Cowboys & Devils (Devil Aster Days Book 3)
Page 5
Part Seven: The Devils Depart
Aster dropped the disappearing act at once and fell to his knees panting heavily, now fully visible to CJ. Ulric rolled around on the ground screaming in torment. His body on fire, he thrashed around trying to put himself out. He extended his wings and beat them furiously, hoping to relieve the pain. He stopped moving after a little while as the fire consuming his body eventually died out.
He was down and out and not going anywhere. CJ hopped down off his horse and joined Aster at his side. He kneeled to help the man up, but Aster extended an arm to wave him away.
“You’re injured, aren’t you?” CJ asked.
“Yes but I’ll be fine,” said Aster. What CJ could not see was the cloud of soul power billowing off Aster’s body working to heal his various scrapes and bruises. He’d be good as new in ten minutes. “You’re a brave man coming here. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
“Dangers in my line of work,” said CJ with a wink. “Anyway, are you finally going to tell me exactly what you guys are and where you came from?”
Aster rose to his feet. “I suppose we’ve been through enough together by now that I can tell you,” he said. “As you can probably tell, Ulric and I are creatures not of this world. We may look like you humans but we’re really devils.”
“Devils,” CJ repeated with a nervous laugh. “As in from Hell?”
“That’s correct,” said Aster. “I’m taking Ulric back to Hell to pay for his crimes.”
“Wow,” CJ said, stumbling back. “To tell you the truth, I was never a very religious man. This is all a little difficult for me to accept.”
“What’s religion got to do with it?” asked Aster.
“It’s just hard to believe that out of all the religions in the world, the Christian version turns out to be true. I suppose this means that angels exist too, huh?”
“Angels exist,” replied Aster. “But I still don’t understand this concept you people call Christ-ian.”
“You know, followers of Christ?”
“Who?”
By this time, Aster and CJ could see the passengers of the runaway flame train hobbling their way down the line heading towards them. Their time together was limited.
“I saw you put the fire out,” said Aster. “I don’t know how you summoned the water to do so, but I’m grateful you did. A lot of people might have died without you.”
“So the devil has a conscious, huh?” said CJ with a smile. “You even went out of your way to not kill anyone. Why do you care what happens to us humans?”
“We’re not as different as you might think,” said Aster. “Besides, my boss – King Satan – he’s kind of a new-agey Satan. He’s the one that asked me to keep human casualties to a minimum. He’d be quite impressed by your actions as well.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be paid a higher compliment than that,” said CJ with a friendly pat on Aster’s shoulder. “So you’re leaving now?”
“Yes, it is time,” Aster replied. He dug around in the pockets of his coat and pulled out a small stone. “I hope your horse does not frighten easily.”
“He should be fine,” said CJ. He had no idea what to expect, but he was confident in his ability to control his horse.
Aster held the stone out and closed his eyes. After a few seconds the stone started to glow. Tiny red electrical currents started jumping off the stone. They grew larger and less in number, until one giant red bolt of electricity shot into the ground. His horse reared, but CJ was able to calm him quickly. He didn’t take his eyes off the spectacle the entire time.
The ground split where the electric bolt struck. From the divide a twisted metal frame popped out, a grinding metallic noise screeching as it moved like a living creature. The metal frame bent and wrapped and twisted into a familiar shape. When it stopped moving, it resembled an old steel gate like the kind you might find at the opening to a cemetery. Beyond the gates was nothing; that is, a darkness that seemed to block out the rest of the world.
“My ride’s here,” said Aster. He extended his hand. “It’s been a fun vacation.”
CJ clutched Aster’s hand and shook. “If this was a vacation I’d hate to see what a devil’s workday looks like.”
Aster bent down and lifted Ulric’s body, slinging him over his shoulder. He walked between the gates meeting the darkness beyond head on. “Careful not to get too close. That is, unless you want to come to Hell. You could always come be my new Captain.”
“I’ll stay on Earth if you don’t mind.”
Aster smiled. “Take care of the Earth.”
“Of course.”
“So long music man,” Aster called as he turned away.
The devil Commander started walking into the dark void and disappeared beyond the gate, hauling the husk of Ulric over his shoulder. CJ watched him go for as long as he could before the gates snapped shut, obscuring the disappearing devil from sight. Then just as quickly as it had appeared, the gates started to bend and fold and compress back down into the gap in the desert until it disappeared altogether. The Earth mended itself together as if nothing had ever happened.
With no trace of the battle between the dangerous devils, CJ turned and climbed up on his horse. He knew the people would need assistance to get back to the nearest town. He would ride as fast as he could to town to send help back. Then he’d move on to the next town looking for work. For an assassin, that meant a new potentially life-threatening assignment tracking down another target. In time, he’d go on to spread the legend of the notorious Jackson family of assassins, the best assassins in the world.
No matter how many years passed, he was never able to forget the day he met the devil named Aster.
* * * *
The woman in white helped corral the last of the train passengers into the tenth stagecoach of the night. It was the last vehicle to arrive after CJ’s message of the train wreck was delivered to the nearest town. The stagecoach driver frowned seeing the wagon filled with so many tired, wet people that there was no space left for the woman in white.
“If you sit tight right here I’ll send someone back right away. It’ll be two hours at most, I promise,” the driver told her.
“That’s quite alright,” the beautiful woman said. “I’ve made my own preparations for a ride home.” Her gorgeous white dress had not a speck of dirt nor drop of water on it. Her face was still perky and pleasant despite all she’d been through.
“Is that so? Well, I’ll ride back here myself tomorrow morning just to make sure you made it out okay. If your ride doesn’t show up, just stay put right here.”
“Thank you very much,” the woman said with a polite curtsy. She watched the coach disappear into the darkness of the night before pulling a ring off her finger.
“Devils, hmm?” she said to herself. “I’ll have to report this to the higher-ups.”
The woman in white put the ring between her two palms, folding her hands in prayer. She closed her eyes and concentrated and within seconds dropped her hands to her sides. The ring floated in mid air glowing and growing. It hovered above the lady’s head like a glimmering halo, expanding to a much larger size as it spun rapidly. A beam of light shone down through the ring growing brighter with every passing second.
Then in an instant it was all over. The beam of light receded into the sky, the woman in white was gone.
# # #
About the Author
Mitchell Olson lives in the cold-as-Hell state of Minnesota with an Angel for a wife. He enjoys anime, video games, comic books, and punk rock music. He has three demons of his own; two dog-types named Charlie and Peanut and a slothy cat-like creature called Bob.
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Thank you for reading!
More Books From the Author
“Devil Ash Saga”
Book 1: Devil Ash Days
Book 2: Devil Ash Deceit
“Devil Aster Days” prequel series
Devil’s Workday
In The Den of the Demon
Cowboys & Devils
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