The Serpent (The Immortal Dealers Book 1)

  Alvarez laughed. “Four Dealers against one, and you needed more help? If so, we’re in trouble.”

  “Five,” said Trey, waving his hand in Ernie’s direction. “This one can play, dude.”

  “She showed surprisingly strong will and focus in dire circumstances,” said Minh. The spark of approval in his eyes heartened Ernie. “Though her technique was dangerously clumsy.”

  Trey rubbed his shoulder. “You’re telling me. She shattered my collarbone with one of those rocks.”

  Aaand now I feel awful again. The pain in her own chest only reminded her how much she had to learn, and she wasn’t sure she’d have the time to do it. “We all kept hitting each other,” she said. “We need to have a more coordinated plan.”

  “Ooh, the baby snake thinks she’s our leader,” sneered Virginia.

  Alvarez scoffed. “You’ll find things quite different now that your boyfriend is gone.”

  “What the hell?” snapped Ernie.

  “Focus,” said Minh, his voice growing loud again. “Ernie’s right in saying we need to work together better. We should have been able to get Duncan and make Ernie whole.”

  “Isn’t that why we let him lead the girl away from the house to begin with?” Virginia asked.

  “It was your idea,” said Trey to her.

  “What?” Ernie shrieked. “You knew what was happening and you allowed it?”

  “Well,” said Trey. “In our defense, you weren’t actually in any danger until Duncan manifested himself.”

  Ernie looked down at her arms, which were bleeding from gashes she’d sustained as she dove through the window in her mother’s bedroom. “Right. I’m in great shape. And if your plan was to draw him out, why didn’t you tell me about it, you jerks?”

  “To be honest, we didn’t think of it until it was actually happening,” said Trey.

  “Was Gabe okay with this?” Ernie asked quietly.

  “He might have been,” Virginia said. “He had gone off by himself when it happened. We made the plan without him.”

  Gabe had gone off somewhere after he’d tucked her in, maybe to check on the Marks, maybe to try to get some much-needed rest himself. And he’d been distracted enough—or exhausted enough—to miss the fact that Ernie had fled from the one safe place she’d had left, right under his nose. “What’s Duncan going to do to Gabe?” Ernie asked. “Gabe’s hidden the Marks—does Duncan know that?”

  A pall of silence fell over the room, then Trey said, “I think Gabe would die before he gave up those Marks to Duncan.”

  “What’s the deal with those two?” Ernie sat down on the couch with a pained hiss. “And—can someone get me one of those?” She pointed to Minh’s full shot glass. She badly needed something to dull the pain.

  He instantly handed her one, a card flashing in his other hand.

  “Thanks,” Ernie said, taking a sip and savoring the warm, heady raspberry taste of it. The heavy warmth in her belly helped her go on. “The diamondback struck him. Several times.”

  “Shouldn’t you have been able to stop that?” asked Tarlae.

  “He should have been able to stop that,” said Alvarez. “I once had great respect for Gabriel as a Dealer. He was a formidable foe and an excellent ally. But of late, he has been . . . slow.”

  Ernie sank back into the couch cushions, thinking about the card Gabe was missing, the way it might affect him. “Why did Duncan take him, and why was Gabe so focused on Duncan in the first place? Most of you told your stories about tangling with him, but Gabe never has—not to me, anyway. Why does he have such a grudge?”

  Virginia and Minh exchanged glances as Alvarez chuckled and said, “She doesn’t know.”

  “Cut the superior BS, jerk,” Ernie snapped. “Just tell me so we can figure out how to get him back.”

  “Oh,” said Alvarez, his smile turning nasty. “Gabriel and Duncan go way back. Long history there.”

  Ernie rolled her eyes and looked up at Minh. “Help a girl out?”

  Concern shadowed Minh’s brown eyes. “I think Gabe avoids talking about it, because the past is so intensely painful for him. They’re brothers, Ernie.”

  A shiver shook Ernie down to her toes. “Like, actual brothers?”

  Minh nodded. “I thought he might have told you.”

  “Since you seemed so close,” said Alvarez, smirking.

  Ernie ignored Alvarez’s snark. “But Gabe told me his entire family was killed in a fire.”

  “Not all of them. And Duncan set the fire, so there’s that,” Trey said, plopping down on the couch and conjuring himself up a plate of nachos.

  “Why would he do that?” Ernie remembered the pain in Gabe’s voice as he’d told her the story, the bitter regret.

  “Some of us got our decks when we were desperate enough to take any deal,” said Minh. Then he looked at Alvarez. “And some of us had to prove our worth to the Forger with a sacrifice.” Alvarez looked away, his cheeks darkening.

  “That’s insane,” said Ernie. “The Forger asked him to kill his entire family?”

  “Unlikely,” Tarlae replied, her tone brusque. “He prefers to create situations in which people make such choices themselves. So more likely, Duncan had that brutality in him from the start.”

  “He saw the money Gabe brought home, and the food,” murmured Ernie, replaying the story in her head with Duncan taking the place of the young, emaciated, faceless brother she’d imagined. The one who was innocent. “He asked Gabe who had offered him the job, and Gabe told him he’d been hired by a rich man.”

  “He resented his brother,” said Alvarez. “Classic stuff.”

  “Positively biblical,” muttered Virginia.

  “I don’t see how he would have thought killing innocents would get him a job.” Ernie took a healthy gulp of alcohol, needing the heat to stifle her chills and numb the hurt.

  “The Forger may have appeared to him and wanted to size him up,” said Alvarez, leaning on his cane.

  “Is that how it happened for you?” asked Ernie.

  Alvarez’s nostrils flared. “The Forger might have asked Duncan what he was willing to sacrifice to get the job. And Duncan proved himself quite handily, I would say.”

  “Do you admire him?” Ernie’s tone was pure contempt and accusation.

  Alvarez shrugged. “No, I think he’s a sadistic idiot who kills when he doesn’t have to. But you must admit, he showed serious dedication.”

  Trey shook his head and swallowed a mouthful of chips. “Gabe didn’t know what had happened for a long time. Not until he ran into Duncan during the early part of last century.”

  “Right after Duncan engineered the assassination of that archduke, I believe,” Virginia said absently. She was busy using one of her cards to stoke the fire.

  “She means Franz Ferdinand,” Minh told Ernie.

  “Yeah, I get it,” said Ernie flatly. “Duncan basically started the First World War. I wish that was a surprise, but at this point . . .”

  “It was actually quite clever. You have to give him—” Alvarez began.

  “I don’t have to give him anything,” Ernie shouted, then clutched her ribs as they flared with agony.

  “Well,” observed Virginia. “You gave Duncan four more of your cards during the fight, if memory serves.”

  “What does that mean she’s down to?” asked Alvarez, that stupid smirk dropping away.

  “Twenty?” Trey gave her a worried look.

  “Let’s not forget that the diamondback struck her ally,” said Tarlae. “Would any of your animals strike an ally?”

  “They only strike our enemies,” said Virginia, who had turned from the fire, her countenance ghostly, pale and shadowed. “Which means the diamondback is not yours.”

  “Not to mention, it got in her head and led her into a trap.” Alvarez rolled his eyes. “I told you all that before, you fools. The serpent belongs to Duncan, not this weakling girl.”

  “I’m not weak,” Ernie said, rising to
her feet, albeit a little more unsteadily than she would have liked. “I played my cards during that fight, and I did something none of you were focused enough or strategic enough to do, because you were too busy using your fancy tricks to throw heavy objects.” She leaned on the arm of the couch. “And the diamondback is torn. She hasn’t made up her mind yet. She could have killed me in that clearing, and she didn’t.”

  “From what I saw,” said Trey, “she would have if Gabe hadn’t given you that shield.”

  This was bad. Until now, Trey had been solidly on her side, and now he was looking at her with real doubt, like she wasn’t what had been advertised. “I just need a little time and practice.”

  “And a nap, and some food, waaah, waaah,” said Alvarez, all mockery. “So many excuses.” He pointed his cane at her. “If you can’t deal your cards by dawn, little girl, I’m out. You’re on your own.”

  Immediately, another argument started, about how much time to give her, what they should do next, whether they should fold and go home, whether they should stay and up the ante. As if Ernie were invisible. She had never felt more defeated or stupid. Face to face with Duncan in a fight, and he’d taken four of her cards as if it were child’s play.

  But she couldn’t give up. Now two precious lives were on the line: her mother’s and Gabe’s.

  She turned to find Minh quiet next to her, gazing at her steadily. “You want to fight,” he said. “You’re not folding yet.”

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  He nodded once. “Then come with me, and we’ll see what we can do.”

  As the Dealers continued to bicker, Minh led Ernie from the house and into the chilly October night. Grabbing her hand, he flashed three cards between them, and Ernie once again experienced the silent, suffocating blackness of transport. When she became aware of herself again, she was in a wooden room, maybe a cabin, with birds cawing outside and sunlight streaming through an open window. Hot, humid air raised beads of sweat on her brow.

  “This is my haven,” said Minh, gesturing at the simple wooden furnishings. He sat down on the floor, on a mat made of rushes, and gestured for Ernie to do the same. For the first time since she’d fallen asleep thinking about Gabe’s kiss and what it meant, she felt a bit of hope.

  “Thank you,” she said as she sat down and faced him.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” said Minh solemnly. His eyes met hers. “If you can’t learn to deal competently here, with my help, I’m going to kill you myself.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ernie blinked at him. “Huh?”

  “Did you think I was going to be your wise old sage?” Minh asked. “Do you think I have time and patience for that?” He shook his head. “I care only about replacing Duncan and keeping him from getting ahold of the Marks. I don’t,” he said, leaning forward and poking her in the chest, “care about you.”

  For some stupid reason, Ernie’s throat was tight. She was on the verge of crying—with exhaustion and pain, with terror, with defeat—but she knew that would be the worst possible thing to do. “I don’t care about you, either,” she said. “But if you can help me deal the twenty cards I’ve got well enough to keep the people I love from being added to Duncan’s body count, then I’ll give it everything I have.” Then she leaned forward slowly, getting right in Minh’s face. “If you stop me from doing whatever’s necessary to save them, though, trust me that I’ll find a way to reach up from the grave and drag you down with me.”

  It was bravado, but it came with sincerity, and Minh smiled. “Good. We have a deal. Get out your cards.”

  Ernie obeyed, not thinking about what Minh might do if she failed. She held up the mud-streaked and grimy cards, a few bent from the fight in the clearing.

  “Is this how you treat them?” he snapped. “No wonder she doesn’t trust you. Clean them up.” He pointed to a water basin in the corner. “Gently.”

  It was pointless now to whine or make excuses. Based on what Alvarez had said, that was all the Dealers thought they heard from her, and they were tired of it. She couldn’t blame them—Ernie always had to fight the urge to roll her eyes when Spartan newbies cried about how hard it was, as if it was supposed to be a walk in the park. And she’d long ago learned to tell herself that the pain she felt when she tackled a tough obstacle was just part of the experience, well worth it for the triumph she felt afterward. It always helped to hear her team cheering for her, but she’d earned that by pushing herself to the limit every time. The stakes were far higher here, but the mindset was the same—if she wanted the chance to work with the Dealers as a team, maybe even help them, she had to prove herself.

  Her muscles aching, begging for her to sit still for a few minutes or maybe forever, Ernie walked across the room and squatted next to the basin. She grabbed a clean, dry cloth and carefully wiped chunks of mud from the faces and backs of the cards, then wet the cloth just slightly and cleaned off the streaks. She checked each card, making sure they were entirely clean, noting how they once again seemed to suck up the liquid on their surfaces. Then she returned to Minh, who motioned for her to sit down again.

  “Lay them out in rows,” he instructed.

  She did, leaving the blank card in her pocket to figure out later—the card the Forger had given her was for her and her alone. When she was finished, she had four rows of five, faces up, blurry shadows moving in each. Minh looked them over. “This isn’t great,” he said. “Have you thought about how to play with these combinations?”

  “I thought the snake would—”

  “The snake?”

  “The diamondback, I mean.”

  “Calling her ‘the snake’ is like calling the Taj Mahal a house. And how would you feel if I called you ‘the girl’?”

  “Well, ‘woman’ would be more accurate, but . . .” She faded off as she read the look on Minh’s face. “Sorry. I’m trying to get better about that. Diamondback. But I had assumed she’d make the plays for me? That’s what she did before.”

  “Because you were helpless and hapless.” Minh pulled his deck. “But this is a partnership. A deck doesn’t want to save you, just like I don’t want to save you. Your deck wants you to be a strong leader, and it wants to be your right hand. Or, really, your left.” He held up his left forearm, where Bao sat fierce and fat. “You name your deck and you cherish it.”

  “Name it? I assumed it already had a name—” She pressed her lips together when Minh sneered. “I thought she would already have a name.”

  “She does. The Dealer names the deck when it comes into his—or her—possession. I don’t know what Bao’s name was before he came to me, and it doesn’t matter, because with me, he is remade, a new creature, a new deck. Each Dealer is different, and they choose a name that pleases them and aligns with their will. Your will is critical to the game.”

  “I guess I’ll add that to my to-do list,” she said with a weak chuckle.

  Minh’s eyes narrowed. “You also can’t be scared of your deck or its animal manifestation. Fear is repulsive. It frightens them, makes them unsure.”

  “Fear is a healthy response in some situations,” Ernie said.

  “Cowering, then. You may be frightened, but you have to be determined. Alvarez sensed it.”

  “Alvarez is kind of a douchebag.”

  Minh was running his thumb over his cards. “A douchebag who understands his deck. He doesn’t like you, because he senses that you lean on Gabe to protect you, and he doesn’t respect that.”

  Ernie rolled her eyes. “I need to name the deck and puff my chest out and be brave. Got it.”

  “If your plan is to waste my time,” Minh said, all measured politeness, “I can simply take your cards and kill you now.”

  Ernie cleared her throat. “You were saying?”

  “You’re clearly not a coward. I can see that. I saw you deal your cards and take out Duncan’s shield, and it showed a raw power and potential that made me hope you could do this. I saw you run into the clearin
g to try to help Gabe when he needed it. I saw you try to stop the serpent from striking him, even though you knew it might strike you as well. Whatever drove you to do that, use that fire and stoke it, but know how to wield your deck. Hoping the diamondback will just appear and take over is pathetic, weak, and a guaranteed way to lose—or damage your allies, as you did in that clearing.” He poked her shoulder. “Sometimes you have to bluff. That’s how cards work.”

  Ernie drew in a wheezy breath. She’d never had much of a poker face, but she supposed it was time to learn. And if she wanted to convince the Diamondback to make her home with Ernie, she had to convince her that she had something more to offer than just being nicer than the guy who started World War I. She had to convince her that she was strong enough. “But how do I call her to me?” Ernie asked. “So far I’ve had to be really desperate.” When she thought back, though, during the fight with Akela, she’d pretty much commanded the thing to help her.

  “You focus on the creature and tell it to come to you. If she can, she will—you are in possession of a large piece of her. But we know Duncan is trying to keep her by force, meaning she can only come to you when he is sleeping or otherwise occupied.” Minh fanned his own cards. “It’s a cruel thing to imprison a deck. They stay with us by choice. They serve us by choice. I almost wonder if she was looking for a way out.”

  “If that’s true, is there a way we can overcome the power of that serpent tile?”

  “The barrier rune tiles are powerful and rare,” Minh said. “But we can hope that she will take the opportunity to come to you if Duncan is distracted. And I’m sorry to say this, but he’s likely to be very distracted now that he has Gabe.”

  Ernie’s stomach sank. “Because he’s so focused on hurting him,” she said quietly.

  “But your focus must be entirely on fully bonding with the diamondback and dealing the cards with the power she offers you. You must make the most of the opportunity Gabe’s misfortune provides.” Minh’s voice was hard.

  Pushing away thoughts of Duncan standing over a badly injured Gabe, Ernie squared her shoulders. “Got it. So . . . can you explain the cards to me?”