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ARIES CAME TO HIS SENSES SOME TIME LATER.
The cloudy haze blocking his senses dissipated. At last he was freed from the magic’s fierce clutches—though the experience was hardly pleasant. His spirit slammed back into his vessel, making his body jolt as though he were dreaming and fell through the floor.
His ears rung as he waited for his eyesight to return to him. As he lay there, scrunched up and cold, his memories returned to him slowly.
One moment, he had been sleeping in bed with his mates. The next, he vaguely recalled leaving the house. He tried to remember what direction he walked, but drew a blank. Whatever he had done after leaving the house, he had forgotten.
For now, he’d have to rely on what he knew to escape his predicament. The only problem? Aries had no idea where he was.
He shifted around—feeling along the floor with his fingers and toes. Wherever he’d been confined to was cramped. Even with his feet pressed firmly against the adjacent wall, Aries felt like he had little room to move, let alone breathe. His elbows smacked against two walls on either side of him. A sharp, stinging sensation alerted him to how sharp the walls were.
He cursed under his breath.
The space was so dark he could hardly see. The air was thick and musky—and after a while, his breaths became more shallow. His heart raced as panic set in. If his mates knew where he was, he would be saved—but if they didn’t, Aries hated to imagine what kind of fate he would meet.
He turned his gaze upward, searching for anything that would clue him in to where he was, or help him escape.
But the space he woke up in was barren. The only option left was brute force—but was he strong enough to make a difference?
With his hands and ankles bound, he rocked back and forth, slowly building momentum. The metal beneath him did a number on his rear, but he persisted. He slammed his left side against one wall and then careened in the other direction. One of the four walls must be a door of some sort, and if he could just break it open...
His arms stung from the impact of hitting metal—and unfortunately, his efforts only attracted the attention of someone outside.
“Awake, are you?” a voice cackled from the other side of the left wall.
“Who are you and where have you taken me?” Aries demanded.
“I am under no obligation to answer that,” the voice snapped.
“Can you at least tell me why then?”
For a long moment, Aries wondered if the man had left him there without answering. But moments later, he heard the shuffling of feet and the voice spoke once more. “It is simple. You are an incubus and you’ve been giving those four meddlers quite a lot of power. Normally we would have been able to handle the likes of them ourselves, but you... You have foiled our plans one too many times. Your existence is a liability.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Don’t worry. Your spirit will be reborn somewhere someday.”
Fear crawled through Aries until every vein felt cold as ice. He stared hard into the darkness as he tried to think of a way out of his situation. He found none.
He was just an incubus, after all. He didn’t have demonic strength like Brava, deadly magic like Rune, a shisa like Shen, or the power of the angels like Terra.
He ground his teeth together and clenched his fists. Was he supposed to just sit there and let the man kill him? What a miserable fate to succumb to after a life filled with so many blessings. He couldn't stand the thought of losing everything now. Not when he had four gorgeous, loving mates waiting for him at home... Not when he'd finally found people who loved him for who he was; people who weren't afraid of him.
No longer was Aries the grim reaper.
He didn't want the new life that awaited him to be taken away so quickly.
"Can't kill you if you're in there," the voice muttered.
Suddenly, the left wall opened, and a cloaked man grabbed him and yanked him out into the light. Aries felt the hard floor plow into his face, breaking his fall. He groaned and turned his face to the side. Something trickled down chin, and Aries had a sneaking suspicion his nose was bleeding.
Despite the pain he felt, he was thankful for fresh air. With his eyesight recovered, he scoured the room with his eyes. His heart sunk when he realized where he was.
"What have you done to the Mayweather's home?" Aries growled.
"We had to live somewhere," the cloaked figure retorted dryly.
"Is that why you killed them, too?"
"Oh, them? Heavens, no. This neighborhood has many humans who are easy to manipulate, you see. My partner and I sought the weakest ones here and took over their home. Though we had to dispose of them... They were useful in our more recent activities."
"You aren't a god!" Aries barked. "What gives you the right to come here and play with lives?"
"What gives an ant like you the right to criticize me?" The man's boot crunched against Aries' ear. He snuffed the steely toe into the author's face like he was putting out a cigarette. "Humans are insects at the bottom of the totem pole. Weak, pitiful beings with no power to their name. You think you can compare to us? Everyone in our world could squish you just like the bug you are..."
Stars danced in Aries' eyes, but he had to keep the man talking. "Even if you kill me, my mates will come for you."
"Oh, they're your mates? Now I really must kill you all..." The cloaked figure pressed harder against Aries' head. "Breeding with the likes of you would make our kind weak."
When he grew bored of tormenting Aries with his boot, he reached down and dragged the author across the room. There, he lifted him up into a chair and pushed it up against a table. On the table sat a single gun and one, sharp knife. Once Aries was set up, the man untied his hands
and took a seat across from him.
"Why did you untie me?"
"Because I am going to offer you a choice," the man said, gesturing to the items on the counter. "Pick one of the items in front of you and kill yourself."
Aries glared at the man. He grabbed the gun and pointed it forward, his finger on the trigger. "What makes you think I would use it on myself?"
The man's coat shook as he laughed. "Do you wish to know what my magic is?"
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me, anyway."
"How do you think I controlled the old couple who once lived here?" he asked, gesturing around him.
Looking around only made Aries' angrier. The house looked exactly as it had before the Mayweather's were killed. If he didn't know any better, he would have assumed the couple were still alive and active up to that day. Picture frames covered the walls with the smiling faces of their family. An old television playing in the background buzzed with static. The carpet looked plush, as though it had been recently vacuumed, and the house still carried the scent of apples, one of Mrs. Mayweather's favorites.
"Let me guess, mind control?" Aries deduced. "And your friend—he was the one blowing people up."
The figure leaned against the table, and from beneath the cloak, Aries thought he could see a sick grin. "You're smarter than you look."
"I don't need someone like you to tell me that," he retorted dryly. "If you could set me on fire like your friend could, you would. But instead, you've given me a gun and a knife."
Aries fired the gun.
The bullet shot across the room and phased through the man like he was only a phantom.
"I like that look of horror you've got on your face," the man boomed, laughing so hard the table shook. "I bet you feel quite foolish now, don't you? Coming here assuming I could only control minds... Well, surprise!"
Aries pulled the trigger again, but bullet after bullet continued to phase through the man.
"That's no good. Can't have you wasting anymore of our ammunition..."
Suddenly, two bright purple lights flashed from within the dark hood. Aries realized at once it was the man's eyes. He activated his magic and the horrifying feeling that had driven Aries to leave the safety of home returned once more.
His senses faded into the background of his awareness. Like a spirit floating outside of its own body, he watched as he turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger.