Virgo's Vigilantes (The Zodiac Book 6), page 11
That wasn't going to work. We couldn't be away from Hell for an entire day. Yes, we could make multiple trips to and from, as long as Bilba's spells remained undetectable, but I didn't want to risk asking that until I felt safer. I'm a skeptic, not a cynic, okay? "Is there any way you can let him know I'm looking for him? Just tell him Zeke needs to see him, and it's pretty urgent. I'm not going to be in town long, so if that message could find its way to him today, I would really appreciate it."
I hoped Debbie picked up on my hint. She seemed to. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks." I pulled back from the reception desk to peek into the bay toward the octagon where I had a lesson in ass-kicking taught to me in one of the most frightening ways possible. "Any chance I can step into the gym and see if I know anyone hanging around? I'd like to catch up with anyone I can."
She rolled away on the chair she rarely left to the side desk where forms were stacked. "Be my guest."
"Thanks." In the bay, several patrons worked out on the bags or the mat. Three older men were being walked through the basics of fighting stances. I didn't recognize anyone. No Cassie either.
"Let's get out of here," I said. "I have another idea how I can find him."
"You're the boss," Ralrek said.
I didn't know what the chances were I would find Virgo and his group of Abandoned, but we didn't have options. We could hang out in the gym until Debbie threw us out and never see him. Four demons walking around the streets of Olympia would draw attention from the Abandoned soon enough, I hoped. Basically, I'd be happy to come across any group holding a modicum of trouble in their appearance and behaviors. It was the best chance with the limited time we had.
As we stepped out under the overcast gray sky, my day was brightened.
"Is that Creed in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" a sweet, sweet voice, like water trickling over rocks, said.
I stared into the perfectly symmetrical face framing crystal eyes. Her horizontal eyebrows highlighted her dark, thick eyelashes. Cassie threw her arms open and hugged me. The Overworld never smelled better.
"How in the heaven are you?" I squeezed too hard and for too long.
She laughed. It was ugly, like a snort mixed with a cough, which only made me laugh along with her. "Two seconds into seeing each other and you're already cursing, Z-Zeke." She wore a backpack which she slung off her shoulders and tapped. "I got your note."
"I hoped so. That was the whole point of making sure you had a notebook. When I didn't see you in the gym, I got worried."
"I couldn't pass this up. Too many important things are going on," she said, checking out the rest of the group. "Hi, R—Ralrek."
"Cassie," he said in curt response.
"And I assume you're Bi—Bilba?" she said, Ralrek's abruptness apparently not bothering her.
The tips of Bilba's ears gained a faint shade of pink. "That's me. Can I get a hug too?"
Cassie brightened. "Of course."
When she stepped back, she turned to Melchiot. She extended her hand. "Hi. I'm Cassie."
Melchiot's black eyes danced around the angel, as if seeing something no one else could. "Nice to meet you. Name is Melchiot."
Introductions made, we got down to business. Cassie said, "Let's walk and talk. I want to take you somewhere."
"Sounds good," I said as we left the parking lot and walked east across the small city. "What's been going on?"
Every single one of us, maybe even Melchiot—since I wasn't sure if she'd ever been to the Overworld—knew we had to be careful how we talked about immortal issues. We didn't want to draw attention to ourselves or our purpose, though I figured we had more allowance than we had been brain-trained to believe. Heavens, we could use magic in the Overworld and it might go undetected if it was a reserved spell. Unwittingly, the Council had made me smart enough to be more than a major headache. Cassie was careful as well.
"You might think I'm crazy," Cassie reached behind her and tapped the backpack, "but I've been taking notes for a while."
"Notes about what?" Bilba asked, huffing up beside her.
"Demonic activity affecting the Balance," Cassie said.
Melchiot made a sound that resembled a low growl. I ignored her, for now.
"Could it be the Abandoned?" I asked.
"Doubtful." Cassie shook her head. "You know that's not their game. They're more about making sure our type doesn't affect the Balance either way. They want to remain neutral. The actions we've received reports on are anything but."
"We?" Melchiot inquired from the back of the group.
Oh boy. How were we going to tackle this issue? The less said, the better. I jumped in, taking the lead. "Cassie has access to high-level reports. She gets to hear tons of stuff most of us don't."
Silence told me Melchiot bought the line, at least for now.
Cassie seemed to pick up on the uneasiness. "Yes, yes. Of course, I can't say too much about it here, but prominent figures have been shifting the Balance by influencing small pockets of mortals."
"How bad is it?" I asked, my mind flashing back to my previous time in Olympia and discussions of the eternal struggle between Hell and Heaven.
"They've got these groups that walk around the city targeting those who don't align with them. It started out as harassment," Cassie said.
"Sounds like it has progressed?" Ralrek asked.
"Unfortunately," Cassie said, her face twisting and something with looked like confusion. "To the point where they started these takeovers. They harass organizations that try to do good works. When protesting didn't work, they started harassing employees. That worked slightly better, but not enough, I guess."
"What makes you say that?" Bilba asked.
"Because they started forcing their way into these establishments."
"Why would they do that?" Ralrek asked.
"To shut them down," Cassie said. "If a shelter or a food bank couldn't open its doors out of fear for their safety, then they wouldn't be able to serve the very people they needed to serve."
"That's a cruel thing to do," Bilba said, measured heat in his voice. "To deprive mortals in need to shift the Balance? I wouldn't even expect that out of the Council."
Cassie's mouth popped open and closed in the blink of an eye. She'd given the answer away.
"They are involved, aren't they?" I asked.
Cassie's crystal eyes slid over to me. "From what we understand, yes. At least one of them."
Behind me, Bilba whistled, accompanied by a Ralrek growl. Melchiot was quiet.
The Council getting involved in matters of the Balance in Olympia. Who and to what degree? I needed to figure that out. At the moment, I wasn't worried about their reasons. That Cassie believed Founders were putting their filthy hands in the mortal realm was enough.
"This is bad, Cassie. I don't doubt that it's a colossal headache for your side," I said, forming my apology, "but I'm not sure how we can help, even if only half that information is correct."
Her tiny chin dropped. "Whatever you can do will help. We… can get involved. To a degree. I have approval. But we must be very careful or it might tip the scale in a way neither side wants. But with your help, I think I can set a few things in motion. "
"What do you need us to do?" I asked, knowing this wasn't a matter of discussion or contemplation. I'd help in any way imaginable with whatever Cassie needed. She just had to ask. Okay, maybe not 'any way.' That was most likely her pheromones, or something, doing the talking. But still, if she asked, I'd probably do what I could.
"I need you to convince Vi—Virgo to get involved," she said.
Virgo. There he was again. I had looked for him because Leo had urged me to find Virgo during our life-and-death fight. Virgo could help in the matter of Lucifer's Third Council, Leo had said. Now, Cassie was pulling out his name.
Virgo, it seemed, was a central figure in this eternal struggle.
"Is he giving you trouble?" I asked.
Cassie rolled her thin lips. "No. That's the problem. He's not doing anything. Says he doesn't want to get involved in these… matters. Said this is an example of why they've done what they've done. The Abandoned see their place as a sort of peacekeepers."
"If I may," Melchiot said. "You keep saying Abandoned. What are these Abandoned?"
I took a moment to educate Bilba's mentor about the group. After I explained about the demons and angels who had been kicked out of their respective eternal realms to die a slow death in the Overworld, only to form a pseudo-formal organization, I could have driven a chimera carriage into Melchiot's open mouth.
"They would do that to our kind?" she asked.
"They do it," Bilba said, his eyes on me. "None of what I told you about Zeke's Abandonment was fabricated."
Melchiot's head dropped again as she shook it.
"Well, it sounds like the Abandoned won't have peace for long," I said. "Especially if influential demons are screwing with the Balance. What is Virgo thinking?"
"That's why I need your help," Cassie said. "He will listen to you much better than he listens to me because… well, you know."
"Is that where we're headed now? To see him?" Bilba asked.
Cassie's head rocked as if on a fulcrum.
"Okay," I said, and prepared myself to convince Virgo to play nice.
We caught up on each other's lives while we made our way toward the downtown harbor. It hadn't been that long since we had our last face-to-face in my Olympia apartment, but a heaven of a lot of "c-rap" had happened in between I felt she needed to know. Through my short stint back in Hell, Cassie had been busy. She was upset when she heard about Leo but used the opportunity to highlight why she needed our intervention with Virgo. None of us—well, maybe Melchiot—needed convincing.
At the harbor, we stood in front of a tall hangar, painted drab green, with a row of rippled, eight–foot tall windows running along the top. The building and the slabs of surrounding concrete were fenced in—closed, of course. A small armada of vehicles was parked diagonally up both sides of the fence line.
"The Abandoned's hideout," Cassie said with a grand gesture.
Even before I knew this was our destination, I noticed bodies moving behind the windows near the roof of the building. To the left, in the middle of the line of trucks and vans, stacks of rotting pallets leaned precariously, forming a barrier. Behind it, subtle movements revealed hidden Abandoned. Enough to cause a problem for anyone they wanted to cause problems for. To the right, a small boat had been lifted onto a dry storage rack. Inside its cabin, a shadow ducked when my head swiveled that way.
"We're being watched," I said, extending my senses for immortal signatures of magic, picking up on nothing. None of the watch-people were Abandoned demons. "Have you been getting chummy with Virgo?"
That wonderful, thin–lipped smile made another appearance. "I wouldn't say it's been chummy. I've been causing him headaches. I think he'll be glad to see someone's face besides mine."
I wanted to argue how wrong she was, but thought better of it, knowing it would be used against me by one or both of my friends.
Cassie inched the gate opened, and we approached with slow steps. I constantly swiveled to keep watch on the hiding spots on both sides. I wanted the Abandoned to know I knew they were there. We reached the door at the side of the building and Cassie knocked. Inside, dragging feet neared.
"What do you want?" a voice asked.
Cassie pressed her mouth close to the door. Lucky door. "Tell V–Virgo Cassie is here to see him, and that I have brought a friend he'll want to see."
This time, the dragging steps were even slower than their arrival.
"Now what?" Ralrek asked.
"We wait," Cassie said.
Turns out, we didn't have to wait long. Minutes after the footsteps inside shuffled away, they returned. Not reluctant, but hurried. The door was thrown open, and a stocky mortal greeted us. I knew that because I was Sensing constantly and he wasn't emitting any signature of Abilities, leaving him as mortal or angel. Based on Cassie's reaction, the latter was not true.
"Come in. Virgo will see you," the man said.
We were escorted into the hangar. The long, gray cement floor was empty of over-sized machinery, vehicles, or airplanes, making it little more than a really open hangout with inefficient environmental controls. Only sporadically placed furniture broke it up. Five tables lined both walls. Most had chairs around them. Two solitary tables must have been for other purposes. Along the rear of the building, a basketball hoop hung on the hangar door. It didn't look at regulation height. A basketball sat on the concrete underneath it. Near the wall to my left, three couches were spread out in a 'U'. A handful of Abandoned watched a movie on a large screen television from the days of hair band heavy metal. An action movie I'd never seen halted me at an awesome explosion—hey, I'm an incubus, I can't help myself.
"Keep moving," Ralrek said behind me, giving me a playful shove.
On the far wall, three doors stood in line side-by-side. The mortal escorting us walked us to the middle one. "He's waiting for you in there."
Eight Abandoned sat around a long oak table, at the head of which sat Virgo. He stood as we entered. Just as a few weeks ago, he was the embodiment of fitness. The black short-sleeve shirt he wore exposed enough of his biceps and cut forearms to announce to the world he was not someone to antagonize. His hazel eyes were just as fierce, but I swore a corner of his mouth twitched in what could have been a Virgo–specific smile.
"Hey guys," he said, coming around the corner of the table. As we approached, he extended his arm, hand formed into a fist. We all fist bumped, even Melchiot.
"Nice place you've got here," I said in a light tone.
Virgo was an interesting case. Throughout my Abandonment, I had taken exception to him because I thought he was targeting me—he was. He was part of Chax's group who had nearly killed Cancer by running us off the road. He was part of the plan to get me inside the octagon in Leo's gym and beat me to within an inch of my life. He was Chax's personal bodyguard on the night three dozen of the demon's crew tried to finish the job, only turning when Chax's motives were proven to not be altruistic. As enigmas do, he made the picture murkier by being the first one to volunteer himself and the Abandoned to clean up the mess left behind from the resulting battle. Basically, I'm saying, I was still feeling Virgo out. But, if Leo vouched for him, I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Did you come into some money?" I asked, only half-serious.
Virgo's intense gaze fell on Cassie. "No. It was a gift. It seems someone appreciated my efforts with that situation you had a few weeks back."
I turned to Cassie, shocked. "You did this?"
"Well, I had assistance. But, yes, we wanted to make sure the Abandoned had someplace to call home. A place where they could meet and relax," she said.
"And organize," Virgo said.
Cassie conceded. "And organize."
Virgo pointed his chin at me. "Is that why he's here with his crew?"
"I'm hoping he can talk sense into you," Cassie said with a smirk.
"I'm not looking to get into the middle of a lover's spat," I said, trying to lighten the mood even more.
Cassie wagged a finger between herself and the tall-dark-and-fierce ex-demon. "We have more of a love-hate thing going on."
That seemed to tickle Virgo. His mouth twitched for the second time. A few of the people sitting around the table chuckled.
"Makes things more entertaining for the rest of us, Cassie," a human at the table said.
Only after he spoke did my thick skull register that the voice was familiar. My eyes must have been the size of blazeballs—slightly too large to be gripped by your average adult incubus. Yes, my hands are too small and I have to use both to hold a blazeball. No short jokes, please. "Steve?"
"I was wondering when you were going to stop being rude and say hi," the man said, getting to his feet and coming to the table. We embraced. "I hope things have been going better for you?"
I met Steve through a gang of bigots targeting him in a park in the middle of Olympia. I hadn't been in the city for more than a few weeks before that day. We even had beers once, and Steve shared his personal story. It was an inspirational conversation, one I enjoyed and wished to repeat, but never had a chance to.
"Well, to be honest, interesting things have happened since the last time we chatted," I laughed. "How in the heaven did Virgo talk you into getting involved in this mess?"
"Funny story, that," Steve chuckled. "You have a way of drawing attention. Not long after our chat, I heard about you around the city. Seems some funny stuff happened at the Lion's Den shortly after that. Heard you were involved. And, well, since I knew you were a good guy, it didn't take much to put a few things together and do some asking around. That's when I met this crew. Been like a family ever since. Man," he said, slapping his hands, "it's so good to see you."
"I don't want to be rude," Melchiot said, "but we don't have a lot of time. Our absence is going to be noticed. We're already taking a chance by doing this… unapproved activity."
Virgo's face scrunched.
"She's the party pooper," I whispered.
He gestured at the table. "Make room for them. Let's talk so you can get on your way."
"That's fine, you don't need to—" Bilba started to say, but the Abandoned were moving with the speed of adherence. Virgo ran a tight ship.
We took our seats. As I did, I pushed my senses out and swallowed a cloud of emissions. Virgo's signature combined with Bilba, Ralrek, and Melchiot. Someone else was giving off a strong signal. The room was too small, too crowded to separate one from the other.
"V—Virgo, we have to figure out how to make this work," Cassie said. "If we don't work together, nothing gets solved. This problem isn't going away."
"Is it safe to talk about this in front of everyone?" Ralrek said, with the tact of a chimera in a China shop.
