Pursuit of the Zodiacs (27 page)

“Oh, shit!” Stricken with even more anxiety, he hurried back to his booth to make sure everything was properly set up. Others glimpsed at the art legend as he approached the exhibit.

“Come on, you’re the man!” Nathan said to himself. Izakiah Gretcha was his idol. He strongly felt that they both shared similarities in style. Though rebellious, his art revolutionized the imaginative World, whether the next man believed in his theories or not. To him, Izakiah wasn’t afraid to put his balls out there in addition to all the plots against his life. That’s the mark of a true artist.

“Today is the day,” Izakiah Gretcha said.

“My apologies, Sir, but please explain,” Michael, the head of security requested.

“I will share the news later, Brother. Come let us, enter,” Izakiah replied.

Paparazzi and reporters desperately tried getting a word and more photos in before the doors slammed shut behind them. Moments later, Izakiah Gretcha departed from their viewing pleasure.

“Come on, Nathan. Get it together! Today is your big fucking break!” Nathan commanded himself.

He saw his idol closing in. Nathan stood confidently. Izakiah’s stare said it all. Determined, he scanned through each student’s painting thoroughly, but kept on moving as if in a race against time. Meanwhile, on high alert, Michael and the rest of his security monitored the area.

He approached Nathan’s paintings, and his eyes fastened on one particular canvas that displayed “An Archangel Slaying a Serpent inside of the White House.”

Izakiah’s face transitioned to amazement, and the controversial painter spoke in strange tongues. The only words that they could understand were, “My God, this is it!” Izakiah announced. “This is the final painting to my anthology.”

He checked his watch, and with an accomplished look on his face whispered, “It’s time.”

“What?” Michael replied. Nathan realized that his watch was stuck on the exact time that Izakiah walked into the museum.

“That’s weird.” Nathan looked at the clocks in the museum, all suffering the same malfunction.

Izakiah embraced Michael and spoke, “Remember when I said today is the day, Brother?”

“Yes sir, what did you mean?” Michael asked.

“The beginning and an ending,” Izakiah answered. He pointed to Nathan, “Beginning.” He placed his right hand on his heart, “Ending.”

They heard the piercing of glass. Half of Izakiah’s face landed on the floor, his body lifelessly collapsed, but Michael caught him mid-way through. Not fully grasping what had happened, and in a state of shock, Nathan uttered, “Izakiah.”

Screams echoed and bounced off the walls of the museum. People trampled over one another towards the jammed fire exits.

Michael gently laid Izakiah’s dead body on the floor and grabbed a terrified Nathan.

“Get down, child!” Michael shouted, as more piercing bullets crisscrossed through the exhibit hall, preying on the innocent. He covered Nathan with his own body and encouraged him to stay down, for he was the ‘Beginning’ of an untold prophecy.

Nathan lay there stunned. Looking through the gap of his cover, he saw Izakiah’s blood-drenched body. Everything appeared to happen so fast, but everything moved in slow motion, like dreamtime. An evil supremacy infected the museum. Covered in Izakiah’s blood, Michael and Nathan scrambled for more shelter behind a row of statues.

Across the street, in an unmarked building, the sniper abandoned his gun and fled as police closed in on him. He shouted in the blood-drawn night, “It is done!”

He jumped off the roof of the building, but the police never recovered his body.

Michael got up, comprehending no immediate danger, and grabbed Nathan’s hand. “Come, child. Something needs to be done. I refuse to let him die in vain.”

Not what he intended, but Nathan seized his breakthrough.

“I still can’t get a signal. These Mortals and their toys. I’ll try again in a few minutes.” Grenad tossed the phone on the bed. In the meantime, he, along with Goliath, went over Natenal’s recent dream. The Bookkeeper had left with Ithiel to the Moon by way of a spacecraft to report the proceedings to an awaiting Archangel. They were to wait there until called upon.

“So, Natenal, your dream: what does it mean?” Grenad asked.

Natenal responded, “I cannot recall this ever happening in my past life.”

Grenad added, “If this event has yet to occur, are we to stop it, or turn our heads?”

Goliath answered, “The only Zodiac we know with the gift of stopping time is Sagittarius.”

“Yes, and he seems to be fond of abandoned buildings. But, for some reason, I can’t fathom the thought that it could be some sort of metaphor for something. Or, do you think Izakiah Gretcha might be Sagittarius?” Grenad asked.

Goliath replied, “Hmm, that makes sense. But the painting? Should we search for it?”

Natenal answered, “No, it’s the sign within the painting, something regarding the White House. If it is fate that we cross paths with the Zodiac again, then so be it. We will send him back to his Ruling Planet.”

Unaware of the news of Leo’s death, they assumed that they’d found their man located at an underground gambling ring, with a convenience store serving as a front to fool the cops.

“Put your weapon down,” Daniel said. Alerted, Shiloh and Daniel moved in closer, certain that the suspect was indeed Leo.

“I would mind my own business if I were you,” the robber warned.

“Are you short on coin, Zodiac? We know who you are, Leo. Come with us,” Daniel ordered.

The suspect replied, “Ha, you have the wrong man. I will not warn you again. Leave now.” He transformed into a half-dragon, half-humanoid beast. The clerk fainted and hit the floor hard. It was the man who called himself the Year of the Dragon.

“Who the Hell are the other two? Lisa, are you seeing this?” Detective Lee yelled to his partner.

From outside the convenience store, detective Lee and Lisa looked on. They had received a report of a robbery in progress. But the two Pursuers had beaten them to the scene.

Lisa answered, “Our suspect just turned into some shit! We should call for back up.”

Detective Lee said, “Yeah, make the call. It looks like it’s going to get ugly in there.”

Back in the convenience store, the Year of the Dragon made himself known.

Shiloh questioned, “What is this beast?”

The Man-Dragon advanced towards them, shooting fire from his mouth. They split up, parrying away from the fiery blaze. Daniel, with his gift over the winds, constructed a heavy burst of wind that knocked the dragon off course and into a few shelves of the store. Shiloh went to work banging her blade across the monster’s impenetrable skin. The monster retaliated by tearing both her arms off.

Daniel, shocked at what he had just seen, yelled, “Shiloh!”

Tossed aside like a slab of cold meat, helpless but still conscious, Shiloh grimaced in excruciating pain. She lay there shouting. The monster opened his massive jaws in an attempt to burn her alive. But, before he could cover her in flames, Daniel intervened with a fierce thrust of wind that inflicted internal damage upon the dragon. The wind blew the dragon completely through the foundation of the store, creating a massive hole in its structure.

Using all that power recklessly had brought Daniel to the brink of utter exhaustion. Knocking down items, stumbling into numerous shelves, he desperately treaded toward the downed beast. Shiloh was on the floor coughing up blood. He stopped by her side.

“Keep moving! This Demon must be destroyed!” Shiloh cried.

With sword in hand, Daniel approached the battered Man-Dragon.

“Freeze!”

Too focused on gaining vengeance, he never saw them coming. Over a dozen cops with guns drawn took cover behind their parked vehicles. To the first detectives on the scene, the backup couldn’t have arrived at a better time. They witnessed the whole encounter. All supernatural forms were identified. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Daniel’s wings alone told a million stories.

A very startled and quivering detective Lee yelled out, “We, we, we have you sur-, sur-rounded. Put, put your weapon down.”

Dying, Shiloh put her final gift to work. Her eyes became all white as she shook helplessly on the floor. Every living creature in the vicinity, from the crows and rats to the stray cats, and dogs, attacked the armed officers. The Man-Dragon saw Daniel’s sword coming down upon him and dispensed more fire from his mouth. Daniel sheltered himself with his own wings. The force knocked him into the side of
a nearby dumpster, denting its heavy steel frame. The Man-Dragon held his stomach in pain and ran off. For stalling his escape, he punished the stubborn officers who fired upon him. Their bullets only fueled the Dragon Zodiac, and he incinerated them. The Year of the Dragon took his escape airborne, transforming into a full Dragon. The sight instilled fear in all those who witnessed as it flapped its giant wings. Most of the onlookers mistook it for a well-designed large balloon. The Moon gave aid to its essence, and the debate for its authenticity found mainstream news.

“Wait!” Detective Lee said, while managing to escape the animal infestation.

Daniel responded, “Mortal, you need to know when you have met defeat.”

He knocked the detective across the street with a force of wind, leaving him unconscious.

Daniel shouted, “Enough of this. This gathering is over!” He summoned a cyclone that cleared the streets before touching the surface. The surviving police and detectives scurried back into their vehicles and drove off.

Daniel found Shiloh and said, “Shiloh! Shiloh, are you alright?”

He felt a pulse, but no conscious response. He picked her up, stepped outside and took flight, unconcerned about who may have witnessed him.

The sudden movement awakened her. “Farewell, Brother. We shall meet again after my journey through the Reincarnation Realm,” she uttered. Daniel asked, “Reincarnation Realm?”

But, before he could get an answer, she lapsed into unconsciousness.

One of the Geminis stood on the balcony of his hotel window, watching the cyclone in the distance, and saw an Archangel carrying another. “Do you see what I see over there?”

The other Geminus approached the balcony and spotted the mysterious beings, ensuring that his Brother was not hallucinating.

An agitated Twin barked, “It’s The Pursuers!”

The other said, “Great! Because of your carelessness, our enemies are one step ahead of us.”

The first Twin replied, “You’re still burdened over the Scroll? We must …“

Someone knocked on the door. One Twin motioned for silence and teleported to the door.

The knocking stopped and a voice outside announced, “Room service.”

The cleaning lady used her master keycard to open the door. They kindly announced the room’s occupancy and sent her off. Moments later there was another knock at the door.

A Twin yelled, “Look, Lady, we said the room is occupied.” But, frustrated, he opened the door.

“No! Wait!” His Brother warned.

It was Skore, Lucifer’s personal messenger, there for a report.

They had no words. They let him in and offered him a seat and drinks.

Skore refused their hospitality. “I’m afraid this unannounced visit must proceed in haste. What is the word on Leo?”

Skore never saw it coming. One of the Geminis thrust his sword through Skore’s stomach.

“You bastards! What are you doing?” Skore gripped the sword lodged in his body as the other Geminus teleported behind him. He remained on the couch, unable to move. The Gemini freed him of his pain, decapitating Lucifer’s Messenger.

“What have we done?”

“We’ve just made an alliance with The Pursuers,” was the response.

“Great!” sighed the Twin. “We are traitors, enemies of both realms. I highly doubt that Mosqidou will accept our warm gestures on the strength that we acted so only out of fear of Lucifer.”

On a distant Planet called ZY Red Hypergiant, colonized by the People of the Sun, one of Aru’s spies spoke to Aru. “My Lord, we come with bad news. Your Brother Leo has been murdered.”

The day he feared had come. He could only fight back the tears for so long. He broke down. The spy gave him a moment. After collecting himself, he asked, “What happened?”