The Black Rider Page 4

  “That’s what we’re doing now. I downloaded everything from that research facility onto a flash drive, but I didn’t have a computer. We’re trying to figure out why Isaiah had you there and what he was doing to you. He had to know we were working together. Maybe he thought we would assume you were dead, but we knew you weren’t. We kept popping up to Heaven to ask Saint Peter if he let you through the gates, and it was always no.”

  “Wouldn’t he know you could do that?”

  “No. Isaiah was born on Earth. Satan would have visited him when he was older and let him know he was the Antichrist and given him a job to do. Satan has all the knowledge of how the previous Antichrists before were caught and killed. His problem is that his offspring are still half human, half fallen angel, and after they’ve gotten a taste of power, they start going off the book as their ego grows. They think they know better, and that’s when we catch them.”

  I was dying to know what was on that flash drive. So many years of my life were stolen from me while I was in that coma, and he took my memories too. I didn’t feel whole. I needed to know.

  “Aeron? You said I would go crazy if you tried to give me my memories back. How were they taken from me then?”

  “Only one thing could have messed with your memories like that. I could feel it on you. Angels take away human memories all the time if they see something they aren’t supposed to or to ease their pain. Most of the time, they never return, but you aren’t human, so you’re getting yours in pieces. I’m guessing Isaiah summoned his father because they both wanted to make sure you didn’t remember a thing. I think both of them tend to forget you are a little more angel than Isaiah is.”

  I started choking on my chips.

  “You’re telling me I got a visit from Satan, and he took my memories? What the fuck?”

  They both just shrugged at me like that wasn’t a major fucking thing. Maybe getting visits from Satan was normal for them, but as far as I was concerned, that was one relative I didn’t really want to meet. Apparently, I had, and now I couldn’t remember a fucking thing.

  “It’s the only explanation, Ariel. I could feel it was angelic, but no other angel would do that to you, even if Isaiah managed to capture another one. They would die first.”

  I frowned. None of this was making sense, but what did I know about Hell and fallen angels?

  “If Satan knew they had kidnapped me and needed my memories wiped, doesn’t he know exactly what all of you are doing and relaying that to Isaiah?”

  Leif and Aeron started laughing. I had a feeling they were laughing at me. Sure, laugh at the poor Nephilim that didn’t know the first thing about Heaven or Hell. Before all this, I just thought I would get reincarnated and tried not to do stupid shit, so I didn’t come back as a cockroach.

  “Earth is not like Netflix in Heaven or Hell. Only certain angels have the power to see Earth when they are in Heaven, and Lucifer was not one of them. He can’t see a damned thing when he’s in Hell, and he can’t just come to Earth whenever he wants. Isaiah has to summon him, and when the circle breaks, he’s banished back to Hell. It’s part of his punishment for rebelling. Old Satan was probably pretty pissed to be summoned for a memory wipe. He probably wanted you dead. No loose ends.”

  “That’s not exactly the best pep talk, Leif,” I pointed out.

  “No, but you have to admit the great Satan being an errand boy for his stupid Antichrist son is funny.”

  “If Satan wanted me dead, why didn’t he just kill me instead? I’m pretty sure the devil outranks the Antichrist.”

  “That’s what the flash drive is for. Isaiah must have said that he needed you alive for something. We have the answers. We just need to comb through the data,” Leif said. “There might be something on here that helps me find something to kill the Rage Heads.”

  “Have you found anything?”

  “You were in a coma for a long time, Ariel. There’s a lot of data to go through. Some of these are just security reports that were sent to your father. That building was heavily guarded. He kept you as far away from him as he could, so anyone looking thought you were dead, but he fortified that place just in case we found you,” Leif said.

  “I could have killed all of them with just a thought to get to you, but by the time I found the place, they were all dead or Rage Heads.”

  “How did you find me after all that time? If Isaiah didn’t want me found, how did you manage?”

  “Dice found you. After the war ended, we could finally focus our efforts on looking. He built this device from bits and pieces he salvaged. Asher snuck it on the roof of the White House. After that, we could monitor all satellite communications Isaiah was having,” Aeron said.

  “Oh, yeah, we can hear all his dirty secrets. We know what he’s saying to everyone across the globe. We also know he’s communicating with some more militant gangs and inciting violence. It was years of listening before they used a name rather than a number. That research facility is not the only one Isaiah had set up. We couldn’t tip him off by hitting each one, so we had to wait until we were sure. Aeron came to get you as soon as we were sure. His powers are the deadliest of all of us, and he’d built up relationships all across the country. He could bring you back safely.”

  After everything he’d done to me, I wanted to know some of his dirty secrets. Yeah, I was a petty bitch. I wanted to know something big and nasty, like when he was alone, he walked around the house in a muumuu and bunny slippers. I wanted something to knock him down a peg in my head because right now he was this evil monster who had taken so much from me and used to me to try to end the world.

  “Tell me one of his secrets.”

  “He didn’t get the Nephilim super strength. He got charm and cunning because that was what he was made for. The Antichrist was designed to build acolytes and followers. He’s brilliant and can charm his way in and out of any situation, but his body is weak like a human. He’s super sensitive about it. He loaded up on steroids before the Rage Mutation hit, and he stockpiled them for after. Now, he’s trying to find a doctor in the middle of the apocalypse because his cock isn’t working right,” Leif said.

  “He’s got a wife, but she’s not willing. She was a captive of a gang in D.C. He wanted her, and they didn’t want to give her up. Basically, they traded her to him for more guns and ammo, but she’s getting a reprieve from him because his cock stopped working.”

  I sighed and lost my appetite for that delicious salsa.

  “That story started out so good, and then you tell me he’s got a woman captive that he’s raping, and I can’t do a fucking thing about it.”

  Leif just grinned at me.

  “You ignored a major part of that story, Speedy. He’s got human weaknesses, and he’s running low on steroids now. You’re a Nephilim with super strength. This means when Isaiah meets Smurfette, he will be one dead Antichrist, and you’ll get your revenge,” Aeron said.

  “You will let me be the one to kill him? That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

  Leif just grinned.

  “We’ll all hold him down while you beat him to a pulp. No one said it had to be one of us that killed him. I believe you earned that right.”

  Yeah, I did. And I had a feeling when they were done going through that flash drive, I was just going to be more pissed off.

  Chapter 9

  I

  wanted to get to work. I wanted to pour through that hard drive and get my blood to Leif at the same time. I wanted all the Rage Heads dead so we could storm the White House and kill my father. Leif and Aeron had totally different ideas.

  “Come on, Ariel. Doctor Gonzalez said you needed to gain weight. We’re taking you out to eat. I can’t use your blood unless it’s healthy. Isaiah needed you terrified to create the Rage Mutation. I think the answer to reversing it is healthy, happy blood. So, we’re taking you on a date.”

  “Do we really have time to be dating if we are on a time table before they unleash hell
on Earth?”

  Aeron pulled me into a hug.

  “Ariel, we’ve been fighting our way down the West Coast for weeks. Just take five minutes to enjoy San Quintin. We had a date planned when we all finally met, and we didn’t get to have it. Let’s have it now.”

  I had a flash of memory. We spent weeks planning what we would do on our first date. We would book a weekend at a resort I certainly couldn’t afford, but apparently, Leif and Aeron could. We would pretend to be posh and luxurious while subtly offending as many people as possible without getting kicked out.

  “You’re right. It’s not a fancy resort, and my memory is still fucked, but we do need to celebrate meeting finally. What’s the plan?”

  “Dinner and a movie still work during the apocalypse,” Leif said.

  “Get the fuck out. There are no movies during the apocalypse.”

  Aeron just winked at me.

  “There’s supposed to be no crying in baseball either, but it happens. We’ve got movies. They are just repeats.”

  Leif stood up and stretched.

  “Aeron is an insufferable movie geek. He throws movie quotes into regular conversation all the time. You should have seen this big mother fucker’s face the first time he saw a movie after we’d been called for another Antichrist. It was like total awe.”

  “Then we can definitely do a movie. What are we watching?”

  “We have to watch them in Leif’s room, but only the greatest movies ever made. I was raiding for supplies and hit up a house with the entire Die Hard box set in DVD.”

  Leif groaned.

  “I’m so tired of those movies. People trade books and DVDs here so spread the entertainment love, and this asshole won’t part with this set even for five minutes or a better movie.”

  “Ha! There is no better movie.”

  “Well, I found a movie in a kid’s room just for Speedy. You can either subject her to your hard-on for Hans Gruber, or we can watch the Alice in Wonderland DVD I’ve been saving for when she got here.”

  These guys. They were supposed to be saving the world, and sure, my blood might be able to do that, but why all these extras? My favorite foods and a movie from a book that meant so much to me as a child I tattooed scenes from it all over my arms. I knew they were angels, but things had gone to shit, and they were still finding ways to spoil me.

  I sighed.

  “We must have had some pretty epic chats if you are doing all this for me. I’m slowly remembering, but this is way beyond keeping me safe. Especially considering who my father is.”

  “Forget your father for a minute, Ariel. You didn’t take after him. Harbingers are pretty rare. We couldn’t save your mother, but we can save you. It’s not just your blood that can help. We’ve always worked alone before. We thought we were gathering intel on you to see if he’d twisted you into joining his plot. Then, we realized how totally cool you were and fell in love,” Aeron said.

  “Before you ask, Ariel, let us tell you what life is usually like for angels. We have jobs. It’s our sole purpose for being created. Heaven is a little cliquey. You hang out with the people who have the same position as you. The only time angels ever find love is when they come to Earth.

  “The first time it happened, things got nasty. Angels got cast into Hell, and their Nephilim children slaughtered. That was a long time ago. Things have eased up a bit. Especially since angels have to be created. We can’t have angel children with other angels. They finally started looking at Nephilim children as assets, though they are still rare. You’re technically our first love, Speedy. Did we get it wrong?”

  “Get over here and hug me. Both of you. You got it totally right.”

  They crushed me into a massive Horseman hug, and fuck did it feel good. Aeron kissed the top of my head.

  “Let’s take you on that date now.”

  Chapter 10

  D

  ates were indeed interesting during the apocalypse. We were surrounded by high walls with barbed wire. We were pretty far into the city, but I could still hear the wails of the Rage Heads from here. Our conversation was frequently interrupted with shouts and gunfire. Whether it was humans or Rage Heads out there, who knew? But they were lighting them up with gunfire.

  Aeron and Leif brought me to the little café Doctor Gonzalez told me about, and I mowed my way through half the menu. We all ordered massive amounts of food and shared it. That was my favorite way to eat. I was getting brief flashes of memories of doing that with Miss Mabel and girls from my softball team.

  It was weird. I knew I’d never met Aeron or Leif before Aeron found me in that hospital. But it was like little sparks went off every time our hands brushed when we were scooping salsa or guacamole. I broke out into goosebumps every time.

  A waitress came out to get our dessert order, and I was already thinking about that chocoflan. I had puppy belly and was ready to explode, but I still hadn’t forgotten being hungry on the road. I was making room for that beautiful dessert because I had a feeling we would be back on the road to Florida to get to Dice’s army, and I’d just be hungry again.

  She was just sitting there with her little pad tapping her foot when the entire city shook. She rolled her eyes like that was a totally regular occurrence.

  “What’ll you have?”

  We gave our dessert order. Leif and Aeron were sipping their margaritas like explosions were totally normal.

  “Are we going to talk about that big fucking boom that just went off?”

  Leif just shrugged.

  “Something stepped into a booby trap. Just be glad you aren’t near the wall. Sometimes, body parts fly over and hit people.”

  “Well, that totally would have ruined my salsa,” I said.

  “I was helping do some maintenance on the wall when four Rage Heads stepped right into one of the mines. A rotten leg hit me right in the head,” Leif said.

  “Don’t let him act like he was grossed out or offended. He thought it was hilarious, and he loves to tell that story,” Aeron groaned.

  “Let’s save exploding body parts for when we aren’t trying to eat.”

  “Don’t ruin the chocoflan, Leif.”

  “Nothing could ruin the chocoflan here.”

  Of course, right when Leif said that, I could hear that telltale wail of Rage Heads calling others. Were we supposed to get under the table? What was the protocol here for Rage Heads storming the city? Because Leif and Aeron were still mowing their way through the salsa, like there couldn’t be a horde of Rage Heads bursting through here shortly.

  Men and women carrying guns went running past us as the wails got louder.

  “Shouldn’t we be doing something about that?” I asked.

  “These walls are three feet of concrete, and they can’t climb. Booby traps and pits surround them. This happens every day. They can smell us in here. They either step on a mine, or they fall into one of the pits. They aren’t the brightest things on the planet. I’ve captured one and studied it. The only active part of their brain that is left is the pituitary gland,” Leif said.

  Aeron leaned back in his chair and sipped his margarita.

  “That’s why you have to go for the head.”

  I shrugged and scooped another mouthful of salsa in my face hole. If they weren’t worried about the zombies outside of the wall, I would enjoy my meal. Of course, right when I thought that it sounded like someone was worried about the zombies because I heard gunfire and more explosions. I instinctively ducked, even though I knew it was all outside the wall. We were pretty far away from the wall, but if a rotten leg could just fly right over, who knew about bullets?

  “Relax, Speedy. Most everyone here who wasn’t already military was either trained by Dice or trained by someone who was.”

  I would have to master the utter boredom of our waitress. She came out with our desserts, and even though it was the apocalypse, she just had this look on her face like she’d rather be looking at her Instagram feed, even with all the wailing an
d exploding going on.

  I didn’t remember it being like this on the road, but Aeron kept us pretty far away from people. It wasn’t like this in Gabriel’s Haven, and I didn’t remember it being like this in California except for when we were about to leave, and those gangs tried to break in.

  “Why does it seem like there are more attacks here than anywhere else we’ve been?”

  “Isaiah knows this was our base before he made his big move. Most people don’t have televisions anymore but have managed to get their hands on a radio. Many people didn’t agree with Mexico becoming a part of the United States in both countries. Isaiah plays to the more, shall we say, xenophobic gangs by telling them we don’t want to share here, but he doesn’t have the resources to make us. He’s got this pretty nasty radio show where he promises food if everyone can just drive the Rage Heads to Mexico and let them kill everyone while his scientists come up with a way to kill the Rage Heads. He’s just trying to keep us busy and run down the clock,” Aeron said.

  “Let’s not talk about Isaiah. Come on, this is a date, and you haven’t even touched your dessert,” Leif said.

  “Honestly, this is the weirdest date I’ve ever been on,” I confessed.

  “No, it’s not,” Leif said. “You told me you went out with one of your softball fans, and he started crying when you got mad he refused to let you order for yourself. He made a scene, and then his mom showed up and yelled at you for upsetting him.”

  I got a flash of memory and cracked up laughing.

  “Darth Karen! She yelled at me, and then she demanded a manager give them both free food because I upset him. She was definitely right up there with exploding corpses.”

  I dug into my dessert and realized something about Leif. He wasn’t just the polar opposite of Aeron in demeanor. Aeron would have volunteered nothing about my past because of how they took my memories from me. He only added information when I remembered something.