The Black Rider - J.B. Trepagnier Page 0,3

and that’s not how it’s supposed to go down, but most of the major players are correct. You’re sitting with two of the Four Horsemen. Who causes chaos during the end of the world?”

“I’m not in the mood for guessing games, Leif. Get to the point.”

Leif just sighed and took a massive bite of guacamole. He didn’t speak until he took a shot of Tequila.

“The Antichrist, Ariel. There’s not just one. Satan has had several sons throughout history, trying to end the world. We’ve managed to stop all of them, but it was different this time.”

I choked on my taco. Leif pounded on my back. It was different because of me. What was so fucking important about me? Oh, shit. If Isaiah was the fucking Antichrist, what did that make me as his daughter?

We were past the time for shots. I grabbed the entire bottle of Tequila and started chugging. My throat burned, and my eyes began watering as it went down my throat and warmed my belly. I slammed the bottle on the table and wiped my mouth.

“It’s high time you tell me what the fuck I am and how I caused the end of the world.”

Chapter 3

I

had no idea how I handled this shit the first time I heard it, but I was on the verge of hyperventilating, and there wasn’t enough booze in this apartment to calm me down. I wasn’t even in the mood to eat the rest of these delicious tacos. It was like my stomach had been pumped full of acid, and I would barf at any moment.

I knew my blood caused the Rage Mutation, but I thought that was just something done in a lab outside of me. I was the daughter of one of the fucking Antichrists, and now drawing the future didn’t seem cool at all. All I ever painted was disaster and death. What other evil was I capable of?

Leif and Aeron were on me in seconds. They wrapped me up in some Horseman hug. Why were they even trying to comfort me if all this was my fault? Why not just kill me and get it over with?

“Hey, Ariel. Remember, we are getting it all out on the table. You didn’t cause this. Your father did,” Aeron said.

“With my blood!” I yelled.

“We need to tell her everything. Even the things we haven’t told her yet,” Leif said.

“It gets worse?”

“Mabel trusted us,” Aeron said.

“Mabel would want her to know now. It’s time.”

“What the fuck does Miss Mabel have to do with anything?” I screeched.

Were they about to ruin my surrogate mother for me too? Was she some demon from Hell Satan sent to manipulate me? I couldn’t deal with that shit if she were. I told her everything. I trusted her.

“Think of Miss Mabel like a guarding angel. She’s a Nephilim like you. That’s why she told you she’d be there when you got back. She’s not just going to up and die of old age. She’ll go home when her journey is done.”

“Miss Mabel and I are what now? Was her dad the Antichrist too? Exactly how many of them are there running around?”

Leif chuckled and started playing with my hair.

“Speedy, did you only study the Book of Revelations and no other biblical lore when we told you we were the Horsemen?”

“Did you keep it a big fucking secret my dad was the Antichrist, and Miss Mabel was whatever you just said she was?”

“You knew he was the Antichrist, and a Nephilim is a child that comes from the union of a human and an angel. Mabel is that. She saw you in the hall of your apartment building. She recognized what you were, and she also knew you were way too young to be living on your own. She didn’t know your father was the Antichrist. She started putting the pieces together when you confided in her. She thought it would scare you away if she told you. She just wanted to be your friend.”

“How can my father be the Antichrist and an angel?”

Leif was playing with my hair, and Aeron started rubbing my back. I had a feeling they were about to unload some heavy shit on me and were worried I would flip out. To be honest, I probably was at the rate this was going.

“Isaiah isn’t an angel. Your mother was. It’s why you can draw the future. You’re a Harbinger, Ariel, just like your mother.”

None of this was making one fucking iota of sense.