“You didn’t seem to do too badly for your first time,” Wolfe said to Miriam as they all sat in the SUV in the lamplit short-term parking at the Noimore airport. “Maybe you have some acumen for the family business after all. I’m surprised. I hope I end up working for you and not your brother.”

I’m probably being a selfish prick, but if she takes over instead of Damian in a few years, I’ll be in a far better position, I think. As will most of Noimore.

Wolfe had gone into the back seat, and Shel had turned around so that the three were all facing each other. Wolfe was busy wrapping Miriam’s arm with a strip of his shirt. He was pretty sure she would have a scar from the fight and knew it would come back to haunt him at some point—most likely when she returned from Europe and her mom got a look at her arm. But Miriam showed no anger toward him, nor did she seem inclined to call her parents at the moment. Given everything else happening and his chances of surviving it all, ‘when Miriam returned’ wasn’t a big deal in Wolfe’s mind.

Besides, girl had to grow up sometime.

Miriam was speaking as Wolfe worked. “Well, despite the wound that’ll likely become a mark upon my beautiful visage, reminding the world of that time I tried to fight in a dungeon with almost no creature cards, I’m glad we put down the doggos. For the longest time, I was weak. I didn’t think I could be strong.”

Wolfe knew how she felt, although he had found his strength years and years ago, with some follow-up help from her father.

He finished tying shirt strips over her wounds, and Miriam sat back a bit.

After settling on the seat, she moved her arm around. “A regular Florence Nightingale, you are. To answer the rest of your question, though, I’ve got to be honest with you. I’m glad I know I can fight… but I still want to go down a different path, and not my father’s. I don’t want to live this life if I don’t have to. I think going to Europe, maybe doing the Ibiza thing for a while, and then coming back and immersing myself in my studies sounds wonderful.”

There was a brief silence, and Wolfe checked the clock. 7:18 p.m. He stared at the airport. It was busy, the lights showing people scurrying to and fro. Wolfe was pretty sure, however, that it wasn’t so busy that Miriam would miss her flight if they took another fifteen minutes.

Miriam reached down and touched the three packs and the card on the chair between them. Each had a different picture on the front, but all bore the words “Cycle of the Lost and the Loyal, Opening,” on it. Wolfe knew enough to know that cycles usually lasted multiple decades, with similarly themed cards. He wondered exactly what this cycle would be.

“Also… these are six card packs, right? Eighteen new cards, each worth the yearly earnings of an average family, at least? Killing-someone-over-level money?”

“Yes,” Shel said. “Not the greatest packs ever, but still good, and decent ones for our decks.”

Wolfe glanced at them again. They had two common packs—a mortal pack and a mixed pack. They also had a rare Beast pack.

And they had the orphan card. It was a minion card, called ‘vengeful orphan.’ Minion cards were special card types that would create a summoned creature card that had a permanent effect and could never be attacked by other creature cards—and if killed by a person, would reform the next day. But they still existed as cards inside a deck, making a deck ‘weaker.’

The ‘vengeful orphan’ card claimed it would exist for five years, and if not killed, would become a unique legendary Mortal three power card at equivalent tier-six. In the meantime, it could carry out minor fetch commands.

“That could be ridiculously good for your deck down the road, if we make it that far,” Wolfe said, touching the card. “But it would take a level pip just to open your first minion card slot.”

Shel had a pensive look on her face as she stared at the card. “I actually made five levels fighting the werewolves… but I don’t know if I want to invest in a minion card. I could use more power, or perhaps I should open my next companion slot. I’m not sure.”

“Your call,” Wolfe replied.

They stared awkwardly at the packs for another moment.

Wolfe knew why. As Miriam had said, three card packs was an almost-unheard-of treasure for a normal person. The question of how to divide them would be interesting.

“So… how do they work, exactly?” Miriam asked.

Shel pulled her phone up and searched while they waited. Less than thirty seconds later, she spoke. “It says that each pack has a distribution chance, based on the studies. A common pack has six common cards, each of which has a five percent chance to be an uncommon instead, and a one percent chance to be rare. A rare pack has three common cards with the same chance to upgrade, two uncommon with a twenty percent chance to downgrade to a common and a five percent chance to be a rare, and a rare card with a twenty percent chance to be an uncommon and a five percent chance to be a legendary. All rare or better cards have a half-percent chance to be unique, and all cards have a one percent chance to be ‘special’ card like a building or a minion.”

Shel put her phone back in her pocket. “And there is a twenty percent chance any card from a typed pack will be random instead of the pack’s type.”

“How are we doing this?” Miriam asked. “I mean, a weak tier, common card is usually fifty thousand dollars… a rare pack usually has a rare card, as well, which could, for the really good one, go for millions. Should we each take a pack?”

“I don’t need a pack,” Shel said. “You guys can have the cards.”

“That’s bullshit,” Wolfe said, fishing in his pocket for a cigarette and pulling it out. “You earned a pack. I mean, we fought for it together.”

“Can you not create a haze of coughing and cancer in here?” Miriam asked, arching one eyebrow.

Wolfe sighed and pushed the cigarette back into the pack. I’ll drop her off in a few minutes. No need to piss her off.

“If we split the packs, Wolfe gets the rare one?” Miriam asked.

“I think he did the most work from what you described, right?” Shel asked. “yours wasn’t that hard?”

Miriam nodded.

“Can I propose something a touch different?” Wolfe asked.

Both the girls nodded and Wolfe continued. “Let’s open all three packs and look, and then we can decide what we want to take. One card at a time. But we’ll have Shel open the two packs, the mixed and the Mortal one. She has a super-rare perk to have the chance to upgrade one card anyway.”

Miriam whistled. “That’s an amazing perk, Shel. I think you could make money just pulling cards for people if you advertised that ability—I haven’t heard of that.”

“Thanks.”

Miriam continued. “I like the idea of Shel pulling… But you’ll be going first?” Miriam asked, glancing up at Wolfe.

“I really don’t need any more cards,” Shel offered. “I mean, you guys can just go. Wolfe’s already doing so much for me.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Does this have to do that with the sleeping guy in the back?” Miriam asked, the other eyebrow arching. “I mean, you look similar, although you work the ginger look a lot better than he does.”

Shel flushed, but before she could say anything, Wolfe growled out, “We’re not talking about the guy in the back. And Shel, stop being such a fucking martyr. You earned your share, like I just fucking said, and having a better deck can only help me, and the Grimm family, anyway. If you really want to sacrifice for the good, how about you just pick third so that Miriam can be middle pick. That work for everyone?”

Shel nodded vigorously, her eyes on Wolfe.

Miriam thought about the offer, tapping one nail against her teeth, then nodded.

Shel reached out and took the common Mortal pack into her hand. It showed a man in riot gear on the front, his baton glinting with magic light. Wolfe was again surprised as the card packs rarely acknowledged technology.

She ripped the top open and took the cards out, a slight tan haze appearing extremely briefly and then disappearing. She placed them down on the seat.

Four common and two uncommon. One was guaranteed to become uncommon from her power, but getting a second uncommon was decently unlikely. Not bad.

The four common cards were another ‘rookie riot police’ creature card; ‘rousing speech,’ which buffed Mortal creature cards for a single round but only required available power, not drawdown; a ‘rookie EMT’ card, which could heal other creature cards with extra healing for Mortal creature cards; and ‘riot,’ a five power persistent card that allowed all Mortal creature cards in play to deal their damage a second time, randomly assigned among enemy creatures, each combat round as an extra bonus damage that didn’t invite counterattack. Useful, but the power cost to have it and enough creatures to make it worthwhile meant only high level deckbearers would likely ever use it.

The first uncommon was ‘barter the soul,’ which would remove a Mortal creature from the caster but take control of one of a couple of factions’ creature cards, and the second was ‘main street,’ a six power persistent that would generate Mortal creatures every round—very useful in a lot of situations, but it took a lot to put on the field.

“Nice,” Miriam said, but she didn’t sound that enthused. They weren’t really for her deck, Wolfe knew.

Shel reached to the next pack on the seat, the common mixed pack. She took it and tore the packaging—showing a small dragon hovering over a modern office building—and tore it open.

She placed the cards on the seat. Six common.

The typing in the cards, though… It felt like it was tailormade for them. There was an angel card, ‘lantern angel,’ which was basically a weak version of Shel’s companion. Then there was a ‘flameling,’ a weak Fire energy creature that strengthened from other Fire energy creatures. Next was a Light energy equipment card, a ‘red light blade,’ able to be equipped by some creature cards. A ‘wizened drake’ followed. It was a three power dragon creature. After that was the ‘imp horde’ card, an Infernal, seven power card that had huge attack and Health and only took five max damage from non-aoe hits, but triple damage from any attack hitting more than one creature. Last was another ‘rookie riot police’ card.

Miriam was frowning as Wolfe picked the last pack up. From what Shel had described of her ability, they couldn’t benefit from her opening a Beast themed pack—only from Mortal, Divine, and to a lesser degree, mixed packs.

The front had a werewolf on top of a sheriff’s office. Wolfe barked out a laugh. Very on point.

Wolfe tore the pack open and pulled the cards out.

He nearly gasped as two common, two uncommon, and two rare were revealed.

“Wow,” Shel said as he spread the cards out. “There was only slightly less than one in six chance of an uncommon becoming rare. I mean, a legendary would have been better, but still… Wow.”

Miriam also nodded.

Wolfe looked at the two rare cards first—he couldn’t help it. One was a creature called a ‘fireborn hellhound,’ and the other was a persistent called a ‘no kill pound.’ Both were three power cards that could be used in his deck. One could dang near only be used in a deck very similar to his—and it was quite strong to boot.

Fireborn Hellhound (Rare, Tier-1)

1 Beast, 1 Infernal, 1 Fire power

An unusually tough specimen of hellhound that makes its lair near Gehenna, the lake of fire.

Beast[Dog], Infernal, Fire

Creature

Attack

9

Magical Attack

12

Defense

9

Magical Defense

12

Health

23

Special: +100% magic defense against Fire energy

Special: +1 attack and magical attack for every escaped damned card on the field within 100 feet, regardless of owner.

No Kill Pound (Rare, Tier-1)

1 Beast Power, 2 Any Power

This card is a rare ‘no-kill’ pound that rescues beasts left by heartless masters who didn’t appreciate their good boys.

Beast

Persistent, ongoing

Special: Any Beast with ‘rescue’ in its title has +50% attack and defense.

Special: Generates a ‘rescue pup’ at no power cost every 30 seconds until Level/5 rescue dogs are on the field, rounded up.

Special: If any opponent ‘sacrifices’ a creature card type Beast, that card joins you instead of being destroyed until the fight ends.

Special: You cannot sacrifice Beast cards.

Wolfe whistled. Both of those would be quite fascinating in his deck, he felt. Although he was a touch low on power to be using them—it would drain him near completely. He could gain up to two more power if that was all he was going to do with his level pips, however. Five power would make the deck useful—he imagined getting Cereboo, a rescue pup, and the ‘no kill pound’ out and whistled.

The uncommon cards were also good—another ‘rescue pup’ and a ‘squirrel!’ card. The ‘squirrel!’ card was a temporary card that would make all opposing Beast or Dragon creature cards lose their attack for thirty seconds and make them unable to defend their deckbearer for the same length of time.

The common cards weren’t dog cards, which surprised Wolfe since the rest of the Beast pack had been pretty themed to its werewolf cover. The first was a ‘rapacious raptor,’ a bird creature card that could attack a deckbearer directly but was quite weak for its two power cost, and the second was a ‘giant capybara,’ a two power card with huge life and decent defense and almost no attack.

“Well, I’m feeling personally attacked by these cards,” Miriam said sardonically. Then she turned to Wolfe. “What’ll you be taking, Tall, Dark, and Grumpy?”

Wolfe frowned at her and then frowned even harder at the two rare cards.

He started to reach for the ‘fireborn hellhound,’ but Shel reached out and gently took his hand. He glanced at her.

“You should take the ‘no kill pound,’” she said softly.

“I’m running an Infernal deck—it’s what the gods chose for me, girl.”

Shel shook her head. “You’re running the deck of Cerberus, the being that keeps the demons in hell. I think there’s a reason you got a deck that specializes in fighting the Infernal, even if it’s Infernal itself. And you can make it a true Infernal deck, or you can make it more of a puppy deck. Or try and hybridize it. That’s on you.”

“‘Puppy deck.’” Miriam snorted. “I’m dying. The Wolfe has a puppy deck.”

Wolfe frowned at her again. “Beast decks aren’t the strongest from type matchups, and my likely kills are going to be people with Infernal decks so I can grow faster. And the Fireborn hellhound has synergy with escaped damned.”

Shel hung her head for a second but then looked up and met Wolfe’s eyes. “I’ve been reading a lot on the internet about the card releases from this Drop Night and deck types and all of it. Beast decks have bad type matchups, it’s true. But they have a huge number of dual card types and usually get a lot of cards out fast—something the ‘no kill pound’ specializes in, and it grows more powerful as you do to boot. Also, your only real Infernal synergy at the moment is in imps… why not go for the rescue pups?”

“You’re killing me,” Wolfe muttered, but he picked up the ‘no kill pound.’

Miriam took the ‘fireborn hellhound.’ “This’ll make me less money to trade for other cards since it’s so specific, but it’ll still fetch a decent amount.”

Shel immediately took the ‘vengeful orphan.’

It went quickly after that, as nothing was so special as to warrant fighting over. Wolfe got the second ‘rescue pup’ and another five cards. Shel took the two ‘rookie riot police’ cards and some of the other mortal stuff, and Miriam took mostly whatever seemed like it would sell the best at the moment.

Shel piped up. “Can we trade for the ‘fireborn hellhound’?”

“Hmm?” Miriam asked.

“Can we give you cards we need less to get the ‘fireborn hellhound’?”

Miriam thought, then pointed to Wolfe. “How about, you give me all the cards except the ‘no kill pound’ and the ‘rescue pup’ you got, and I’ll give you the ‘fireborn hellhound?’”

Wolfe barely thought about it, taking the cards and handing them to Miriam.

She put them in her purse. “Well, I feel odd since I’m now transporting probably close to eight hundred thousand dollars in cards, but, given my family, at least it isn’t cocaine. You two love-bunnies have fun, you hear?”

Wolfe rolled his eyes at her smartass mouth but smiled. “Thanks, Miriam. Have a good flight.”

She opened the door and stepped out into the airport, the moon looking down on her. She grabbed her bags, gave a half-salute, and then turned and walked away.