The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (5 page)

“I
want you, Rayne. I’ve wanted you since I saw you order that ridiculous root
beer float. I’ve wanted you from the minute you blew me off and even when I
realized what you were.” He takes a step back and my throat gets thick. He
looks down at my body, his face blushing even beyond the redness he has from
the passion we are both fighting. He licks his lips, smiling at the thoughts he
isn’t saying.

I
whisper my own confession, “I want you too.”

He
gives me a hurt
look,
“I should have been honest with
you, from the start. Once I knew what you were, I should have been honest. I
did really awful things to the guys you were with. It just made me so mad,
ya
know? They could be with you and I couldn’t.”

“We
can’t change anything.”

He
drops to his knee on the tiles and looks up at me. His eyes narrow from the
water splashing from my body onto his face. “I should have asked you last time.
I shouldn’t have assumed it was the best thing for you.” He stalls. I can see
the hesitation on his face, but he still says what he is thinking. “I
handfasted with you in hopes that it would be something else. I know you think
it was so I could track you, and it was. But it was so I could keep you safe.”

“Why
did you get engaged?”

He
looks hurt and sighs, “I was born engaged, Rayne. Born that way. I was born
ages ago.
It takes us centuries to mature
,
we age so slowly
. They say it’s the fae in our blood. I’ve
been engaged for hundreds of years.”

I
nod slowly, “The other me remembers your mother and Jonathan together.” I look
down on him, “Why are you kneeling?”

“Handfast
with me again, I bet there is a fire witch who is stronger than the other who
can put it back.”

I
almost nod, but the memory of the other fire witch eating my broken handfast
wax and the evil I ate from her, comes back. I shake my head.

His
face pinches, “I said I was sorry and I meant it. How many times must I
apologize?”

I
want to cry, but instead I offer him a smile, “It will always be one more
time.”

He
nods, “Then I will say it every day for the rest of our lives in hopes of
catching up.”

I
can’t help but grin at that. It’s hopeful and ridiculous. When I open my mouth,
words fall out. I don’t mean for them to, but they do. “I love you, Wyatt.”

He
nods, I can see a fire behind his eyes,
“
I love you
too.”

I
can’t technically feel for him. That’s locked away or lost in the multiple
personalities inside of me, but I know I love him. It’s my heart’s truth.

He
looks like he’s won the lottery but he doesn’t move, “When we fix this horsemen
situation, do you promise to try again?”

I
nod. He stands up again, looking down on me. Goddamned, he is sexy! The way his
hair drips water down onto his face, and the way his eyes melt my soul, it’s
too much. I grab his face again, wincing as the instant pain and suffering is
there. I fight it, brushing the softest kiss against his lips. I’m shaking in
pain when he backs away. I can feel sweat forming on my brow. I lean into the
water and close my eyes. When I open them, he’s gone. I know I’m sad. Tears
fill my eyes and I cry into the shower water, but I can’t feel the heartbreak
of not being able to have the thing I want.

I
think the others cry at the thought of me loving him and not Constantine.

I
whisper into the shower, “I won’t choose, not yet.”

It
doesn’t satisfy them. They weep inside of my mind and I swear I am crazy.

The
images are intense. The black rain is being called acid rain from the bombs. It
burns and even kills those caught out in it for too long. It only burns organic
matter. It has no effect on buildings or umbrellas. It makes no sense. The man
speaking on the TV has no idea what it is, and he confesses scientists are
equally baffled.

Gretel
paces in front of the massive stone fireplace. She and Constantine have worn a
path in front of it.

I
sigh, “We need to go back to the States.”

Constantine
shakes his head, “No. We need to find Lillith.”

Gretel
shakes her head as well, “NO. We need to kill the horsemen.”

We
are at an impasse, have been for three days. Wyatt’s eyes watch me from the
corner of the room. They have done so for three days also.

He
speaks softly but everyone listens, “Rayne and I will go back to the States.
Mona and Michelle and Gill, you stay here with Tom and Maria. Stella and
Constantine, you go and find the garden. Mom and Sarah will locate and attempt
to kill the horsemen. Call the other Van Helsings. They will come and help.”

It
sounds reasonable to me.

His
mom’s eyes dart at Sarah who looks pained, “My parents are siding with the
Catholic Church. There is no one but us.”

Gretel
nods, “Maggie is with your father at the ocean front estate. She needs to be
kept safe.”

Wyatt
nods slowly, taking it in. “You go and find the horsemen; when you find them,
Stella and Constantine will come to you after they’ve found the garden.” He
smirks at Constantine, “Can you still fly,
Basarab
,
or is becoming a bat a young man’s game?”

Constantine
chuckles. Stella narrows her gaze, “We could never trust them to fight with
them. Gretel is not known for her loyalties.”

Gretel
looks savage, “I feel exactly the same about you, corpse.”

Stella
stands from her chair, looking dramatic in the firelight with her red gown and
long blonde hair, “I guess I could always ask Jonathan how loyal you are.”

Gretel
snarls, leaping at her. She takes her to the ground. They get in hits, but it
gets serious when Gretel bites into her own wrist and drips her blood onto
Stella who screams. She kicks Gretel across the room, smashing her into the
brick wall. She is up and gone, and then in a flash, right in front of Gretel.
Her hand comes back but Wyatt and Constantine are up and grabbing their
perspective family members. Stella’s face looks like she has met with the acid
rain. It is blackened and burned. Her upper lip is missing.

Gretel
is wheezing from whatever is broken in her back from the wall.

Mona
looks at me, “That escalated quickly.”

Michelle
snuggles in closer to me on the couch, “That was insane.”

They
all look at us three on the couch.
Wyatt and Gretel on one
side of the fire and Constantine and Stella on the other.
With the huge
fire flickering behind them, they all look positively evil.

I
get up, “I’m going to the States, alone.”

Constantine
opens his mouth but I hold up a hand, “The nixie can get me there faster than
anyone, and under the water, the black rain can’t hurt me.”

I
look at Mona and Michelle, “Stay here, it’s the safest place you can be.”

Constantine
puts his hands on his hips, “Why are you so desperate to be back there?”

There
is something I can’t tell them. I shake my head, “It’s hard to explain, but I
need to see someone.”

Constantine
sighs, “Let’s sleep on it. We can decide tomorrow.”

I
smile, “Fine. I’d rather not swim the Atlantic in the dark anyway.”

Gretel,
Sarah, and Wyatt go to the wing they’re sleeping in. It was Constantine’s wing
for human snacks the last time I was here. Stella’s face is healing but she
still looks like a zombie Barbie. She puts a hand out for Michelle, “Come on.”
Michelle wrinkles her nose, “Is that going to go away or are you going to be
fugly
all night?”

Mona
laughs but Stella frowns, “What does
fugly
mean?”

It
dawns on me at that moment that they are lovers. I don’t even know what that
makes Michelle. Is she a lesbian now? Maybe she was always flexible.

I
suppose love is love—can she love without her soul?

Mona
loops her arm into mine, “Night guys.” We turn and walk the hallway to our
room. She leans in, “If you leave, find my mom.”

I
nod, “I will.”

Of
course I lied. It’s dark and quite frightening in the castle when the torches
and lights are all out. Luckily my eyes do their thing, and I slip through the
dark hall silently, not making a single sound. I don’t want anyone to know I am
leaving.

When
I get to the cellar door, my heart is pounding, but I know I have to go. I
wince as I pry the door open. It squeaks. I close it and run. I know he will
have heard me.

The
cellar has not seen an update. The stairs are long and winding down into the
earth. It’s cold and dank and smells like things Ellie and the others remember
quite well. At the bottom of the stairs, I recognize the old door I knew was
there. I pull hard on the rusty handle and the door squeaks like it’s the
friggin
’ alarm system warning Constantine of my escape. I
leave it open and run, trailing my finger along the cobweb-covered wall of
bricks. I can see that the stairs have no railing and the fall is far. My eyes
do their
glowy
thing making it light in the room,
light enough to see how horrid it is.

A
light at the top of the stairs announces his arrival, “Rayne, goddammit. Get
back here.”

I
look back at Constantine and jump. The torch he holds lights up the massive
cavern he once turned into an amazing escape. My wings burst from my back, and
I float past the
dimly-lit
staircase and pitted wall.
He jumps too, but the moment I touch ground, I’m running and leaping. My huge
white wings fold in when I reach the tunnel to the sea. I can smell the spray
of the ocean.

“RAYNE!”

I
push my legs harder until I reach the cold wind in my face. I see dawn’s light
on the horizon and leap into it and the misty air of the bluffs. My wings tuck
and I dive fast for the sea below.

I
split the water with such force I cry out from the pain of it. But instantly
they are there. They wrap around me, surrounding me in light. I can hear the
nixie singing and moaning in the water, talking all at once.

Seven
beautiful sea witches. I smile at the nixie. They look up and I see the
frothing sea explode with more commotion. He has followed me into the ocean.
The nixie will smell their dead on him and attack. I see jeans and scowl; it’s
not Constantine. It’s Wyatt. He looks at the nixie pleadingly, “Please?”

He
surfaces again. The
nixie look
at me. I sigh and nod.

We
all surface. I see Constantine’s evil face from the cave opening high above. I
wave, “I’ll be back in a couple days.”

He
flips me the bird.

“Wow,
that was rude.”

He
turns and stalks back into the cave.

I
look at Wyatt, “You can’t come. You have to be able to cross the Atlantic with
them.”

Wyatt
ignores me and looks at the blonde with the hateful look for him. “I am the
archangel Jonathan’s son. Please let me come. I promise to do whatever you
say.” He sounds sweet and obliging. They look like they won’t be fooled,
“Fine.”

A
redhead grabs him and pulls him under. I scream, “He can’t breathe.”

The
blonde laughs, “He is
nephilim
. They can all breathe
underwater.” She grabs my hand and pulls me under with her. I grab her
shoulders, like I’m swimming with a dolphin and we start the trip. The sun
rises above, lighting up the entire ocean.

 
It is beautiful and strange to be
swimming across the ocean. I can’t see Wyatt. There is a pit in my stomach that
they just dragged him down and murdered him. He has killed nixie before.

I
feel an overwhelming exhaustion suddenly. Before I can stop them, the dead take
me.

I
wake to pain, knowing I never dreamt. I scream out and look down. I am in a
room I don’t know, and the source of my agony and sickness is the man sleeping
next to me. He has sprawled across me. I snarl and shove him off the bed. He
lands with a thump and continues to sleep. It makes me laugh.

I
look around but I don’t know this place. It’s a simple bedroom, nothing fancy
at all. I get up, nervous of what I will find. I no longer think it’ll be Van
Helsings who want to kill me. I trust him now. My belly rumbles, and I know
it’s not the kind of hunger a sandwich will fix. I haven’t eaten in days.

I
leave the room, recognizing where I am when I enter the next room. The picture
with the star makes me smile instantly. It is the reason I have come back to
the States.

“Did
you push me out of bed?” I jump and turn to see Wyatt rubbing his eyes. “That
was mean.”

I
laugh, “You were touching me. I woke screaming in pain.”

He
grimaces, “So I accidentally hurt you and you purposefully push me out of bed?
I woke screaming in pain too.”

I
roll my eyes, “You did not.”

He
cracks a grin, “Okay, but I’m not a baby like you.”

I
laugh, “Screw you, Wyatt.”

“That’s
why we’re here, isn’t it?”

I
shake my head and an idea hits. I grab his hand and drag him to the picture. I
press the star and instantly we are there. He cries out like a baby then.

“What
the hell?”

I
turn, searching for her. She is in the garden in the corner. I run over,
“Excuse me, ma’am.”

She
turns to look at me, making my heart stop. She isn’t the lady from the picture
before. She is Willow. I drop to my knees, tears streaming my cheeks. I can’t
reach the agony inside of me, but I know it’s there. My body’s reaction is
desperate and uncontrolled sobbing.

Wyatt
comes running over, “Willow?”

She
looks at us both, “What? How?”

I
press my hands down into the earth, grabbing at the soil and crying. She is on
me, instantly. “Nene, my precious Nene. You found me. I knew you would. I tried
to leave you hints with the dead. I hoped they would tell you to come to me.”

Her
warm softness surrounds me. She smells like patchouli and dirt. I cry harder,
“Mom.”

She
cries too, “My baby.”

“Wyatt,
what are you doing here? Is that Rayne?” I hear Fitz, but I am so lost in my
tears and the embrace of my mom that I can’t look.

She
strokes my hair and kisses my head. “You came. I can’t believe you came.”

Wyatt
hugs Fitz, “You’re alive?”

“No,
son, I’m a ghost but I am held here by the magic of the earth witch I love.”

Wyatt
shakes his head, “I don’t care. I’m just glad I can see you. I’m sorry I wasn’t
able to help you.”

Fitz
laughs, “You are doing your job, trust me.”

“Uncle,
we need to find the garden. I know you’re the only person who will know where
it is.”

I
look up at Willow, “Can you tell me if Mona’s mom is dead or alive?”

She
nods, “Give me a minute.” She closes her eyes, and even I get a shiver from the
thing she is doing. I can’t see anything different, but I can feel the
electricity in the air. She opens her eyes, “Mona is an orphan.”

I
wince, “Oh God.”

“She
is with God. She made peace before she left. Mona’s father was worried and went
to her when things got bad. They died together, holding each other.” She smiles
down on me, “You have killed the devils, haven’t you?”

I
nod. She winces, “Then it has started. Have the horsemen come?”

I
nod again, “The world is in turmoil. People are dying everywhere and the
horsemen are wrecking everything.”

Wyatt
scowls, “You guys knew they would come?”

Fitz
sighs, “We suspected they would. They are the only way to start the end of days
and pit the lamb against the usurper.”

I
shake my head, “What?”

Willow
kisses my cheeks, “You have to kill the antichrist. The horsemen will tip the
balance of good on the planet to a disastrous level so that he might be born.
It is judgment day for the believers. God’s children are going home, and only
the worst of the worst and the non-believers will remain. The children of
light, the fae, will stay also. They do not belong in heaven.”

My
stomach cramps. Willow looks at me, “Have you been eating properly? You look
tired.” She looks at Wyatt, “No sex right, Nene?”

I
sigh, “No.”

Wyatt
shakes his head, “You guys are really open in this family.”

Fitz
looks down, “You have no idea.”