Giselle headed off to talk to the bar patrons. The moment she was away from him Coop saw her face light up in a million-dollar smile. He remembered that smile when it had been aimed at him. But that was a long time ago. He walked around the tables and found himself in a gaming area. Roulette on the far side of the room. Craps on the other. Blackjack in the middle. Coop always liked the idea of craps, but the odds were way too much on the house’s side. Same thing with roulette. He’d played some blackjack in prison, which he remembered being barely more exciting than picking paint chips off his cell wall. And there was no way he could sit still for a dealer in his current speed-demon state. Between the big games were rows and rows of slot machines. He gazed at the blinking lights and listened to the bells and electronic pings, a siren song to drunks throughout history. Coop set down the bottle, sat at a vacant machine, and felt around for his money.

He fed a twenty into the slot and pulled the machine’s lever, which was shaped like a curved tentacle. Coop got two skulls and a human heart. On his next pull he got an ouroboros, a pentagram, and what looked sort of like a ham sandwich with hooves. Then he got two bats and an Easter Island head. It was coming back to him why he wasn’t a gambler. He didn’t like throwing money away and he didn’t like being bored. Losing was boring and winning was too stressful. The lights on the machines were getting too bright and the noises too loud. He looked around for Giselle and saw her chatting up a group of well-dressed werewolves. He liked their suits and in another life might have asked them where they bought them, but the jolt of energy and abandon from the cocaine was wearing off, replaced with the same dull dread he’d felt earlier. Rather than attract attention to himself, he slipped another twenty into the slot machine. The spinners whirred for what seemed a long time and finally settled on three eyes. All three blinked at him and a siren went off. Coop leapt back from the machine as diamonds and sapphires cascaded from the payout slot onto the floor. A human, scaly, spiny, and furry crowd gathered around him. A few gawkers applauded as he knelt to scoop up his winnings. Giselle pushed her way through the crowd and stood over him.

“I can’t leave you alone for two minutes,” she said in an annoyed tone.

Coop shoved the last of his winnings into his pockets and got up. “I was doing what you told me. I was being quiet and not bothering anyone. All the noise was just dumb luck.”