Cecilia's first summer gig

He looked laughingly at her red eyes and white hair. "Are you trying to imitate the ancient people? So foolish."

"What? I was born this way."

"Of course, sweetie," he smirked. "This isn't the flea-infested elementary school you ran away from; nobody buys this bullshit."

"What if I gave it to you for free?"

Vlad got stuck a bit; this time it was his turn to answer like an idiot, "What?"

"I miss Sirius, no one gets my jokes anymore."

When she heard the group who picked her up calling Sirius a 'Gaurdian' she took a mental note to herself to check on that—maybe she could survive her days at the unfamiliar academia by relying on his name. Sadly, it seems there was no response about the name from the mafia impersonator kid.

"Let's make a coin toss like before, shall we? I'd like to see it with my own eyes."

Cecilia really didn't want him to see with his own eyes.

"You pick heads, as usual, right?" He grabbed a copper coin from her growing pile of coins in her hand.

"Let's give you a little incentive." He grabbed and threw the coin with his bony hand, missed catching the coin, and accidentally dropped it. Which caused him to stop the flow of his speech and pick it up awkwardly from the ground. "How about we bet 1,000 gold coins?"

Cecilia knew the situation was bad either way; it's not like victory was in her control! She prayed that her streak of luck would end as quickly as possible.

"Throw it," he said, handing the coin to the cat girl to his left, making sure he didn't miss the coin again by completely running away from the situation. 

The cat girl deftly tossed the coin, her pink ponytails bouncing with her movement. 

"Tale!?" Everyone—the audience, the rabbit woman, Vlad, and even Cecilia herself—were stunned; at this point, they didn't know that a tail was even a possibility.

"Again!" shouted Vlad. "This time Melissa will do it; there must be some kind of trick here!"

Melissa turned out to be the rabbit woman when she took the coin from the cat girl and tossed it like before.

Sadly for Melissa and Cecilia, now was no longer the place or time for applause.

To everyone's surprise, this time too, it landed on a tail.

"You're doing it on purpose, don't you?" Vlad blushed in anger, Cecilia inappropriately thought it was quite cute how his emotions infected him.

"You have no interest in winning here; 1,000 gold coins is not enough for an incentive, is it?" He pulled out a gun from God knows where. "How's that for an incentive? There are five bullets inside and one empty slot; you'd better activate that magic of yours now if you want to survive."

Before anyone could respond (not that anyone but Cecilia would object), Vlad took out a bullet, spun the cartridge at random, and shot Cecilia without further excuses.

"Are you fucking insane? You could have killed somebody!" Cecilia did not fully understand the situation she was in, "Forget about me; what about the people behind me? Are they cats?!"

"What are you-?"

"ARE. THEY. CATS?"

It seems that aggression actually worked on Vlad, and he started to cooperate. "No?"

"So why should curiosity kill them?! Huh?!"

"But the bullet didn't fire, I was right."

"Who the hell cares if you were right? You could be the King of England! Don't endanger people who have done nothing to you!"

Cecilia calmed down a bit after all that shouting and looked around. Everyone was looking at her with calf eyes.

She might have overdone that.

"I didn't mean to shout," she started.

Vlad looked at her with piercing eyes; only now did she notice that, despite his emaciated body, he had a slightly very scary aura.

"Why don't we take this conversation to my office?"

.       . .

Cecilia knew this was not the time to marvel at this, but she couldn't help but notice the grand marble staircase that led to the second floor of the casino. She really wondered how the ship could float while holding all this expensive, heavy luxury.

"I'll cut to the chase," Vlad opened as soon as he sat down in his chair, which almost swallowed him. "Come work for me."

Cecilia looked back at Melissa, afraid to hurt her feelings: "I don't want to wear bunny ears and a bathing suit, sorry."

"Not this kind of work," he said, looking at her like she was stupid. "I want you to help me manipulate results."

"I can't-"

"I don't need to hear your excuses; you clearly displayed your ability on purpose earlier, didn't you? Who bets on one copper coin over and over again? Everything's fine; you got what you wanted. I will pay you handsomely."

"I don't-"

"Don't forget," he cut her off again, "that you already owe 2,000 gold coins from your previous bets. We are not the type of casino to run away from, you know."

"Pay now, or there will be consequences."

"You dragged me into-"

"Lucky you, we have a sign bonus of exactly 2,000 gold coins just for you, plus free staff accommodation."

"What are you thinking?"

Cecilia looked back at Melissa, who avoided her gaze. What other choice did she have? At least it solved some of her problems.

"I'll take it." She shook his incredibly cold hand.

"One last thing." The shake got longer and longer, "I don't feed parasites; prove me you are useful, or I'll find another use for your organs, Capish?"

Cecilia felt for a moment that it was not the weak hand of a boy she was shaking, but the cold hand of the devil, apparently Vlad indeed has this side in him after all.

She slowly released her hand from his grip and replied "Capish."