Demon Card Enforcer 3, Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty-Two: Enemies Go Brrrr…

            Wolfe opened the door quickly, slamming himself briefly against the outside wall on the off-chance someone had seen him and was prepared to shoot him coming in. When no one fired, he looked around the corner, and seeing no one in the entrance, moved inside.

            The front room had all the tack that Wolfe would expect from someone in the service of Asmodeus, Infernal Lord of Lust. The four marble statues of naked women placed around the grand tiled foyer at least tried to be classy, although the level of detail was a bit too on point to really pull it off.

            But the multiple paintings of women in various states of undress were not only garish, they clashed with the rest of the room.

            And placing a grand chandelier in a room with a bunch of naked imagery just highlighted how not classy it really was. It took the eyes a moment to even see the two hallways leading off the front room, or the door in the back, what with all the insane and moderately clashing imagery around the front.

            “What’s with the crime families in Noimoire just openly advertising that they serve the Infernal?” Shel asked with a grin.

            Wolfe knew it was rhetorical, a joke to their time together and the Grimm family. He focused on the task at hand. “Alright, let’s head to the study.”

            “Why the study?” Shel asked.

            “Because, when I was head enforcer for the Grimm family, we always met in the study when we had serious business. Given that they think they’re on a rescue mission to save Gopal, this is likely what they consider ‘serious business,’ and I’m willing to bet that they’re congregated there, listening for updates and such.

            “The very few times I was brought here by Adam we met there as well,” Fern said into their earpieces.

            Shel nodded, then hesitated.

            Wolfe motioned to a hall leading to the side. “Down the hall, up the stairs, and then we’ll head to the back. Or just follow me.”

            Wolfe ran into the hallway, toward the stairway visible at the end. He flipped his deck again as he did. He didn’t have his mantle, instead summoning Malviere again from the cards that floated to the side. There was a decent chance that this whole situation wouldn’t last five minutes.

            A mostly nondescript, black-haired man stepped from a doorway into Wolfe’s path. He carried a burrito-looking piece of food. His head was tilted as he took a bite with one hand under his food, not watching where he was going. Wolfe’s whole plan went sideways, as did he, when he slammed into the man, propelling him back into the room he had come from and careening to the plush, carpeted hall floor himself.

            The man hit the ground on his back, hamburger from his wrap flying everywhere around his head. Wolfe rolled to the side, holding his Edge out. The man rose from the floor, staring at Wolfe’s barrel with wide eyes—one green, the other brown.

Wolfe knew this man. Bart Fidel. Bart had been the lowest enforcer with a deck in the Singh family once, a ‘nothing’ man that had gotten a deck ten years before Wolfe and done jack-all with it.

He wasn’t worth keeping alive, and might be dangerous somehow, given that he had a deck.

It must have shown in Wolfe’s eyes, because Bart screamed something in a language Wolfe didn’t know just as Wolfe added ‘noggin salsa’ to the burrito pieces with a gunshot that reverberated throughout the house.

            Wolfe shook his head, trying to dispel the ringing in his ear. I wonder if Shel’s healing fixes my slow accumulation of ear damage?

            Shel gagged at the sight, slightly green.

            “What was that?!” Fern asked, terror in her voice.

            Wolfe reached over and scooped up the ten cards that appeared on the man’s chest, ignoring the disaster of the room. “Well, they had a third deckbearer, at least, but he’s gone now.”

            Fern’s breathing was harsh and choppy in his ear, but she didn’t say anything else.

            The backs of the cards were silver—a dragon deck. Wolfe knew it was more of a kobold deck than a true dragon one. Or it had been two years ago. Either way, it was money for later and not something he could use at the moment.

            “Well, that was—” Shel began, hand already on her chest now that surprise had been lost. But someone leaped down the last flight of stairs at the end of the hall and fired a pistol at them rapidly. Shel grunted as blood sprayed from her back and she hit the hallway, coughing a spray of blood almost instantly.

            Two bullets ripped into Wolfe’s arm, but he ignored them in his need to finish the man shooting Shel. He dropped his Edge, grabbing it with his other hand, but before he could shoot the bastard, Malviere—who had somehow not been hit—flung a death’s headed spirit dog from the aura around her into the man, and he briefly screamed as he rotted before dropping dead.

            “Never against the pack,” Malviere whispered in her occult voice.

            Wolfe knelt over Shel, who feebly pushed her hand out, calling her cards into existence.

            “C’mon, Raphael, give her a healing card,” Wolfe said, practically praying to a faction that had clearly forsaken him.

            Wolfe got not one, but two ‘deckbearer draws a deck’ notifications near him, but he ignored them in near panic.

            Shel, arm shaking, touched a card in front of her and her Rookie EMT appeared.

            The card knelt next to her, and color returned to the tiny part of her face that Wolfe could see. He almost wanted to rip her black hoodie off her to see how badly hurt she was, but knew that she would live now. His job was to fight.

            “Into the room, and try and get set-up,” Wolfe said, standing and trying to help Shel to her feet with an offered hand.

She coughed, a wracking thing that sounded like an old man trying to cough his entire lung up. But instead, she coughed a bullet into her hand, wiped the blood from her mouth, and took Wolfe’s assistance.

She backed into the room as Wolfe summoned Cereboo.

The three headed dog appeared with a series of barks and then whined as all three heads trained on Shel. Cereboo jumped up and put his paws on her, all three heads alternating sandpaper licks and puppy whines, but Shel winced and Wolfe’s pooch abandoned the efforts almost instantly.

Wolfe glanced around the room they were in. It was a huge kitchen, a massive stainless-steel workspace almost like a chef’s cookery flanked by pantries carrying tons of food, and even vegetables hanging on racks next to a single massive kitchen. Their was a large linoleum floor that included a ton of open space in front of the mess area, broken up only by a single small table. Besides the door in, the only way out appeared to be a double door with viewing holes to the side, looking into a massive dining hall.

“Divine crap, the Singh’s did good once I knocked most of the gangs out,” Wolfe muttered, not remembering anything this ostentatious from his few trips to the mansion. “How the hell did they even remodel this much?”

“Get ready, they have to be coming!” Fern said.

“Right,” Wolfe muttered. “Shel, we need full set-up if you can.”

She nodded, and touched another card in her deck.

Stone Arch Fire

Unique Mythic equivalent Tier-1 equivalent Life [Civic] Building

0 power

This creates the Stone Arch Fire. It adds +1 Fire power to the deckbearer, and doubles the effect of any other Civic Building in the deckbearer’s deck.

This building card is not a null card. In addition to being placed as a building, it may be played as a persistent for 1 Life, 1 Fire, and 1 any power

Special: All Healer [5]: All allied deckbearers and cards heal 5 every single round

Special: Civic Leader [1]: All of the deckbearers [civic] subtype creature cards gain +1 to all non-health stats

Special: Death Ward: The deckbearers creatures may not be killed by automatic removal effects while this card is in play

Special: Fungible [Life, Fire]: Life and Fire power may be spent as if they were the other

“Heat is life, cold is death. Never let anyone tell you fire is only for burning.”

The linoleum space was covered in stone, with a fire burning in the middle. Immediately, the bullet tracks on Wolfe’s arm healed.

“Behind the counter,” Wolfe said, taking his own advice and coruching down so only his head, arms, and Edge were over the top of the counter.

“Don’t we need to go kill them?” Shel asked as she joined him behind the steel workstation with a wince.

“Aren’t you healed?” Wolfe asked.

She shook her head no. “The bridge only heals allied deckbearers, but it does other things for me. The EMT didn’t fully repair me. I’ll be full healing mode soon though.”

Wolfe heard running feet, and refocused himself, preparing for what was coming.

Cereboo moved to beside the door, and Malviere walked behind the counter as well.

What came around the door, however, shocked Wolfe beyond belief. A beautiful demoness, flanked by a second one and a hellhound of a type Wolfe had never seen before.

The hellhound was rough, and the lesser demoness was also a chore for their decks.

Lesser Urban Corrupter

Uncommon Tier-1 Infernal [Succubus, Criminal]

1 Infernal, 1 Any Power

Health: 14

Attack: 4

Defense: 5

Magical Attack: 6[Fire or Death]

Magical Defense: 6

Special: White Collar Criminal: This card benefits from ALL Civic cards on the field as if it were Civic, but provides no benefits for being Civic.

Special: Criminal Mentor: All cards that benefit from criminal cards are treated as if there is one more criminal card on the field.

“Few of the Infernal benefit Mortal civilization, but many benefit from ensconcing themselves within it, weakening it from within.”

Twice-damned Hellhound

Rare Tier-1 Undead/Infernal/Fire [Hellhound, Skeleton, Burning] Creature

1 Infernal, 1 Undead or Fire Power

Health: 13

Attack: 6

Defense: 6

Magical Attack: 7[Fire]

Magical Defense: 6

Special: Agonizing Existence: This creature cannot be controlled against the will of the deckbearer, and cannot be a target for any persistent cards.

Special: Partially Incorporeal: This creature takes half damage from all physical attacks.

Special: Lock: Any card that is slain by this card may not be replayed for the remainder of the fight.

“Even among the damned there are those that are pitied.”

But Wolfe found himself staring in horror at the powerful card that faced him, hovering over the near-perfect form of the succubus that had led the way in.

Klireen, Daughter of Lust

Unique Legendary equivalent, Tier-2 equivalent, Infernal/Psychic [Succubus, Demigod] Creature

3 Infernal Power, 2 Psychic Power

Health: 20

Attack: 3

Defense: 5

Magical Attack: 15[Fire or Psychic]

Magical Defense: 15

Special: Daughter of Lust: When this card enters the field, it may take control of any creature card up to power 2, or any unique adult male creature card up to power 5. If anything would allow it to target any other entity for any reason, it can only effect those attracted to it.

Special: Fade [1]: The strongest attack against this creature each round is nullified.

Special: Lost in the Dark: If in the deck, the deckbearer does not trigger deck drawn warnings

“Deception and Desire, an extraordinarily powerful combination.”—Klireen, Daughter of Asmodeus.

            “I think we’re facing three deckbearers,” Wolfe said, his voice tight as he stared at the powerful, unique card facing him even as he could still hear running feet.