Netherworld, Soul Guardians Book 4 (7 page)

“
Not before I add some
needed color to yours—
clowny
.” David stood his ground and
grinned.

The seirs broke away from the SUV and
circled them. Their black leather coats spilled about them like
liquid capes. The thump of their heavy boots cut through the eerie
silence. The stench of rotten flesh burned Kara’s nose. Their death
blades hung loosely in their hands. They were all over six feet
tall and loomed over Kara and the others easily. Their thick
muscles rippled beneath their black clothes.

Kara glanced behind her. She flinched.
The elemental was gone.

“
David…she’s
gone—”

Jenny screamed. She held her stomach
and fell to her knees. Her bow hit the ground at her feet. A death
blade protruded from her stomach. Black mist surged around the
blade and coiled around her face. The wicked laughter of the seirs
sounded all around them and one of them stood before Jenny with a
self-satisfied look on his face.

Kara jumped to Jenny’s aid. The blade
burned into the flesh on her M-suit’s hand as she pulled out the
black dagger and tossed it away. Then Kara grabbed a handful of the
seir’s coat and pulled him around to face her. She kicked him hard
in the stomach. The man stumbled backwards and laughed. Kara’s
anger flared. With her blade in her hand she lunged for his
neck—but sliced the air instead. The seir had slipped away easily
to the side. His laugh echoed in her ears. Kara lost herself in her
rage as she unleashed her fury. She turned and wielded her
blade—

“
Kara stop!” David caught
Kara’s arm in midair and forced it down.

With venom still in her
eyes, she yanked her arm free from his grip. “What do you
mean
stop
? He
tried to kill Jenny! They’re crazy. We have to stop them! They have
death blades! They want to kill us!”

Jenny staggered to her feet and
clutched her stomach. Her bow shook in her hands.

“
You don’t understand. I
should have told you. We can’t
harm
them.” David’s face was a mixture of anger and
uncertainty. He glared at the men, and then settled his gaze back
on Kara. His body shook, and she could sense he was fighting to
contain himself.

Kara threw her hands in the air.
“What? Are you serious? Who says we can’t? These are wicked,
murderous men intent on killing us. You heard him. He wants to kill
you!” A harmony of sickly chortles rose in the air. The seirs were
enjoying themselves.

David put a hand on her arm. “We can’t
hurt mortals. Even the worst of them,” said David. “We can’t touch
or harm them…ever.”

Kara looked at him in frustration. She
shook her head like a stubborn child and tried to collect herself.
“But…that can’t be true. Surely there are exceptions to the
rules…these men tried to kill Jenny. What about self-defense? Don’t
these rules apply here as well?”

“
You should listen to the
boy. What he says is true.” The seirs’ leader smiled widely. He ran
his hand over his bald head. “You have sworn to protect
all
mortals. And that
includes us. If you harm us—you harm yourselves.”

“
If we kill a mortal,”
interrupted Peter softly, with a look of terror. “Our angel essence
dies. A detail in the guardian angel contract that we sealed by the
oath we all took on our very first day at Orientation. The star on
our foreheads—remember?” He pointed to his forehead and wrapped his
arms around himself.

Kara pressed her index finger to her
forehead. She remembered how excited she had been after the oracle
had branded her with a star. She really had no idea at the time
what it had implied. She was still confused about its meaning. She
dropped her hand and gritted her teeth.

“
Fine,” said Kara angrily.
She sheathed her blade. “I trust what my friends tell me. I won’t
lay a hand on you—even if it’s killing me. I really just want to
rip off that ugly head of yours. Just get out of our way, and we’ll
get out of yours.”

The seir leader lifted his
arms in the air. His coat billowed out like giant bat wings. “But
you are in
our
way. Roaming in my city without my permission comes with a
price. I can’t let you just walk away, my little angels. You have
to suffer the consequences of your little trip.”

Kara glared at them. She’d had just
enough of these freaks. “Stop playing with us. We don’t have time
for this. We’ll be leaving now—”

“
I don’t think
so.”

The seirs lashed out suddenly. Two of
them came for Kara at once. They waved their blades skillfully and
sliced into her M-suit’s flesh. Kara cried out in pain as the
liquid fire of the death blade’s poison made its way through her
body. She stepped back and tried to avoid getting cut. She tripped
and fell onto the ground, just as a death blade came slicing above
where her head had been a second ago. She rolled around and jumped
to her feet. Another strike. This time Kara lost a chunk of her
thigh. Light shot out from her wound. She clenched her jaw and
ignored the pain. Kara tried desperately to scramble away, but the
men were too fast.

She couldn’t fight back for fear of
hurting them. These were not mere mortals. They fought as
combatants with years of fighting skills under their belt. They
jumped up and ran easily across walls, their long coats rippling in
the air like wings. They attacked with precision and grace, like
ninjas from hell. They were extremely fast, and Kara wondered how
mortal men could fight so well against angels. She thought about
calling out to her elemental power, but that could be disastrous
against mortals. If what her friends told her was true, using her
elemental power against them would surely end up killing her in the
process. They were losing this battle. The odds weren’t in their
favor.

Thumps and wails echoed all around
them. She caught glimpses of her friends avoiding blows and
blocking deadly strikes. Jenny was suddenly backed into a corner,
her green eyes wide with fear. Her bow was armed with an arrow—but
she never used it.

Kara recognized Peter’s cry. She
wiggled herself free momentarily and limped to Peter’s aid. He lay
on the ground in a fetal position, his arms wrapped around his
stomach. She kneeled over him protectively. Fists flew and Kara was
hit hard against her temple. She fell forward and landed on Peter.
Her head throbbed. Stinging poison gushed into the side of her
head.

“
That’s enough,” a harsh
voice called, silencing the sounds of battle instantly. “You’ve had
your fun. We don’t want them too spoiled—not just yet. Round them
up. We’re leaving.”

Strong hands yanked Kara to her feet.
Her vision blurred, and she strained to see her companions. A shady
version of Jenny appeared by her side. Her head hung down on her
chest. The white pasty faces of two seirs hovered over her. They
roughed her up, and slapped her hard in the face. Jenny looked up.
She held Kara’s eyes for a moment before letting her head fall
again. It was enough for Kara to see the terror and pain in her
eyes. Feet shuffled behind her. A pair of seirs dragged David and
Peter to her other side. Kara noticed that Peter seemed to be doing
better. She sighed in relief. The angels huddled together in
silence and waited.

“
Tie their hands and
blindfold them,” said the leader.

Kara’s arms were wrenched backwards
forcefully. Burning flamed around her wrists. Someone pulled her
arms together briskly, and some sort of wire was clamped tightly
around her wrists. She fought against her manacles, but it was no
use. The material was unbreakable, even for her.

“
We’re so screwed…” said
David. A seir placed a piece of black cloth over his eyes and tied
it tightly behind his head with a jerk. “Blind and totally screwed.
You’d think I’d be enjoying myself.” He cocked his head forward.
“By the way, my friend, your breath stinks—it’s nasty—I’d give you
a mint…but my hands are tied.” David grinned, and he was rewarded
with a hard punch across his face. “Ouch. I knew you liked it
rough.”

Finding some inner strength, Jenny
kicked and struggled desperately against her captors. “Get away
from me you beasts!” They finally pinned her down, and slammed a
knee into her back. Jenny cried out. Once she stopped struggling,
they tied her wrists, hauled her back on her feet, and then wrapped
a blindfold around her eyes. She clamped down her teeth savagely,
inches from their fingers.

Peter’s head was yanked back
forcefully as a seir blindfolded him.

“
There are worse things
than the dark, little angel,” mocked the seir, in a deep rough
voice. Once he was done, he hit Peter on the head with the handle
of his death blade. Peter moaned. The seir laughed, and Kara
watched him climb into the back of one of the SUVs.

Jenny nudged against him. “I’m here,
Peter, don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. We’ll figure out a way
to get out of this mess.”

Kara stiffened as a seir blindfolded
her. An icy ripple of panic washed through her. The seir pulled the
blindfold tightly around her head. Kara couldn’t even blink if she
wanted too. Her eyes were pinned open. She stared into the
blackness. It was like opening your eyes in the middle of the
night, while you waited for your eyes to adjust to the darkness.
Only this time, the darkness remained. Her panic was soon replaced
with anger. Wild energy surged through her, and she fought to
control it. She searched for a calmness that didn’t
come.

“
Where are you taking us?”
hissed Kara. She continued to struggle and tried to free herself
from her bonds but it was impossible. She couldn’t stand being
handcuffed. Her hands started to shake. Being blind was a million
times worse than she could have ever imagined. It was like being a
caged animal.

“
You know, you’re going to
pay for this. I’m sure kidnapping angels is a capital offense…no
matter which master you serve.”

An engine roared into life. Tires
crunched pebbles and glass against the concrete. A door opened and
heavy boots sounded around them.

“
Put them in,” ordered the
leader’s voice.

Strong hands grabbed Kara. Her boots
dragged behind her for a few paces and then her body was lifted off
the ground. She was tossed into the SUV forcefully. Her head hit
something hard, and she crumbled on a hard surface. Another weight
crushed down on her.

“
Sorry, Kara,” said David.
She felt him roll off her to the side. His body brushed against
hers.

“
How did you know it was
me?” Kara heard a thump, and recognized Jenny’s angry groan and a
few curse words that would make any football coach
proud.

“
I smelled your perfume.”
Even in the darkness, Kara knew David was grinning. It made her
furious.

“
I don’t wear perfume,”
said Kara irritated.

“
Then I must have
recognized your overall natural smell.” Kara lifted her leg and
side kicked him hard.

On her back, she pulled at her
restraints again, but they only sliced deeper into her wrists. She
gritted her teeth at the pain. Exasperated, Kara let her head fall
against a hard platform. “I can’t believe this is happening! We’re
supposed to be chasing the elemental. How are we ever going to find
her now? We’re being kidnapped!”

A boot smacked Kara in the face. “Hey!
Watch it.”

“
Sorry,” said Peter. He
struggled to turn himself around and stepped on everyone in the
process. She was sure she heard him giggle.

Doors slammed shut around them. The
SUV wavered as the seirs climbed in. The angels were piled in
tightly like a can of sardines. Kara knew they weren’t in the soft
backseat, but rather squeezed into the vehicle’s back trunk, like
bloody body bags courtesy of the local mob. With a click, the doors
were locked. She lifted her leg and kicked at the door. It wouldn’t
budge. Her body was pinned tightly between the side of the SUV and
David. She was sure he was enjoying this part.

With a sudden jerk, the SUV kicked
into life. The engine roared and the tires squealed as they rolled
forward. Kara’s body shook with the SUV’s forward momentum. The
vehicle made a sharp turn, and everyone was thrown on top of Kara.
Once everyone had apologized and rolled off, the SVU made two more
turns, and then drove steadily for about twenty minutes.

The sound of vehicles passed them by.
Kara was growing restless. “Has anyone ever heard of angels being
kidnapped by a bunch of seriously deranged mortals
before?”

“
I’ve never heard of clowns
abducting angels before,” answered David. “It’s news to me. Maybe
they’re taking us to the circus? Might be fun. I’ve never been to
the circus before.”

“
I’ve heard that they’ve
attacked a few sensitives and mortals,” muttered Peter from his
sandwich position between David and Jenny. “But that was more than
a century ago. I don’t think the legion is aware of what’s
happening. I think they’ve forgotten about the seirs.”

Kara didn’t like the sound of that.
Clearly the seirs were known in Horizon, otherwise David and Peter
wouldn’t have heard of them. But the fact that the legion might
have forgotten about them all this time put Kara more on edge. This
was new territory. They found themselves with an old and deadly
enemy that they couldn’t fight. How were they going to get out of
this mess, if they couldn’t even fight back? Were they just
supposed to let the seirs kill them? It was crazy. There had to be
a way around the rules.