Page 29 of The White Rider
War and Conquest went together just as much as War and Death did. That was obvious to me after I saw how they played off each other while we were listening in. Aeron and Dice might do nothing but bicker about literally everything, but I could tell Asher and Dice looked out for each other.
I knew the whole point of constantly leaving me alone with Asher was because they wanted him to join this little relationship. When Dice was sitting with us, he was trying his hardest to make Asher look good to me. I didn’t dislike him anymore. He had said his peace, and I had forgiven him. I could be a petty little bitch, but when a fucking angel admits they are wrong it’s kind of a big deal and you should just accept that apology.
It was decided that we would be moving in on the bullet factory tomorrow, and the Bubbas were riled up. Despite the fact that many of their Marthas had been kidnapped and were there against their will, they got super butt hurt we liberated their victims and stole those who were willing. We finally got to hear the Witch’s husband too.
“My Martha was excellent at breaking the new ones in. She developed a handbook and picked an elite team to help her. She was such a kind soul with those women we brought in, but God bless her. She wasn’t a fighter. There was no blood inside the church, which meant they took them alive. You know how terrorists are. They want multiple wives because they don’t believe in God Almighty. We need to be getting our women back, not guarding the labs!”
Dice punched Asher in the arm and grinned.
“What does our fatherreallythink about polyamory?”
“He doesn’t care who loves who as long as everyone consents,” Asher said.
“Hold up,” I said. “So those assholes out there just cherry-pick Bible verses that say he does care and they should kill certain people just for being in love?”
Asher just grinned at me.
“The Book of Revelations was filled with all kinds of revisions that aren’t true. They got us totally wrong. Are you really shocked the human men who wrote things down added their own opinions, and then other men added their own when they were translating it?”
“Oh, my god, if you pop your wings out around these assholes, can you tell them that? Because they’ve probably done all kinds of horrible things to my LQBTQ peeps.”
“No one is popping their wings out,” Dice said. “We talked about this, Asher. You wanted these people on trial before the entire country. It’s going to go down in history and be taught in schools when we rebuild. Wedo notneed anyone teaching children that the Antichrist made zombies from his Nephilim child’s blood and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse swooped in and stopped him.”
“Why not? Wouldn’t that prevent this from happening again?” I asked.
“No. It would only make it worse,” Asher said. “Think about it. Think about all those assholes doing awful shit because they think Isaiah is the second coming of Jesus. Now, look at all the shitty things people have done throughout history in the name of religion. They’d be assassinating people on the street because they don’t like what they say for fear they are the next Antichrist. They’ll know the Rapture didn’t happen this time, so they’ll be waiting for it. We don’t need that kind of hysteria.”
“It was kind of sexy when you did it with the Marthas,” I blurted out.
Shit. I didn’t mean to say that. I could say that to any other Horseman…exceptAsher, and it would put a little swagger in their step. Asher was going to get offended. Why did the Horsemen all have to be so fucking sexy?
And why was Asher, with the big stick up his ass, smirking at me?
“That’s not the usual reaction I get when I whip my wings out. Most people shit their pants. I was hoping one of those Marthas would because I was on a roll for that.”
“You see, brother? It’s nice having a Nephilim for a girlfriend. You can be yourself around her, and you don’t have to lie. She thinks wings are sexy.”
Asher’s face darkened. I thought we had finally gotten past all this shit, and he didn’t seem super offended I hit on him, at least until Dice pushed for the whole girlfriend thing. I still wasn’t sure about him joining in on the relationship, but I was no longer totally against it, provided I got to know him better and things continued toprogressthe way they were.
“Shut up, Dice. She won’t feel that way when she’s seen me in action.”
“Dude, you shut up. She saw Aeron kill five trucks full of Nazis and got horny. Ariel isn’t like any of the women we’ve met, and she’s certainly not like some of the more judgmental angels.”
Was the Horseman of Conquestpouting?Was that what the whole dickishness was about? I knew he thought
I’d ruin things when they faced my father because he was going to throw all kinds of nastiness at me, but was this also because he thought I’d reject him once I saw him in action?
“Dice, I can speak for myself. Asher, whatever your big angel power is, I’m not going to judge you for it. Aeron had a blast murdering all those Bubbas. I’m pretty sure he had guts and brains all over him when we came out. I saw what he did to those men, and I knew he enjoyed every minute of it. He’s the Horseman of Death. That was what they created him to do, and he’s using it to stop my father. I’m not going to judge him because he gets a little messy whilehe’s stopping the end of the world. Why would I judge you?”
Asher jumped up and started pacing. He ran his fingers through his long blond hair and refused to look at me.
“What I do is worse than death,” Asher growled.
“I’m sure it’s not, or you wouldn’t have been given that ability,” I said. “Why don’t you just explain? I’m a judgment-free zone… unless you want me to tattoo someone’s name on you.”
“So, that’s a no on tattooing my portrait on your boobs?” Dice asked.
I glared at Dice just as Asher told him to shut the fuck up. Asher had some hang-ups about his gifts, and we needed to clear the air. He needed to know I literally didn’t give a shit what he could do because I understood he was given that gift for a reason. Shit wasdireright now, and I knew we needed Asher to rebuild governments all over the world.
