The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (15 page)

Michelle cocks an
eyebrow, “He’s gay.” She puts down the book and saunters over, “You like to
have sex with dudes, right?”

Gill looks at me,
“What is he talking about?”

I look at Michelle,
“That’s a girl.”

He cocks an eyebrow,
“That is a man, a boy actually.”

Michelle stops dead in
her tracks, “I’m a girl.”

He looks confused.
Constantine comes in behind us doing his know-it-all chuckle, “The glamour
can’t hide you. The magic of Lucifer and his evil ways can’t hide what you
truly are, what you were born as, from the fae. They can see past it.”

Gill slaps his hand on
Constantine’s back, “Like my brother here, surely you see him as well.”

Constantine shakes his
head, “I do not. I see a beautiful girl.”

I am lost. I give
Michelle a look, “You don’t think Gill is sexy?”

She shakes her
head,
“He’s gay, gay guys don’t really do it for me.”

I look up at the
ceiling for a second, “Since when?”

“Since I turned into a
girl, regardless of what twinkle toes here says.”

Gill looks even more
confused, “Am I twinkle toes?”

Michelle leans in,
“You are very twinkle toes. My ‘
gaydar
’ never lies. I
could smell a gay guy in a herd of lumberjacks from a mile, through a whore
house and a strip club.”

We have lost Gill. He
is stuck in all those fancy slang words he has never heard before. Mona comes
up behind us, “He isn’t gay.”

Michelle points at
him, “You married me, but with a dick still. He is just like me.”

Mona crosses her arms,
“He isn’t gay.”

Michelle crosses her
arms, “Did he screw you yet? ’Cause I’m pretty sure I can guess how it went.”

Mona leaps. Gill
catches her, holding her back. I look at Michelle, “Mean and off side, hard
core. Say sorry.”

She makes a stubborn
face as Constantine drags her back. When his eyes meet Mona’s, they soften,
“Sorry.”

Mona shakes her head,
“Screw you, Michelle. I miss Michelle who had a soul, let me tell you. That
girl was my friend. You are nothing to me.” She takes Gill’s hand and stalks
back to her room.

Constantine gives me a
look and then turns to Michelle, “You are going to finish your research for the
Van Helsings, and then you are going to go to bed. No more talking for you
today.”

Michelle smiles and
walks back to the couch. I don’t love it when he does his mind juju thingy, but
it works to stop the bullshit.

Just when I think
things can’t get any worse, Sarah and Gretel enter from the other wing, “We
found them. It’s without a shadow of a doubt. The fourth horseman is killing
with the other three. The reports are of plagues, violence, starvation, and a
general breakdown of all society.” She looks around, “Where is Wyatt?”

I swallow my fear,
“Lucifer has him prisoner somewhere.”

Her look turns cold.
She is instantly the Gretel I remember from before. “We have to get him back.”

It’s not the thing I
expected her to say. She’s always so awful about that stuff. I put a hand up,
“Why did he call you brother? Why is he here? How were you brought back? I need
those answers first.”

He sighs, “Gretel,
tell our fair Rayne what I am. What I truly am.”

Her eyes narrow, “His
family were the first to betray the fae. The Dracula and
Basarab
family were kings among men. They wanted for nothing and took everything,
including fae women. They discovered the way to enslave the fae women. Back
then, humans were permitted beyond the walls of the garden, infrequently of
course, but it happened. His family made bargains with the most beautiful of
the fae women, enslaving them and bringing them home to be their wives. They
mated with them, forcing them to bear their children. Constantine’s mother was
one of them. When
each woman bore her husband a son, Lucifer
made a deal with Vlad and his brothers, that he would make them
immortal
like their children, if he could have their babies. He took some of his blood
and created the first vampire, Vlad Dracula. The immortal children made by the
union were one thing, but the immortal children made after the men were turned
to vampires, was another. Constantine and his siblings and cousins were not
only abominations; they were impossible to kill. One thing killed
them—fae blood on a sword injected into the heart. But the fae had locked
themselves
behind the garden gate, never opening it.
And Lucifer lived off of the blood of the fae and mortal babies. I imagine he
still keeps them around as never-ending blood bags. The blood makes him
stronger than anything and feeds his magic.”

Constantine smiles,
“What happens in the garden is not permanent. You may die there and live again
out here. That is why I forced you to kill your mother outside of the gate.
That is a sacred place, second only to heaven. Mona brought my ashes and Gill’s
daisies. Any witch could bring us back from that.”

I cock my head, “Why
is he here?”

“He and Mona fell in
love the moment they met. That’s how fae do it. The love is instant, just a
look is needed. They married instantly.
You were gone
,
the ceremony was lovely
. Until Wyatt showed up and
murdered everyone.”

“How did he get the
weapon beyond the gate?” Is it wrong I’m more upset my friend is married, and I
never got to see the service?

Constantine shakes his
head,
“He pulled it from his chest. I don’t know
anything else.”

I look at Gretel,
“Okay, let’s do this.”

Mona looks down, “I
don’t know what happened. His eyes met mine and my heart felt like it
exploded.” She smiles and twitches her head a bit. “It’s silly.” She looks up,
“We haven’t even had sex yet.”

I scowl, “Why not?”

She swallows hard,
“Wrong time of the month to get married. Came yesterday when we got here.
Stella found me some old rags. I’m wearing them and basically blocking it out.”

“Wow.”

Her face twists up,
“Even worse, he didn’t care. He still wanted to you know, and I was like
uhhhh
, what? No. Hell no. He actually said, if it’s your
first time you
will
bleed anyway.
I
was stunned
,
I think I still am
. Boys are
gross
, even Fae boys.”

It makes me laugh. She
laughs with me. My chest aches, “I’m so sorry I missed it.”

She shrugs, “Rayne,
the fact I managed to fall in love quickly, while hell is breaking loose and
the world is falling apart, is a miracle. My parents are dead. Your parents are
evil. You have dueling daggers in your heart, fighting for the chance to be the
most important man to you. Michelle is a
skeezy
bitch
who has screwed us over. And we’re in England at a castle, with no proper
female hygiene products, and the world is ending.”

I shudder, making her
laugh again. “The world is ending, Rayne. Sneak out there and pick a guy and
love him for all the time that’s left.”

I nod. If only she
knew how hard that actually was. Childish and immature Rayne wants to pick
Wyatt.
She wants to be in that young, freshman love that is
so passionate
,
it blinds everything around it
.
Romantic Rayne wants to love Count Dracula and be his and let him consume her
entire being with his ancient love.

I wish it were the
same as it is for her. I wish I just saw one and knew.

She takes my hand in
hers, “Now go and kill everything you can. Me, Gill, and Michelle are going to
stay here with Stella and start scavenging for food and stuff. We have to
actually build a life here, I’m afraid.”

My eyes lower, “I
think it’s actually hitting me. The future we wanted and worked for, it’s gone,
isn’t it?”

She nods, “School
doesn’t matter. The world is on fire and no one is going to survive it. Not
even you and not even me. You need to fix the things you can and forget the
rest. Save Wyatt, kill your dad, and come back here to us. We will plot the
antichrist thingy together.”

“Okay.”

She smiles again, “He
isn’t gay, right?”

I laugh, “He isn’t
gay. Just like Michelle isn’t a guy, not really.
He’s fae
,
they’re different
. Maybe they’re like flexible and
think sex is sex, like prisoners. Not like prisoners, I mean
uhm
. Well, he met Constantine and never batted an eyelash
at him. I think he’s just a nice guy who the evil fae queen used to lure my mom
and other women to the fae land and bargain their lives away.”

She frowns, “Like
prisoners? What the hell was that? No. And Michelle is a bitch.”

I laugh, “Michelle is
angry. Her soul is tarnished, and I don’t know if we will ever get her back.”

She hugs me, “Be safe,
okay?”

“Okay.”

I get up abruptly and
leave the room. If I hugged her any longer, I would stay there. My chicken-shit
tendencies, as my father called them, are starting to act up. For whatever
reason, I have made him bigger than Lillith in my mind.

Constantine was
boarding his helicopter when I got in the yard, “We will fly to my jet; the
pilot is waiting there for us now. He says the tarmac is alright, for now.”

I climb into the
helicopter next to Gretel because there is a lack of seating. She scowls at me,
“We’ve spent so much time researching. We can’t figure out where he would have
taken him, but we know the horsemen are in Asia. They have been moving east.
The only place the last one has to visit is America. From the sounds of things,
one quarter of the world will be gone. That’s over two billion people dead.”

I can feel that number
rolling around inside of me. “What can I do against them? How am I strong
enough to fight them?”

“You have the light.”

“What?”

Her eyes glow; I can
see something lurking in them that she doesn’t want me to see. “You have the
light of the world, Rayne. I know you do.
You killed Lillith
,
you have it
. The light can kill the dark.”

I roll my eyes,
“Great. That explains so much. Lucky thing you researched a ton.”

Constantine scoffs,
“Stop being petulant. We have to end this the way it started. It started with
the light.”

“Whatever.”

The ride is bumpy and
the landscape is terrifying. Burned-out houses and destroyed farms. When we get
to the city, I am stunned. London is on fire. Cars line the freeways, trying to
leave, but they are not moving. People are walking, carrying everything they
have left in the world. For most, it is children in their arms.

The roads are burned
and bombed. The buildings are in ruin. One day the people in the future who
survive
this will look back and hate us for what we have
done. We wrecked everything.
For what?
So my father
could rule the world? It doesn’t even make sense. Why did God even build the
world? What is the point?

I
am taken by the dead on the jet
, my sisters claim me.
I wake in a room somewhere. It’s cold and there is no power. I am alone. The
room is dirty and gross, like a seedy motel. When I leave, I realize that’s
exactly what it is. I am standing in a parking lot of a deserted motel. The
sign is
laying
on the ground. It’s cold and damp.

“Constantine?” I don’t
shout. I’m scared of what is in the grey air around me.

He’s there instantly,
“My love. We have to go. They found a trail.”

I shake my head, ”How
long was I out?”

“Five days.”

I close my eyes, “Why
do they take me when you need me?”

He winks at me, “You
aren’t eating, Rayne. You need rest.”

I look at him, “Let’s
go. I’m sure I can find food along the way.” He smiles, “They are this way.” We
walk a block, and I find the thing I need. I follow it, the smell. It cramps my
stomach. I’ve been too many weeks without food.

When I find the source
of the smell, I am surprised. He’s young. He smiles at me, and I can see the
evil in his eyes.

“What are you looking
at?” he asks with serious attitude. He is alone on the side of the road,
outside of a destroyed gas station.

I smile back at him,
“Have you been bad?”

He shakes his head, “I
don’t know what you’re talking about. Get lost.”

“I only come to those
who have been evil, but you’re what—fifteen?”

He laughs but doesn’t
answer me. He pulls a knife, “Let me show you just how old I am.”

I grab him by the
collar. He sinks his knife into my side. I grab his face, planting my lips on
his and sucking greedily. The taste is divine. It’s coconut cream pie and fries
and gravy. It’s food I snuck, all the while pretending to love the roasted
seaweed Willow made me eat. He tastes like a cheat day. When he drops, I pull
the dirty blade from my side and drop it to the ground, next to his dead body.
I need more.

Constantine calls me,
“You can eat more later, come on.”

I shake my head, “I’m
starving.”

“I know. Let’s go.
Wyatt is waiting.”

I stumble after him,
not happy about not eating more. It’s addictive. Once I start eating again, I
can’t stop. Constantine mutters at me, “You always do this. You go long periods
without food and then you eat everyone in sight.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. You did
it as Ellie all the time. I would find you face deep in the embrace of dead
people after you had starved yourself for months.”

I bite my lip. I know
he’s right. I can vaguely recall it.

“Where are we going?”

He points at the hotel
district we are heading for, “Wyatt was down here. They caught his scent, his
real scent.” He looks at me, “You should be able to feel him when we get close
enough.”

I nod, “It worked that
way last time. He could track me, and I could sense him tracking me.”

He smirks, “Lucky you
got handfasted again.”

I sigh, “The dead
wanted me to do it so I could bring the dagger into the garden, I know it. They
wanted me to sacrifice his love in the garden and kill Lillith. They never
wanted it to be you.”

He gives me a sideways
look, “Yeah, but you did.”

“I didn’t know I had
to pull a dagger from your heart to kill my mom.”

He doesn’t say
anything for a minute. I don’t know what to say. I feel awful about loving two
men. Awful!

He gives me a pained
glance, “But you were happy it was me and not him.”

I can’t lie to him. I
nod, “I don’t know that I love him more than you, but I know I love him
differently. I know I love you and him. I wish I could change that.”

“You wish you could
just love him?” The tone in his voice stabs at my heart.

I shake my head, “No.
I wish I could love you both as friends. I wish I didn’t love anyone
romantically. It will make it easier in the end.”

“The end of what?”

I feel sick, “Me.” He
doesn’t get a chance to respond. I feel it instantly, “He’s here.”

“Here?”

I nod, walking to the
right, away from Gretel and Sarah. I point at the building at the end of the
road, “There.”

We pass by people,
homeless-looking people. They look exhausted and scared. They clutch to their
loved ones and walk, maybe aimlessly or maybe to leave the city. I would if I
were
them
. The country seems less impacted by the
horsemen.

I can feel him. He is
pulling me.

We turn again and I
gasp—it’s the church. The one Michelle went to, the one with the escape
tunnel. I shudder, thinking about it and the spider webs. I break into a run
before I can chicken out. Constantine does his weird smoke thing and opens the
door ahead of me.

When we get inside of
the side door, we are instantly bombarded with people. The church is full. Bostonians
are there, praying for their souls as the world ends in fire, like we always
guessed it would.

I squeeze my way
through the masses of people standing and praying because the sitting room is
gone.

When I get to the
office that I feel like this whole thing started out in, I am stunned. The
office has been ransacked but it is empty.

I point to the stairs,
“That way.”

Constantine takes my
hand in his, pulling me through the crowd. We get to the top of the stairs, and
I feel it stronger. He is here. I think I can even feel pain.

I run down the hallway
to the door I took last time. I open it, uncertain, and yet, completely
confident he is there. What kind of coincidence is this?

I open the door and
run down the stairs. My eyes do their thing. I can see perfectly. Across the
dark room, I see him. I finally can breathe again. He is unconscious, tied to
the wall. His arms are above his head, and I can smell his filth in the air.

I run to him, wrapping
my arms around him and whispering, “Wyatt. Can you hear me?”

Constantine bites his
wrist and shoves it in Wyatt’s mouth. I almost argue, but I untie him instead.

“That assaults the
senses.”

I laugh nervously,
“He’s going to be okay, right?”

He nods, “I think so.
Depends on what Lucifer has done to him.”

“This is hallowed
ground, how could he come here?”

He shakes his head.
Gretel speaks softly, “He can’t. He can’t come here. Someone else took Wyatt
and brought him here.”

I look back at her,
“Did you do this?”

She laughs bitterly,
“I know I haven’t been mother of the year, but I would never do this to my own
child.”

I scoff, “No, but you
would do it to me, wouldn’t you?”

She nods, “In a
heartbeat. I would save the world with your blood if I thought it would help. I
hate that he loves you, and I hate that you love them both. You are naturally
evil and selfish, and it has cost my son dearly. Can you not smell the taint
upon him?” She takes a step towards
us,
I can see from
her look that her heart is breaking. She shakes her head, “Just tell me if he
will recover, I can’t see down here like you. I can only sense him.” She
whispers, “I wish he never met you!”

I don’t fight her on
this. I don’t need to. I know what a mess this is and how much of it is my
fault. I never should have loved him, him or Constantine. I have no right to
love, not anyone. Not even Mona. I’m a freak. I look at Constantine, who nods,
“He will be fine. I am giving him something to help him.