The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (16 page)

“NO! NOT YOUR BLOOD,
BASARAB
!”

Constantine ignores
her and continues until Wyatt starts to move. When I finish untying him, Wyatt
grabs onto Constantine who lifts him up and carries him towards the stairs.

“This way.” I point
towards the door I know leads to the edge of the church grounds.

The smell of his filth
and the feeling of his clammy, cold skin
is
disturbing.
Constantine throws him over his shoulder
,
“You owe me for this.”

I can’t imagine having
his sense of smell and being that close to Wyatt’s filthy pants.

I go to the metal
door, prying it open. The dank and stinky air greets me, just like last time.

I can hear
Sarah,
she is scared when we slip into the tunnel. I look
back, “I can see, it’s not scary down here. It’s just an old tunnel.”

She shakes her head,
“I’m claustrophobic.”

I wince, “I’ll hurry.”
I break into a jog and run for the gate. I swear it takes longer than last
time. When I finally make it to the gate, I smile at the subtle hint of
lip gloss
still shining on the hinge.

I pull it in, shouting
back at them, “This way.”

The grey day has not
changed while we were inside.

We leave from the
mound of earth that still looks like a hobbit hole and run for the woods. When
we get to the walking trail to the water, I look at Constantine, “I’ll take him
with me to the ocean; the nixie will help us.”

Gretel scowls, “Wyatt
is coming with me.”

Constantine shakes his
head,
“He isn’t riding on my jet, smelling like that.
No.
I don’t care if it is the apocalypse
,
he stinks
. He will be awake soon and he won’t appreciate the
smell on himself either. We will meet you at the castle. We need to go to the
place where the Garden of Eden once was. That’s where the horsemen will go.”

I look at Gretel, but
she doesn’t say anything else. “Won’t the horsemen come here?”

He shakes his head,
“They don’t need much time, Rayne. They move with deadly speed. Stella has
Michelle working round the clock. They just discovered the horsemen will meet
the antichrist where life began.”

I sigh, “Of course. It
can’t be California or Montana, has to be somewhere in the Middle East where
God first created life?”

He walks towards the
sea. The
nixie meet
him at the shore. They growl.
There is no love lost between them and him.

I wave at the redhead,
“I’m sorry. I need you to bring me back to Constantine’s castle. Is that okay?”

She jerks up the
shore. Sarah screams but Gretel cups her hand over her mouth. The nixie make
sounds I’m sure I have never heard them make when they see Gretel. I look back
at her, “You are popular everywhere we go.”

She scoffs, “The nixie
will not help Wyatt.”

I ignore her, “Can you
carry him? I give you my permission to touch him.”

The redhead holds her
arms out for Wyatt.

“He will drown, this
is a terrible idea.”

The jerky movements of
the nixie are horrifying on their own, but the look they give Gretel will haunt
me the rest of my days. The redhead scowls, “He is one of us, not one of you.”
She takes him, and just for show and to prove her point, she vanishes below the
water.

Gretel gasps. I look
at Constantine, “Hurry.”

He nods, “You’ll need
the extra time to clean him up.”

I laugh nervously and
dip into the freezing-cold ocean. The
nixie are
there,
a hundred lights below the water. The redhead holds Wyatt but a blonde hovers
over him. She looks back at me, “They have filled him with evil.”

I open my mouth, but I
remember I ate. I shouldn’t have. I shake my head “It was me. I ate and we are
handfasted.”

She gives me a
disapproving look. They swim hard, dragging me through the ocean. I can sense
the disappointment in the way they treat me.

“He smells like shit,
like actual shit.”

I scowl at Michelle,
“Just help me get him up the stairs. He’s sick with the evil I ate.”

He moans, “Sarah, I’m
sorry.”

Michelle gives me a
look, “Did he just say…?”

I nod. She grimaces,
“And yet, it’s you dragging his poop-covered ass up these stairs.”

“Of course it is
,
God hates me.” It’s my penance for kissing Constantine.

She nods, “I actually
think he does. I swear dude, Hitler had better juju than you.”

She drops him in the
shower,
“This is where I end my duties as a friend.” She
turns and leaves. I laugh, “You used to be a guy. You can’t help me?”

“No, hell no.”

I look down at him.
His eyes flutter. I undo his pants and drag them down with his underwear. I
don’t look, I can’t. This is beyond the things you are supposed to do for
anyone.

I drag his shirt off,
noticing suddenly the cuts and old blood in the back of it. I feel sick as I
start the hot water flowing and take the clothes to the garbage in the kitchen.
I tie the bag off and go back to the shower. He looks up at me as I round the
corner of the huge shower.

“
Rayne,
how did you…?”

I help him stand, “You
need to scrub with this soap everywhere and then we can talk.” I swear I am
never going to get that smell out of my nose.

He nods, “Okay.” He
takes the soap and starts the lather. I look the other way for the first time.
I can’t imagine how humiliated he is.

“How did you get me?”

“Constantine. He
brought us to Boston and your mom caught your scent. When I got close enough to
you, I could feel you, like the handfast thing.”

“What happened?”

I shake my head, “My
father must have gotten you. He took you to the church where you chased
me and Mona that day and we got away
. He tortured you or had
someone else do it. We found you and brought you here.”

“I feel like hell.”

“I ate. I’m sorry. I
know it makes you a bit sick from the evil you take on too.”

He sighs, “No, that
hasn’t ever really affected me much. I feel like death. Something else.”

I look back,
“Constantine gave you blood.”

He grimaces, “That
would be it. We can’t take in vampire blood.”

He looks like himself
again.
Clean and strong.
His body is battered though.
He has bruises everywhere. He passes me the soap, “So I crapped my pants,
literally?”

I take the soap as he
turns. My laugh stops. His back is whipped like he was on the cross. My mouth
won’t close. I am stunned still. He looks back, “What?”

My eyes are filled
with
tears,
“They whipped you, almost to death.”

He nods, “I know,
that’s the last thing I remember. The whip. It was barbed I think.”

My jaw trembles, “Oh
my God. Who would do this?”

He steps to me,
smelling like soap. “Hey, I’m okay. It’s healing.”

I shake my head, “It’s
so bad, Wyatt. It’s so bad.”

He pulls me into
him.
 
I close my eyes and wish it
had been me. Why isn’t it ever me? Why does everyone else have to hurt?

He kisses the top of
my head, “It’s not bad,
it’ll
heal. I heal fast and
Constantine’s filth in my veins will make it heal even faster.”

I just let him hold
me, not moving or speaking. We just stand there as the water pours down on us.
I don’t even know what to do with it all. There is too much, too much pain and
sin and knowledge. I am lost in my own life, which makes sense. It’s technically
fives lives. Five lives of five women who barely made it past childhood.

I kiss his chest and
leave the shower. I have to change and we have to go. I don’t want him coming.
I want him to stay here with Stella, Michelle, and Mona.

I change and leave the
room fast. He probably isn’t even out of the shower when I board the
helicopter.

We lift off and I
force myself not to look at the castle. Constantine smiles, “I’ll give you
three guesses who is tired of flying.”

I laugh, “It’s hard
traveling by jet, compared to being dragged about the ocean by the nixie.” I
give him a blank stare, “I know you suffer every time you have to do it.”

He cocks an eyebrow,
“How is he?”

“Good. He’ll be fine.
Lucifer whipped him, tore the skin from his back. It’s ragged and bloody and
looks like chunks were torn out.”

Constantine grimaces.
I nod, “It’s bad.”

“As long as he’s up
and about, he’ll be fine.”

I sigh as we land at a
farm. I glance around, “Why are we here?”

He looks annoyed, “The
bastards destroyed the private strip I always use.”

“Great. Nothing is
going to be left, is it?”

“They are bent on
wrecking it all. I seriously don’t understand God’s plan with this one.”

I shake my head, “I
don’t think there is one.” I climb off of the plane. Gretel meets me on the
dusty grass of the field the plane landed in, “Is he all right?”

I nod, “He’ll be
fine.” I use Constantine’s words. I don’t know how he will. I will never forget
being tortured. Ever.

She closes her eyes
and takes a breath, like it’s her first in hours, “Oh, thank you God.”

I feel sick seeing her
devotion, “You’re thanking him—it was me and Constantine that saved him.”

She opens her eyes,
“You are his angel,
you
will learn to love him.”

I shake my head,
“Don’t count on that.”

She gives me an evil
glare, “I am counting on it. You will need that in the end.”

I walk past her,
boarding the plane. Sarah runs to me, “Is he okay? The cell phones are down
now. Nothing is working.”

I smile at her, “He’s
going to be fine.”

She sighs, “Thank
God.”

That’s going to get
old fast.

I force my smile to
stay on my lips, “Yes, isn’t he wonderful?” I take my seat. Constantine jumps
aboard and runs to the pilot’s cabin. The door closes and we start off. He
comes back and sits next to me. He relaxes into the seat, “The pilot just
refueled, so we have a direct flight to Iran.”

I cowl, “What?”

He nods, “This is
going to be interesting, let me tell you.”

“Can we fly into
Iran?”

Gretel gives me a
look, “If it exists still. The whole world is on fire.” She says it like I
don’t know that.

I drum my fingers
against the seat, “Anyone else think this is a particularly bad idea?”

Sarah raises her hand,
“I don’t think it’s a very good idea.”

Constantine sighs,
“You are immortal; at least her being wimpy about it makes sense, she’s almost
human. She can actually die.”

I scowl, “My head can
get separated from my body. I can die.”

His lip twitches but
he doesn’t say anything else. He pulls a huge book out from the bag next to
him, “We have five hours. I suggest you ask the dead to take you.”

I frown, “I can’t just
ask.”

He gives me a look,
“Since when?”

I close my eyes and I
am gone.

I don’t know if I
dream or not. I don’t know how long I am floating in the empty air with them,
but suddenly I am awake. I sit up, gasping. The plane isn’t flying. I am alone
on it. Why do they always leave me wherever we end up?

I unbuckle and get
off. I see smoke as far as my eyes will go.

Constantine is
standing and looking out at a desert strip of land. I see a burning farmhouse
in the distance. He looks back and waves. I walk to him, “Where’s Gretel and
Sarah”

The heat and dust in
the air are intense. I can’t help but squint when I look around. I shield my
face. He smiles like he’s
friggin
’ Indiana Jones or
some shit. “The Garden of Eden would have been here, in
Menykh
.”

I glance around,
“Yeah, of course it was. Of course God would have the least lush place in the
world called the Garden of Eden. Why not? He’s a funny guy. He’s ironic.”

Constantine sighs,
“You don’t even believe in God.”

I shake my head, “I do
not, no.”

He squints through the
warm, dusty air and smoke, “They should be here any minute, really.”

“Where is Gretel?”

He nods, “Had to be
difficult. She is off checking with her little facts to make sure the rivers
are correct in placement, compared to the ancient biblical texts of Genesis.
Some crap about four rivers.”

“Why did you let her
come?”

He looks back at me,
“I don’t know if you or she has to kill Lucifer. Her family has one purpose on
this Earth, killing things like you and me. She brought a serious amount of
weaponry; it’s in the jet. What did you bring? I brought that book. We aren’t
killing him with a book, and I sure as hell am not drinking his blood.”

I look down at my
chest, “We have weapons.”

He scowls, “The blades
are not meant to come out.”

I know he thinks that,
but I have a feeling the white-eyed man was on to something. To kill Lucifer
and the four horsemen, I have to sacrifice. Love is all I have to kill off.
What do I care, at this point, if I die?

God killed his son for
the people. I will be forced to do the same. Even though I am not God, and I
will have no rewards. I stagger out into the sand, tired and weak.
I am going to die
,
I have a feeling
.
‘Course I always have that feeling lately.

I sit down on a small
dune and wait for them all to come and kill me. I make that decision instantly.
When Constantine asked what I brought, I realized all I have is my life to
forfeit.

Ellie is furious with
my choice, but I don’t want to pull a sword from my chest.

I
would rather die than choose
,
it
is that simple
. The world is screwed whether I live or die. So what if I
would rather die than choose? Who will know? What will be left? Some dust and
some ash and some starving people who will forget the minute I am gone and
their own survival becomes more important.

“You ever think that
maybe the prophecies were all right, and 2013 was going to be an unlucky year?”

I look back as Sarah
stumbles over to me. She slumps into the sand next to me.

I nod, “Yup. I think
they saw this and went ‘Damn, 13 is the worst number ever.’”

She laughs, “We are
going to die and they don’t care.”

“I know. But think
about it, we die here in Iran. Our friends don’t have to know. We are alone,
four near strangers, in a desert. No one will be broken over it.”

She nudges me, “Wyatt
will feel your death, all the way back in London. He will die inside the moment
you do. You have to stop that from happening. You have a purpose.”

I look at her, “You
think that?”

She nods, “He loves
you. It’s stupid, you hardly know each other, but he does. I think in some
weird, twisted way, he always has. I swear he knew about you when we were kids.
The girl with the dark-brown hair and the grey eyes.
I
remember him talking about you like he knew you.”

I frown, “What?”

She smiles, “He’s a
freak. We should have known he was half angel, always has been the over-the-top
show off. Strongest, fastest, bravest, wittiest, smartest, most loved.”

“What about his
sister?”

She shakes her head,
“She’s Gretel’s pet. But the rest of the family always loved Wyatt best. Even my
family loved him best. They were so excited we were supposed to marry.”

“You didn’t want to?”

She scowls, “No. I
could never be you.”

I don’t have an answer
to that. Constantine comes over so we change the subject. She asks, “What about
Mona and that hot guy?”

“Gill, he’s a fae
prince.”

“Was.”

I scowl, “What?”

She nods, “He can’t be
fae now that he’s out. He’ll just be a regular immortal now. No more fae. Only
fae are in the gates. ‘Course now that the gates are broken, who knows. Right?”

I nod, “It is odd they
were just open like that. They never appeared they were just there.”

She looks confused,
“That’s odd. I don’t think I have ever heard of them just being open. How
strange. I wonder why?”

I run the sand through
my fingers, “I don’t know. It was odd.
The whole thing.
Wyatt turned out to be Lucifer, that’s how we knew Lucifer had him.”

She nods, “Peculiar.”