Netherworld, Soul Guardians Book 4 (15 page)

“
It didn’t look like
nothing.”

“
I’m fine really. I
promise.” Kara forced a smile and averted her eyes. She yanked her
arm, but David wouldn’t let go. “I’m okay, David, really. We should
get going. You don’t want to keep Lilith waiting.”

Remnants of the dizzy spell still
lingered inside her, but she ignored them.

David studied Kara’s face for a
moment. Finally he released her arm and brandished two soul blades.
Their glimmer reflected on his grinning face. “All right
then.”

David jumped up and slashed the air in
front of him. “Come on people! We’ve got some demons to cut
up!”

And with that, Kara, David, and Peter
stepped into the Rift.

Chapter 11

The Demon City

K
ara was immediately sucked into a giant vacuum of
nothingness. The void of blackness that surrounded her reminded her
of the wrenching sensation she had felt when she had stepped
through a Rift before. She hated it. She tried to turn her head to
search for the others, but she couldn’t move. She was being dragged
helplessly into a giant funnel. A speck of red light appeared. It
seemed so far away, like a twinkling star. The speck grew until her
surroundings exploded in red light.

Kara was thrown to the ground. She
sneezed into red fluff. Two other bodies crashed onto her, and she
let out a yelp. With great effort she squeezed herself out from
under them. She grabbed a handful of blood red velvet drapes and
pulled herself to her feet. In the process, she knocked her head on
a twirling disco ball.

A giant cockroach greeted
her with a bow. “Kara! Ma ch
é
ri! I knew ’u would come
back to me, mon amour!” He sprung upwards and landed on the panel
next to her, his long red tailcoat rippling around him. His
antennae shaped the form of a heart. “’You cannot live wizout
moi!”

David scrambled to his feet. “Are you
freaking serious? We’re in an elevator with a giant cockroach who’s
in love with you? Please tell me I’m dreaming.”

Peter sat on the ground and adjusted
his glasses. “Whoa…is it friendly?” He cowered against the back
panel and grabbed his ankles. “I never liked roaches. Especially
big ones.”

“
Check it out—the bug’s
wearing clothes.” David inspected the giant cockroach. “Kara, is
this where you landed the first time? In here? With this giant
bug?”

“
Yes and yes.” Kara rubbed
her head and steadied the disco ball. “This is exactly where I
arrived the first time. Where I met Jean-Pierre.”

“
Ah ha! Iz ’ee ’ur
boyfriend?” Jean-Pierre poked David in the chest with his cane. He
observed David suspiciously with beady black eyes. “Iz not very
good looking, ’u know. ’Ee does not smell very good.”

David slapped the cane
away. “Easy there
bug
. You don’t want me to go all terminator on you.”

“
Bug! Non, non, non!” the
bug spat angrily. He tipped his black top hat with his two
forearms. “I am Jean-Pierre. And ’oo are you? What are you doing
’ere?”

“
Jean-Pierre,” Kara stepped
forward. “I’d like you to meet my friends David and Peter. We’re on
a mission to save our friend who was taken against her will into
the netherworld. Will you help us?” Kara flashed her best smile.
She remembered having to kiss the cockroach in order for him to
help her. She prayed he would not ask her to do it again. Not with
David and Peter watching. It would be too humiliating.

Jean-Pierre studied Kara with large
black eyes. Every second or so, he looked over to David and Peter,
then back to her. It was unnerving to be scrutinized by a giant
bug.

“
Angels are forbidden into
ze nezerworld,” said Jean-Pierre at last.

“
But you’ve let me go
before. Please, Jean-Pierre,” Kara pleaded. “This is really
important. Wouldn’t you do everything you could for a friend in
trouble?”

She watched the cockroach’s eyes
carefully for a sign of understanding. She had hoped that
Jean-Pierre would let them pass without question. She hadn’t
anticipated his reluctance.

“’
Zat was
différent,
ma
ch
é
ri. You are not like
zem.” Jean-Pierre followed her every move with his bulging black
eyes. “You ’ave ze demon in you.”

Kara sighed. “Tell me about it.” Kara
started to feel more desperate. Jenny was out there somewhere being
tortured—and Jean-Pierre was giving her a hard time.

Jean-Pierre studied David
and Peter for a moment. His antennae folded over like a question
mark. “But zey do smell a little
différent—what iz dat? Why do you smell
different?”

“
It’s a long story.” Kara held her head in
her hands.
David and Peter had not
been part of the original plan. She had to think of
something.

“
Jean-Pierre…I’ll…I’ll give
you what you want, if you let me and my friends pass through. What
do you say?”

“
What’s going on, Kara?”
David stepped in front of the cockroach. “What does it want?” Kara
saw David reach inside his jacket.

Kara sprung between David and
Jean-Pierre and pushed away his blade. “Jean-Pierre, my friend
Jenny needs our help.” She pressed her hands together. “I beg you.
Please let us pass.”

Jean-Pierre eyeballed David. The disco
ball reflected in his eyes. “I zee that you ’ave replaced moi with
’im.” He pressed his forearms against his chest. “My ’eart iz
broken.”

“
Jean-Pierre,
please—”

“
I will die of ze broken
’art.” The cockroach raised its middle legs to silence her. “I
request a lock of your ’air. And zen you may pass.”

David laughed. “That’s it? Man, you
want some of mine, too?”

Kara elbowed David in the chest. She
reached up and cut a lock of her hair with her soul blade. She
twirled the hairs together gently and handed the lock to the
cockroach. “Thank you, Jean-Pierre. This means the world to
us.”

Jean-Pierre took the hair,
smelled it, and folded it carefully in the front pocket of his
jacket. He leaped into the air and landed on a plush red chair
facing the control panel. With a crooked arm, he reached out and
pressed a black button with the word
DOWN
. Immediately, the elevator shuddered, and they
started their decent.

Seconds later
the elevator doors slid open with a screech. Kara
stepped out. Wind hit her face. The smell of rotten flesh burned
her nose. She looked down. “Thank you Jean-Pierre. We’ll see you
again soon.”

Jean-Pierre threw himself
dramatically over his chaise, a forearm
over his forehead, “Au revoir, mon amour!”

“
Okay. Let’s get out of here before he
changes his mind.” David came up beside Kara. His blades hung at
his side. Peter followed behind David.

Kara hesitated for a moment, and then drew her soul
blade
. She
readied herself. David and Peter stepped into the netherworld
behind her.

Violent g
usts of wind slapped their faces and tore at their clothes.
Kara covered her eyes. She couldn’t see anything past the blizzard
of dust. Impenetrable grey skies rained thick embers down on them.
Thunder cracked from above. She called out to David, and he took
her hand. She struggled forward blindly. The winds had not been
this strong the first time she ventured into the demon realm. It
was as though the winds were trying to push them out. They were
unwelcome here. Kara gagged at the horrid stink of rotten flesh.
She could almost taste it in her mouth—

Kara…help
me
.

Kara staggered back. Jenny’s voice
echoed in her ears. She wasn’t sure if it was really her friend’s
voice. It was most probably Lilith trying to trick her. But it
sounded just like Jenny. She shook her head and pressed
on.

They’re hurting me,
Kara…please help me…

A cry formed in the back of Kara’s
throat. She did her best to ignore the voice. She told herself it
wasn’t Jenny’s and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the
other. Her head snapped back. Brutal winds circled her. She lost
her footing for a second and then balanced herself. With a renewed
sense of determination, she lowered her head and pushed through the
wall of wind. She heard David and Peter struggling behind
her.

Kara, why are you letting
them hurt me? I thought you were my friend?

Kara cried out into the blizzard. Her
knees shook, and she dragged her feet forward. It’s not Jenny’s
voice, she repeated to herself. She let go of David’s hand and ran
forward angrily. Her fists tightened as she shook with rage. She
flailed her arms savagely against the strong winds. The smell of
rotten flesh choked her. She made her eyes into slits and strained
to see through the storm. A grey desert spread out for miles before
them. Where was the casino? Dread crept inside her. Were they
lost?

Something grabbed hold of Kara’s
boots.

She looked down. Two blood-red human
hands sprouted out of the sand and wrapped themselves around her
ankles. With sudden force, the hands pulled. Kara lost her balance
and fell down to her knees. Her soul blade slipped out of her hand
and vanished under a wave of sand. The sand around her knees
rippled like grey waters. She kicked out her legs savagely. Six
more hands shot out of the sand and latched onto her legs. Her legs
were pinned together forcefully. She tried to jerk her legs free,
but it was like kicking through a cement block. She was terrified.
More hands grabbed hold of her legs from under the sand. She could
hear echoes of laughter above the howling storm.

Welcome home,
Kara…

Her body was wrenched down deeper.
Kara screamed at the top of her lungs as the quicksand sucked her
in. Liquid sand brushed against her waist. She reached out and
grabbed a fistful of sand. It was no use. There was nothing solid
to rescue her. Frantically, Kara felt around inside her jacket for
another blade. Her fingers brushed the handle—

You belong with
us…

Another sharp tug. Fluid sand swept
against her chest and under her armpits. Red hands grabbed fistfuls
of her jacket. Kara’s neck jerked forward. She wailed as she tried
to pry the fingers off of her, but the hands were like solid rock.
Coldness spread to her neck. Something red caught the corner of her
eye. A hand covered her face as she tried to scream. She retched at
the stink of blood. Desperately, Kara fought against the hands that
pulled her down. She heard her name above the whistling winds.
Through the spaces between her fingers, a silhouette of a figure
moved through the storm—a toss of blonde hair—a brown leather
jacket.

David fell to his knees inches away
from the quicksand. More black hands sprung from the quicksand.
With a thrash of his arm, David slashed at the hands. Black blood
sprayed the ground around him.

“
Kara—give me your hand!”
David threw out his right hand. Kara leaned forward and grabbed it.
He tossed his soul blade away and clasped his other hand around her
wrist. He arched his back and pulled. Her body lifted
slowly.

More hands gripped around Kara’s legs
and body. With a sudden powerful jerk, they pulled her down again.
David’s grip started to slip.

“
It’s not working!” David
yelled through the gust of winds.

Peter appeared at his side. He lunged
forward and grabbed a hold of Kara’s arm. With tremendous force,
the two of them yanked. It was like a game of tug-of-war, only this
time Kara’s body was the rope. She was sure her arm was about to
rip off.

David and Peter pulled with all their
might. With a pop, she felt a sudden release. Kara soared out of
the quicksand and crashed into her friends. She rolled over and
coughed up the sand from her mouth. She patted herself down. All
her weapons were gone. Her pants were torn, but she was unharmed.
David pulled her into a tight embrace. His body trembled. He sighed
against her neck and squeezed her tenderly. Kara shivered against
him, and wished silently that she could stay like that forever. He
pushed her away slowly. He studied her face with gentle eyes and
smiled.

“
Told you you’d need our
help.” David’s voice rose slightly against the howling
wind.

Kara’s lips trembled, but her voice
was steady. “Thank you. I don’t know how I could have gotten out
without your help.”

David’s face lit up in a triumphant
smile, and Kara was lost for a moment in his brilliant blue
eyes.

“
Look!” Peter pointed to
the quicksand. The round sand pool started to boil. Sand bubbles
popped above the surface. A whirlpool formed in the center. Black
liquid emerged and mixed into the sand, until the entire area was
covered in a thick black goo.

“
I don’t even want to know
what
that
is,”
said David. He pulled Kara to her feet. She eyed the black pool
apprehensively and stepped back. She remembered the laugh she heard
above the howling storm. The laugh was Lilith’s, but the voice
wasn’t.