“Hide in there, and don’t come out unless we call you. Okay?” there was a small hidden door on the wall in a big walk-in closet, which led to a small hidden room located behind Alex’s bedroom. Caroline crouched into the hidden room with Alex and gave him a bunch of Demon Suppression Sigils infused with her Xuanli: “Take this, if any bad guy comes in here, throw this in their faces and stab them with your sword, got it?”

“What’s happening? Are you gonna be Okay? Where’s dad?” Alex’s voice was trembling.

“I don’t know, I can’t get through to him now.” Caroline drew a circle and the simple pattern of a shield on the inside of the hidden door with her finger and her Xuanli: “Stay in here, while I go look for him.”

“Okay. Be careful, aunt Caroline.” Alex clenched his mini wooden sword and the Demon Suppression Sigils tightly in his hands.

“Don’t worry.” Caroline looked Alex in the eye: “It’s gonna be okay.”

Making sure that the hidden door was closed tightly and was as inconspicuous as possible, Caroline rushed downstairs and retrieved her wooden weapons from her backpack - she prepared them for something else but the occasion called for it.

Tire screeching sounds came from outside, as Caroline looked outside the window she saw Kane getting off his hurriedly parked car and running towards the house door. He seemed to be injured, as he had blood on his shirt.

“What happened?” Caroline opened the door to let Kane in and asked: “Someone attacked you!? What the fuck!?”

“Yeah, bad mistake.” Kane ran to the kitchen to grab a medical kit and wrapped his bleeding left arm with bandages: “Where’s Alex?”

“I told him to hide.” Caroline locked the door and placed a Demon Suppression Sigil on the front door, “Tell me what happened.”

“It’s Simon. ” Kane tied up the bandage and rushed to a small storage room in the house and took out a shotgun: “Call the police, now!”

“No cell signal on my phone, for some reason.” Caroline got to Kane’s side: “And what do you mean by ‘It’s Simon’?”

“That Simon.” Kane loaded his shotgun with shells and took out a handgun then started loading the extra magazine: “And his friends, they ambushed me. He and the creep I was following? They are from the same gang.”

“Hold on. What the fuck!?” Caroline grabbed Kane by the arm: “Were you gonna tell me at all?”

“Well...” feeling the scarily powerful grab from his younger sister, Kane sighed and caved, then he began to explain while pointing to the storage room: “The creep I was following, he was a member of a cult slash gang called Los Diablos. Really cliche name, I know. But really a bad bunch with a really nasty ledger. And according to my sources, Simon joined that gang while he was in prison. And for some reason, the creep AND your piece of shit ex boyfriend both came to San Jose a few weeks back.”

“That’s why you’re in town and warned me about Simon.” Caroline let go of Kane and grabbed the remaining handgun from the storage room.

“Yeah, and believe me, I had absolutely no intention to drag you into this.” Kane sighed and tried to use his phone to dial 911: “Fuck! I’m not getting any signal either. What the fuck is going on?!”

“Did you say they are a gang and a cult?” Caroline put an extra magazine in her pocket, “Did they attack you? ”

“Technically they were butchering the creep and his new girl.” Kane pushed the couch behind the door and blocked the entryway: “I basically just walked into it. Then they started shooting at me. Lucky for me they were not very good shots, but I think they followed me back here. You still know how to handle a gun?”

“Never forgotten.” Caroline frowned as she held her gun on her left hand and slid her wooden shield up to a place between her wrist and elbow, while still holding the wooden tomahawk in her right hand: “What do you know about this Los Diablos cult?”

“That they are a nasty bunch, with a pretty demonic MO. Simple murder doesn’t seem to satisfy their bloodlust, they like their killings ritualistic. That poor creep got hung upside down on an upside down cross before they slit his belly open.” Kane took a peek at Caroline’s wooden shield and tomahawk: “What’s with this gladiator shit? You got a fucking gun, use it!”

“Trust me, they work better than this 9 millimeter.” Caroline stared through the window, the sky has gone completely dark: “I have something to tell you too, big bro.”

“What?”

“I’m a fucking cultivator now.”