“I’m serious, Cam,” Derek’s voice filtered towards me.

  “I told you—” Cam’s voice cut off when his eyes landed on me, boring into me. I couldn’t help but stare back. His blue eyes were filled with regret.

  I’d been gone only a matter of minutes. What could have happened in that time that would remove the humor that had lit his face only moments ago?

  “Evie,” Tyler called out breaking my focus from Cam. “Come sit, now that you’re changed.”

  Chapter 11

  Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I heard a light rap at my door. I wanted to pretend I was asleep. After the way Cam avoided even looking at me after his first initial glance, I knew where the conversation was going and I wanted to avoid it, not because I hoped to postpone the inevitable, but because I didn’t want to hear his explanation. It didn’t matter. He didn’t want me.

  The door cracked open, not waiting for me to invite him. I stayed focused on my fingers tugging on the loose string on my shirt.

  “Evie.” His voice sounded mournful, but did little to ease the weight off my chest.

  “You don’t have to say it.” I already knew.

  He exhaled a deep breath. “I’m not a relationship guy.” I closed my eyes hoping that he would leave it alone, but he didn’t. “It shouldn’t have happened. I knew you were a virgin and—”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I spat feeling hostile.

  “Virgins get clingy. I’m not the type of guy that gets off on being a girl’s first. The fact you were a virgin slipped my mind, or maybe it was the alcohol,” he stated scratching his neck nervously. I didn’t know if it was the general conversation that was making him uncomfortable or something else. The fact was, I had never seen Cam distressed before and now that I had, it infuriated me.

  I threw a pillow smacking him square in the head. He gawked at me stunned. He hadn’t seen it coming because he was too busy looking anywhere else but me.

  “Fuck you,” I spat calling him out. “It slipped your mind?” The words rang with accusation and disbelief. “Yet you took your time with me. You made sure I was ready. You made sure I wanted it. Then when the pain hit, you held me waiting for it to pass. If you’re going to tell me it was a bad idea because we have to work together? Fine, but don’t you dare lie to me.”

  “Truth is, I am attracted to you, but I don’t stick around long enough to be in a relationship. You and I live together and yes; sleeping together will complicate things, because no matter my intentions, I enjoy sleeping around. You and I would have a good run. A week maybe two, then I’d sleep with some random girl and working together would be difficult, not to mention living together. I think it’s best if we just pretend it didn’t happen, because I don’t want things weird and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Too late. “It’s late,” I muttered ready for him to leave.

  I think he nodded. I refused to look at him, too afraid that if I lifted my head he’d see the tears threatening to escape. I had told myself that tomorrow’s Evie could deal with the heartbreak, but it looked like I was wrong, again.

  “I promise, tomorrow I’ll treat you just the same as I would any other day. It will be like it never happened,” he declared before closing the door behind him.

  The moment it clicked shut, the first tear began streaming down my face. It was a shock to me. I didn’t even like Cam.

  “Evie?” Derek called out as I headed up to my room after dinner. I’d sat there quietly only hearing bits of the conversation between the other horsemen. From what I could gather, they were discussing when our coveted seal breaker would make his appearance. If Asmodeus was correct, then we had less than two months.

  “Yeah?” I asked as he appeared on the step beside me.

  “The guys are going out,” he stated.

  “Okay.” I shrugged it off trying to head up the steps, but his hand snaked out stopping me.

  “I’m not going with them and was wondering if maybe you wanted to go do something, just us?” I was about to open my mouth to decline. “You need to get out of the house.”

  I hadn’t been myself since the night I spent with Cam. I tried to put on a front and pretend everything was fine. Today had been particularly difficult since it had been my training day with Cam. The icing on the cake was I fought better than I ever had, taking my frustrations out on him. I even managed to cut him, but then immediately felt guilty.

  The others had noticed my state, but assumed I was simply dealing with the burden of ending five lives. I was, but it wasn’t the whole story.

  “What do you have in mind?” I asked.

  I was pulled from my wandering thoughts when Derek parked the Bronco. We’d have to walk the rest of the way. I was actually glad for the fresh air hoping it would help clear my mind, not that anything else had worked.

  “You’ve been quiet. Is it about Axel and his pack?” Derek asked meeting me in front of the car offering his arm.

  I couldn’t tell him that my muteness had more to do with my fellow horseman than the wolves claimed vendetta against us. Death by my hand left a certain signature and the supernatural community was quickly becoming aware of it. Their deaths had been an accident, but that didn’t matter, nor did the fact that they attacked me.

  I shrugged. “I just wish I knew why they were so adamant on taking me.”

  Derek didn’t reply, probably because like me, he had no clue.

  We were walking along the less crowded street heading towards the old theater that housed the movie we were prepared to watch. I appreciated Derek’s attempt at “going out” but we could have watched a movie at the house and I wouldn’t have had to brave the people of Summery.

  I froze feeling an ominous chill run down my neck. The hair on my arm stood at attention. I glanced around feeling a threatening glare on me, but didn’t know where it was coming from.

  Derek grasped my arm and gave just the slightest shake of his head. It was barely discernible. If I hadn’t been eyeing him closely I’d have missed it. He must have felt the threat too.

  He wrapped his arm around my hips drawing me near. Tugging me to continue walking, our pace slowed to a crawl.

  “Lean in like your whispering something to me and look at our five o’clock,” he spoke softly.

  I did as he asked. There, across the street, was a man leaning casually against the brick building. He appeared out of place in his expensive business suit. We weren’t on the bad side of town, but the man didn’t look like he belonged. An unpleasant shudder spread through me because the man was openly leering.

  “I see him. Is he a demon?”

  Derek stepped to the side of the building out of any passerby’s way. He put his back to the wall gathering me in front of him. Cupping my face, he drew my hair into his hands. It was more intimate than I expected.

  “Derek?” I whispered.

  His eyes darkened, hearing the breathy way I said his name. Shaking his head slightly, he cleared his mind. “Sorry, but it’s the only way to go unnoticed in our observing him. No, I don’t think he’s a demon. He’s a little too twitchy.”

  “Twitchy?”

  “Yeah,” he leaned into my neck making it appear he was running kisses along it, but he tilted his head just enough that no one from the other side could see that he wasn’t touching me. “Demons who possess can stand like statues not even needing to blink. This guy’s blinking and can’t stay still. I could be wrong. It could be a demon struggling to blend in. Come. Let’s see if he follows.”

  Derek grabbed my hand giving me a charming smile that was more for our observer than for me.

  We continued on our path. After we passed a few buildings, I spun wrapping my arms around Derek’s neck grinning flirtatiously, while peering over his shoulder.

  “Anything?” he asked with a matching smirk.

  “No. Doesn’t look like he’s following us.” I was just about to right myself forward when I noticed the man approaching from several yards back. “Shit. There he is.”

  Without missing a beat, Derek tugged me down an alley until we were crouching behind a dumpster. We both peeked around it, until we saw the man in the suit at the mouth of it. He glanced around curiously. Hesitantly, he entered the alley having seen us dart down it. The moment he neared the dumpster, Derek shot out. He pinned the well-dressed man against the wall, where we stood concealing him from onlookers.

  “Why are you following us?” Derek demanded.

  The man blanched. “Y-You’re Famine? Right?” Derek narrowed his eyes, but didn’t reply. I was glad the man’s focus was on my fellow horseman because I couldn’t hide the shock on my face. He couldn’t be a human if he knew who Derek was, could he? “I needed to talk to you and I didn’t know how to contact you.” Derek still didn’t respond. It was a scare tactic to get the guy to give up information without us revealing anything. I’d seen it done dozens of times. All on TV of course, but I think the same principle applied. “I know you’re Famine!” the man cried out getting nervous under Derek’s penetrating gaze.

  “Do you?” he finally replied. “Care to find out?” he wiggled his fingers in front of the man’s face. Our stalker turned giving me a pleading glance.

  “Don’t look at me. You want my touch less than his.” I crossed my leather-clad hands.

  If it was possible the man paled more. “You’re Death. A woman?”

  “Do I not look like a woman? Why does everyone always say it as a question? Having tits doesn’t mean I have to flaunt them in everyone’s faces to be considered a woman.”

  “I’m sorry. I meant no offense. It’s just our intel suggested you’d be a man between the age of twenty to twenty-three.”

  “Twenty-one, but you were close. Less accurate than the gender assumption, which you also got wrong.”

  “What the hell do you mean your intel?” Derek demanded.

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Please, you have to hear me out.”

  Derek glanced at me silently asking my opinion. I shrugged. I didn’t see the harm in talking to the guy unless he was a ploy. The guy must have not trusted us much either because when we suggested a public location he seemed all for it.

  We sat at a picnic table in Lincoln Grove. It was the closest place near us, where we could have a conversation without worrying about eavesdroppers, but also still had passersby making us all feel safer. The Park was empty, since the sun had set. The streetlights illuminated the area, casting a glow on the well-dressed man’s face. His name was Ryan and he worked for a company called Incendium.

  “I was brought on as an analyst. I’m a meteorologist by education, but the company was willing to pay me double than I would make in my field. I have a kid that I want to put through college. I thought it was a godsend. At first, it was monitoring storms. We tracked tornados, hurricanes, anything that could cause the most damage. There was a separate group monitoring seismic activity. I thought about all the wondrous things the company was doing. Climate control along with relief efforts were just the tip of the contributing iceberg. After a while, they had us researching past storms. I thought it was a way to check for signs, you know? See how the storms worked, learn from them to better prepare.” He shook his head. “I soon learned they didn’t give a shit about prevention. It seemed that they weren’t doing anything with the information we had gathered. I began to wonder why they were so adamant about these things if it was all for nothing.

  “About a year ago, I was pulled from my job for a new top secret assignment. Several of us were. All involved were the tops in our departments and all with something to lose if we opened our mouths.”

  I sat there quietly listening to his words, curious as to where it was all leading.

  “On the wall, when I walked in to the new office I’d be working, were pictures of three men.” He locked eyes on Derek. “Derek Lawson. Twenty-three years old born on January 17, 1994. Hometown of Los Angeles, California. Also known as Famine. Gift is gluttony manipulation with a promise in other sins, through touch. Moved to Maine three years ago when he met two other horsemen. Tyler Ross, June 15th, 1991, and Cameron Brooks, March 12th, 1993, Pestilence and War who had met a year earlier. I can go on, but I hope you understand what it is I’m telling you.” He turned his gaze on me. “The only thing we have on you, my dear, is you’re necrogenic. No true way of knowing how you’re gift manifested, but judging by your gloves, I’d say its safe to assume it’s by touch.” Then he narrowed his eyes seeming confused by his own words. “Wait. I saw you two touching earlier when I was watching.”

  With a smirk, Derek reached over running the back of his index finger down my cheek. “One benefit of being a horseman. We are very difficult to kill.”

  Ryan nodded and continued, seeming satisfied with Derek’s presentation. “About six months ago, I overheard a conversation my CEO was having. He was on the phone talking about signs and the world coming to an end. I thought he was crazy, of course. Then he began speaking about our project, The Riders.”

  “Fitting,” I mumbled, but went ignored.

  “It piqued my interest, especially when he mentioned the promise my group was making. It took a moment to realize he believed these men in my project were the actual horsemen of the Apocalypse. I dismissed it. What did it matter if my CEO thought the world was coming to an end? Things like that don’t happen.

  “I kept my head down, did my work and then a month ago I started noticing things that others turned a blind eye to. We had employees that left without notice. It happens all the time, of course. Most were interns and we have a high turnover rate. Many can’t handle the thankless work.

  “It wasn’t until a friend of mine was seeing a certain employee, that seemed to drop off the face of the earth, that I began paying attention. They had kept their relationship secret, but it was my understanding that it was just for work. She was an intern and he was an assistant director. Fraternizing in general was frowned upon, but especially between superior and a subordinate. They were extremely close outside. He was convinced she wouldn’t have just left like that. He even called her parents, who hadn’t heard from her either.

  “I can’t tell you why, but I looked into the number of people that left the company. Something nagged at me. Something I heard my boss mention while he discussed the horsemen. How they where still gathering the numbers for the seal. I hadn’t known what it meant and I honestly still don’t.

  “When I saw the number of employees who’d quit without notice, it was astronomical. What was worse was when I looked through the missing person database and saw several familiar names appear, including my friend’s girl. Even her parents didn’t think this was something she’d do. What I couldn’t understand was how no one had put the pieces together before me? I’m not an investigator, yet I noticed.

  “It only got worse. The deeper I dug, the more corrupt things became. There was an account they labeled as special projects.” Ryan pulled out a sheet of paper passing it over to us so we could see. “There are funds that not only are donated to our local police, but also to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It has to be hush money. Do you know how they get the funds for special projects? They’re embezzling it from their employees, from our investments and retirement funds. Not much that anyone would notice. It was done quite brilliantly. One thing all the missing employees had in common, was none had any investments in the company.”

  “This still doesn’t explain why you came to me. So far, you’ve said nothing about supernatural activity,” Derek stated. “You even said you didn’t believe your CEO. What changed?”

  Ryan bowed his head struggling with what he said next. “I was working late. It’s easiest to snoop when no one is around to see you,” he explained. “I heard a scream. Not just one of those short little squeals people make when they’re startled, but an ear-piercing, blood curdling scream. I rushed to see what was going on. It was coming from my CEO’s office. The door was wide open. He obviously wasn’t expecting anyone to still be there. A man with black eyes stood in the room with him. Something about him seemed off, making me feel like I should run, but my curiosity kept me rooted. A woman lay on the floor at my CEO’s feet. He smiled and I swear I saw fangs. It got weirder as he picked up the woman like she weighed nothing and bit her. At first I thought he was kissing her neck. I was about to rush to the nearest phone and call the police thinking he was assaulting her. He was, but not in the way I thought. When he pulled back with blood on his mouth, he handed her off to the other guy and said she’d be a worthy sacrifice for the cause.” He shook his head like he didn’t believe his own words. “The man with black eyes asked if my boss was sure of the woman’s purity. That a virgin was needed for the next seal and with the horsemen finally together that errors could not be tolerated.” He looked back at us almost looking for skepticism, but we showed none. “She was marked as a no show the next day. She was only twenty.

  “We have files on each of you. Pictures. Yours are not that impressive to look at,” Ryan explained to Derek, “but Cameron’s… He held a man twice his size up in the air with one hand like it was nothing.

  “I began to wonder if what I had seen that night was to be believed. Perhaps I was overworked, but then I thought about everything else. What if there are more reasons, other than money, that this company is getting away with the things they are? What if what I saw was real and monsters were running the company I worked for? We have two sister companies. One here in Maine, the other in Manhattan. Shady things are happening at both. I compared our quit without notice to other companies in the area and ours is almost four times higher.”

  “So you sought us out,” Derek stated.

  Ryan nodded. “I risked a lot pursuing you. For all I knew, you were who they were working for. The horsemen of the Apocalypse? Doesn’t really sound like you’re the good guys. But the company’s interest in you is what told me to come here. They’re not pulling information on you to help you, it’s a kill folder.”