Page 46 of The White Rider
his was the part of our plan I didn’t like one bit because I wouldn’t know what was happening. I didn’t have a single ounce of angel telepathy to know when they were making their move. Aeron maneuvered himself to the front, where he’d be seen when his angel bomb went off.
Problem was, that I wouldn’t be part of the discussion when the decided the right moment to detonate it. This was all hinging on me getting my eyes closed in time, before Aeron did his angel glow-worm of death thing. They didn’t know if I had enough angel blood to survive looking at it directly, but there was only one way to find out.
This was my first time visiting the White House, and I didn’t even get to enjoy the tour. There was a gun poking in my back at all times, and any minute, Aeron could go nuclear and kill everyone in here. You can bet your ass I had my eyes glued on Aeron’s massive back waiting for any sign everyone in this room was about to get dead.
All the Horsemen were massive, so Aeron was walking pretty much alone. The rest of the Horsemen were disbursed among the men who were invited to dinner. Aeron stopped walking and whirled around with this crazy look on his face. The gun pressed into my back suddenly fell to the floor. That was weird. Aeron hadn’t even gone off yet.
I turned around, and Leif was standing there with an equally crazy look on his face. He’d apparently snapped the neck of Stoic Bubba. It was so fast, not everyone had realized they were in deep shit yet. Leif grabbed me and yanked me to the floor.
“Showtime! Shut your eyes, Speedy.”
No one could fight against Aeron, and it was always over quick. All I really had to do was keep my eyes closed as tightly as possible until it was over. Sweet Leif still shielded me with his body and held me tight. I was going to keep him close when he was no longer needed to give vaccinations.
I didn’t hear a single scream or gunshot. Aeron wasthatdeadly. I heard the sounds of bodies thudding on the ground, and then this nasty stench filled the air. I didn’t open my eyes until Leif let me go and said it was okay to.
He helped me to my feet and handed me Smurfette. I finally felt whole again. There were guns in the hands of all these dead bodies that could have injured my father from further away than Smurfette. It would have been smart to grab one, but it didn’t feelright.Smurfette had served me just fine ever since I woke up from that coma, and she wasdyingto make a connection with the Antichrist.
“What now?” I asked.
“Expect anything,” Asher said. “I doubt Isaiah bought that we would let Ariel out of our sight long enough for his men to capture her. If he actually bought it, then he would have known that eventually, we would come here looking for her.”
“Do you have Antichrist locating Spidey senses in your arsenal of angel gifts?” I asked.
“So fucking blasphemous,” Asher said.
“She’s accurate, though,” Leif said. “We can only sense him when he’s close. We can find him.”
“I know exactly where he is,” Asher said. “It’s where Ariel painted the last battle twice now. He’s in the Oval Office. He saw the first drawing Ariel did, and doesn’t know about the second. As far as he knows, he kills us there. He will prepare the room for the final showdown.”
“He’ll cheat, too,” Dice said.
“You don’t have to tell me that. Hell, he cheated on his taxes every year,” I said.
“We need to get there as soon as possible,” Asher said. “This Antichrist is not above calling Daddy to help him. He’s already done it once.”
I pretty muchdid notwant to meet Satan. I hopped on Leif and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Do the angel Uber thing. I’ll leave you a big tip if we win.”
Leif wrapped his arms around me and kissed me.
“Whenwe win.”
No one said anything about Satan being invited.
Chapter 28
`
I
thought this whole beating the big boss level was going pretty well so far. When Aeron went off, it was in a long hallway with no windows. Everyone wound up dead, and no one from outside had come storming in, shooting at us. Still, Aeron was right. This level had been too easy so far. Shit was going to get real soon.
The Horsemen couldn’t do the whole angel Uber thing to get to the Oval office because there were demonic symbols hidden all over the place. Leif was destroying them as we went, but they were affecting all of us. All four Horsemen had nosebleeds, and I just felt weird.
It was one of those awful feelings that is a combination of chills and a stomach that just won’t settle. Shitting or barfing would probably have brought some relief, but I didn’t know which one or when it was coming, and there was no time for either.
These sigils had to beeverywherebecause Leif would clear a hallway and tell us it was safe to walk down it, and I didn’t feel any better. And somethingreekedin here the further we made it into the White House. It smelled like eggs had gone wrong. My father was a lot of things, but a slob wasn’t one of them. He was the type of person that, if a house got a stench like this, would buy an entirely new house, so he didn’t have to deal with it.
