Virgo's Vigilantes (The Zodiac Book 6), page 14
At the landing, a single lantern that hung from the wall illuminated a small door next to it. Behind the door was low mumbling.
"What's going on? What are we walking into?" I asked.
With her hand resting on the door handle, Dialphio said, "That's what you get to decide."
With that, she pushed the door handle down and stepped into the room.
The mumbling ceased. I took one more look behind me at my two friends.
"Keep moving, dumbass. Everyone's been dying to meet you, and you can't expect them to wait much longer. They'll tear the blessed place down if they don't see you soon," Ralrek smiled.
Blowing out a big breath to calm my nerves, I stepped onto the landing and into the room. The space was small, just large enough for us to crowd into. A single chair next to a two-foot tall table capped off with a modest lamp giving off a bright blue light sat along the wall to my left. An incubus sat in a chair, reading. Toward the back corner, only a few feet away, was a second door. Closed. Dialphio waited by it.
The incubus looked up from his book and shot to his feet. The book thumped on the floor and Dialphio groaned. "Mr. Sunstone, so great to meet you," the incubus said, stepping forward, his hand extended.
I took it, and he shook furiously. I looked at Dialphio, who was smiling. "Nice—nice to meet you," I said.
"Nostris," the incubus said, as if sharing his own name was an honor.
"Nostris, yes, nice to meet you," I repeated, not knowing what else to say while he still gripped my hand. At least the shaking had stopped.
"We need to meet the others," Dialphio interrupted this awkward introduction. "Let him go, Nostris. You can drool over him later."
"Ugh," Ralrek said behind me.
"Yes. Yes. Sorry. Again, great to meet you," he said in a rush before bending to pick up the book. He sat back down in the chair and flipped the book open. His eyes didn't return to the page as I made my way to the door.
Dialphio stood at the door, her hand resting on the handle. "You get to choose where this leads but know this; these demons have been working feverishly for years for you. Don't take that for granted."
I was stunned. "For me? For years?"
Bilba moved close behind me. "I told you when you were Abandoned, things have been moving."
"You knew about this?" I asked my best friend before looking at Ralrek. "And you?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe a little. It's not like you didn't know I've been going to meetings while you were chilling in the Overworld with all those sexy mortals."
So this was what this was about. A movement was afoot ever since my return from my first mission. The Council publicly humiliated me because I didn't follow their orders to murder Aries. That humiliation had the desired effect mostly, further ostracizing me from a population who had already rejected me because I was the only demon in the history of Hell without magic. But it also galvanized small pockets of demons around the Circles as rumors spread. The Council kept me busy and so had life. Too busy to give much attention to any rumors of supposed rebel groups growing roots around the Underworld. During my Abandonment, all three demons had told me about how those bands of rebels were growing as I was an example of the injustices of a ruling body. Now, I was going to meet them. Face-to-face. Who said I was ready for this?
"What am I supposed to say?" I asked Dialphio, feeling like an impling on his first day at school.
"Start with hello, and go from there," she said with a chirping laugh and pressed the door handle down.
The voices inside the room stopped, though a sporadic wave of whispers rippled around.
Dialphio stepped into the room. "Sorry. That took longer than expected. But I have a pleasant surprise for you."
"Is he here?" a hidden figure said as I lingered outside the door.
"Really?" another asked.
"Oh my Lucifer, Dialphio. Did you?" a third asked, drawing out the last word.
A beefy finger tapped my shoulder. "Are you gonna hang in the doorway all day or are you finally going to meet the demons who have been itching to meet you?" Bilba asked.
Feeling like a complete idiot who was too full of himself to know how idiotic he actually looked, I stepped into the room.
I would love to say I looked cool, calm, and collected, but my shoulder bumped the door frame, and I stubbed my toe on the floor raised a quarter of an inch higher than the hallway. My waving arms probably looked as graceless as the rest of me.
Behind me, Ralrek snickered. "Dumbass."
Bilba strode past me, giving a fist bump to a younger incubus half his age and twice his height. "Hey, Ret. How have you been?"
"Busy as heaven," the younger incubus said. "How about you?"
Ralrek received a warm greeting too. He returned it less personally than Bilba, but still wore a not-so-cocky smile as he craned his neck upward, doing those chin-jerks that incubi used to ask "what's up?" without requiring the words. He moved to the back of the room, past the six tables that reminded me of my middle-school chemistry class, and four towers of roughly bound books, and grabbed a can of Satan's Suds soda.
Anchoring my gaze on my two friends was easier than having to take in the rest of the room. Every stranger's eye was on me, and the enormity of what I was to these demons was a lot to handle.
Dialphio refused to allow me to hide. "Close the door behind you, Ezekial. You may be the Great Prince, but I still demand good manners in my store." She chirped a laugh which was accompanied by the others in the room.
I took my time closing the door and turning around. I was unsure what to say or how to proceed. Look, I'm not ungrateful. Anybody who cares enough to help others is a good demon in my book. But for the longest time, for years, I had been told there were demons who were not only sympathetic to my situation, but ready to act against the Council. Now, I was standing in what was a secret room in an obscure bookstore owned by the sweetest succubus in the world, looking into strange faces. Ten demons plus the three closest to me. This was a reading group, not a movement.
Discouraged, I managed a smile, though it felt more like invisible fingers pulling at the corners of my mouth. Remembering Dialphio's demand for good manners, I said, "Hi."
Then the tsunami hit. Ten strangers pushed forward. They introduced themselves and told me how excited they were that Dialphio planned to bring me home. They told me how grateful they were that I had survived the trial by combat. They claimed to know I would win.
As Dialphio encouraged everyone to take their seats and let me get comfortable, a young succubus with large ears and hazel eyes darted around the chairs to the back of the room and put together a plate of fruit for me. Rebels eat healthy, I guess.
The generous welcome overwhelmed me, but I was more than embarrassed when we spent the next half hour recalling my greatest accomplishments. When I say 'we', I mean them. They did the talking while I absorbed facts about my own life I had forgotten, while my ex–boss and two friends sat toward the back of the circle, smiling without rescuing me. These demons knew more about me than I knew about myself. A weird twist to my day, almost like I'd been Abolished and was floating in the ethereal background in another dimension, watching friends and family recall my life.
Dialphio interrupted. "I'm sorry everyone, but Ezekial cannot stay much longer."
Groans of disappointment filled the back room.
"Yeah, sorry, but I've got to get back to…" I started, almost referring to my new apartment as "home" before stopping myself. "Well, I've got to get back to the new place the Council set up for me. I imagine they have someone watching it and will snoop around before long." Intense gazes greeted that statement, so I laughed nervously and tried to lighten the mood. "Hope they think I'm out shopping, which is also something I need to get done tonight. But it was great meeting everyone."
"Not so fast, Mr. Hero," Dialphio said, stepping to take a central spot in the room. "I know this has been overwhelming for everyone, not just Ezekial. But this is an important point in our history. How we proceed from here is crucial, not only in terms of which direction we take, but if we achieve what we want to. Ezekial has a lot on his mind. He's not even settled in his new place. But we also don't know how many of these opportunities we are going to get. For all we know, they may put their grip on him as soon as he returns home."
Well, that wasn't a comforting thought.
"Ezekial, you have heard what they know about you," Dialphio said, talking to me as well as the group. "But what I want you to hear are their thoughts on the future of the Underworld, and what they want to see. Each one of us is privy to your history, I think you know that now." She chirped a laugh that said the depth of the group's knowledge did not embarrass her, but that maybe they had turned it on heavier than she anticipated. "What I want you to take away from this meeting is more than the words they've shared and are going to share. I want you to take away their presence, the fact they are here. Until you arrived, they were busy copying The Histories of the Balance." She waved at the stacks of books along the different tables in the room.
So that's what those towers were. Copies upon copies of the most truthful book I'd ever read.
"Why are you hand-copying The Histories?" I asked.
"We very well can't go to a publisher, now can we?" Dialphio asked. "Any publisher would report us to the Council before we walked out of the building. So we have spent months making as many copies as possible. We will spend many more making as many as possible. That's not the important point. They're not here to socialize. They were working before you arrived to help others around the Circles to understand their own place in the Underworld a little better."
"And maybe ask questions," an older succubus, dressed in a garish purple blouse said with a biting tone, receiving skeptical scoffs from a younger pair of incubi to the side of the room.
"You've copied all those?" I imagined the hand-cramping that had happened in this room.
"Those and more. We don't keep all our copies here, of course." Dialphio nodded to the older succubus after answering. "Yes, Illis. Hopefully, those who get copies will think. That's a discussion for another day." Dialphio turned to me. "But they are here. They are acting. They are doing something that, if the Council were to find out, would put them in a prison. These demons could lose their way of life. Lose their safety. Their autonomy. And they don't have what you have. None have the access to influential demons you enjoy. And they don't have that," Dialphio finished, pointing at Creed.
"Can we see it?" the young incubus who Bilba befriended, named Ret, asked.
"Yeah, can we?" one of the scoffing incubi said.
"That would be so cool," a younger succubus, definitely the cutest, fluttered her eyelashes as she contributed.
"Dialphio doesn't like weapons," I said lightly.
"Oh, show them. You enjoy showing off your stick," Ralrek said from the back of the room, shoving an apple in his mouth and tearing off a chunk.
"Please, do. Let's get this over with," Dialphio said.
Most of the group clapped excitedly.
I pulled Creed out, making sure I had enough room, and gave it a shake. The halberd sprang to its full six feet, its blades flashing. Most of the gathered group jumped back. "Creed, meet everyone. Everyone, this is Creed, the biggest pain in my ass not named Ralrek."
That drew nervous laughter.
"Okay, okay. You've seen it. Ezekial, please put that thing away," Dialphio said, trying to sound lighthearted. As I collapsed the halberd and slid it back into the loop, Dialphio resumed, "Let's share our vision for the future."
And the group did. I went through the plate of fruit, grateful for the light meal since it might be the only one I would eat tonight, while they shared their opinions on matters pertaining to the governance of our realm. Bilba brought me another fresh plate, this one with meats, cheeses, and two rolls of bread so I didn't have to get up as the group shared their opinions. I nodded my thanks.
The rebels talked about the freedom they craved, the fact they wanted to see a day when they didn't have to worry about what they said and where they went. They wanted to live without fear, of perceived notions that Lucifer and His Council might take offense to any slight. They wanted to live without the nagging paranoia of a Council listening in on the activities of the Underworld to catch anyone who lacked absolute allegiance. They wanted freedom of travel, not only around their own Circle but also between Circles.
Illis, in the garish purple blouse, shared her desire to see the Overworld before she was too old to enjoy travel. She hypothesized Hell's leaders could devise a well–managed, low–risk mechanism and process so Hell's responsible residents could see the mortal realm. She mentioned it could even be a motivational tool for demons of all status.
They had ideas, small and grand. Most of what they communicated made sense.
"This is fine, but you realize the Council will never go for any of it, right?" I asked.
"That's the point," an incubus so gaunt his face could have been chiseled out of stone and then a loose layer of skin draped over it, said. "They won't go for anything that doesn't gain them more power, more influence. Each day the status quo is allowed to exist is another day we lose our ability to change it."
"Hear, hear," Dialphio said. Everyone mimicked her call.
"So how does that happen? How do you change it? Because the Council doesn't care what you think or what you want," I said, pointing at Bilba and Ralrek who hung at the back of the room. "Ask them if you don't believe me. Those two have been through as much crap at the hands of the Council as me."
"Simple," Illis of the garish purple blouse said. "Someone else, you, need to be installed as Lucifer." There were "'uh-huhs" and "mmmhmmms" at the old succubus's comment.
I tried not to laugh, but failed. "I can't be Lucifer."
"Why not?" the wide-eyed succubus who had built my first plate of food asked.
"It's a title, nothing more," the loose–skinned incubus added. "Anyone can be elevated to the title. Why not someone deserving? Why not someone the Council can't touch?"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was heresy on the highest level, far more severe than the blasphemy charge I faced after my argument with Seraph in Baghdad. Dialphio was putting herself, these demons, my friends, and myself at risk. I searched her face for a sign she understood how grievous this conversation was but found nothing.
"That's not even possible, and if it was, how do you see it happening?" I said, stuffing goat cheese in my mouth before I said something I regretted. I had to remember these demons were here for me, had been working to spread the same message I wanted other demons to know. They weren't the enemy. They were dreamers who didn't understand how reality worked.
Dialphio stepped forward. "Well, see, that's the problem. We can't agree on that."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you since you were Abandoned," Ralrek piped in, waving a stick of salami at the group. "All they do is argue over who gets to sit in the seat of Lucifer, and how that happens. How many months now, Dialphio? Still no resolution."
"But you're here now," the young succubus with large ears and hazel eyes said. "That changes everything."
"Not yet, Zenas," Dialphio said. "We have to figure out a way to position someone to challenge the title. Unless we're now agreeing to go with the assassination plan?"
The way Dialphio made the comment told me she thought that was the dumbest of dumb ideas. However they planned on pulling that off, I had to agree. An assassination was the Council's modus operandi. Not ours—was it 'ours' already? I wouldn't be part of anything of the sort.
The group broke into bickering clusters, each championing their preferred plan. It was all noise to my ears. I'd had a long past few days, and the shower I took before leaving to see Cassie and Virgo only helped me refresh. I was tapped out, physically, mentally, and emotionally. It didn't prepare me for a long night of politics and scheming.
"What would you have us do? We can't take them on, but he can," an incubus, six feet tall, with a round face and long forehead sporting a backward blazeball cap said, referring to me.
"We are not risking him. He is the icon," a succubus who would be comfortable in a library said, nudging her horn–rimmed glasses with a knuckle.
A good idea. I liked not being risked. Maybe when I wasn't so tired I'd have better insight for them, but I had nothing at the moment. I was impressed my brain still had the functionality to make my lungs expand.
Dialphio spoke so firmly-yet-softly all the attention turned to her. "Ezekial, your trial threw a wrench into things and we're still adjusting. Zenas is correct. Everything changes now that you're home. With Bilba able to help you move around, we can continue this when you've rested. It was important for the group to see. This will push us on in ways you can only imagine. Take time to adjust and get settled. We should be encouraged," she said, now turning more to the group than me. "I know we have waited for this moment for a long time. But we need to give Ezekial time. We need to understand what he has been through. The compassion we ask of a future government is the same we must show to him now."
The meeting adjourned, and the group approached one-by-one to deliver personal messages of encouragement and gratitude. I accepted them, even though I had done nothing. The fear I would let a bunch of demons down was very real. I kept that to myself.
We remained long enough for me to stuff my face with as much food as possible—since it was now obvious I wasn't getting to a store tonight—before saying our farewells.
Nostris, the informal door guard, stood when I walked out, shaking my hand rapidly and thanking me for the appearance as if I were some sort of celebrity.
My head spun as I tromped back to the first floor.
"Bilba, hold off on a gateway for just a second. There's something I want to give Ezekial before he leaves," Dialphio said, disappearing behind the half–wall of books at the back of the store where, at least in the past, she hid her desk. When she returned, she carried a small bag.
