Virgo's Vigilantes (The Zodiac Book 6), page 16
The scratching sensation of my partner's magic evaporated. I shot him a panicked look.
"I have to change my spell. The one I had wouldn't work against… those," Ralrek offered unhelpfully. "Take care of them until I start a new one."
Well, wasn't this just great?
I stepped forward, part of my mind calling out to Creed to see if I could activate the stubborn halberd. But the dumb stick wasn't looking for a fight. The ax and dagger blades were cold, gray steel. They would do damage to the snakes, but a bit of Hellfire magic would come in handy while Ralrek was doing whatever casters do in their heads to form their spells.
The snakes, though animated through Deception magic, were far too intelligent to attack en masse. They spread out, coming at me from all angles. I attacked the first one attempting to dart past me to get at Ralrek. The wiggling beast was too slow for Creed's dagger. I pierced it, skewering the poor thing before turning and seeing three more.
"Hurry up, Ralrek," I said, feeling my panic rising as I slashed at the three, splitting each in half.
No scratchy sensation. What was taking so long? What kind of spell was he working on? Was he trying to draw on the Hellfire itself? No sensation of Fire magic, but the stickiness of a Deception spell crawled across my skin.
Two more snakes met Creed, much to their misfortune, and I still didn't get help from my friendly Fire dude. The snakes had slowed, spreading out, now encircling me. I flicked my glance behind me in a desperate plea for intervention and saw why Ralrek was letting me do all the work.
Ralrek was in the middle of the street where I had left him, and he was shouting at me. I couldn't hear a single word, even though only a short distance separated us. He thrust both arms forward and slammed his hands in unison. His hands stopped at the same point in the air, as if striking an object. He spun in a circle, thrusting his hands out in my direction and shouting, repeating his movement, this time to the right. Same action. Same reaction. Hands that stopped in mid-air. Then I understood. He was inside some sort of barrier. A box. Bilba had imprisoned Ralrek in an invisible box, and Ralrek never saw coming. I never felt it. Bilba had kept his dart-snake spell active while constructing a second spell, disguising the second behind the first because he knew I could feel his Ability before he finished conjuring. The sneaky bastard. Since when could he do that?
I was fighting a chubby magic user and two dozen snakes all by myself. Thanks a lot, Ralrek.
"You're a real dick, Bilba," I shouted to the empty street, hoping my best friend could hear me. If he could and didn't call off the small boas, he would soon become my second-best friend.
The stickiness didn't dispel.
The snakes came from every direction at once, and I did the only thing I could at that moment, I struck out before being struck at.
I cut down as many of the wriggling bastards as I could while on the move, hoping to slow their attacks. One here. Another there. Creed's blades cut through Bilba's reptilian forces. During one turn, I glanced in Ralrek's direction and noticed he was slamming his hands against the invisible barrier, but I also noticed something else, something more troubling. Ralrek was not alone inside the barrier. He was about to become the victim of his own magic.
A wall of flame grew taller behind him. Gray smoke rose into the air, trapped within the box that contained the tall incubus. As busy with the snakes as I was, I couldn't make out the exact dimensions of the prison, but they were becoming clearer with each second as Ralrek's flames cast off smoke.
I tried to move in his direction, but three snakes cut me off, each pulling back and hissing, ready to strike. One dove at my feet while another launched itself in the air. I took out the one in the air with a slashing move, but the one going for my feet wrapped itself around my ankle before I got a clear swipe at it.
I don't know what you consider gross, but having a foot–long magical snake coil around your foot has to rank toward the top of my list.
I tried to shake the snake off while moving sideways toward Ralrek's prison. Another snake darted at my foot as two others launched themselves. Like last time, I took out the greater threat, cutting the heads off the airborne pair, sacrificing my other leg in the process. Now, I had a small boa wrapped around both ankles, adding a surprising amount of weight to my frame.
I picked up on another inconvenience as I ambled toward Ralrek. My toes tingled. These little conjured bastards were cutting off the blood to my feet. Snarling, I entertained ways to make Bilba pay when this was over.
Ten feet away from Ralrek's invisible prison, his screams still didn't reach me. One hand on the invisible barrier, Ralrek's other grabbed his shirt collar and pulled it over his mouth. More and more smoke filled the box. My friend and fight partner disappeared in a gray cloak.
"Okay, let him out and make this a fair fight," I called into the open air.
Silence.
Four boas darted at my feet. No longer could I move as swiftly as I had before because of the two clinging to my ankles. This was going to be trouble.
I backed toward the invisible prison, the only direction I didn't have to worry about being attacked by the snakes because Bilba's box blocked the path now.
I stabbed one of the approaching snakes, and cut the tails from two with Creed's dagger, before bringing it up and over. One strike, three dead snakes. A three-for-one deal. A fourth refused to be added to the total.
This snake caught me just above the elbow. Like one of those metal wrists snaps, it coiled around me in a flash and squeezed. Three out of four appendages now carried the additional weight of snakes spending their afternoon constricting my blood flow. Slowed by them, I still had double-digits to take on.
Looking over my shoulder, I could see only Ralrek's hand on the invisible barrier. The hand was at ground level. As revolting as snakes were, Ralrek was having a worse day than I.
Even as the rest of Bilba's snake army charged, I lifted Creed and spun in a half–circle, stealing a portion of the move from Shadows Fall, and sliced the air open with the double-ax head. Creed's asymmetrical ax bit through two snakes on its way toward Bilba's conjured prison. When blade met spell, spell lost.
Creed struck the barrier. The collision sent a vibration up my arms and into my shoulders. There was a disappointing fizzle as the halberd broke the barrier—I expected so much more, something cooler, from my powerful friend. Smoke billowed out and into the open sky. Just not fast enough. Ralrek was still in trouble.
At that point, I remembered what Melchiot had told us. Fighting Bilba like this wasn't to our advantage. That's not what the Passage was about. For Bilba to be tested, he had to be pushed to face his greatest fears. What we had been doing was nothing more than an intense sparring session. For thousands of years, Bilba had kicked my ass in Eve's Sanctuary whenever we'd sparred. That changed once I received Creed and became adept with the halberd. But I had been decaying in the Overworld while Bilba had been receiving training from a renowned Passage trainer. He wasn't the same magic user he'd been. This wasn't a normal sparring session. Yet I was treating this as if the situation and my friend were the same I was torturing for fun in Eve's garden.
Melchiot said the key was to push him to his limit. We hadn't done that to him yet.
The way my feet tingled and my left arm dangled because of his stupid snakes, coupled with the way Ralrek lay unconscious in the street, I had no problem using Bilba's fears against him.
And I had to do so now.
Fear. I knew exactly what Bilba feared.
If my friend wanted to fight dirty, I could strap on the cleats and play with the best of them. The Council taught me how to do that for years now.
"You want to know why you're so worried about no one loving you?" I shouted into the open air, hating every bit of what I was going to do, but desperate to throw Bilba off his game so Ralrek and I had a fighting chance at… well, this fight. "This is why, right here. This is why you don't have a girlfriend and never have. This is why no one loves you, except for your father. This is why your mom is gone. This is why she rejected you when you found her at the flower shop!"
Yes, it was cruel. But, in a twisted way, I was doing this for my best friend. Bilba's greatest fear—losing the love of the demons who were supposed to love him.
Bilba's snake army hissed simultaneously. So, he could hear me, huh?
The slithering reptiles attacked. One of the larger snakes raced past me while I was busy with two of its partners, going straight for Ralrek. Reaching him, it wrapped itself around the fallen demon's throat. Ralrek's head flopped as the snake coiled, twisting itself around the tall demon with such force it pulled his entire six-and-a-half-foot tall body over. I gagged.
The snakes on my ankles and arm squeezed. I think I heard something crack. Maybe I was imagining it. Seven more were on me before I could take them out with Creed. Wrapping around my waist, my free arm, my neck. I fell to my knees, dropping my halberd and trying to pull them off in a panic.
White spots blotted my vision as the snakes, together, crushed.
I was going to kick Bilba's ass.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard a loud mumbling like underwater voices.
The world faded, then there was a sudden flash of light, then complete darkness.
I fell forward.
Some point later, I was lying on a cold floor instead of a brimstone street. I snapped my eyes open. We were in Melchiot's training bay, the empty streets and ghostly buildings erased.
I scrambled up, feeling at my neck. No snake. Looking at my arms and ankles and waist. No snakes. A few feet away, Ralrek groaned and rolled onto his back. I went to him. He peered up at me through squinted eyes and gave me a weak smile. "I never thought I'd be so happy to see your ugly face," he said.
I extended my hand in an offer to help him up. "Me either. You okay?"
It was an effort to pull the taller incubus to his feet considering there was over a half a foot of height difference between us, but together, we pulled it off. He nodded. "Yes, yes. But Bilba won't be when I'm done with him."
My gaze had already gone to the other end of the bay, where Melchiot and Bilba were talking in hushed tones. By the way Bilba hung his head, I didn't think Ralrek could do any worse than our friend's mentor was at the moment.
I tilted my head in their direction. "Let's go see what that's about."
Bilba looked at us through his eyelashes as we approached. "Hey guys," he said in a somber voice.
"Nice work back there, asshole," I said, only half-joking.
"Yeah… I guess," he said in response.
Melchiot's eyes darted at us and away. "Good work or not, he failed."
"He failed?" Ralrek asked.
"How?" I asked.
Her eyes never stopped moving. "He didn't control his emotions. When you made the comment about no one loving him, he lost control of his power. Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable."
"So he fails for that?" I asked before throwing a sideways look at Bilba. "Sorry, buddy. I just did what I guessed was called for to throw you off. Plus, we were getting our asses handed to us."
The tips of his ears burned pink. "I know. I'm glad you did. I mean, it hurt, but I know you would have never said something like that outside this context." He sighed. His breath quaked. "I've got a lot of work to do."
Turning back to Melchiot, I said, "I guess I don't understand why he would fail for that. He kicked our asses. I'm not all that, but I've given a number of demons a headache. Ralrek is no slouch himself. Bilba can open gateways and rifts that go undetected. Yet, he failed?"
Melchiot cupped her hands. "If a demon loses control of his emotions, he loses control of his reason. Without reason, he cannot control his Abilities. In the Underworld and daily life that's not a problem. But in the Passage it will be. To be a Major demon is a great honor few achieve. The Underworld cannot have demons of that status who are incapable of controlling their emotions, even in their rawest form. It's the most difficult part of the Passage beyond ensuring one's own survival. Therefore, it is a great measure. Bilba showed frailties when you taunted him. He's not ready."
Melchiot spun, walking away as she rocked her head, her long curls shaking.
Bilba hung his head and then looked up. He chewed on the corner of his lip. This was a tough loss. A major setback.
I went to him, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. "Come on. Let's go get a beer. We've earned it."
11
Underworld/Olympia
One of the best things about having a strange ability to heal speedily is that, in fact, you heal… uh, swiftly. It's pretty cool.
The day after Bilba abused us during his failed Passage preparation test, I was in the kitchen in my quiet apartment in the smelly Sixth Circle. No offense to anyone with an affinity for the Sixth, but I haven't lived here long enough to gain an appreciation for its unique aroma.
While I cooked, I focused on how good I felt after the ass-kicking. Things could have been much worse. If that had happened in any other context than Bilba's Passage practice test. If another Deception user had been the one casting spells for nefarious reasons. My mind raced with thoughts of what I could have done better, should have done better. Still, I felt well enough to conduct another round of self-criticism. I hoped Ralrek did as well. I reached out to him via the demonic notebook, but hadn't heard back. I hoped he was resting.
Bilba's test had been a test for me as well. Like him, I had failed. I couldn't allow myself to be put in that position again. Overrun by a small army of snakes and a single caster was not okay in my book.
Basically, I was pissed at myself.
Setting my pan to the side of the flame, I turned to the refrigerator to grab hellion eggs, already missing the Overworld version that are far tastier. My eyes caught the notebook on my kitchen table. The seal of Lucifer burned bright with an incoming message. Ralrek checking in?
Eggs forgotten, I went and flipped it open. The message was from Cassie. I wasn't disappointed. Cassie giving me attention could never be a disappointment, even though I needed to know if the tall buffoon was okay or not.
CASSIE: Hey, Zeke. I hope everything is well and that you are getting settled. I know I'm a terrible friend who only writes when she needs something, but I need to talk. Actually, I need your help. Incidents have inflamed tensions. Let me know as soon as you see this if you can come?
I pulled the quill out and scribbled a quick note.
ZEKE: Of course. Let me message you-know-who and see if he can hook me up with transportation. I'll let you know as soon as I hear something. I hope all is well.
I added the last bit as an afterthought, feeling tacky, then I drew a line under the message, and addressed the next one to Bilba.
ZEKE: Hey, any chance you have time for a friendly chat?
"Friendly chat" was our code for a personal visit. You have to be sneaky about these things.
I made my breakfast, periodically checking the notebook for a new message. I wasn't only finished cooking and eating but also on my way to the shower, when I finally heard back from my best friend.
BILBA: Yeah, give me an hour.
I relayed the message to Cassie and then got ready for my day. By the sounds of it, it might be a long one.
Bilba showed up. Finally. Ralrek did too. As well-groomed as ever, Ralrek's neck still bore the bruises of Bilba's snake attack.
I was glad to see him looking nearly as handsome as ever. The devil. "Can the two of you do nothing without the other?" I quipped.
Bilba and Ralrek looked at each other and shrugged in unison.
"Dorks." I shook my head. "Ready to go?"
Ralrek was past me, his head bent inside my refrigerator. Obviously, he was feeling fine. "You're living like a bachelor."
"I am a bachelor." A win for Mr. Obvious.
"That's why he wants to go back to the Overworld and see Cassie," Bilba contributed unhelpfully.
"No," I said.
Ralrek poked his head up over the refrigerator door, checked with Bilba, snorted, and disappeared behind the door again. He came out a few seconds later, cupping one of my apples. "Let's go."
Bilba moved into the hallway. Away from the front door and the single window in my kitchen, it was the only place in the apartment to open a rift, as long as that rift was small. Bilba didn't cast the large rifts, and this one fit neatly in the narrow hallway. It helped that I hadn't hung my personal effects yet, not that I had many to hang. Most of those were split between the Overworld and whatever my parents had stashed away. The Zeke of the Fifth Circle hadn't made it to the Sixth in more ways than one.
Bilba mumbled his way through the incantation. Soon the air sizzled a few feet ahead.
"You're going to need to learn to do something about those white line things. In all the rifts I've seen, I've never seen one that has them. Except yours. One day, someone else will notice too, and they'll draw the wrong kind of attention," I said.
"From who? Fortunately for you, we're the only demons who care to come visit this repugnant apartment. Have you ever thought of opening a window?" Ralrek said, stuffing the apple in between his perfectly straight teeth.
I smirked. "Have you smelled the Sixth? This entire place reeks. I'll have to take you guys out for drinks sometime so you can imbibe everything this Circle has to offer."
The rift opened fully, or at least as large as Bilba could make it in a confined space. On the other side of the filmy barrier was what looked to be gray cement.
A bead of sweat clung to Bilba's hairline. "Since we've been to the Vigilante's headquarters, I figured we'd start there instead of taking a chance on the streets of Olympia."
"Genius." I patted him on the back and stepped through the rift.
The world tumbled and fell, rose and sank, and made a mess of my stomach. Just as quickly as normal became abnormal, and abnormal became normal, the world righted itself. I was standing in the middle of the hangar Virgo's Vigilantes used as their headquarters. Bilba and Ralrek came through.
