Page 77 of Catnapped

My mouth dropped open in the time it took him to collapse.

“Go to hell and stay there,” she snarled before storming into my house after my father.

I stared at the man who’d taught me to fear the water, and he groaned on the ground.

“You might translate that to mean ‘have a merry Christmas’ if you think about it,” Lucifer stated, his amusement brightening his eyes. “Isn’t it funny how the start of redemption is as little as bringing a lost sheep home?”

“His wife?” I asked.

“A succubus he bound with magic he had no business wielding. Saving you allowed me to save her, too. Darlene will put her into her brother’s care. He’s an incubus with a gentle touch, and she has not been properly fed in a long time. All that is left to do is break the bonding, and that means dealing with the man. You may have dabbled with forbidden magics, but you did not do the forbidden. He has.”

I contemplated transforming and incinerating the bastard with holy fire.

“With my son’s blessing, I will handle this matter,” He announced.

Lucifer’s grim smile chilled me. “You have my blessing.”

“Come,” He ordered, and his sole command rattled the ground beneath my feet. From around the house came a white horse who bore no rider, his head held high and his eyes burning with an unholy light.

Conquest, the first of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, came to a halt and waited for His command.

“Come,” He ordered once more, and the rattling strengthened, although my home seemed immune to the power of His voice. A red horse cantered into view around the corner of my home, and with him came the cindercorn fillies and their parents, who flanked Lucifer and observed with fire and smoke trailing from their mottled coats.

War stepped on the pastor on his way to join Conquest, and the man screamed.

Bailey snorted flame at the man, and she nosed her fillies until the pair headed for the opened door of the house, which Lucifer closed behind them.

Some things young children did not need to see, and the darker nature of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse counted.

Sam, however, remained, and his ears turned back, and he lashed his tail.

“Don’t fuss,” Lucifer scolded. “It’s not like the bastard hasn’t earned His ire. Just observe, or you can go into the house, too.”

To make sure the pastor stayed put, He rested his foot on the asshole’s neck. “Come,” He ordered.

A black horse walked over, his head held high in equine pride, and his fiery eye focused on the man who’d face a fate worse than mere death. On silent hooves, much like when famine crept into the world to do its dark workings, the Third Horse joined the line.

Death scared most, and the pastor came to his senses enough to realize the identity of the final horse. The confessions fell from between his lips, beginning when he was but a child without mercy, drowning a puppy merely because he could. None of the pastor’s sins seemed to surprise Him.

From theft to rape to murder, and even a confession he’d hoped I would drown because he didn’t appreciate how he felt my eyes could see right through him. I put more thought into transforming and becoming the pale horse to bring death for his crimes.

“You are the nightmare that becomes his end, and the daydream that becomes the beginning for many he made suffer,” He said. “Unbeknownst to you, you have already played your part in his trial and execution. Because you suffered, others will not, and you will reap your rewards over your long life. When it is time for you to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with you, and you will find the journey is not dark and cold, but filled with light, warmth, and love, much as your life will be.”

I was grateful Lucifer had sent my parents away to meet Darian, who would charm them with his wit and his kindness. Some things would have left scars, and I worried my mother’s beliefs had done enough damage, in that she had never acted on what she had suspected.

“She acted once she learned the truth,” He reminded me. “And she sought the truth much as you do. That is something you learned from her. This one has a serpent’s forked tongue without my son’s refined sense of justice. I will say this much, and may your mother one day forgive me for these words. She brought this sinner in the hopes you, with your contacts she does not approve of, might see his sins and make them known. You were her last hope—and you, because I do listen to the prayer that is life, would have seen what she had feared. You would have acted, and this same moment would have come to pass but in a different way. Your mother was willing to pay the price of your love for another’s salvation.”

“I mean, I literally brought her to hell on Christmas to tell her I’ve become some devil-demoness horse, so it’s not like I’m winning any good daughter awards.”

Sam headed for my house, and Lucifer opened the door for Bailey’s husband. He disappeared inside, and the Devil closed the door. “Don’t mind him. Things like this trip his trigger, and his first instinct is to check on his precious cindercorn and their children. After, he’ll probably shift and have a talk with your parents about any investigation that’ll need done. Justice will be served.”

“Yes, justice will be served,” He said. With a heavy sigh, he ordered, “Come.”

The pale horse, the one most feared above all others, trotted around the corner with his ears pricked forward, wearing a bridle and saddle, although he carried no rider. Instead, an archangel strode beside the animal, and he carried a scythe, much as the visage representing death might.

“I will not walk this one through the valley, my father,” the archangel announced, and the pale horse stayed close as though to support his claim.

“I do not expect you to, for this one sinned using my name to do so. No, I would not ask you to provide companionship for this one. He is undeserving,” He replied. “I would not ask this of any facet. He can wander through the cold dark and find his way alone, until my fallen son retrieves the soul himself.”