Path of the Horseman (21 page)

“Jesus, can you keep your eyes on the road?”
Simon grumbled, though he looked out of the window instead of at
Kade.

“Aw, don’t be scared, Slime. Next time you
get hurt, it won’t be from a car crash.”

Simon shifted uncomfortably beside me. He
only looked up when we finally entered the city.

The last time I was in Las Vegas, it was on
fire. Every single hotel billowed smoke from broken windows. Palm
trees were tall torches in the night. Screams echoed around every
corner. Terrified people shoved and pushed each other away,
stepping on those who’d slipped in fresh pools of blood. It had
been madness. The night we took Vegas had been one of the worst
nights of my life, and I had promised myself never to return.

This new Vegas looked completely different
from the one I’d left to burn. As Kade drove the car through the
cars pushed against the roadside, I caught a glimpse of the
remains. The entire left half of Mandalay Bay was missing, like a
giant bite had been taken from it. The Luxor’s sphinx was missing
its eyes, the black pyramid behind it covered in holes from where
the glass had been shattered. The golden lion of the MGM Grand was
tarnished and burned. Blood lined the outside of the bridge
connecting the MGM to the New York New York, whose roller coaster
was missing giant chunks of track. The posh hotels of the shopping
district had some of their letters missing, pulled down and left
lazily on the sidewalk. The Eiffel Tower by the Paris looked
untouched, but the hotel itself was virtually a crater of metal and
concrete leaning against each other, as though a bomb had gone off
in it sometime during the madness. Grime and silt floated in the
pool ahead of the Bellagio. Caesar had been torn from his standing
in front of Caesar’s Palace and lay in pieces on the road.

If the hotels weren’t bad enough, the rest of
the Strip would have finished tying the knot in my stomach. Charred
and crumbling palm trees lay in heaps in the middle of the road.
Cars were backed up and piled over each other on one side. Blood
smears lined most of the concrete, though I couldn’t see any
bodies. There must have been millions at the end of that awful
night, but I didn’t want to think about what happened to them.

The only moving things we saw were Plagued,
but not nearly as many as I was expecting. That wasn’t to say there
was a small amount of them– there were dozens. They dragged
themselves along the cracked road, slapped their hands against the
cracked shop windows, crawled with broken legs over the trash and
debris covered sidewalks.

Considering I expected Vegas to be literally
overrun with Plagued and impossible to pass through, this was an
almost welcome surprise.

Kade turned the SUV and drove over the curb
to the Venetian. I tried not to roll my eyes. Of course Kade would
pick the hotel that screamed luxury and class. It would be all the
more fun for him to destroy. He kept the vehicle moving over the
bridge and the manmade canal, which had a thin line of
vomit-colored water near the bottom. He pulled to a stop in front
of an eight foot gate that appeared to have been constructed from
sheet metal and the missing gondolas. It was the spawn of a trash
heap and the Phocian Wall.

On the opposite sides of the wall were more
armed Vermilions. Kade stuck his hand out of the driver side window
and waved to them. The Vermilion bowed at the waist, then hurried
behind the gate. A couple seconds later, it was pulled open,
splitting in half and allowing us to drive forward. Kade rolled the
SUV through the gate and parked in the middle of the plaza, right
in front of the Venetian’s pillars.

The Vermilion in the passenger seat hopped
out of the car and nearly jumped across the hood to open the door
for Kade. He went for Simon’s door next. I skipped the stupid
royalty treatment and opened my own damn door.

When I stepped out, the hot desert sun beat
down on me again. I glanced back and saw the humans getting out of
the other SUV. They were so wrapped up in seeing the hotel, they
didn’t notice how close the other Vermilions were getting.

“Bring the humans inside,” Kade ordered.
“Find some place to stow them.”

The Vermilions circled our unlikely allies,
forcing them to move. I started walking toward them, hoping I could
explain what they’d seen, but Kade appeared and clamped a hand on
my injured shoulder. He squeezed tightly, and I winced from the
bruise he created.

“Ah, ah, ah, Pest. You and Slime don’t get a
nap yet.”

I wheeled around, flinging Kade’s arm off me.
“What are you going to do to them?”

Kade lifted his hands, trying and failing to
look innocent. His arms looked like they were made to crush tree
trunks, and his grin belonged on the face of Hannibal Lecter after
his favorite meal of human liver.

“Nothing. We value human lives here.” He
lowered his hands, but not his smile. “They’re more useful than we
ever gave them credit for. Not very strong, but you can’t have
everything.”

I balled my fists and looked over my
shoulder. The Vermilion crowd was moving into the hotel. I couldn’t
see Maddy.

“Well, saving your asses has made me a little
tired. I’m taking some me time, then we can really talk.” Kadel
turned to six of the twelve Vermilions by the gate, who snapped to
attention until they were stiff as boards.

“Take my brothers on a tour. Go the long way
around, through the canals so they can see how things work around
here. Bring them up to the penthouse in an hour.” Kade looked at me
and smirked. “And no matter what, don’t let them near their humans.
If they decide to get cute, shoot them in the knees. If they’re
still desperate to check on the well-being of their mortals, they
can crawl up the stairs.”

Kade saluted us and walked away to the hotel
entrance. I seriously debated chasing him and giving him some
muscle spasms, but Kade could still kill me even if I did make him
dance like a puppet.

“Fucking asshole,” I grumbled.

“Don’t talk shit about our Emperor,” a
muffled voice said. I turned around and looked at one of the
Vermilions standing beside me. He was about my height and carried a
tactical shotgun. His dark brown eyes narrowed to slits, and I
didn’t have to push my imagination hard to see his upturned
lip.

“He saved our lives.”

“Sure he did,” I muttered. “I’d love to hear
how he turned you all into slaves.”

“He didn’t,” defended the Vermilion. “We were
fighting for our fucking lives, and we were losing. A group of us
were trapped in the shops, and we couldn’t get out. Soulless broke
through our walls like they weren’t even there, and the Plagued
were crawling out from every corner. Then these demons broke
through, some fucker with dreadlocks and a guy in a cowboy hat.
They started taking anyone they could get their hands on and
dragging them out of sight. When we tried to fight them, they threw
goddamn fireballs at us. We knew we were going to die.”

The Vermilion’s eyes were distant and wide,
full of the fear he must have felt when his friends disappeared in
the horde of monsters. Then his expression changed, the terror
shifting into wonder.

“Then Kade showed up, cutting through the
fire like it was nothing to him. He started taking down anything in
his way, smashing the Plagued and Soulless to bits. When the demons
threw fire at him, he just sidestepped and threw it back. I’ll
never forget the brightest of the flames. They were like a beacon,
driving the demons back to Hell.”

Guess I’m not the only one who fucked up and
gave up the secret. But Kade did it on purpose, the asshole.

The Vermilion was trapped inside his head for
another couple seconds, needing to blink to remember where he was.
He focused on me, and cleared his voice to get rid of the
enthusiasm.

“When he said he was going to be our leader,
no one argued with him. Why would we? He saved us using powers no
one had ever seen come from a human. He had his shit together. Kade
is a god to us, and those who serve him are treated with respect
and honor.”

I raised my eyebrow. “All of them? I don’t
think so. I know my brother, pal. He’s the opposite of a benevolent
ruler.”

The Vermilion scoffed and had the gall to
roll his eyes at me. I almost punched him for it.

“Obviously he needs to make examples
sometimes. He reminds us to work harder, push ourselves more to
survive. It’s a hard world and a hard ruler is needed.”

That bullshit sounded exactly like it had
come from Ruthless Ruling 101.

I caught Simon looking at me awkwardly. Kade
seemed to be in good spirits. The last time we had seen him, he’d
been the opposite…

War was the last one to return. He stood
before us, heaving from the rush of battle. Blood drenched him, a
fresh coat of it beginning to dry over the others. Clumps of hair
and bone shards were glued to his war hammer with grey brain
matter. Wild, terrifying black eyes searched ours.

“
Where are they?” War’s voice was a raspy
growl. “Where are they?”

Famine and I cast our eyes down. We feared
confessing the truth to our brother. Only Death was able to hold
his eyes.

“
There is no one else,” said
Death.

War watched his brother, shaking with rage
and bloodlust. He could not suppress his desire to ruin and
destroy. He lunged forward, using his free hand to circle Death’s
neck. Our elder brother barely flinched, giving no indication of
pain even as War squeezed is throat tighter.

“
You lie,” snarled War. Death did not
reply. “You lie!”

But he knew there was no deceit. Death would
know if anyone still lived. War shoved his brother back, stumbling
to keep his composure.

“
What happened?” he finally asked. I had
never heard him so uncertain in my life.

Death stared at War blankly.

“
We defiled the world. We eradicated life.
We won.”

That was the last thing my brother Death said
before he turned and began walking away. Even when War dropped to
his knees and howled like a furious, dying animal, he never looked
back.

Kade had always been wild and deadly, but
that was what he was supposed to be. I never thought he could break
until the moment Logan told him that all the humans were dead. I
wanted to talk to my oldest brother more than ever. Did he know
that there were still some humans alive? Or did he want to stop
thinking about all the lives he was ending?

But the odds of finding Logan were slim to
none. He hated what he was. Kade didn’t. He embraced it, welcomed
it, and was happy about it. When it was taken from him, he lost
himself. I watched him walk away, wondering if he would die
alone.

Then he found us, and seemed more alive than
ever before.

I had the terrible feeling that this Kade was
more dangerous than the old one.

I’ll say this for my asshole older brother:
He knows how to impress.

It wasn’t just that the canal shops in the
Venetian were in nearly perfect condition. Any traces of glass and
blood were cleaned from the floor. Gas lamps and thick candles were
lit along the corridors and bridges, making everything smell like a
distant burning fire. The dim lighting darkened the fake blue sky
and happy white clouds painted on the ceiling. The canal was empty
of water and served as a tunnel leading through the shops.

No, what truly amazed me were all of the
living, breathing,
people
walking around the center.

Their clothes were a jumbled mess of whatever
they could find, but they moved briskly and with purpose, hardly
speaking to anyone they passed. Clusters of Vermilions hung back
near the walls and corners of the shops, watching the other humans
like hawks and telling them to move when they slowed down.

A few of them caught me staring and quickened their pace to get
past me. Even Simon couldn’t stop gawking. These humans were alive,
saved by Kade of all people, and they were functioning. They even
looked relatively healthy. But there was no mistaking the tension
in the air. Every set of eyes seemed to be rooted to the floor, and
speed walking was the only pace any of these humans moved at.

“How’d you make all this?” I asked no one in
particular.

“Emperor Kade provides us with seeds and soil
from scavenging missions,” answered the Vermilion who worshipped my
brother. “We grow fresh fruits and vegetables outside by the pool,
and the diggers find water under the ground for us to filter.”

“You sure Kade wants us knowing that?” Simon
asked.

“The Emperor has told us about his brothers.
He said that if we ever met them, we could trust them.”

The Vermilion looked at us.

“And if they break that trust, he will kill
them.”

Good old Kade. Always covering his bases.

The humans we passed didn’t seem alarmed to
see us being escorted by the squad of six Vermilions. I had the
uncomfortable feeling that this happened a lot– someone being
arrested and taken for punishment. I didn’t see any gallows or
gibbets, but that only served to heighten the suspense. Any kind of
torture was open if you disobeyed Kade, but you wouldn’t know what
it was until he dragged you kicking and screaming to the killing
room.