“You’re alright,” the horseman says, his voice gentle. “It’s going to be okay. Truly, it is.”
It’s such a small, innocuous line, and yet I’m choking up the same way I did when I saw my mother only days ago.
I nod, maybe a little too quickly, and pull away, flashing Pestilence a tight smile.
“How is Ben?” I ask, even though Death probably has more insight than he does.
“He’s well taken care of,” he says, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “My wife Sara has dubbed herself his fairy godmother.” Pestilence winks. “She was feeding him sugar cookies when we left.” His eyes skim over me again. “How are you doing?”
I’m in love with Death, and my soul is screaming, but—
“Fine.” The word comes out raspy and wrong. It’s so obvious it’s a lie.
Pestilence frowns, his brow crinkling. His eyes flick up to Death, his gaze going steely.
“What have you done to her?” Pestilence demands.
Thanatos takes a step forward. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing.” His voice thunders. “Lazarus is the one thing I love above all else.”
“Is she?” Famine says, pulling out his scythe from behind his back as he swaggers forward. He spins the weapon in his grip. “Because it looks to me like you wouldn’t give up your task for her.” The Reaper sounds almost gloating.
I frown at him.
“I am glad you, my brothers, are here,” Death says, his voice echoing across the hills. “We came to earth to end humankind. And today we will finally do so, once and for all.”
Chapter 70
Los Angeles, California
October, Year 27 of the Horsemen
“Thanatos, stop being a fool,” Pestilence says. “Can’t you see that none of us want this? Not even you.”
At the horseman’s words, I swear Death’s gaze flickers, and there’s that agony in his eyes.
“If you want a war, you will have to go through me,” War says, looking like a god despite his mortality.
Thanatos scowls at him, taking a step forward. “How easily you forget that I saved your wife and child from certain death.”
“And you wish to once again take them from me before their times.”
“After their times,” Death corrects. “Many, many years after their times. You have become as greedy as the rest of these humans.”
Famine brushes past War, his scythe gripped tightly in his hand. “If anyone gets to stop this asshole, it’s me.”
Thanatos’s mouth curves into a mocking smile, turning his tragic features haughty.
“You wish to do this again, brother?” Death demands, prowling forward like some great cat, his wings spreading wide. “Twice I have hurt you. I cannot be beaten.”
“Stop it,” I say. Pushing past the horsemen, I return to Death once more.
I put a hand on his chest, my gaze going to his eyes. I’ve fought this man so many times it makes my head spin. I don’t want to fight him anymore. And I know I didn’t imagine that glimmer of unease in his eyes.
“You don’t have to do this,” I say, my voice low.
Death’s dark, depthless eyes glint, and I am reminded that he’s no true man.
“I must.”
“No,” I insist, “you don’t. Your brothers made their choice. You can choose too—or you can choose to wait.” I’ll take even that at the moment.
Thanatos casts a spiteful glance over my shoulder. “My brothers lost their way out here, and I am on the brink of losing it myself, but I must not.”
“You told me you loved me.” My voice breaks. “Is that not enough?”
Death’s harsh features soften, and his knuckles stroke my cheek. “My love for you is eternal and unfaltering, Lazarus. Do not doubt that. Stars will form and die, and what I feel for you will remain undimmed.”
Death tilts my chin up. Even as he does so, the earth begins to tremble, and in the distance I can hear the groan of old buildings.
“What I do today is a separate matter entirely. This”—his gaze sweeps over our surroundings before returning to me—“is my burden and my duty. I won’t be stopped.” His expression is resigned. Sad even.
He doesn’t want to do this. I cling to that.
“What about Ben?” The question comes out as a whisper. It’s the one thing I’ve dreaded asking this entire time.
Death’s eyes are heavy on mine. “Forgive me.”
A choked sob slips out, and my knees nearly buckle. I’m shaking my head. “How can you even ask me that?” I say. “You promised.”
He presses his lips together.
Now my legs do fold. Death catches me before I hit the ground, hauling me up to him.
I’m shaking my head over and over. “Please,” I beg. “I will do anything. Just please, not Ben.” He’s just a baby.
The horseman holds me close. “It’s going to be okay, Laz.”
They’re nearly the same words that Pestilence just said, and yet they hit all wrong.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper. “Please don’t do this.”
The earth is violently shaking now, the buildings around us swaying and groaning. I can hear things in the distance breaking from the strain.
“I cannot gratify you and the universe, kismet,” Thanatos says. “But I don’t want this. I don’t want to do it at all.”
A building in the distance goes down.
BOOM!
The earth shakes violently, and if it weren’t for Thanatos’s grip on me, I would’ve been thrown to the ground.
I cast a wild glance around us. The world is about to be unmade stone by stone, and Death is responsible.
Death, who held me close at my worst moments. Who has agonized over my suffering, even when we were enemies.
“So this is how it all ends?” I say. “This is how I end?”
Death cups my face. “Life and Death are lovers, Lazarus. There is no end for us, no me without you, and no you without me. You are the one exception to all of this. My one exception. I can reap the world … but I cannot—will not—take you with the rest. I will not leave you at all.”
I can’t wrap my mind around what Death is saying, but what I do understand is that I’ll be left behind. Everything else will go, but not me.
The mere possibility of that future is terrifying.
The horseman’s expression turns distant, and I can see Death as he must appear to others—remote, remorseless, and uncompromising.
My heart beats madly. He’s really going to do this. I can see he is. Dear God.
Thanatos moves away from me, his attention turning to his brothers. “The time for talking is over,” Death says. “Join me or fight me, but the Final Judgment is now upon us.”
Chapter 71
Los Angeles, California
October, Year 27 of the Horsemen
It’s a clear day, the day the world ends.
The trembling ground shakes more violently than ever, making one of the wheels of the nearby overturned bike start to spin. Rocks and other debris skitter along the highway.
I back away from Death as he spreads his wings.
With a leap, the winged horseman surges into the sky. His face is all sharp edges. Solemn, tragic beauty only tempered by his fierce purpose.
He spreads his arms out. “Come for me, brothers—come for me if you dare!” he challenges.
At his words, several buildings explode around us. Glass and wood, drywall burst like fireworks before raining back down to earth. All the while, Death looks like the dark angel he is.
The wind whips about, lashing my hair against my face.
“Thanatos, please, stop!”
He ignores me.
I turn then and rush back to the other horsemen, who are all grimly reaching for their weapons, preparing for battle.
“Do you know how to stop him?” I ask them when I reach their side.
War glances up at me from where he’s strapping a leather harness filled with blades across his chest.
“You mean, is there a way to strip him of his powers?” War says. He gives his head a shake, his eyes blazing as he studies his airborne brother. “Nothing can do that except God or Death himself.”
Well, fuck.
Death