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 though 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
Kara shook her head. This didn’t make any sense. Mortals can’t ingest souls. The Seir king was more metal than flesh, but he was still a mortal, more or less. Or was he?
Kara winced as the blade’s poison burned her mortal flesh. Soon she wouldn’t be able to stand anymore.
“This is crazy. You can’t ingest souls,” she said after a while, her voice echoing around her. “You’re mortal; it’s not possible.” She figured the king was delusional.
The Seir king smiled for the first time and revealed rows of sharp metal teeth like tiny daggers. “But you are wrong, angel. I am no mere mortal.” His smile widened at her confused look. “I’ve been around for many centuries—no mere mortal could live that long, could they? I am something different entirely.” His liquid-like face rippled into a grin.
“What are you then, a machine? How do you continue to live so long?”
From what she could see, the Seir king was probably over a hundred. But centuries, she doubted that. She examined his metal torso. It looked more like a futuristic warrior’s breastplate. She wondered if there was a heart beating underneath all the wires and tubes.
The king raised his arms and pressed his hand against his metal chest. “You see, I’ve been recompensed for my pledge to th
e netherworld—a prolonged life,” he twirled his finger in the air, “with added benefits.”
Kara noticed that his eyes had widened at the mention of benefits. “What kind of benefits?” she asked—figuring he was expecting her to. He seemed keen on having this conversation.
The king made a fist and held it in the air dramatically. “Power.”
Kara made a face. Of course, it was all about power with them. The more power they got, the greedier they became. Seirs were just like demons in that respect, perhaps that was why they longed to be reunited with their cousins from the netherworld.
“I get the power thing, but it doesn’t explain how you’ve lived for as long as you say you have.”
The king leaned forward in his chair. “By experimenting with cybernetics and by dealing with dark powers...powers that would have killed a normal man. But mostly my extended life is a result of dabbling with angel essence.”
Kara felt her soul drain from her. Her knees buckled. “Aangel essence? No...that’s impossible! That doesn’t make any sense.” She sensed her own essence bleeding out as she stood there before him.
His evil smile confirmed her suspicion. “Yes—up till now—regular pitiful angels have satisfied me by prolonging my life, under the teachings of the netherworld of course. But now that I have you...” His eyes widened. “All is changed.”
The king Seir had been using the souls of angels to prolong his life, but how? The notion was sickening to Kara. It was mad. It didn’t make any sense—he was still mortal. She was dealing with a madman.
She stared at the creature-man before her and wondered how many thousands of angels had died to prolong his life. The thought sickened her.
“Whatever your plan is with me...it’ll never work,” Kara spat. “You’ll die, my essence is different from that of the other angels. It’ll kill you. ”
“Kill me?” laughed the king. He stood up proudly on his four legs. “Look at me, I am more creature than man. I cannot die. And soon I will be immortal!”
“All things die,” said Kara under her breath. She grimaced at the sound of his mechanical body clanking. Black fluid seeped through translucent tubes around his body, like leaking blood transfusions.
“When I discovered of your existence,” continued the king, his metal legs screeching like chalk against a blackboard. “I started to plan. I knew your soul would soon be mine. I was patient. I’m a very patient man. I waited until the perfect opportunity arrived and I took it.
“With your angel soul, I will pass through to the other planes and become the most powerful demon in the netherworld. Your special mix of angel, elemental, and demon essence will give me incredible powers. Why settle for a life as a mere higher demon, when I have within my grasp the chance to become a creature of unimaginable power. I will be king of the Seirs, but better yet, king of the demon world as well! Nothing will match my power. Lilith will bow down to me!” The cave walls shook, and Kara felt a tremor pass under her boots.
“I have been waiting for centuries for this opportunity, and now it is mine to take,” said the king with a satisfied smile as he sat back on his throne. “Nothing stands in my way. I will have your essence. All of it.”
Kara felt a feeling of déjà vu. Asmodeus had used her elemental power as a portal to the Mirror of Souls and brought demons through to the mortal world. She had felt responsible, and it still weighed on her heavily. Now this Seir king wanted to use her, too. Her elemental power quivered with resentment deep inside her.
She knew she didn’t have much time left. The only way out of this predicament without injuring anyone was to run. She needed to escape with the weapon and to find the way back to the lift somehow. With the death blade still in her chest, and the manacles around her wrist, her chances were slim. How to get them off? The only blade she had to cut them with was the one sticking out from her chest.
Her elemental power bubbled inside her, and she fought to control it. What would happen if she used it? She couldn’t risk hurting anyone. She would have to escape old-school style—like a regular angel.
A deafening roar shook the craft as the engines kicked into life.
“But Lilith is already on her way,” said Kara, as she tried to ignore the sounds of the engines. “She’ll be here any minute, and she’ll stop you. She’s not as useless as you think. I’ve seen her power.”
The king laughed. “The Grimmer never stays longer than a few hours below a city. We’ll be out of Rome within minutes after the ritual. She will never find us. And once I am all powerful—I will destroy her.”
Kara’s eyes went to the giant clock. The two hands were nearly touching each other at the number twelve.
Loud screeching interrupted her as two Seirs pulled a large trolley towards the throne. The wheels skidded along the metal platform, making a sound like that of daggers dragging along a stone wall. A giant chair made of iron sat on the trolley. Tubes with black liquid wound around the arms and legs like thick black veins. Wires and clockwork contraptions were also wrapped around the chair like a skin. Tiny particles of white sand were scattered around the seat in small piles. Kara noticed that more of the same specks of sand were sprinkled around the arms of the chair.
The Seirs dropped their chains with a loud clang and stepped aside, waiting.
“Cut the manacles and put her in,” said the king and a wicked gleam flashed in his grey eyes. “Make sure her arms are straight—it helps the essence to flow smoothly.”
With a jerk, Kara’s arms were pulled back and then she felt a release. Her arms fell to her sides and her manacles fell to the ground. Light spilled from large lesions around her wrists. She rubbed her wrists—her hands were free.
Mistake number one.
The Seirs each grabbed an arm and threw her into the chair.
“Let go of me!” Kara struggled against their iron grips. “I don’t want to sit. I’d rather stand. Get off!”
The Seir king laughed. “Oh, but you will sit for me, one last time, angel.” He wiggled in his seat anxiously. “I long to taste your essence, and I’m sure it will be...delicious.”
Metal restraints were locked around her wrists and ankles, but they weren’t made of the same metal as the manacles—they were plain old iron. With enough strength, she could probably break them. She gazed at the death blade sticking out of her abdomen. It was draining her energy. She would never be strong enough to break the metal.
She stared down at the seat. Something about the brilliant little particles unnerved her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. They twinkled in the eerie green light like tiny specs of sugar.
“I see you’ve already made your acquaintance with some of your lost kin,” said the king mockingly. “But don’t worry, they were nothing compared to you.”
Kara’s jaw dropped as she stared at the remnants of other angels. Desperately, she bucked in her seat, trying to lift herself from the chair, but the metal restraints were too strong. Burning pain shot through her body with every move as the death blade continued to deplete her energy. She wanted to scream, to cry. She trembled as she stared at the remnants of other dead angels, wondering if she’d become a handful of shiny sand like them.
“You’re sick,” said Kara at last. “How...how could you do this?”
“Don’t look so distressed, angel,” laughed the king, his mechanical voice sending chills down Kara’s back. “You’ll be joining them shortly, I promise you.” He waved his right hand. “Let us begin. I am ready.”
A sudden pain erupted from Kara’s right arm. “What are you doing?” she yelled as she looked down at her arm. “Stop that! Don’t touch me!”
A Seir had perforated her mortal skin with a large grey needle. A transparent tube was attached to its end.
“The ritual, little angel,” sneered the Seir. “We need your special essence—and we’re going to take it all, drop by drop until we bleed you dry.”
More pricks, and the cool sting of needles perforated the skin on both o
f her temples. Soon Kara’s arms, legs, and head were covered by tubes.
Kara glared at the king. “It will never work; my essence will kill you. Stop this now before it’s too late.”
“On the contrary,” said the king, “your essence will give me the strength to rule above all. And now I will have it.”
Once the Seirs had finished working on Kara, they moved over to their king. From the chair they pulled another selection of tubes with metal plugs at their ends. The king leaned back into his chair, grinning. With echoing clicks, his disciples connected the plugs to openings like electrical outlets around his head, torso, limbs, and over his entire body until he, too, was covered by long transparent tubes. Hunger flickered in his cold grey eyes.
Disgusted, Kara looked away. She pulled at her restraints, but it was no use.
With all the tubes finally connected, one of the Seirs walked back to the side of Kara’s chair. He wrapped his hands around a metal lever and yanked it down.
With a sudden jerk, the chair vibrated violently. Immediately, green electricity shot down the sides of the chair and wrapped around Kara like thousands of razor blades cutting into her flesh. She felt as if she were falling into a deep lake and was not able to swim back up to the surface. She looked down and flinched. She felt increasingly cool as her golden essence was sucked out of her and then back into the tubes attached to the Seir king.
Kara watched horrified as her golden essence hit him. His eyes widened as it flowed inside his body. His grey eyes began to shine a brilliant golden color. The ecstatic smile on his face made Kara want to vomit. She wished she could spit in his face.
The death blade cut deeper into her mortal flesh. Her abdomen was paralyzed by the blade’s poison. Her teeth chattered, as her body seemed to pull in opposite directions—as though the blade’s poison fought against the suction on the tubes. She noticed gaps in the fluid flowing through the tubes.
“Get the blade out of her chest,” said the Seir king, his voice soft and nearly human. “I don’t want to lose anymore of her essence. I need all of it,” he said greedily. “Every single drop.”
Seirs, Soul Guardians Book 5 Page 13
