cold...that was unbearable for them. Given an extended exposure to subzero temperatures a Chithon would freeze to death in an eighth of the time a human would.
Garrison shot Thurki a wry smile, "Find Rodian and we can be back to the safehouse and the hot tub in minutes."
That apparently wasn't good enough for the giant demon, "Tel, can't you put a hex on me and heat me up a bit?"
The slight blond woman who was walking next to him shook her head and snuggled up next to him as they walked.
"No, this is the best I can do for now. If I shifted spells now, it would interfere with your cloaking mask and I don't think casino security is ready for a seven foot crimson demon to play blackjack."
Thurki snorted something under his breath and then grumbled something that Garrison couldn't make out.
As they made their way onto the casino floor, the sounds of slot machines the muted sounds of patrons greeted them. When they got to the center of the casino, they split; Thurki and Teletha continuing to stroll towards the far end of the casino, while Garrison and Sara went to the bar.
"Max?" Garrison said to no one in particular as he slid onto a barstool.
A voice broke from the small receiver he had in his ear.
"Good to go Garrison. I'm tapped into the casino security cams and ready to roll. I'm running the facial recognition program now. I'll be serving Rodian up for you in a minutes."
Max, the fifth member of Garrison's crew, was adapt at all things electronic as Teletha was magically. It was a combination that Garrison knew a little of of, but compared to their respective abilities, Garrison might as well as been a child.
Garrison was going to wave the bartender down when Max spoke back up again.
"Found him. He's in the Poker room. Table 18. He's playing with a bunch of high rollers and there are a bunch of gawkers. Most of them are kinda beefy, so my bet is they are with Rodian..."
Garrison slid back off the stool and grabbed Sara's hand, "Come on, honey. It's time for me to play some poker and you get to play my girlfriend. Just look pretty and be ready. Up for it?"
Sara gave Garrison a quizzical look and then reached up and adjusted her blouse, pulling it down a bit to show more cleavage. Sara was attractive, not drop dead gorgeous, but her athletic build, combined with her deep brown eyes and attitude made her more than most men could handle.
"Is that good enough, sweety?" she said. The sarcasm in her voice wasn't missed by Garrison.
"Alright Max, we are heading in. Thurki and Teletha, you come in and try to get close to the table about five minutes after I sit down."
The deep base tone of Thurki's voice came over the receiver, "Got it."
Max's voice followed, "Alright, you are good to go. I have the tape looped, so as far as the eye in the sky is concerned, you aren't in the room. If there are any problems, I'll drop the whole thing so you are covered either way."
Walking into the Poker room, Garrison pulled out a thousand in hundreds and asked for ten dollar chips. There were two openings at the table that Rodian was on, so Garrison took a seat that was closest to the man. Sara, who was now intently, though with a masking smile, checking out the room, especially those who were standing around their target.
Garrison posted, which he had to do or wait until the big blind actually got to him, $50 and got his pocket cards. He had been playing cards for years, so the role of a poker player wasn't that hard, however, the married role was a bit more difficult for Garrison to act. Like much of his life, Garrison had a tendency to be a bit more flamboyant with things he was uncomfortable with, allowing the force of his personality to cover for his discomfort.
"We're on our honeymoon." Garrison said, cocking his head back towards Sara. "Yep, been married for a day now. We are flying out to Vegas from Metro in the morning, so we decided to stop here and warm up Lady Luck before hitting the big time."
Garrison paused for a minute as he checked his cards, 9/8 offsuit, and checked.
"Well, not that this isn't a big game, but c'mon...Vegas baby."
Garrison wished he could have captured the expression of all those at the table with a camera as he talked. Some were obviously pleased, hopeful that he was easy money, while a few, like Rodian, looked at him with disgust.
When the flop finally came, Garrison was nowhere near it with his cards, but he started the show back up again.
Reaching into the pocket on the inside of his leather coat, he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and slipped them on.
"I guess have to do this right,huh?" Garrison said with mock ignorance.
Although he considered his poker face to be as good as anyone else in the room, Garrison's purpose for the glasses was not to hide his eyes. The glasses, a gift from Max, allowed him to see heat signatures. Looking to his cards and then at the pot, Garrison threw out the minimum bet and then looked around as the play passed him by.
He let out a mental curse as the four individuals that stood behind the short bald figure of Rodian gave off no heat. Bloody bloodsuckers. It was well known, well, at least in the right circles, that Rodian had a thing for keeping vampires on a short leash...literally. Each of the four vamps behind him wore a thin metal collar that Rodian used to insure their loyalty. Apparently he paid them well in both cash and blood, but the collars were used to keep the vampired pragmatic streaks in check.
Mission accomplished, Garrison folded when a man at the far end of the table reraised and he waited several hands before getting in another. He was getting ready to fold when Sara leaned forward and rested against his side. With her finger, she traced a capital T on his back, the signal that Thurki and Teletha were in place.
"I'm going to go get something to drink." Sara said loudly enough that most at the table could hear her. With that, she got up and wandered off.
"Well gentlemen, I think that I will play this one...though I probably shouldn't" Garrison said as he thumbed his cards.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a explosion of words and a chair, hitting something, came from behind the table.
As soon as Rodian's entourage turned to see the hulking form of Thurki yelling and stomping around at a table behind them, Garrison quickly reached across the table and slapped a small wristband on Rodian's arm.
"What?" the pasty fat man stammered as he looked from the wristband to Garrison and back to the wristband.
"It's a little insurance that I though that you could appreciate." Garrison said.
He continued as the table cleared out as he got up and headed towards the man, "SoulDrinker's, Rodian? What are you thinking? You just couldn't keep running drugs, you had to start running people?"
He had only taken one step towards Rodian when a hand grabbed him from behind. He had been told that Rodian had five vamps in his hire and there he was...
He already had the handle of his weapon in his hand when the vamp had grabbed him, so with the flip of a switch, a four foot lance of light burst from the device he was holding. With a eerie familiarness, the weapon hummed as it arched towards the arm that had grabbed him and separated it at the elbow, the severed part turning to dust.
Garrison reversed the weapon and caught the vampire at the head and cleaved through it as if there hadn't been anything there to stop it. The vampire burst into a pile of clothes and dust.
Rodian took the opportunity to throw himself from his seat and wedge himself between his four vamp bodyguards. Turning around, they found Garrison still holding his lit weapon, looking very Jedi-ish.
Waving his hand in front of him, Garrison said, "You don't need to fight. Just give me the fat man."
In response, the four reverted to their demonic forms and rushed Garrison.
The first to reach him caught the "lightsaber" in the chest from a straight on thrust and dusted nicely. Two others flanked Garrison, but he was intent to Rodian who was heading for the exit to the poker room. With a quick feint to one side, Garrison brought the blade high and then dropped it quickly to catch the vamp in the knee. The vampire's lower leg burst into dust and it fell to the ground. He turned to find the other one, but was greeted by Sara, stake in hand, and another pile of dust.
Turning to find the last, Garrison found him with Rodian in tow, heading away from the fight. He and Sara had only taken two steps when Rodian came to a halt and his vampire escort burst into flames. Teletha stepped out from behind a row of slot machines, a sly grin on her face.
Quickly, they scooped up Rodian and headed for the door. Thurki reached them just as they reached the door; he was hastily pulling his coat on. Out the door they went and headed for the van.
OOC – This is one of the ideas I got when I was playing cards the other day. By the way, the "lightsaber" is a bit of machine and a bit of magic. Consider it Thundarr's(old school cartoon)Sunsword or a "untraviolet torch" - but it is really a lightsaber(I am in a Jedi kick). It won't hurt the living(maybe tan them a bit) but does massive harm to vamps.