“I’m sorry I missed your police thing,” Wolfe said as he stared at the giant lot, empty but for a large parking lot.
Shel snuggled against his side, her arm around his back. “The ceremony honoring me for being top of a class of two hundred?”
“Yeah, that,” Wolfe replied with a grin, stretching slightly, enjoying not hurting for the first time in a week, since Damian, Caine, and Charleston had nearly killed him. The last injury penalty had disappeared only this morning, reflecting the lack of pain when he’d woken up.
Despite the lack of pain, Wolfe wasn’t completely sanguine. He might have been stronger than he’d been a week ago, but his deck was far weaker than it had been at that point.
One of the reasons for the new weakness nuzzled against his leg, and Wolfe glanced down.
He had no idea why the Wandering Bulgae Pup, which appeared to be made of fire, didn’t burn him. But it didn’t, and its fur felt amazing, silky and fine. He reached down and pet the orphan card dog, which was more expressive than he would have figured an orphan card would be.
Wandering Bulgae Pup
Rare Fire [Canine] Minion [Orphan]
0 power
Health: 6
Attack: 0
Magical Attack: 0
Defense: 3
Magical Defense: 3
Special: Orphan Evolution [unique]: If kept ‘alive’ for three straight years, will turn into a rare, fire, 2-power, Tier-5 equivalent creature card called ‘Bulgae Moon Chaser.’
Special: Lost in the Dark: If in play, the deckbearer does not trigger deck drawn warnings.
The Wandering Bulgae Pup orphan card that Hans had possessed had opened Wolfe’s and Shel’s eyes to the possibility of canine orphans, and Shel had been scouring Gavin’s and far less reputable card sources both for any canine orphan cards. She had even found rumors of police dog orphan cards, which intrigued her.
Malviere and the Desperate Cult Child were also in Wolfe’s deck now, and out and accumulating growth time.
The various orphan cards had replaced more powerful fighting cards in his deck. Plus, Wolfe had taken the Caretaker of the Lost enhancer card and put the Hellmouth Institute in his deck as well.
Wolfe was almost a hundred percent positive that investing in the orphan cards was the way to bring him to levels of capability in his deck that would be almost untouchable someday, as he could raise orphan cards to extraordinary tiers. Almost no one had a card of tiers higher than three or four, but the orphan cards could hit absurd levels.
But it really bothered him that it made him weaker in the moment. He was pretty sure that at some point, people were going to come for him, after the things he’d done.
“Stop that,” Shel said, lightly shoving herself against Wolfe.
“What?” Wolfe asked.
“Brooding. This is a wonderful moment. Don’t ruin it with worry.”
“Sure.”
They were silent for another moment, and Shel turned to him. “Hey, I wanted to tell you something. I wanted it to be more special, but… I would have hated it if I hadn’t told you before, and one of us died. So I’m just going to say it.”
She stepped in front of him, staring into his eyes. “I love you, Wolfe. You’re my one and only, if you’ll have me. I want to be with you forever, to have your back forever.”
Wolfe’s chest tightened. It was hard, and he didn’t know why. Maybe because everyone he had loved once had abandoned or betrayed him.
But he wanted to be a part of a family again, to have someone he could truly trust, who would be there for him forever. An ally against the darkness life could throw at you, always.
Wolfe took a deep breath and unburdened his heart. “I love you too, Shel, and I want the same.”
She smiled at him brilliantly, then leaned up on her toes, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him hard.
When she came down, still resting her hands on his shoulders, she had tears in her eyes, but a smile to chase away the night. “Well, shall we look at getting a house together?” she asked playfully.
Wolfe chuckled and nodded, as happy as he’d ever been. He stared at the huge plot of land in front of them. It was on the very edge of Joliet, bought with money from selling some of the cards he’d gotten from Damian—a pure cash transaction so that it would close almost instantly.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Shel let go of him as he strode across the newly laid parking lot and touched his chest, feeling the usual sense of power and hunger. He pushed his hand forward, fingers splayed out. Shel and the various orphan cards came up behind him as well.
Five cards appeared, and Wolfe touched Cereboo first. The pup had been with Wolfe from the beginning and deserved to be here for this as well.
Cereboo appeared, licking at Wolfe and Shel, then turned and stared, as if he knew what was coming.
Wolfe willed his new building card, the Hellmouth Institute, into existence.
The building that appeared was massive. The card claimed it was twenty-four thousand square feet in size, and Wolfe believed it. The structure was three stories tall, each story nearly three times as large as a good-sized home in America, with a tower climbing up another two stories from the back left. The architecture was clearly gothic, with arches at the top of every window, spikes and gargoyles on the roof, and stained glass, mostly red, across the windows of the tower.
Even the ground around the outside changed, becoming black and cracked, with fire seeping out around the edges. A few planters were below the bottom-floor windows, and each had flowers in crimson or black roses.
“Thematic,” Shel said drily as they both stared at the building. The card stats appeared as an overlay in Wolfe’s vision.
Hellmouth Institute
Unique, rare equivalent Tier-2 equivalent Infernal Building
No cost
Special: Creates an ostentatious orphanage of 24,000 square feet. It may utilize power and water if hooked to an appropriate grid, and will generate food for up to 100 inhabitants, of excellent quality, every day. Minor magic within the orphanage makes the entire place far easier to live with. Any Infernal deckbearer inside gains 2 Infernal Power.
Special: Any additional Infernal Buildings gained will add bonus benefits to orphan or transformed orphan cards.
Special: Fast Age [3], Fast Age Infernal [5] All orphan cards ‘age’ at 3x the rate, unless they are Infernal or would become Infernal without the aid of this building, in which case they age at 5x the rate.
Special: Evolve Improvement: Infernal [1] Every orphan card that transforms that is Infernal or would become Infernal without the aid of this building gains 1 tier of equivalent power as a permanent modifier.
Special: Every Mortal orphan card that transforms becomes Infernal and is modified accordingly but gains no total increase to power.
“A hundred people…” Shel mused. “Do you think that it can house that many?”
“Probably,” Wolfe responded. “I mean, a hundred ten feet by ten feet bedrooms would only take up ten thousand square feet, and this is an orphanage, after all.”
Shel turned to face Wolfe, her fingers tapping together. “So… my mom called. She’s decided to move.”
Wolfe knew something ridiculous was coming, but he waited.
“She… asked me to keep Lucy.”
Wolfe blinked hard. “You want us to raise Lucy?”
Wolfe was floored by the comment, but something about us warmed him. It really was them now, not just him.
Shel nodded. “I’m sure, with this building, we can have your P.I. business on the bottom floor and Lucy can live in one of the upper floors.”
Wolfe shook his head, bemused. “I don’t know anything about raising kids.”
“Well… you have to be better than our parents, and we turned out all right.”
Wolfe laughed at the understatement of the year. “Fair enough. We can raise Lucy.”
Shel smiled, but she was still tapping her fingers.
“And?” Wolfe asked.
“Well… I was thinking. Ms. Timo and Shannon are poor. And Lucy and Shannon are best friends now. Maybe… Maybe they could come live with us? I mean, you’ll need a secretary anyway, and Ms. Timo is good at that…”
“You want us to adopt the old bat and her granddaughter? Seriously?”
“Well, we wouldn’t formally adopt them. I just want them to live with us. It wouldn’t even cost anything. I mean… the electricity and such will already be here, and the building magically makes food, so…”
Shel hesitated. “Plus, you said my half of the job was to save those who deserved it. Obviously, I can’t save everyone, but Shannon could really use a champion, and she utterly adores you now, despite your, shall we say, ‘rough’ exterior.”
Wolfe shook his head in bemusement. Still, Shel was right—the ‘cost’ to him of having them in the Institute was almost nothing. And Ms. Timo and Shannon were good people. “Sure, you can offer them a place to stay. Assuming they’ll want to stay in a giant, demonic orphanage.”
Shel glanced at the dark building and laughed. “Good point.”
Wolfe continued. “I hesitate to ask, but anyone else?”
“Well… Liam will need a job, once he’s done serving whatever sentence he gets. It’ll probably be pretty light since he turned state witness and helped us both. I mean, he did risk himself to get the girls out when I came back for you, and he did a great job. Maybe he could live here and work at the firm?”
Wolfe shook his head in genuine amazement at the sudden turn his life was taking. But he didn’t mind, he admitted. People to protect and take care of, whom he knew were worth the effort, was something he had always wanted. “Sure, whatever, Liam can work here. I’m afraid to ask again, but anyone else?”
“Not yet,” Shel said, smiling at him.
Wolfe’s smile faltered. “Are you sure about this, Shel? All of it, I mean. I remind you that Cerberus himself, a Lord of the Infernal, showed me that I need to end the remaining heads of the family in Noimoire. I don’t think I can stop… and I’m not sure I would want to if I could. If I can take them down the”—Wolfe held his fingers up in air quotes—“‘right’ way, I will, but it’s more likely it becomes another fight. Liam is one thing, and even you’re an adult who made her choices clear, and I love you for it. But Lucy and Shannon…”
Shel’s smile also faded, and she thought for a moment. “I… I think it’ll be okay. Despite your takedown of Damian, almost no one wants to attack deckbearers inside their building cards. Besides… we aren’t exactly anonymous, but your mission is. Everyone knows who we are. But your beef with Damian was personal, and the traffickers kidnapped my sister. I think—I hope—no one will come after us, at least till later, and we can move them then if they need to be moved. Besides, someone could get to them more easily in another city than inside your institute, I bet.”
Wolfe nodded. “All right. We’ll do it your way. Can’t say I don’t enjoy the idea.” He turned away from the institute. “It’ll be a good break, while I prepare again. I need to make two more levels and add another building card slot, and then get a good building for the institute. Then I need to evolve some of these orphans and hopefully other ones you find as well. But afterward, when my deck is stronger… Afterward, I’m going to go back to cleaning up Noimoire.”
“We’re going to clean up Noimoire.” Shel hugged him close, staring toward the city of Wolfe’s birth. “So nothing like what happened to my brother and sister can happen again. We’re going to remove the taint from the city. Together.”