Reapers

by Kim Richardson

  Kara lowered her weapon reluctantly, but she planted her feet in the middle of the barn and glared at the twelve demons. She opened her wings in anger for everyone, including the demons, to see.

  She folded them back.

  Ashley had the pitchfork raised toward a demon and growled, “Just give me a reason.”

  She prodded the fork forward a little, “That’s all I ask.”

  “Ashley,” said Ariel. “Same goes for you and anyone else. Weapons down.”

  Ashley lowered her big fork.

  “You are ordered to stand down,” said Ariel, her voice deep and imposing.

  “Is that clear?”

  She eyed everyone dangerously, waiting to see if any of the angels were stupid enough to challenge her. They weren’t.

  “What are they doing here? Why aren’t we killing them?” Kara put as much hatred as she could into her voice, not caring to hide it. She was glad of her hatred. She wanted the demons to know exactly how she felt.

  The higher demons sneered at her as they strolled around the barn. They enjoyed how they made everyone jumpy. They seemed to get a kick out of seeing the angels unable to act upon their natural instinct to kill the demons.

  “Why are they here?” Kara asked again. Her voice quivered with fury.

  “Calm down, and we will tell you,” said Ariel.

  Once she believed that Kara was calm enough, she studied the room to make sure that all eyes and attention were on her and what she was about to say.

  “The legion has made a temporary pact with the higher demons—”

  “Are you crazy?” shouted Kara, before she realized that she was shouting at an archangel.

  Ariel glared at her, and Kara clamped her mouth shut. She had made a huge mistake, but she stayed where she was.

  “You can’t be serious!” David’s eyes went from Metatron to the higher demons. “Metatron, my man, all the torturing forgiven, but seriously, man, have you lost your mind?”

  “We haven’t lost anything, Davy,” answered Metatron.

  His voice was as slippery as oil.

  “Not yet, anyway. Times have changed, and the legion has to change with it, if it wants to survive. Things are going to be very different from now on. I can promise you that.”

  He took a long drag from his cigar and blew the smoke out in the shape of a bird.

  Kara couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew he was looking at her.

  And then he added with a grin. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

  “Which is why the higher demons are here,” interjected Ariel. “We need their help—”

  “Their help!” Kara blurted out. “How can that be? This doesn’t make any sense.”

  Ariel ignored Kara’s outburst.

  “We need their help now. This is the first time since the beginning of the legion. Horizon has never made such a pact with Netherworld creatures. It goes against all our values. But we are left with little choice.”

  Kara shook her head in disbelief. “But how…why…?”

  One of the higher demons nodded his head at Metatron and then smiled.

  “I’ll tell you why,” said the higher demon, looking directly at Kara.

  She cringed at the sound of its greasy voice.

  “You see, little elemental angel.” He paused and then corrected himself with a sneer, “Or should I say, fiend angel.”

  Kara winced at the name as though she had been slapped in the face. Everyone was watching her.

  The higher demon smiled at her discomfort.

  “We share a common enemy, an enemy that would see us destroyed right alongside you angels.”

  He grimaced, “The archfiends.”

  Kara looked at Metatron and Ariel, her eyes wide, as if she hadn’t understood the implications of the words that had come out of the hateful creature. It was like a nightmare, and she couldn’t wake up.

  She looked at Metatron and feared what he was about to say next.

  He thrust his cigar into his mouth and raised his fist.

  “We will join forces with the demons. Together, we will defeat the archfiends.”

  Soul Guardians Book# 8

  Chapter 1

  Flight

  Horizon was mad.

  The supernatural world that Kara had grown to love and respect had gone off the deep end. Making deals with the Netherworld was like asking the wolf not to eat the scrumptious little rabbit. It was a contradiction. It didn’t make sense. Horizon and the Netherworld had been at war with each other since the beginning of time. It was the ongoing ancient battle between good and evil, light and darkness. And now the light was letting the darkness in. It was preposterous, infuriating, and yet it was happening.

  When Kara had first heard the news, she had been confused and shocked. But her confusion soon boiled into an uncontrollable, white-hot anger. The only way she would make it through the up-coming meeting without losing her temper and cutting a few higher demons would be to get out. Get out and fly.

  Kara kicked off hard and let the wind cool her hot temper. She soared high above the outskirts of Green Bay, Wisconsin and practiced maneuvering with her newly formed wings until flying seemed second nature, anything to keep her mind off the ridiculous notion of making a deal with the devils. She stroked with her wings, again and again, until the city had disappeared beneath her, and she was alone in the sky.

  She aimed for the clouds. And like a runner in thick fog, she could feel the vapor on her face as she flew through them. Like a great eagle, she glided above the clouds that hid her from mortal eyes and relaxed for the first time since the archangels Metatron and Ariel had told her about their arrangement with the higher demons.

  She knew it was stupid and reckless to be out in full view for all mortal eyes to see, but she didn’t care. Why should she care what the legion thought anyway? She wasn’t the one siding with the enemy—they were. Besides, it was nearly dark out, and she didn’t remember reading any rules about not being allowed to fly above the mortal world. Her wings were too new, and too unusual, for any decrees to have been written just yet.

  And she was going to take advantage of it.

  Her mind was in hyper-drive. She was so angry she wanted to scream. She had to focus elsewhere, and she concentrated on flying.

  Flight was a constant learning curve. She wasn’t born with wings, and there was no one to teach her, no petty officer to show her the ropes. She was on her own. She needed to practice as much as she could. It required a lot of effort just to support her weight at such a high altitude, and it would take many hours of flying to fly efficiently, let alone to defend herself and to attack.

  However, right now she needed to clear her head. She had to forget this new pact with the Netherworld because she was losing her concentration. And it took loads of concentration not to plummet to the ground below.

  And yet, as hard as she tried, the events of the recent meeting kept crawling back into her head. Kara gritted her teeth. The way the higher demons had sneered at her like they had won some secret victory enraged her. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that somehow the demons had their own secret agenda. In fact, she was prepared to bet her angel life that they were using the archfiend’s escape as a means of some evil plan of their own. They were demons after all, human-soul-eating monsters. They couldn’t be trusted. They were up to something, and she was going to find out what.

  As she banked softly to the left, she marveled at the sight of the city lights that blinked at her through holes in the clouds. She loved it up here and wished she could stay forever. She felt free. Free of responsibilities. Free from the changes that threatened her mind and body.

  Kara didn’t know how long she’d been flying when a throbbing pain suddenly erupted in her head and took over her body. Like a sudden wave of sickness, a cold sweat formed on her back and forehead and a chill shuddered through her.

  She knew she couldn’t stay up for much longer. A pulsing ache surged through her wings, and they falter
ed.

  She wasn’t sure how high she had flown, maybe six thousand feet, but the one thing she did know for sure was that if she fell now, her mortal suit wouldn’t be able to withstand the impact. She would be no use to anyone as an exploded M-suit mess. As the throbbing increased, Kara tucked her wings in, banked a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, and began her descent.

  Falling was a pretty cool sensation. Ignoring the pain in her head and body, Kara smiled as she dive-bombed to the surface. The wind whistled in her ears. The air flapped at her face and clothes, and her hair spilled madly behind her. She grinned wildly.

  She recognized the barn, and she raised her head and angled her body upward, spreading out her wings to slow her descent. She could see David and Ashley’s smiling faces looking up at her. They may have been expecting some grand, graceful landing, but she hadn’t mastered the art of landing yet, and she was going too fast.

  She was going to crash.

  Kara cursed. She wished they hadn’t been there to see her make a fool of herself, especially David. She thrust her body backward in a desperate attempt to slow down. She swung her wings in a circular motion, back and forth, like giant hands clapping. She stuck out her legs in front of her like the ducks did when they landed in the pond at her grandma’s cottage. But there was no pond here to slow her descent. The impenetrable ground looked more and more like a giant concrete runway than a soft farm field.

  David ran toward her, arms stretched out like he wanted to catch her.

  “Get out of the way!” yelled Kara. She waved her hands frantically in a desperate attempt to make him move away, but it only made him run faster toward her.

  “What are you doing? I can’t stop! Get out of the way—”

  Kara rammed into David.

  The force of the impact propelled them both into the air, and they skidded to a stop in a field of tall golden grass. She landed on top of him. With her wings folded behind her, Kara looked down into his blue eyes, and for a moment she forgot all about her wings, the higher demons, and the archfiends. There was only her and David in a farmer’s meadow.

  David pulled her closer, and his mouth twitched in a mischievous grin.

  “I saved you, my darling butterfly.”

  Kara spit the grass from her mouth.

  “You’re delusional.”

  She tried to ignore how comfortable she felt with his arms around her.

  “You didn’t save me. I crashed into you, but I did try to warn you. Didn’t you hear me?”

  David’s smile widened.

  “You can crash into me any time, if it means I can hold you like this.” He tightened his hold around her.

  His eyes mesmerized her. He pulled her in closer to him, his lips dangerously near…

  “Where is everyone?” Kara turned away from David’s scrumptious lips before she did something stupid—like kiss him.

  “Is the meeting over? I didn’t realize I’d been gone that long. It didn’t feel long. I guess I lost track of time.”

  “I’ll give you the answer… if … you give me a kiss.”

  Kara whirled around. “David, don’t be stupid. I’m serious.”

  She tried to pull herself off of him, only too aware that Ashley was probably somewhere near, watching them with a scowl on her face. She wasn’t sure how she’d feel about Ashley witnessing this. But she couldn’t break away from his embrace, or maybe she just didn’t want to.

  “Come on, David, let me go. Wasn’t Ashley with you?”

  “Give me a kiss,” said David again, “and I’ll let you go. I swear it. Angel’s honor.” He puckered his lips.

  Kara snorted. “Angel’s honor? Are you kidding me? When did you ever have angel’s honor?”

  “Kiss me,” David repeated, “and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

  As much as this offer was tempting, Kara tried to pull away from him again, but her smile betrayed her.

  “I swear, if you don’t let me go this instant—”

  David leaned in and kissed her. It was brief, but she felt its electricity from the tip of her wings to her toes. She missed his kisses. She wanted more. Much more.

  Kara stared at his eyes and leaned in—

  Someone cleared their throat.

  David’s grip loosened, and Kara jumped as far away from David as she could.

  “I knew the rumors were true about you guys,” laughed Ashley softly. She raised her hands when she saw the look of panic on Kara’s face.

  “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone what I saw. And I saw plenty.”

  Kara was utterly mortified that Ashley had seen her private moment with David. Her angel life was already an open book for the entire legion to read. She wanted to keep some of it private.

  Her wings ruffled in annoyance as she put more distance between herself and David. She tried her best to look natural, as natural as a winged creature could be.

  “I hate to interrupt you,” said Ashley, “but Ariel asked me and David to get you, Kara. I wasn’t expecting he’d take it literally.”

  Kara wanted to tell Ashley that she hadn’t interrupted anything, but she lost her voice when she looked back at David. He looked as if he had been rejected, like she was ashamed of him. Kara wanted to reach out to him, but the moment had passed.

  “We’re all ordered to report back to Horizon for further instruction,” said Ashley. She looked uneasily at David.

  “I don’t know about you guys, but this whole thing feels really rotten. I have to trust that the legion knows what they’re doing. But I just don’t know. I heard Ariel mention something to Metatron about teaming up with demons, but maybe I’m wrong.”

  Ashley shook her head, not wanting to believe that what she had heard might be true.

  Kara glanced over at the barn uneasily.

  “No, I’m sure you’re right about what you heard. I wouldn’t put anything passed Metatron, however disturbing it might sound.”

  She shuddered inwardly at her own mention of Metatron and turned her attention back to Ashley. “Has everyone left?”

  Ashley nodded. “Yes. We’re the last.”

  Kara looked up into the deep, navy sky. The memory of the archfiends soaring into the sky was still fresh in her mind, and she felt the panic that they brought with them again.

  A war was brewing. It was inevitable. The threat was as real and as tangible as she was. She felt in it her soul. Could the legion defeat their archenemies? She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was frightened at the hopelessness of their situation, frightened that they would lose this battle. She had never felt like this before. It was terrifying. She was losing hope.

  “Things are going to be different now, with this new arrangement.”

  Kara did her best to try and hide her anxiety. “We have to prepare ourselves.”

  “I know,” said Ashley. “It’s not going to be easy. But what choice do we have?”

  “We always have a choice,” said Kara.

  Ashley shook her head. “Not this time. Come on. Ariel’s waiting for us. Let’s get out of here and go home.”

  She made her way toward the small creek behind the barn.

  Home. Kara felt disconnected. Even though she was still horribly angry with the legion, Horizon was still her home. She had to protect it from the archfiends. It was time to go back. She needed to check on her friends.

  Jenny and Peter were still healing. The last time she had seen them, they were both in critical condition. She had saved them, but just barely. Now she missed their smiling faces. She missed the usual demon-killing routine. She needed normalcy.

  Before Kara turned to follow Ashley, she reached out to David.

  “David, I’m sorry—”

  He brushed past her with his eyes on the ground and didn’t even look at her.

  Kara stood there for a moment, gathering herself, as she watched him walk away. What had she done that was so terrible? But even as she asked he
rself, she knew. She had hurt David more than she had realized when she had dismissed his affections in front of Ashley.

  She watched the back of his head, the sway in his shoulders as he walked away, and still she couldn’t move. It was like someone had punched her in the gut.

  David arrived at the creek just behind Ashley. He didn’t turn around. He just jumped into the creek and disappeared.

  As Kara stood in her desolation, she felt a presence behind her, something foul, something dead.

  She spun around and held her soul blade to the throat of a sneering higher demon.

  The demon’s grin widened so much that he looked like a ventriloquist’s puppet.

  “Aren’t we a little bit jumpy, fiend-angel? We’re supposed to be on the same team now. Remember? Why don’t you put that blade away so we can have a nice little chat?”

  Kara narrowed her eyes and pushed the blade harder into the demon’s neck.

  “I’ll never be on your team, demon. I don’t care what the legion says. I’ve always been a bit of a rebel, and I usually do things my way. Besides, I don’t think killing just one demon will ruin the legion’s plans. It’s not like you’ll be missed. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you now?”

  “Because you’d be breaking the new treaty we have with the legion, and you’d be in a lot of trouble, little angel,” laughed the higher demon.

  “If you want to beat the archfiends…” the higher demon paused, licked its lips with a gray tongue and then added, “you need us. The archfiends will destroy all of us if they can, but together we stand a fighting chance. We can beat them.”

  Kara couldn’t bring herself to admit the demon might be right. “I know you’re up to something with this deal with Horizon, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

  “You’re wrong…but then again you’re the one with the blade.”

  Kara had never been so close to a higher demon for so long without killing it. The demon smelled of bile and rotten flesh, and it took an enormous amount of will power not to send it back to the Netherworld. She gritted her teeth.

  “Why were you were sneaking behind me, demon?”