“Is that safe?”
He nodded. “It’s nothing that will tax me too seriously, rest assured.” There was sarcasm in his voice, but I could see his temple throbbing. It wasn’t as easy as he was trying to pass it off as.
“It’s rough getting old, huh?” My foot in mouth disease came out of remission.
He glared at me, but there was an obvious, and saddened, look of concession on his face. He knew his best days were past and it was hard for him to accept that. Strong, independent, and willful, Rahim had defied time and aged with a grace few mortals will ever know. Asmoday’s minion had taken all that away from him.
While my uncle’s blood was able to repair his injured spine and nerves, it wasn’t meant for humans. We’d taken a chance when I gave it to Rahim and he benefited more than we could have ever hoped. The truth was, however, Rahim was never gonna be the same man he was before his spine was shattered. We understood that, but worse for the knowledge, Rahim understood it. He understood it all too well. And like any fighter who’d lived by the strength of his hands, the speed of his body, and the sharpness of his wit, it was heart rending to see the man once he realized those days were gone.
Rather than poke the wound further, I gave him a weak smile to show I empathized, then turned to find a clear route through the swirling miasma of flames. It was easier said than done.
Whatever had happened, ignoring the obvious answer, set the neighborhood ablaze with arcane fire. Not restricted to consuming only the normally combustible materials, magical fire burned everything. Licks of flame crept up the side of stone buildings, searing brick and melting mortar. Glass windows dripped and ran down the walls in sparkling waterfalls. The asphalt beneath our feet was a pool of black slag. It was like walking through stinky, warm chocolate pudding.
I wouldn’t be licking that spoon.
Fiesta Street was a war zone. Chunks of buildings were missing, blasted into rubble. Pockmarks riddled the sidewalks and streets, where the sludge had yet to ooze over and fill in. Body parts lay everywhere, flickering with tiny fire lights, the air thick with the scent of burnt flesh and hair.
For six blocks we walked, dodging falling remnants and glass rain, doing our best to keep our eyes off the carnage scattered about us. There was nothing we could do for the dead. For the survivors, we could only hope they didn’t live long.
A little ways in, we knew we’d reached ground zero. All the buildings for two blocks were blasted away in a circle, nothing but ruined foundations left to mark where they once stood. The ground had been seared by heat so hot, it had turned to glass. Black shards, like jagged puzzle pieces, covered the area, reflecting fiery shimmers. In the center of it all, on his knees naked, his reddened flesh steaming, was Baalth.
I felt the tension in Rahim amp up, my senses pricking to the sudden rise in magical energy. With a hand raised to forestall any pre-emptive attack, I headed toward the demon lieutenant, placing myself between him and the wizard. It wasn’t someplace I wanted to be, but I’d seen the fury in Baalth’s eyes, felt the barely restrained power that seeped from his pores, seeking a way out. Now was not the time to provoke the beast.
Funny thing, life. Who’d have thought I’d be the least likely to set Baalth off?
Doing nothing to hide my presence, I walked toward him, my footsteps crunching. He didn’t move. My teeth grinding together, I took a few more steps, stopping when I was about ten feet away.
“Hey, big guy.” I tried to sound as innocuous as possible.
His head rose and his narrow gaze met mine. It took everything I had not to shit myself.
A flurry of obsidian shadows whirled behinds his eyes, sparks of angry red flaring in waves. His cheeks were sunken and his upper lip was curled, his teeth glaring out at me in a snarl. His temples throbbed as he stared through me, a low rumbling shaking the ground.
If I had any doubt he’d been the cause of the destruction, the look on his face sent it scampering away like a Chihuahua kicked in the ass.
Against the advice of the screaming voices in my head, I raised my hands and moved closer. Baalth’s gaze never wavered, but I could see his body tensing, readying to act. Fully aware of what he was capable of, my courage took a dump. I dropped down to my knees fast, while still about five feet away.
“What happened?”
He looked like he wanted to kill me. Though that wasn’t exactly something new, I was hoping he wouldn’t actually go through with it. While my life wasn’t all pussies and cream, I was kinda attached to it. If I was gonna die, I could think of a million better ways to go out than being burned to a cinder by a psychotic demon.
After a few tense moments, me not daring to breathe, his chin dropped and a visible shiver ran up his body. I felt my heart start up again.
“He’s taken them,” he told me, his voice sounding like burning coals. Once more his fists clenched tight, bone white standing out against reddened flesh.
“Who?”
A palpable wave of rage preceded his answer. “Reven.” His voice was little more than a whisper, but that one word spewed a tsunami of venom. “He’s taken my men.”
“Poe and Marcus?” While it explained the big boom, it didn’t make much sense. Then again, I found myself swallowing what Karra had told me as if it were fact. It was messing with my judgment, what little there was.
“McConnell as well.” He grunted, his teeth bared. “They retrieved the wizard from your people and were returning him to me.” He stood, a leviathan rising from a sea of anger. Flickers of crimson energy crackled at his hands. His eyes raged. “Here in my own domain, Reven’s ghouls took my men from me and I was too late to stop them.” He scanned the conflagration, his trembling hand on his chest. “From me. Here.”
The ground thundered as I got to my feet. “Easy, Baalth. Destroying everything you’ve worked to build isn’t gonna bring them back.”
He looked ready to lose it. I couldn’t blame him. Matter of fact, I was getting a little pissed myself. I wanted to trust Karra, to believe that Reven had loftier goals than how they appeared on the surface. Yet, at every corner, I stumbled upon something that only pointed toward his guilt. I was half-tempted to stir the pot and sic Baalth after Reven. It was no less than he probably deserved. The only thing keeping me from doing it was the thought Baalth would kill Karra before I got a chance to see her boobs.
Oh, and he’d destroy the world while he was at it. I guess that’s important too.
Torn, I glanced up at him as tiny surges of shimmering energy leapt from his swinging hands and danced in the air before him. I could feel their power tickle the hairs on my arms. It was like standing in the wake of a lightning bolt. It was unsettling, to say the least.
He turned and met my eyes and nodded shallow. “I can’t…” He swallowed hard, as if debating what he was willing to say. He cast a furtive glance at Rahim and Katon, then stood and stepped close so only I could hear. “I can’t control it.”
A bit uncertain of what he meant, I asked for clarification. “Can’t control what?”
He drew himself up, hesitation still etched on his face. “My magic.” He shook, rumbles echoing through the earth. “A spark turns into a blaze, a blaze into an inferno. It fights to be free. It will not be denied.”
The helplessness I heard in his voice stabbed me in the chest. I’d never once, in all my hundreds of years knowing him, ever seen Baalth as anything other than in control. Tempered by the fury of Hell and the brutality of the battlefield, he was a warrior to the marrow. He faced death boldly, never once turning a cheek as he stood toe- to-toe against the Angelic Choir. He’d decried God, laying siege to the Pearly Gates themselves without fear. Yet there he was, alone, more powerful than any being in existence, and all I could see was misery draping him like a funeral shroud.
Though I probably should have filed that moment away, saving it for future blackmail, I couldn’t help but feel for the guy. He’d realized his dreams only to find they were made of shit and tears.
I could relate.
Before my brain could tell my mouth to fuck off and mind its own business, it dug a hole for me. “I’ll find them.”
He looked at me wide-eyed. If I could have seen my face, it probably looked the exact same as his: surprised.
“Would you?” Hope blossomed in his eyes, though it made him no less imposing. The earth rumbled once more, but its growl was somewhat subdued.
Painted into a corner by my goody two-shoes tongue, I nodded. There wasn’t anything else I could do. Besides, I really couldn’t have Baalth rampaging around like Godzilla, burning the city down. Though I really wasn’t
