Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (10 page)

The sneaky kid dodged around Aura, his wheeled contraption giving him some unexpectedly amazing maneuverability, and swooped in on Ash and Shiva. There was no attack; he seemed to merely scrape by the pair, only grazing them, and kept rolling away.

The sneaker turned the next corner and was gone without another word. Aura looked on, skeptical, then dropped to his knees beside Ash. He put a gentle hand on Ash's shoulder and lightly shook him.

"You okay, man?" he asked. "Did that demon squeeze you a little too tightly back there or something?"

Ash stared into his friend’s eyes, his vision and hearing slowly returning. He was cooling down as well and felt okay enough to speak.

"I... I don't know what just happened," he admitted.

"You fell over just as that weird kid blew by," Aura said. "Now I wonder what that was all about…"

“I just felt sick all of a sudden…”

Ash looked over at Shiva, still out of it. She'd been unconscious for almost an hour now with no signs of waking. The boy shrugged and tried to stand up. His knees trembled and ached, but with Aura's help he managed to lift Shiva and stand.

"I feel lighter," Ash said. With his free hand he patted down his pockets. A sudden realization of terror came over him.

"Oh man! The cards are missing!" he said, frantically patting all his pockets to make sure.

"He took your
cards
?" asked Aura.

"Wait a minute," said Ash, pulling out a handful of cards from one of his pockets. "This is my deck. But Vashi Tansa's cards are missing! I just had them, I know I did!"

"That kid..." Aura said, connecting the dots. "He must have picked your pocket. He said he wanted revenge; he was probably trying to steal your cards and ended up taking Vashi Tansa's by accident. Lucky break."

Ash thought about how Shiva might react to him losing her deck.

"Oh man, I gotta go track that kid down! Which way did he go?”

Aura shrugged and pointed.

“Here, hold this," Ash said, handing Vashi Tansa over to Aura.

"
Ugh
, I have to
touch
him?" Aura asked, offended.

Ash took off without responding. He still felt a little jittery, but adrenaline flowed through his body and gave him the oomph he needed to get moving. As he dashed away, hoping the sudden bout of sickness he felt would not return, Aura stood deathly still.

He started thinking about all the fun he could have with an unconscious Noble.
Maybe I could paint some hilarious drawings on his face.
Or
I could set him in the gutter with an empty bottle of booze and make people think he’s a lush. Or what if I took off some of his clothes and
…

As if somehow willed by the meer thought of her clothes coming off, Shiva stirred suddenly. Her eyes snapped wide open.

"
Get off me Draxler
!" she screamed, pushing Aura away.

"Whoa!" Aura shouted in surprise, flinging the wary ‘Noble’ aside.

Shiva, as Vashi Tansa, took a few seconds to assess the situation. Her last memory was from her duel with Ash. She couldn't recall how the game ended. In fact, she had no idea why she was now outside in Aura's arms.

"
You will explain everything
," she said, struggling to free herself from his grasp.

Ash took off in the direction Aura pointed. To cover more ground he quickly brought out his wings and took to the sky. Flying above the building tops he could see multiple streets and alleyways in-between. Devil eyes are much more powerful than human eyes, so identifying the little thug would be no problem, even from such great heights.

Sure enough just four blocks away was the thief. The child was rolling down a busy sidewalk, swerving in and out of the foot traffic, heading for East Hell, the part of the kingdom that bordered the sea. He was staring at a handful of stolen cards and coasting slowly. Ash could easily have swooped down from the sky and dropkicked him to the ground, but he felt such force wouldn’t be necessary with such a younger child. Instead he swooped down and landed on the street in front of the kid.

“Okay kid, nice try,” said Ash as he hit the ground. His wings sucked into the holes in his shirt and disappeared into his back. “Hand over the cards you took.”

The sneaker smirked. He tucked the cards away in his pocket and looked Ash in his eyes. “I’m surprised you managed to work up the courage to come after me,” he said.

“Look kid, just hand over the cards and I won’t have to do anything bad to you.”

The sneaker snorted with childish laughter. “What exactly are you going to do to me, Mr. Tough Human? You gonna beat me up like you beat up your former teacher?”

Ash winced. That was still a sore subject for him. He didn’t like to think about Phoenix’s final message to him, or what it meant for his future. He didn’t like the idea that he might of sent an innocent man to his death. He didn’t think he could ever forgive himself for it if everything Phoenix said turned out to be true.

“
Why
,
you little
…”

“You can try and chase me but you’ll never catch me,” the sneaker said, stretching his leg muscles in preparation.

“Just give me the cards back and I’ll let you go! They’re not even mine, they’re-”

“
Come and get me
!”

With that the sneaker kicked off, his skateboard wheels spinning on pavement. Ash suspected that might happen and was quick to give chase. He got about ten steps before the child unleashed a sneaky trick.

From the boy’s fingertips, ten tiny flames appeared. The little flames rounded to the size of marbles, glowing different shades of red, yellow, and orange. The boy dropped all ten of his tiny flames on the ground. Ash didn’t see the little balls as he gave chase and stepped right on top of them. He slid and lost his footing, falling straight onto his face.

The flame marbles popped like firecrackers, adding insult to injury. Ash climbed to his feet full of rage just in time to see the sneaker get in a good laugh at his expense. The kid rolled into the next alleyway as onlookers on the street gawked.

Ash took off once more to give chase, this time keeping a watchful eye on the ground to spot any more traps in advance. He felt a great deal more confident as he turned the next corner following the kid into the alley. He should have known better.

As soon as Ash entered the alley he saw a blazing shape moving towards him. The tornado was only as tall as him, but it seemed to be made entirely out of flames. He started to sweat all over again. He could see the sneaky kid beyond the flamenado, laughing hysterically.

As the blazing wind funnel moved closer Ash had no choice but to retreat. The heat and the wind were pulling him in. He cursed at the little sneaker and pivoted away. The flamenado chased him out into the street, slamming into several innocent bystanders in its path.

After the funnel of fire died down Ash didn't wait around to explain. He took to the skies one more time to try locating the sneaker, still fuming with anger. He didn't have any luck finding the kid again, even after twenty minutes of searching. He knew he lost him,
and
Shiva's cards.

Ash flew back to where he left Aura in North Hell. He was starting to worry about leaving a sleeping disguised Shiva with Aura. When he finally made it back to where he left his friends, Shiva was wide awake standing with her back turned to Aura, her arms crossed tightly over her pillow-stuffed robes. Ash landed next to them and put his wings away.

"
My deck
,
please
," Vashi Tansa asked, thrusting his open hand at Ash.

He met her icy cold stare with a look of disappointment. "Here's the thing about that..." he said, fearing for the worst. "That little sneaker got away with your cards."

"
What
!" Vashi exploded. "You couldn't even capture and detain a small child? What's wrong with you! I thought you were the big-shot hero who saved Hell from the rebels!"

"Catching that sneaker was harder than you think," said Ash. "For one thing, it’s hard to keep up with that skateboard. He knew all sorts of flame tricks that I wasn't expecting, too. He even somehow made a tornado out of fire!"

"You still failed to capture a child," he said. "You’re lucky I can afford a new deck.”

Aura kept his head down and stayed out of the conversation while Ash tried his best to make amends. "You can have my deck if you want," he offered, pulling his cards out of his pocket.

"I don't want your lousy angel deck!" Vashi kept his back to the boys. More and more people were pausing to watch them talk and Vashi didn’t seem to like that.

“
You’re welcome
, by the way,” Aura muttered. “You know, for us saving you and everything.”

Vashi cleared his throat a little. With a sheepish look on his face, he muttered "I’d best be on my way now, boys. Thanks for getting me out of there. Maybe we’ll have a rematch some day, Ash Kaplan.” She gave Ash one quick determined glare. “And when we do, I will be sure to win.”

Vashi stormed off leaving the boys behind. Aura snorted to himself, happy to be rid of the pesky ‘Noble’. If he could have it his way, he’d never see Vashi again. Only Ash knew the truth. They would see each other again that very same night, though under considerably different circumstances.

Chapter Seven: The Helio Star

Shiva was home when Ash and Aura arrived later that evening.

She was sprawled out on the couch, marveling at how good it felt to be back in her own gown, when the boys came home. “How was your stupid tournament?” she asked as they shuffled through the door.

“You missed out,” Aura gloated. “A
greater
one
showed up.”

Shiva scoffed. “
Pfft
. I’ve been fighting demons all day. And I never once breaked for a
children’s card game
.”

Technically
, thought Ash,
you played a children’s card game all day and only breaked for a demonic possession.

“It’s nice to see you too, Shiva,” Ash said as he hung up his coat. “It was a real shame. I was about to
win
the whole tournament too, before that demon showed up and ruined things.”

He said that because he knew it would really grind Shiva’s gears. The three of them moving in together hadn’t been a smooth transition. Shiva wasn’t an ideal roommate, or even an easy person to get along with in constant close proximity. She kept the boys on edge most days, disappeared long stretches of time at night, and was largely unpredictable in her behavior.

Naturally, the boys took great pleasure in tormenting her whenever possible.

“Oh
really
?” Shiva asked, cocking an eyebrow. “You
sure
about that? I mean, did you
officially
win the whole thing? Or were you actually about to be beaten by a superior opponent? I wasn’t there so I don’t know. You have to tell me honestly.”

“Yeah, I was about to win,” Ash replied with a grin. He could see Shiva grinding her teeth, a telltale sign of her frustration. Instead of getting more noticeably frustrated, she dismissed her roommate’s jab with a loud belch and rolled off the couch.

“Well that would be impressive
if
I cared about card games, but I don’t,” she said, looking her men in the eyes. “That’s why I was doing something
constructive
with my time. Now don’t wake me up, and don’t be late for training.” With that she climbed the stairs up to her bedroom, leaving the boys behind in bewilderment.

“Whatever she was
really
doing today was probably nowhere near as cool as what we were doing,” Aura said, making an obscene gesture as she disappeared behind her bedroom door.

Ash nodded. “Probably not.”

Morning came.

As always the boys slept until the artificial sun formation woke them. Ash stirred in his bed for a few minutes before an uncomfortable realization came over him.

Did I… wet the bed
?

His sheets and comforter were moist and smelly. Something was wrong. The smell was something else.
Sweat
?

That’s when it hit him: It was hotter than Hell in Hell!

What was going on? It had to be at least eighty degrees Fahrenheit, an extreme departure from the subzero temps he was used to waking up in. He looked out the window and could see the sun shining like any other day, no larger than ever. So how could it be so much hotter?

He rolled out of bed and headed for the downstairs bathroom. On the way he saw Shiva through the living room window. She was standing in the backyard staring at the morning sun, wearing her armor as usual.

Crazy girl
, he thought.
She’s really going to wear her armor in heat like this
?
She’ll pass out
!

After showering thoroughly, Ash went to wake Aura. To save himself trouble he brought a cup of water and doused Aura’s face with it. His bedding was wet already anyway. Aura shot up at once, terrified and still half asleep.

"
No Marni don't leave
!" he shouted. He blinked and rubbed his tired eyes, then looked at Ash. "I was having a sexy dream.” He sniffed the air. “Why'd you pee all over my bed?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "I didn't
pee
on you," he said.

"Well
I
didn't pee my bed. Did Shiva finally snap and start marking her territory?"

"Nobody peed on your bed!" Ash snapped. "It's
sweat
. Can't you feel how hot it is?"

"Whoa," said Aura. "So this is how natural heat feels." He rolled off his wet bed and reached for his jacket. After wearing it for just ten seconds he took it off and threw it on the floor. "It's too hot. I don't like it!"

"Why is it so hot all of a sudden?" Ash asked.

"It must be the...
thing
,” said Aura. “Goddard can explain it better than I can. Never could wrap my mind around all that science-y business."

The boys joined Shiva in their spacious, private backyard where they trained most days. There was no grass back there like their old training ground in the castle, just dirt and gravel. The number of scrapes and bruises Ash received during his daily training routines increased drastically, something his body reminded him of every time he visited the bathhouse.

"Nothing from Goddard?" Ash asked Shiva. Their boss would frequently send them work orders that somehow arrived before any of them were even awake. Sometimes a work order would arrive later in the day though, and in that case the team's orders were to spend the morning in training.

"Not yet," Shiva replied. "You know the drill. Drop and give me a hundred push-ups!"

The boys groaned. Not because a hundred push-ups was difficult; with their superior devil strength it would take them just minutes. The sucky part was the extreme heat.

"Don't give me that," Shiva replied. She dropped to the ground with them and started the workout.

After ten minutes the group was gasping for both air and water. Sweat poured from Ash's shaggy head like water falling off a mop. His hair had grown longer but was still nowhere near the length of Aura's. The death toucher had to keep pausing to push his soggy bangs out of his eyes. After a while Shiva produced a hair band and gave it to him, a rare act of generosity from her. He'd never put his hair up before, but the situation definitely called for it this time.

When they were done with the push-ups all three collapsed into tired, sweaty piles on the ground. Shiva gasped for breath the hardest. She didn't say anything, but Ash could tell her armor wasn't doing her any favors in this weather.

“
We might just
…
have to invest
…
in some sun-block
,” Ash said, raising a hand to keep the brilliant sun out of his eyes.

“Sun…
what
?” Aura asked, not familiar with such a product.

“
Never mind
,” Ash replied when he caught his breath. “Can we just… can we find some shade or something?”

Aura stood up and removed his thin, sweat-soaked tanktop. Ash rolled up his pant legs and made a mental note to buy some shorts from his tailor friend Gio. He removed his damp shirt as well and tossed it aside.

"Okay," Shiva huffed, exhausted already. "Now we do a hundred sit-ups."

"Umm," Ash interjected. "Maybe you should change into something more comfortable."

"I expected that kind of line from Draxler, but not you," she replied.

"I just think you're going to wipe yourself out wearing that armor in this heat."

"I always train in my armor. I'm not taking it off."

The team moved on to sit-ups. Ash and Aura finished their reps before Shiva even made it halfway. They rested and drank lots of water while they waited for her to finish. When she was done she could barely move. The boys waited for her to issue the next command while she chugged a bottle of water.

"
Soul power
," she said between gasps for air. "
Go
."

The team learned how to harness the power of their souls thanks to the rebel named Phoenix. Shiva's grandfather Wilhelm turned out to be the true leader of the rebels, a fact that Shiva was unaware of. Thanks to both of those men, Ash, Shiva, and Aura had made great strides in becoming stronger.

The boys adopted a balanced stance and closed their eyes. It wasn't necessary to keep their eyes shut, but it helped them focus under the tyrannical eye of Shiva. Powerful emotions were needed to unlock a body's soul power, and Ash had no shortage of fuel in that area.

His go-to image for working himself up usually involved thoughts of his mother, the home he left behind, and his longing to return to that world. With his eyelids squeezed shut, Ash found his mind wandering to more recent events for inspiration.

Ash could see his former teacher, the man he was forced to fight for real, bound and forced into the guillotine. So many times he tried to forget the scene of the blade falling. The sight of his teacher locking eyes with him and mouthing his final message was one that Ash could never forget.

Ash's soul activated at once, surrounding his body with an eerie glow that looked a lot like steam. The team could easily summon the power now to enhance their fighting skills, but focusing it on a specific body part still took some effort. Their training regime had Shiva calling out various points of focus for the boys to concentrate on.

“Right fist!” she said. In response, the boys tried to focus their soul power into their balled up fists.

“
Heh
,” Aura smirked. His death touch hand crackled with the electric blue current of his soul power. “Too easy,” he said.

“Left leg!” Shiva said. Again, the boys concentrated and moved the focus of their energy efforts to their legs. Doing so in a fight would provide a much-needed speed boost, making them almost undetectable to untrained eyes. This would be a vital skill to master.

“Left fist!” Shiva said. She called out a few more commands while Ash and Aura sweat to keep up with the changes. Eventually she got up off the ground and joined them. She didn’t look good. Her face was as red as her hair and she gulped air like a drowning fish.

“
Right…leg…
” she said, her voice fading.

Shiva dropped to her knees and fell forward suddenly.

“
Ahhh
!
She passed out
!” Ash cried.

“
Yeeesssssss
,” Aura whispered, pumping his fist excitedly.

Shiva awakened to a stream of warm water rushing over her face. She sat up at once in terror.
It’s finally happened
! she thought.
Draxler’s reverted to a form so primitive he’s taken to marking his territory
! Her confused panicking was not helped by her next discovery. They didn’t just move her inside and onto the living room couch. They took off her armor as well!

Shiva ran her hands over every inch of her body just to be sure. Every single piece of her armor had been removed while she was out.

“
Who
…?” she started to say, her anger boiling. Before she could add onto that thought, a familiar face looked down on her.

“It was I who removed your armor,” said the white haired man with glasses. He had the same bored look he usually had on his face. He was wearing shorts and a thin, flowery-patterned button up shirt. The least formal outfit he’d ever been spotted in.

“
Goddard
?” said Shiva. “When’d you get here?”

“Approximately fifteen minutes ago.”