Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1

by Kim Richardson

  The Seirs hauled Kara up onto the platform. They bowed and stepped away. Kara stood alone in front of the Seir king.

  His light grey eyes were the only things about it that still looked human. He measured her for a moment. Bolts and wires protruded from his head. Pulsing metal and plastic veins and arteries ran like webs through his flesh. He stood up slowly. His four insect-like legs unfolded, and without another word he turned and clattered towards the giant organ. He sat on a small iron bench.

  With his eyes closed and his face screwed up in concentration, the king struck the keys and the organ screeched and thundered a manic version of Mozart’s Symphony no. 5. The ground shook.

  Kara raised her brows. With all those tubes and wires, there was hardly anything mortal left in him. He was more a creature of metal than a creature of flesh.

  The king stopped playing suddenly, although his hands continued to caress the keys.

  “There is a weapon inside her pant pocket,” said the king without turning around. His voice resonated around the chamber. “Bring it to me.”

  In a moment of panic, Kara backed away and tripped. She fell hard and cried out as the blade in her abdomen slipped deeper into her body. Black vapors burned her eyes as she struggled against the hands that seized her and hauled her back to her feet.

  “Let go of me! Don’t you touch me!” she growled and fought as hard as she could, but she felt the weight of the weapon disappearing from her pocket. How had the Seir king known? Kara’s body went limp, and she sighed in frustration. She watched the Seir examine the Arath. Its crystal was iridescent in the soft green light making it appear more turquoise than blue. He approached the king and kneeled, his arm stretched out before him with the weapon in his hand.

  The king swiveled in his seat, leaned forward and clasped the Arath. He caressed it with his long metal fingers. After studying it for a moment, he stood up and walked over to his metal throne. He placed the weapon carefully atop a rusted iron side table. He sat and glowing green vapors rose around his hand and coiled around his fingers. Long tendrils twisted around his arm and flowed out towards the giant emerald crystal, looping around it like a scarf made of mist.

  Kara frowned. How could a mortal do that? It was seemed he possessed some demon powers, but how could he? He wasn’t demon whatever machine he was connected to. She knew it was keeping him alive. Demons were supernatural entities. They didn’t need anything to keep them alive, because they weren’t.

  The crystal shimmered. Light emanated from the inside until it grew as bright as a star. The group of Seirs stood calmly with their attention glued to the crystal’s brilliance as though they were watching a television program.

  Much to Kara’s horror, a larger than life size image of Lilith’s face appeared in the crystal. Her pallid features brightened at the sight of Kara.

  “You have done well, king Seir,” said Lilith, her voice echoing around them as though magnified by a megaphone. Her black eyes settled on Kara again. “Did she have the weapon on her?”

  “Yes, mistress,” said the king, and Kara heard a little annoyance in his tone. “It is here.” He raised his mechanical arm and pointed to the blue pyramid at his side.

  Lilith’s eyes widened. “How wonderful! I knew I could count on you, dearest sister, to find the other piece of the weapon. You and your legion are so pathetically predictable. You walked so easily into my little game, and all I had to do was sit back and wait and you brought the weapon straight to me. You angels are as worthless as your loving mortals. Mark my words, you’ll be joining them soon enough.”

  Kara blinked the dizzy spell that shook her. The world around her shifted as she focused on the Arath resting on the table. She had failed, and Lilith had played her like a fool to get the weapon. With both pieces of the weapon, she would become an invincible force—and it was all Kara’s fault. She wanted to scream, but her voice caught in her throat.

  “What? Are you trying to say something, sister dear?” said Lilith, a little amused. “No? Nothing to say? How odd. Usually you’re such a chatterbox, an annoying miss know-it-all. Guess you can smell your end is near.” A self-satisfied expression grew on Lilith’s face. Like a giddy little school-girl, she clapped her hands together and laughed hysterically.

  Kara wished she could slap the smile off her face and rip off a fistful of her hair. But the more she struggled the deeper the blade sank into her.

  Lilith’s attention went back to the Seir king. “Get her ready for me. I have a few things to take care of, but I’ll be back within the hour to collect her and give you your bounty.”

  The Seir king was silent for a moment. He appraised Kara again, and then he watched Lilith. He sneered and bowed his head. “Of course, mistress. Your wish is my command.”

  Again Kara detected resentment in his tone, but Lilith didn’t seem to have noticed, or she simply didn’t care. Her face brightened in delight.

  “I’ll see you soon, dearest sister. We have so much to talk about. Kiss, kiss.” With a shimmer Lilith’s face vanished, and the crystal’s luminance dissipated.

  Kara lowered her eyes. The blade’s poison intensified every minute. What a fool she had been, tricked by her half-sister. She had been too confident, and that had been a serious mistake. What could she do now? Lilith would be back to take the weapon, and Kara was manacled, injured, and defenseless. The hopelessness she felt inside was far worse than the blade’s poison.

  “My king?” Croaked a voice behind Kara, and she recognized it as the same Seir leader that had escorted her here. “Shall we prepare the angel for our mistress’s arrival?” The Seir stepped up to the king and bowed low.

  The king blinked and started to hum a tune.

  The lead Seir rose slowly and looked malevolently at Kara. He licked his cracked lips. “If it pleases you my king, I will do it. It would be a great pleasure to show the angel the meaning of true death.”

  Continuing to hum his tune, the king straightened his posture and raised his mechanical hands in the air. He waved them to and fro, as though he were conducting an orchestra.

  The Seir continued, “...as such, her soul will be kept for the mistress—”

  “NO!” the Seir king’s voice boomed throughout the chamber. Pieces of metal broke off from the walls and crashed to the ground. “You will do no such thing.” The Seir leader fell to his knees and lowered his head. The mass of Seirs below the platform followed his example and kneeled.

  “Yes, my king. I meant no disrespect, I apologize.”

  The king relaxed. “Start the engines. We leave in fifteen minutes.”

  “Yes, my king, as you command,” said the lead Seir, and he hurried out the chamber and vanished down the hall.

  The king’s grey eyes settled on Kara. “Prepare the essence chair. It’s not polite to have our special guest stand. She shall be seated for the ritual, as the others have before her.”

  Four Seirs bowed and disappeared through a shadowy rock archway. The rest of the Seirs bowed and left the room with strange self-satisfied smiles on their pallid faces. Kara could hear hushed voices, but she couldn’t decipher what they were saying. It was clear they were in agreement with their king about something.

  Kara frowned. Didn’t Lilith say she’d be back within the hour?

  “Uh...what’s this ritual?” Kara asked. “Is that part of the bounty? What are you going to do with me?” She sensed that the king wasn’t on good terms with Lilith. He appeared to be disobeying her. But what was he planning on doing with Kara? And the weapon? It sat forgotten on the side table like a coaster.

  If only she could get close enough...

  The king ignored her and glanced at something crawling up the wall. He snatched a tiny centipede. It wriggled helplessly between his fingers, and then he popped it into his mouth. The crunching broke the silence. He licked green slime from the corners of his mouth with a black tongue. He spoke next with a mouth full of insect legs and guts.

  “Mm. I’m not handing
you over to the likes of that demon princess,” he said finally. “She is not worthy of the title. She is a fool to think that I obey her commands. I am the king of the Seirs, and she is but a she-demon nuisance. She has no authority over me.” Kara noticed the satisfied grins on the faces of the Seirs that held her.

  Kara raised her brows. “So...if you’re not handing me over to Lilith, then what are you going to do with me?”

  If not Lilith, then who? Who else wanted a piece of her? It hit her then. What if the king were allied with Morthdu? What if Morthdu had a hold on the Seir king? It would explain his power to control that crystal. The blackness she had felt was the same kind of icy feeling she had felt when Morthdu had spoken with her. How were she and Morthdu connected?

  The Seir king leered at Kara with cold grey eyes. “I’m going to ingest your soul, and become the most powerful demon of all.”

 

  Chapter 17

  The Essence Chair