Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1

by Kim Richardson

  The sun was a perfect golden coin in the midafternoon sky. Birds peppered the blue skies as they chased each other in hot pursuit. Kara and her teammates walked along Washington Street in search of the Saint James Youth Center. Brownstone buildings surrounded them on either side and towered over the dilapidated local shops that were sandwiched in between the stone giants. Mortals strolled past deep in conversations, ignorant of the supernatural elements surrounding them.

  Kara was still fuming after the meeting. She couldn’t suppress her anger easily; it dwelled inside her core, ready to pounce like a wild cat. She walked with her fingernails gouged into her palms to stop from shaking with rage. She prayed no one would get in the way of her plans, because it was going to get really ugly for them if they did. Protecting the elemental was all that mattered. She knew her friends would be on her side, they wouldn’t interfere. But if other GAs tried to stop her, she didn’t think she could control her power. In that case, she would probably end up back in Tartarus—her least favorite place in Horizon.

  They walked by manicured parks with lush green grasses dotted with perennial flowers in rich yellows and reds. A warm breeze brought forth the smell of summer blooms. Kara remembered her summer days spent at her grandmother’s cottage, with long yellow grasses that swayed in the June breezes, and the sweet aroma of lush hydrangea bushes that her grandmother loved so much. How she missed her granny. Kara smiled. She was glad to be amongst the living again. The sun’s rays tickled her face. She closed her eyes happily for a moment and let the sunshine seep deep into her M-suit.

  Kara…

  “What?” Kara opened her eyes and turned around. Her comrades regarded her with blank expressions.

  “What?” she repeated a little annoyed.

  “Nothing, Kara,” answered David, with a shrug. “No one said a word to you.”

  Kara frowned and averted her eyes. She was positive she had heard her name called. Her eyes met David’s briefly, and it was long enough to understand the questioning look in them. Kara’s annoyance grew.

  Jenny stepped forward. Concern reflected in her large green eyes. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little freaked.”

  “Yes…I’m fine. It’s nothing.” Kara brushed her off, her embarrassment growing with every new question. “Let’s get moving. The Youth Center should be just another two blocks or so.”

  As they walked away, Kara glanced behind her one last time. She strained to hear. A cacophony of screeching tires and honking cars answered back. She didn’t hear her name again. Maybe she had imagined it, maybe the wind taunted her. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Halfheartedly, she jogged a few paces to catch up to the others—

  Kara…help me!

  Kara halted and whirled around. She stared at a middle-aged couple waddling up to her. They were arguing loudly and were oblivious to everyone around them. The woman pushed the man away from her angrily and tried to hit him with her leather purse. The man pleaded with her by gesturing theatrically with his hands. The voice couldn’t have come from them. And yet she was sure it had come from behind her. It had been so close, as if only a step away. But there was no one around close enough to have uttered her name. What was going on?

  “Kara? What are you doing? The youth center is this way. I thought we were in a hurry to get there. Let’s go.” David waved at her, with a confused expression on his face. When he realized she wasn’t moving, he shrugged and started walking towards her.

  Reluctantly, Kara lifted her hand. “I’m coming, David. Just a second.” She scanned the area one last time and shook her head. “I’m going mad,” she said to herself. “Maybe the M-5 suits are dysfunctional. I’ll have a talk with Ariel when I get back.” With her mind finally made up, she walked up the street to join the team—

  Kara, please…I need your help…They’re coming…

  Kara froze. Every hair on her angel body stood up. The voice was coming from inside her head. Just as her own elemental part had spoken to her before, a voice rang inside her mind. It was loud and crisp as though her own thoughts spoke out to her. But this was something entirely different. Someone else was speaking to her telepathically—and somehow she already knew who it was.

  With a renewed sense of duty, Kara searched the street frantically for any sign of the elemental girl. She knew she had to be close. She whirled on the spot and scanned the mass of mortals for a young girl. Shoppers ignored her sudden outburst and wandered past her to peer through the windows of the local gift shops. A sense of foreboding filled her. Where was she? Was she already taken? A horde of girls her own age spilled out from a nearby music store. They strutted away while texting into their phones. Kara pushed her way through, desperately ignoring the angry shouts from the mob of mortals. Panic surged inside her. She had lost her. She pressed her hands on top of her head. There was no sign of a little girl…or an elemental.

  Kara slapped her leg angrily. How had she lost her so suddenly? Where could she be? Maybe she was frightened to be seen, and was hiding somewhere close. She prayed that was the real reason. If demons were after her, it would come as no surprise that the elemental was scared out of her wits and preferred to stay hidden. Maybe she was just waiting for the right moment to show herself —or maybe she wanted Kara to find her.

  An idea came to her, and she decided to try a different approach. She let herself relax. She stood with her hands pressed over her ears and blocked out all the sounds from the busy street. Calmly she closed her eyes. With great effort, she focused all her energy.

  Hey, little girl…it’s me, Kara. I’m here to help you. Where are you?

  Nothing. Her mind was as silent as the grave. Just a dull hum answered back. She waited a little longer. Again she emptied her mind. Drawing in her power, she projected it outwards like a beacon.

  It’s me, Kara. I just want to help you. Can you tell me where you are?

  Kara waited. Still nothing. Well, it was worth the try. She lowered her hands and opened her eyes.

  At first, when she had heard the voice, she didn’t sense anything dark surrounding it. In fact, she had felt nothing at all. The voice had sounded very normal, just like any young girl’s. Whatever darkness the scouts had felt, Kara didn’t feel it. They had been wrong. The evil the Scouts had felt wasn’t connected with the elemental, but most likely was the nasty aura of demons. It would explain the evil presence they had felt. The elemental was probably surrounded by demons.

  A sudden urgency to find the elemental welled inside her. The prospect of a little girl being tortured by a mass of wicked demons was horrifying. They were running out of time. Kara needed to find her immediately. Walking briskly, she spotted David and the others standing near a bench a block away. They were waiting for her. Their faces showed their concern when they saw her approaching.

  A little boy around the age of seven with carrot-red hair chased a yellow and purple butterfly around a metal lamp post across the street.

  Kara waved at her friends. She made up her mind to tell them about the voice—that way they wouldn’t look at her as if she were demented anymore. Or would telling them make it worse? She wasn’t sure. But she knew she must tell them no matter how delusional they would think she was afterwards. They all had their worried faces on. She hated the fact that they thought she was so fragile.

  The butterfly flickered away and flew across the street towards Kara.

  It always made her anxious to talk about the voices she heard. She feared the look in their eyes. Kara the schizo—that’s what you got for being different—and different Kara was. She knew her friends cared for her a great deal, but that psycho suspicion always flashed across their faces for a second when she spoke of the voices—and always long enough for Kara to see.

  The boy chased the butterfly onto the street.

  But even after all the experiences they shared, her friends still stood by her. They had risked their own souls breaking her out of jail. Freak or not, they were her friends, loyal friends. So wha
t if she heard more than one voice inside her head. They had accepted her freak show already. Surely one more oddity shouldn’t be a huge blow. They would understand.

  The boy laughed as he continued to chase the butterfly in the street.

  The blue of David’s eyes sparkled as she approached them. Jenny was staring off at a group of girls their own age with longing in her eyes. Although Kara knew Jenny loved her job with the legion, she understood that yearning. She felt it, too, at times. They would never be normal teenagers ever again. Instead, they were soldiers who fought to keep the mortal world safe from demons. Their lives now were unequivocally different from that of average teens. There was no going back.

  The boy jumped as he tried to catch the butterfly with his bare hands—

  Kara froze.

  A black cab rumbled down the road in the opposite direction.

  An image of the boy lying dead in the street wavered before her eyes. The world around her faded, and she focused her full attention on the boy. Her sight sharpened like a camera’s zoom lens.

  The boy’s eyes were fixed upon the fluttering creature.

  The cab kept coming.

  Her M-5 suit clicked into overdrive. A surge of warm energy washed through her. Before she knew what she was doing, Kara rocketed across the street and tackled the boy. The cab clipped her left foot as she landed safely on the sidewalk. She heard a loud crack but felt no pain.

  “Are you crazy!” The cab driver honked angrily and cursed as he drove by.

  Kara ignored his rude comment and sighed in relief. She lowered the little boy to the ground. Her hands shook, and she let him go gently.

  “Wow that was really close. Didn’t you see the car? No. I guess you didn’t. You could’ve gotten really hurt. Be careful next time, okay? Always look both ways before crossing. No more chasing butterflies in the street. You got that?”

  The little boy didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at Kara with a puzzled expression. His big blue eyes were fixed on her; his mouth fell open. He poked her arm with his tiny finger. “Why are you glowing?”

  Kara laughed. “What? I’m not glowing.” She thought she might have bumped the kid on the head by accident—oops—but she had still saved his life. A bruised head shouldn’t be too serious. “Just be careful next time, okay?”

  “James!” A red haired woman came rushing up to them. She squeezed the little boy in a tight embrace and fell to her knees.

  “James! Oh my God!” she whimpered into his shoulder. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “What were you thinking? You know better than to run into the street!” she scolded lovingly, tears running down her face.

  But James didn’t answer. He just stared at Kara with the same bewildered expression.

  “Mommy, why is the girl glowing?” He pointed.

  Kara started to feel uneasy. She glanced around nervously, but no other mortals seemed to be looking their way. She looked down at herself. Her M-suit was intact. She could see no signs of tears anywhere. She leaned over and stared at her reflection through the window of a parked car. She looked fine. She looked like a normal mortal. She wasn’t glowing so what was the kid talking about?

  The woman wiped her nose with her sleeve and ignored her son. She got to her feet. “Thank you so much, miss. I—I—didn’t see him in time. If you hadn’t been there”—the woman’s eyes started to leak water like a tap.

  “It’s all right. He’s safe now.” Kara smiled gently. “Just watch out for wandering butterflies in the streets. I think he might follow them again—”

  “Mommy, the lady is glowing!” James stomped his feet and pointed some more, his face turning redder.

  His mother grabbed him firmly by the hand. “That’s enough, James. Say thank you and goodbye to the nice girl.”

  “But mommy she’s glowing!” yelled James stubbornly, and Kara thought his lungs might explode. What was wrong with this kid?

  With a frown, his mother gave him a tug. “That’s it! I’ve heard enough— Nanny’s waiting—let’s go, James.”

  Kara watched in silence as the woman ignored her son’s tantrum and pulled him along forcefully. All the way down the street, James turned and pointed towards Kara, still complaining loudly that she was glowing. He clearly saw something in her that his mother didn’t. Could the little boy see through her mortal shell?

  “He’s a Sensitive,” said David, as though reading her thoughts. He settled beside her and watched the little boy with great interest. “That’s how it usually starts.”

  Kara studied his face. “What usually starts?”

  “Seeing the supernatural. First they see us—GAs, out on missions as our true selves. Glowing, in our entire splendor.” David straightened himself and lifted his chin in the air dramatically. “But soon he’ll see the others. And then it’ll get ugly for him.”

  “The others?” Kara didn’t like how he had said that. But she already knew the answer.

  “Demons. Sensitives have the gift of sight. They see us, which means they see demons as well. It’ll scare the crap out of him. Poor little bugger—I hope the group finds him quickly. If not, I’ve heard some of the young ones go insane. Or worse, their parents lock them up thinking they are mad. Sensitives are special—and extremely rare.”

  Kara shook her head slowly. “That’s horrible. I can’t imagine what it must be like to see those things when one is so young.”

  “Well, pray that the group finds him soon. His mother looks like the type to lock him up in a loony bin. She’s not going to believe him when he tells her he sees monsters. Did you see her face when he was telling her you were glowing? Yup. She’s going to lock him up.”

  Kara watched James and his mother disappear around the corner. “How soon till he starts seeing demons?” She was afraid for the little boy. Demons materialized in all forms of ugliness. If Kara was afraid of them, then James would be terrified.

  “Soon—tomorrow, probably. He’s going to be a total mess.”

  Something nagged her in the back of her mind. “Wait a second? Where was his guardian? He would have been killed if I hadn’t pulled him out of the way in time. This was an easy assignment, his GA should have been here.”

  “I heard Ariel talking earlier.” David looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “Apparently, there’s a shortage of GAs right now. I guess we lost more angels than the legion anticipated in the war against Asmodeus. There aren’t enough angels to protect all the mortal souls. Until we train enough rookies—thousands will be vulnerable. We can’t save them all.”

  “That’s awful. I had no idea.” Kara watched the mortals shuffling up the street, going about their business, and oblivious to the dangers around them. But now the odds were slim that guardians would be able to prevent mortal tragedies. Kara lowered her head and stared at the ground.

  David took Kara’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Kara, we should get going. We don’t have much time—”

  Kara, help me…I’m scared…

  Kara jumped back in surprise. The voice was louder this time. She distinctly heard the panic in the voice. She whirled around on the spot, searching frantically.

  “Kara, what is it?” David watched her anxiously. “What’s wrong? You’re freaking me out.”

  “I…I heard something…someone…calling out to me just now. But I heard it before, calling my name, just before the incident with the boy.”

  David knitted his brows. “I didn’t hear anything? Where did it come from?”

  “From inside my head—”

  Kara halted. A young girl in a white dress and with a large red bow stood a few yards away. Her black hair gleamed in the sunlight. Her white skin was almost translucent and blended strangely with her dress. Kara recognized her at once.

  It was exactly the same girl she had spotted across the street from the bookstore.

  Chapter 4

  An Afternoon Chase