Gone

We walked down the third floor hallway on the smooth red carpet till we reached suite 345 which was at the end of the hall. I took the key out of my pocket and slid it through the door handle slot. The door beeped green and I pushed it open. All five of us walked into the large suite. I walked straight through the large suite without even bothering to look around. Everyone else stared around at the high ceiling, beautiful mahagony tables, countertops, doors, and chairs.

I moved straight over to the long velvet couch. I plopped down on it and sighed. I looked forward at the large flat screen television that was about the same size as my own. The TV was in front of an extremely large window that covered the entire wall and continued down the room. I looked out of the window and at the best view of the city. It was beautiful.

I took a deep breath and sighed it out. I let my head fall back on the couch's head rest. My eyes closed. The others were mumbling to each other and I couldn't really hear what they said.

The couch seat shifted as someone sat next to me.

"Alyssa, can I get you anything?" my sister asked.

I groaned. "No...just go do whatever. Just whatever you do, do it with caution. Peter obviously knows what he's doing." I said with my eyes still closed.

"Mhmm..." Cassidy sighed. "I think I'm going to go down to the casino for a bit."

I opened my eyes and lifted my head. I stared at her. "You're not even old enough." She smiled. "Don't cheat."

She smiled. "Wasn't planning on it."

"Do you even have money?" I asked.

Cassidy smiled more. "Yes, I do."

I sighed and let my head fall back again. "Be careful," I mumbled.

"I'm coming with," I heard Sam say. Edward and Tobey mumbled something. Then I heard Tobey say, "Screw it. I don't have that much longer to live and my wife wouldn't aproove. Let's go, Cass."

I smiled. Tobey was probably the funniest old man I've ever met. He was like a dad to Cassidy and I was glad that he was. He didn't like take care of her full fledge. He was just like a cool older dad. Besides the fact that my dad was still alive, Tobey took good care of my sister. I hoped Tobey wouldn't change when I saved my dad. If I saved my dad.

My mind erased every image of my family and friends in danger. My entire body relaxed. Every muscle, every tendon, and every bone relaxed. It was the best I had felt in a while. I slowly fell into a deep sleep. The last sound I heard was the hotel door close.

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I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was still alone in the large suite. I pushed my jacket sleeve up and looked at my shiny watch. I was only asleep for an hour, but I felt extremely refreshed and ready to take on anything. I sighed and hopped off of the couch.

My legs moved me swiftly towards the door of the suite. I might as well go have some fun during this train wreck. I wasn't going to try to find the others on purpose, but if I did I guess it didn't matter. I kind of wanted to be alone. Maybe I would just play a round of poker against the greedy men in this place. The one thing my dad did do for me was teach me how to play poker. I hadn't really used it that much except for the three years I was in college. I won almost every hand against the Frat boys.

I was already in the elevator. It beeped as it hit the first floor. Me and several other people scurried out of the elevator.

I walked gracefully towards the escalator. My hair bounced against my head as my jacket flapped back at the bottom of it. I reached the escalator and quickly stepped on it. I rested my hand on the moving handle. The moving stairs reached the main lobby floor and I stepped off. My legs moved me swiftly towards the big doorway that led to the ruckus.

My eyes looked past the door way and at all of the people moving about from machine to machine. Some of them cheering or yelling, probably because they won some money or something. Otherwise they were just drunk.

I walked through the door way. Two security guards glanced at me probably checking to make sure I was old enough to go in. I guess they figured I was because they didn't stop me. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Technically I was 24 now, even if I wasn't aging.

I stopped when I entered the amazingly large casino. It truly was amazing. There were thousands of people moving about. Some in uniform, who were the workers, and some either dressed casual or in business suits. I myself was practically a mix of casual and business. I wore a business like jacket with a plain t-shirt and jeans. My hair was pulled back into a ponytail with my side bangs half way in my face.

My eyes scanned the room. I found the poker area and I walked casually over to it. By my surprise the others were standing by a poker table watching Sam who was sitting at the table with very little chips in front of him. He looked stressed. I walked over to them. All of them were smiling except for Sam. By the looks of things they must have bet that Sam wouldn't even be close to winning.

I stopped next to Sam and looked down at him. "That bad, huh?"

He shook his head and didn't look at me. His expressions were terrible. No wonder why he was losing. Sam's face was completely giving himself away.

I looked at the dealer who was standing casually at the end of the table with a black vest. He had a small smile on his face when he looked at Sam. I smiled too. Cassidy came over to me from the other side of Sam. She cupped her mouth to my ear.

"We bet that he wouldn't win a single game of poker."

I nodded as she moved away from my ear. I crossed my arms and leaned over to Cassidy.

"I figured as much," I said rather loud so that she could hear me over the noise around us. "Does he even know how to play poker?"

Cassidy smiled and laughed. " I don't think so."

Edward came over to me. He bent over so that I could hear him. "Wanna play a round?"

I shrugged. "Why not?" We both smiled at each other.

Sam ended up failing miserably at the game of poker. The game ended with him having not a single chip left. It turned out he only bet $50. It was a weak bet so I guessed he knew he couldn't play.

Sam stood up from the table and looked at me. "If you think you can do better, go ahead."

The man that won the last poker game looked at me from across the table. "Yeah toots, if you can do better than show us what you got."

I gave the man a smug smile. He had a fancy cowboy hat on and a nice suit with a belbow tie. I guessed he was some rich farmer from Texas or something.

"Alright," I said sitting down in Sam's seat. "Mr. Cowboy here wants me to play, I'll play."

He gave me a dirty look. I smiled. There were no other women at the table except for me. There were five men and one of me. They were about to get a little taste of the Alpha's poker skills.

The dealer handed us all five cards. I was the first person to the left of the dealer. He looked at me.

"What's your first bet?"

"$1,000." I said with a grin while looking at Mr.Cowboy.

"That's a high bet there, Toots." Mr. Cowboy said.

I smiled at him.

Through the rest of the game my facial expression was a smile. Mr. Cowboy and the rest of the men were all frowning through the whole hand. The chip pile in front of me increased every time it was my turn. Mr. Cowboy had a fairly good pile. I continued raising my bet and the others didn't. One man to my left folded on the third time around the table. The man next to him folded on the fourth time around. I continuously bet higher and higher gaining more and more chips.

The last time around the table made one man begin to sweat. When it was his time he froze. I stared at him. I tilted my head when he didn't make his move. All of the sudden he collapsed in his seat and fainted. His chair fell back. I raised my upper lip in confusion. I shook my head as one of his friends that was behind him helped him back up.

"He's out of this game," the dealer said.

I creased my forehead and looked at Mr. Cowboy. The cards that were faced upward on the middle of the table were all extremely good cards for me. Mr. Cowboy stared at his cards and then at the ones in the middle of the table and then at me. I smiled. He frowned. He shook his head and then looked at the dealer. The dealer nodded. He pointed at me.

"Winner!" he said proudly with a smile.

I smiled. I looked at Mr. Cowboy. "What? Couldn't make a move?"

He sighed and dropped his cards on the table. Mr. Cowboy took off his hat and smoothed his thinning gray hair back. He placed his hat back on his head. I placed my cards on the table and pushed them towards the dealer. He grabbed them and put them back into the deck.

I stood up and faced the others behind me. They all smiled at me.

Cassidy looked at me with awe. "How did you do that?"

I smiled at her. "It's one thing my father taught me."

Cassidy's smile slipped and then it came back as a small grin. I turned around and walked over to the dealer. He smiled and handed me a check.

"Congratulations. Here's your check for $6, 753."

I smiled and took it from him. "Thank you."

I turned around and slipped the check into my jacket pocket. I walked back over to the others and looked at Sam.

"It's good that you tried, but maybe you should start with something like playing against some school girls and bet lollipops," I said sarcastically.

Everyone laughed, even Tobey. Sam frowned. "Why don't you try playing against some school girls and bet lollipops," he said mocking me, "Well, now I am broke."

I smiled. "Is that my fault?"

He shook his head. "I've had enough, let's go."

I kept smiling. "But I just got here."

"Well, I'm leaving." he said.

"You do that," Edward said.

We started walking towards the entrance when I was stopped.

"Hey, Toots!" I heard from behind me.

I turned around and so did everyone else. Sam spun around too. Mr. Cowboy was walking towards us with a stern look on his face.

"Did you want a rematch, Mr. Cowboy?" I asked.

He smiled. Mr. Cowboy came up to me and pulled a gun out of his pocket and pushed it against my side. I looked back at the others and they were being held by some of Mr. Cowboy's henchmen.

I looked up at Mr. Cowboy. His breath smelled like sweet cologne. He was one of us, but he wasn't. I immediately knew what was going on. These weren't protectors like us. They were destroyers. Destroyers like Peter. Destroyers that worked for Peter.

"Come on, Toots. There's someone that wants to see you." Mr. Cowboy said. "And by the way, Toots, my name is Larry. Not Mr. Cowboy."

I looked up at his grimacing smile. He wasn't as old as Tobey, but he looked older than Tobey. I smiled at "Larry".

"Well, my name isn't Toots. It's Alyssa and you are making one hell of a mistake by trying to take me hostage."

He smiled. "Mr. Latner said you'd say that. He also said if you try to do anything funny he'll kill one of his hostages."

I frowned. Peter was threatening to actually kill one of my friends or one of my family members. But wait, that meant they were still alive.

Larry the Mr. Cowboy looked down at me. "I'm going to put my gun away and you are going to walked out of here with your friends and we are going to be right behind you. Do anything funny and I'll shoot you myself. Mr. Latner made it very clear that you couldn't heal any more."

"Great," I muttered.

Larry slowly put his gun away. I looked back at the others and watched Peter's henchmen put their guns away and let go of the others. Cassidy looked extremely scared and so did Sam. Tobey and Edward looked like they were ready to open a can of whoop ass. I wanted to, but I kept a smooth face.

I picked my feet up calmly while I tried to keep my heart at a normal pace. I walked past the others and Peter's henchmen. The rest of them followed me. Larry was right behind me. Edward and Cassidy were on either side of me with a man behind each of them. Cassidy looked at me. I nodded very little. She could read my expression on my face. She sent the message to Edward. I looked at him and he nodded very little too.

We were going to have the men lead us to Peter and just before we reached Peter we would kill the men and attack Peter. If that didn't work, all I could do was hope I could come up with a very good plan.