The Four Horsemen(10)

I nod, “I’m glad you think so.”





Three




“I can’t believe they’re both dead.” I mutter, passing him the painting from Fitz’s that’s wrapped in several garbage bags and sealed with his vacuum sealer for clothes.

He shakes his head, “They don’t seem very dead. Did you always know about that photo?”

I nod, “No, the dead showed me once.”

“Spooky, Rayne. I asked Fitz about the fire witch. He is certain there is one in Boston who is strong enough to redo a handfast.”

I smile, “Excellent!”

We slip back into the water and let the nixie surround us with their warmth. They smile and flutter about the water. I point up, “How does one go about finding the air witches?”

They shake their heads and the redhead speaks softly, “One doesn’t. Why would you want to see those pontificating winged devils?”

I laugh, feeling weird about the water in my face when I do it. “We need them. I have to kill the four horsemen, for Lillith.”

I look around at all of them, so pretty in the water. Their movements are fluid and smooth. The memory of the nixie on the shores is traumatizing; the jerky movements and dresses that seem alive still haunt my daydreams.

The blonde nods once, “We will take you to the place.” She looks at Wyatt, “Does the evil one have to come?”

I smile at him, “He does.”

She makes a face, grabs his hand and drags him through the water like a child dragging a doll by its hand. My ride is much smoother. We come to the shores after a short swim, “Go to the old part of town, Salem. The fire witches will help you find the air devils.”

The redhead kisses me softly. The lights in her eyes make me nervous but the soft lips are calming. Wyatt sputters as we climb from the water. The black rains have stopped. The sky still brews as though a storm is coming, but at least there is no weather beyond the cold wind.

“We need to find dry clothes.”

I nod ahead, “I have an idea.” We cross the street in the dark. He looks at me funny, “Your eyes are doing that glowing thing.”

I nod, “It’s dark out. They always do it in the dark. The darker it is, the brighter they are.”

“Creepy.”

I stick my tongue out.

He laughs, “I love how mature you are about all of this.”

“Whatever.” I stalk across the dark street to a row of old houses. I do the thing I hate and walk to the one with no lights on and creep into the back yard. I can heed his dissatisfaction at the idea of what I’m about to do, but I don’t care. I open the back door quietly. Poking my head inside, “Hello, Uncle Stan?”

No one makes a sound or answers. I open it all the way, stripping my drenched clothing from my body. I almost leave my underwear on, but after the shower, I don’t bother.

“This started out wrong but I’m liking it more now.”

I look back at Wyatt, “Shhhh. Just strip.” I carry my clothes to the garbage and feel a small pit of remorse. I’m always losing clothes and throwing them away and ripping them with my wings. I never get to have nice stuff.

Wyatt scowls, “These are three hundred dollar jeans—you want me to put them in the trash?”

I smile when I see his naked body, “Yeah.”

He smiles, shaking his head, “Eyes above sea level.”

I laugh, “This is probably the worst experience ever.”

He closes the cupboard to the garbage and looks down on me. I like the way he towers over me, casting a shadow so big I can’t see past him.

“Your eyes are really glowing now, like a cat with a glimmer of light in them.”

I nod, “I know. They’re crazy.”

“I want to touch you.”

I smile, “This family could be home at any second. Trust me, hide and seek with glowing eyes is not easy.” I turn and walk towards the stairs I know he can’t see. “Besides, I don’t want you to touch me.”

I dash to the shower, jumping in and rinsing the sand and salt from my body. He gets in with me. When I’m clean, I jump out, “I’ve never been naked this much in front of anyone, except Willow. She’s always naked. Huge fan of nakedness.”

“I can see that.” I can hear the smile in his voice even though I can’t see him past the shower curtain. “I’ve always been around nakedness. Sports teams are brutal.”

I wrap in the towel, “How old are you?”

He doesn’t answer right away. “Old, hundreds of years old, I think. It’s taken me ages to get to this age. Apparently, the angel blood will freeze it here. I’m fully grown, so I won’t age anymore. Not like my mom and Fitz, who are older now, hundreds of years later. I did the majority of my growing recently. I was stuck in a ten-year old’s body forever. Then I hit that puberty stage about a decade ago. I got to go to normal school. I guess it’s common for my family. But mom said Maggie has stayed at the ten year old level for a shorter amount of time. Apparently she is about to bloom.” He turns off the shower and pulls back the curtain, “We stay young for a long time, innocent. When we hit puberty, we age normally for a decade and then it slows down again. For me it’s stopped.”

I pass him a towel, fully staring at his naked body. He is like a sculpture, perfect and chiseled. His body is artwork. It makes me think things that are not quite pure. I have to turn away before I touch him, hurting myself.

I nod, “I’ve aged normally all five of my lives, I think if I was let to live, I would be like you. I would stop aging when I was done developing. I always die though.”

It stings a little to say that.

I walk from the bathroom before he can try dosing me in pity. I don’t want it. The house belongs to people a little older than us, by the clothes. I pull on two pairs of yoga pants, a Henley and a sweater, and thick wooly socks.

I pick him out a pair of thick jogging pants, a tee shirt, and a hoodie. He pulls it on and we head for the kitchen. I grab a yogurt cup from the fridge and pass it to him. He eats it fast. We raid their fridge for several minutes. Eating in silence and staring at the wall.

“Is this how you live when you’re on the run?”

I nod.

“That’s sad, Rayne.”

I nod again.

He grabs my arm, turning me to face him, “Never run from me again, I’ll take care of you.”

I smile, pulling my arm from his grip to stop the sickness. “Don’t smack me around, lie to me, or let your mom break my arms and we have a deal.”

He looks serious, “How many times, Rayne?”

I smile, “One more.”

He steps closer, smelling like cherry yogurt and orange juice. He runs a hand down my cheek, making me almost gag. “I have never been more sorry for anything in my life. I hate myself and who I am for ever hurting you or betraying you.”

I smile up at him, “Nope, still gonna be one more.”

He laughs, “You’re a shit.”

I nod, “I know it.” I walk past him, stealing mail from the fridge.

“You steal their mail too?”

“And their car. I have to have a way to send them money.” I open the shoe closet and pull on a pair of sneakers. I pass him a pair.

We shrug on coats and walk out into the cold winter air. He starts the car in the driveway and we leave for Salem. It is only a few miles from where we were.

He parks it and we walk in the dark. I notice suddenly, now that we’re in a busy area, how bad things are. Windows are broken in stores, houses are burned out and charred, cars are smashed and looted.

“It’s like hell on earth.” I whisper.

He steps closer to me as we walk in the direction his nose is telling us to. We get into an alley between two old houses, and suddenly I feel something I can’t explain. It’s like being gutted or exploding from the inside. I double over in pain.

“Why are you here?”

Wyatt turns around towards the female voice but I can’t. I am stuck in agony.

Wyatt’s voice is angry, “We are looking for the fire witches; we need to find the air witches. The nixie told us to come here. Now stop or I’ll kill you, and it won’t matter why we’re here.”

My wings shoot from my back, uncontrollably. I cry out as they do it, but the pain she was inflicting upon me is gone.

“How?” She sounds stunned. I gag a little and turn to face her.

“You bitch, that hurt.”

She shakes her head, “You are the sin eater. How is this possible?”

I step closer to her, seeing the resemblance to the fire witch I met before. I give her a hard look, “I will kill you if you don’t answer my questions, do you understand me?”

She nods, completely baffled.

I swallow hard, still a little out of breath, “I need you to do two things.”

She nods again, terrified or just completely confused.

I look back at him, “I need you to handfast us and I need you to take me to the air witches.”

She is conflicted but she agrees with a single nod. She looks badass. Piercings in her nose and lips. Her hair is black with red streaks and her eye makeup is excessive. She is a Goth, a beautiful Goth.

“I’m Lila.”

“Are you the head of the witches?”

She shakes her head, giving Wyatt a deadly look, “You sure you want to handfast with that?”