Path of the Horseman (9 page)

The humans were at my back, so they couldn’t
see my eyes darken the way Simon could. I could almost see myself
in his eyes, the cold, abysmal darkness that showed how angry I
was.

“I’m not the asshole here. Stop being a whiny
selfish bitch, and let them in, Simon.”

He stared at me, seeing the power building in
my eyes. Simon figured I wouldn’t do anything to reveal my true
self in front of the first living humans I’d seen since we broke
the world, but with the way I was acting, he didn’t know how close
to the edge I was. It might take just one little push to turn me
apocalyptic again.

Simon wanted to tell me no. He wanted to shut
the door in my face and leave me with the lost at my back and the
wolves at his door. He wanted to hate me.

But he just wasn’t strong enough. He sighed
and stepped aside.

“Thanks, brother,” I said, stepping into the
suite.

“Fuck you,” he muttered.

Ignoring him, I turned and looked at the
humans standing anxiously in the hallway. They looked at the
interior of the suite, wanting to come in, but afraid that a trap
would be sprung the moment they stepped in.

“Relax,” I told them casually. “We’re not
gonna eat you. There’s not enough space for the bonfire.”

That made the humans even more nervous. I
sighed. I really needed to start thinking before speaking. Simon
rolled his eyes at me and stalked off for the kitchen. In addition
to being a nervous eater, Simon was also an angry eater.

Just when I started turning and thinking the
humans were going to ditch the suite for one of the smaller rooms,
Maddy took a few confident steps forward. She stood in the middle
of the living room, navy blue eyes taking in everything around
her.

“This place looks like Martha Stewart’s
nightmare, but it still looks better than the last fifty places
I’ve slept.”

I chuckled, unable to take my eyes off her.
“Make yourself at home.”

She was more than happy to drop her backpack
and fall onto the couch where I’d slept last night. Maddy reclined
back and exhaled, closing her eyes and smiling to herself. Once the
other humans saw that I wasn’t pouncing on her with a knife and a
fork, they started making their way inside. Five of the humans
relaxed, glancing around a suite they probably could never afford
when their lives were normal. Given its condition, I couldn’t say I
blamed them for being disappointed.

Josh was the only one who kept the stick up
his ass. He looked at the walls and furniture like they would grow
arms and try to swing at him. The only couch he trusted was the one
Maddy was sitting on. He sat down beside her, but refused to unwind
the way she did.

Back in the dining room, the fridge door was
slamming and Simon was muttering angrily to himself. I sighed and
left the living room.

Simon was going through his stores of food. I
hadn’t come in here last night, so I didn’t know how much he had.
Sometime in the last six months, he’d found trunks of survival
food, dozens of boxed and dried foods, and created mountains of
canned products. But I’d expected more. I thought between Simon’s
appetite and the amount of food left out there, he would have
something resembling Smaug’s treasure vault. As it was, he had
enough food to ration himself for another year if he was stingy.
Now he was looking for something to feed the seven starving humans
I’d brought to his door.

I took a step closer to him. He heard me, but
didn’t slow down as he thought about what he wanted to give to the
strangers.

“Sorry, man,” I said so the people in the
other room wouldn’t hear me.

“No you’re not,” was Simon’s reply. “You
never are. Not until it’s too late.”

That stung me worse than I expected, but it
was nothing I didn’t deserve. It’s not like it was a lie.

Simon reached into a plastic bag and took out
some plastic cutlery. His hand stopped in mid air and then he
lowered his hand. His shoulders dropped with his spirit.

“They shouldn’t be here, Avery. I saw the
Soulless following you outside. If they know live humans are here,
they’re going to find a way in. If they can’t, they’re going to let
Ciaran know. And he’ll damn sure find a way into them. You might as
well have put the axe to their necks yourself.”

I tightened my arms over my chest. “Leaving
them out there for the Plagued wasn’t an option. Neither is
pretending they don’t exist. This could be the moment we’ve been
waiting for, Simon. They could have been chosen to survive and take
part in the Second Coming. That means we have to make sure they
live, and the demons don’t. Our jobs aren’t done yet.”

Simon whirled on me, his face pinched with
anger, but he was careful not to shout or punch me.

“They only survived because of luck. Ciaran
and his lapdogs are just as efficient as we ever were. Maybe even
more so because we didn’t know they’d escaped Hell until it was too
late. If they really want these humans, they’ll get them. Ciaran’s
Soulless have made him stronger. With our powers draining, soon
even we aren’t going to be enough to stop him.”

Simon was always smart. He thought things
through, planned methodically, and executed his plans without a
hitch. Unless I was involved. I had a tendency to fuck up even the
simplest plans. Something about being too reckless and never
sitting still.

“It’s too late, Simon. They’re here now, and
we’re going to protect them. If the jackasses Upstairs aren’t going
to bother with the Second Coming, then we’re going to do it for
them.”

My brother had nothing to say to that. He
knew that once I put my mind on something, nothing short of
Heavenly wrath could stop me, and it wasn’t like we were expecting
any of that ever again.

He let out an exasperated breath and grabbed
an armful off food. He couldn’t carry it all, so he nodded to
another pile on the mini fridge. “Get those. Let’s go feed the
guests.”

I nodded my thanks and did as he asked. Of
course he left me all the heavy cans, but I’d already pissed him
off. Even when we argued, I liked Simon. I didn’t want him to be
mad at me for longer than he had to be.

It was a little funny when Simon and I walked
into the living room with arms full of food. The humans perked up
like dogs smelling treats, and the five that had been standing
rushed to the coffee table. Maddy and Josh leaned forward eager,
practically drooling as we placed the boxes of crackers, cereal,
dried fruits and meats, canned vegetables, soups, and juice boxes
in front of them. The seven humans stared at the food, eager to
dive in but waiting for permission.

Simon swiveled the chair by the desk and sat
down. He had his box of Cheerios in hand and was already opening
it.

“Go ahead. Dig in.”

His words might as well have been the pistol
at the races. The humans lunged and grabbed whatever they could. In
three seconds, half the food was off the table. I stood by the
desk, watching Maddy take a can of Spaghetti-O’s and a half empty
box of crackers. She peeled off the top of the can, but didn’t grab
a spoon. Instead, she took a cracker out of the box, scooped up
some of the Spaghetti-O’s and ate it like she was having gourmet
hors d’oeuvres. Her expression took on the same one it had when
she’d first sat on the couch.

Maddy caught me looking at her and frowned.
“What? I haven’t had Spaghetti-O’s since I was seven years
old.”

I grinned. She was getting more likeable all
the time.

Simon nudged my hip with his elbow. “You
might as well get something to eat now before it’s all gone. I’m
not bringing anything else out tonight.”

Meaning he would protect his stash the same
way a dwarf would protect gold. I ambled to the coffee table, took
two juice boxes, a can of beef strew and a pack of crackers, then
went back to stand by Simon. I gave him one of the juices. He
thanked me with a small nod. When I popped the top of the can and
grabbed a cracker, I noticed Maddy looking at me with
confusion.

“What?” I asked. “You’re doing the same
thing.”

She shook her head, honey-colored hair
swishing gently against her pretty face. “It only works with tomato
sauce. Putting crackers in beef stew makes it too salty.”

I considered the cracker in my hand. I’d
never seen a human do this before, not even in my implanted
memories. It was weird, so I wanted to try it. I shrugged and ate
the cracker plain.

“Guess you’d be the expert.”

Maddy grinned and went back to eating.

We ate in awkward silence for a while. No
doubt we all had questions, but which one did we ask first? Once
the chaos from the Tribulation died down and my brothers split up,
I’d been sure I would never see another living soul again. I
thought all the Soulless I crossed paths with were just the poor
humans I’d missed during the shit storm. I didn’t even consider
that Ciaran and Vance could be running around taking souls the
entire time I was moping in Boulder City.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?”

We all looked at Maddy, still using her
crackers to spoon out Spaghetti-O’s from their metal can. She was
reclining in the corner of the couch, that sweet, playful smirk
still on her full lips.

“We come across the first humans we’ve seen
in six months, who’ve probably had just as much adventure as we
have, and we don’t have anything to say.”

“Good thing we don’t have to meet each
other’s parents,” I pointed out.

Maddy’s smile grew when she looked in my
eyes. It made my human heart beat faster for some reason.

“Maybe intros are the best way to start,” she
offered. “I’m Madeline, but everyone calls me Maddy.” She used a
cracker to point at the five humans squeezed onto the sofa across
from her. “That’s Jerry,” she indicated the balding man, “Theo,”
the skinny black boy, “Laurel,” the mousy redhead, “Ricardo,” the
Hispanic heavyweight, “and Gwen,” the motherly woman.

Maddy lightly nudged Josh’s leg with the tip
of her boot. He stopped eating the dried fruit and beef jerky to
look at her. “This is Josh. He’s the one who found all of us when
things were at their worst. He was the only survivor from an attack
on his platoon, so he decided to start finding survivors. He saved
all our lives.”

Endless gratitude filled Maddy’s big blue
eyes. Even though his head was turned away, I could see the edges
of a smile on Josh’s lips. I focused on eating the cold, salty,
chunky stew. It tasted like shit, but it was better than feeling
the bitterness growing in my chest. I think humans would have
called it jealousy. Why I felt it was beyond me.

“So I think I’ve picked up that your name is
Avery,” Maddy indicated. She looked to my left. “And your name is
Simon?”

My brother nodded, concentrating on eating
his Cheerios.

“Thank you, Simon. I know you have no reason
to trust us, but I can’t begin to tell you how much this means to
us.”

Simon stopped munching on his favorite cereal
and looked at the pretty girl talking to him. When Maddy smiled
like that, it was impossible to be angry with her.

“You’re welcome,” he answered. “You should
probably get some sleep. I can only let you stay the one night. You
brought a lot of unwanted attention my way.”

Maddy’s smile faltered and I wanted to kick
Simon, but she picked up right where she’d left off.

“Fair enough. First light tomorrow we’ll fix
the bus. It’s a simple fix, we just caught it at a bad time. By
then the Soulless will probably be gone. They hate the light.”

“Are all the suite doors locked?” Theo
asked.

Simon looked at the kid. “No. The power’s
off. Take whatever room you want.”

“Thanks, man. Really.”

Theo looked at Laurel, the mousy redhead. She
bundled up all the food she could in one hand, slipped her other
hand into Theo’s, and walked out of the suite with him. Ricardo
left with Gwen. I felt a little bad for Jerry, who walked out of
the suite alone.

And then there were four. Josh shifted like
he was getting ready to leave, but I wasn’t going to let them go
without having some questions answered.

“Now that the kids have gone to bed, you can
tell us how you survived this long.”

Maddy and Josh looked at me. Josh had his
defensive glare back in full force, and Maddy looked a little
nervous.

“You can tell us the same,” Josh prodded.

I shrugged off his aggression. “My brothers
and I got separated when the shit was too heavy. I ended up in
Boulder City and found Simon here. I don’t know where my other
brothers are.”

It wasn’t a lie if you left out the important
parts like ending the world and spending your free time killing
dead things, was it?

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Maddy said. She
sounded like she was. “We’ve been living on the run for a while.
Josh was already with Ricardo when they found me.” Her eyes turned
distant, an old memory pulling her out of reality. “I was trying to
outrun a horde of Plagued, and the only shelter I found was this
stupid minivan. I locked myself inside like an idiot and tried to
hide under the dashboard, but they knew I was in there. They just
kept rocking the van and pounding on the glass, and I was out of
bullets. I had nowhere to go, and I thought I was…”