Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1

by Kim Richardson

  Kara strolled along the sidewalk behind David, Jenny, and Peter. Men and women scurried by, sipping coffee from Styrofoam cups with one hand while talking on their cell phones with the other as they rushed to their daily jobs. She was surrounded by happy conversations and laughter. She studied their faces. They were normal. She couldn’t see any traces of deranged anger. Lilith hadn’t changed anyone here yet.

  Glass and metal buildings loomed up on either side of the street. A flock of pigeons flew across a blue sky and dodged the buildings effortlessly, like miniature jets. Cars slowed to a crawl. The exhaust filled air was loud with honking as angry drivers rolled down their windows and cursed. A white and red city bus rolled to a stop. Downtown Toronto, flashed in yellow light at the front of the bus. Its doors swung open and a group of overly excited kids poured onto the sidewalk. Monitors chased them up and down the street, doing their best to herd them into a group, while other kids laughed and slipped away easily.

  A shiver ran up her back as she remembered the madness in the mortals’ eyes at Dirleton Castle. Lilith had changed them into beasts. Kara didn’t want to think about what would happen to these children if Lilith got to them too.

  The children—the Sensitive children— weren’t at the castle. In a way, Kara was glad they weren’t stuffed in the castle’s dingy dungeon or turned wild like the rest of the mortals. But that left her with more questions. If they weren’t there, then where were they? And what had Lilith done with them?

  “So, there’s a bounty on your soul?” said David forcing Kara out of her reverie. His blue eyes glistened with concern. “That sucks.”

  Kara shrugged and sidestepped a blue metal recycling bin. “Lilith is up to something, I can feel it. She wants me out of the way for a reason, and I have to figure out what it is.”

  David looked behind him and dropped his voice to a whisper. “This is bad, Kara. It means every Seir in the freakin’ world is looking for you. And we can’t even fight back—we can’t even mess them up a little. It really sucks.”

  Kara shook her head and did her best to hide the frustration in her voice. “I know. I wish there was a way we could defend ourselves against them somehow.”

  “But there isn’t. God knows I’d love to take care of a few Seirs,” David threw a punch into his palm, “one on one, and see what happens. We’re just going to have to be extra careful now.”

  A group of teenage girls wandered past them. All five pairs of eyes were glued on David. A tall pretty brunette with tanned skin and too much makeup winked and smiled at him. Kara’s temper flared. The girl completely ignored her. It was as though she was invisible. The giggling girls batted their eyelashes at David, one after another, before they wandered off.

  David raked his fingers through his hair and walked on with a bounce in his step and a self-satisfied smile.

  “Ouch!” David rubbed his arm. “You punched me,” he laughed. “I love it when you’re forceful.” He beamed and examined Kara’s face closely. “I knew it. You’re...jealous.”

  “No, I’m not.” Kara looked away. “You’re delusional.”

  “You love me. Admit it.”

  “You’re deranged.”

  “You looooove me.” David started to dance on the spot. He met Kara’s glare and his smile disappeared. Deflated, he looked quickly away and kept walking.

  Kara’s face brightened, and she pressed her lips together hard to stop from laughing.

  Jenny turned around and shared a look with Kara. Giggling, she turned to Peter. “How much further until we reach 1185 Queen Street?”

  Peter held a rectangular metal contraption with loose wires close to his face and examined the tiny red bulbs. After a moment he answered. “Not much. Should be just after the next block.”

  “Do we know what the urgent meeting is about?” Jenny surveyed the group anxiously, “I just hate not knowing where we’re going, or why we’re going. I wish the legion had given us more info.” She looked over her shoulder at an old Asian woman arranging piles of clothes on tables at the front of a shop.

  Kara felt anxious as she studied Jenny’s face. She knew Jenny was on edge, and she didn’t blame her. Jenny had changed since she had come back from the netherworld. Kara tried repeatedly to find out what had happened. But Jenny would snap her mouth shut and walk away. Whatever had happened to Jenny must have been terrible. Kara dug her nails into her palms. Payback would be bliss.

  “We don’t know what’s waiting for us,” continued Jenny, with more urgency in her voice. She scratched her purple spiked hair. “There could be a crap load of Seirs. You remember what happened the last time we went looking for the missing kids.”

  “Yup. We almost got our butts whipped by our dearest fans.” David dodged a kid on a skateboard and nearly fell. He swung his fist angrily at him and shouted a few curse words.

  Kara waited for David to compose himself and gave Jenny a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, this isn’t the same. We’re meeting Santo.”

  Peter stopped suddenly, and Kara had to jump sideways in order to avoid crashing into him. With his mouth open, he stood staring at a large shop window. A red stenciled sign above his head read, The Techie Shop, Featuring Geek apparel and Merchandise for the most gifted nerds. She could almost see the drool forming at the sides of his mouth while he stared at the hundreds of gadgets on display. She grabbed his jaw and closed it gently.

  “Come on, nerd-boy, we have a meeting to get to.” Kara seized Peter by the arm and hauled him away. A middle-aged couple on the sidewalk pointed at Kara and then turned away as if they were talking about her.

  “From what Ariel told me after the debrief,” said Kara, keeping her eyes on Peter, “we’re meeting in an apartment building. Santo and a few other Sensitives are waiting for us. But we don’t know the specifics.”

  “I don’t like it. All this secrecy...” said David, lowering his eyes. “Smells rotten if you ask me.”

  Kara carefully stepped over a spilled drink of orange goo. “I agree, but we don’t really have a choice. The Sensitives are in bad shape. We have to help them and find the missing children.”

  “Could be another trap,” said David.

  “Maybe, maybe not. It’s a chance we have to take.”

  A lanky young man in loose clothes caught Kara’s eye. His scowl surprised her. She looked away and checked herself in the reflection of shop window. She looked fine, but a feeling of dread crept into her mind like an annoying mosquito. As she suppressed it, she caught David watching her.

  “What did Ariel say about what happened to the people in that village?” asked David.

  Kara shrugged. “She said she’d speak to the council. She doesn’t know how Lilith was able to control the mortals like that. You should have seen her face though; she looked completely freaked out.”

  “A terrified archangel isn’t a good sign. Did she say anything else?”

  Kara rubbed her forehead. “No. But I could sense there was something she wasn’t telling me.”

  “Like what?” More girls passed them, but David kept his eyes carefully on Kara.

  Kara shook her head gently. “I don’t know...something to do with what Lilith did to those poor mortals. I think it’s a weapon.”

  David frowned. “A weapon?”

  “Yes. I saw something in her hands back at the castle. An object, like a small blue pyramid.”

  Another couple with white hair and walking sticks stared and pointed their bony fingers at her as she passed them by.

  Kara frowned and lowered her voice. “David, am I hallucinating, or are the mortals staring at me?”

  “Oh. My. God.” Jenny stopped dead in her tracks and pointed to the buildings across the street.

  A ten-foot long billboard like a giant movie screen was mounted on the roof and Kara’s enormous face looked back down at her. Then screens from neighboring buildings flashed more pictures of Kara’s face. The buildings’ façades were wallpapered with pictures of Kara.

&nb
sp; “Kara? What the—” David leaned forward, a confused expression painted his face. Frowning, he stared at the images for a moment, and then glanced back at Kara questioningly. “Did you see this? You’re huge!” cried David.

  “Great, thanks.” Kara looked over her shoulder.

  Mortals eyed her suspiciously from everywhere. Fingers pointed. Whispers of her name reached her ears. She lowered her head and tried to hide her face behind her bangs. Quietly, she stepped behind David. With her eyes glued on the billboard, she strained to hear any sudden noises or to see any unusual movement in the crowd. She had to be ready for anything.

  Kara froze. She stared at the giant version of herself staring back. It was the weirdest thing, and it freaked her out. Then writing appeared suddenly on one of the plasma screens.

  FBI’S MOST WANTED.

  Young Caucasian woman is wanted on suspicion of bioterrorism.

  Involved in a prior terrorist attack and the death of a French police officer last year, this young woman is linked to the use of infectious agents on the human population.

  The Center of Disease Control has issued a global outbreak warning.

  If you have seen this woman, please contact your local authorities.

  Kara swore.

  The screens flickered and Kara’s face disappeared. An online news feed appeared. A woman with short red hair and a string of pearls wrapped around her neck looked out into the camera. She folded her hands on the desk before her and set her face in a stern expression. Everyone on the sidewalk stood still and listened.

  “Good evening,” her voice echoed on all the screens. “We interrupt your local program at this time to bring you this special bulletin. The Center of Disease Control has issued a global warning about a new virus which has infected two hundred cities across the globe.”

  Kara heard a woman gasp behind her. What was going on?

  “The virus,” continued the newscaster, “is infectious and affects the brain. Once people are infected, they become extremely aggressive and lose all sense of reality. Mothers are killing their own children and children are killing their own parents.”

  The newscaster’s image disappeared and was replaced with a selection of video images of mortals killing one another in the streets. Cities burned. Mortals lay dying. Angry wails thundered out of the screens and echoed through the streets. The infected threw themselves at each other like wild beasts, their eyes rolling in the back of their heads.

  Kara averted her eyes. It was happening a lot faster than she had hoped. Lilith was on a rampage. At this rate, the entire humane race would be infected in a few days.

  “The Center of Disease Control has compared it to the animal rabies virus,” Kara heard the newscaster say and she raised her head to the screen. “It has an aggressive killing nature. The center tells us that there is no anti-virus yet.”

  The newscaster swallowed and fumbled with sheets of paper on her desk before continuing. “The Center of Disease Control is unclear whether the virus is airborne or transmitted through physical contact. The Center urges everyone to stay indoors. Stay in your homes. Be safe.”

  The image flickered and went out.

  Chapter 6

  Most Wanted