Apocalypse's Horsemen (Devil's Assistant Series - Book 3)

Apocalypse's Horsemen [17]

Chapter Seventeen

My breath escaped my lips in a harsh pant as we arrived on the landing. The large plaque announcing we were on the sixth floor was a taunting reminder of the five floors we had already scoped out so far.

My hands trembled from the adrenaline still surging through me and my entire being was wound so tight in anticipation of the coming confrontation that I never thought I would unravel again. We had swept through the building, floor by floor. The rooms were rumpled, doors opened wide where the guests had rushed from their rooms in terror only they never returned. Suitcases were sat open, clothes and possessions thrown back in haphazardly.

And yet they were empty of people. Well, empty of living people that is.

I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. The image would never leave my mind. We had solved the mystery of the missing members of staff. On the third floor, several had locked themselves into a bathroom. My gut had dropped before we had even pushed open the door. The carpet around the door had been stained brown where blood had seeped underneath the closed door and then dried. The scent of death had hung heavy in the air as we kicked open the door. And then my heart had stopped.

It was no massacre. There were five dead in that tiny room and they had all taken their own lives. They appeared at peace in death, curled in the arms of their friends as they took their last breaths. Their last few days on earth had clearly not been peaceful. Their bodies, which were barely covered by torn and tattered clothes, had been ravaged and battered. I had prayed for them then. I had never read the bible and I wasn’t exactly sure that suicides were allowed in heaven but I prayed that the big guy would give them a break – not that Hell was so bad. Only desperation would have driven them to this and a horsemen bent on revenge was a reason for anyone to become desperate.

“Sixth time is the charm?” Lucius had paused with his hand on the door handle.

He was faring much better than I was. He wasn’t even out of breath. I couldn’t understand it. The powers I had did not afford me any additional stamina or fitness. Sure I had a bit of super strength but that did not help when I was essentially doing the marathon.

“Better be.” I muttered, forcing myself upright and gripping my blade in both hands. “I don’t think I could do another flight of stairs.”

Blue eyes twinkled at me as Lucius’ lips formed a smile.

“I’ll carry up your next set your highness. Will that help?”

My lips twitched before I forced my face to go blank.

“Stop joking around. We are going up against a Horseman here. We need t keep our heads on straight if we are going to survive the night.”

Leaning against the door that separated us from the next level of guest rooms, Lucius just stared at me. He did not talk. The smile had even dropped from him lips. And all he did was look at me. It was like he was waiting for something but I met his eyes, stare for stare, I could not figure out what it was that he was searching for.

Finally, his eyes broke away.

“Okay.”

I pressed my lips together and squeezed my hands tighter around the hilt of blade to stop my mouth from running away from me.

After a few more moments to catch our breath, we edged through the doorway onto the sixth floor. The hallway was just the same at the ones below in appearance. There were the same magnolia walls and the same blue patterned carpet.  Even the artwork on the walls appeared to match that from the floors below. And yet there was something very different about this level of the hotel.