The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (3 page)

The plane lands in
Ciudad Juarez. Again, we somehow get to land on some strip that looks like a
dusty farm crop. The smell in the air is bad. I am hungry the minute we walk
from the plane to the car that is waiting. Tom nods at me. I nod back. He
shakes his head subtly. I realize he is nodding at the trunk. I pretend to fix
my sock as everyone gets into the SUV. He pops the trunk and a man comes flying
out. He looks like he might be Mexican and a little bigger than I am. He tries
to run but I jump him, pinning him down. I see sore-like burns on his lips so I
don’t kiss him. I hover over him and suck his soul from him. He cries out into
my mouth as he dies. I moan my exhale, "Wow."

Michelle watches me
for a second before scrunching her nose up, "What was he guilty of?"

I shudder as the
feelings and images wash over me, "Tom's favorite." He hates
pedophiles. This one was also a serial killer. The images of his horrific
crimes will sit in my mind, torturing me for the rest of the day. Michelle
leans over his dead body, "Look, hash sores."

I frown, "What?"

She points, "He
smokes hash. He has sores from the hot knives."

I get up and look down
on him, "
Ew
." We walk to the car. Wyatt
looks back out at me, "Really?"

I nod, "I was
hungry and he was bad."

He sighs and closes
the door. Tom drives and Wyatt does his weird smelling thing.

Stella laughs
uncontrollably at it. I frown, "Laugh later, otherwise he won't do it.”

Wyatt looks back,
"There are a lot of bad people here. I can smell it everywhere. Witches
and even a few vampires." He gives Constantine a look. I look at him but
he avoids my eyes, "I thought you were the last."

He nods, "We are.
Those are abominations."

I don’t know what that
means, and honestly, I have too much on my plate to worry about them.

We drive for what
feels like an eternity. I almost close my eyes but Stella shoves me, "Stay
awake, you know what you’re like to wake up."

I smile, taking a deep
breath and looking at the nasty surroundings. "This place is gross. I
always thought Mexico was beautiful."

Mona nods, “This is
not on the brochures. They keep this dirty little secret to themselves for
sure.”

Stella scoffs,
"Most of it is. This place is a rat hole."

"STOP!"

Mona moans,
"Finally."

Wyatt
sniffs the air, ignoring
us and our moaning
. He points
back the way we came from, "That way."

Tom
swings the SUV around and slams on the gas.

"STOP!"

I
turn my head as the car slows to a halt. A warm breeze wafts through the
window, carrying with it food, garbage, and pollution. Mixed in with it there
is something else. I'm over Michelle's lap and crawling for the door to the
car. The smell has me by the nostrils. It drags me out.

I
run, skipping steps and screaming as the wings shoot from my back. A child
watches me as the huge white wings take up all the room in her eyes. I can see
the reflection of them in her pupils as I run past.

I
float up to a second-floor apartment, kicking the door in. A growl tears from
my lips.

I
don’t even know who I am anymore. My eyes scan the place, like an animal's
would. I move through the dirty carpet in the front room where the TV is still
playing. I see a pot on the stove, boiling rice. The warm air hits me again
just as a creak interrupts my thoughts. I look to see a door swinging back and
forth as the breeze plays with it.

I'm
out the door, leaping and floating through the laundry-filled alley to where I
see him. He is running as hard as he can, but the ugly sweater is a beacon.

I
get above him. He looks back, screaming as I land on him, taking him to the
ground. My sword flies through the air at me from Constantine who is out of
breath and standing across from me. I pull it as I catch it and spin. The
devil's head rolls down the dirty concrete, still wide-mouthed and mid-scream
when it combusts into the pile of black feathers.

It
joins the debris and floats down the road, scattering with the warm wind.

I stand there, trying
to get my breath too. Constantine gives me a look, "That was
different."

I almost smile, but
I'm scared of myself and the other girls inside of me are silent. All
except
the first me. She is excited.

The rest of us are
silent.

Wyatt comes to me,
pulling the blade from my trembling hand, "It's okay, Rayne. Take a
breath."

I do it. I breathe and
try to calm down. My heart beats in a way I don’t think it ever has and my body
vibrates. I can't taste any evil in the air.

Wyatt sniffs the wind,
"Third time's a charm, babe. I don’t even smell a little."

I nod, "I know. I
can't taste any of it." I turn around to see Stella standing, watching me.
She has a disturbed look on her face, "You move like them."

I frown, "Like
what?"

"The
angels."

I don’t have a
response for it. I don’t know if it’s a bad thing or not. Her eyes dart to
Constantine. He shakes his head in twitches, "She is not like them. Her
heart is human."

I almost tell him that
with every one of them I kill, I feel my heart close off more, but I don’t. It
would be the honest thing to do, but I have a bad feeling about it. I feel like
I should keep it to myself.

The car ride back is
awkward again. I always make it awkward. Wyatt and Stella seem stunned and
Constantine seems confused. Mona and Michelle ask about the kill, but I just
shrug and say, "He's dead."

We get onto the plane,
and when it takes off, I'm not afraid.

That makes me worried.

We land in Karachi,
and for the first time, I feel like I’m invincible. There is almost no feeling
at all except unwavering confidence.

"You’re being
quiet."

I look over at Mona
and smile, "I feel a little weird. I'm scared." It is the truth; I
know I should be scared, even if I can't reach the feeling."

She nods, "Me
too."

The small airport
smells like Indian food and spices. I like it. It makes me want to eat real
food. I like it when I feel normal. Willow always cooked with tons of Indian
spices. She was a huge fan of spices and herbs… obviously. Her name feels funny
in my mind. She isn’t important to the others. Only me. Willow. It's a name I
haven’t thought of for days. I don’t know what to make of that. Am I forgetting
her? Are they winning the battle for my mind and heart?

That gets added to the
list of things that scare me, even if I don’t feel scared.

We drive around in the
car with Tom and Wyatt doing their thing. I can feel the heaviness of my eyes.
I can't fight it. I hear them shouting at me as the dead take me.

The dream is a mess.
Hooves beat the ground around me in a dark room. The dust dances in the dim
light.

I don’t move. I turtle
as they ride around me in a circle, like a cowboy would. Their voices are
creepy and crackle like they are smokers. “Free us, Rayne. Free us from the
depths and let us fix it. Open the seven seals."

I shake my head and
suddenly the dark is gone. I'm standing in the garden at the house inside of
the picture where Willow secretly went to meet Wyatt's uncle. Willow is
standing next to a bush, picking the flowers off of it. She looks up, smiling
softly, "The petals make a calming tea. You can use it to help women get
pregnant too."

I look around the
garden, noting the clouds are actually painted. The flowers are like paint
chips. Willow smiles, "We made a big mistake, Nene." She turns and
blows the paint chip petals at me. I jump back and shoot awake. The room I'm in
is dark, and I don’t know if it's part of the dream or not. I look around,
trying to get my bearings. No one else is in the room. I'm on a bed and it
looks like a hotel, maybe. I can smell the Indian food and I'm sweating. I
think it's real. I get up off the bed, wondering where the dead took me. I
remember some of it. I remember Willow's picture.

"Wyatt?"

I hear rustling from
the corner where I see someone sitting. It's Constantine, "Why his name
first? Why not mine?"

I bite my lip, "I
don’t know. I just feel like I know him better."

He gets up and walks
to me, pushing me back onto the bed. I sit up, "I don’t want to do this.
It doesn’t feel right, I told you."

He climbs on top of
me, biting down on my throat. I feel him pull blood from my veins. I scream but
Stella is there suddenly. Her lips crush mine in a kiss that makes me
uncomfortable. We have never kissed before. They hold me down, kissing and
sucking and muffling my screams.

"RAYNE!"

I sit up, breathing
heavily, lifting my hands to my throat, but there is no wetness. I have not
been bitten, and I don’t know why I think I might have. I assume it was the
dream I don’t remember. I look around at the room, shaking my head. It is a
hotel room that I swear I have been in before, but that is impossible.

It's light out and
when I look back to the left, Constantine stands over me, looking worried. I
flinch when he reaches for me. He looks hurt, "What was that dream? You
were screaming suddenly and then you were awake."

I shake my head,
"I don’t know."

It's true. I don’t
know. I never do. But I suspect that he hurt me in my dream. I still feel his
fangs in my neck for some reason. I just don’t want to tell him. I climb off
the bed, "Where are we?" My stomach rumbles.

"Karachi, we
never got to leave. We found him. Wyatt is there now, watching him. We need to
go there." He holds a hand out for me, but I walk past him.

He grabs my arms,
"What was the dream?" I shake my head.
He shakes me
a little
,
“Tell me.”

"I don’t know,
but I think you bit me.”

He shakes me
again,
"I would never do that to you. Why do you
believe them? The dead lie, Rayne. They always have."

"I don’t
know." I have to assume this is an old fight. I can't find it in my
memories, but he looks hurt like it's an old wound. The girls inside of me are
silent.

Tom drives us to the
place where Wyatt waits with Stella. "Where are Michelle and Mona?"

"The jet. This
city is too dangerous for them. Mona was nearly assaulted."

I gasp, "What?
How long was I sleeping?"

He gives me a confused
look, "Three days. We thought you had slipped away, to the dreamland
maybe."

"What about
Mona?"

He shrugs,
"Stella ate her attacker before he had a chance to get very far with it.
Mona was very upset, naturally, and chose to stay on the jet. Once you have
done away with our friend, we will be leaving too. The temples in India and
Pakistan are under attack. We can't stay long. The world has erupted in
religious wars, only the old countries though. America, Canada, and even
Britain are safe. But China, Pakistan, India, Tibet, Italy, France, Iraq, Iran,
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, and a bunch more are at war.
War
within their countries.
It is not country versus country; it is within their
borders. War against themselves and their beliefs."

My brow knits
together, "I just don’t understand."

He shakes his head,
"None of us do. Even the Van Helsings are at a loss."

Tom parks the car and
I smell it instantly. I can taste it in the air. I get out of the car, walking
quickly to it, like Toucan Sam following the smell of the delicious cereal. I
look around when I lose the smell. A black feather floats past me. I scowl as I
see another. I break into a run to see Wyatt and Stella standing surrounded by
feathers.

"What did you
do?"

Wyatt looks at me from
a dark scowl, "What I had to. He tried to flee. He got a phone call and
fled."

I look at Constantine,
"Does this change things?"

He shakes his head,
"I don’t know. Does it?"

Wyatt swallows hard, "I
don’t think so."

I bite my lip,
"His evil leaked out a bit. I tasted it in the air."

Wyatt nods, not saying
anything. I feel like screaming. What if the evil is back and I am responsible
for it.

Constantine shrugs,
"His kind are the ones who send you to the depths of hell each time; I
would imagine he is able to send a devil there too."

Wyatt's eyes meet
mine, "I'm sorry."

I nod. He rarely says
sorry, unless it’s about the incident but he hates talking about that. A smile
finds its way onto my face, "It's not like the world is going to end from
it."

Wyatt laughs, tossing
my sword at me. I holster it, dripping blood and all, and turn and walk back to
the car.