Dogland was a total mess. By the time the fighting had stopped, and I finished tying up our new prisoners, so many bodies filled up the place that I had to run to the phone to make a call. The first person I'd call was Wendy since she could at least patch up our injuries. As soon as I called her, she wasted no time getting the details from me. The next to call was the estate. I would need Vito and the others to clean up the bodies. When the operator connected me with the Estate's phone, Judith answered.

"Hello? Who am I speaking with?" She asked. "It's me, Judith," I answered, "Could you tell Father to send Walter and some guys to Dogland?"

"S-Sure, Alex... Is everything okay?" I wanted to lie, but there wasn't a point. I needed all the help I could get, and I needed it as soon as possible. "N-No... We were attacked. Just tell Father to send whoever he can with Walter."

Judith didn't waste any time. She hung up the phone, allowing me to rest for a second. I'd heard someone approach me, and as I turned, I saw Yayoi with a worried look in her eyes. "Alex... Mr. Martinez is..."

"You don't gotta say it," I told her, "Seeing how bad he looked, I doubt he made it." Yayoi's gaze fell to the floor, her silence telling me I was right. "How's Iggy and Penny?"

"Penny's fine," Yayoi answered, "Iggy took a bullet to the shoulder, but he should be fine with some medical attention. What about Becca?"

"She's in transition," I said. Yayoi's eyes widened, realizing what had likely happened. There was no more to explain. In a couple of hours, Becca would no longer be human. All because someone had sent thugs to my home. Three weeks... all that time, nothing had gone on. Now they were trying to screw me directly. The most concerning part was how they even knew about Dogland in the first place.

"Alex... your arms..." I'd seen my arms still in that strange armored state as before. I tugged at the cloth, and it wrapped around my arms again. Though now the miasma struggled a little against the fabric. It took a little longer than usual for the haze to be controlled. "It happened during the fight... Don't worry, I'm fine..."

We returned to the front of the house, where we found Iggy and Penny sitting with Mr. Martinez's body. Iggy was balling his eyes out at seeing his uncle's corpse while Penny sat there frozen until we came. As she looked our way, she may have noticed that Becca wasn't with us.

"Alex... Alex, where is she?" Penny asked, her voice sounding hoarse as if she'd been crying this whole time.

"Relax," I said, throwing my hands up, "Becca will be fine... She's just in transition..."

"Was there no other way?" Penny asked, tears filling her eyes as she approached me. I just hugged my sister as tight as I could. If Wendy could've gotten here sooner, then circumstances wouldn't allow that. "She's up in your room if you want to be with her when she wakes up." Penny nodded, and I let Yayoi take her upstairs. Meanwhile, I went over to Iggy's side. By now, he'd stopped crying but just sat there.

"Iggy... I'm sorry..."

"Sorry, won't bring my Uncle back, Lex... he was the only one I had left..." I didn't know how to help my friend. I never wanted him to get mixed up in any of this. "I'm sorry, Lex," Iggy said after a while, "You didn't deserve that."

"No... you're right. Nothing I can say or do will bring your uncle back... I wish I got here sooner."

I sat next to my friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. If anything, I wanted him to know I'd be here for him. I tried to get him and Becca out of here and somewhere safe now.

A half-hour would pass before some more cars would arrive at Dogland. Getting up to see who was there, I'd see Walter along with Vito and Furio. The latter of whom began to bark orders to secure the streets. As Walter entered the house quickly assessed the situation.

"It was them, Walt," I said, "It was those fucks that attacked the meeting."

"How sure are you?" He asked, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small box of cigarettes.

"A hundred and ten percent," I confirmed. "When I went to check on Mr. Gisueppe, I found one of those blood psychos, and It killed'em."

Walter ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "Bloody hell..." If Walter was freaking out in his head, then we were screwed. I took a cigarette from Walter and pulled my lighter out. After lighting it up, I pointed upstairs. "I got two of the guys tied up in my room. You up for an interrogation?"

"Only if you don't kill them too fast," Walter said, "I'll have Furio lead in clean-up duty." Walter went outside to inform Furio of what was happening while I went upstairs. As I approached my room door, I could hear the two prisoners we had arguing over something in the room. Unlocking the door, I found them both firmly tied to their chairs. Pulling the heaven's cloth, I manifested Bethany in its complete form, though without the bayonet. The two quickly closed their mouths when they saw me, which was fine.

Going into my closet, I dug out some shells and began loading them into Bethany. Turning back toward the two prisoners, I loaded a shot in the chamber for them to see. I slowly circled them while maintaining eye contact like a predator zeroing in on its prey. The first thing to note about the guy closest to me was that he was Chinese, and his accomplice was Hispanic. Meaning they were recruiting guys from different families. I then sat down on my bed and snickered a little. "You have no idea what kind of trouble you are in..."

"Go to hell gweilo," spat the Chinese guy, "You won't get anything from us." Feeling my eye twitch, I rose from my bed. I hoped Walter would forgive me for starting without him. "Thanks for making this a bit easier for me..." I prodded the Chinese man's knee with the barrel of Bethany and leaned in close to his face. "Alright... let's play a little game. It's called the name of the asshole who put you up to this. If you tell me, you get to walk... and you know what happens if you jerk me around."

"I thought you'd at least wait for me," said Walter as he entered the room. "Sorry, Walt... My volunteer here made me a little impatient." Turning back to the china man I narrowed my eyes. "So... what's your answer..."

"Ah... yes... my answer," said the china man, initially sounding nervous. Though his nervous demeanor quickly reverted to the cockiness he had before. "His name is Wipe, my Cantonese ass, you gweilo trash."

"Hmm... That's a weird name to have... So I guess that's not the answer I'm looking for." I squeezed the trigger, and the china man's knee exploded in blood and pieces of bone. He screamed so loudly it almost hurt my ears. For his sake, I hoped the pain was enough for his friend to be more compliant. As I walked around them, I pushed the barrel against the Hispanic guy's knee and loaded another shell, now looking him in the eyes. "Your turn... name your boss."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

This guy wasn't as talkative as his friend. But he was willing to spit in my face. Wiping off the spit, I tried not to look too angry. "Hmm... I don't think your boss would tell you to spit in my face. But I'll take it as your answer." Squeezing the trigger, I blew out this guy's knee. He was more than willing to use his voice now than he was before.

"Wow... I don't think you'll be able to get it out of them like that, Alex," Walter said.

"If you want to try, be my guest," I offered. Before Walter could even agree, I heard, "No, no, no... I'll talk. Just don't hurt me anymore, please." It was the Hispanic guy. I wished he had been more cooperative before I blew his kneecap out.

"You stupid bastard, don't you tell him shit," barked the china man. I shook my head, loading the next shell in Bethany. "Nope, none of that," I said before blasting his brains all over my wall. I then got back in front of the Hispanic man and pushed the barrel against his head. "Talk..."

"Okay... I'll talk... Armando Juarez sent me," he confessed. "I'm close to him on his payroll. He told us to come here and kill everyone in the building. Whether they were old, young, or human didn't matter."

Armando Juarez? I remember the name Armando from the meeting three weeks ago. He was one of Hector's guys, the Sin Factor of Envy, the one that didn't show up. "You sure that's who you're talking about?"

"Y-yeah... I'm sure... He may have had a hood over his face. But I recognized his voice. I took orders from him a few years ago pushing dope... He said this job had a lot of money, and I needed it."

"Is he the big boss?" Walter asked the Hispanic man. The latter shook his head. "I thought he was at first. But there was a day I went to take a piss, and I saw him talking with someone... A woman, I think. She seemed very angry with him."

A part of me wanted to start firing off questions about the woman. But I began to analyze every word he said before saying anything myself. If he mentioned the woman but didn't mention any features, then that likely meant that this guy wouldn't even know who that person was. Just my luck...

Handing Bethany off to Walter, I kicked the china man's corpse off the chair. Turning the chair around, I sat beside my temporary new friend. Taking out my pack of cigarettes, I plucked one and held it up to my captive. "You smoke?"

"N-No... My nephew is a little boy. I quit years ago." Shame, it would've probably been a good thing to do before he died. But I could at least keep him talking for a minute. Make him feel comfortable. "What's your name then?" I asked.

"Carlos... Carlos Montoya Diaz..." Hmm, a mouthful, but good enough. "Alright, Carlos... is it ok if I call you Carlos?" He nodded quickly. "Good... What's your nephew's name?"

"Issac," he croaked. "Nice name," I said, "Well, listen, Carlos. I'm going to explain some things to you... First, you've made a poor life choice coming into my house and shooting up the place. A very dear friend was even killed in this." As I spoke, Carlos began to tremble feverishly. He probably thought I would kill him, but he was half-wrong. "Since you've been a little more cooperative than your dead friend here, I won't kill you." I turned to Walter, “Il mio buon amico, could you do me a favor and fetch my helpful friend to relieve Carlos of his pain?”

Walter was confused for a moment, so I helped him out by letting my hand morph into the shape of a dog's head, which he got. He left, allowing me to return my focus to Carlos.

"Listen, man... I was just following orders. I needed the money." A sentiment I could empathize with. A lot of people I killed I was just following orders as well. I started feeling bad. "No... We can't... He works for the guy who caused Francis's death," my voice boomed in my head.

"Listen... in our world. There are many risks. Something I recently learned. But I think when want to take someone's life, it's only fair that you should also have the risk of having your life taken."

As I said this, I could hear Walter coming back into the hall with another set of footsteps. What I was about to do next unsettled me a bit. But I needed to do this to ensure the few people I had left at least had a chance to get out of this.

"Why are you telling me this?" Carlos asked, his eyes widening as my little lie was slowly being unveiled. "Simple... My friend just lost his uncle... The dear friend, your gang of idiots killed. So I will allow him to decide whether you get to see little Issac again."

Walter and Iggy entered the room just as I said this. I then reached into my jacket, pulling out Wanda. "Iggy... here." I made sure Wanda was loaded before handing it off to Iggy. "I'll let you decide... Kill him or let him go."

"No, No, No!" Carlos begged as he turned to Iggy. Tears began to fill the man's eyes, and his nose oozed snot. Standing from my seat, I positioned myself next to Iggy and leaned on his shoulder. "I don't think he killed Mr. Martinez specifically, but he's the last of those guys. I've already worked out my frustrations.”

"Alex, is this necessary?" Walter questioned, “Besides, it's better to have him alive, right?”

Turning to Walter, I narrowed my eyes. "I'm sure you saw this guy attack me, right? He got loose somehow and almost tore my throat out. I had no choice but to shoot him."

Walter blinked twice, then pushed his glasses against his face and sighed. "You're right... There was nothing that could be done."

Turning to Iggy, I took his hand that held Wanda and helped him push the barrel against Carlos's head. "It's just one quick tug, Iggy... That's all you gotta do."

Iggy's hands began to tremble as he held the gun. His lip quivered though his eyes burned with rage. Carlos turned into a blubbering mess, trying to persuade Iggy to let him go. I let go of Iggy's hand; it was all his choice from here.

The scene before me felt so familiar. I was holding the gun up against the head of someone begging to let them go. My father told me that it was my choice. A part of me wanted him to just get on with it. But this single decision will change Iggy's life. Those decisions are best left to the life that it'll change.

"You guys... You're the one who killed my Uncle... Because of you, he's dead." Iggy placed his finger on the trigger but didn't squeeze it yet. Wanda had no hair trigger, so the gun wouldn't go off unless pulled.

Moments turned into seconds, and the following seconds turned into a minute. The longer Iggy held the gun, the more incomprehensible Carlos's begging became. When I saw that Iggy wouldn't shoot, I simply placed my hand over the weapon—and pushed it down.

"You can't do it, Ignacio..." Using Iggy's name felt strange. But from here on out, that's who he had to be. If he wasn't going to shoot this guy here, he wasn't cut out to be a part of this life. "B-But... I have to..." Shaking my head, I took the gun from Iggy and turned him around. "Listen, Iggy... I know you want to, but this kind of thing isn't you. Besides... Your Uncle wouldn't want this if you didn't."

I wanted to keep him from the world his uncle left behind, especially now. His gaze fell as more tears came to his eyes. "Listen, Iggy; we've got the name of the guy who sent them. I'll make sure we get him for you. Until then, it's better if you leave town."

"B-But..." He started to say. Then I held my hand up. "You've got a whole life to live, Iggy. I won't let the old man down by letting you die in some ditch in this city." I went into my closet and pulled out a bag full of money. Handing it to Iggy, I pulled out a couple of stacks for myself. "Here..."

Iggy hesitantly took the bag, and his eyes widened when he saw how much was there. "Alex... this isn't what I think it is, right?"

"Yep... It's the money I was saving for Francis and me. I can earn more, so take it." Iggy tried to return the bag to me, but I pushed it back into his hands. "But you've earned so much, amigo. This isn't right."

"Look, just take it... Go somewhere far away, find you a nice dame, and have some fuckin' kids. Tell them about the old man and how he owed their uncle Alexander a lot of money." Iggy still looked unsure, but he nodded, accepting what he'd been given. Turning to Walter, I had him take Iggy back to his room to pack his things. Carlos, relieved not to be a corpse-like his friend, began thanking Iggy as he left.

"Alright, Carlos... Today's your lucky day; you're not dead. If you would be so kind as to cooperate with my associates on any information, we can see about getting that leg fixed up for you." As if on queue, two of Furio's guys came in ready for any orders I needed to give.

"Y-yes... Sure... anything you want, hefe," Carlos said. I smiled, then told the two to go ahead and take him. I didn't know what my Father would do to them once they extracted whatever information they could, but at this point, it didn't matter. Now we had a lead on the mastermind behind Francis's killer. We were even more fortunate that this one appeared the type to anger easily. I just hope whoever this woman Carlos mentioned doesn't get angry enough to bump off Armando first.