“I was not.”
“Liar,” spat Kara. A trickle of black blood seeped down the tip of her blade.
“All you demons are liars. It’s part of what you are—deceivers and tricksters. There’s nothing honest about demons. You might have fooled Ariel and the other archangels, but I’m not buying this sham. This treaty’s a joke. You know it, and I know it.”
A rasping laugh erupted from the demon’s throat. “You angels are so suspicious, you especially. I meant no offense. I was just curious about you, that is all.”
There was something odd with the way the demon said curious, almost as though it hinted that it knew something about her, about what was happening to her … about her wings. But how could that be?
“We wanted a closer look at your new wings,” said a second voice from behind her, as though it had been reading her mind.
Kara turned quickly and saw two more higher demons.
Between them was a man. He looked like a regular thirty-year-old businessman in an expensive black suit. He had neatly trimmed dark hair and a sly smile on his handsome face. He looked like he was ready to charm his way into some sort of cunning deal. But his black eyes and pale skin gave him away. Although he looked like a model, he still smelled like the dead. He was a demon. He carried himself like a proud peacock, and Kara suspected she was looking at a demon lord or some kind of boss from the Netherworld. Typical. She narrowed her eyes. She wanted to kill him too.
“They are…”
The man-demon paused as he took a moment to inspect her wings thoroughly, moving his black eyes over every inch of her, “…remarkable.”
“I know.”
Kara shoved her captive higher demon to the ground and resisted the urge to kick it. The demon smiled at her viciously and then stood amongst its brethren. Their hollow black eyes and their identical faces were warped and twisted into unnaturally large sneers. These higher demons, clones from the abyss, always freaked her out.
She sensed that they were hiding something, like they knew some sort of secret about her that they weren’t about to share. She was really starting to get annoyed.
“If you don’t stop staring at me like that, I’m going to start chopping off heads.”
“So you’re the infamous Kara Nightingale,” said the man. He stood too close, and his black eyes rolled over her body once more.
“My, my. You’re not at all what I expected.”
Kara grimaced at his foul breath and shuddered at his nearness, but she wouldn’t move. Showing this demon any kind of weakness by stepping back would be a victory for him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. So instead, she squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “Yeah? And why’s that?”
He raised his brows. “I imagined you…taller. But, you’re still very…exquisite.”
The frown on Kara’s face deepened. “And you are?”
“Salthazar,” said the demon pompously. His voice was oily and treacherous. It was the voice of a madman.
Kara twirled her blade in her hand, inches from Salthazar’s suit.
“You say that like it’s supposed to mean something to me.” She forced a laugh. “Never heard of you.”
Salthazar lost his smile for a second, but when it returned, and to Kara’s surprise, his teeth were sparkling white.
“No matter, you will hear of me soon enough. But to help enlighten you—I’m your late father’s successor.”
Kara flinched as though Salthazar had slapped her across the face. With all that was happening to her, and with the archfiends’ escape, the last thing on her mind was her father, the demon lord that she had killed.
“Yes,” continued Salthazar.
He clearly enjoyed the distress on Kara’s face.
“We all know what you did to your own precious daddy. You were the talk of the Netherworld for a long time, the angel that destroyed the powerful Asmodeus. He was the strongest and greatest of our kind, and yet you…” his black eyes sparkled, “…destroyed him. How did you do it?”
A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “It just happened.”
“Nothing ever just happens. There is always an explanation. Was it cleverness? Wit? Strength? Or just dumb luck? I guess we’ll never really know how you managed to vanquish the most powerful demon lord of our time.”
Kara let out a growl of annoyance. “Guess not.”
Salthazar watched her for a moment. “Rumors spread of your elemental power. Yes. I know of it. It sparked lots of interest amongst our kind—to be able to control such wild and fierce energy. It is a power that demons have long desired to manipulate ourselves. But we never succeeded. Your father tried and failed. It must take a great deal of self-control, not to let it control you. But I guess things have changed now. I know that you don’t possess it anymore.”
Kara did her best to hide her annoyance and bitterness. Her elemental power was gone, and she felt miserable. It had left a hole in her, and she wanted it back.
The demon lord shook his head. “You lost an incredible gift, there’s no denying that…only to be replaced by wings? Don’t you think it’s strange that these things keep happening to you, Kara Nightingale of the legion of angels? Yes…tell me, why is that?”
“It’s a mystery.”
Kara gripped the handle of her dagger. Her nails cut into her palm. She tried to ignore the surge and crash of bitter emotions that had awoken within her. Truth be told, she wished she knew the answer, too. But she didn’t. She didn’t know why these horrible things kept happening to her, the elemental power…the wings…it was like a dark force kept throwing obstacles at her, challenging her, keeping her from becoming the guardian she was supposed to become, keeping her from attaining her full potential.
Salthazar let out a cold laugh. “Well, whatever. I think I should be thanking you, really. Without you, without what you did, I wouldn’t be here. So thank you for clearing a path for me.”
He paused. “I’ve always wondered why you didn’t take his place.”
Kara frowned, but she couldn’t find her voice.
“You could have, you know,” continued the demon. “It was rightfully yours. You could have taken your father’s place in the Netherworld. To rule the demons as their queen.”
“My job is to kill demons,” said Kara. She trembled with rage and squeezed her soul blade. “That’s what guardian angels do. We rid the earth of scum like you, and we protect the mortals. I would never side with you, with demons. I would rather die a thousand true deaths than join the Netherworld.”
Salthazar laughed harder. “So very dramatic, but then again all you angels are such dramatic creatures. But you…” he faltered, “but you’re different, aren’t you, Kara? You’ve never been just a regular angel. You’re different. You always have been, and never more so than now.”
His eyes moved to her wings, and Kara squeezed them together in an unsuccessful attempt to hide them behind her back.
The demon raised his eyebrows and waved his hands in a dismissal.
“Never mind. Well then, that’s settled.”
He raised his voice. “I’m Lord Salthazar, ruler of the Netherworld. I’m taking over where Asmodeus left off.”
“What do you want?” growled Kara, unable to control the hatred and anger that boiled inside her. She wanted to cut that pretty smile off Salthazar’s face.
The demon lord smiled at Kara’s sudden rage. He was enjoying seeing her struggle internally. He wanted to push her buttons. He was testing her.
He regarded her silently for a moment and then said, “Just wanted a look. I wanted to see who this famous Kara Nightingale was, the little girl who killed the powerful Asmodeus, the one who’s been brewing up such trouble in my world. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.”
His black eyes widened. “But most of all, I wanted to see your wings. I wanted to see them in all their glory myself.”
Kara felt the eyes of the all the higher demons on her. Their gray, identical faces were froz
en like ugly life-size demonic dolls. Their black eyes glimmered with evil. How could Horizon make a deal with these treacherous, vile creatures?
She glowered. “Well, you’ve seen them, so get lost.”
She waved her blade menacingly at the demon’s face, knowing all too well that demon lords were powerful and that her puny blade probably wouldn’t do much damage.
Salthazar laughed playfully as though Kara had said something very funny. “Of course.”
His black eyes rolled over her body once more, and she resisted the urge to shiver under his creepy, oily stare.
“See you soon, butterfly,” he said and turned on his heel.
“Not if I can help it.”
Kara hated the fact that only moments ago David had called her that, too. But now, hearing it from the lips of the demon lord made her feel dirty somehow.
Kara watched the demons leave. Butterflies were beautiful and fragile, while Kara was nothing of the sort. She wasn’t weak, and she would prove it.
But first she’d have to apologize to David.
Just as she turned to leave, a choking, mind-searing pain burst from her chest and extended to her fingertips and to her wings. White lights exploded from behind her eyes like a giant migraine, like someone beating her head with a sledgehammer. Her ears popped, and she could scarcely hear her own screams. She was on fire, burning from the inside out. She closed her eyes. She could feel her body swell. She was changing into something else.
Kara dropped her blade and crumbled to her knees. The weight of her wings was like a backpack full of bricks. It pinned her to the ground and paralyzed her. She could feel the infection coursing through her. She gritted her teeth as another spasm of pain hit her. What was happening to her? Fear replaced her pain. She was sick with trembling and felt a madness infecting her mind. Darkness. Evil…
She struggled desperately to cling to her sanity—to herself. But it was no use. Fighting it was useless. The darkness was now part of her, like a piece of her soul. She couldn’t stop it. It consumed her.
And then the pain subsided, and she could move again. But she was different. She could sense it.
With a trembling hand, she pulled up her sleeve and held back a scream.
Intricate designs of large black veins throbbed in her arm from her wrist to her elbow, foul and monstrous.
She was changing, and not into a beautiful butterfly. She was becoming an abominable and evil monster.
About the Author
Kim Richardson is the author of the SOUL GUARDIANS series. She was born in a small town in Northern Quebec, Canada, and studied in the field of 3D Animation. As an Animation Supervisor for a VFX company, Kim worked on big Hollywood films and stayed in the field of animation for 14 years. Since then, she has retired from the VFX world and settled in the country where she writes fulltime.
To learn more about the author, please visit:
www.kim-richardson.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/KRAuthorPage
http://twitter.com/Kim_Richardson_
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