by Paul Sating
Bilba huffed into the room, immediately bending at the waist and gripping his pants at the knees, bunching the material. Between gulps of air, he said, "I think I'm dying."
"It's not your time, young one." A voice filled the room. All three of our heads snapped up in Aries's direction. The Founder gave us an amiable smile.
"You heard that?" Bilba asked him between deep gasps.
Aries clasped his hands in front of him and chuckled. "Yes, young one. I can hear, talk, walk, and some say I can even play a mean guitar. I think the humans call it nasty and that's a compliment, I'm told. Either way, I agree."
Surprised that he did not run or kill us, I blinked dumbly at Aries's comments.
"Here's what I propose," Aries said. "Let's not make a scene and draw more from these mortals. I'm going to step out of this room and you'll stay here for the next minute. Within that time, I'll be gone and you can resume your tour of this wonderful facility, maybe at a slower, more enjoyable pace? If they don't kick you out for the ruckus you created. From my experience, you should be able to blend in with the crowd if you relax a little. A professional tip? You were making yourself conspicuous earlier. Tone it down a little; your visit to the Overworld will be easier if you do."
His smooth voice defied age, holding a hint of humor. It was mesmerizing, and I almost agreed with what he was saying before shaking my head to clear it. "Sir, I imagine you know why we're here. We need to bring you … home."
Aries slowly moved his head side to side. "Sorry, but I will have to deny that request that sounded so unlike a request."
"But—but they want you to come—," Bilba stopped, catching himself and glancing around to check for mortals.
Aries's shoulders rose before falling with a deep sigh. "Home. I know, young ones. But I'm not going and, I don't say this to antagonize, but the three of you are incapable of making me. So, let's end this and, for Lucifer's sake, can we stop ruining this glorious day for the mortals? Don't you think you put on enough of a show? I tried to make this as inconspicuous as possible. I have found humans avoid men who look like me, and hoped that removing myself from your presence quickly would have ended this silliness. But, if you insist on pushing, you may force my hand."
He didn't need to spell out the threat. Ralrek, though, mumbled something under his breath before saying, "We have a mission, sir, and we plan to fulfill it."
"And yet, you won't," the first of his name said, and I believed him. He raised a finger. "Remember, young ones. I step out of this room and you don't leave it for one minute. It will end much more peaceful for all of us that way."
My protestations caught in my throat as the ancient demon disappeared around the corner. We stood there, no one offering a word of insight about what to do until Bilba asked the last question he should have asked.
"Do we go after him?"
"Well, we sure as Heaven don't stand here like morons," Ralrek snapped. "Let's go."
He raced ahead before I could protest. Apparently Aries wasn't as clear as I thought he was, or Ralrek was just that stupid.
"Shit! Come on." I waved to Bilba without waiting to see if he was following.
Within a few strides I had overtaken Ralrek, rounded the corner and raced through the double doors. Around the next turn, I adjusted my stride, taking three stairs at a time with ease.
"Whoa!" A small boy beamed at my moves as his family moved out of my way. The father scowled as he wrapped his arms protectively across his son's chest.
I apologized as I hopped past them. The metallic sound of a heavy door slamming from the landing thudded upward. When I got to it, I ripped the door open to a wide floor filled with people entering the museum.
Now I was sweating, even in the cool, conditioned air. How was Aries able to maintain this pace? Being a major demon definitely had its benefits, but I didn't think perpetual youthful exuberance was one of them. Either he had lived a good life, or I was not as fit as I thought.
And then we were outside, running back through the humans strolling around the open concrete.
The rank Overworld city air struck me in the face. A thin crowd walked along the path to and from the museum. Aries dashed past them.
"Maybe someone should call the cops?" A middle-aged man with gray hair shouted as I raced past. I'm sure this didn't create the greatest perception; me, a young human, for all they knew, chasing an elderly man. If they only understood that I was trying to save them from the apocalypse.
We sprinted down a broad sidewalk crowded with people, turned up the path past the weird candlestick building and out into a large circle filled with cars and trucks.
Aries was at a four-lane street. Two lines of cars in either direction squared off, facing each other from opposite sides. Without stopping, Aries crossed the road. Like a dumbass, I followed.
One second the vehicles were idly sitting and, just as I was halfway across the street, they surged forward, as if it was a competition to see who could be the first to crush me.
One of those vehicles was faster than the rest. At the last second, I saw it in my periphery and leapt as high as I could. I put force behind my jump. Too much force. My foot slipped on the wet road and I lost momentum. Though I cleared the front of the car, I landed on the glass window.
There was a crunching sound. I wasn't sure if it was glass or bone. Or both.
The world filled with screeching noises that dragged into eternity as my momentum reversed. I rolled off the vehicle's hood and back to the hard road surface.
In that moment, a few things happened. One, Aries got away.
Two, the world dulled as sights blurred and sounds muffled.
Three, mortals, the species I never wanted to interact with, never planned to be exposed to, surrounded me, hovering just in front of the gray Seattle sky. Their voices became a collection of identical, unintelligible sounds.
As the Overworld faded, I realized I'd screwed up the chance to resurrect my family's name on my first try. The road surface was warmer than the air, I noticed as my head lolled to one side and my cheek pressed into it. I closed my eyes and slipped into what little peace I had before facing my failure.
Not even a day in the human world and everything had collapsed.
13 - Seattle
"Great job." The voice was almost hostile, filled with sarcasm. I knew it belonged to Ralrek before my eyelids fluttered open. But the presence of the most annoying demon in the Underworld was the only thing I could be confident about.
I opened my eyes, disappointed to see I was correct. Ralrek stood over me.
So was Bilba, offering his hand. "Get up, Zeke." His eyes flicked back and forth among the humans. "We've got to get out of here."
As my vision cleared, I saw the wisdom in his fear. Sitting up with a groan, my head swirling, the remnants of the accident scene were all unfavorable to us. Cars sluggishly passed, now restricted to one lane each way. The backlog of vehicles grew by the second, earning me nasty looks even as I sat in the middle of their roadway, holding my head. Too many mortals formed a loose circle, enclosing us.
A frazzled middle-aged man stood nearby, rubbing his cheeks. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't see you. It's like you came out of nowhere, I swear."
I got to my feet, wincing. My knees were unsteady as if they weren't sure they wanted to commit to holding up the rest of my skeletal system. This hurt. Talk about validation that demons are vulnerable in the Overworld, the great line of demarcation between Hell and Heaven. My stiff back, throbbing head, and all-over stiffness was the only proof I needed.
I bent over to stretch, still smarting from the collision, and waved away the man. "I'm fine. Thank you for your concern," I said through clenched teeth behind a plastered smile, hoping to not appear too aggressive. He gave no sign one way or another, but I wanted to represent us well. The strange looks, the cupped hands to mouths protecting whispers, the pointing, the cell phones to ears didn't lighten my paranoia. Bilba was right. We needed to get out of here, and fast.
"Excuse us," Bilba said to the crowd. They parted easily, like they smelled something they didn't want on them. I wondered if they suspected wrongdoing. Maybe they'd been in the museum and saw us chasing Aries?
I drew a deep breath, knowing I would have to suck up the pain to get out of this situation before someone started asking questions. "Let's go," I said, wrapping my arm around Bilba's shoulder.
Bilba set a slow pace, grabbing my draped arm by the wrist with his thick hand, accidentally digging a few black fingernails into my skin before adjusting his grip and pulling slightly so that more of my weight was leaning on him. His forehead wrinkled in concern, which I wanted to alleviate by picking on him about painting his nails black at his age. A rebel, Bilba wasn't. Under the circumstances, I saved my energy.
"Sure you're okay?" he asked.
My best friend might be a dunce with an amazing memory, but he was my lovable, powerful idiot and didn't deserve to be lied to. "No, but we don't have the luxury of waiting until I am."
Ralrek scanned our surroundings as we crossed the broad road. "We can't go back through that park. Too many sets of eyes. And, with the way you're walking, we'll draw attention regardless of where we are." The cell phone was in his hand and he was manipulating the image on the screen with a finger, studying it. "The city has plenty of side streets and alleys we can take to get back to the sanctuary. That will require more walking from you. Are you up for that?"
I nodded, even though every part of my physical being screamed that I wasn't. That was a debate for later.
So we started away from the candlestick tower and museum where we came face-to-face with one of the first of our species. It was a miserable walk that turned into a limping slug after a few blocks.
We did not talk as we traversed the city until Bilba suddenly laughed. "You've got to admit, it's funny."
"What is," I groaned.
"We've only been here for a day and already came face-to-face with the ancient demon we're supposed to return home and had a near-death situation with the mortals," Bilba said.
"There's nothing funny about that," Ralrek said, sounding more like a father than a cohort in this debacle. "One, dumbass almost landed us in a confrontation with the mortal authorities which we would have been lucky to get away from without causing a celestial incident. And, two, not only did Aries get away, but he knows we're here. That's the worst part, because now he'll be ready."
"But we can still—"
Ralrek cut him off. "Don't even try it. There's nothing we can do. This dumbass needs time to recover. That's at least another few days, if not longer. And without the advantage of surprise or him, since Beelzebub said Zeke is immune, I'm not exactly sure what we do about Aries."
"Zeke," I corrected weakly, but no one was listening.
"We could try talking to him," Bilba said in a restricted tone. "Did you think about that?"
"Talk to Aries? Are you serious?"
I ran the thought through my mind as the two argued. Aries had me thinking. He knew who we were and he could have easily blinked me out of existence, assuming the Council was wrong about my immunity, when we were in the large museum room. But he hadn't. Why not? Was it apprehension over using magic around humans, or maybe I really was impervious to his spells? I needed time to think this through before I took a side.
And that's exactly what I did once we got back to the apartment. Bilba insisted on walking me to my bed and helping me lie down. "That car slamming into you might finally put your head on straight and we don't want to undo that curse from Lucifer."
The world disappeared as sleep crashed down in a blanket of warmth. Hours later, I woke to voices. More than just Bilba and Ralrek were in the sanctuary. Beelzebub was too, there was no mistaking that baritone voice.
I swung my legs out of the bed and stood, amazed at how strong I felt. Deep in my muscle tissue a quiver of exhaustion rippled through me, but besides that, I had no pain. Stronger. I stretched, the burn of energy coursing through my limbs. Standing in the middle of the room, I did a quick set of squats, the fibers in my thighs and calves firing in response. Even when I jumped to my feet, I felt the power in them. Almost as if the accident had not happened at all.
The conversation between the three demons ceased when my bedroom door clicked open. There was no sense in delaying facing the Council member, so I strode out into the living room.
"Hi," I said, my voice constricted. I needed something to drink.
His eyes traveled up and down my body, making me squirm. "Good. Just as we suspected."
Wanting away from the feeling of vulnerability, I moved to the couch, plopping down almost on top of Bilba, who was smiling. "Nice to see you, buddy. How are you feeling?"
"Normal. Great actually," I said.
Ralrek played with the coaster on the table, rolling it around and around.
I turned my attention to Beelzebub. "So, I imagine they told you what happened and now we're in trouble?"
"What gives you that impression?" the Founder asked.
Neither of my companions offered an answer. Bilba took a sudden interest in the mission brief cover, tracing its design. Ralrek sat on the arm of the chair, smirking.
"We didn't catch Aries and may have drawn a little too much attention to our presence." The statement came out more like a question.
"A little?" Beelzebub snorted. "If you consider that to be a little too much, I misjudged your intellectual abilities, boy. That was a 'lot too much' attention. What were you thinking?"
Bilba leaned closer to the chair, closer to Ralrek.
Ralrek answered. "We had him, sir."
Beelzebub's nostrils flared. "You did? Exactly when? Our operative said it was quite the scene, so much so that she half expected to see an angel squad show up to make sure you three wouldn't upset the Balance. So when did you 'almost' have him?"
Ralrek fidgeted and now had a sudden interest in his hands. "When we were in the large room, isolated from the humans."
At that, Beelzebub crossed his arms. Muscle on top of muscle. "And you thought that was a good place for confrontation?"
The question hung in the air between the three of us. Just as Ralrek was never excited to save me, I figured he didn't need my lifeline now. He was the one who jumped out on his own. This was a good opportunity to see if he sank or swam.
"Well … I—I figured," he said.
Beelzebub held up a hand. "Allow me to help you with that answer, boy. No, that wasn't an appropriate place to confront him, which is exactly why he chose that place to meet the three of you and warn you away. Had you tried to do anything," he focused on Bilba and Ralrek, excluding me, "Aries would have easily deflected and still escaped, probably without having to use his Sensory spells. You want to know why?"
Bilba squeaked. "Yes."
"Because Aries is not an imbecile," Beelzebub growled and the air in the room seemed to boil. "If he had done anything, with his power, angel operatives would have gotten word, and Lucifer knows what would have happened as a result, you imbeciles! Exactly what I warned you against. One day in the mortal realm, your first run in with your target, and you already screwed up and jeopardized everything."
"We're sorry, sir," I offered. "I'll admit we weren't ready for the assignment, so we'll understand if you decide to unassign us."
Ralrek slapped the arm of the chair. "We messed up, nothing more. It was an accident, sir. If you give us another chance, I will do better. Assign new partners to me and I'll grab Aries."
Wow, talk about backing the carriage over someone.
Beelzebub turned toward me. "Count your fortunes he didn't kill your friends or that none of the mortals caught on to your purpose. This was your one freebie. No more mistakes. Understood?"
At least the three of us were smart enough to say "Yes sir!" without delay.
Beelzebub wasted no time. Sighing, he said, "Some good came out of this. We have confirmation of Aries being in this Lucifer forsaken city. We couldn't be su
re until today's run in, so you aren't complete failures. Celebrate that. It probably won't last. Now we can focus our attention and provide greater assistance to the three of you."
Bilba raised his hand like we used to do during our demonology courses when trying to get the instructor's attention. "Sir, excuse me if I may."
"Go ahead."
Bilba's cheeks reddened. "Since you know where he is, couldn't the Council grab him? Or can you send more experienced demons? If you did, you could nab him by the end of today. I mean," he shook his head, making his cheeks wobble, "I'm grateful for this opportunity, but Zeke has already been injured and Aries didn't have to do a thing. I …" His voice lowered. "I don't want to disappoint the Council again."
"Therein lies the problem," Beelzebub said.
"What problem?" I asked.
Beelzebub paused, glancing at the chair arm Ralrek sat on and waving at him to take a seat in the chair itself. Ralrek did instantly. "We, the Council can't just grab him. There's no other way to say it than to be blunt. No major demons can, just as no major angels can get directly involved in worldly events."
"But why not?" I asked.
"The Balance," Bilba smiled, his cheeks still rosy.
Beelzebub growled. "If we confronted him, he would resist and that would lead to a battle. One we can't afford to have, unless it was restricted to a sanctuary, his or even this one. That would not only draw attention from the mortals, but it would mean something else. If we took that course of action, the situation would escalate. Depending on how much damage was done our enemies would have no option but to respond."
"You mean a war between Hell and Heaven?" I concluded.