The Four Horsemen(25)
I grin, “That I might be able to put the blade back, and he wanted to make sure you suffered.”
He takes my arm and licks the wound, wincing when the blackened skin touches his tongue. I can see something behind his eyes, a thought process. He looks like he’s just realized who the murderer is in a thriller. He looks at me, “Lillith’s blood.”
“What?”
He nods, I can almost see the apple hitting him on the head. He has a major ’aha moment’, but keeps it to himself.
“What?”
He swallows hard, “Put it back.”
I look at the dagger, “Under the bed?”
He sighs, like I’m a child who is annoying him, “Don’t be obtuse. In my chest.”
I scowl, “Obtuse, like fat?”
“Yes—like fat in the head! Put the dagger in.”
My right eye twitches as I jab it into his chest, pressing hard. He laughs, “You were far more loving last time.”
I roll my eyes, “You were probably a charming gentleman last time.” We are chest to chest and alone in the room. He growls, lowering his face to mine, “Let’s seal it with a kiss.” His lips meet mine tenderly. Each feathery stroke against them is subtle and teasing.
I can feel his smile against my lips, “You still want me, Rayne.”
I nod. I don’t know if it’s me or Ellie, but we nod. I have a momentary lapse in judgment. It isn’t that I forget I am married, it is that I am not strong enough to fight him on this.
He pushes me back, “We have to go find lover boy.”
My lips are still moving, “No. Kiss me once more.”
He is against me in an instant, hands roaming my back, pressing me into him. His lips crash onto mine, his tongue invading my mouth. The kiss is sexual and tense. I moan into the kiss. His hands scoop me up while my hands roam his thick hair. Our desperate kiss is ruined by a voice I have never heard before. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
Constantine growls, “The room you are seeking is the next one over, young prince.”
I look past Constantine’s face, inhaling sharply. The beautiful man is there. He smiles at me, “Hi.”
I swallow, “Hi.”
“You’re the angel.”
I nod.
He smiles wider and I think I moan again. Constantine does his impatient sigh again, “You need to eat.”
I make a sound; it’s like a goat bleating or something insane anyway. I can’t tear my gaze from the beautiful man.
“I’m Prince Gillan, everyone calls me Gill.”
“Like a fish, like a beautiful fish.”
He blushes and looks down. I make the goat noise again, “What are you?”
He looks up through his lashes, “Husband to your friend, Mona.”
Lucky bitch. I almost can’t wait to see the look on Michelle’s face. I nod in the direction of the front room, “You meet Michelle yet?”
He shakes his head, “I had a shower. It was wonderful.”
I laugh. Constantine gives me a hateful look, “Really?”
I laugh again, it sounds like the goat bleat. I walk past Constantine and offer my hand to Gill, “Come with me.” His hand is warm and soft. He smells like musky vanilla, and I want to lick him and suck his soul dry. It’s a bad thought to have, but there is no stopping it when it hits. I want him, in the worst way possible.
Mona is the only thing that gets me through it. I know she will kill me if I eat him, and hate me forever. That’s a long time when you NEVER DIE!
We get to the front room and, instantly, Michelle turns her head from the massive book she’s reading, “Hey.” She sees Gill and looks back down at the book, “Who’s your friend?”
“Mona’s husband, Gill.”
Michelle looks up again, “What?”
“Yeah, she got married.”
“To a gay guy?”
I start to laugh, “What?”
Michelle cocks an eyebrow, “He’s gay.” She puts down the book and saunters over, “You like to have sex with dudes, right?”
Gill looks at me, “What is he talking about?”
I look at Michelle, “That’s a girl.”
He cocks an eyebrow, “That is a man, a boy actually.”
Michelle stops dead in her tracks, “I’m a girl.”
He looks confused. Constantine comes in behind us doing his know-it-all chuckle, “The glamour can’t hide you. The magic of Lucifer and his evil ways can’t hide what you truly are, what you were born as, from the fae. They can see past it.”
Gill slaps his hand on Constantine’s back, “Like my brother here, surely you see him as well.”
Constantine shakes his head, “I do not. I see a beautiful girl.”
I am lost. I give Michelle a look, “You don’t think Gill is sexy?”
She shakes her head, “He’s gay, gay guys don’t really do it for me.”
I look up at the ceiling for a second, “Since when?”
“Since I turned into a girl, regardless of what twinkle toes here says.”
Gill looks even more confused, “Am I twinkle toes?”
Michelle leans in, “You are very twinkle toes. My ‘gaydar’ never lies. I could smell a gay guy in a herd of lumberjacks from a mile, through a whore house and a strip club.”
We have lost Gill. He is stuck in all those fancy slang words he has never heard before. Mona comes up behind us, “He isn’t gay.”
Michelle points at him, “You married me, but with a dick still. He is just like me.”
Mona crosses her arms, “He isn’t gay.”
Michelle crosses her arms, “Did he screw you yet? ’Cause I’m pretty sure I can guess how it went.”
Mona leaps. Gill catches her, holding her back. I look at Michelle, “Mean and off side, hard core. Say sorry.”
She makes a stubborn face as Constantine drags her back. When his eyes meet Mona’s, they soften, “Sorry.”
Mona shakes her head, “Screw you, Michelle. I miss Michelle who had a soul, let me tell you. That girl was my friend. You are nothing to me.” She takes Gill’s hand and stalks back to her room.
Constantine gives me a look and then turns to Michelle, “You are going to finish your research for the Van Helsings, and then you are going to go to bed. No more talking for you today.”
Michelle smiles and walks back to the couch. I don’t love it when he does his mind juju thingy, but it works to stop the bullshit.
Just when I think things can’t get any worse, Sarah and Gretel enter from the other wing, “We found them. It’s without a shadow of a doubt. The fourth horseman is killing with the other three. The reports are of plagues, violence, starvation, and a general breakdown of all society.” She looks around, “Where is Wyatt?”
I swallow my fear, “Lucifer has him prisoner somewhere.”
Her look turns cold. She is instantly the Gretel I remember from before. “We have to get him back.”
It’s not the thing I expected her to say. She’s always so awful about that stuff. I put a hand up, “Why did he call you brother? Why is he here? How were you brought back? I need those answers first.”
He sighs, “Gretel, tell our fair Rayne what I am. What I truly am.”
Her eyes narrow, “His family were the first to betray the fae. The Dracula and Basarab family were kings among men. They wanted for nothing and took everything, including fae women. They discovered the way to enslave the fae women. Back then, humans were permitted beyond the walls of the garden, infrequently of course, but it happened. His family made bargains with the most beautiful of the fae women, enslaving them and bringing them home to be their wives. They mated with them, forcing them to bear their children. Constantine’s mother was one of them. When each woman bore her husband a son, Lucifer made a deal with Vlad and his brothers, that he would make them immortal like their children, if he could have their babies. He took some of his blood and created the first vampire, Vlad Dracula. The immortal children made by the union were one thing, but the immortal children made after the men were turned to vampires, was another. Constantine and his siblings and cousins were not only abominations; they were impossible to kill. One thing killed them—fae blood on a sword injected into the heart. But the fae had locked themselves behind the garden gate, never opening it. And Lucifer lived off of the blood of the fae and mortal babies. I imagine he still keeps them around as never-ending blood bags. The blood makes him stronger than anything and feeds his magic.”
Constantine smiles, “What happens in the garden is not permanent. You may die there and live again out here. That is why I forced you to kill your mother outside of the gate. That is a sacred place, second only to heaven. Mona brought my ashes and Gill’s daisies. Any witch could bring us back from that.”
I cock my head, “Why is he here?”
“He and Mona fell in love the moment they met. That’s how fae do it. The love is instant, just a look is needed. They married instantly. You were gone, the ceremony was lovely. Until Wyatt showed up and murdered everyone.”
“How did he get the weapon beyond the gate?” Is it wrong I’m more upset my friend is married, and I never got to see the service?
Constantine shakes his head, “He pulled it from his chest. I don’t know anything else.”