The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (22 page)

He
shakes his
head,
“My heart hasn’t been the kind that
damages easily for centuries.” He sits, always looking regal. “How are the
fae?”

“Good.
The king and queen are likely to be seated at their throne
now,
the vile thing Gill called a mother is in exile. The nixie and earth witches
were hanging out beyond the gate like old cronies.”

His
eyes narrow, “The vile thing he called mother is likely to be joining forces
behind your back.”

Wyatt
nods, “I agree. She has probably gone to the antichrist.”

He
winces, “The nixie and the earth witches, friends again in celebration, huh?”

“Yup.”

He
shakes his head, “That’s not good. That’s what caused the last witch wars,
sides being taken.”

I
give him a look, “What?”

He
nods and Wyatt looks like he is deep in thought, “Maybe the air and fire
witches won’t know.”

Constantine
starts to
laugh,
it’s his bitter laugh. Wyatt joins
him. I missed the joke apparently, ‘cause I am confused.

“The
world is ruined and a huge chunk of the population is dead. The rest are
displaced and dying. Who cares what the witches do? What power do they have
now?”

Wyatt
slaps his hand across my lips. It hurts the way he presses his hand.
Constantine looks around the room.

I
am super lost.

Constantine
gives Wyatt a nod after a minute. Wyatt looks at me, “The air witches have been
watching us. They think you are loyal to them, the angel faction.”

I
scowl, but before I can say anything, Wyatt puts his fingers to my lips, “Let’s
not have thoughts or feelings about anything that doesn’t involve us.”

“Will
the angels come back?” I ask through his fingers.

He
nods, “Michael will lead an army of angels with the savior against the
antichrist who will also have his followers.”

“Michael?”

He
sighs, “I liked it better when you at least had some of the memories of the
other girls—Michael the archangel.”

I
give Constantine a look, “So he will fight with us?”

Constantine’s
eyes sparkle, “If we fight for the right side. Otherwise, we could end up with
a three-way war. Or a witch war that will weaken us.”

“Who
will be on the antichrist’s side?”

Constantine’s
eyes sparkle even more, like he is laughing inwardly. “Lucifer, of course. He
and the other fallen.”

I
scowl, “But Lucifer is dead.”

Wyatt
gives me a
look,
“The angel Lucifer is dead, now
Lucifer the devil will rise. He will build an army and fight alongside his
antichrist, and try to kill you.”

“WHAT?
WHY DOESN’T ANYONE TELL ME THIS SHIT?”

“Everyone
knows that Lucifer the devil breeds the antichrist.”

Constantine
points at Wyatt, “Everyone! It’s common knowledge. Think of all the Hollywood
productions.”

I
scowl, “I thought when we killed him, he died.”

Wyatt
gives me a comical look, “He’s an angel. He may choose his form when he dies.”

Something
about that makes sense. I remember a conversation somewhere, somehow about
that. I lift a hand to my face, “He may choose to be a devil? So killing him
was really actually freeing him to try to kill me again?”

Wyatt
nods and looks at Constantine who smiles, “Yes. However, if you had not killed
him, you would be dead by your birthday. Now you may live as long as you wish.
If you kill the antichrist, if he kills you, obviously you won’t live.”

He and Wyatt chuckle.

I
swallow hard, look at them both, and turn and walk from the room.

“Screw
that!” I storm to the bedroom and touch the star.

The
lady is there, not Willow or Fitz. I sigh and sit on the hillside. She comes
and sits next to me, “What’s wrong?”

I
shake my head, “Nothing. Just having one of those days, weeks, years, lives.
You know?”

She
laughs, “I do not. I have had a wonderful life.” I glance at her funky style,
“How come you have modern clothes now?”

She
smiles, “I went out into the world and saw what is there. I am able to make
myself appear how I wish.”

I
sigh, “You are able to choose your form.”

She
nods happily.

I
reach up for the star to Fitz’s painting, “Tell Willow I said hi, if you see
her.” I touch the painting and end up back in my room, alone.

I
wake with a jolt, sitting up and looking around the dark room. My eyes do their
thing. I can feel something calling me. I slip from the bed and
tiptoe down
the long corridor in the castle.

I
see light under a door. I open it, peeking inside. Liana, Ezara, Maggie and
Ellie are there. They hold their fingers to their lips, “Come and see, sister.”

Ellie
takes my hand, pulling me down the stairs to a room I didn’t know existed.

I
can hear voices and smell evil when I get to the bottom of the stairs. We walk
along a dark hallway, all of us hidden by the shadows except for our glowing
silver eyes. We pass a mirror and I stop, looking at the five of us. We are
like a horror movie. Ellie pulls me to a huge wooden door. Ezara turns the long
handle and pushes the door open. No one turns to face us.
They
don’t see us
,
I am with the dead
. It makes me
invisible.

She
looks back at us, “Look.”

I
see hundreds of people milling about the basement. It looks like a huge tavern
from a movie. It looks that way until I look harder. Then I see it.

The
evil is coming off of the bleeding people lying on the bar. The men and women
who are standing and talking all have black eyes and fangs. Some bend over,
sipping from the dying people on the bar.

A
woman laughs as dark-red blood drips from her fangs onto her pale skin. She
points at the man next to her and shouts something. I can’t understand
it,
it’s not in English.

A
man looks at me, but through me. I feel a shiver as suddenly the back of
Constantine’s head is right in front of my face. He turns and looks behind him
skeptically. The people stop moving and speaking when they see he is there.
They drop to their knees, in respect of him as their leader, their maker. He
holds his hands out and speaks in a language I do not know.

Ellie
whispers the words in my ear as he says them, “Our time is coming brothers and
sisters. We will have our rightful seat at the hand of the ruler; we just have
to wait a bit longer. When he calls for us, we will go to him and this will
end. We will no longer be ashamed of who or what we are. We will no longer
conform to their ways, to HIS ways!”

The
crowd cheers for him.

He
looks back and shivers again. Several of the most beautiful people I have ever
seen are pushed through the doorway and through me. They are men and women, all
stunning and completely naked.

Constantine
waves a hand, “Have your fun and your fill.” He turns and walks from the room,
again through me. He pauses and looks on at the five of us huddled there, as if
he sees us but I can tell he doesn’t. He waves a hand in the air, frowning.

The
crowd goes nuts and drags the men and women into the room. Blood starts to flow
as they are pushed to the tables and bar top. They join the other people as
hungry fangs bite down on them.

I
turn my face away, “I can’t watch this.”

Ellie
lifts my face to hers, “Remember this, Rayne. Remember this, this time. You
must try to.”

I
nod, “I will.”

Tears
pour from Ellie’s face. I know her heart is broken. She loved him more than the
rest of us.

They
blow on my face and suddenly I am sitting up in my bed. I gasp for air. Wyatt
grabs my hand, “Go back to sleep.”

Something
is nagging at me. I run for the picture, wondering if that was where my dream
was. I look back at Wyatt and have a bad feeling I should bring him. I carry
the picture to him, hold his hand, and touch the star.

As
we are suddenly standing on the hillside, Wyatt looks down. He’s completely
naked. He covers himself, “What the hell, Rayne?”

I
shake my head, “Something is wrong. I don’t know what.”

He
looks around the garden as the lady runs from the cottage, “HURRY! THIS WAY!”
She screams at us. I pull my pajama pants off and drag my tee shirt down to
cover my underwear. Wyatt pulls on my pink fleece pajamas I stole from Stella.
He sighs as we run to the cottage. The lady grabs my hand, “The picture has
been destroyed. You have to flee to the other side and never come back. If they
trap you in here, you will never fulfill your duty.”

I
grab Wyatt’s hand and touch the other star. Instantly, we are inside of the
lady’s house.

He
looks at me in the dark, “What happened?”

I
shake my head, “I don’t know. It was a dream. I never remember them.”

“Where
are we, I can’t see?”

I
smile,
 
“I can. Let’s go. We need to
find clothes and shit, all over again.”

He
kisses the side of my face as we walk to the door. I turn and see the way my
eyes glow in the mirror. It all flashes back. I stop and stare at the silver
eyes and suddenly I see.

The
words leave my mouth in a whisper, “I was in the basement at Constantine’s
castle. I was with my sisters. We walked down a hallway and saw a mirror like
this one. Our eyes glowed like mine do. We walked to a room where hundreds of
vampires fed on people.
No, fae.
They fed on fae.
Constantine is not on my side. Taking the sword from my heart and his has made
him a vampire again. He no longer has his humanity.”

Wyatt
holds me tight to him, “What do we do?”

I
shake my head, “Go to your parents’ house?”

He
shakes his head, “No. The other families will have gone there. They may still
believe they have to sacrifice you.”

I
look down on the ring on my hand, “We need to go to the garden. We need to hide
there until we know what to do.”

He
kisses my head again, “We need an army.”

I
open the door to the house and step out onto the sidewalk. The cold air hits
instantly.

He
wraps around me as I shiver, “We will find our army.”

I
shake my head, “I don’t know if that’s possible. The antichrist has people
doing it for him. I have no one.”

He
spins me to face him, “You have me. You will always have me.”

I
smirk, “Not that I’m not grateful, but babe, you are one man.”

He
shakes his head, “I am more than that and so are you.” He nods behind me.

I
turn and there is the blonde from the Air Angel Nazi party. She smirks
at me, “Is he going to sprout his own wings this time, or will you
be carrying him again
.”

I
scowl, “He’s only half, he doesn’t have wings.”

She
winks at him, “He’s a Van Helsing. They’re angels. So he’s more than half and
he has wings. He just needs to pop them the first time.”

I
laugh and look at Wyatt. He shakes his head. The angel jumps at him, grabs him,
and flies up into the air fast. I look up when he screams. She drops him and as
he’s falling to the ground and screaming like a girl, huge white wings burst
from his back. They catch a breeze and he shoots off to the right, still
screaming. I gasp and then laugh. He lands on the road a hundred yards away. He
looks back at the wings and then at me. A huge smile creeps across his lips. He
jumps into the air, and of course, he is a natural instantly. He lands in front
of me, “This is awesome.”

I
roll my eyes, “Yeah, so are your extra-tight, pink fleece pants.”

The
blonde angel lands next to him. He shoves her. She laughs, “That’s how you
learn.”

His
chest is rising and falling as he nods, “Okay.” He is out of breath and still a
bit pale, but I can see he is excited. She looks at us, “Ready?”

She
jumps into the air without waiting for our answer. Wyatt smiles at me and jumps
into the air too.

I
follow his pink pants to the palace of the air witches. I don’t look down when
we get there. I hate the whole cloud walkways thingy. I hate heights. I hate
flying and I hate that they don’t have a regular house on regular ground.

The
air witch looks at me, “Your thoughts are so harsh for an angel.”

I
cock an eyebrow, “Stay out of my head.”

She
bows, “As you wish, sin eater.” She looks cocky. Wyatt looks back at me. I am
as always, stunned at the vision of his broad chest, muscles and tats. But
adding the wings to the already beautiful
man,
is
devastatingly sexy.

He
gives me that grin that makes my stomach tighten, “You like them?”

I
nod once. He laughs and struts over to me, “You having the same thought I am?”

I
shrug, “Probably.”

His
blue eyes light up, “You
wanna
have sex while we’re
flying?”

I
make a face, “We are not having the same thought. What is wrong with you?
That’s disgusting.” I walk past him, forcing myself to pay attention to the
pink pants, and not what I can clearly see outlined beneath them.

He’s
worse than the Hamm-
aconda
.

The
white priestess gives me a warm welcome, “Sin eater, we understand you are
worried about your army?”

I
look at her and smile, “I am.”

She
takes my hand and walks me to the edge of the cloud floor. She points below at
a hillside. There is a castle made of white on it. I don’t even understand how
it isn’t something everyone has seen. It’s huge and obvious. She holds her hand
there, “The reinforcements have been awaiting this moment for hundreds of
years. Let Lucifer and his little minions gather, they will not touch you!”

She
jumps, bursting wings from her back and pulling me with her. We
float—well she floats, I dangle until we reach the ground. I drop to the
grassy hillside in a heap. She lands like she rode a pillow down. Wyatt does
the same. The white priestess gives me a grin, “I hope this is more to your
liking.”

I
nod, “Thank you.” I point upward, “Sorry about being a
judgy
whore about the cloud castle. It’s lovely, really.”

She
scowls, mouthing the words
judgy
whore and walks to
the castle.

“It
is stunning. I wish Mona could see it. It is worthy of a Lord of the Rings
reference and beyond what I am capable of retelling.

Wyatt
picks me up off of the ground, “You suck at flying.”

I
pull my arm from him, “I hate flying. I don’t suck. I just wasn’t prepared for
that.” I look down, “You’re wearing girls’ pants, don’t make fun of me until
you’re wearing something a little more appropriate.”

He
laughs and pulls me along the grassy hillside.

When
we get inside of the huge white walls, I am shocked in awe. I stare like a fool
in every direction. Thousands of angels, witches, and other things I’m not even
sure I can categorize, walk the small city. The castle is the heart and around
it is a land like I have never seen before.

“It’s
like Narnia.”

Wyatt
sighs, “Just don’t say anything that makes you sound stupid, okay? These ones
are going to have a hard enough time with the fact you’re actually only a girl
from Vermont.”

I
fold my arms across my chest and walk after the priestess. The people who see
her drop to their knee and wait for her to pass.

She
climbs the stairs to the castle with us following along.

When
we get inside, I am desperate not to moan in awe at everything I see. It is
incredible. The castle is like ivory or something. It glistens and shines at
every angle. It’s so clean. It’s weird. Earth witches are not that clean. Air
witches are the
OCD
witches of the world.

She
brings us to the main court. A man turns and faces Wyatt and me. He smiles at
us like he’s inspecting us. He turns to Wyatt, “Hello, Nephew.” He nods at me,
“Niece.”

Wyatt
beams, “Michael?”

He
nods, “At your service.”

Wyatt
gives me a look, “This is…”

Michael
walks to me, taking my hand in his, “I am your Uncle Michael. Your parents were
archangels with me, long before they fell.” He squeezes my hand, and I have a
feeling he is rifling around in my head, like the nixie queen did but without
the biting.

I
smile, “Nice to meet you.”

He
laughs, “You are a strange little thing.”

I
scowl and he laughs harder. He looks at the priestess, “Our father has a sense
of humor,
I
will give him that.”

The
priestess nods, almost bowing. “I couldn’t agree more, my lord. She is unique,
even to her former selves.”

He
smiles, “Very.” He nods to several people lining the white wall, blending in
with their blonde whiteness. “Show them to their rooms and speak aloud. They
are not used to mind talking.”

The
men and women curtsey and bow. Michael points, “They will show you to your room
and get you clothed in something less, interesting.” He looks at the priestess.
She snickers. I hate it when people snicker. The priestess gives me a look and
I point at her, “Stay out of my head.”