Netherworld, Soul Guardians Book 4 (23 page)

“
What’s the matter, sister
dear,” laughed Lilith from across the platform. “Don’t want to hurt
your boyfriend, eh? Ah…come on now. I wanted to see a little action
between you two. And I thought you’d put on a fight. Guess I was
wrong. I thought you were made of stronger stuff. Clearly, you’re
not. Come on, little sister. Show us what you’re made
of.”

Kara ignored Lilith and pulled out the
second blade out. Her elemental power bubbled just below the
surface. Stone faced, she tried to stay calm by remembering the
first time she had seen David’s beautiful face—so proud and
playful. She remembered the electricity of their first kiss. She
wanted him back. She wouldn’t let herself hurt him.

Kara sheathed her soul blade. The
demon smiled. She needed to figure out a way to get the demon out
of David. She needed to stall.

“
I won’t fight you. Not
like this. I won’t hurt my friend.” Kara gave the demon a cold
look.

The demon lowered his head and looked
at Kara from beneath his brows. “Tut. Tut. Tut. How very honorable
of you. Must be love—to sacrifice one’s self for another. But
you’ll have to fight me if you want to live. But if you don’t,
it’ll still be a pleasure to kill you—and a real pleasure to devour
your soul.”

“
Fight, David! Fight your
way out,” urged Kara. “I know you’re in there. Fight it. Fight the
darkness…I know you can. Come back. Fight it.”

Another black blade
materialized in his hands. “I told you. David is dead—thanks to
you. What part of
dead
don’t you understand? Mort. Muerto. Morto.
Mortuus.”

Kara scowled. “David is not dead. I
don’t believe you took over his soul completely. I can feel it. I
know he’s in there. And I’m going to get him back.” She held the
demon’s gaze. She could feel her angel flesh starting to tingle
with warmth.

His pallid face gleamed
with an eerie glow. He tossed the death blade in the air and caught
it easily. “You’re making this
way
too easy for me. I was really looking forward to
a real challenge. Not some sad case of the crying girlfriend who’s
afraid to fight back. Killing you won’t be nearly as fun as I had
anticipated. But I will kill you, nevertheless. And then the rest
of your miserable friends.” David hurled his weapon, and the black
blade glimmered in the ghostly light as it flew dangerously fast
towards Kara’s face—

She lifted her arms.

A beam of golden light blasted from
her palms. It hit the dagger in midair. The blade burst into golden
fire, and with a crack it disintegrated and vanished.

Wild power flared inside Kara. It
boiled dangerously within her, desperate to break free again. It
wanted to be released, to strike back at the threat. She surveyed
the platform before her in hues of gold. As she struggled to
control herself she called to David again, “David…don’t do this. I
don’t want to hurt you. Please stop. Fight it! I know you’re in
there. Fight it!”

“
Oh! This is so exciting!”
Lilith clapped enthusiastically. She pranced around the platform,
beaming at the tragic performance. “I can’t wait to see if you have
the stomach to kill your boyfriend. Tell me, dear sister…what will
it be? Your life…or his?” Her laughter burned into Kara’s
ears.

The demon David cavorted wildly around
Kara. He opened his hands and two more death blades appeared as
though by magic. Black vapors coiled around his wrists.

“
I must say, I’m really
enjoying our time together, sweetheart. You’re finally putting up a
fight. But killing you is the right thing to do. You see—you don’t
belong here. You should never have existed in the first place—and I
will see to it that you are erased.”

The two death blades catapulted
towards Kara.

Kara thrust out her palms and the
blades exploded in a cloud of golden dust. Her temper boiled. Her
elemental power throbbed in her head, screaming for
revenge.

“
David. I’m begging you.
Please stop. This is crazy. Please—don’t make me hurt you. I don’t
think I can control it any more. Please, don’t do this.”

She knew that the demon was a parasite
and that David was its host.

Kara backed away and kept her eyes
focused on him, trying to stall for time.

A laugh shook her out of her reverie,
and Kara cried out. She fell to her knees as her thigh and neck
burned with the poison of his two blades. She heard David approach,
but didn’t look up. Instead, she curled her fingers around the
first blade and pulled it out of her neck. The smell of burnt flesh
filled her nose. She yanked the other blade from her thigh. She
could feel the poison spreading like a sickness inside
her.

Kara looked up. The sole of a combat
boot smashed her face. Her head jerked backwards and she fell over
backwards. She felt another blow to her abdomen, and she rolled
over on her stomach. Something pulled her head up by her hair, and
a black blade glowed in the soft light in front of her.

“
And I thought you had some
fight in you. See…that’s the difference between demons and angels.
You angels are weak. And I just hate how you think you’re superior
to us. You think you’re righteous and good, keeping the mortals on
their leashes.”

The demon David leaned closer to
Kara’s face. “But let me tell you something. One day we’ll be rid
of you for good. Goodbye, sweetheart—”

Kara backhanded David’s face and he
yelled out, but before he could react, she jumped to her feet and
side-kicked him in the gut. He staggered backwards. He recovered
quickly and threw another death blade. But just as the dagger left
his hand, it was swallowed up in a ball of golden fire and
vanished.

“
I’m not your sweetheart,
demon,” Kara snarled.

Hunched over, David leered and circled
around Kara. He looked more like a beast than a young angel. His
face was streaked with black ooze from his wound. “Maybe not—but
now you’re going to die, whether you like it or not.”

Concentrating feverishly, Kara tried
to calculate his next move. “I’m not giving up on you, David. I
know you’re in there somewhere. Fight it.”

“
I’m going to kill you, you
angel.”

In the blink of an eye, David rushed
forward and kicked Kara hard on the knee. She heard something snap
and went down. He drew back a fist and punched her in the face.
Kara swung around and kicked him hard in the chest. David went
sprawling on the ground.

Kara pushed herself to her knees and
got a boot to her chin. Her head jerked back, and she dropped like
a stone. David was on top of her instantly, with his blade to her
neck.

“
Told you I was going to
kill you. Die angel.”

He moved to cut her throat, but Kara’s
hands were on him. She loosed a little surge of power and golden
rays hit David. He was propelled backwards in the air with
monstrous force. Golden electricity wrapped around his body like
golden rope, and he hovered in the air for a moment before he
crashed onto the platform.

Kara shook as she watched him
convulsing and heard him wail. She closed her eyes and waited for
his shrieks to stop.

The wailing stopped, and she opened
her eyes.

The golden current crackled and
sparked over his body. His limbs were hideously broken.

“
I’m sorry, David,” she
whispered.

With a final pop, the golden energy
disappeared.

The higher demon moved no
more.

Chapter 19

The Great Escape

K
ara rushed over and knelt by David’s body. She ignored
Lilith’s sick laughter and triumphant dance. The world around her
vanished—only she and David remained.

Kara leaned forward and grabbed
fistfuls of David’s t-shirt and shook him. “David! David, wake up!
Wake up!” She searched his stone-cold face for any traces of life.
Vapors coiled above his scorched body, and she smelled his burnt
flesh.

Her head fell forward and
she let go of his shirt.
What have I
done?
She had wanted to knock him out, not
kill him. Gently, she laid her head on his chest and she
sobbed.

“
K—Kara?”

Kara flinched. David’s eyelids
fluttered open. The blue of his eyes startled her. “Kara. I—I’m
sorry,” he croaked, “I’ve been a major dumbass.”

Pokerfaced, Kara leaned over him and
covered his face with hers. “Hush. Don’t talk—pretend you’re dead.
If they think you’re dead, they’ll forget about you.”

She brushed her lips against his cold
cheek. “I’ll be back for you later. Lie still and don’t move.
Whatever happens, just don’t move.”

She kissed his forehead and jumped to
her feet, hiding her relief with a frightening scowl.

“
You killed him!” she
roared and stormed across the platform. “You did this! You made me
do this to him!” Golden current snaked around her
fingers.

Lilith beamed and flicked a
long strand of white hair behind her shoulder. She pulled on her
jacket to straighten it. “No, dear sister. You did this to him.
It’s not my fault you brought him here. Did you honestly think he
would survive in this world? Are you that incredibly stupid? Yes. I
guess you are. Let me remind you that the netherworld is a realm of
demons—not angels. Angels cannot survive here. It was only a matter
of time until your precious David turned. I must say that I’m
delighted with the outcome—although I had nothing to do with
it.
You
killed
your boyfriend, not me.”

Kara sauntered towards
Lilith. Her power danced, sizzled and popped around her like tiny
golden fireworks. “No—you and your world did this to him. You’re
going to pay for this,
sister
.”

Without turning her head, Kara glanced
up at Jenny chained to the Ferris wheel. There was no chance of
getting to Jenny without fighting Lilith and Zadkiel. She wasn’t
sure she had the strength to fight them all, but she had no
choice.

“
Kill her and be done with
it!” ordered Zadkiel.

He slammed his fist on the armrest and
shot to his feet. His dark grey robes billowed around him, and he
scowled with hatred at Kara. “What is this madness? Kill the
abomination once and for all! Do it now!”

The demon clowns murmured and grunted.
Their death blades and machetes hung in their white skeleton hands.
They clanged their blades against their legs in anticipation and
began to march towards Kara.

Lilith lifted her hand in
command. “Get back!
I
give the orders here.”

The army of clowns halted,
their bulbous yellow eyes watching their mistress. “...and
I
still want to play
with her. She has yet to suffer as I have suffered. She needs to
pay for what she has done. I have a few surprises for her
yet—”

“
You foolish girl! This
isn’t a game!” roared Zadkiel and shook his fists at her. He turned
his scowl over to Kara and pointed. “You must kill her now. She is
too dangerous. She will kill us all! Her soul
must
die. Kill her, you fools! I
command you to finish her.”

Lilith’s face darkened. She
lowered her body like a wild cat ready to pounce. “You are on
dangerous ground,
angel
. Do not forget where you are. You are in my realm. Do not
insult me again by trying to command
my
army, or you will regret
it.”

“
Ha! Is that a threat? You
cannot harm me, you stupid girl. Your father couldn’t—and neither
can you.” Zadkiel’s handsome face was twisted in an ugly scowl as
he glared at Lilith. He towered over her like a grown man over a
babe.

Kara suspected that he was much
stronger than Lilith. The archangel lifted his arm and pointed to
the demons. “Kill her! I command you! Enough of these games—kill
the abomination!” The clowns leered and turned on Kara
again.

“
Stay where you are!”
bellowed Lilith. Her hair floated in the air as though she were
under water. The demons hesitated, not knowing which master to
follow. “How
dare
you oppose my orders?
I
am the mistress of the netherworld—daughter of
the great demon lord, Asmodeus.” She sneered proudly, “Who are you
to give me a command? You are nothing! You are pathetic—an angel
who came here to hide—even your own kind want nothing to do with
you.”

Zadkiel laughed in a sickly
manner. “The great demon lord? Asmodeus was no great demon
lord.
I
was the
mastermind. Who do you suppose got him all the information he
needed to invade Horizon? How do you think he got through the veil?
Did you think him clever enough to fool the Council? For over a
century, your fool of a father did everything I told him to do. I
was his master. I have always been his master.”

Kara watched the spectacle unfold. It
all made sense to her now. But she couldn’t just stand and wait
till their argument was over. She needed to get to Jenny. This was
the distraction she needed.