Vianola's cards tapped against the table as she overlooked the chips on the table, hers being the lowest pile. She kept her face neutral, though she knew one thing: She would have to cheat to win the jackpot.
Luckily for her, she had magic on her side. As she took in a breath of smoke and exhaled it, she slipped a card into her hand and another one up her sleeve. The lingering smoke from her magic's mist extension covered her face long enough for her to do this, hiding the brief smirk that she always had when she cheated at cards.
Vianola's new set of cards won her the jackpot and as she counted her winnings, she leaned back in her seat. This should be enough. Scooping up her chips, she wandered over to the casino's cage and counted out the bills that came through.
Stuffing them into her wallet, Vianola looked around one last time before leaving the casino, stepping out into the frigid night's air. A light snow had begun to fall, and as she strolled down the sidewalks, she failed to notice someone tailing her.
The heel clicks behind her turned into a full-on sprint and she noticed far too late, being pulled into an alleyway, a hand over her mouth. The redhead struggled and thrashed, fighting violently against her pursuant, but to no avail.
"Not so fast, Vianola." Came a voice that she didn't recognize, only adding to her panicked state.
"You're going to do what I say, alright?"
"Nod your head to show you understand."
A nod of her head followed.
"You're friends with Dame Chantilly, yes?"
Another nod.
"Good, very good. Our organization wants an insider to keep their eyes on her and you're going to be the one to do it."
Or what, Vianola wondered? As if the assailant read her mind, he continued with, "If you refuse, we'll make your life a real living hell. I know about your gambling debts. I know about your schmoozing, the women, the broken hearts, the affair, the hush-money to cover it all up. I know your family's in a lot of debt because of you." The more she listened, the angrier she got.
Hush-money? Broken hearts? Sure, she'd had a few flings here and there, but it wasn't enough to really hurt anyone, or so she thought. And her debts were always paid. She made a muffled noise of protest. The affair. No one knew about the affair, or so she thought.
A married woman and she had a fling, but that's all it was. Or so she believed. Vianola struggled once again.
"It'd be a shame if I went to the press with the information I have that you were the one who set the Chantilly mansion ablaze, huh? Along with the reason why - Your family's in debt, and that money from the fire was supposed to kill 'em all, so you could claim next of kin. You're the only friend she has, y'know? And you'd do anything to get out of a debt, wouldn't you?"
Vianola's blood ran cold. She nodded again, in agreement, breathing hard out of her nose.
"Get close to her. See what she's gonna do with all that money and power. And report back to me during the one hundred and thirty first Winter's Kiss ball, I'll be there. Don't turn around, or you'll regret it. I'm going to let you go now, but we'll talk. Soon."
Slowly, the hand over her mouth slid away, and in the blink of an eye he was gone – The alleyway was empty, and Vianola was alone again. She cursed in anger, kicking over a trash can. Sure, she'd always put herself in the shadier parts of Icegrowth, but now someone was threatening to have her put away for life for something she didn't do!
She felt sick. Not with anything but rage, of course, but it was an illness all the same. The redhead rushed home and paced around her living room for a couple of hours, weighing her options. It wasn't until she calmed down that she found a card tucked away into her hand.
Examining it, she found that it was a card with an image of a snake curled around a skull. The eyes on the skull were glowing faintly with magic residue.
Vianola threw it in a drawer and walked over to her blinds, peeking out into the dark street below. Were they watching her? Was she being tailed this whole time? And she couldn't go to the precinct with this knowledge, could she?
Blackmailed. Whoever was doing this had juicy info on her. She cursed, poured herself another drink of whiskey, and sat on her couch, running a hand through her hair. There was little she could do but comply, which made her feel a sharp sting of regret at the idea of betraying her childhood friend.
But what choice did she have? She didn't want to hurt Madalina more than she was already hurting, but … if she didn't, she could be in jail for the rest of her life. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Vianola downed the rest of her alcohol and got up again, going to the restroom to brush her teeth and think. Information was free. It was cheap, and easy. Someone knew about the affair that almost put her in hot water, and someone knew about her brief stay in jail for assaulting the man that murdered her brother.
"Damn it all."
She stood up again, too anxious to sleep yet, and threw on a coat. She buttoned up her shirt a little before going to Madalina's floor and knocking – hoping the woman in white was in.
It took a moment of raw silence before the door creaked open, and Madalina peeked out through the crack. Seeing it was Vianola, she undid the chain on the door and opened it the rest of the way.
"Vianola?"
"Hey, Mads. Can I come in for a second?"
She nodded, standing aside and letting the other woman into her apartment.
"Is everything alright?"
She was wearing her nightgown and a long, black robe, with her hair falling around her shoulders, and her eyepatch was off. She quickly covered her face with her long locks though, ashamed of the way that her scars looked.
Vianola felt another pang of guilt twist through her.
"I just wanted to let you know I changed my mind about helping. I'll do anything you ask, ok?"
"What?" Madalina stared at her, brow raised.
"What brought this on, Vianola? You're hardly the type to change your mind willy-nilly like this." She sat on the couch and the redhead went with her, sitting next to her.
"I had a change of heart. I kept thinking about your situation and it made me more and more upset that someone would do this to you."
The lie she told was followed by a furrow of her brow, which made it sound very convincing. "So I wanna help you get to the bottom of this."
"Oh, Vianola –! You've no idea how much this means to me." Madalina sighed softly, "I've been going it alone except for the help of Bula and Pelleas. But having a friend look into matters with me makes me feel much better."
"I can imagine," Vianola said, swallowing her emotions softly. "But you don't have to worry about that anymore."
"I'm ever so grateful. Is that all? I was about to turn in for the night."
"Yeah. Sorry to bother you, Mads. I'll come by in the morning and we can get to work."
"Vianola – thank you. Truly."
"Don't thank me yet until we've got the truth of the matter in front of us, 'kay?"
"You bet. Have a nice night."
"You too."
Though their meeting was brief, Vianola still felt terrible for lying to her face. Especially seeing the scars for the first time, and especially seeing the excitement sparkling in her pale face. Vianola went back to her room and slept, deeply, dreaming of the feeling of leather on her mouth and anger in her gut.
Vianola awoke to someone knocking on her door and calling for her, and she looked at the sun dial sitting in the sunbeam for the time – Realizing it was about 8 in the morning.
What could she possibly want?