Page 41 of The White Rider
“Isaiah isn’t stupid. Those Bubbas might think we are heroes who beat the terrorists, but Isaiah knows the truth. He knows that not a single one of his followers could best us in a fight. It would literally be impossible for his men to show up, having rescued his daughter from us, and he knows that. If someone showed up claiming that, he’d know it was us.”
Well, shit. Leif wasn’t wrong either. My father wasa lotof things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Why couldn’t he just be a little dumb so it would be at least a tiny bit easier to kill him?
“You guys can magically appear places. Can’t we just zap there and take him out?”
“Just the top and outside. Angels have wards to keep out demons, and in the same way demons have wards to keep angels away. We’d need to get Leif close to them to destroy them one at a time,” Dice said. “It’s a Pestilence thing.”
“Or you could use me. I could let myself get captured by the Bubbas and destroy what I see in the room.”
I thought that could work. I was okay with getting kidnapped when it was my idea, and I wanted the apocalypse over yesterday.
“That’s not going to work either,” Asher said. “These people think Isaiah is the second coming of Jesus. He can’t exactly go painting demonic sigils all over the White House. It just takes one little crack for this whole charade to come crashing down around him. You’re also more angel than the average Nephilim. They don’t bother Isaiah, but they could make you sick. Leif can sense them and send a pulse to destroy them. He’s the only angel who can, and it's specifically for reasons like this.”
“It could still work,” I argued. “What if you were hiding when they captured me, and you just joined the mob? I could make it super easy on them. My father thinks women are stupid and lesser beings. He would totally believe I wandered away from the four angels who could actually protect me and got myself kidnapped. I agree, he’s not stupid, but some of his opinions are, and we can use that against him.”
Asher stroked his chin.
“That could be how we get inside. He rarely greets his Bubbas inside the White House, not unless he needs something from them. He’ll make up some useless award to give them for this, then send them out to die because he’ll know we’re coming for you.”
Dice laughed and clapped his hands.
“That motherfucker just won’t know we’re getting the stupid award with them!We’ll have to kill the men who come with us. You know they’ll fight to the death to protect him.”
“I don’t like it,” Aeron said. “It’s too risky… Ariel could get hurt. There has to be another way.”
Leif sighed.
“I don’t like it either, but there is no other way. This is not like the other times she got kidnapped. We’ll be there this time. We can make sure nothing goes wrong and finally end this.”
I grabbed Aeron’s face and kissed him.
“You have to let me do this. You have to let all of this happen. You’re going to have to sit there and pretend you don’t care if they hurt me, and they probably will. You can get your revenge once we are safely inside the White House. Just don’t go all Horseman of Death until we are inside.”
“I still don’t like it. All those assholes outside are going to bum rush the place when they hear gunshots.Youcould get shot, Ariel.”
“I know your happy ass could kill everyone in that room before they even blinked, Aeron,” I said.
Aeron got all pouty faced.
“It’s more fun when I get to play with them first.”
“Focus, Aeron,” I said, giving his cheek a light tap. “Kill the Bubbas, play with the Antichrist.”
“Oh, fine,” he said, throwing up his hands in resignation.
The next day, I was officially getting kidnapped for the third time since the apocalypse started, but it was onmyterms this time. I was reclaiming getting kidnapped and it would end all of this.
Chapter 23
W
hat did one wear when they were about to intentionally get kidnapped and save the entire world? It wasn’t like I had an endless supply of appropriate suspenders like Dice did. I had two rucksacks full of clothes I thought I used to like before I lost my memories, and some of them were now coated in Bubba guts.
I found a T-shirt I’d modified with a cartoon raccoon flipping the finger that saidTrash Pandas Don’t Play.I’d cut the neck out, so it slung over one shoulder and modified the back, so it kind of looked like a corset. I didn’t know how I felt about this shirt before the apocalypse, but I grabbed it when we were at my apartment because I liked it now.
I intended to wear it as a big fuck you when I let these Bubbas kidnap me. They probably had a massive problem with women swearing.
Dice seemed to have an endless supply of suspenders, and when I was raiding my closet back in Los Angeles, it seemed like I lived in only black leather trousers before the world went to shit. Most of them were broken in and well worn. I grabbed several pairs.
