Bitter Aries (The Zodiac Book 1)

by Paul Sating

  "We're not that young, sir." I guess for someone as old as Aries, six thousand years was the batting of a raven's eyes.

  "No, I guess you're not. They," he dipped his head at Bilba and Ralrek, "act like it, but not you. There is much that's different about you. A lot I don't think you understand or even comprehend yet. But you will. One day, long after I'm gone." He extended the stick. "I want you to take this and keep it close."

  I stared at it without taking the eccentric gift.

  He wiggled it. "Go ahead, it won't bite. It's yours now."

  Heat flushed my cheeks. Happy that he was at peace, I couldn't help but feel sympathy at his silly gesture of kindness. The decision of a senile demon? If he was, what other decisions of his were also folly? Had I sided with a madman?

  "What is it?" I asked.

  Aries gave me a warm grin. "This is yours. A very powerful item. Ha," he laughed when he saw my skeptical look, and went into a coughing fit. "It does not look like much, but the day will come when you will realize your station in life, and why you need this. I've waited for a demon like you to come along, for someone I believed could change the fate of thousands. It is mine to give and I'm choosing to give it to you because I'm confident it is fated for you. Please accept a gift from an old demon. It would be rude not to."

  Aries's eyes danced back and forth across mine. He was reading something about my behaviors. What was he looking for?

  I reached out.

  As soon as the dark cherry wood touched my palm, everything blurred. My head felt like it gained twenty-five unwanted pounds of pressure. Bile rose in my throat and I was dangerously close to making a mess all over Aries's living room. With his stairs nearly obliterated, a little vomit would not be such a bad thing.

  After several deep breaths, everything returned to normal.

  "Whew," I breathed. "Sorry about that. Got dizzy for a spell."

  Aries's analysis of me was finished. He grinned behind sparkling eyes. "You're not ill, my young friend. Your reaction is … well, it's all I hoped for."

  "I don't follow." I squinted against the sun coming in from the large windows.

  "Yes." Aries dipped his head. "This artifact you hold is called 'Creed.' That you can hold it at all confirms my suspicions about you. If Creed wasn't fated for you, it would have rejected you, in a most-painful way, I might add. Had it really disliked you, I suspect you would have become part of the Sound," he nodded toward the large windows and the body of water that lay in the far distance. "It belongs to you. Maybe it always has."

  I looked at the foot long stick, almost mesmerized.

  "Creed is the most powerful weapon in all the Underworld. And now it's yours," Aries's voice shook with elderly excitement.

  A stick with a name; the most powerful weapon in all of Hell? If Aries's sanity had not slipped, I was in big trouble.

  "What is special about it?"

  "That," he said, tapping the end of Creed with a crooked finger, "small stick is more than it seems. I hope you weren't too attached to that silly moniker you were unfairly assigned because, now that you have this, you are no longer the only demon in the Underworld's history without magic.

  Me? A magic user? No longer the Segregate!

  It took everything I had to keep my voice steady. "Why me?"

  Aries shrugged. "Because, it's your destiny. You are the one."

  20 - Seattle/Underworld

  As these things go, Aries never got the opportunity to explain. One second, I was sitting on his couch, holding a stick he claimed would allow me to cast aside the moniker I never asked for, and then there was a click and a deep whirring sound. Aries yelled, but the noise suddenly filling the living room cloaked his message.

  Bilba was on his stomach, facing us and holding a small glass orb that pulsated with a faint blue light. The light expanded around Bilba's hand growing. Expanding outward, beyond the size of a ball, then an ember cat. The ball doubled its size within fractions of a second.

  Aries was on his feet. My skin prickled as he conjured. I swore each hair stood erect. This was a major spell, beyond anything I had ever experienced. I wanted to scream, to stop Aries, but I braced myself for Bilba's demise. He had brought this on himself.

  "Grab that!" Aries pointed at the glowing object, his face etched with the strains of effort of holding his spell.

  The orb seemed to react to the ancient demon's warning. Before the bodyguard wrenched the orb from Bilba, the circle of light exploded. Bilba screamed and dropped the orb.

  "No," Aries gasped.

  By the wall of large windows overlooking the neighborhood and body of water below, the now-familiar sound of the air tearing open announced an arrival from the Underworld. A thick leg broke the veil between the worlds of mortals and immortals. Beelzebub was coming through, already casting, every inch of me breaking out in instant irritation at the rough feeling of his magic.

  I shot the most hostile stare I could. His subversive move to use a beacon to bring one of the Council members to Aries's sanctuary was something even Ralrek would not do. But we would not have the chance to get into an argument. Just getting to his knees, Bilba's eyes rolled back and he face-planted into the floor.

  "Lucifer, bless it!" I snarled, running to my friend. I tucked the stick in my waistband as I checked on him.

  I turned him over and patted his cheek. He didn't respond, so I slapped him, maybe a little harder than I intended.

  His eyes fluttered. "Stop hitting me," he groaned.

  "What did you do?"

  Behind me, the sound like a hundred chimera running past filled the room. Every exposed hair on me vibrated, small pin pricks of irritation announcing that great power was at work here. I tried to ignore the amount of magic being manipulated to focus on Bilba, but it was difficult, such was the racket.

  "I had to, Zeke," Bilba groaned. "You made us. You didn't give me any choice."

  "Choice about what?"

  Bilba's eyes finally found their focal point. Me. "You betrayed us."

  "What are you talking about? I didn't betray you."

  Bilba sat up, wobbling and holding his head. "Beelzebub was in my bedroom last night. He told me what you did. Told me you requested a counsel with him and that you would ruin this for everyone by helping Aries run away, Zeke. I couldn't let that happen. He gave me the beacon to open a rift. All I had to do was keep quiet until you got us inside Aries's sanctuary."

  "You dumbass!"

  "You went behind our backs," Bilba shouted, the words stabbing for their unfairness.

  I shot to my feet and spun, ready to confront Beelzebub. No matter how scary the Council member was, he had nothing on the fire coursing through me at being used, convincing my lifelong friend I was the bad demon here.

  For the first time, I clearly saw which team I played for.

  "Bilba, listen. I didn't go behind your back," I said. "Beelzebub opened a rift and made me report to him because—"

  "He said you would blame him." Bilba's tone was frigid. "The Council is always doing something fishy in your eyes. You never trusted them. Maybe it was you that shouldn't have been trusted all along."

  In one corner of the room, the rift crackled. In the other, Aries defended himself from Beelzebub's fireballs with a small air shield that spun at an incalculable speed. His human bodyguard kneeled beside him, taking cover behind a chair.

  The air sizzled with the incantations from the two powerful major demons. With each incantation, an invisible hand dragged a fork over my entire body, all at once. It was the most uncomfortable I'd ever felt in my entire life.

  Beelzebub thrust his hand out. Blue waves of air rushed across the space toward Aries, who waved his hands back and forth, making a dome-shaped shield appear. The shield was much larger than his initial one, shaped like a cereal bowl standing on-edge. When Beelzebub's waves crashed into the barrier, sparks of electricity crackled around the point where the pair collided. Even shielded as he was, the bodyguard flew backward, crashing i
nto the wall. I ducked, out of instinct rather than need.

  Beelzebub squatted low, his arm still extended toward Aries, those blue waves still racing from his hand. Aries took a similar posture. It looked as if both demons were playing a reverse version of tug-of-war, just without the rope.

  Keeping one hand up, Aries looked back at the human. The man was holding his head, but was at least conscious and moving. Seeing that his human companion was okay, Aries made a quick circular motion with his free hand.

  Holding the shield steady, a column of smoke rose from the floor, the same spell Aries used to incapacitate Ralrek. Spinning up, it grew in size and ferocity. Once it was sufficiently large, Aries thrust his hand toward Beelzebub. The tornado raced at his adversary. As it crossed the living space, it tore a path in the carpet, passing the row of guitars and pulling them from the stands. The guitars swirled around the vortex and then sprayed in opposite directions, one flying directly at me. I ducked just before it struck the wall behind me, snapping the neck from the body.

  "Help him!" A voice broke through my stupor. It was Ralrek.

  I hadn't seen him wake from his Aries–induced slumber. Perfect hair tussled into a top-heavy tangle, Ralrek stood on slightly unsteady feet, but ready to battle. It only took me a second to realize he was yelling to us and pointing toward Beelzebub.

  Ralrek's fire spell scratched my skin. A line of flames raced along the floor, burning a black trail into the carpet. Aries stepped aside with relative ease, but his eyes betrayed concern as he fought two demons.

  Unsure how long he could hold out against the pair, the sticky sensation clamped the back of my neck. Behind me, Bilba was about to enter the fray.

  Before I warned him against taking part in this injustice, Aries yelled, pointing at my friend. "Take the fat one!"

  Rude as it was, a third caster was one too many, even for an ancient major demon.

  The bearded man lunged to his feet and sprinted across the small space. Bilba was still in the middle of conjuring when he noticed. I felt his magic slip, the stickiness that typically accompanies Deception magic evaporating in an instant. That gave the mortal time to close the distance. He bowled over Bilba again.

  Beelzebub flicked his wrist up and down. A deep, bassy thrum, the type that shook your chest, signifying something horrible.

  The air to the side of Beelzebub ripped open, smaller than the rift that allowed him to enter the Overworld. Dozens of black shapes inside the thin veil between this world and the realm of demons. The air behind this new rift rippled, almost like water as a slight breeze dances across it. But there was a blackness to it that hid its true weapon undulating behind the veil.

  Dozens of pairs of wings, each as black as the void of space and as large as pumpkins, burst from the rift. Three and four bats at a time crossed from the Underworld to the Overworld, filling Aries's abode with their screeches. They raced toward the first of his name, swarming.

  Aries cut off his tornado that was terrorizing his three opponents to fend off the onslaught of bats. With his free hand, Aries cast another shield to encase himself.

  The ancient demon glanced at me. Those ice-colored eyes spoke of despair as he held the shaking shield bubble around himself. The constant bombardment of fireballs stopped only while Ralrek helped Bilba with the bodyguard by slamming the body of a damaged guitar across the back of the human. It did not knock him out cold like it always seemed to in mortal movies, but he fell off my plump dickhead friend, holding his head. The separation gave Bilba time to conjure ropes. When they materialized, he sent them slithering—did you expect anything else—at the fallen human, wrapping the man's thick wrists and ankles.

  "No!" Aries's shout was strained.

  He was looking up at the second level while holding off Beelzebub's bats and blue waves. The goateed human braced his crutches in his armpits and had leveled a pistol at Ralrek. Bilba was the one who had shattered the man's leg yesterday, so I was mildly surprised at his choice of target.

  "Down, idiot!" I shouted.

  Ralrek turned to me instead of taking cover, but it did not matter. The human did a double-take at Aries and lowered his pistol, but only slightly. Distracted by him, I did not see the tall bodyguard level Ralrek with a blow to the back and start after Bilba.

  "Lucifer bless it, Zeke! Do something!" my friend pleaded as he tried to fend off the man with useless punches.

  I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if I wanted to help. He thought I'd betrayed him and intended to help Beelzebub. Bilba's lack of faith in me hurt.

  But he was my best friend. My only real friend. I raced to Bilba, grabbing the human by the back of his shirt and pulling him off my fellow demon. I used a little more force than I intended. The mortal skated across the floor to underneath the piano. Bilba cast a pair of shackles and locked the man's wrists to the piano leg.

  "We've got to stop this!" I yelled, ducking as something exploded behind us. I turned to see Aries setting the air above him on fire, consuming the dozens of bats spinning above him. "Someone will get hurt. Someone will die!"

  It would not be Sea Hawk; he was still cowering somewhere, but I did not want either one of my partners remembering there was a missing human.

  Bilba pulled his lips back, his mouth forming a snarl. "This is our task. Get on board."

  "And it needs to be Aries! It's our duty! We don't get to question." Ralrek said as he pulled himself to his feet and started a new incantation.

  This time, the feeling of sandpaper was deeper, almost inside my skin. Then he released. Sets of fireballs, small and swirling, three at a time, arced out from his hands, exploding against Aries's shield but doing no damage to him or the home.

  "Stop, dickhead," I said. "Leave them to fight this out."

  Aries's shield flickered. It was rapid, almost subtle, but it was weakening. How much longer could he hold out?

  Bilba tried to move around me, the sticky sensation of his Deception magic creeping over me. I stepped in front of him. "Don't do it."

  He shoved me. I wasn't ready for it and stumbled. "Stop. I don't even know who you are anymore."

  That made two of us.

  "Wrong. You do. You've forgotten who you are."

  The battle raged on. The air swirled from Beelzebub's spells and the impact of his magic crashed against Aries's shields along with the periodic and rhythmic crackle of Ralrek's fireballs exploding on that protective layer.

  A sanctuary under siege.

  Bilba shook his head, trying to step around me again. I blocked him again. His shoulders rose and fell in rapid breaths. "Don't make things difficult. You don't care to understand why this has to be done. The Council knows best, so just trust them. And if you can't do that, get the heaven out of my way, so I can!"

  He tried a third time. I blocked him. "No, you're not getting involved, Bilba."

  Behind me, Beelzebub growled. He and Aries sweated from their efforts, the blue wave combined with a consistent battering of larger fireballs striking the bubble shield, which was still holding. The room was thick with tension and effort as the major demons held unending spells. A monumental event, I never imagined I would see magic displayed at this level. The size of Beelzebub's wave, combined with the fact that he maintained it while casting a secondary spell was something I didn't know was possible. Aries's shield held off the constant barrage from a magical peer, while swatting away the pathetic attempts by Ralrek.

  The Council member cut off his spells and instantly recast, only seconds passing between spells, barely enough time for me to sense the deeper rough sensation of his fire magic. This time, blue swirls of heated air arced around the room, rocking paintings from their wall hangings and swaying the light fixtures set fifteen feet above. A chair was lifted and sent flying across this open area and crashing against the wall above Ralrek's head. He ducked late, breaking his spell.

  In that flicker of an opportunity, something exploded against the back of my head, which felt like it gained ten pounds. Small pinp
ricks of white light filled my field of vision. The world tipped sideways as I fell, blacked out before I hit the floor.

  ***

  I don't know how long I was out. The sounds of air warping, the crackle of fire, and demons grunting and groaning welcomed me back to the world. My body still sensed the magic being cast, but it was muted, the power fading. The magic users were tiring.

  Rolling over, I held the back of my head. Shards of what used to be a plant pot sprayed out in an arc across the floor, dotting the wood with the white and blue porcelain.

  I checked for Sea Hawk, seeing the top of his head behind cover. That left Bilba as the only possibility.

  Unsteady as I got to my feet, I propped myself up on the end table.

  Beelzebub, Ralrek, and Bilba attacked Aries. Ralrek with fire. Bilba with his Deception, conjuring darts. And Beelzebub, as major demons are wont to do, using a variety of higher level fire spells.

  And then there was Aries. Face bloodied and on his knees, his long hair swirled around him, slapping him in the face and tangling into knots. The force of the three demon's attacks blew his robe back, exposing his pajama pants. An old incubi's pajamas. Even the blood could not hide his weariness.

  The ancient demon grabbed the back of the newly unupholstered couch to stabilize himself before dropping to his knees. Extending his free arm, Aries sent a small beam of black liquid at Ralrek. It fizzled from the old demon's hand, striking Ralrek's leg but not with half the force it could have on any other day. The substance instantly grayed as it cooled, locking Ralrek's foot to the floor.

  Aries shot another beam at Bilba but it failed to reach him, splattering on the bare floor.