400 Horsepower of the Apocalypse

by Erica Lindquist

  Holy shit, these guys really didn’t play by the rules.

  Leo released War, and the hulking horseman stood as the chains vanished, towering up over us again. But I didn’t care – I ran to Leo and threw my arms around him. I was never going to let him go again. The shadows and chrome retreated and left Leo standing in his jeans and leather jacket.

  “I love you,” I told him.

  Leo pulled me close and kissed me until neither of us could breathe.

  “Nothing I find in creation will ever be as surprising as this,” Raphael said.

  Michael and Gabriel nodded in agreement. Leo let go of me and stared up at War.

  “Uncle Carlos…” he said.

  “Gone,” War rumbled. The word sounded almost wistful – if an earthquake could sound wistful. “But he put up a good fight, and I sense his strength in you. If there are more like you on this planet, then it is a world worth exploring.”

  “We humans make some badass weapons,” I said. “Although something tells me that you won’t exactly be waiting around on background checks.”

  “Speaking of weapons…” War said.

  The horseman grinned and looked up. The churning storm clouds were beginning to thin and I heard the whirr and chop of a helicopter rotor above us. There were sounds of racing engines and screeching tires in the distance, too. SPOT had caught up with us again. Michael spread their flaming wings.

  “Are these the evildoers you spoke of?” the archangel asked.

  “No, don’t hurt them,” I answered quickly. “They just want to save the world.”

  “With large guns,” War said, pointing to the helicopter as it descended through the clouds. “I like them already.”

  “Get the fuck out of here,” Leo told the horsemen. “We’ll see you again in a million years.”

  “That might not be long enough to explore all of creation,” Raphael said.

  I nodded to the glittering angel. “Take your time. Trust me, we’re in no hurry.”

  “Farewell then,” Gabriel said.

  “Until we meet again, at the end of all,” Uriel said. The arch­angel wasn’t in control of my body, but I figured the least I owed them was the chance to say goodbye. “Fly and find the wonders of this world.”

  The other three angels bowed to me, multiple wings spread, and then leapt into the air. They flew up past the SPOT helicopter, then through the lightening sky. The angels glittered like stars for a moment before they parted and vanished toward the unknown corners of the universe.

  Leo looked back at the other horsemen, his dark eyes hard.

  “Go,” he commanded. “Now.”

  Famine and Pestilence glared, but War snapped its massive fingers at them. Engines roared in the distance and then the other demonic steeds came racing up the street. They screeched to a stop beside War’s trike, black smoke billowing from their tires. Leo’s Packmaster growled at the other motorcycles – there was only room for one alpha in the pack, and it was Leo. The three horse­men mounted their waiting bikes.

  “When I see you two again,” War said, “it will be for the last time.”

  “Goodbye, Uncle Carlos,” Leo answered.

  War’s burning ember eyes softened almost imperceptibly, but then the hulking horseman laughed like automatic gunfire and stomped on the gas. War’s tank-trike tore out of the cracked warehouse parking lot with Famine and Pestilence scrambling to follow.

  A dozen black SPOT panel vans raced toward us, then scattered as the horsemen charged right down the middle of the street. The vans screeched to a stop and squadrons of armored Spotters jumped out, aiming an impressive arsenal of weapons at the retreating demons’ backs. I ran into the road, waving my arms.

  “No, wait!” I cried. “Don’t shoot!”

  SPOT soldiers shouted and scrambled out of the way as the horsemen drove through. An armored truck bringing up the rear of the caravan couldn’t move fast enough and War’s steed knocked it aside like a cardboard cutout. The big truck tumbled, then came to rest halfway through the brick wall of a bodega.

  Diane Owens leapt out of the passenger seat of the lead van. Her arm was bound up in a sling, but she heaved a huge grenade launcher onto her shoulder and turned, tracking the horsemen.

  War raised its steel middle finger and I placed one hand on Diane’s arm. I pushed the launcher down as all three horsemen vanished quickly into the distance. I had no idea how those motorcycles might carry their riders to other worlds, but I didn’t put it past them. Diane spun to stare at me with eyes wide be­hind her glasses.

  “Jasmine? Leopold?” she asked. “You’re still in control? How? Why are the horsemen leaving? What happened to the angels?”

  “It’s all over,” I answered.

  Leo came to stand beside me and settled an arm around my waist. He nodded at Diane.

  “For the next million years or so,” Leo said. “The angels and horsemen are still out there, and you might run across Michael and War a few times. Guess you’re not out of a job just yet.”

  “You two have a lot of explaining to do,” Diane told us. “Ah… if you don’t mind.”

  There were no hills in Crayhill, but we found the closest thing that we could. We parked at the top of a small rise outside my tiny hometown. Leo and I leaned against the side of the Packmaster together and the motorcycle purred beneath us like a happy tiger. The bike still didn’t like me very much, but it seemed content with Leo’s mastery.

  Call me biased, but I was pretty sure Leo was a better boss than Death. At least, the Packmaster hadn’t burned through the new clutch plates yet.

  I pointed to a green-brown rectangle in the distance.

  “Over there is my parents’ place,” I said. “The lawn, at least. You can’t see the house very well from this angle. Or the back porch… Dad grows roses out there for my mom.”

  Uriel sifted through my mind for the memory of roses and I smelled their sweet scent. I smiled and resolved to stop at the next roadside stand to let them experience the real thing.

  “That’s my middle name, you know,” I said. “Rose.”

  “Jasmine Rose…?” Leo asked. “That’s a beautiful name. Your parents really like flowers.”

  “Flowers and motorcycles. That was pretty much their whole courtship.”

  “Sounds nice,” Leo said. “Maybe we should try it.”

  “I think we did just fine.”

  Leo wrapped his arms around me and looked over my shoulder. He kissed the side of my neck and I reached up to run my fingers through his hair. There were a few strands of white in the mahogany waves that hadn’t been there when Leo first drove into Crayhill.

  “Diane sent me the confirmation numbers last night,” I said, patting my pocket and the new cell phone tucked away inside. “My mom and dad have all the money they’ll ever need. They could even leave Crayhill, if they wanted to.”

  “Think they will?” Leo asked.

  “I doubt it,” I answered. “But that’s okay. Crayhill isn’t such a bad little town.”

  It was strange to say. It was stranger to feel. I had spent my entire life trying to escape Crayhill… But Crayhill was never the problem. I was.

  A wind that smelled like sun-warmed grass blew through my hair. You can never go home again, though. That’s the saying and I know it’s meant to be metaphorical, but this was as close to Crayhill as I ever planned to be. Leo and I were finally free to see the whole world and I was eager to get started.

  “Diane texted me last night, too,” Leo said.

  “Really? Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “You were taking a shower. And when you came out, then we were… busy.”

  I laughed. He had a point. Even now, Leo remained reluctant to sleep at night. He still had dreams, nightmares where Death seized control and called the other horsemen to the battle that would destroy everything. But Leo didn’t need military-grade stimulants or drugs anymore. He had something more powerful – something to hold on to. Leo was the one in
charge and no­thing in the universe could make him hurt me.

  I still heard Uriel’s voice, too, but not often. The angel gave me a few words of encouragement when the road became rough or uncertain. But mostly, Uriel just watched and learned about the world they had helped to create.

  “Did Diane close your police records like she promised to?” I asked.

  Leo nodded. “As far as the federal government is concerned, Leopold Valdis is dead. As long as we steer clear of Chicago for a while, no one should be looking for me.”

  “I want to visit Chicago, but I guess we can wait a few years,” I said. “Maybe we’ll hit Johannesburg or Mumbai first. Do you think this guy can get us across the ocean?”

  I reached back to pat the gleaming red and black curve of the Packmaster’s gas tank. The engine revved eagerly. Flying was fine, but riding double was even better. And nothing could move faster than a horseman on his steed.

  “I’m not sure, but we’ll find out,” Leo said.

  “What about your friends?” I asked. “The rest of the Chicago Knights of Hell?”

  “Texas Highway Patrol picked up their bodies, but Diane had SPOT claim them and give my friends each a proper burial. I gave her the contact information for their families, too. They’ll all be taken care of.”

  “That’s it, then,” I said.

  “That’s it,” Leo agreed. “It’s time to go.”

  Our lives were our own now, and all of the world’s roads. Leo kissed me under the warm Kansas sun, then swung a leg over the waiting Packmaster. I climbed on behind Leo and wrapped my arms around him. He kicked the motorcycle into gear and we drove away.

  Next stop – anywhere.

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