Sven was actually waiting outside for us when we got there. I took very careful note of the enormous fucking meat cleaver he was casually holding in one of his big hands. Jessie walked right over to him, but I hung back. You know, out of easy cleaver-swiping range. Of course, Sven was so damn big that his reach was enormous. So, it was really obvious what I was doing. He gave me a narrow-eyed look, seemed to decide something, and then turned his gaze on everyone else. Bill, Muriel, and Knox all gave Sven and his cleaver a wary look but didn’t react beyond that. Jacob was another story. He was halfway out of his car, and it looked like someone had hit pause on a movie. He was frozen. His eyes were locked on Sven. Sven finally notice the man and, I swear to God, I heard him growl. Jacob didn’t move, but he lost most of the color in his face.

That was one problem with a small, closed community like the supernatural. Too many people know each other. Granted, it was long odds that Sven would have a beef with someone on the team, but not the billions-to-one chance of it happening out in the civilian population. If a similar situation happened with people outside of the supernatural community, I would have jumped straight to a supernatural explanation or some other kind of outside interference. It would have been very nearly the only way to explain such an extraordinarily shitty piece of luck. With this group, it was just run-of-the-mill, very bad luck. I’d been out in the field often enough to know that brand of luck did happen. I just really wished it had waited until after Pierce Carter was dead to rear its ugly head.

I looked around to see who was going to deal with the problem and saw that everyone, even Jessie, was looking at me. Man, that just wasn’t fair. Sven was her employee, not mine. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut back at the restaurant. I stepped up for five minutes. One time. Then, suddenly, I was getting drafted as Decision Guy. The evil smirk on Bill’s face told me that he knew exactly what was happening, and he just couldn’t be happier about it. I couldn’t believe it. Did no one else understand that we did not have time for this bullshit? I caught Jessie’s eye and jerked my head at Sven. She immediately shook her head in what may have been the most definitive, “No,” I’d ever seen. Fantastic. I swallowed hard and faced Sven squarely. I did my best impression of someone who actually knew something about leadership and managing personalities.

“Sven,” I said. “Is there a problem?”

He looked at me and I could see the anger bubbling and churning behind his blue eyes.

“No,” he said. “Nothing I can’t solve in a moment, anyway.”

“Right. Let me guess. He crossed you back in the day when you were working in some semi-covert commando unit. Then, he up and vanished before you could take your revenge. Something like that.”

The anger on Sven’s face evaporated in utter bafflement. “No. I didn’t know him then.”

I gaped at the man. “Wait, you really were in some covert commando unit? Never mind. If not that, than what?”

“He’s my ex-brother-in-law.”

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I stared at Sven. I surveyed the expressions on everyone’s faces. Then, I turned and faced Jacob.

“Jacob, I’m sorry, but you’re on your own for this. Nobody signed on for getting in the middle of that kind of fight.”

Jacob jerked his eyes over to me. He sighed, finished getting out of the car, and nodded. “Yeah, I get it.”

Sven stalked toward the other man and muttered, “Finally.”

“Sven,” I called.

He stopped and eyed me. “Yes?”

I held out my hand. “Cleaver, please. I do actually need him alive. We’ve got a fight coming.”

Sven only hesitated for a second before he shrugged and handed over the ridiculously enormous chopping blade. Seriously, it was like something out of a Grimm fairy tale. Not the modern retellings, but the super bloody and mental trauma-inducing originals. The cleaver must have weighed three or four pounds. I started getting tired just holding it for a minute. I also didn’t know if depriving Sven of the cleaver would actually slow him down very much if he was bent on killing Jacob. I was just hoping that not having a giant, razor-sharp weapon in his hands at least cuts down on the odds of a heat-of-the-moment murder. I looked over at Jessie, who was watching Sven’s lumbering figure bear down on Jacob. She noticed me looking at her. I shot the front door a meaningful look.

“Right,” she said. “Everybody, let’s go inside.”

Bill and Muriel wore neutral expressions, but Knox was openly skeptical.

“In that tiny hut,” said Knox.

I snickered. “You’ll just have to trust us for a minute. Everyone will fit comfortably. I swear to god.”

Knox didn’t look like he believed a word I said, but he followed Jessie over to the door and went in. Bill and Muriel went next. I hesitated at the door and looked over to Sven and Jacob. It didn’t appear as if there’d been any violence, but it wasn’t far away. Jacob looked like he was talking fast. I mean he was talking really fast. I wondered if Sven had given him one minute to explain before the beating commenced or something like that. Whatever the story was, Sven loomed over the other man like a big, stone-faced, Viking volcano that was just about ready to spew a river of molten pain all over Jacob. I really hoped that Sven didn’t kill the guy. I didn’t know exactly what role Bill and Jessie had in mind for the guy, but I had to assume their plan wouldn’t work as well without him. I wished Jacob a silent godspeed as I stepped inside the house and closed the door.

Bill was waiting right inside. He was eyeing the very spacious interior like it was giving him ideas. When I came in, though, he turned to me.

“I don’t know Sven,” said Bill. “What do you think he’s going to do?”

I really thought about the question and what little I knew about Sven.

“I think, if he really meant to kill Jacob, he wouldn’t have handed this over,” I said and hefted the cleaver in my hand.

Bill eyed the cleaver and shook his head. “I guess we’ll find out.”

I looked around. “Where are the others?”

Bill shrugged. “Knox is being lurky. Jessie is talking to Muriel about how she made this place.”

I started to ask Bill just what everyone’s roles were supposed to be when Jessie and Muriel came back into view.

“How did you manage the compression coefficient?” Muriel asked.

Jessie nodded. “Yeah, I was stuck on that for years. I had to use a diffusion array that works in four dimensions. I still get a headache when I think about it.”

I looked at Bill. “What in the world are those two talking about?”

Bill shook his head. “Hell if I know. Smart people things.”

“Is that why she’s here?” I asked, gesturing at Muriel. “She’s smart?”

“No, she’s here because she’s a damned magical savant. I barely understand every third word she says, but when they talk about making miracles with magic, they’re talking about her.”

“Okay, but is she smart enough to make up the difference between us and Carter?”

“You better hope so.”