Rogue Rider

  “Yes,” Thanatos said, “but he’s not Satan, if that’s what you’re thinking. Lucifer is Satan’s second in command, though, so we’re talking about a demon who ranks in the top ten on the ‘Who’s Who of Most Powerful Beings in the Universe’ list.”

  “Oh, God.” Jillian hugged herself, and Reseph fought the urge to take her in his arms. He’d brought this down on her, and he doubted she’d welcome anything from him right now. “What does he want?”

  “To destroy us,” Limos said. “And if anyone has the power to do it, it’s him.”

  “And he won’t stop with us,” Ares said, his leather armor creaking as he paced. “He’ll take out our families, too.”

  Reseph closed his eyes, guilt pouring out of him in massive waves. “I’m sorry,” he croaked. “This is all my fault.”

  A tense silence fell, and then he felt Jillian’s hand twining with his. God, he didn’t deserve to be comforted.

  “Reseph.” Ares’s voice cracked loud enough to jolt Reseph’s eyes open. “None of this is your fault. What Pestilence did is on his shoulders. You’ve been trying to make things right. You’ve taken out a fuckton of evil in the last few days, and the truth is that Lucifer was going to come after us eventually anyway.”

  Thanatos nodded. “A showdown has been coming for a while now.”

  Limos fingered her sword. “We’ve just got to figure out how to beat him.”

  A blast of annoyance came off Arik as he strode across the room to her. “You aren’t fighting, Li.”

  “Of course I am.”

  Arik cursed. “I fight, you stay in here.”

  “Hey, man.” Ares clapped Arik on the shoulder. “I know you’ve got a protective streak a mile wide, but you’re going overboard with the me-man-you-woman shit.”

  “See?” Limos said, batting her eyelashes at her husband. “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “You want to tell them or should I?” Arik’s voice was sharp.

  Reseph went taut. “Tell us what?”

  “Dammit, Arik,” Limos snapped. “This isn’t necessary—”

  “She’s pregnant,” Arik broke in. “No way is she fighting.”

  It took a second for the news to sink in, and when it did, happiness collided with worry for her and the baby, because sure as shit, this wasn’t the ideal place for either one of them.

  “Okay, yeah,” Than agreed. “Limos doesn’t fight.”

  Limos huffed. “Guys, hellooooo. I’m immortal. I’ll be fine.”

  “You might be immortal, but you aren’t immune to injury,” Ares reminded her. “And remember what Reaver said about unborn children of immortals when Regan was pregnant? That their mortal status can’t be judged until they’re born? They’re still vulnerable in the womb.”

  Reseph nodded. “No fighting, Li. And no arguing.”

  Outside the ground rumbled again. Reseph turned back to the window and abruptly wished he hadn’t. “Jesus. There’s got to be thousands of demons out there now. And they’re closing in.”

  A hundred curses fell from Ares’s lips in as many languages. “We can’t stand up to that. Shit. Where the fuck is Reaver? I summoned him an hour ago.”

  “I’m done waiting, Horsemen.” Lucifer’s voice rattled what was left of Jillian’s windows. “I think I’ll send for your mates and children. And then I’ll tear their limbs off one by one until you show your cowardly faces. Come out now and spare their lives.”

  “Bastard.” Thanatos raced for the door, Ares on his heels, but Reseph leaped in front of them. They checked up, but barely, their big bodies trembling with the desire to fight for their families.

  For the first time, Reseph understood that.

  “I’ll surrender myself,” Reseph said to them. “It’s me he wants.”

  “Reseph, no,” Jillian gasped. “You can’t.”

  “Excuse me.” Tracker crept forward tentatively, haltingly, as if he expected to be struck for speaking. He pulled a small, clear case from his pocket, and deep inside Reseph, Pestilence stirred. “I have something for Reseph.” He held it out, but a booming voice froze them all.

  “Reseph!” Reaver materialized at Tracker’s side. “Do not take that.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s concentrated evil,” Reaver said in a commanding tone that shook the entire house. “Merely touching it could set Pestilence free.”

  Forty

  Bile rose up in Reseph’s throat as he stared at the crystal case. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s the malador.” Tracker lifted the lid to reveal a thorny black chain connected to a pulsing obsidian stone. “Harvester said it will give you the power you need to defeat Lucifer.”

  Reaver palmed Reseph’s shoulder, and he felt the angel’s heat through the metal. “Don’t take it. Don’t even think about taking it. That’s what Lucifer tortured Harvester for, and if Lucifer wants it, it’s gotta be plutonium-grade evil.”

  Reseph understood Reaver’s concern. Hell, Reseph had the same concern. But this might be the only shot they had at beating Lucifer. Then again, if Pestilence came out… shit.

  “Look outside, Reaver. We can’t defeat Lucifer.” Deep inside Reseph, Pestilence laughed. The fucker. “Not without help. If I can keep control of Pestilence, this could work.”

  “It’s risky,” Thanatos said. “Too risky.” Souls swirled all around him as he paced in front of the door, his rage barely contained. Ares wasn’t much better off, his hand opening and closing over the pommel of his sword.

  “Reaver, can’t you help?” Arik asked. “You’re an angel. Angels are supposed to fight demons, right?”

  “If Lucifer was attacking humans, yes. But this is a demon matter. No civilian humans are involved. Your mates don’t count because they’ve been altered in some way. We can’t interfere.” Reaver’s eyes glittered. “Well, other angels can’t. I won’t let my children suffer.”

  “What about your Watcher rules?” Reseph asked.

  “Fuck it,” Reaver said with a shrug. “I’ve broken rules before.”

  Reseph looked at each person in the room, ending with Jillian. He’d caused everyone so much pain, had never shown a bit of mercy. Now he could spare them more pain. No one would fight, and Reaver wouldn’t break any rules.

  “I’m going alone.”

  There was a chorus of bullshits and fuck yous from everyone, including, surprisingly, Arik.

  Reseph cut them all off with a curse of his own. “I swear to you, I’ll control Pestilence, but for this to work, Lucifer has to believe he’s in charge and I’ve turned my back on you.”

  “My minions are outside Ares’s mansion.” Lucifer called out. “You have two minutes before I order an attack.” As his voice faded away, a war chant started up, a guttural oath in Sheoulic that spoke of breaking bones, spilled innards, and skull-fucking.

  Yeah, Reseph was going to end this. None of those hellspawn were going to lay a hand—or anything worse—on Jillian’s skull.

  Taking a deep breath, Reseph took the case from Tracker’s hand. The moment he did, a dark, oily evil hit him like a fist. It was a punch to the head with a follow-up strike to the gut. His stomach rolled, and deep inside him, the container holding Pestilence developed a massive new crack.

  Yes, yes, yes! The voice was a whisper in Reseph’s mind, a whisper, and yet somehow it was way too loud. Put it on. We’ll rule the world.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Reseph muttered.

  “Reseph?” Jillian’s sweet voice came from behind him.

  His throat clogged as he turned to her. “It’ll be okay.” If he had to make a deal with the devil—literally—he would. “I just hope you don’t hate me after this.”

  “Never,” she whispered, but he doubted that.

  Reseph dipped his head so his lips grazed the shell of her ear. “Thank you for giving me the happiest days of my life.”

  Before she could say anything, he kissed her. Kissed her with as much passion as he could put into it. And then, b
efore he could change his mind, he broke away from her.

  Fisting the chain, he slipped it over his head. Pestilence roared to the surface, victory exploding from his very essence.

  Join with Lucifer. Destroy our siblings! Fuck your little whore until she’s dead!

  “No!” Reseph fell to his knees, struggling to keep Pestilence from completely escaping the vessel and throwing off the hands that came down to help him. Pestilence wasn’t going to play nice. Reseph had to find another way. Get his cooperation. He looked out at the army of demons. “We want that army for ourselves. If we destroy Lucifer, we can be Satan’s right hand. We can assure ourselves a place at his side when the biblical Apocalypse begins.”

  Yes… yes, I like that. Lucifer was always such an asshole.

  It was dangerous to work with Pestilence, and Reseph knew it. The joy Pestilence took in killing would fill Reseph like a drug and cloud his judgment. But he had no choice. He just had to hope no one in the house believed what he’d just said out loud in his conversation with his evil half.

  Shoving to his feet, he staggered to the doorway, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze. Especially not Jillian’s. Get it together… get it together…

  He breathed deeply, giving himself a moment to draw on Pestilence’s malignant energy and fill himself with strength. Power sizzled over the surface of his skin and his muscles juiced up, turning his body into a giant battery of evil.

  That’s it. We are invincible.

  Palming his sword, Reseph strode out of the house and across the clearing. The first ten demons who tried to strike him down found out how powerful a tiny piece of evil could make a Horseman. The eleventh, a Cruentus male who had served Pestilence, recognized his master and fell to his knees in awesome supplication.

  After that, the crowd parted like the Red Sea before Moses.

  Reseph approached Lucifer, employing his trademark cocky confidence and Pestilence’s arrogance. “Hey, Lucy.”

  The fallen angel, currently dressed as a leather-clad biker with waist-length black hair, gave him a nasty smile. All around him, the wind shrieked as if it were being tortured, but not a single snowflake touched Lucifer. Even Mother Nature kept a respectful distance from the evil monster.

  “I’m going to cut that loose tongue right out of your head, you pompous cock.”

  “Aw.” Reseph feigned a pout. “You’re sad that Lilith’s tongue no longer services that tiny dick of yours.”

  Lucifer hissed. He’d never had much of a sense of humor. “Let the pain begin.” He raised his hand, and his minions readied their weapons.

  “Hold!” Reseph’s voice carried on the wind, amplified by Pestilence’s resonance. “We’re ready to strike a deal.”

  Deal? No deal! Pestilence beat at the walls of Reseph’s skull.

  “I’ll serve you. I’ll be your lackey, your whipping boy, your… whatever. Willingly.” God, he nearly threw up at the words. Pestilence had been at Lilith’s with Lucifer enough to know what peculiar tastes the male had. But Reseph would do whatever Lucifer wanted for all eternity if it meant his family would be safe. “Leave my family alone, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

  This is a trick, yes? We’ll crush him in his own house.

  Reseph ignored Pestilence.

  “No deal, asshole. You’ll do all of that anyway. After I crush everyone and everything you hold dear.”

  Lucifer, in a massive surge of power, snared Reseph by the throat and lifted him into the air. Reseph strained in his grip, managing to strike out with his fist, but Reseph’s blows barely made the demon flinch. Lucifer squeezed, digging his fingers into Reseph’s skin so hard he heard popping noises and felt blood spurt. Pain shot down his spine—hot, molten—and he swore his muscles were peeling off the bones.

  Impotent fury pounded in Reseph’s veins, and pressure constricted his lungs, filling them with fire instead of air.

  “This,” Lucifer growled, “is for Lilith.”

  He hurled Reseph across the clearing as easily as if he’d thrown a ball for a dog. Reseph smashed through the side of Jillian’s house and landed in a crumpled heap of pain, broken bones, and failure.

  Forty-one

  Reaver beat everyone to Reseph, who was lying dazed on the floor behind Jillian’s couch. “Reseph? Can you hear me?” As Jillian kneeled at Reseph’s side Reaver channeled healing power into the Horseman, and within seconds, Reseph’s bones knitted back together.

  “Got my immortal ass kicked,” he muttered. He looked up and snarled. “What’s Revenant doing here?”

  Reaver glared at his evil counterpart. “He showed up a minute ago.”

  “I’m here to keep Reaver in line,” Revenant said. “Can’t have any broken rules now, can we?”

  Outside, the chanting started again. Rising up above the chants were thunderous footsteps. Coming close. Too close, too fast.

  Reaver moved from Reseph to Kynan in the blink of a human eye. Being an angel was awesome sometimes. “I need you to do something that’s going to rebel against your every instinct.”

  Ky narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yeah.” Kynan inclined his head in a slow, serious nod. “There’s no one I trust more.”

  Reaver prepared himself for something he never thought he’d say. Something that could put Heaven in the worst kind of danger. Something that would go down as either a brilliant strategy��or the most disastrous move in history. “Give Heofon to Reseph.”

  “What?” Kynan backed up so fast he bumped into Revenant, who hissed like the bad-tempered ass he was. “Heofon won’t give him the charmed protection I have. Why would you want him to have it?”

  “Heofon,” Ares rumbled. “It’s a piece of Heaven, isn’t it?”

  Reaver nodded. “A couple of years ago, a fallen angel used it to try to open a gate between Sheoul and Heaven. We stopped him before that could happen, and Ky was given Heofon to guard. With it, Reseph can draw on the powers of Heaven.”

  Reseph linked one hand with Jillian’s and toyed with the chain around his neck with the other. “And combined with the powers of Sheoul I’m drawing with this amulet, I’d be all but invincible.” His voice vibrated with self-loathing. “And so would Pestilence. I can’t risk it. I’m already fighting him. If he overpowers me… fuck. He’d be able to open that gate…”

  “And lead a demonic invasion into Heaven,” Kynan finished.

  Revenant grinned like a vampire in a blood bank.

  “No.” Shaking his head, Reseph stood, backing away from Jillian and continuing his momentum until his spine cracked against the wall. “I’m not strong enough for this.”

  “Yes, you are.” Jillian approached him cautiously, as if he were a flighty foal she didn’t want to startle. “I’ve seen how strong you are. I know you can do this.”

  Reseph’s eyes were wild. “Can’t.”

  Jillian took his hand. “I promise you, you can.”

  “Reaver.” Thanatos moved forward. “What are our options if Pestilence opens a gate? Can we stop him?”

  “He won’t be as strong as he was when his Seal was broken, but he’ll have a demon army behind him.”

  “With no prophecy to help you pathetic losers along with this,” Revenant chimed in, “you’re kind of screwed.”

  “That’s so helpful,” Limos muttered.

  Reseph turned to Reaver. “What about Wormwood?”

  Everyone got quiet… except Jillian. “What’s Wormwood?”

  “It’s the only weapon that can kill Pestilence,” Reaver said.

  “But… won’t that kill Reseph, too?” Jillian plastered herself to Reseph’s side. “No. You can’t do that.”

  Turning, Reseph drove his fingers into Jillian’s hair on either side of her head and drew her close enough that their foreheads almost touched. The intimacy left Reaver touched with an odd sense of longing. Why, he wasn’t sure. He’d long ago decided bachelorhood was the best fit for him.

  Th
en again, so had Reseph. “It might be the only way,” Reseph murmured to Jillian. “I can’t live as Pestilence again.”

  “But you’ll die.”

  “Pestilence will die. I’m just collateral damage.”

  Kynan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they drilled into Reaver. “You sure about this?”

  “I am.” Reaver looked over at Reseph. “My son is stronger than he thinks. I’ve always known that. And I suspect his brothers and sister know that, too.”

  Taking his time and with the greatest of care, Kynan handed the necklace to Jillian. Reaver didn’t miss the way Revenant’s eyes glittered. No doubt the evil bastard would give his very soul to gain possession of such a powerful object.

  “This is a real piece of Heaven, huh?” Jillian’s voice was barely a whisper. She turned to Reseph. “You can do this. It’s up to you now. You’ll save us. I know you will.”

  He swallowed. “No pressure, right?”

  “No pressure,” Jillian answered.

  Reseph tugged her hard against him and kissed her. Out of respect, Reaver turned away, giving them a moment of privacy.

  When Reaver had first taken the job of Watcher, Harvester had told him about Reseph’s past. Given the flighty playboy Horseman’s history, Reaver hadn’t expected to see him ever fall for any one person. But clearly, he’d found his match in Jillian. They’d healed each other.

  Hopefully, Jillian would be enough of an anchor for him to fight his evil half.

  He turned back to the couple as they pulled apart. Reseph ducked his head, and Jillian slipped the necklace over it.

  And then all hell broke loose.

  Forty-two

  Reseph fucking exploded out of his armor. As if a nuclear bomb had gone off on the surface of his skin, his armor blasted off his body, blowing through the living room like shrapnel.

  Fucking. Awesome.

  Completely naked, his skin glowing, Reseph looked through Pestilence’s eyes on his family, some of whom had taken damage. Ares was wrenching a shard of metal out of his thigh. Thanatos was bleeding from a gash in his cheek. Limos and Arik were untouched, as was Kynan.