“Cal!” Abby and Melinda cross the street. Abby has blood on her cream-colored peacoat. “Eliza told us to meet you over here. Oh, Lucas. Hi.”
“How is she?” I ask, letting my hands run down Lucas’s chest. He keeps a hold of my hand, interlocking our fingers.
“Which one?” Melinda slides a dagger back into a hidden sheath inside her knee-high leather boots. “The EMTs are trying to get the infected chick onto a stretcher. She’s getting more and more agitated by the minute.”
“Infected?” Lucas questions, tightening his grip on my hand.
“By Wa—” I stop short, remembering my sister has no idea the Four Horsemen are real, let alone on earth. She doesn’t need to know the truth, and right now, with her being drunk, this is not how she needs to find out. “By that thing we were talking about before. The one that rides a horse. He stabbed her with his sword, but since he was on an astral plane, it didn’t physically hurt her, just made her go crazy. Like really psycho crazy, and she went all stabby on her friend who—” I turn just in time to see Tina break the restraints and almost fall off the stretcher. Several firefighters rush over and help hold her down. The woman is petite and nowhere near that strong. What the fuck is going on?
Eliza zooms back over, running through oncoming traffic. She pushes her hair back into place and raises her eyebrows at Lucas in a silent greeting.
“When a demon possesses someone, their eyes turn black, right?” she asks me.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Then I think crazy-pants over there is possessed.”
Chapter 22
"You’re sure about that?” I ask Eliza.
“Yes,” she replies with certainty. “The paramedics think she took something that made her eyes dilate, but those are not dilated pupils. Her entire eye is black.”
“How did that happen?” Melinda gets her knife from her jacket again. “I didn’t see any demons, did you?”
“No,” I tell her, watching Abby’s confusion grow out of the corner of my eye. Dammit, I don’t see a way around this unless I throw out some pretty big lies or have her memory altered—again. “I saw War. He stabbed her and she went crazy, saying her friend was going to kill her, so she had to kill her first. It’s the same thought that entered my mind when we were in the bathroom at the bar.”
“You were infected by War?” Lucas asks.
“I thought it was a demon sent by him, like how the demon made me sick. I think, at least.” I shake my head. “Maybe. I honesty have no idea about anything anymore. Maybe seeing the demon was part of the ploy to make me think someone was possessed.” I let out a sigh. “I heard a voice telling me the other woman in the bathroom was possessed and I needed to kill her before she killed me. I thought it was Paimon at first, and I kind of still do, maybe. Again—I don’t know.”
Lucas angles his body toward mine. “Are you still infected?” The fear in his eyes hurts my heart. He’s remembering how I almost died in his arms when Pestilence infected me.
“No. I used my angel-powers, and whatever grip the demon had on me went away. Angels can’t be possessed,” I remind everyone.
“Are you sure you saw War?” Lucas asks, hoping it’s not true. “It wasn’t another chaos demon?”
I look at Abby and mentally apologize for dragging her into yet another demon mess. “It was him. Red horse. Big sword. Wearing blood-stained armor.” I let out a shaky breath. “And before…it was a feeling. I just knew it was him, but I, uh, I…I heard someone calling my name, and I’m sure it was Paimon because he did the same thing to me when we were in Hell.” I look at Melinda. “That’s why we left the table. Once I got into the bathroom, the voices switched. It wasn’t Paimon anymore.”
Lucas slowly nods, trying to make sense of everything. “Paimon orchestrated everything to open the gates. Do you think he let the Horsemen out on purpose?”
His words send a chill through me. I hadn’t thought of it before, but it makes sense…and would mean he’s working with them. Fuck.
“That terrified look on your face tells me that’s a yes,” Eliza quips, crossing her arms over her chest. “Just clarify why that would be bad.”
“He knows about me. He knows exactly who I am. He knows Lucifer isn’t in Hell, and if he let the Horsemen out, then his plan is bigger than taking over Hell. He didn’t intend on getting trapped in Hell, so I foiled at least part of his plan. Though if I’m right and he’s able to communicate with the Horsemen somehow—”
“Then they’ll come for you,” Lucas finishes.
“Or avoid me because I can kill them,” I offer instead.