by Paul Sating
When she finally answered, her words came in a slow, measured cadence. "One of the most wonderful advantages we have over the mortals is time, Ezekial. We have ages. Sometimes, too much time. It makes us lazy, apathetic. You have your whole life in front of you and a thousand-thousand adventures await. Hold on to that, because understanding how much time you have will help you get through what lays ahead. This period will be tough and you will struggle. But this will strengthen you in the end."
A dark thought zipped through my mind, one I kept to myself and would never share with her in a million years. I wondered if she ever had the courage to entertain the possibility that my end might come soon. In the end, the Council sentenced me and moved on, Aries all but forgotten. Their stupid Balance preserved. But I did not trust them to stop watching my back, not after seeing how devious they could be. Not after seeing the flashes of concern in their eyes for Creed.
A public shaming, six months of imprisonment, and five long years of home imprisonment made the Fifth a claustrophobic cell that would make it simple for any Council eyes to keep a close watch on me. I doubted I would ever be free of them, especially as long as I held the magical halberd.
Aries never had the chance to educate me on the weapon's nature. One thing was for sure, I planned on exploring the background of this weapon and see what I uncovered with all the free time I now had. And when I discovered the secrets to unlocking Creed's ability to help me cast …
Mother squeezed my hand. I blinked away the cloud of thoughts. "You'll get through this, Ezekial. Your father and I will be there, and you will come out the other end. I promise, even if it doesn't feel like it."
"You're more confident of him than I am."
She tsk'ed. "Don't worry; I'll take care of everything."
Ahead, rising into the blue-hued space, was the Angel Oak I called home, and inside, was my father. My difficult and disappointed father, exhausted from a week of "I told you so's" and lectures about the necessity of compliance and adherence to laws that Lucifer set forth.
Thoughts of my frustrating father dropped away. Standing a few hundred yards away from our house, waiting, was Bilba. His hands stuffed in his pockets, he shifted his weight. I loosed a heavy sigh.
My mother leaned in. "Make peace, Ezekial. He's going to be key in you getting through this. Don't push him away without giving him a chance to explain."
And with that, she let go of my hand and made her way past Bilba, stopping to give him a hug and kiss on the cheek.
I approached cautiously. "Hey."
"Hey."
After that warm and loquacious greeting, we stood staring at the ground, inspecting the soil for woodlice, or anything that would require our attention.
"Listen, I'm sorry about everything," I said. "The way things went down. I should have talked to you, but Ralrek was always around and Beelzebub really brought me to his chambers the night before … well, you know."
Bilba smiled. It wasn't joyful by any stretch of the imagination. Enjoyable experiences were at a premium recently. "Yeah, me too, Zeke. I'm really sorry. I should have given you a chance. It's just, you're so skeptical about everything … well, I wasn't fair to you. I should have given you a chance to explain before we got to Aries's house. I still had that chance, regardless of whether or not I had Beelzebub's beacon. I'm just ... I'm just not as brave as you. All I could think about was my dad."
I looked away from his tear-rimmed eyes and up at our tree home, dreading another confrontation with my father.
Bilba looked up at the house too. "Not getting any better?"
I shook my head. "No. Worse, in fact. He's been shunning me completely, treating me like I don't exist."
"I feel horrible about all of this, Zeke. They told us we were doing the right thing." He grimaced, his cheeks flushing. "I—I'm so stupid. Beelzebub was convincing."
And you never doubted, never questioned? I kept my thoughts to myself. "We were playing way out of our league."
"Aries, well, that was a chance of a lifetime, wasn't it? I never thought I'd take part in …"
He didn't need to finish. We both knew what happened, and that his killing wasn't unjustified. The only one okay with it was Ralrek, but I didn't have any plans of ever interacting with him again. His opinion was irrelevant.
"It wasn't right, what happened." Bilba gripped his hands so tightly his knuckles turned white. "This entire week I've been going over and over what led up to it. I don't know where it got away from me, where I got caught up in all of it. During the fight, I opened the beacon because I thought the Council would arrest him and we'd be done with everything, and I could earn some coin for my family. If I'd known what would happen … If I have to spend the rest of my life making up for what I did, I will. Do you think—did he tell you, Aries … did he say if he had a family?"
"Maybe that's something we can check into. You know, to make things right again?"
Now Bilba's smile lightened with joy. "I would like that."
"I'll help how I can, but who knows how many opportunities I'll get. At least for a while."
Bilba's tone dropped. "It will suck, not hanging like we used to."
"Oh, I'll be around. I can't leave the house without permission, but they never said you couldn't come by. Trust me, you'll be sick of me within the month."
Bilba laughed, it was halfhearted. "Well, I guess I better let you get in there. No sense in delaying your fun." He smiled and opened his arms. "Any chance I could get a hug?"
I stepped to him, mimicking his gesture, and we embraced. And that's where we stood for a few awkward minutes, not for us, but for those wandering by who might wonder what were up to and for the eyes of the Council, wherever they were. For the moment, I ignored the distraction of concern with other demons and their thoughts, and held Bilba in our shared confusion at the world. When we pulled away, Bilba was wiping his eyes.
"I've got to get going, man. See you soon?"
He turned before I nodded, not knowing when 'soon' would be or when we'd hang out again. But Bilba was the demon of honor, the one who did the Council's bidding. As long as they weren't aware of his remorse over his actions I figured he would be okay in their eyes.
I hoped so anyway.
"Soon." The word scratched on its way out of my constricted throat.
I watched my friend walk away until he was out of sight and immediately regretted letting him leave. There was so much I still wanted to say, so many thoughts I needed to share with the only demon I could safely share them with. Who knew when I would get the chance to do that again?
With him gone, it was time to face another regrettable interaction with my father. As I approached the front door, I wondered what sermon was in store for me this time. Hurtful words would be said, slicing apart my shaky confidence. But I wouldn't break. I wouldn't let him, or anyone, put me back in the box I had spent my entire life inside. What I had done was for the right reasons, the real right reasons. Of that, there was no doubt. My father and the Council could accept it or not, but I was okay with my decisions.
I respected Aries's wishes until the very end. Though I'd failed to save him, I hadn't betrayed him. And that was something I valued more than anything now that I understood how deep the machinations of the Council extended.
Respected him enough to help him avoid returning to Hell, while helping avoid a permanent stain on the five Founders who'd just passed judgment on me. Heaven, my actions spared Lucifer blushes. No bad publicity for the elite. Imprisonment and punishment, my reward.
One thing was for sure. I would never again fail anyone like I had failed Aries.
THE END
Keep following Zeke's adventure!
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The Horn of Taurus, today!
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Also By Paul Sating
Fiction
Fantasy
The Zodiac Series
Bitter Aries
The Horn of Taurus (August 2020)
The Gemini Paradox (September 2020)
Cancer's Curse (October 2020)
The Pride of Leo (2021)
Crown of Thieves
Birth of a Thief (free for newsletter subscribers)
Horror
The Scales
12 Deaths of Christmas
The Plant (Free Short Story)
Suspense
RIP
Chasing the Demon
Nonfiction
Novel Idea to Podcast: How to Sell More Books Through Podcasting
Podcasts
Audio Fiction with Paul Sating
Horrible Writing with Paul Sating
(Both podcasts are available on all major podcast apps)
Acknowledgments
This book fell out of my head one day after hiding in the folds of my gray matter for years. For years, and I mean years, I was going to write a story about the zodiac. It was going to be … something. What, I just wasn't sure was what kind of book it was going to be. At first, it was going to be about a serial killer (yawn—nothing against serial killers, or serial killer stories involving the zodiac, but come on, Paul). Then it was going to be a series. I just didn't know what kind of series. Then it was going to be a series of books under my Subject: Found podcast. Then I killed that.
That's when the idea for the zodiac faded and I went on to other projects, like the horror and suspense books you've already read, or one of the gazillion podcasts I have made over the years.
Low and behold, one day I decided to commit to moving away from horror and suspense and into fantasy, my true love. There's a massive (epic) fantasy story I want to tell in Crown of Thieves, but I decided to hold off on writing really long books until I had a fantasy following.
I wanted to write a fun (and hopefully funny) action fantasy in the vein of Jim Butcher's Dresden books. I have loved them from page 1. But it wasn't until all of these forces came together in June of 2019 that I had the epiphany. Shorter, tighter, action-based stories. In a series. Something that would draw in fantasy fans and keep them fed until I could work on monster books in the Crown of Thieves series. Something like … hey, the Zodiac has twelve signs. Twelves signs. Twelve books!
And off I went, writing a book in less than a month, for four straight months. I could have kept going, but who knows if this series will find a home. Until I make a decision one way or another, I will have explored the first four zodiac signs by October 2020. I hope you'll journey with me. Ezekial is a pretty awesome dude, as far as demons are concerned, and there are plenty of adventures awaiting him.
Until that decision needs to be made, this is here. We have Zeke, and Bilba, and Aries and, yes, even that jerk, Ralrek. And there are some important people I want to thank for helping these characters come to life.
Maddie is the light of my life, the beacon through the gray and rainy days, and the dark and stormy nights. She is my Alpha everything. When I first told her about the idea I had for this series, she was excited (and if you knew her, you would know how empowering it is when she gets excited about something you're doing). When she read the early drafts of the first two books in the series, she told me I was onto something. In the weeks and months that followed, after losing my job and us discussing if I should try this author thing full-time, it was her who pushed me through the fear and doubt. When things got scary, as they often have been during job loss and a world-wide pandemic, she kept me centered, grounded, and focused on really giving this career thing a shot. Every author, every aspiring writer should be as lucky as I am.
Nikki and Alexandra are my grade card for life. Watching what these young women have become reminds me that I didn't do half-bad as a father. I'm so very proud of everything they have accomplished and I look forward to seeing what else they will. As proud as I am of The Zodiac story, my pride for you two amazing young women is ten, nay, a hundred-fold!
Outside of my wife and kids telling me how amazing I am, it's an albatross to bear, I swear, I would never have made it this far if it weren't for having someone who can shoot straight with me at all times and remind me that I'm not all that, someone to never let me forget that I was a punk from Day 1, and a punk I remain to this day. Most importantly, every writer needs someone outside of those who "are supposed to support" them, who will not allow the writer to crumble to self-doubt. For me, that person is Kevin Baker.
All writers will tell you their editor, assuming they like them, was a critical cog in the machine that resulted in the book you enjoyed. I thought I understood that, until I started working with Cindy Niespodzianski. Editors are supposed to make writers better writers. Great editors shoot straight when they need to, cuddle when they must, but always keep the eye on the bigger picture—making the best book possible while also helping the writer to grow with each book. Without a doubt, I am a much better writer today because of Cindy and her feisty-yet-mighty red pen!
I met Cheyenne Brawmwell over the Internet. You wouldn't think long distance relationships could develop into wonderful friendships through fiber, plastic, cables, electricity and all the wonderful algorithms that bring people together over vast distances, but that is what happened with her. A lover of fiction, fantasy, and fighting, Cheyenne was a vital early part of this series. I trusted her with reading the early books to get a sanity check, because I know she "gets" these types of stories. And she got it, finding that I was, indeed, partially sane and that Zeke was a pretty good guy. The jury is still out on whether or not she thinks Ralrek is an ass.
Life can be funny. Internet connections, over long time, across multiple media, through time and over distance. Kevin Rowlands has been lurking in the shadows of my creations for more years than I know at this point. Always supportive, his quiet encouragement has lifted me during life's challenges. Though I've never met him in person, I feel his silent strength from across the continent. What can I say, but 'thank you' to someone who is always there, always supporting by being present, leaving comments and feedback, sharing posts, talking up my stuff to others, volunteering to read everything I write. With people in my life like Kevin, I often wonder how I got so lucky.
No book is complete without the efforts of Advance Readers. These are the amazing folks who take time out of their lives to give the book a read before the rest of the world sees it. Bitter Aries was no different and I wanted to thank the following people for their kind help: Louis Jackson, TC Grassman, Natalie Aked, Adina Dumitrache, Lori Peterson, Alexandra Lohman, Anne Shaw, Lorella Piras, Cody Wilson, and Hazel M.
Before we get to the end, there is something important that happened in my author career after I already had this book's first draft written. Three months after starting on the book, I joined a Mastermind group, led by author AC Ward (check out her YA stuff on Amazon!). The group is a mix of experienced authors and early-career writers, and everyone in between. This tour-de-force-oriented group has helped me in immeasurable ways. They've helped me make important decisions which allowed me to focus on this series, helped me stay accountable to myself and you, the reader, and it is because of them that I decided to go with the book cover you see today. Never did I imagine we would discuss the topics of phallicism and the such, but in between strategizing how each of us can reach ou
r writing goals, that is exactly what has occurred with this group. Oh, where would I be without you, wonderful ladies of the MM?
Lastly, you, the reader. Without you, none of this would happen. Some of you are Patrons, some of you are newsletter subscribers, and even some of you are both. To those of you who aren't, but who hold this book in your hands, don't worry, there's still time to join the elite ranks. Seriously, I thank each and every one of you who purchased Bitter Aries and gave me a chance to take you into the Underworld of Seattle, er, Hell, not Seattle. I love Seattle. Seriously. It is my hope that you will stick around, because if you do, so will the boys, and we'll get to see plenty more of their adventures. The future of Hell and Heaven might depend on you. No pressure.
Thank you to all the epic people who helped me. Without you, Bitter Aries wouldn't exist. I'm honored to have you in my life.
About The Author
Paul Sating is an author, podcaster, and self-professed coolest dad on the planet, hailing from the Pacific Northwest of the United States. At the end of his military career, he decided to reconnect with his first love (that wouldn't get him in trouble with his wife) and once again picked up the pen. Years on, he has published numerous novels and he hasn't even screwed up his podcasts, which have garnered over a million downloads.
When he's not working on stories, you can find him talking to himself in his backyard working on failed landscaping projects or hiking around the gorgeous Olympic Peninsula. He is married to the patient and wonderful, Madeline, and has two daughters—thus the reason for his follicle challenges.