The Adventures of Emily Tual: Revelations Book Three
Chapter 4

In Venice Italy, Josiah, Derdrom and the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse appeared. Derdrom looked around him as he took in the city. To his surprise, there were no tourists out taking pictures of everything. The tourists weren’t the only ones missing. The people who ran stores gave gondola rides and helped tourists out were gone. The stores looked boarded up and closed. The only people that were out were in European Black Hand uniforms and they were heavily armed. The only boats in the canals were speedboats and there were European Black Hands on patrol. If Derdrom had to take a guess, the Black Hands that served Josiah’s employer had taken control of the city.

Derdrom looked at Josiah. He noticed that they were standing in front of a very large manor that seemed to take up the entire block. There were canals on each side of the building. “Who exactly is your employer?” Derdrom asked the Black Hand.

Josiah looked at him and smiled. “Someone who is far more powerful than the Magician.” He answered. “Someone who could tell that the child that the Black Hand tried to sacrifice isn’t the only one who could be a Chosen One.” He could go on with describing who Anthony was but he knew that there wasn’t time for that. Anthony wanted to see the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as quickly as he could. Instead, he looked at the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “You three can leave your horses out here.” He told them. He looked at Derdrom as the three Horsemen dismounted. “Why are you not in your Horseman form?” He asked curiously.

Derdrom smiled a smug smile. “I’m not like the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” He answered before he cleared his throat. “Now I believe that you were about to take us to go see your employer.” The way he said it made it clear that he wasn’t going to answer Josiah’s question completely. He wasn’t going to give Josiah that satisfaction. Josiah merely glared at him before leading the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse into the building.

As the five walked down the hallways in the manor, Derdrom noticed that the Black Hands patrolling the hallways seemed more dangerous than the ones that served the Man with the German Accent. These ones were armed with not just rifles but with what looked like pistols strapped to their legs next to knives, knives attached to their belts, swords strapped to their backs and what looked like daggers strapped to their arms. The Black Hands in the states just had rifles or some other type of gun. Derdrom made a quiet note to try to recruit some of these Black Hands to his forces since most of his Black Hands had gotten arrested.

Josiah led the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to two large doors. “Anthony is on the other side of these doors.” He told the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. There was no point in keeping the name of his employer a secret anymore. These four were about to meet Anthony. He pushed open the doors. “Go on in.” He told the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as he took a step back from the doors.

Derdrom gave Josiah a look before he led the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse into the room. It was a giant room. Some bookshelves reached the ceiling on every wall except for the wall behind a large desk. There were Black Hands all around the room. These looked even more lethal than the ones in the rest of the manor. On the wall behind the large desk was a portrait of a man. The same man was sitting behind the desk. He had short cropped hair and eyes that seemed to look into the souls of others. The man smiled when he saw the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and stood up.

“My friends.” He said as he walked to the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rather quickly. If Derdrom had to take a guess, the man had been expecting and hoping that they would show up at his manor. He wasn’t expecting the man to have an American accent though. He thought for sure that this man would have an Italian accent. “It is such an honor to meet the four legendary riders.” He looked at Derdrom and held out his hand. “My name is Anthony.” He told Derdrom.

Dedrom looked at Anthony’s hand but didn’t shake it. “You wanted to see us.” He reminded Anthony.

Anthony withdrew his hand and nodded before smiling again. “Right to the point I see.” He said. “That’s a good thing. Means you’re serious about agreeing to meeting with me.” Anthony returned to his seat and gestured to the four seats across from him. “Please take a seat.” He continued as he sat down.

Derdrom looked at the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse and nodded. They all sat down hesitantly across from Anthony. “You wanted to meet us?” Derdrom asked. He wanted to get this meeting done as soon as possible.

Anthony nodded. “As I’m sure you know the ritual failed Wednesday night.” He told the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “The Magician, the self-proclaimed right hand of the Darkness has disappeared supposedly to report to the Master as to why the ritual failed and to explain why so many of the Black Hands in the United States are locked up in prison.” He smiled. “Except for the ones we broke out of the prison center in New Philadelphia.”

The Horseman of Death cleared his throat. “Why did you have us attack there?” He asked. “Your servant wasn’t very clear on why you gave that order.”

Anthony nodded and handed the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse files. “I had you four attack there to separate a possible Chosen One from anyone who could help her.” Anthony told them.

Derdrom opened the file and looked at it. There was a picture of a fifteen year old girl in it. She had dirty blonde hair and eyes that were blue and green. Her smile seemed a little forced. She probably didn’t like to have her picture taken. There was something about her though that seemed familiar. Derdrom wasn’t sure why though. He was certain that he had never seen her before. “Who is she?” He asked Anthony. “And what makes you so sure that she’s a Chosen One?”

It was the Horseman of Death though who spoke. “Her name is Audrey.” He answered, causing the three other Horsemen of the Apocalypse to look at him. “She was born in Russia and dumped at an orphanage as a baby. The Black Hands that ran the orphanage left her on her own to die but Gabriel took her away shortly after she arrived.” The Horseman of Death shook his head as he remembered that time. “My spirit usually was drawn there after the orphanage closed because her spirit seemed to be there still.” The Horseman of Death looked at the picture of Audrey. “You say she’s a possible Chosen One? How is that possible? The Black Hands that ran the orphanage never marked her as one.”

Anthony was interested in the Horseman of Death’s story. He didn’t know that the Horseman of Death had a connection to Audrey. Gabriel had taken the child fifteen years before away from the orphanage but after what the Horseman of Death said, it confirmed his suspicion about the child being a possible Chosen One. “I doubt the Black Hands that ran that orphanage would think of Audrey as a chosen one if she was just a baby during her stay there.” He told the Horseman of Death. “I’m not sure what proof Gabriel had to link her to Seraphina but he wouldn’t risk everything for a baby.” He told the Horseman of Death.

Anthony then continued talking. “While the Man with the German Accent was focused on Emily Tual, I was focused on Audrey Tangen. Gabriel thought he was clever with hiding her in a normal family but luckily for me, my spies noticed the adoption and saw that there wasn’t much on Audrey’s background and once they were able to link her to the disappearing baby from Russia, they contacted me.” Anthony took out another file on Audrey and looked at the picture of her. “I’ve been waiting for so many years to go after her and now that the Black Hand is thrown into chaos because of the failed ritual, I finally have my chance.”

Derdrom raised an eyebrow. “What about Emily?” He asked. “The Darkness and the Magician have always believed her to be the Chosen One.” After everything that had happened with the failed ritual, he was convinced that Emily was the chosen one. It was why Gabriel had fought so hard to save the girl. There was no way that Gabriel would have done that if the girl wasn’t the chosen one. “If Emily isn’t the Chosen One, why have we wasted our time on her instead of going after this Audrey?”

Anthony looked at the doors behind the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “Josiah!” He shouted. Josiah entered the room. Anthony gestured to the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “Our friends would like to know why we didn’t go after Audrey all this time.” He told Josiah. “Care to explain to them why we didn’t go after Audrey until recent?” He asked.

Josiah smiled and nodded. “Anthony didn’t want to risk letting the Magician get all of the glory.” He told the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “The best way was to send the fool on a mission to go after a pawn. It didn’t matter to Anthony if Gabriel took an interest in her or not, Emily was the perfect pawn given her mother’s history with Gabriel.” He sat on the edge of Anthony’s desk and looked at the four riders. “Once Emily was four, I told Bastet, disguising myself as the Magician of course, to go after the girl. Than when it was revealed that the child was still alive, I ordered Bastet to stay away and to keep it a secret that I ordered her to attack.”

Anthony nodded. “I then told the Magician about Emily being the Chosen One.” He said, picking up where Josiah had left off. “He made it right in time for the funeral of the girl’s mother. The Magician found out that Bastet had led the attack on the girl when she was four but he never found out who it was that really gave the order.” Both he and Josiah laughed as they thought about it. “Poor Bastet never did find out that she had been used by me this whole time.” Anthony said once he was done laughing.

He then leaned forward in his chair and looked at the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “Now that the Magician has been embarrassed greatly, he won’t be thinking about being replaced. He’ll be more focused on keeping on the Darkness’s good side, if the Darkness has one.” Anthony told the four. “I however will be taking this time to finally take care of the one I believe to be the Chosen One. When I become the new right hand of the Darkness, I will be needing powerful generals to keep the Black Hands under control.” He looked at the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “I want you four to do that for me.”

The Horseman of Death stood up and knelt before Anthony. “I will follow you Anthony.” He said. He knew that Anthony and Josiah were more dangerous than Derdrom or the Man with the German Accent. He wanted to stay on the winning side. The Horseman of Pestilence stood up before kneeling before Anthony. The Horseman of Famine followed their actions.

Anthony looked at Derdrom. “What about you?” He asked. “Will you follow me as well?” He offered his hand to Derdrom. “Join your fellow Horsemen of the Apocalypse and follow me. I am offering you the chance to follow a more powerful member of the Black Hand.” Anthony and Josiah looked at each other. They both knew what Derdrom was going to do.

Derdrom looked at his fellow Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He knew that there was no way he could say no to this man. He could tell that it would be a mistake trying to challenge the man. He knelt before Anthony. “Very well.” He said in a reluctant voice. “I will follow your leadership as well.”

Anthony smiled and stood up. “Excellent.” He said. “Now we can begin with bringing about the apocalypse. The real apocalypse.” He looked at Josiah. “Take them to the manor where they had been staying until the time comes.” He had a plan for Audrey but for it to work, he needed the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in their manor. Josiah nodded and he disappeared with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

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