Wolfe stared at the four people getting out of the silver truck that had just pulled up in front of the gardens. Three were thugs he didn’t recognize, guns in their hands. But the fourth was Billy.

“Son of a bitch,” Wolfe remarked, teeth gritted. “I can’t believe Damain betrayed us. Son of a bitch. His own father, who at least took care of him. His uncle.”

“And his own brother,” Shel added.

Wolfe gripped his gun handle. “What a gods damned prick.”

For a second, neither said anything. Billy and the other chumps were milling around the car as if waiting.

“Well… since we’re deckbearers, we can probably easily handle four,” Shel said.

Wolfe was about to agree, but two more cars pulled up and disgorged eight more thugs. Wolfe raised an eyebrow at Shel and gave a dark chuckle. Shel said something unladylike, causing Wolfe to laugh even harder, despite the situation.

He eyed the incoming group. No Nico, though. That’s good. Can’t kill the guy that’s gonna get us to Jason Klause.

“Let’s go get Junior and see if he’ll be more reasonable this time,” Wolfe said.

Shel nodded, her eyes on the incoming Cobra thugs.

Wolfe rushed deeper into the undergrowth of the mystic garden they were in, brushing purple flowers away from his face. A moment, and most of the colors of the rainbow in plant form later, they came outside the garden near the mansion. He truly hoped that Junior had returned to his work behind the garden.

As Wolfe came around the side, however, he realized that he wasn’t going to have luck in that category—Junior, and his hippy girl, were nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck,” Wolfe said, absently, as he stared around, his mind whirling.

He turned to Shel. “Go back around the front, and when the cobras start talking to that bear deckbearer, text me. When you’ve done that, hide, or at least make your way back around here. Got it?”

“Of course,” Shel said, “but what are you going to do?”

Wolfe shrugged. “Enter the back as soon as the hairy guy is talking to the Cobras, and try and get Junior out that way. I see no other play here.”

“Serenade him from outside his window?” Shel offered.

Wolfe laughed. Serenade, indeed. “I don’t think he’ll come for me yelling up at him, and I’ll let everyone know where I am regardless. I’ll just go get the idiot—I think he’ll believe me soon. Now get moving—they’ll be here any moment.”

Shel nodded and jogged back down the path. Wolfe went to the mansion’s back door—worthy of a front door on most houses easily, with a small porch and some columns—and leaned against the wall next to it.

He watched the various people that were gardening around the house. He wasn’t sure what most of them did all the time—he couldn’t imagine the garden needed more than a few days of this many people working on it. The various faces occasionally glanced up at him in turn, although most glanced away if caught staring.

After a moment, his phone buzzed. He glanced down, seeing that he had a text from Shel. They’re talking to the deckbearer right now!

Wolfe reached over and opened the back door and strode into the back area—a medium small room with hallways running to either side and a door forward.

He was immediately confronted by a man in shorts and a tie-dye T-shirt. “Hey, man, you can’t—”

A gunshot went off, and the man’s eyes went wide. It as followed rapidly by a whole series of gunshots.

Wolfe got two ‘a deckbearer has pulled a deck’ notifications and dismissed them.

Wolfe grabbed the guy in front of him. “They’re here to kill Thaddeus Grimm Junior! I need to know where he is!”

The man sputtered, “How do I know you’re not with—”

“Because I’m not just killing everyone!” Wolfe said, giving the man a shake. “Where is Thaddeus? They. Are. Going. To. Kill. Him!”

The guy came to the right decision. “Upstairs, go down the hall there and take the stairs, his room is two doors down on the side.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Wolfe nodded gratefully and rushed down the plant-filled hall and up the portrait-filled stairs. When he reached the top, he suddenly realized the guy hadn’t told him in which direction, or on which side—there were four doors “two doors down.”

Wolfe went and placed his ear to the door on his close right and didn’t hear anything. He worked his way through all four, getting angry as it was the close left—the furthest on his starting point—when he heard Thad’s voice.

Junior was, expectedly, whining. “I should have gone with Wolfe.”

The girl—Jenny?—responded. “I’m sure this has nothing to do with you, Thaddy. We’ll be fine. We can hide in the closet if we have to.”

“No, I’m gonna die,” Junior whined. “It’s your fault, Jenny! I should have listened to Wolfe, and now you’ve killed me.”

Wolfe figured that was the gods themselves telling him this was gonna go smooth for him, and he banged on the door. At the same time, he called out, “Thad? It’s Wolfe! People are here to kill you, let’s get out of here!”

The door flew open and revealed Thad, smiling with relief. “Thank the gods you came back, Wolfe! I’ll go!”

Wolfe glanced over his shoulder. Jenny was sitting, arms crossed, staring at Thad’s back like she wanted to stick a knife in it. Still…

“You coming, girl?” he asked her.

She hesitated, but Thad turned to face her and held his hands out. “It’s okay, Jenny, we’re saved. Wolfe’s here. Let’s go!”

She hesitated again, and Wolfe’s hands involuntarily clenched. She must have seen, because her eyes flicked to his face and she took Thad’s proffered hand and stood. “I’m ready.”

A few more gunshots went off, and something let out a primeval roar. It all still sounded like it was coming from the front of the house, however. Wolfe raced out the door and down the stairs again, one hand on the railing, the other holding his gun as he rapidly stutter-stepped his way to the first floor. The idiot lovebirds followed him.

He ran to the back door and pulled it open, his eyes blinking in the sunlight even though he’d only been inside for minutes. He was about to run out when he had a thought. It doesn’t really matter anymore if people know I have Cerberus, so long as Damian doesn’t find out for three days, give or take.

Thad whined from behind him, “What’re you doing, Wolfe? We need to go!”

Wolfe ignored him and pulled his deck. He knew that he was giving everyone the warning, but he didn’t care—he didn’t want to get caught in a deckbearer fight when they’d already had a chance to pull a bunch of stuff.

Thad apparently remembered that he was also a deckbearer, and placed his hand against his chest. A moment later, Cereboo appeared, jumping on Wolfe and wagging his tail. A moment after that, Wolfe’s mantle went across him.

Two red-scaled demons with fire instead of hair appeared. They had spines down their backs but no wings, and their hands and feet were clawed. Wolfe ignored them as they took up place guarding Thad.

The roars and gunshots continued, and an occasional shout or scream mixed in.

Wolfe headed out and around the back again. He was half-tempted to just head into the city through the back of the mansion, but he needed his car—if he couldn’t get to it the Cobras would probably find him sooner or later since he had no bolt holes or allies in this yuppy part of town.

When he came around the side, he held his hand up and thad and Jenny stopped. Wolfe gingerly moved forward, gun up, and peeked around the column that made the corner of the house.

It was a warzone in the front. A massive, hulking bear-tree combination monstrosity, with green skin and bloody teeth, was rampaging around the front. A couple Cobras were dead, and far more—more than the twelve Wolfe had seen originally, certainly—were firing at it. But the creatures defense was so high that the damage that was being done was nearly negligible, with tiny pockmarks little different than wasp stings to a human.

But it was covered in a lot of little wasps stings.

There was also a fiery-red demon, nearly ten feet tall, that was slashing at it with a twenty-foot long lash of fire. A few burn marks across the giant bear-tree told Wolfe that things hadn’t been entirely one-sided.

The deckbearer that Wolfe had seen before was there as well, and he was defended by two giant terror-birds, the weird raptor-like dinosaur birds from the ice age—and he, himself, was covered in the green outline of a tree.

How much power does this guy have?!

Blood trickled down the deckbearer as well, however.

Wolfe glanced back at the garden, especially the bush-and-vine hedge that marked the edge nearest him… an edge that didn’t appear to have enemies…

“Follow me closely!” Wolfe called back, and then rushed into the garden without waiting. He pushed through a thick bush and then held it as Cereboo, Thad, Jenny, and Thad’s demons all rushed into the hedge. Then they made their way directly toward the street, pushing though tree branches and bushes, going under the railing of the paths, and once pushing by surprised park-goers—a mildly chunky couple in expensive clothing—that stared in surprise.

But they made it easily to the car, where Shel was now waiting for them.

“What happened to your car?” Thad asked, staring at the busted front and shattered window.

“Idiots happened,” Wolfe said. “It runs fine though. Get inside, please.”

He grabbed Thad as he tried to go to the front and steered him to the back, and Thad Junior and Jenny both got in.

Wolfe opened his passenger side door and was about to step in when he had a thought. He shut his door again.

“What’re you doing?” Shel asked nervously.

Wolfe ducked down so he looked at her through the window. “Get these two idiots to the airport, and send them to Miriam.”

Shel’s face scrunched up. “I want to—”

“Shel, please,” Wolfe said. “I have things I need to do, but I need you to handle this part. Text me when you’re done—I’ll be finished by then anyway, and you can come pick me up.”

“I don’t have any cash,” Shel said.

“You know where I’ve been keeping the money ever since your brother set my rental on fire. Just don’t let him see it.”

Shel’s face worked for a second, but she nodded, turned the car on, and after one more hopeful glance at Wolfe, drove away down the street.

Cereboo whined.

Wolfe reached down and patted his head. “It’s okay, boy. She’ll be back. But it’s time for us to rectify some mistakes I’ve made. And grow powerful from the remains of those who are evil.”

He glanced up to where the Cobras were still fighting. He couldn’t see them directly through the ‘modern garden’ card gardens, but he could see the top of the bear-tree and hear the gunshots.

“Let’s hunt.”