Bitter Aries (The Zodiac Book 1)

by Paul Sating

  Beelzebub nodded, and I swear, for a brief second he looked defeated. "Exactly. The ultimate struggle between demons and angels."

  Bilba whistled. "By assigning us to Aries, the major demons remain uninvolved so if things go ass backwards, major angels won't get involved?"

  Beelzebub smiled. It was creepy. "Now you're getting it, boy. Best-case scenario, if you implings and baby angels throw fists, you won't only hurt or even kill each other. Major ranks will step in to protect their interests, and that will lead to a full-scale conflict. Before Lucifer and Yahweh step in, the two Councils will sit down and hash out a peace accord, if they can. But there are no guarantees."

  "We're nothing but pawns?" Ralrek asked, his shoulders slumping. For a second he looked like a more handsome, fitter Bilba.

  "Check your attitude, boy." A low rumbling sound came from deep in Beelzebub's chest. "No, you're not pawns." His eyes turned to me. "You're the key."

  Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and upper lip as he scrutinized me with his eternal stare. "Me?"

  "You're the only one who can get within reach of Aries without kicking off the Apocalypse," Beelzebub groaned, rubbing a massive paw over his face. "Because of your … condition, he cannot cast spells on you. But, we believe, though we have never been able to test it, obviously, your lack of Ability might actually nullify his if you can capture him."

  I rolled the proposition over in my head for about as long as it deserved. "Sounds risky. Like I'm the one assuming all the risk."

  The Founder's grin lacked all humor. "Yes, you would be. And you're going to do it. Or you'll never see the Underworld again.

  14 - Seattle

  Abandoned in the Overworld if I did not become their slave? This day was going from crap to crappier. What's below crappier? At some point, with my luck, I would discover the answer.

  "The report we received from our operative validates our conclusions about you," Beelzebub said. "The way you chased Aries through the museum; did you not notice how these two weren't remotely effective? And then the accident with the human automobile."

  Ralrek scratched his face, his hand flinching away when he almost tussled his perfect hair. "Sir, with all due respect. Ezekial did nothing outstanding. He chased an old man, and he couldn't even do that right. When I caught up to him, Aries was at the other end of the room. He must have stopped. Zeke didn't catch him, that's for sure."

  "Ezekial," I corrected, but Beelzebub spoke over me.

  "He did far better than you, boy."

  Ralrek's mouth moved without words coming out. Then he finally said, "But he got hit and caused a scene. We were almost discovered. I don't see how that makes him anything special. He still doesn't have Abilities."

  "And we don't need to explain ourselves to you!" Beelzebub roared as he shot forward in the chair. Ralrek jerked back, a leg kicking out as he nearly fell out of his. When Beelzebub sat back, the rumbling sound deep in his chest rattled before fading. His eyes lingered on Ralrek for a few seconds before finding me. "Tell me boy, how are you feeling?"

  "Feeling?"

  "Don't play stupid." His eyes flickered toward Ralrek. "I get enough of that from this one. Answer the question."

  I wasn't sure what the ancient demon meant, but I also didn't want to test his patience or prove him wrong about my intellectual abilities. "I feel fine." The last word came out sounding as confident as a one-legged demon doing his first high-wire walk.

  "Just fine?" Beelzebub pried.

  This was a bigger question. The way Ralrek had him riled up, the last thing I wanted to do was antagonize the Prince of Demons. You just do not mess with royalty, no matter how fabricated—I also was not going to highlight the fact that any claim to a kingdom he thought his family had stopped being relevant after the formation of the First Council, as I remembered the story.

  He must have sensed something in my delay. "Think about it long and hard if you need to. But it's a simple question."

  "I mean, I guess I feel great," I offered instead.

  Beelzebub rolled his eyes. He actually rolled his eyes! I wondered if I would ever give him the right reply, whatever that was. My status report was accurate. I was not trying to be brave or uber-masculine. I felt wonderful, as if the accident had not happened.

  "Just 'great'?" he asked.

  Bilba squirmed on the seat beside me.

  Sweat beads ran down my spine. This was getting uncomfortable. Three sets of eyes watched my every movement, my facial twitches, the way my fingers flicked at the corner of the coffee table. "I'm not sure what you're looking for, sir. But I … feel great. Almost …"

  With that comment, Beelzebub's nostrils flared. "Almost?" He prodded. "Healthy? Good as new? Maybe even better than before?"

  I paused. The Founder had stressed the word 'better.' It was like he was inside my head. "How—how do you know?"

  Now Beelzebub leaned back, finally relaxing from Ralrek's instigation. "As we suspected. Good."

  Bilba shuffled forward. "If I may ask, what is good about that?"

  The Council member showed a wide expanse of broad teeth. "Because he is exactly what we suspected."

  "And what's that?" Demons are taught that humans have a saying about curiosity killing cats. It's a strange maxim, but one I probably should have heeded.

  "You're the Segregate," he said matter-of-factly.

  Ralrek laughed at that. Bilba shot me a nervous glance.

  "Something funny, boy?"

  The handsome jerk covered the end of his laugh with a cough. "No. No, sir."

  "Good." Beelzebub's eyes narrowed, and he watched me for a few silent seconds that stretched into eternity. "You're going be very useful. Very useful. Immune to his spells and with those recovery skills … yes." His words trailed off.

  I looked at Bilba with widened eyes. The corners of his mouth turned down as he shrugged.

  Then the Founder snapped his fingers and a small, three-dimensional image appeared in the middle of the table. "We have other business to attend to now."

  The image was of a house, as if we were standing in a road looking up at it. It was a three-story structure with a row of tall windows facing out over the landscape that drop below. Each level had a balcony. The gray house was crammed into a neighborhood of similar houses.

  "What's that?" I asked.

  "That," Beelzebub pointed at the image, "is where we believe you will find Aries. Because of your exploits today, our operative followed the runaway to where he's hiding. So see? You're not absolute rejects." His grin pulled his blond sideburns up. It looked more like the snarl of a hyena. "But, before you go racing off, we need to get those ground rules set. No one goes rogue or does anything that would bring ill repute upon the Council or Lucifer. You keep your magic to a minimum, and only inside the residence, should you gain access. Aries will have wards against the mortals just as we do here. So you can cast as much and as powerful as necessary. No need to worry about the humans witnessing anything, as long as you do it inside." Each word of his last statement came out harder than the former. "We need to act quickly. He may have moved on since he knows you're here, but we doubt it, and we don't want to give him a chance to either. We need to move now. Remember, discretion is critical."

  "I—I read the brief, memorized it, actually." Bilba tapped his lip with a black-nailed finger. "The Council's plan is for us to overpower his guards, which should be easy enough for Ralrek and I, while Zeke confronts Aries."

  "Correct."

  "What if I'm not immune?" I asked.

  "You are."

  "But—"

  "You are, boy," Beelzebub snapped and scratched his blond sideburn with a dark hand like he was trying to dig out a tick. "With these two handling his bodyguards, you'll be able to subdue Aries. Overpowering him won't be a problem. A powerful magic user, but not a powerful incubus. Now that we know exactly where he is, it's time to share something with you. Once you subdue him, you will need to use this to signal us."

  The F
ounder reached into his pocket. He pulled his hand out, opened it and revealed a small chunk of brimstone. The rock was oval and flat, highly polished. Nice to look at, but hardly what I was expecting.

  "What is that?"

  "A beacon stone," Beelzebub answered, handing it to me. It was heavier than I expected. "Once you have Aries subdued, use it to signal the Council. The beacon will allow us to pinpoint exactly where you are, and we can open a rift. Then, all you have to do is drag him into the rift and escape. We will take care of the rest."

  Looking at the beacon in my hand, I asked, "When do we leave?"

  Once again, Beelzebub snapped his fingers and the tear between the worlds opened in front of our television. He pushed himself up, his triceps bulging underneath his short sleeves. "I'm not sure why you're still here." Message delivered with a punch, the Founder stepped through the rift between the mortal and immortal realms.

  And then he was gone, leaving the three of us to once again stare at each other dumbly.

  "I guess we need to get ready," I said, standing and making my way to the bedroom to dress and confront Aries the First for the second time in a day. When I returned to the living room, Bilba was already there, sneakers laced and smiling like a goofball.

  "I feel good about this one," he said, shifting his weight from foot to foot, reminding me of an implings who waited too long to use the restroom.

  Ralrek joined us shortly afterward, looking as composed as ever. I would swear he simply went to the bathroom to fix his hair.

  "Everybody ready?" I asked. They agreed, and we began our trek toward destiny.

  We made our way west towards Aries's location, through neighborhood after neighborhood, nearly uniform. I wondered how mortals could tell the difference or even navigate when their structures looked the same. Except for the museum and the candlestick tower, the only real differences I noticed in Seattle were the taller buildings closer to the city center. Those were concrete and glass. Every domicile outside the city looked the same to me. How did humans not get lost all the time, unless they had the streets memorized?

  Block after block, the streets were quiet. The day had grown warmer. Still a comfortable temperature for our kind, it did seem to lend itself to keeping humans inside. I didn't see much interaction between neighbors and friends. Not that I had a problem with that, that kept them further away from us and our secrets safe. Small yards were empty. Long, rolling sidewalks that dipped up and over pitched streets were vacant. Only a few dogs barked at birds, cats, and strange demons walking the neighborhood. Calm rested over my buzzing mind.

  My sense of security was false, I knew that. No matter the outward appearance, we couldn't be slack in our duties. This was dangerous work.

  We found the gray house easily enough. The three of us stood on the opposite sidewalk, staring at the house across the street and trying to figure out what step to take next, when Ralrek pointed toward movement in the yard.

  "Think that's Aries?"

  There was only one way to find out, so we crossed the street and snuck up on the yard. Rounding the corner, we peered through the row of full shrubs, taller than Ralrek. They were immaculately trimmed, fitted to the sidewalk without overlapping it, almost as if Lucifer had intelligently designed them to grow like this. Aries tended this yard with care. Strange behaviors for a demon who might set off the apocalypse.

  Carefully separating the branches, I spied a burly man who wasn't yet middle age working in the yard. He might have been twenty thousand years old in demon-age if he was a day. Dressed in shorts and a white tank top, his muscles flexed as he worked.

  "Who's that?" Bilba asked. "Definitely not Aries. Think he's a demon?"

  "No," I shook my head. "I think he's a—"

  During my reply, Bilba fell through the shrubs from leaning too far into them and into the yard, right in front of the muscular human.

  Hellfire, we have a problem.

  "Who the fuck are you?" the man growled at Bilba, who lumbered to his feet.

  "I'm so sorry," Bilba said, his cheeks pink, as he glanced over his shoulder where we remained hidden. My chest ached at the panic in his eyes, but I stayed still, hoping for a peaceful resolution to his misstep.

  The burly man took a step sideways, his eyes never leaving Bilba. Thick branches blocked part of my view. If I moved them, I might as well jump up and down and call the man's mother a goosenecked sow's tongue. If this turned ugly, my friend would need help, and the only way of overcoming the behemoth staring him down was by taking advantage of any surprise we had. When the human stepped back into my line of sight, he held trimming shears. Long ones.

  So much for a peaceful resolution.

  The man wagged the gardening tools at Bilba, who took a step closer to our location. The burly human followed.

  "I'm leaving," Bilba said, raising both hands in a nonthreatening gesture. "You don't have to worry. I'm not here to cause trouble."

  "I'm not concerned with that," came the response along with a shake of his head. "I'm more interested in what you're doing here."

  Bilba continued to back away, casting the occasional glance over his shoulder. I willed him to stop. Unfortunately for me, along with having no Abilities, Lucifer also didn't bestow telepathy upon me.

  "Stop moving now." The man tossed the shears from hand to hand, almost like he was juggling them.

  He was using the questions as a diversion to get closer to Bilba.

  "Come on, dumbass, stop giving us away," I growled in a whisper.

  "What is he doing?" Ralrek sounded as displeased as me.

  "I was passing by, and … I was walking, and," Bilba said with a nervous laugh. "Well, I trip a lot. My friends pick on me about how clumsy I am. You can tell by looking at me, I'm not much of an athlete. I'm always falling and hurting myself. They think it's—"

  "Shut up!" The burly man lunged and grabbed Bilba by the shirt collar. I began to move until Ralrek snagged my arm and pulled in the opposite direction.

  "What are you doing?" I snarled.

  "Hang on," he answered without even looking my way.

  I had been in favor of waiting and maintaining the element of surprise, but this had escalated to a tipping point. The human could do anything now that he had Bilba in his grasp.

  With a tug, the human thrust my friend in front of him, towards the house. Bilba stumbled and caught himself, stumbled again, and finally maintained his upright position.

  "Please, I didn't do anything." By his tone, Bilba was crying.

  No longer caring what Ralrek wanted, I got to my feet. But Ralrek wrapped his arms around me, squeezing as he leaned back. We fell to the ground together. I struggled against his unexpected tackle but broke free within a few seconds. He may be all that and a box of deviled eggs in the Underworld, but he was not physically stronger or quicker. Still, the delay gave the burly man the opportunity to get Bilba inside the residence.

  I turned on Ralrek with a snarl. "What the heaven did you do that for, you idiot?"

  He shrugged. "Because I knew what you wanted to do."

  "And why didn't you let me do that very thing you knew I wanted to do?"

  "Because you would have ruined it."

  "What are you talking about? You just allowed Bilba be captured by some thug. Which, by the way," I held up a finger looking as snarky as possible, "you also allowed to happen at Aries's hideout."

  And that's when Ralrek smirked and stood up. "Exactly," he said before walking to the end of the row of shrubbery. I gave pursuit.

  "What are you doing?" I asked when I'd caught up to him.

  "Bilba brought this on himself, right?" I had to nod in agreement with that. "And since it happened, don't you think it gives us a wonderful opportunity to get closer to Aries while having a distraction?"

  That's when I had an epiphany. "Bilba is inside and the human will be focused on him."

  "Exactly."

  It seemed like a good plan, at least until we came face-to-face with Aries. But w
hat other options did we have? They had Bilba and we couldn't leave him. No demon abandoned another in the Overworld, a lesson as old as our species. It was entirely a different question about what we could do once we got inside.

  I peeked around the corner of shrubs and immediately pulled back.

  "What?" Ralrek asked.

  "It's pretty open." I indicated the direction of the house with a backward nod. "We'll have to make a run for it and hope for the best."

  Ralrek moved around me, craning his neck to take in our surroundings. The houses stacked next to one another were as silent as tombstones in an abandoned graveyard. "Everyone's inside. Too hot for them, I guess. Humans are so weak."

  "I don't know, it's got to be in the nineties and this is Seattle," I argued. "According to the mission brief, that's an extreme temperature."

  He cocked his head. "You actually read it?"

  "Well, no," I said, finding my feet suddenly interesting. "Bilba said something about it."

  Ralrek snorted. "Shocking. Like I said, the humans are weak."

  I took a chance to face him. "Do you have a point you're trying to make?"

  "You said it's open. You lead us out there. Hustle toward the house. I'll be behind you and ready."

  "Ready?"

  He nodded. "If we run into any problems during our approach, I'll back you up. They won't be a problem for me to take care of."

  "You'll cast?"

  "If I need to. Even for you."

  "Gee." I waved a hand in front of my face. "I'm flattered."

  "You're welcome."

  There was a point to his strategy. Him covering me with a spell would allow me focus on getting to the house alive. But the surrounding neighborhood felt like each domicile sat on top of another. Any spell cast outside the home could draw attention, even if the humans were sheltered inside their domiciles. Plus, Beelzebub had stressed that everything needed to happen inside Aries's sanctuary. I didn't want Ralrek to cast, but if it made the difference between me making it back to the Underworld or not, I was all for it. And the blessed Council can clean up their own mess.

  "Let's go," I said. "We can't keep Bilba waiting. Who knows what information he's giving up? He's probably already told them about the rifts into the Underworld by now."