final card

He was happy to shed the Ruby Slipper club. He no longer needed to follow any of Hector’s bullshit rules and once again he was in control. Manny called the shots and everyone listened to him, exactly how it should be. Why the fuck was he listening to someone like Hector in the first place? Apart from the obvious. Hector was capable of ripping Manny’s throat out in a second. It wasn’t a complete loss, he’d managed to build up some kind of business relationship with Luc, although that was questionable right now. It seemed Luc was too busy being Hector’s little bitch.

It was rare Manny dragged himself off to the casino. It was the type of place where his anger could be pushed to the absolute limits, especially when he became convinced someone around the table was cheating. There had been plenty of occasions where he launched himself across a poker table with a knife in his hand threatening the staff.

When he entered Dice that evening he has his knife in his pocket just in case anyone thought they could fuck with him. He’d already done ample research on the owner. Turned out that motherf’cker was born a long time ago. Generally speaking though Manny had a level of respect for vampires. They knew what they were about and they were happy to butcher humans. Most of them. Sometimes you had those who were weak as hell.

There was only one person who was able to follow Manny without him knowing and that was his brother. Ricky knew exactly what Manny was thinking. He was able to avoid detection through the streets of Mystic Falls toward Dice.

He took a seat at the poker table, staring intently at the other people who were also sitting at the table, trying to figure out which one of them was gonna try and cheat. He was barely through the first game when someone approached him from behind, placing their hands on his shoulder. Immediately he turned around, ready to pounce on whoever dared put their fucking hands on him. He was surprised to see his older brother behind him. What the fuck was he doing here? This wasn’t his scene. “Maybe but I always beat you at Rummy.” He quickly shrugged his shoulders away from Ricky. Having Ricky’s hands resting on was making him feel uncomfortable, almost like they were on good terms.

Also, he hated the fact Ricky was bringing up their childhood so casually. They were brothers once, but now they were enemies. His attention turned to the dealer, “Mind your own goddamn business.” He snapped harshly at the employee, who shrugged and went back to dealing cards.

Right now? He needed to speak to Manny in the middle of a game. He turned back to Ricky, not getting to his feet immediately. There was a moment of hesitation, trying to figure out why Ricky needed to speak to him. He deduced it must have been something important. So important that came to find Manny. “Fine.” He stood up, ignoring the dealers questions as to where he was going, commenting they were in the middle of a game. There was an empty booth, far away from anyone so Manny headed straight for that.

He took a seat on the edge of the booth, just in case anything was to kick off he could jump to his feet. “What do you want?” His voice was sharp and demanding, his attention locked on Ricky intensely.


ENRIQUE DE LA PEÑA

There was a sense of anger building inside of him as his brother rested his hand on Manny’s shoulder, making jokes with him about cheating at Rummy, like they were best friends. Except they once were, not even that long ago. Memories with his brother were still vivid in his mind. If he focused on them hard enough he recognised the happiness he felt when he was with his brother. “Nunca.” They both knew Manny was telling a white lie though. Course he cheated, how else could he have beaten Ricky at Rummy? A smile almost formed on his lips as he joked with Ricky, but it was suppressed instantly.

Any trace of amusement on his face faded when he addressed the employee, snapping at him. If he wasn’t careful he’d be banned from the casino too, but then he’d have to go after that French vampire who owned the place. Currently Manny had the upper hand on the man as he didn’t know Manny knew he was a vampire. One drop of werewolf venom in his drink and he’d be gone.

He ignored Ricky’s question as he sat down, but Ricky had a point. When did Manny become so rude? Growing up he was nothing like the man he turned out to be. What went wrong? Something must have and Ricky was trying to fix that. That ship had sailed. Manolo wasn’t going to slip back into his old life no matter how hard his brother tried.

Tension ran through his body as Ricky announced he’d received some information today. It almost disappeared when Ricky said it was Hannya, but then he continued on with his story, leaning in closely. A look of confusion washed over his features. Advantage of her? He almost laughed. It was impossible to take advantage of a woman who threw herself at men. In the midst of it all he was struggling to believe the cops didn’t have his name by now. Either they were fucking idiots or Ricky had been brushing information under the carpet. It was difficult to choose which story he believed.

Manny didn’t even flinch at the name. He shuffled slightly in his seat before leaning forward, so he was a little closer to Ricky. “I would never take advantage of a woman… you know this.” They were raised by a mom who taught them how to respect women. Even though Manny was quick to turn on the charm he’d never cross a line. “She’s a liar… She told me you and her hooked up.” It was a ridiculous story, but one that he believed for a moment. “Que pasa ahora? Manolo was happy to be sent down for things like murder or army robbery, but he wasn’t about to go down for a crime he didn’t commit. “Speak to Dacre. He’ll tell you the truth.” Hector may have cut Manny out of the business, but he was certain the man didn’t want being dragged into these lies too.

ENRIQUE DE LA PEÑA

There was the slightest twitch of a smile on Manny’s face when he watched his brother’s expression fade to one of disgust. Ricky’s standards were ridiculously high. “I know.” Even though they had drifted so so far apart, to the point Manny rarely acknowledged Ricky was his brother, he still knew how Ricky operated. Ricky was the one person in the world who knew everything about Manny. He’d witnessed a side of Manny that no one would ever see. He saw him at his happiness, but also at his most vulnerable. It was another reason why Ricky was a threat.

Manny was struggling to understand why Hannya had lied. He’d never done anything to anger her. There was nothing she could gain from this. “What ulterior motives?” As always, anger started to stir up inside of him. Had been used as a fucking pawn in her game? She might have been an all powerful demon but Manolo had no problem with lodging a bullet in her skull.

The next person to be eating bullets would be Hector if he didn’t march into the police station to explain Hannya was spouting bullshit. He wasn’t going to sit back and let his reputation be tarnished by the word rape. “For the purposes of this conversation I’m still working with Dacre.” It was like music to his ears hearing that there was a potential investigation into Hector. While it was tempted to feed Hector’s secrets to Ricky, Manny was no stitch. This time there was a flicker of tension in his jaw as Ricky referred to him as mijo again. He was more irritated that Ricky was acting like he was protecting Manny. Like Manny couldn’t protect himself. “No necesito tu protección.” He spoke through gritted teeth.

ENRIQUE DE LA PEÑA - Translation: I don't need your protection