My Cat is The Antichrist Page 8

  Chapter 15

  Esther and Odelia were kind to us my first day here, but I was shocked they hadn’t come back here before now. Especially not with all the talk they gave us about introducing us to their daughters. They were in a huff when they came in, but they stopped and were eyeballing the four hunky Horsemen in the living room.

  “Tabitha, really, whatever happened between you and your twin, you need to fix it. He’s such a lovely boy. He and Ariel have been talking, and I believe they are sweet on each other,” Odelia fussed. “Does he not approve of your male friends? He seems so old-fashioned, like a knight out of the old stories.”

  So, Drake was whole, and he was already looking to get laid. And by all accounts, he’d moved on to someone who dressed like Lizzie. That was a little creepy, but I knew with Drake, it meant something. Drake went after Lizzie because she was a witness. Ariel was important somehow. Either that, or even the Antichrist was in a hurry to lose his V-card and had a thing for the Goth Lolita look.

  I needed to turn on the same charm I used when I had a bunch of crabby ass, demanding customer I knew weren’t going to tip me. Even with the whole my brother is the Antichrist and tricked me into starting the apocalypse thing, I was glad I didn't have to act like a performing monkey for a ten percent tip anymore.

  “Odelia!” I said, taking her arm. “You promised to bring Ariel over days ago. Lizzie and I have been dying to meet Ariel and Natalia. Why did you bring them to Mattan’s instead of here?”

  Esther gave me this stern look. “Mattan called us. He said he located your twin finally and you don’t want to share the house with him. Mattan is letting him stay, so the poor boy is not homeless. Really, Tabitha, this house is huge and you inherited so much. Surely, you can give a little to your twin.”

  “Esther, you’ve heard Mattan’s side, but not mine. There are things about my brother he’s not telling you. Trust me when I tell you Drake ran before we could talk things out. Did Mattan tell you the real truth about Drake and me?”

  Lizzie pinched my arm, giving me a warning not to say too much. I’d started planning this speech as soon as I heard Drake was whole and had his sights on Ariel. I needed to get Ariel in front of my Horsemen and find out if she was the other witness. It had to be some huge longshot that both witnesses were into Lolita, but this situation was already pretty fucked up, and nothing would surprise me.

  “Come sit, there are things I think Mattan left out,” I said, leading her to the couch. Esther and Odelia were eye fucking the Four Horsemen, and I half wondered if anything I said was going to sink in. “Did Mattan tell you why my parents kept Drake and me a huge secret and then we both disappeared?”

  Odelia finally stopped checking out Bash’s biceps in his leather vests. “I was under the impression no one knew, not even you.”

  “The condition the elder gave my parents for getting married was that Elliot have a vasectomy. Elliot is not me and Drake’s father. The reason Mattan had a falling out with Elliot and Levana was that he raped my mother. Drake is with Mattan because Mattan is his birth father. Mattan knew the reason the Lambs and the Rothledges were told not to mix, and he raped my mother to make that reason happen.”

  Odelia and Esther both looked like they smelled something foul. “Levana should have said something. We would have ruined Mattan. I’m still going to ruin Mattan. Does Drake know or is Mattan manipulating him? I’ve never trusted that man.”

  Odelia already had her phone out. “Drake knows everything, and he’s staying with Mattan willingly. If Drake has his attention on Ariel, it means he wants something.”

  “Excuse me a minute,” Odelia said. She didn’t even try to leave the room. “Ariel? Get your ass over to the Rothledge Manor immediately. I don’t care what Drake says to get you to stay. Now, young lady!”

  I looked over to the Four Horsemen to see if they could tell anything about Ariel from Odelia. They gave me a curt nod. We’d found the second witness, and maybe Odelia had answers about Lizzie. Or maybe not. Gideon was looking long and hard at Odelia. I had a feeling Gideon was about to say something with his usual impeccable timing and piss Odelia off.

  “Levana is not the only one in your circle to have a child in secret that ended up in foster care, is she?” Gideon asked.

  Odelia looked shocked. “Who the hell are you? There’s no way you could have known that. Only me, Levana, and Esther knew this. Not even the father knew.”

  “Your child and Levana’s were tied together. They ended up in foster care together. Tabitha is not the only prodigal child to return home. Did you feel anything when you met Lizzie?”

  Odelia had already started weeping and was looking at Lizzie with cow eyes. I already knew how Lizzie was going to take this and Odelia wasn’t going to like it. She was going to have to sit there with her big girl panties on and let Lizzie have her say.

  “Lizzie is mine? I felt a pull to her, and I thought she looked familiar. Now that I look at her, without all her makeup, she looks exactly like her father.”

  Lizzie was livid. I knew that look. She was about to throw some epic shade. “Who knew nothing about me because you ran away to have me, then dumped me in Kentucky. Did you tell Tabby’s mom Kentucky was a good place to dump your unwanted kids? Because it’s not. The city you sent us to was a total shit hole. There’s not even a McDonald’s or a Walmart there. Does that tell you something?”

  Odelia bowed her head. “You have every right to be angry with me. Maybe I can explain things to both Lizzie and Tabitha. I was sixteen when I fell pregnant with Lizzie. Your father was one of the elders. He was married. I was stupid and thought it was love. When my parents found out, they were the ones who sent me away and arranged the adoption. I argued, but I had almost no say in it. With my parents, they give orders, and you just do it.

  “Tabitha, your parents got together when they were sixteen too. I knew about your mother’s secret romance, and she knew about mine. Your parents started formally petitioning the elders to get married when they were seventeen. They were married on your mother’s eighteenth birthday. It was about two months after they married that they just stopped seeing people. That must have been after Mattan raped her and they found out about you and Drake.

  “It’s not an excuse, but we were both so young when we found ourselves pregnant. I don’t know how you both ended up in Kentucky. If it had been up to me, I would have kept you. I asked for years what happened to you and I was told you were in a loving home. I don’t think Tabitha’s parents would have put her in a bad situation intentionally either. Levana wouldn’t do that.”

  Lizzie didn’t get a chance to respond. I heard screeching from the foyer. A little pint-sized Goth Lolita came flouncing in. Her skirt was bouncing, and her heels were clacking. She ignored every single person in the room and focused on Odelia.

  “Mother, what is it now? Must you hate everyone who’s into me? I don’t even know if I like Drake yet. He’s perfectly nice to me, but there’s something about him that I’m trying to figure out if he’s dangerous or not.”

  “Trust me, hon, you can’t,” Lizzie snapped. She glared at Odelia. “Do you want to tell her or should I?”

  Odelia just sighed. “I’ll tell her in private. Why do I get the feeling I don’t have the whole story here? You wanted Ariel here for a reason. If Ariel and Lizzie are in danger, you’d best tell me now. Ariel will tell you I’m a mama bear and Lizzie will learn.”

  Bash looked like he found Odelia’s anger completely amusing. “Should we tell her, boys?”

  “Ariel is seventeen. Don’t think because I let her dye her hair or dress a certain way, I’m not going to want to know exactly why you all wanted to meet her. I have a feeling there’s more to this Drake and Mattan story than you are letting on.”

  Bash grinned. “Are you sure you want the truth, Mama Bear?”

  “I will wipe that smug look off your face no matter how much leather you choose to wear!”

  Ariel snorted. Yeah, she was definitel
y Lizzie’s half-sister with that snort. “She means it too.”

  Lizzie was still pissed, so she just blurted everything out as bluntly as possible. “The reason the Lambs and the Rothledges weren’t supposed to mix was that their kid would be the fucking Antichrist. You were so happy and pushing Ariel towards dating him. You win mother of the year again. Tabby is some lion or lamb. Drake tricked her into breaking some seals, and you’re looking at the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Oh, and I’m a witness, and I’m guessing Ariel is too. Drake is supposed to kill both of us. Still think he’s a fucking knight?”

  Esther was watching this like a tennis match, and nothing Lizzie said seemed even to faze Odelia. She walked over to Zed, who was the biggest of the Four Horsemen. Lizzie must have gotten her height from her father because both Odelia and Ariel were tiny. Odelia barely came up to Zed’s armpits, but she poked him in the chest with her finger. Zed looked shocked she would dare.

  “Since you’re here instead of with Mattan and Drake, does this mean you intend to protect the girls? So help me, if I have to stop this damned apocalypse myself, I’ll kill all of you.”

  Chase and Bash thought it was hilarious all Odelia’s rage was focused on Zed until she whirled around and her glare was on them. They both started choking on their laughs and reminded me of fifteen-year-old boys who got caught acting up in class. Gideon was the only one who had control of himself. Gideon pretty much always had control of himself.

  “We follow Tabby, not Drake. We’re training Lizzie, and we can help Ariel too. Now that we don’t have to figure out where Lizzie came from, we can spend more time trying to get into Mattan’s security system and trying to figure out his next move. This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. Mattan forced it, so we aren’t all that motivated to end the world, same as when a child accidentally broke the seals before.”

  I finally wondered what they got out of this. They were the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. What happened to them if the apocalypse didn’t happen? I finally asked.

  Chase had gotten over his laughter and gave me this sexy elf grin. “Easy. We live out a human life on earth. The seals have accidentally been broken by a child before without the Antichrist being here. We appeared because that’s what we do when our seals break. We became playmates and guardians to the child until they were old enough not to need us anymore, but we stayed friends until we died.”

  Bash winked at me. “Even with the Antichrist here, it’s still not the right time. If Tabby, Lizzie, and Ariel stop it this time, our lamb is quite the sexy adult this time. I wouldn’t mind sticking around and being a playmate for Tabby.”

  “Shut up, Bash!” Gideon said sharply.

  Gideon was hiding something. Chase and Bash were huge flirts. Even Zed was pretty obvious. They were sly about it and never said anything quite so obvious as that, but there was a reason Lizzie thought I could have my pick over who to blow off some steam with.

  Esther finally decided to speak. “Tabitha was in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky. Why wasn’t Drake hidden somewhere Mattan couldn’t find him?”

  I might as well say it. They knew most of the crazy by now and hadn’t run. “Drake the cat was really Drake my twin. Mattan snuck in and got the cat and his body. We didn’t know if Drake was human again, but apparently, he is. So, thanks for giving us the heads up.”

  “I could pretend to be into Drake to find out what he’s up to. If he’s been that cat this entire time, I should be able to manage a twenty-six-year-old virgin,” Ariel said, tossing her hair back.

  Yeah, she was definitely related to Lizzie.

  “Ariel!” Odelia barked. “You can manage boys. You’re in over your head with the Antichrist and have you forgotten they said he kills you? Get your ass home. There are things I need to tell you.”

  Odelia practically dragged Ariel out by her ear. She called over her shoulder to Lizzie she fully intended to have a conversation with her alone the next day. Like me, Lizzie stopped caring who her birth parents were at about fifteen. By that age, we both knew they were never coming to get us, and we’d given up trying to rationalize any reason we’d ended up in our situation. I knew it was going to be rocky for Lizzie and Odelia at first, but after watching Odelia today, she reminded me of Lizzie a little. I knew once Lizzie got over everything, they’d be tight.

  Lizzie glared at Gideon. “Did you know Odelia was my mother and I had a sister? Were you just waiting until they got here to dump it like a hot load of shit on me?”

  “Actually, no. Any time we were on earth, we’ve never met any of the witnesses because it wasn’t needed. We knew you were a witness right away because you have this glowing light behind your head. Odelia has the same light, and so does Ariel. They are descendants too. Odelia’s line must be the witnesses.”

  “You should talk to her, Lizzie,” Chase said. “She was just a scared kid and had no idea where you ended up. And Ariel sounds like a little firecracker like you.”

  “Yeah, well, any sister of mine isn’t going to fall for sweet talk from a dude who’s been a cat for that long and has never talked to a girl before. Her idea of working Drake was a good one if we didn’t all know he was going to kill both of us. By the way, if any of you four don’t save my sister and me from getting killed, I’m going to haunt you forever. Like, seriously, I’ll go poltergeist on your ass.”

  Chapter 16

  Ariel pretty much just accepted the apocalypse was happening and she was a witness with a death sentence like we told her it was Tuesday. She was at the house bright an early with a cranky Odelia. Odelia didn’t waste time dragging Lizzie away for a little talk. Ariel just flopped on the couch and wanted to talk about my hair. Hers was neon blue, and I thought it looked great on her, but she really wanted purple.

  The Four Horsemen just sat there staring at us like we were aliens as I tried to give her tips to get her hair the perfect shade of purple. I knew we needed to be talking about more important things, but this was Lizzie’s half-sister, and I wanted us to be friends. If that meant ignoring the fact that my brother was intent on ending the world to get her hair just right, the apocalypse could wait five minutes.

  Ariel could just flip a switch and change topics like Lizzie. “What does a witness do anyway and why is Drake so interested in me? I’m like jailbait to him anyway. He kept telling my mother he’d respect my age and wait, but I just got this vibe off him there was something wrong with him.

  “The creeper vibe,” I said, nodding. “Lizzie and I will teach you to hone that skill.”

  “Can we focus on the apocalypse for a little while?” Gideon asked like he wasn’t sure he was going to get yelled yet. He explained the visions and the fire to Ariel like he had done with Lizzie.

  Gideon went through the same meditation and breathing exercises as he had with Lizzie. Ariel was in deep concentration until we all jumped up because we heard Odelia screaming. I hoped Lizzie hadn’t punched her. Lizzie was a hothead, and I’d watched her punch plenty of guys, but she wouldn’t deck her own mother, right?

  We all went running, and I smelled smoke. Lizzie and Odelia were in the library furiously trying to put out a desk that was engulfed in flames. Jana ran in with a fire extinguisher and finally got it out. It didn’t ruin the hardwood floors, but that rug was going to have to go.

  Odelia was in a panic and Lizzie seemed excited. Jana was fussing about smoking in the house. We just let her think someone had lit up and promised not to do it again. Gideon walked over and grabbed Lizzie’s shoulders.

  “You did this. The flame had a blue tinge to it. How did you manage to produce the fire and where did it come from?”

  “We were fighting, and it came out her mouth! If the desk hadn’t been there, she would have set me on fire!” Odelia yelled.

  “Pretty badass, right? I wasn’t trying to set you on fire. It was an accident. I was getting angry, and I felt this burning in my stomach. The next thing I know, I turned into Smaug the dragon!”

  “We’ll have to work
on your aim and how to control it, but this is excellent progress, Lizzie!” Chase said, swooping her up in a huge hug.

  “Outside without relatives in the way. There are antiques in this house,” Odelia said. She seemed to have forgiven Lizzie for nearly torching her. “Will this protect Lizzie and Ariel from Drake?”

  All four Horsemen were grinning. “Now, that we know the fire comes from their mouth and not from their hands, we know why Drake wants them dead. The texts are vague about the witnesses. Some have interpreted them as trees or lampposts that produce fire. Lizzie and Ariel may have the ability to knock Drake back into the pits of hell,” Zed said.

  “Drake wouldn’t know this. He would know about the fire and the prophecy, but he wouldn’t know the theories it would be gifted to kill him. Drake was probably interested in Lizzie and Ariel because he hoped to use their gift of prophecy for his own gain, then kill them when he didn’t need them, or they turned on him.”

  Even though Lizzie nearly set Odelia on fire, whatever she said to her seemed to have Lizzie in a better mood. She slung her arm around Ariel’s shoulder and tossed her hair back.

  “He also could have been interested in us because we’re both hot as fuck. He wouldn’t know what to do with either of us anyway.”

  Odelia groaned. “Lizzie, please keep in mind your sister is only seventeen. Even with being able to blow the Antichrist straight to hell, she’s still a minor.”

  I think everyone in the room just ignored her. Ariel squealed and hugged Lizzie. “Does this mean you’re moving in with us and taking our last name? Can we share clothes? That skirt you were wearing yesterday was amazing.”