by Paul Sating
"I paid handsomely to have this conversation. Why can't we talk now, with them around?"
He grunted again. "Don't know the reasons and don't need to. Just know what I know. And what I know is Aries wants to talk to you. Alone. Doesn't matter to me which you choose." His eyes went to that cardboard box, too-full of my bills. "Either way, I'm eating well tonight."
So that was it. I had a decision to make, one that might never come again if I didn't play it right. I turned to Ralrek and Bilba. "Why don't you guys take off? I've got this."
Bilba's real good at looking confused more times than not, and he didn't disappoint. "What are you talking about? We're not leaving you here."
Ralrek crossed his arms. "What are you up to?"
"Not up to anything." I shook my head. "Just trying to have a friendly conversation and the two of you are ruining our vibe. Head down the street. There was a pub two blocks back. I'll meet you there when I'm done."
"Zeke—" Bilba objected, but I raised my hand.
"I need you to trust me on this," I said. I gave him a wide-eyed look, hoping he picked up on the fact that there was more going on here.
He squinted at me, like he was trying real hard to not pass gas, before nodding slowly. "I guess I am hungry," he said carefully. "Come on, Ralrek, let's go."
Ralrek looked at Bilba as if he'd grown a fourth eye—not implying that he even has a third, but that's exactly the look Ralrek gave—and shook his head. "No way. We're not leaving this idiot here alone. Who knows what he'll screw up."
Bilba tugged his arm. "I want to get something to eat. Now, let's go."
Ralrek allowed himself to be pulled along, putting more effort into shooting me a skeptical look than resisting Bilba. "This is bullshit."
I stood by the drummer, watching my best friend walk away with the biggest asshole in the Fifth Circle, hoping I hadn't just made the worst decision of my life.
Once they crossed the street at the next block, the drummer slapped the top of one of his buckets, startling me. "Have a seat, my boy."
I slid the bucket between my legs and squatted. At least if I was going to die, it would happen with a bucket-load of public humiliation and not being dragged off into a dark alleyway.
"If you know Aries, then you're no stranger to who we are and why we're here, so I'm not sure why you didn't tell the three of us."
Propping his elbows on his knees, the musician smirked. "Don't know nothing but what Aries wants me to know, and we keep it at that. Don't need to be getting in his business. Don't want to be in his business. Aries is a good man and one hell of a guitarist, and I'd like to keep that friendship with him. So I respect him and what he does with his time when he isn't jamming with me."
"Fair enough," I said, trying to be patient. "What is it you needed to tell me? We're in a hurry."
"What did I say about young men and hurries? Anyway." He waved a dirty hand in the air. "I got good news for you."
I sat up straighter. "What is it?"
The old drummer man leaned even further forward. I could almost taste his stale breath. "Aries wants to meet you. But there's a catch."
Of course. Nothing about finding the ancient demon was simple. "What's the catch?"
"Your friends are going to be waiting a while longer if you want talk to him."
16 - Seattle
I'm not exactly a coward, but I also can't say with any confidence that I was okay with having to meet Aries on my own. The arrangement was for a public space, which removed any stress about being alone with someone who could blink me out of existence without even putting his coffee down. In the museum he'd proven he wasn't willing to make a scene in front of the mortals, so why would he now?
I was to meet him without delay, ironic considering the lecture I got from the old drummer about being in a hurry. The restaurant was a few blocks away, on the floor level of an apartment complex. No one in the Underworld would believe a Founder would want to speak to me—ME! The Segregate—like I was a somebody. No matter how important to the mission the Council told me I was, no matter how often in our quick meetings Beelzebub said that this came down to me, I did not believe it. This was too strange to be reality. My skin prickled with energy as I approached the restaurant entrance.
The interior was small, with windowed walls facing the active street, giving it a comfortable and safe feeling for someone in my position. An open booth was close to the door, so I helped myself to it, still unsure of proper dining etiquette. I figured if my meeting with Aries went to Heaven in a hand basket, I needed an accessible escape route—not that I ever expected to get away if he had his mind set on destroying me.
I ordered a soda and a small serving of French fries—you humans don't know how good you have it with those damn things. We've got hundreds of thousands of years of a head-start on your species and we've never conceived of them, making me question our own evolution. Lost in the merriment of those fried potato slices, I didn't notice his presence until the prickling sensation spread over my body for the second time in minutes. On the back of my neck, instantly cold, instantly irritating.
I turned to stare into the face of an ancient demon.
His piercing eyes struck me. The color of ice, they locked on me, pulled me in. His long, white hair was pulled into a ponytail, revealing skin that looked dry from age. He stood near the door, hunched slightly.
He gestured for me to join him with a quick nod of his head.
Without waiting, he exited the restaurant. I gestured to the server that I would be outside, and he gave me a nod that told me he could not care less. The evening was just starting to fade to night and, trust me on this, I took great solace in watching that great expanse above darken. The lower the sun fell, the more the blues faded away to the more familiar dark shades. Personally, I could not wait for darkness to descend. This place might even feel like home when it did.
Aries was sitting at a street side table set out under a large, red umbrella. A neat row of lights was clipped around its edge. The evening was still too bright for them to be of much use. A tall glass with a puddle of condensation surrounding it sat in front of him. The ancient demon smiled warmly.
Brimstone filled my shoes, slowing my approach. Here he was, before me. One of the last firsts of his name; maybe the last, I could not remember. Aries watched me, his eyes never flicking away, even for an instant. I was not even sure if he blinked.
The prickling sensation I first noticed upon entering the restaurant was more than an irritant now. It was annoying. I should have been aware. How did I not put the pieces together? Of course I would sense him, just as I did any time someone conjured. But I always felt it. Did that mean Aries was constantly casting? Whatever the answer, I was about to find out.
I shuffled forward. He motioned to the empty chair. "Thank you for joining me, young one," Aries said.
Sort of surreal, finding myself at a sidewalk table at a suburban restaurant in the Overworld on a gorgeous evening with one of the universe's oldest demons. My brain felt fuzzy, thoughts blocked. I sat and fiddled with the corner of the table while trying to meet the ancient's eyes.
A human couple walked by. They served as a nice distraction, allowing me to examine Aries while he watched them. Young, probably in their early twenties, in human years, holding hands as they displayed the intimacy of a new relationship. He turned his eyes back on me and I panicked, locked by those icy blues. He was a first of his name. Beelzebub said I was immune to Aries, but part of me worried the ancient could blink and drop me dead where I sat.
"Wonderful, isn't it?" Aries said, his eyes shifting to the pair.
"What is?"
Aries lifted his sweaty glass of water, ice cubes clinking. "The humans. The way they seem happy to embrace this temporal existence even when they have no clue how temporary it is."
"I guess so."
His shoulders drooped. "Supposedly, we are the superior species. Immortal to them, but we know better. Still, we have had long enough to f
igure out how to live peacefully, to the benefit of you, you would think. Often, I wonder if that near immortality has made us intellectually lazy. Do you understand?"
I was grateful that he wasn't looking at me, not yet. He was still studying the young couple.
"I'm not sure," I answered.
We sat for a moment while Aries thought about whatever major demons pondered while I examined the wood menu shaped like a griddle. The food wafting over from the next table smelled fantastic and, even though the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I had eaten before leaving the sanctuary was still sitting in my gut, I found myself ready for my first Overworld restaurant experience.
"What do you recommend?"
Aries leaned forward wearing a juvenile smile. "Humans call this style of food in this restaurant 'Americana.' If it's a meat-centric dish, they'll have it. Impressive number of choices, if I'm being honest. Outside of playing music, eating here is one of my favorite pastimes." He leaned back in the chair and patted his stomach, that boyish grin spreading even further. "My time in the Overworld has done little for my health."
Aries laughed, his chest jerking with heartiness, before a coughing fit cut it off. "Excuse me," he said, taking a sip of water.
It was strange, feeling this amiability. His lack of hostility contributed to a sense of connection. In this moment, we were simply two demons, sharing a meal and an experience.
Since the Council didn't set a deadline, I had a little time. The sooner this business was finished, the better, but that didn't mean it needed to happen tonight. Instead of rushing into an effort to recapture Aries, was it possible a deliberate approach would reap greater benefits? It was worth an attempt and, honestly, the smell of the plates at the nearby tables made my mouth water.
A different server came by for our order. Setting down a tall glass of water filled with ice, her smile showed off her perfect teeth and dimples. She was hot—for a mortal. I gleefully put in an order for a chicken wings, holding off on ordering my half pound hamburger until later.
"You're going to love them," he said with a wink as she departed. "Some of the best wings in town. Though, they come with a warning. Your ass and your two friends may not appreciate your malodorousness for the next few hours afterward."
I chuckled. "That's the least I can do for them. They deserve it."
Aries nodded, scrutinizing me, though his gaze never lost its joy. "I was never one for companions when the Council sent me on missions in my younger days. I can appreciate where you're coming from in that respect. It's not easy, and I found companions slowed me. I much prefer to get in and get an assignment done."
"I'm glad to have mine … well, one of mine."
"How long did they send you for? And don't tell me that rotten grouch Beelzebub is chaperoning your party? He is a nightmare to deal with. Always out to prove his claim as the Prince of Demons as valid. A joke, if you ask me, but you weren't."
We were seated at a sidewalk table. Any human walking by, admittedly few at the moment, might overhear the conversation. Whereas I'd measured every word since I spoke here, Aries threw around Founders like they were bean bags in a drunken cornhole game.
A trio of men sat a few tables away, a tall pitcher of light, yellow beer on their table. Half of it was gone. A couple next to them only had eyes for each other. Two older women clinked glasses of red wine together while ridiculing someone named Beatrice—whoever she was, they did not think much of her. No one seemed to care about our conversation.
"Don't worry, I placed a ward long before you got here. Just a listening ward, not the full ward we use when entering the Overworld. The humans can't hear us."
Aries took a long sip of his water. His lip curled into a smirk just beyond the rim of the glass. I was way out of my league.
"So you're free to share what you need to, young one."
"We don't really have a determined time frame," I said.
"Just the three of you?"
"Yes."
"Was I right? About Beelzebub? Is he your chaperon?"
My throat suddenly felt dry. I took a long swig of water and collected my thoughts. There was something he did not like, really did not like, about Beelzebub. Somehow, I had been positioned between the pair. Rock, come meet hard place.
"Yes." The one-word answer sufficed. I needed to be careful.
Aries tipped his head back. "Ah, yes, my dear old friend. I'm not shocked they selected him for the task. Not my biggest fan, that is for sure. Him or his family." He laughed at something—a distant memory?—but it sounded bitter. "He's fond of imps such as yourselves coming for your first mission. Gives him a chance to bully someone."
"I'm no imp, sir."
"No, I don't imagine you are. Fair enough." Aries paused as another human passed. Then he sat back in his chair and interlaced his hands over his stomach. "Let me ask you something, Ezekial. What have you been thinking about, young one? Have you been questioning?"
"Questioning?"
Aries shrugged slowly, the corners of his mouth turning down. "Your role? The purpose of your mission? Even the necessity of it? The demon who stops asking questions is the demon who stops living. Never stop asking."
"Yeah, my father isn't a big fan of my inquisitive nature," I said, giving a nervous laugh in the direction of my cup of water.
Something passed over Aries's face. After a minute of reflection, he said, "It's part of our conditioning, I'm afraid. To not ask questions. Maybe nature herself demands a distinct lack of curiosity and maybe that's where we find the courageous, be they mortal, immortal, or somewhere in between. Those unafraid to ponder, inquire." His ice-colored eyes turned hard, focus directly on me. "They question without boundary and fear."
It felt like he expected me to say something. "I mean, I have considered a few things."
"Like what?"
My bottom lip jutted out, and I was about to respond when the server—her name tag read 'Kelly'—delivered my soda and wings. With the plate right in front of me, the spicy seasoning on the wings tingled my nose. This delicacy might be a match for the Hellfire. My nose hairs retracted in fear of what I was about to do to the rest of my body. But Lucifer, I was hungry.
"Go ahead, dig in," Aries said.
No plate sat in front of him. "You're not eating?"
He chuckled. "You'll find as you age, young one, you can't afford to eat as often and as much as your younger days. I would love to, but I need to be careful. This," he patted his stomach, "doesn't exist from lack of effort. When I first came to the Overworld for good, I may have been slightly gluttonous. My hesitancy to give in to my desires is a monumental struggle, let me tell you."
Well, I did not know how long I was going to be in the Overworld, so I had no problem being gluttonous—beside the fact it is not taboo for us. I grabbed a wing. It was hot and as I brought it closer to my mouth, a few more nose hairs retreated in defeat. This experience was seconds away from awesomeness. Before I stuffed the meaty wing into my open maw, I threw a statement at Aries.
"We were told you've been here for half a year now."
"That long?" he said. "Never feels like it, I'll tell you that much. Never has. Even less so this time, since I planned all this. Time passes … strangely for us here, young one; a side effect of being immortal creatures in the mortal realm. I've been enjoying my time here, spending much of it playing music with the local street musicians. Too many of them are homeless and enjoy the company and distraction. Theirs can be an especially difficult life."
The combination of sauces and spices scorched my throat as the wing went down. I coughed and took a second healthy swig of water, emptying the glass and searching for Kelly. At least this didn't taste like ash, a staple of our Underworld diets.
His eyes twinkled. "Be careful with those. The burning only gets worse the more you eat."
I feared he was right, but that did not stop me. My question came out sounding as if sandpaper had blasted my throat. "Homeless? You hang around them?"
Aries's eyes lost their twinkle. "In the Overworld, far too many are destitute. Circumstances vary, but each one is a sad story when you take the time to hear it. Here, thousands upon thousands live without an abode. Amazing people. They exist, day-to-day on the streets. It can be a harsh reality. Harsher than anything in the Underworld."
"We have some homeless in Hell. Heaven too, I heard." The chicken wing hung limp in my hand.
Aries shook his head. "Not like here. Not even close."
"Why doesn't someone help then?" I waved the wing around in the air, at the tall structures around us. "Seems like the humans have enough of these. So many, I feel claustrophobic."
Aries drew a deep breath through his nose, sitting back in the chair and stretching. "I remember my first trip to the Overworld. Unlike you, my mission was simple. They, Lucifer's First Council, to show you how old I am, sent me to a small village in Africa to recover remains of one of the descendants of these humans. Keep it out of their sight, they said. Politics. You'll find plenty of politics are in play if the Council keeps employing you. This world is so diverse, young one. Its people, weather, and its habitations. Seattle is crowded, I'll give you that, but there's much worse."
"There is?" I was genuinely shocked.
Laughing with a racking cough, Aries said, "Avoid any assignments to Asia if you get one. If this is claustrophobic, I fear for your sanity should you ever be assigned there. To answer your question, humans don't operate like we do. They see their homeless and they know they're there, but for the most part, humans aren't compelled to do much about them. Mortals prefer to rationalize away how someone could find themselves in a position like that."
"They leave them to fend for themselves?"
Aries's head bobbed up and down. "Essentially."
"That's cruel. I bet even angels wouldn't do that to their homeless."