I’d had enough, so I asked, “Why didn't you tell us the reason you didn't want to come to hell?”
The whole room went silent as she stomped to the bed, mumbling about how I was a fun ruin-er, and fell onto it face first as she started talking. If she gave her answer, it was muffled by the comforter.
“Hey! That's not fair. You need to answer so we can hear you,” I reminded her.
She turned her head to look up at me, her cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment. “I didn't see the point in telling you. It seemed like you were all more than willing to capture a woman and drag her to Hell kicking and screaming anyways.”
She shrugged, and I winced at her description, because she wasn't wrong. My brothers were looking down at the floor, showing just how bad they also felt about the situation.
Before I could get another question out, she pointed at me. “You. What are you guys? You aren't demons and you most definitely aren't angels, but you're also not human.”
This was one of the questions I hadn't wanted to answer initially, but I felt like if I gave her this sliver of trust, maybe she would give us some back in return.
“We are the Four Horsemen.”
She stared at me for a full thirty seconds before she started to howl in laughter, looking at each of us in turn and laughing harder.
I threw up my hands, getting annoyed with this shit, when Con calmly scooted next to her on the bed. He stroked her hair, and she started to quiet down.
“Hi. My name is Conquest, but I go by Con.”
Her eyes got wide as she took in the sincerity in his eyes and voice.
Fame was the next to slide in right next to her. “Hi. I'm Famine, but I go by Fame.”
Her eyes got even wider as she propped herself up and looked between War and me. Our names were pretty standard, especially since she refused to call me D.
“Holy shit! You’re serious.”
We all nodded our heads, thinking that she finally understood, when she looked up at the ceiling and screeched, “Oh, Pop Pop, you are going to get an ear full when I see you next! You told me they were just a story you made up to keep humans in line! You dirty little liar!” She wagged her finger at the ceiling and cursed him again.
War leaned over towards me as he whispered, “Is she talking to our creator?”
I dipped my head, realizing that she was indeed talking to God. He was her grandfather, or her ‘Pop Pop’, after all.
“What did He tell you about us?” Fame asked.
“Is that one of your questions?” She whipped her head around and volleyed back without missing a beat.
He thought for a second before he shook his head, knowing that we really didn’t care about that in the long run. We only got so many questions, so we needed to make them count.
Con slid off the bed. He already had his shirt on, and he grabbed his pants, slipping them on as he moved around the bed to sit down on the edge. He grabbed her hand and looked her in the eyes, calling for her attention to be on him.
“Does it bother you? What we are?” I could hear the vulnerability in his voice, but all his face showed was understanding and acceptance.
She shook her head furiously, leaning against his chest as she circled her arms around him and gave him a sweet peck right below his chin. He was so stunned by the show of affection that he just stayed still for a second, not knowing what to do. He ultimately responded in kind and hugged her back, sniffing her hair like a pervert while she clutched at him.
“No. I always found your story interesting, and one of the times Pop Pop visited me, I asked him to tell me about you guys. He said that it was all a myth to ensure that humans stayed in line. That I didn't need to go searching for something that didn't exist.”
She rubbed her face against his chest like a cat while we looked around at each other, wondering why he would lie to her like that.
She looked up at Con, eyes clouded with a wounded look. “What did my father have on you to make you push me through?”
He sucked in a breath, not looking at us for confirmation as this was just her question to him. He could choose to answer it however he wanted.
Con cupped her face, rubbing his thumb across her lips, and she hiccupped. His face brightened with a boyish, happy expression.
“A long time ago, your father let us out of our cage in heaven, but the deal was he could cash in a favor to clear the debt whenever he wanted. Two weeks ago, he popped into our kitchen saying he was calling in his favor.”
