Played By Love

Chapter Two

   Elena stands in a darkish room. Where was she? "Oi, you here for a table?" "What?" Elena starts. A man stands in front of her, he's not as rough looking or shady as the man from earlier.

    Instead, he looks bored. "A table." he repeats, as though she's dumb, leaning in. Elena bristles. "Well, if you'd tell me what a table here means then maybe I'll let you know." She snaps, stressing the maybe. The man steps back and raises his eyebrows. Looking her up and down, he assesses her.

   Elena stands, unsure whether to apologize or act tough. But the man answers her before she has a chance to do anything. "You're in Jacks. A table here means that you're either gambling, betting on those gambling, or just watching. We have a room in the back for drinks, but the drinks stay in the back room." He eyes her, not making comment on her age.

   "Those that get drunk and make a scene get they're winning's confiscated and kicked out." he adds, then walks away, leaving Elena alone. She stands dumbly, watching after him. What had just happened? All of a sudden, Elena notices other people in the room. There were around forty, and many of them were huddled around tables placed towards the center of the room. Those that weren't around the tables were watching them intently. "Move it, there are people trying to get through." A voice behind Elena shocks her into moving away from the door and a small group of people pass by and head for the tables. The person who spoke was a girl, looking not much older than Elena. She was dressed in rougher clothes, boots covered in dirt with a tear along one side that had been stitched up.

   She notices Elena staring and snaps, "what?" "Huh?" Confused Elena stares at her. The girl rolls her eye and begins to head off, following after her group. "Wait!" Remembering her question, Elena reaches out, stepping forward. The girl turns, her face wary and suspicious. "What?" "I, um, where am I? What is this place?" The girl stare at her as though she'd lost her mind. Turning, she gestures toward the tables with people clustered around them. "You see those tables?" Elena nods. "Those are gambling tables. It means that this place," the girl gestures around them, "is a gambling house. You know, where people come to gamble."

   She turns to go but Elena jumps foreword, "wait! I meant this place," she gestures around herself, "I, I'm new here. I don't understand, all this." The girl watches her with dark eyes, and then steps closer, analyzing Elena. Elena blanches underneath the scrutiny of the girl's inspection. Then after a moment, the girl steps back. "Heh, you really are new here." Smirking, the girl tilts her head up and to the side slightly. "You're at Jack's, the biggest and the best gambling hall in the city."

   The girl leans closer, "by the way, don't let anyone else know that you're new here." Gulping, Elena opens her mouth to ask why but the girl interrupts her. "And I wouldn't ask too many questions either. I'd say good luck, but" the girl shrugs. "There isn't any here." Then she walks away to join her companions. Elena stands still. Jack's? She'd heard of that place. Even being surrounded by her managers and the higher ups, Jack's was infamous for being the most popular gambling den in the city, maybe even larger than that.

   But this didn't make sense. She'd always pictured Jack's as being some huge building with bodyguards and thugs everywhere and lavish decorations. This place didn't seem any larger than a pub. Not that she'd been in any, but she still had a basic idea of them. Squinting into the room, she walks in farther. Now that she's been in for a moment her eyes had adjusted, and it wasn't as dark as she'd previously thought.

   And, looking around, although everything wasn't lavish, there were guards watching the proceedings, making sure nothing got out of hand. And a few of them were watching her she noticed. Elena ducked her head quickly, pulling her hood farther down over her head. Moving away from some of the crowds, Elena moves toward the less crowded area of one of the walls to the side.