Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1

by Kim Richardson

Kara ignored the many insults and repeated attempts to engage her in conversation by the large chimp. She had never seen him before. He had long strands of hair atop his head, like a thin Mohawk and a flowing plaid skirt. Was it female or male? Kara wasn’t sure. But what she could tell within the short period of time they spent together was that he was just as obnoxious and rude as all the other primate elevator operators.

  “You’re in big trouble, you know.” The chimp raised his arms above his head. Thick black fur covered him completely. His yellow bellboy hat was secured underneath his chin with an elastic. He reached down and began to scratch his butt. “You are the infamous Kara Nightingale, are you not?”

  Kara let her head rest against the elevator’s back wall panel. “Can’t you just shut up and let me be. I don’t feel like talking. Especially not to you.”

  “How unfortunate.” The chimp leaned over on his wooden stool. He eyed Kara with great interest. “They’ll throw you back into the prison, they will. You broke the law. You escaped Tartarus. Makes one wonder why you were chosen in the first place. Why put so much faith in a foolish girl who prances around without a care in the world, eh?”

  “Shut up, monkey.” Kara glowered at the chimp. Its grin infuriated her.

  The elevator jerked to a stop.

  “Level two, Operations!” cried the chimp. “I am Chimp 2P72, biding you a good day, Miss.” He curtsied, holding the hem of his skirt with his hands.

  Kara rolled her eyes and stepped towards the doors. Her body tightened. Her hands shook. Who would be waiting for her behind the doors?

  The doors slid open, and she stepped down into the soft red sand.

  Gabriel’s giant form towered over her. She relaxed a little when she saw David. There were only the two of them—the High Council hadn’t sent the entire Legion for her.

  “How nice to see you again, Kara. Did you have a nice trip?” Gabriel’s tone had no emotion. It sent shivers through her body. He looked down at her.

  “Would you mind telling me how you escaped Tartarus? Who else was involved? I doubt you escaped on your own.”

  She bit her lip and said nothing. Gabriel watched her contemptuously. Kara looked over to David for help. He shrugged—he hadn’t told them about helping her. She wondered where Jenny and Peter were now. Hopefully they were hidden away.

  Gabriel crossed his arms and looked at David suspiciously. “I know David had something to do with it—but we can’t prove it. At least, not for now.”

  “He wasn’t involved. I—I—took my chances and jumped.” Kara stammered.

  Gabriel’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused? Escaping from the prison is one thing … but now—you’re all over Earth’s news—a dangerous assassin who killed a dozen French police officers!”

  He threw a newspaper in her face. It fell to the ground. The cover had Kara’s profile picture, and a bloody photograph of the dead police officers piled on top of each other. Their hearts and insides ripped out of them. Kara cringed at the gory picture.

  Kara started to shake. “I didn’t do this! You know I couldn’t. It was a higher demon! He did this.”

  “You shouldn’t have been there!” roared Gabriel. “You had no business escaping and getting involved like this! What were you trying to do?”

  His skin seemed to darken, and Kara remembered why she was always a little terrified of him.

  “She was trying to prove her innocence, Gabe.” David gave Kara a short smile. He turned to face the archangel. “She never meant to hurt Al. It was an accident—I know, I was there. She was just trying to protect me from that idiot! And the council didn’t even give her a chance to explain. It’s not fair. How long was she supposed to rot away in that prison? They were never going to let her out.”

  “It wasn’t just that,” said Kara as she stepped closer. She looked at the ground. “I had to go back to look for my mother’s soul. I had to save her.”

  She shot a glance at David. “But I couldn’t save her. The new breed took her soul.”

  “You did your best, Kara.” David locked eyes with Kara.

  Gabriel let his powerful arms fall at his sides.

  “I am sorry about your mother’s soul. But you have bigger problems. Problems that could cost you everything.” He tapped his thumbs together over his interlaced fingers. “The council is furious with you, Kara. Your punishment will be severe, mark my words. And there’s nothing I—or David can do about it.”

  He looked away, lost in some distant thought, and then he returned his attention to Kara.

  “I’ve been ordered to escort you back to the prison.”

  “What! Right now! No, wait—I have to tell you something!” Kara pleaded. Her body trembled.

  “Gabe, you can’t do this! She’s innocent! You know she is!”

  The archangel raised his hands. “It’s not my decision. Besides, she brought this upon herself. If she had stayed in the Tartarus she might have gotten a lighter sentence. But with all that has happened, she’ll be lucky if they don’t kill her.”

  Kara’s mouth fell open. “What? But … but ….”

  “It’s not right!” yelled David. “How can they do this?”

  “She’s part demon—a weapon of some sort. The council is afraid of what she could do.”

  Kara clenched her fists. “So that’s it? Just because I’m part demon—I’m not a part of the Legion anymore?” She threw up her arms, “I’m just going to be tossed away like garbage.”

  “If you had behaved like a normal obedient angel,” roared Gabriel, “none of this would have happened!”

  Kara kicked up some sand with her foot. “Well, if I’d obeyed, I would never have heard about the attack the demons are planning.”

  “What?” said David and Gabriel together.

  Kara stared at the rolling red hills, following them with her eyes until they disappeared.

  “The demons are planning an attack tomorrow at midnight—the higher demon told me all the mortals on the earth would be destroyed.”

  A deep frown formed on Gabriel’s forehead. “What kind of attack? Did he say anything else?”

  “—a portal. He said that they would come through portals.”

  “What kind of portals?”

  Kara shook her head. “I don’t know. He didn’t say. All I know is, he said that all the homes around the Earth would have a deadly midnight visitor.”

  “This is bad.” David ran his fingers through his tousled hair. “Gabe, man—you have to warn the council.”

  Gabriel paced around with his face pulled into a tight scowl. He appeared to be mumbling to himself. Kara strained her ears to hear what he was saying, but she couldn’t make it out. He stepped back towards them.

  “David,” said Gabriel, “I need you to be my eyes and ears on this, you understand? I can’t afford you screwing up—you hear me?”

  David put on an innocent look and pointed to himself. “Me? Screw up? Never! I’m your man—uh, angel—tell me what you need me to do.”

  Gabriel focused on Kara. “I want you to take Kara and get out of here. I need you both to look for these portals.”

  “And what are you going to do?” Kara knew what was at stake here. Gabriel believed her. And now he was disobeying the council.

  “I’m going to have a word with the council, if they’ll listen to me. I need to try and convince them of the truth.”

  “Uriel will believe you,” said David. “I know he still believes in Kara.”

  Gabriel raised his head. His eyes searched the red desert. “You need to get out of here now. Get some weapons—fast—and get to the pools. Quickly.”

  The three of them raced to the weapon’s tent. David and Kara quickly filled their backpacks with every weapon they could wrap their hands around. Once their bags were full, they followed Gabriel down towards the pools.

  Suddenly, the air around them darkened. The red desert lost its brilliance.

  “Stop th
em!”

  Kara whirled around.

  The archangel Zadkiel appeared in a dark mist. A team of guardian angels stood close behind him. Kara trembled.

  “What are you doing, Gabriel? Treason means death amongst the angels.” Zadkiel’s grey robes spilled behind him. “You are going against the council’s wishes and aiding and abetting an enemy.”

  “The council is wrong,” growled Gabriel. “I need them to listen to me—to hear the truth.”

  “The truth?” laughed Zadkiel. “The truth is that you are helping that demon spawn! Have you lost your mind, Gabriel? She is the enemy! She must die!”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Big Z.” David stood in front of Kara and hid her from view. “It’s like Gabe said—there’s been a terrible mistake. Kara’s not the enemy.”

  Zadkiel raised his great hand. “Fool! You are a worthless fool, David McGowan. Your eyes betray you. I can see your mortal lust for that demon. You will pay with your life!”

  Kara lowered her eyes. Part of her was glad David still cared for her. But she knew the laws. The fact that an archangel knew about how they felt, could only make matters worse.

  Gabriel raised his voice. The air cracked around him. Tiny white sparks emanated from his body. “Kara deserves a fair trial, and right now the council is blinded by the fact that she is part demon.”

  “She is the demon lord’s progeny!” roared Zadkiel. Large clouds blocked the sun. “A sworn enemy! If you will not take her to the prison—I will.”

  Gabriel turned to Kara and David, “Run!”

  “Don’t have to tell me twice.” David grabbed Kara’s hand and pulled her with him.

  “Stop them! Kill them if you must!”

  At the word kill Kara’s hopes fell. But her sadness quickly became a surge of rage at the unfairness of it all.

  Kara and David ran down the slope towards the pool. Kara looked back. The guardians were right behind them, running like a pack of wild dogs. She began to panic that the pools were too far away. She didn’t think they would make it.

  David was faster than their pursuers, and Kara felt herself almost flying behind him.

  She heard a swish, and in the next second a dark grey star landed in the sand beside them. To Kara it looked like a fancy ninja star with deadly sharp edges. It exploded in a cloud of smoke.

  “Faster!” David yanked on Kara’s arm and pulled her with extraordinary speed.

  Swish.

  Another star flew past them and exploded a few yards away.

  The pools came into view. Hundreds of angels milled about, waiting to jump into the waters on their next assignments. David ploughed through them and ran to the front of the line. He pulled Kara before him and pushed her up the ladder.

  “Duck!”

  A star grazed the top of Kara’s head and punctured the side of the pool.

  “Hurry!”

  Kara pulled herself up on the ledge of the pool. The water rippled inside the round basin. A hand clasped around hers. David stepped onto the ledge beside her. She chanced one last look towards Gabriel and Zadkiel. The ground trembled, and the sky cracked. The once beautiful red desert was now in shadow. Lightning exploded around the two archangels. She wondered who would be the victor.

  “Do you know where we’re going?” asked Kara.

  “London.” said David as he and Kara jumped into the glistening waters. She saw a volley of stars passing above them as her head sank below the surface.

  Chapter 16

  The Rift