Seirs, Soul Guardians Book 5 (17 page)

Something burned against her chest.
Wincing, Kara reached down inside her shirt and pulled out the
crystal timer. It shone brightly, and then the light subsided. Her
eyes widened. She only had five hours left to find the
children.

The officers rushed forward. Before
she knew what was happening, a black blade appeared in one of the
officer’s hands. Its black vapors rose around his wrist. In a flash
he slashed it up towards Kara’s neck, and she let go of the crystal
timer.

“
Non si muovono,” he said,
his hot stale breath rose into Kara’s nose. She guessed he had told
her not to move.

He smiled at the shock on her face. He
looked at the crystal timer and then back into her eyes. The edge
of the blade had burned into Kara’s skin. She blinked the vapors
from her eyes. How did these mortals get death blades? The edges of
the Arath dug into her M-5 suit.

The officers hid Kara from passersby
with their bodies. They waited. Kara cursed softly. She had made a
real mess of things when she was so close to finishing her mission.
Gathering her wits about her, she focused on a way of escape. She
had to get the weapon safely to Horizon.

The officers shifted nervously,
looking over their shoulders every second. Kara frowned. What were
they waiting for?

The answer came with the loud
screeching of tires on the cobblestone street. A black SUV pulled
up on the side. The doors flew open and three Seirs scrambled out
of the vehicle. Their long black coats swished at their heels as
they strode towards Kara and her captors. Their white gloomy faces
sent a chill rippling inside her. One of the Seirs held a large
black duffel bag. He held up the bag to the officers. One of the
men let go of her and stepped forward.

“
Grazie,” said the Seir,
and he handed him the bag. “Il pagamento per il vostro
fermo.”

The police officer opened the bag, and
Kara could see stacks of multicolored bills inside. The officer
smiled and shook the Seirs’ hand. He whistled and the other officer
let go of Kara.

But before she could make a run for
it, excruciating pain exploded inside her abdomen as the liquid
poison of a death blade burned her core like liquid fire. Kara
cried out as the Seirs yanked her around and tied her wrists. A
large hand covered her mouth, stifling her screams. The stink of
salt and oil rose into her nostrils. The blade ripped deeper into
her chest. She stopped struggling, and the Seirs loosened their
grips and uncovered her mouth.

Kara glared at the officers with as
much malice as she could. “How could you do this? You’re supposed
to be the good guys. You’re the police. Why are you doing this?”
she growled, not sure if they understood any English. But she was
certain they could read the scowl on her face. The police officers
ignored her, their eyes glued to the contents of the
bag.

The future of the mortal
world had been exchanged for a bag full of cash. She felt
sick.
Ignorant fools,
she cursed under her breath.

She watched helplessly as the officers
strolled away with their money. This couldn’t be
happening.

The three Seirs leered down at Kara.
Their eyes flashed darkly against their pallid faces—they looked
more like higher demons than mortal men.

“
What are you staring at?
Aren’t you going to kill me now?” Kara spit. “Don’t you want your
stupid bounty? Isn’t’ that what all the money was for? Don’t you
want my soul?”

The Seirs just smiled. It infuriated
her.

“
My Sensitive friends are
on their way—a whole army of them. They’ll be here any minute.
You’ll be sorry you’ve done this.”

“
There is no one here to
save you, angel,” said the Seir leader. “You can scream all you
want for your friends, but they won’t be coming for you. You’re all
alone...and you cannot fight back. These so-called powers of yours
cannot help you now; you’re defenseless. And your soul belongs to
us.”

Kara frowned. “You’re wrong. They’ll
be here, and you’ll pay for this—trust me.”

The Seir’s face wrinkled into an evil
grin. He stroked Kara’s cheek with a dirty finger. The smell of rot
filled her nose, and she snapped her head away.

“
Tell me then...where are
your friends now, angel? Where is this
army
of Sensitives?” Raising his
arms in the air, he stepped back and gestured towards the street.
He smiled at Kara’s worried expression. “You see, the truth
is—they’ve abandoned you. They’ve left you for dead.”

“
You’re lying.” Kara fought
to control her emotions but she knew her face betrayed her. Perhaps
David had left because he didn’t trust her, because of the lying.
She should have given him the Arath; at least the weapon would have
been safer with him.

“
It’s true,” pressed the
Seir, “and by the expression on your face, I am sure you know I
speak the truth. They left you here because you are dangerous. A
stranger among your own kind, and they don’t want to be around you
anymore.”

Kara wondered if the Seirs
could sense the darkness inside her. Was that what they meant
by
dangerous
? She
felt a stab of pain in her chest. Could her friends have sensed
that darkness? Is that why they hadn’t rendezvoused back at the
fountain? No, it couldn’t be true.

“
David! Help—” Kara’s voice
caught in her throat as a hand pressed hard against her mouth once
again. A mixture of salt and oil grease filled her nose and
something else she’d rather not think about. She would have to
figure out a way to get out of this jam without hurting any of the
Seirs. Time was running out, and she had to keep her promise to
Elder Otis. She couldn’t let Lilith hurt the children.

Kara felt her feet leave the ground
and lift in the air as strong arms grabbed her. The street around
her shifted, and she was thrown into the trunk of the
SUV.

She struggled to her knees, but a Seir
stabbed another death blade into her lower back. She fell forward,
paralyzed by the blade’s sudden poison.

Someone pulled a dark bag over her
head.

The world around her went dark, and
she screamed.

Chapter 15

A City on Wheels

A
fter about an hour’s drive, Kara felt the vehicle slow to a
stop. The engine died. Doors clicked open and boots scraped
pavement. Another click. She felt the release of pressure, and she
knew the door from the truck had been opened. A cool breeze brushed
against the bag. She tilted her head at the sound of someone
standing near her. Where they delivering her to Lilith? Where had
they taken her?

The blades’ poison burned into her
mortal flesh. The Arath poked against her thigh. So far, the Seirs
didn’t seem to know of its existence. Their interest seemed to lie
only with her—she hoped to keep it that way.

The blade was yanked out of her back,
and Kara cried out. The blade in her abdomen remained, digging into
her M-5 suit like a flesh-eating disease. Strong hands grabbed her,
and she was dragged out of the trunk. She heard the distant murmur
of traffic. The festive sounds of the city were gone. Where had
they taken her?

She pulled at her manacles, but it was
no use; she wasn’t strong enough to break them. The blades had been
in her body for more than an hour, slowly draining her energy away.
Kara struggled to keep her wild elemental power under control. It
was like trying to tame a wild dog to walk on a leash when the
animal desperately wanted to run free. It wanted to fight back, but
she knew that if she called upon her elemental power one more time,
the darkness would take over, and she would become some kind of
evil demon monster. She shuddered at the thought.

She wished David were here with
her.

Someone grabbed her and hauled her
forward, the blade digging deeper with every step.

“
Where are you taking me,”
hissed Kara.

No answer came.

“
Can you at least remove
this bag? I promise I won’t open my eyes.”

Click
. Then she heard a loud screeching and the moaning of metal
on metal. It sounded as though a large door had been pulled open.
Kara was dragged forward a few steps. A deafening bang behind her
was followed by another click. Now she could hear the clicking of a
clockwork contraption, as though she had stepped inside a clock
repair shop with hundreds of working clocks. The floor vibrated
under her feet. Were they inside a giant clock? She could hear
water above the sound of boots.

Water. Kara felt a tinge of
hope.

With a sudden tug, the bag over her
head was removed.

Kara blinked away the blackness as the
Seirs pulled her along. Her foot caught on something hard, and she
tripped. The Seirs settled her back on her feet. After a few
moments her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She could see pipes that
rang the length of a long hallway. Cracks and large gaping holes
dotted the drywall as though a bomb had gone off. Brown stains
spotted the walls, and the air was hot and smelled like hundred
year-old sewers. The disgusting smell didn’t seem to bother the
Seirs at all. Perhaps they were already so rotten themselves that
they couldn’t tell the difference between their own disgusting
smell and the stink around them. One thing was for sure—they
weren’t in a giant clock.

So what was making all that
noise?

As they ventured deeper into the
tunnel, the sewer smell was replaced by an oil smell, like that of
an auto repair shop. It clung to her skin. She wiped her forehead
with her hand—her fingers were black.

Cockroaches the size of rats scattered
as the Seirs pushed Kara deeper down the tunnel. Something hairy
with the size of a large house cat backed away and squeezed itself
into a large fissure in the ceiling. Eight glowing red eyes stared
down at her. Kara strained, but she could only see shadows at the
end of the tunnel. Where were they taking her?

The tunnel ended abruptly in a large
room with no windows. A rusty metal cage elevator stood in the
middle of the space. The ticking noise of the clockwork contraption
still reverberated around her. Whatever was causing the floor to
vibrate, Kara was sure, was below on another level.

The Seir leader hauled the lattice
gate on the cage open. The other two pushed Kara roughly onto the
platform and sandwiched her between them.

“
Where are we going? What’s
making all that noise?”

The Seirs ignored Kara again. With a
jerk, the lift started its descent. Metal screeched loudly as the
platform dropped into the darkness below. Kara peered over the
edge. Nothing but blackness surrounded them. At first the lift
moved slowly, but then it dropped fast. Kara lost her balance and
fell hard on the metal floor. Struggling against the force of
gravity, she managed to get back on her feet. Blurred walls rushed
past them, too fast to make out anything. How fast was this
contraption going? The rushing of wind drowned out the sound of the
machine. They were being pulled deeper into the abyss. Pressure
pushed on her chest. Her limbs felt heavy. The lift inhaled her
deeper and deeper, like a giant vacuum. The Seirs stood with their
legs apart and with their arms at their sides. It was evident that
they have made this descent before.

Kara realized that the only way in and
out from wherever they were going was this lift. She would need to
get back on it to escape. She would have to get her manacles off
and she would have to work the lift somehow. She needed something
sharp to cut the manacles. If she could get her arms up and around
her head, she could use the death blade in her abdomen to cut
herself free...

Finally the lift swayed, jerked
briskly, and then stopped. The Seir leader slid open the gate and
stepped down. The other two Seirs grabbed hold of Kara’s arms and
yanked her out.

Still wobbly from the ride, Kara
stumbled out of the lift and looked around.

A vast cavern spread before her and
disappeared into shadow. A giant metal machine with massive spiked
wheels rested on the floor of the cave. It looked like an angry
tank. Its gargantuan body was constructed of thousands of different
pieces of steel, copper, and aluminum, knotted into its design like
the gears of a clock. Tubes and metal wires wrapped its core like
large protruding veins. A row of windows above the nose of the
craft looked like dull eyes. Two long metal devices with claws on
the ends sprouted from the front of the contraption, and Kara
guessed this was how the metal beast dug its way through the rock,
like a mole digging paths in the ground. It looked like a cross
between a submarine and a giant scorpion.

The cave shook suddenly as one of the
vessel’s engines kicked into life, and clouds of black smoke seeped
out through holes around the body of the beast.

Kara frowned as she inspected the
massive vessel. So this is what made all the noise. She could smell
moist soil and damp limestone mixed with oil. The loud clanking of
metal hitting metal filled the air around them. Black liquid oozed
from cracks in the metal, like black blood. Glass spheres dotted
the top of the contraption like glowing green eyes. Green
electricity from inside the spheres illuminated the cave in a
ghostly green glow. Kara was immediately reminded of
Morthdu.