The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (6 page)

I
laugh, “Has she got you eating plant enzymes?”

He
shakes his head, “The week she died it was colonics week, that was…fun.”

Willow
laughs, “I wanted you to live forever.”

“Willow,
my love. I was already going to live forever.” He looks at me, “Being dead
together forever is better. No colonics and no enzymes. If I imagine it, it’s
here and there are no repercussions to eating it. No gas and no colonics.” Fitz
sighs but focuses back to the business at hand, “Why are you here? Why have you
wasted time coming here? The
nixie know
the way.”

Wyatt
shakes his head, “They won’t tell her.”

Willow
gives me a look, “Tell them, Fitz.”

Fitz
points at the small cottage, “Come in for a tea.” Willow helps me up and we
walk arm in arm. I grip to her for dear life.

Inside
of the cottage, I shake my head, “It looks just like our house did.”

Willow
gives Wyatt a hateful look. He sighs, “I didn’t know you guys then.”

She
sneers and sits on the couch, pulling me with her. We snuggle as Fitz makes
tea.

“The
garden is the least of your worries. The antichrist is clearly born. He is most
likely your brother. We found texts that essentially said Lucifer and Lillith
would make both. He is unaware of his mission in life.”

I
swallow the lump in my throat, “He’s my brother?”

Willow
kisses the top of my head, “I’m so sorry, Nene. We discovered it recently. He
is most likely your brother and until the devil rises in him, he will not know
what he is. He may even be frozen in a state of unconsciousness while he waits
for it.”

I
feel sick. “I have to kill him?”

She
nods.

Wyatt
shakes his head, “How do we find the garden?”

Fitz
sits at the table, waiting for the kettle to boil, “It finds you.”

“What?”

He
nods, “The garden gate will be there, somewhere random. Only a person looking
for the garden for a pure purpose will find it. No one has ever recorded going
in. People search for it because they want the healing and immortality of it.
They want something from it. They don’t have a pure purpose. Only the purest of
heart may enter too. I have heard of the gates opening for people but their
feet are unable to cross into the garden. We sort of assume that being minus a
soul you cannot enter.”

“Shit.”

Wyatt
nods, “Double shit. How do we have a pure purpose when she wants to go there
and kill Lillith?”

Fitz
puts his hands out, “That’s why we hoped the nixie would tell you. They come
and go; the last of the witches are able to come and go. They know how to get
in there.”

I
give Willow a skeptical look, “Why don’t you ask them?”

She
swallows hard, “They don’t like me much. They think I was working with Lucifer.
The week your father was to meet us at the house, I spelled it. I knew it was
my best chance at keeping you safe. I had hidden you away at the
school,
the land is hallowed there. As long as you were on
campus, Lucifer couldn’t get to you. It’s the only reason I even let you go.
The devils couldn’t fill you there either. School was the safest place you
could have gone. When it was time, Lucifer contacted me and told me that I was
to bring you to the house and let him take you to fulfill your destiny. But I
spelled the house. Whether you had been at the school or the house, he never
would have found you. I couldn’t take you to the witches; they wouldn’t let you
stay once it had hit. Once you ate the evil in someone that was it—the
end of you being welcome there for any length of time.”

“How
are the nixie and Lucifer tied together?”

She
looks pained, like she is seeing something behind her eyes that she isn’t
sharing, “Lillith. We think she might not have been who we thought she was. She
sent Lucifer to me, knowing I had you. She sent word to me in a dream that you
had to die once and for all and that she was grateful I had cared for you. She
was the only one who knew where you were. I told the nixie this and they called
me a traitor against Lillith. I never even told the other witches until it was
clear to everyone who met you who you were. It’s why we lived separately. I
told them I had a non-magical daughter with a mortal. You were an abomination
to them.”

“But
the nixie don’t seem to think I’m supposed to die.”

Willow
smiles, again like she sees something she doesn’t share. “They don’t think it.
They told me they don’t think it and that is why they will not tell you where
the garden is. They want you to live. They want you to rid the world of
Lucifer.”

“But
that will take Lillith with him.”

Willow’s
smile turns wicked, “They have been led to believe Lillith will be safe from
you so long as the antichrist and Lucifer have been killed.”

Wyatt
looks confused, “You have lied to them?”

She
shakes her head, “Not me.”

He
looks at Fitz, “You?”

He
nods, “They will only help so long as they believe their precious Lillith will
live.” He looks at me, “You must go to the air witches. They are the only ones
who know how to kill the horsemen.”

I
drop my head into my hands, “What about the
friggin
’
garden? How the hell do we get in there to get Lillith?”

He
pours the tea, “The answer will come. God will not leave you helpless. The
answer will come when it is time. God has not left you alone yet.”

I
shudder, remembering being chained to the wall and tortured, “Well, let’s not
get too overzealous. He hasn’t exactly been there for every step I’ve taken.”

Fitz
looks like he might explode for a second, “He has carried you, Rayne. Make no
mistake of that. Everything that is happening is meant to be. Find the air
witches.” He passes
me and Wyatt
a tea. I sip and
think. Willow hugs me, like it might be the last time. She whispers, “I know
you can do this, Nene.”

I
nod, “I’m glad you think so.”

“I
can’t believe they’re both dead.” I mutter, passing him the painting from
Fitz’s that’s wrapped in several garbage bags and sealed with his vacuum sealer
for clothes.

He
shakes his head, “They don’t seem very dead. Did you always know about that
photo?”

I
nod, “No, the dead showed me once.”

“Spooky,
Rayne. I asked Fitz about the fire witch. He is certain there is one in Boston
who is strong enough to redo a handfast.”

I
smile, “Excellent!”

We
slip back into the water and let the nixie surround us with their warmth. They
smile and flutter about the water. I point up, “How does one go about finding
the air witches?”

They
shake their heads and the redhead speaks softly, “One doesn’t. Why would you
want to see those pontificating winged devils?”

I
laugh, feeling weird about the water in my face when I do it. “We need them. I
have to kill the four horsemen, for Lillith.”

I
look around at all of them, so pretty in the water. Their movements are fluid
and smooth. The memory of the nixie on the shores is traumatizing; the jerky
movements and dresses that seem alive still haunt my daydreams.

The
blonde nods once, “We will take you to the place.” She looks at Wyatt, “Does
the evil one have to come?”

I
smile at him, “He does.”

She
makes a face, grabs his hand and drags him through the water like a child
dragging a doll by its hand. My ride is much smoother. We come to the shores
after a short swim, “Go to the old part of town, Salem. The fire witches will
help you find the air devils.”

The
redhead kisses me softly. The lights in her eyes make me nervous but the soft
lips are calming. Wyatt sputters as we climb from the water. The black rains
have stopped. The sky still brews as though a storm is coming, but at least
there is no weather beyond the cold wind.

“We
need to find dry clothes.”

I
nod ahead, “I have an idea.” We cross the street in the dark. He looks at me
funny, “Your eyes are doing that glowing thing.”

I
nod, “It’s dark out. They always do it in the dark. The darker it is, the
brighter they are.”

“Creepy.”

I
stick my tongue out.

He
laughs, “I love how mature you are about all of this.”

“Whatever.”
I stalk across the dark street to a row of old houses. I do the thing I hate
and walk to the one with no lights on and creep into the back yard. I can heed
his dissatisfaction at the idea of what I’m about to do, but I don’t care. I
open the back door quietly. Poking my head inside, “Hello, Uncle Stan?”

No
one makes a sound or answers. I open it all the way, stripping my drenched
clothing from my body. I almost leave my underwear on, but after the shower, I
don’t bother.

“This
started out wrong but I’m liking it more now.”

I
look back at Wyatt, “
Shhhh
. Just strip.” I carry my
clothes to the garbage and feel a small pit of remorse. I’m always losing
clothes and throwing them away and ripping them with my wings. I never get to
have nice stuff.

Wyatt
scowls, “These are three hundred dollar jeans—you want me to put them in
the trash?”

I
smile when I see his naked body, “Yeah.”

He
smiles, shaking his head, “Eyes above sea level.”

I
laugh, “This is probably the worst experience ever.”

He
closes the cupboard to the garbage and looks down on me. I like the way he
towers over me, casting a shadow so big I can’t see past him.

“Your
eyes are really glowing now, like a cat with a glimmer of light in them.”

I
nod, “I know. They’re crazy.”

“I
want to touch you.”

I
smile, “This family could be home at any second. Trust me, hide and seek with
glowing eyes is not easy.” I turn and walk towards the stairs I know he can’t
see. “Besides, I don’t want you to touch me.”

I
dash to the shower, jumping in and rinsing the sand and salt from my body. He
gets in with me. When I’m clean, I jump out, “I’ve never been naked this much
in front of anyone, except Willow. She’s always naked. Huge fan of nakedness.”

“I
can see that.” I can hear the smile in his voice even though I can’t see him
past the shower curtain. “I’ve always been around nakedness. Sports teams are
brutal.”

I
wrap in the towel, “How old are you?”

He
doesn’t answer right away. “Old, hundreds of years old, I think. It’s taken me
ages to get to this age. Apparently, the angel blood will freeze it here. I’m
fully grown, so I won’t age anymore. Not like my mom and Fitz, who are older
now, hundreds of years later. I did the majority of my growing recently. I was
stuck in a ten-year
old’s
body forever. Then I hit
that puberty stage about a decade ago. I got to go to normal school. I guess
it’s common for my family. But mom said Maggie has stayed at the ten year old
level for a shorter amount of time. Apparently she is about to bloom.” He turns
off the shower and pulls back the
curtain,
“We stay
young for a long time, innocent. When we hit puberty, we age normally for a
decade and then it slows down again. For me it’s stopped.”

I
pass him a towel, fully staring at his naked body. He is like a sculpture,
perfect and chiseled. His body is artwork. It makes me think things that are
not quite pure. I have to turn away before I touch him, hurting myself.

I
nod, “I’ve aged normally all five of my lives, I think if I was let to live, I
would be like you. I would stop aging when I was done developing. I always die
though.”

It
stings a little to say that.

I
walk from the bathroom before he can try dosing me in pity. I don’t want it.
The house belongs to people a little older than us, by the clothes. I pull on
two pairs of yoga pants, a Henley and a sweater, and thick wooly socks.

I
pick him out a pair of thick jogging pants, a tee shirt, and a hoodie. He pulls
it on and we head for the kitchen. I grab a yogurt cup from the fridge and pass
it to him. He eats it fast. We raid their fridge for several minutes.
Eating in silence and staring at the wall.

“Is
this how you live when you’re on the run?”

I
nod.

“That’s
sad, Rayne.”

I
nod again.

He
grabs my arm, turning me to face him, “Never run from me again, I’ll take care
of you.”

I
smile, pulling my arm from his grip to stop the sickness. “Don’t smack me
around, lie to me, or let your mom break my arms and we have a deal.”

He
looks serious, “How many times, Rayne?”

I
smile, “One more.”

He
steps closer, smelling like cherry yogurt and orange juice. He runs a hand down
my cheek, making me almost gag. “I have never been more sorry for anything in
my life. I hate myself and who I am for ever hurting you or betraying you.”

I
smile up at him, “Nope, still gonna be one more.”

He
laughs, “You’re a shit.”

I
nod, “I know it.” I walk past him, stealing mail from the fridge.

“You
steal their mail too?”

“And
their car. I have to have a way to send them money.” I open the shoe closet and
pull on a pair of sneakers. I pass him a pair.

We
shrug on coats and walk out into the cold winter air. He starts the car in the
driveway and we leave for Salem. It is only a few miles from where we were.

He
parks it and we walk in the dark. I notice suddenly, now that we’re in a busy
area, how bad things are. Windows are broken in stores, houses are burned out
and charred,
cars
are smashed and looted.

“It’s
like hell on earth.” I whisper.

He
steps closer to me as we walk in the direction his nose is telling us to. We
get into an alley between two old houses, and suddenly I feel something I can’t
explain. It’s like being gutted or exploding from the inside. I double over in
pain.

“Why
are you here?”

Wyatt
turns around towards the female voice but I can’t. I am stuck in agony.

Wyatt’s
voice is angry, “We are looking for the fire witches; we need to find the air
witches. The nixie told us to come here. Now stop or I’ll kill you, and it
won’t matter why we’re here.”

My
wings shoot from my back, uncontrollably. I cry out as they do it, but the pain
she was inflicting upon me is gone.

“How?”
She sounds stunned. I gag a little and turn to face her.

“You
bitch, that hurt.”

She
shakes her head, “You are the sin eater. How is this possible?”

I
step closer to her, seeing the resemblance to the fire witch I met before. I
give her a hard look, “I will kill you if you don’t answer my questions,
do
you understand me?”

She
nods, completely baffled.

I
swallow hard, still a little out of breath, “I need you to do two things.”

She
nods again, terrified or just completely confused.

I
look back at him, “I need you to handfast us and I need you to take me to the
air witches.”

She
is conflicted but she agrees with a single nod. She looks badass. Piercings in
her nose and lips. Her hair is black with red streaks and her eye makeup is
excessive. She is a Goth, a beautiful Goth.

“I’m
Lila.”

“Are
you the head of the witches?”

She
shakes her head, giving Wyatt a deadly look, “You sure you want to handfast
with that?”

I
laugh, “I am.”

Her
eyes glow like mine but brighter, “You know what he is, right?”

“Yeah.
He’s a Van Helsing. I know the stories.”

She
shakes her head, “He’s an angel like you. You can’t trust them, Rayne.”

I
scowl, “How do you know my name?”

She
gives me a cocky grin, “I heard about what you did for my sister. You sucked
the death from her. I just never knew you were an angel. She missed that part
of the story.”

Wyatt
steps closer, “Tell us how to find the air witches.”

I
smile, “He means please. Please show us how to find the air witches.”

She
laughs, “Let’s go to meet the others first.” She looks at our clothes, “You’re
going to need to change. You can’t do a ceremony in that outfit. Not since it’s
the second shot and, technically, it shouldn’t be able to be redone.”

She
takes my hand and pulls me into the side door of the creepy old house. We go
down into the basement and through an old tunnel. She looks around, like she
can see like I can. “This was once the way out of the city. The witches who ran
during the trials came through these tunnels. We learned after the European
trials to build a way out, before we built houses. The American Witch Trials
were nothing, compared to the European. Of course the trials never killed many
real witches. Only healers, wet-nurses, mistresses of men who got caught, and
women who were too beautiful. The churches assumed they were witches because
they tempted the men. Of course if I am a married man and I want a woman more
than my own
wife, that
makes her a witch. Heaven
forbid any of them admitted to being weak. Men would rape women and call them
temptress witches. It was sick. We fled Europe during that time, fled for the
East Coast. I killed as many of the bad men as I could, but when they brought
in the witch hunters, I had to leave. We all did.” She looks back at Wyatt,
“None of us can fight off a Van Helsing, not unless we have a full coven. Back
then, women weren’t practicing in covens, too easy to get caught.”

Wyatt
cocks an eyebrow, “You do realize I wouldn’t have been born during that time. I
can’t take blame for things in the
1500s
and
1600s
.”

She
points a long black nail at him, “Changes nothing, Van Helsing. Nothing. You
and your kind…”

I
cut her off and step in front of her, “He is my kind. He isn’t their kind,
trust me.”

Her
dark, and yet glowing, eyes flicker between the two of us. She smirks, “You
defend him?”

I
nod, “He is mine to criticize and torment.”

Wyatt
leans over me, “That’s right. Only she gets to make my life hell. Trust me,
she’s doing a bang-up job.”

Lila
cackles perfectly, though it doesn’t suit her beautiful face.

She
nods towards the end of the tunnel, “Let’s go. They aren’t going to be excited
we brought him with us.”

She
opens the heavy steal door that I would have figured would be old wood but once
we are beyond it, I understand perfectly. We are in a cellar under an old
house, but it is a shop of sorts, a magical shop.

She
claps her hands and the candles everywhere light up. The room is spooky and
mystical. Willow would have dug it here.