The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (18 page)

I shake my head again,
tears rolling down my cheeks. The rider walks past me, making the man scream
again. I don’t know what is happening around me, but I suspect I shouldn’t
look.

I am too scared to
look.

Finally, the fourth
rider stops circling us. He dismounts. But he pauses. He walks, not like the
others but softly, towards me. He stops in front of me and then takes a step
closer. He leans in, I can smell rot and decay, and yet, it is appealing.

He whispers on my neck
with his hot breath, “Would you look upon me and let me do my worst?”

I twitch, shaking my
head. I don’t know why, but he bothers me the most. He gets too close and makes
it too personal, like he knows me. He lingers, smelling me.

He pulls back, “Not
even a slight glance?”

I shake my head again.

He walks past me and
the man behind me begs. He pleads for his life. I don’t know what he says
because he sounds weird, like his tongue is missing. But I can get the gist of
it.

The sand starts up as
if they are riding their horses again. The man screams and slowly the riders
start to walk back to me. They drop to their knees in front of me, one at a
time. I don’t look up. I don’t know what to do, but I know I need to be humble
in front of them. Or cowardly, however you want to say it.

When the final
horseman is kneeling in front of me, I look up. They are black knights kneeling
in the desert against the fading light of the sun. I turn, gasping when I see
the man. He is frozen and twisted. He is not my father, not in his regular
body, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t be my father; he very well could be.

He has sores, a gaping
mouth, stab wounds that leak dark blood and broken bones. He kneels, as if
frozen in that position.

Constantine looks at
me, wide-eyed and confused. I shake my head. He looks at the horsemen, “What
does she do now?”

“Free us, blood of
Lillith.” They all say it in unison and it rumbles through the earth to me. I
almost
nod,
finally the whole blood of Lillith thing
makes sense. I am the blood of Lillith. I will draw the horsemen to me. I look
up at the sky for second, “You knew all along didn’t you? You’ve always had
this planned.”

I swallow hard,
pulling my sword and looking at Constantine again. He shrugs, biting his lip.
He does a motion, like he’s swinging the sword. I look back at the riders.

I lift the sword over
my head, take a deep breath, and lower it like I’m
friggin
’
Ned Stark. The sword hits and the horseman’s cloak crumples to the ground.
Something black like smoke rises from his body. I look at the next three and
shudder. This is weird.

“Sorry about that.” I
lift the sword again and again and again, until all four cloaks are lying in
the sand, and I am surrounded by black smoke.

Constantine starts
breathing again, “Oh my God, not even a little bit kidding. I thought we were
dead.”

I drop the sword to
the ground, “What happened?”

He shakes his head, “I
have no idea.”

I point at the frozen
man, “Who is that?”

He shrugs, “I have no
idea.”

“Is that the
antichrist?”

He gives me a look,
“Rayne, we were at the same party. I have no idea.”

I sigh, “Where is my
father?”

“Who cares? I feel
like I’m having a stroke, and I don’t think that’s even possible.” Constantine
offers me his hand, “Let’s go home.”

I nod, “Okay.”

We turn to go back to
the plane, but Lucifer standing there, with the full moon rising behind him. He
is beautiful, ominous, and awful all at once.

“I can’t believe that
you did it.”

I scowl, “What?”

He nods, “You lived. I
have to give that one to you. I assumed they wanted you to face them, and of
course, God wanted you on your knees. How pious of you.”

My lip trembles but I
start to laugh. He looks affronted by my laugh, but it makes me laugh harder.
Constantine laughs with me, “What is it?”

I snort, “I thought
about the whole Indiana Jones thing.” I drop to my knee, “When he gets the
Nazis to open the Holy Grail and they shouldn’t look.”

Constantine laughs
harder, “Indiana Jones saved your life.”

Lucifer looks
confused, “Who is he?”

I snort again.

Lucifer shouts, “STOP
LAUGHING!”

Of course, like I’m
seven years old, I laugh harder.

He pulls a gun from
his hip and shoots me in the arm. I stop laughing as the bullet stings and
blood trails down my arm. Constantine stops too. He walks to me, cautiously.

Lucifer sighs, “Give
me the power.”

I look at Constantine,
“What power?”

“The horsemen, what
did they give you?”

I shake my head,
“Nausea.”

He leans forward and
screams at me, “WHAT DID THEY GIVE YOU?”

I flinch, “I-I-I-I
don’t
know. Nothing.”

He storms across the
sand to me, grabbing me by the arm he has just shot. He presses his thumb into
the wound, “The prophecy is that you will gain power from their death and be
able to kill the antichrist and save the world. Now tell me what you felt.”

I shake my head, “I
swear, nothing.
 
I swear I feel
exactly the same. A little freer knowing they’re dead.”

He squeezes harder,
making me scream. Constantine tackles him into the sand. His fangs are out and
his eyes are black. He drags his nails across Lucifer’s neck. Black blood
spills out. I grab one of my daggers from my pants and jump, stabbing it into
his heart. He knocks Constantine off and pulls the dagger from his heart,
snapping the blade. He tosses me back, I leap for the sword but he jumps up,
stomping on my leg. He grabs my sword and swings around, stabbing Constantine
in the chest with it. He gags. Lucifer turns and looks at me. Black blood drips
from his face. “You know, when you were a baby, you used to sleep in my lap. I
would twirl your hair and sing to you. You could sleep like I have never seen,
for days. You have always been the most amazing child.”

“You always tell me
what a failure I am.”

He shakes his head,
“You are now. Look at you—we made you perfect and you waste it on him.”
He points upward. He laughs, mocking me. “You could own the whole world and
make them all bow before you. But you refuse to acknowledge your greatness.”

“What is great about
making people bow before you?”

He
smiles,
it’s a wicked grin. “You sound like him.” His face turns fierce, “I hate him.”
He launches at me again, taking me to the ground. My back slams into the sand.
His fists hit me. My face jolts and jerks with each hit.

He gets up and I cry
out when his boots hit my side. I feel my ribs crack. Lucifer kicks again, but
suddenly a broken
sword sticks
out of his stomach. He
turns, swinging his arm and knocking Constantine back into the sand.

I spit blood onto the
sand, “Why are you hurting me, just kill me. Leave him alone.”

He laughs, “I don’t
want to kill you, I want to take the light from you. Now use it, show it to
me.”

I shake my head, “I
don’t know how.”

He kicks again but the
boot hits my chin. I’m knocked back. I swear my jaw is broken. He gets on top
of me again, “Use the light, Rayne. Show it to me.”

I start to cry. He
mocks me, “Crying isn’t the light, use the light. Do it for Daddy, Liana.”

His voice grates on my
last nerves. I backhand him. He falls back. I look at Constantine. I rub my
hand over my chest, feeling the spot where my heart is. I close my eyes,
remembering the moment Wyatt put it there,
the
dagger
with his love on it. I reach into my chest, pulling it from there. I scream as
the dagger comes out. Lucifer gives me a look as he wipes the black blood from
his face. I look at him, hatred and pain filling me with every detail I see. I
point the dagger at him, “Who is the antichrist?”

He laughs. I scream,
forcing my wings from my body, “WHO IS HE?”

He staggers back,
stunned by the wings. “They are so beautiful.”

I look at him, seeing
it suddenly. The power I gained from the horsemen. I smile at
him,
“You never could have gotten the power from them.”

He scowls, “Where is
it?”

“You know why you
couldn’t have it? Because it is something you cannot grasp. The thing I gained
from them is belief. I believe. I know God is there. I bowed my head before the
horsemen, and I was humble and pious. Not on purpose but by instinct. I
believe. I never did before this moment. But they knelt before me and
sacrificed themselves, because they knew I was the hand of God. I don’t want to
be. I don’t need to be. I wish I weren’t. And that is why I am.”

He laughs harder, “You
think belief will get you anywhere, Rayne? You are an idiot.”

I hold the sword up,
“I believe I can beat you because he believes in me.”

He nods, “Then come at
me.”

I look up at the night
sky, smiling at the stars above me, “I don’t need to.”

Light shoots from my
wings and hands, blasting from me in all directions. It buzzes from me,
blinding him. I can see it, like I am looking through the light. I walk slowly
to him, holding the dagger of the man I love. I grab Lucifer’s head, jerking it
back. He cries out, but my blade slides across his throat and he falls. When he
drops to his knees, I bring my arm back and swing, beheading him in one fell
swoop.

I drop to my knees and
tears pour from my face. The girls inside of me are sobbing. I hold him to me
as the light dies away. Constantine gives me a stunned stare. I close my eyes,
feeling the change of his dead body to feathers. I grip them and cry. Because
even though he is dead, he was my father. He sang to me and twirled my hair.

His lips against mine
taste like cigarette smoke but his evil is like a
s’more
.
He drops down into the deathly-silent city street. Constantine scowls, “Have
you had your fill?”

I shake my head.
“There is a good one here, I can smell him.” I wander the streets, but it’s
like he’s evading me. He makes me hungry in an unnatural way. I feel like a
drug addict roaming the streets looking for that dealer I know is there.

Constantine grabs my
arm. His eyes dart about the dusty city, “We need to go now.”

I nod, “Okay.” The
walk back to the plane is quiet. He knows I am confused and exhausted.

Finally he asks, “So
belief? That was it?”

I nod, “That was it. I
am the blood of Lillith so the horsemen were drawn to me. Only the blood of
Lillith could actually take them down. Lucifer never could have killed them. It
had to be a mercy killing, a sacrifice. He wanted something from them. I wanted
to free them. It’s like the garden—if you want it, you can’t find it. But
if your desire for it is pure enough and you want nothing from the garden, it
will find you. I have only ever gone there to kill my mother and free the fae
from her, and to free Mona and you.”

He smiles, “None of
that was quite what it seemed, though was it?”

I laugh, “Not quite.
My mother was a captive of the
fae,
I still don’t get
that one. And you were dead and Mona wasn’t being held there. She was staying
for Gill. It’s all crazy. I can’t even think about it, it makes my head hurt.”

He laughs, “You make
my head hurt.”

I look down, “And your
heart.”

He shakes his head,
“You pulled Wyatt’s blade. Why?”

Giving him the most
honest face I can, I say, “Because I don’t need it. I know who he is to me.”

He winces, “And who I
am to you as well?”

“Yes.”

“Who am I?”

I look back at the
desert, “You are my dear friend. My very dear friend.” I can feel him vibrating
with anger but he controls it.

“I deserve that, don’t
I?”

I shake my head, “You
deserve love, like the rest of us.”

He shakes his head, “I
don’t. My family has always been evil. We have never been anything but.” He
takes my hand in his, “But in my defense, I am a heartless beast.”

I grip his hand, “You
are not heartless. You are anything but.”

I look at his heart,
“When I told you it was Lillith’s blood on the knife, why did you look so
interested?”

He
smiles, “A man must keep some secrets, Rayne.”

I
narrow my gaze, “You aren’t plotting, are you?”

He
laughs, “Always.” He points, “The plane.”

I
smile, “Thanks for not asking me to fly us. I hate flying.”

He
laughs harder, “I don’t expect you to carry me, love. I never have.”

The
pilot is pissed about fuel and a bunch of other things. The road we have landed
on is not great for takeoffs, and he thinks we might die.

I
close my eyes when I get into my seat and they take me instantly.

“Nene?”

I
hate the feeling in my heart, “Willow.” I run to her. We are in the painting
but it looks different, less somehow.

She
brushes my hair from my face, “Are you okay?”

I
shake my head, “No.”

She
kisses my cheek, “I am sorry you had to do all of that.”

I
slump down on the grassy hill we are on, “When I killed him, I saw things. I
saw his face smiling at me, kissing my wounds and telling me he loved me. It
was awful and amazing.”

She
sits next to me, “But you have killed him. You have killed the seven devils.
You are free of them, and the horsemen too.”

I
look at her, “Then why does it feel like it is the calm before the storm?”

Her
eyes glisten, “It is. End of
days
starts now. You must
kill the Antichrist as he rises up, before he succeeds in taking the throne.
You must kill him and then the world will reset, and there will be peace.”

I
sigh. “End of days starts now? What about the shit show out there already?”

She
cocks an eyebrow, “No cussing. It pollutes your aura.”

“Seriously
though, end of days starts now? How am I even going to know this antichrist?”

She
laughs, “He will be the false prophet who promises to save the world.”

I
look down at my feet, my shoes are almost worn through, my pants are torn and
filthy, and my hands are covered in cuts and bloodstains. “I don’t think I have
any more fight left in me.”

“Then
this is the time you must count on God.”

I
give her a sideways look, “You always said that religious people were nuts.”

She
laughs, “They are. The people who look to statues and buildings to find God are
nuts. Where is God in a piece of wood or a mortal man’s voice? God is a
personal experience for all. God is in your heart, no one can tell you how to
love him or where to find him. He is there for you and each person who believes
in
him,
gets the same thing. The gift of light.”

I
smile, “It was so simple. We all complicated it.”

She
laughs, “We all did. Fitz was watching over you. He laughed aloud when he
realized the power was belief. No one could tell you that. No one could teach
you that. You had to look to the heavens and see it for yourself. You‘re the
hand of God, Nene. Now go and do his bidding.”

I
wake, gasping for air.

Wyatt
stares at me from the corner of the room. He looks evil. If I hadn’t murdered
my father, I would have assumed Wyatt had become him again.

My
chest is heaving and my jaw is trembling.

He
looks at me with disdain pasted across his face, “Really? You sneak off when
I’m in the shower?”

I
don’t know what to say. I wonder if he has heard anything. “I bite my lip as he
rants, “You sneak off with
Basarab
, you don’t let me
come and protect you, and then in the middle of the night, a stabbing pain
tries to kill me as you rip my heart out?”

I
plead, “It wasn’t what you think.”

“What
do I think?”

I
shake my head, “I don’t know. I’m so sorry about your mom and Sarah.”

His
face drops, “That’s the news he refused to tell me?”

I
close my eyes, “He never told you?”

When
I open them, he is gone. I jump up and run down the hall. He has Constantine
against the wall in the study when I get there.

“You
let her die?”

Constantine
looks
at me, “Care to explain or shall I?”

I
walk to Wyatt, touching his arm with my hand. “I’ll explain.” He shoves
Constantine once more before releasing him and backing away.

He
looks at me with hatred in his eyes, “You killed her, didn’t you?”

I
shake my head, “It was Sarah.”

“BULLSHIT!”

I
plead, “It was.
She was possessed by Lucifer
. We
didn’t know. She had murdered your mother on the riverbank while we waited at
the jet. We thought we were at the right spot for the horsemen, but we were
wrong. We were off and Sarah knew it. She was there to distract us while the horsemen
came for the guy Lucifer sent there to gather the power for him. I think he
wanted the guy to take the power of the horsemen, and then he would take it
from the guy.”

Constantine
gives me a look, “That man was one of the sons of Dracula. He was my cousin.”

I
scowl, “Okay, well that’s weird. Anyway, Sarah killed you mom and we didn’t
even know. By the time we figured it out, your mom was dead. We killed Sarah,
forcing Lucifer from her body.”

Wyatt
looks back and forth between us. His nostrils are flared. “Why did you pull my
dagger from your heart?”

I
press my lips together as Constantine speaks softly, “You never needed it.”

He
looks down and leaves the study. Wyatt looks at me, “What is that supposed to
mean?”

I
don’t know why, but I am terrified to tell him, “You know how you never aged
for a long time, and you thought it was because you were a Van Helsing?”

He
nods.

“It
was because I was dead. Your aging slowed when I died and picked up again when
I was born.”

“What
does that mean?”

I
step towards him, “We knew each other once, a long time ago. You were a child
but we knew. We knew one day we would be together. Like it was meant to be.”

He
scowls, “I don’t remember you.”

“But
it happened. They took it from
us, your mother and
Constantine
. Even
the me
from before doesn’t
remember it. They took it away.”

He
sits in the chair, “They stole our memories? Why would they do that? That
doesn’t even make sense.”

I
shake my head, “Constantine did it because he wanted me to love him and not
you. I have no idea why your mother did it. She’s dead now so that’s not very
helpful.”

He
cocks an eyebrow, “I bet Fitz knows, but wait. You ruined the picture so the
only way in is that painting in that chick’s house in Boston. The locked
house.”

I
sigh, “We can go there.”

He
shakes his head, “I’m tired of traveling back and forth. I’m tired of all the
nixie travel and flying, and all the bullshit. This is exhausting. Loving you
is exhausting and everyone dies because of you in some small way. Loving you is
like slowly being tortured.” He holds his hand over his chest and closes his
eyes. He puts his hand under his shirt and pulls the sword from his chest.
Blinding pain is there instantly. It never felt that way when I pulled
Constantine’s from his chest. Wyatt’s is like ten seconds of death and then
nothing. He drops the sword to the floor and gets up, leaving me alone in the
room with the blade.

He
doesn’t want to love me. I finally choose, and he doesn’t want to love me. I
look at the window and run at it. I break the glass and jump as my wings shoot
from my back. I fly to the spot where the gates sit open still. I land and walk
into the garden.
 
A deer passes by
me. I walk to the village but it is silent.

There is no one there
,
no one has lived
. How is that possible? In the ten minutes
he left me in the garden, how did he kill them all? How did he hurt everyone? I
never heard a sound, not a single scream. I enter the palace through the front
doors and walk to the throne room. The daisies are still littering the halls
and stairs.

I
walk to the throne, running my hands over it. The pure light of the crystal is
stunning. It reflects the light filtering into the room. I sit down, resting my
weary legs.

“You
sit at the throne of the fae?”

I
look up to the see the white-eyed man and jump up, “Sorry. I meant no
disrespect.”

He
laughs, “Sit, it is your right. You have conquered the land.”

I
shake my head, “What?”

“You
killed the queen. These were all your subjects.” He holds his hand out at the
flowers scattered about the floor.

“I
never meant to kill her. I don’t know what came over me.”

His
white eyes glisten in the light of the room, “You wanted to save your mother
and yourself. You came to free the fae of the evil inside of Lillith. It had
corrupted the queen. Lillith had her convinced she could take back the Earth.
Lillith brought you here to kill her.”

“Why
do the fae hate God and humans?”

He
smiles, “If you can find that answer, you can solve all the problems in all the
world. Why do any group of people dislike any other group?”

“Beliefs?”

He
nods, “You are smarter than you look.”

“Who
are you?”

He
laughs, “Who am I? Does it matter? I asked you here to help me and you brought
death to all my people. I am a fool.”

I
shake my head, “I never knew he was my father.”

“You
chose not to listen to your heart, and as a result, all of these people died.”

I
wince, “What can I do?”

He
shrugs, “What can you do?”

I
feel like I am at the tea party in
Alice
in Wonderland
. I sit back on the throne, “I will do anything I can to fix
them.”

He
smiles, “Then I suggest you call the witches.”

I
nod.

He
looks around, “Good luck, Rayne.” He turns and walks away and slowly becomes a
huge white stag. His hooves click on the stone floor as he walks away from me.

I
get up and walk to the window, and jump. I fly back to the castle. I use the
front door but it doesn’t matter. Constantine gives me a hateful look from the
book he is reading, “Windows are not easy to come by now, Rayne. The factories
are all gone.”