No Rest for the Wicked - Chapter 1

A Fledgling story so it's still raw but you get the idea. R&R to see more.

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    "Is she dead?" Dex asked, worry furrowing his brow. He craned his neck to look past Arial and saw melted skin and hair bubbling from the ground. The witch had made it a habit of playing possum.
    "What do you think?"
    "I think the last time I thought she was dead she wasn't."
    Arial turned to face him and made a show of rolling her eyes. "Your definition of dead needs some work. Breathing is still alive."
    "Excuse me Ms. Let's-throw-a-cauldron-of-boiling-tar-on-the-woman. Next time I toss a witch over an eight storey ledge, I'll make sure and boil some tar first."
    "Don't be a smart ass," she chided. "I was the one who threw her over. Now go get her pet before the peacekeepers come."
    Her 'pet' was the witch's familiar. They were used as the witch's proxy during spell evocations, protecting her from any back fires--whatever that meant. Dex was still new to the world Arial had enlightened him on.
    "You aren't afraid are you?" Her eyes shone with mirth.
    "Of course not." But the words didn't sound convincing, even to him.
    The familiar was a Grimplin. How the witch had summoned a Grimplin as a familiar was beyond him. But the small monkey-like minor demon scared the piss out of him. Even more so since the thing had watched them melt its master into meat soup.
    The demon tilted its head at Dex and gave a low mewing sound.
    "You can't honestly tell me that scares you?" Arial asked. He heard a hint of girlish adoration in her voice.
    Leave it to Arial to think a minor demon looks cute, he mused. Aloud Dex said, "What, you want to keep him?"
    The sound of metal boots on flagstone silenced them both, and Dex grabbed the Grimplin, muffling its muzzle. While the monkey frightened him, a night in a dungeon--or worse, a night of explaining--was scarier in his book. At the start of their odd relationship, Arial had put the fear of god in him about getting caught. She served a secret guild that expected complete anonymity from her and her hunts; by extension that included him. Under no circumstance was their presence to be revealed to the public. Trying to explain a red-skinned-monkey with a forked tail and horns--not to mention a pool of melted flesh at their feet--was a hard thing to do without telling the truth.
    The truth.
    Witches were real. Oh, and so were demons, vampires, werewolves, and god knew what else that Arial hadn't enlightened him on.
    Above them, Dex heard the small patrol coming closer. They were on the lower levels of the capital in a section called Riverside. It was the seedy part of the capital, and an area Dex hadn't ventured into until Arial pushed herself into his life. She always took him to the nicest of places.
    The footsteps grew louder and louder, and Arial's hand found his shoulder. She didn't have to but she tightened her hold on him, signaling him to stay still. The Grimplin in his arms buried itself further into his chest and it started to shake. Dex wasn't sure if it was out of fear or rage, but he didn't get the chance to ponder. The soldiers stopped directly above them.
    Dex could see three of them, and he was close enough to see the whites in their eyes. Moonlight reflected off their helmets and the parts of their chests not covered by white cloaks. Their breaths frosted in the cool air, and the image of mythical gods came to mind.
    For a long moment, Dex feared they would look down and see them. Red monkey and all. But it never happened, and they turned away from the ledge. It wasn't until after their footsteps had faded away that Dex allowed his lungs to exhale.
    "Still want to go back to being a librarian?" Arial asked in a soft voice.
    "Every damn day."
    Before Arial, his profession hadn't been exactly 'adventurous'. Books was his forte, not killing monsters. But the day he'd accidentally bonded to Arial was the day he had become a member of the guild. The only way out was death, and Arial wouldn't let him die. It was one of the many unfortunate ‘perks’ of being bonded to the woman. If he died, she died and vice versa.
    "Let's get out of here." He whispered, shifting the Grimplin to his right hip like a small child. He looked down to see wide red eyes.
    OK. It does look adorable, Dex admitted silently to himself.
    "No, you can't keep it," Arial whispered as she passed him.
    "I wasn't--" He began. Flustered, he started after her.
    "You think it's cute," she accused him. There was a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
    "So he is cuter than most demons I've met," Dex admitted, scratching one of its long ears.
    Her hand smacked the back of his head so fast it blurred. He let out a hiss. She sometimes didn't know her own strength.
    "O-w-ch."
    "Don't think I don't know you've only met two demons."
    "Your point?"
    She flashed her pearly whites at him in a beastly grin. "Keep talking boy."
    "Boy? I'm older than you are."
    Arial snorted and easily lifted the heavy ladder they had hidden from sight.
    Dex gave her a prodding smile. "Really? How much older are you?"
    She put the ladder into place with a little more force than necessary.
    "Up," Arial commanded, ignoring him.
    The Grimplin seemed to understand what was happening and crawled over his shoulder before wrapping his arms and feet around him.
    "Aren't you a smart little red demonic monkey?" Dex crooned at the little guy. "Yes you are. Smartest little demon I know."
    Arial let out a predatory growl and the Grimplin gripped him tighter.
    "Move."
    He waved a hand dismissively, her authoritative tone long since been rendered ineffective by his superior intellect.
    When he reached the top, a hand from the shadows grabbed his arm and his heart jumped out of his chest. It wasn't until he saw Turk's face that his heart rate slowed to that of a mild panic attack.
    "Don't do that," he gasped.
    The man of few words grunted and helped him over the wall. Turk was in charge of their transportation. He was a tribesman who could communicate with animals and had been with Arial before Dex had come along. Since the king had been waging war against the tribes for over a decade, it was no wonder Turk stuck to the darkness when he could. With his tall and lean features, he might as well have carried a sign saying 'tribesman here'.
    Once Dex was over, Turk waved to the horses hiding in an alleyway and three unnaturally quiet horses came forward, stopping in front of them.
    Arial swung her heavy boots over and landed with a heavy thump.
    "Hurry," Arial hissed.
    Dex's stomach involuntarily tightened when he saw her in full demon mode--her brown eyes turned completely black and slightly enlarged. He wasn't sure what had spurred her into going demon but he knew better than to argue. Mounting the closest horse, he watched Turk do the same. Arial, on the other hand, didn't move. Instead, she stared down the end of the road where it was obscured by darkness. It was then that Dex realized what was wrong. There was a full moon, but the moonlight didn't penetrate the entire street.
    "Get him out of here," she ordered.
    Turk pulled out his bow from the saddle and without any sort of signal, all three horses started moving. Dex looked behind him in time to see Arial pulling out her comically oversized sword. Knowing what to look for, he watched the darkness creep forward. Gloom.
    It was the first time he'd seen the supernatural veil between their world and the underworld, something he'd only heard from Arial.
    The Grimplin on his back began to cower and whimper, but Dex paid no attention to it. He couldn't look away.
    Arial whisped something, a chant, and the gloom slowed until it came to a complete stop, as if the lantern light above her head was powerful enough to hold it back. Like a dark fog, a portion of the gloom parted and revealed a nine-foot, red, monkey-demon holding an axe the size of a horse.
    "Seriously?”