Lucas frowns. “You just saw War.”
“True, but he seemed surprised I was able to see him. Maybe Paimon didn’t know I could, either. I’m kind of the first of my kind, and the Horsemen walking around on earth hasn’t happened in a really long time.”
Lucas gives me a look that makes me really think he’s going to take me home, lock me inside and keep me in the house until this is all over. But we both know it’s not going to go away on its own.
“Hang on a second.” Abby holds up her hand, looking a bit like she might puke. “Horsemen?” She blinks a few times. “You said War. Holy fuck!” She gasps and clamps her hand over her mouth. “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are real and they’re here?”
“Yes,” I tell her with a wince. Someone yells from across the street. Tina has broken free, and two of the EMTs are in a heated argument. She’s possessed. Is she able to infect people as well?
“Dammit, Julian! I really need you.” I look up at the dark sky again, putting my whole heart into calling for my cousin. Another person screams, and a police officer has her taser trained on Tina, telling her to freeze. She’s possessed, so of course she doesn’t listen and instead charges right at the police officer, who fires her taser.
The jolt of painful electricity doesn’t so much as faze her, and she tackles the officer. Several other cops swarm in and pull her off, cuffing her hands behind her back. I watch them struggle but get her back onto the gurney.
“I need to get to her,” I say.
“And do what exactly?” Lucas questions.
“No fucking clue.” The EMTs start loading her into the ambulance again. “I…I think War turned her into a demon.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “And demons can infect people.” Both Lucifer and Julian told me there were demons in Hell before Lucifer got there. Some of those demons make deals with people in exchange for their souls too.
Callie.
I stiffen, but not with fear. This time, I know that voice right away. It’s my father, and suddenly I know what I need to do.
“If I cause a distraction, can you get me across the street as fast as possible?” I ask Lucas. “Just trust me on this, please.”
He presses his lips together and nods, hating whatever he just agreed to already. Pushing my shoulders back, I concentrate on the glowing streetlight across from us. It glows brighter and brighter until the bulb gets so hot it blows up.
Lucas picks me up and speeds me over to the ambulance. I rush to Tina the moment my feet hit the ground.
“Hey,” one of the EMTs starts. “You can’t be here.”
Lucas holds them both spellbound, and I put my hand on Tina’s chest. She snarls and screams, and I can feel the dark energy coming off her in waves. It wants to infect me. To pull me under the dark water and make my worst fears come true.
“I don’t care where you go,” I tell the demon inside of her. “But you can’t stay here.” Bright blue magic shimmers around my fingers, and I press it into her. She lets out a blood-curdling scream, thrashing from pain. I snatch my hand back, horrified, and watch as the blue light works its way through her body, burning her from the inside out.
I didn’t mean to hurt her. I wanted to help, and I was doing what I thought my dad told me to do. Fuck, I’m so stupid! I heard a voice and listened, and now she’s going to die. Her body seizes and blue light glows from her eyes. Then black smoke rises out of her body, burning as it hits the air. She goes still, and my heart skips a beat.
She opens her eyes. They’re not black anymore. “W-what’s happening?”
“Tend to your patient,” Lucas tells the EMTs. He turns, ready to hold anyone else spellbound if need be, but it’s like we’re not even there. Hand in hand, we walk past several police officers and join my friends on the sidewalk.
“What did you do?” Abby asks slowly.
“You didn’t see that?”
“I saw you touch her. That was it.”
I tip my head. “There was blue light and demon smoke and then magical fire.”
Abby slowly shakes her head. “I didn’t see any of that.”
“Neither did I,” Melinda tells me. “I saw what Abby saw.”
“Same,” Eliza says. “I heard you speaking in Enochian. That’s it.”
I look at Lucas. “I also heard you talking and I sensed magic, but I didn’t see anything.”
Biting my lower lip, I look across the street again. Tina is talking to one of the EMTs and is as calm as you can expect her to be.
“What did you say to her?” Lucas asks.