Silence spread along the great table. No one moved until Cassiel finally spoke.
“I want three teams to go after Catherine,” his voice shook. “Jenny. Peter. Amit. Take your partners and go! Now! Pick up your weapons on the way—and be careful. Just retrieve her. I don’t want any more losses.”
“But sir—I don’t think she made it,” said the guardians who had given Kara a nasty look before. “You’re risking more lives.”
Cassiel’s shoulders tensed. His face darkened, and he pulled himself straight. “We’re not leaving any angel behind!” His handsome face grimaced, and Kara took an involuntary step back. “Would you like to be left behind—Samuel?”
Samuel lowered his eyes. “No sir. I was just—”
“Right then.” Cassiel turned his head and looked at each guardian. “Demons—” he slammed his fist on the table, “—we kill them!”
“Here here!” cried the guardians around the table. Cassiel grinned, and Kara felt as if she were watching a football coach prepping up his team before a game.
“Okay! Let’s get moving people! Let’s get Catherine and bring her home!”
The Field Division all jumped to their feet and scattered away like rats. Kara fidgeted on the spot as she watched them go. She wondered if any would make it back. A new breed demon had nearly finished her off. She hoped their special talents would save them.
“Kara.”
Kara flinched and looked up at a smiling Jenny.
“You’re with me, girl. You’re my new partner.”
“All right, partner.” Kara offered a faint smile. She was happy to be paired with Jenny. She liked her, and she believed Jenny liked her, too. Her mind wandered for a moment. She remembered the first time she was paired with David, and how they had escaped the shadow demons by plunging into an old woman’s dirty toilet. She found herself wondering if David was still upset that he was overlooked for a promotion to level five. He probably was. But she also remembered the sadness in his eyes.
“You’re in good hands, Jenny.” Cassiel walked over to them. “Kara is an exceptional guardian. She saved us from Asmodeus. And Gabriel tells me that she has incredible powers. If anyone can bring Catherine back to us, it’ll be you, Kara.”
Guilt fluttered inside Kara. She felt a wave of panic. How could she tell him he was mistaken? She wasn’t a great guardian, and she didn’t know how to wield her powers.
“Well, I can’t wait to see her kick some new breed ass.”
Jenny pulled on a sleeveless black bomber jacket.
“Quickly—I’ll explain all the procedures when we get there, but first we need to fill you up with weapons.” She opened her jacket and revealed the pockets. “You should already have a few things inside your jacket pockets.”
“Yes,” answered Kara. She watched Cassiel march away back to the table. “I noticed when I put it on. What are these?” She held out her hand and showed Jenny the marbles.
Jenny took a marble and lifted it up. “These babies are hiloglobes. They connect you directly with CDD headquarters. You activate them like this—” Jenny held a hiloglobe between her thumb and index finger. Then she pressed down on it. The top of the marble opened and lifted like a hat, showing a metal device within. “Then you put it on the ground at your feet and step back a little. It gives a hologram of yourself and direct communication with CDD.”
Kara stared at the tiny ball. “Like what we saw with Catherine.”
“Exactly.” Jenny pressed on it again, and the top part of the marble fastened itself back. “Here—quickly, we have to go.” She handed the hiloglobe back to Kara. “Follow me.”
Jenny dashed towards the left side of the hall, her skinny legs kicking up behind her like a gazelle. Kara ran to catch up. Jenny pressed her palm on a screen, and a door in the metal wall in front of her lifted. Hundreds of different weapons rested on shelves.
“Can you use these?” Jenny reached inside and pulled out a silver bow and a quiver packed with silver arrows with light blue feather fletching at the ends.
Kara ignored Jenny and wrapped her hand around a gleaming silver sword, a Soul Blade. “I’m much better with a blade.” She twisted it with her wrist. It felt nice and cool in her hand. She would do some damage with this.
“Good, then. Take four!”
Kara took three other Soul Blades, while Jenny took two and pulled the quiver over her shoulders.
“Okay—there’s one more thing we need to do.” Jenny stepped to her right and picked up a glass jar. She held the jar out and shook it for Kara to see. Tiny transparent creatures moved inside.
Kara grew uneasy. “Um … what are those?” She had watched many science fiction movies in her mortal days, and wondered if these little creepy crawlers were more dangerous than they looked.
Jenny unscrewed the top of the jar easily. “These are tracker mites. You can easily track any CDD guardian with these—and we can communicate using them. Look—”
Kara watched Jenny grab a tracker mite by one of its legs and drop it near her ear. The bug crawled around and settled on the outside of her ear. It looked exactly like a beetle, except it was transparent, and its shell gave off a soft silver glow. It looked like a comfortable hearing aid.
“Here, take yours.” Jenny handed Kara another tracker mite.
With her face twisted in disgust, Kara grabbed the mite by one of its legs and brought it towards her ear. She shivered as she felt little pricks as it crawled inside her ear. She sensed the bug settle, and then she realized she hardly felt it anymore. A slight beep every once in a while was the only indication that it was still there.
“You ready?” asked Jenny with a reassuring grin.
“I’m ready.”
“Let’s go.” Jenny jogged to the far end of the round chamber, to a back area Kara hadn’t noticed yet. They passed more cubicles and holographic screens along the way. Each time Kara would meet the stares of the angels looking up from their desks. She heard murmurs as she passed by. Some actually pointed, as though she couldn’t see them. She felt as on her first day at a new school, when the teacher plants you in front of the class and forces you to talk about yourself and your tongue gets pasty and sticks in your mouth. If all they did was staring, she could live with that.
Jenny stopped suddenly, and with Kara looking all around, bumped into her.
“Sorry. I didn’t see you—what the—?” Kara backed slowly away from Jenny with her mouth open.
At the back of the chamber four giant rectangular blocks of greenish water that looked like toxic waste sat on a great table. They looked like aquarium tanks without the glass walls.
“Vega tanks,” said Jenny, matter-of-factly.
Kara stepped to the side and watched as two other guardians, Peter and his enormous and muscled partner stepped to either side of one of the vega tanks and turned to face everyone. Then they took another side step, and with a bright light—they vanished.
They’re like the pools—but different, thought Kara.
The guardians, Amit, a tall Middle Eastern young man, and his partner, a short middle aged and determined looking Asian woman were the next. Without any hesitation, they both walked into the water tanks and their bodies disintegrated into the water.
It was Kara’s turn now. The first time Kara travelled by Vega was terrifying, but then she learned to love it. It was always sort of an adrenaline rush. To wake up back on Earth with a new body suit was weird but exciting at the same time.
“Will the toxic green color eat away at my soul?” she asked Jenny. “It looks kinda nasty. And it’s a bit thicker than the water in the pools from Operations.”
“That’s because it’s the M-5 series.”
Kara turned to face Jenny. “The M-5 series? Sounds like an expensive luxury car.”
“Mortal suit series five. The green is an extra coat of protection—don’t ask me what it is because I don’t know. What I do know is that these babies are the strongest suits in the entire Legion. They’re design
ed to keep you on Earth longer, and have a stronger resistance to the demons.”
Kara wondered if that were true. They didn’t seem to keep Catherine safe at all, or her team. From what she saw on the hologram, it didn’t seem to matter what suit you had on. The new breeds of demons were fierce, and Kara wasn’t sure how they would defeat them.
“Let’s go,” said Jenny. She grabbed Kara by the hand and pulled. “Don’t worry, it’s exactly like the pools you’ve used before—trust me.”
It wasn’t the tanks that made Kara skittish, she realized, but what waited on the other side. If Jenny thought that Kara was some sort of super hero, then the others probably thought that too. She wondered what would happen to her when they found out she was a fraud.
Jenny stepped in front of the tank. “I’ll see you on the other side, girl!” She stepped into the wall of water and in less than a second she had vanished.
Kara made fists with her hands and followed.
In a flash of white light, she disappeared, too.
Kara followed Jenny along 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York. Everything around her had a greenish tint to it. No doubt from the green water, she figured. She could sense the additional power in these new suits, like an extra adrenaline shot, pushing her body harder. She felt as though she could pick up a car and throw it, like some superhero from her comic books. She wasn’t entirely sure how much stronger these suits were, but she was anxious to find out.
Due to the green overlay in her vision, the sky appeared to be a mixture of deep orange and dark brown. Enormous stone and glass buildings surrounded them on either side. Massive billboards and televised screens the size of a bus illuminated the night sky. She smelled roasted peanuts and asphalt. Thousands of locals and tourists scrambled along the streets, laughing and enjoying the city life. Two magnificent brown steeds with legs as tall as a grown man, trotted alongside the cars. Their riders, two police officers, surveyed the concrete jungle from above. The horses and their riders seemed so out of place to Kara.
They passed the theatre district, and went north on 8th Street. Kara had never been to New York, and she smiled as she recognized the famous yellow cabs that honked on the streets.
Although Jenny was shorter than Kara, she was a lot faster. Kara had to jog to keep up with her. After about a five minute walk on 8th Street, they turned west on West 48th Street. They passed tall brown stone buildings and small shops before they finally turned into a dark alley way. The other guardians were already there. Kara immediately recognized Peter and his huge partner. They stood in front of a battered red brick wall. The smell of last week’s garbage rose into her nose. There was no sign of Amit and Aiko.
Peter turned and looked up as they approached.
“The doorway is closed.”
He opened his palm, and a tiny red sphere hovered above it, like a floating marble. He moved his hand around an area on the brick wall.
“I’m not getting anything—and there’s no sign of Catherine anywhere. Amit and Aiko went inside this building.” Peter cocked his head towards an old metal door. It was covered in rust, like a cancer.
“Amit said he got a weak signal—so they went to check it out. But, something’s wrong. I can feel it.”
“You two haven’t been properly introduced.” Jenny jumped between Peter and Kara and lifted her arms. “Kara, this is Peter. Peter’s a total geek—”
“Hey!” protested Peter. He pushed up his glasses and then scratched the back of his neck.
“—but he’s the best geek in the Legion. He’s the one who designs and builds all this spy-gadget stuff—like that red ball he’s holding—and the tracker mites. That’s why he’s with the division and not operating the elevators.”
Kara smiled kindly at Peter. “Very impressive. It’s nice to meet you, Peter.”
With a tiny smile, Peter’s eyes widened. He stared at the ground.
Kara stepped towards the brick wall. “You said that something was wrong.”
She strained trying to see a shimmer or anything unusual against the brick, like she had seen on the holographic screen, but she couldn’t perceive anything.
“What’s wrong, Peter? I don’t see anything.”
Peter sighed loudly. “We lost two teams in one simple field operation—Catherine’s team and Mateo’s.” He popped the red sphere inside his bomber jacket. He met Kara’s gaze. “… without a trace. That doesn’t happen. It doesn’t make any sense!”
Peter looked back over his shoulder nervously, and Kara wondered if this was his first field operation.
“You said Amit got a weak signal?” Jenny tapped her tracker mite several times, and Kara realized she had forgotten to use hers. “I’m not getting anything.”
Kara pressed gently on her tracker mite. She heard a small pop, then a click. Her ear drum was suddenly loud with static sounds. Then she heard Jenny’s voice burst out so loudly it made her jump. Embarrassed, she pressed the tracker mite one last time and remembered not to do that again.
“I told you—it stinks!” Peter threw his hands in the air. “Something’s not right here. Maybe we should go … and … and get reinforcements.”
Kara stared at Peter’s petrified face. She wondered why he was in the division. Clearly, he was frightened beyond his wits. Why would they have someone like him on the field? Shouldn’t he be back at the division working on some new invention?
Peter’s heavy-set partner stepped forward. Kara believed the ground shook a little. “I have to agree with Peter. I’m Fred by the way—” he stuck out a large hand before Kara.
Kara shook his hand. “Kara.” She smiled warmly. She felt as though she was shaking the hand of a gorilla.
“Smells like a trap, if you ask me,” said Fred. He trundled up and down the alley like a grizzly bear.
Kara wasn’t sure. “Maybe we should go in after them—just in case.” She remembered Catherine’s terrified face, and knew she couldn’t live with herself if they left them there.
She looked at Jenny and then at Peter. “If it stinks, like you say—then we should get them out of there—”
A scream startled everyone.
Kara looked up. “What the—?”
“That’s Aiko! Quick!” Jenny bolted towards the old rusted metal door and pulled it open. She ran inside without saying a word to anyone. Fred went rocketing through the door behind her.
“Come on, Peter!” roared Kara as she bounded towards the doorway. Peter hesitated for half a second, and then he dashed after her.
Kara pulled out a Soul Blade. She grasped the handle firmly in her hand and ran down a narrow hallway. She came to a set of stairs.
Jenny was nowhere in sight.
She heard loud thumps from the floors above—then a terrifying scream and the clatter of weapons.
Kara gripped the black metal railing and ran up the stairs three at a time. She felt as agile as a cat, effortlessly running up the stairs, as though she were walking. She felt the strength in her new M-5 series suit rush through her. It was at least ten times stronger than her regular M suits, she figured. More powerful with more torque, the Cadillac of M suits. David would have loved it.
Kara bounded up through the building to the source of the noise. She pushed open an exit door, ran into a hallway, and stopped—
In front of her, Jenny was squared off against a shadow demon. Its grotesque shape was only visible momentarily, before it shimmered and began transforming into a cloud of black smoke.
With incredible speed, Jenny reached behind her, adjusted a silver arrow against the bow, pulled the bowstring and loosed an arrow. Kara was amazed at Jenny.
A silver train followed the arrow as it propelled itself towards the shadow demon. It hit. Silver sparks exploded all around the demon. The demon shrieked. Silver droplets rolled off its rotten flesh. Jenny hit it with another arrow, just as it turned to pounce.
Kara turned towards an even more horrendous creature at the far end of the corridor. A g
iant demon thrashed back and forth. It had four human heads with gaping mouths and the body of a great insect. Its pointy slimy wings stretched out and beat the air behind it like a monstrous fly. Its insect body was intertwined with its human parts, a stretched and torn mass of tissue and shell. Black blood shone on its shell. The smell of dead things and decaying flesh hung thickly in the air.
Kara shuddered. Fred hung in its grasp, lifeless like a giant ragdoll.
Kara heard footsteps and Peter arrived.
“AH!” he wailed and recoiled against the wall. He flattened himself like a pancake, trying to squeeze his body through the stone wall. His eyes were locked onto the beast.
“Peter! Come on!” urged Kara.
But he only shook his head. He trembled. He wasn’t a fighter. Kara turned and glared at the new breed.
She held up her blade and ran forward. She dashed by Jenny and the shadow demon, focused only on saving Fred. The new breed’s black blood was the acid that had killed Tom and almost killed her. She couldn’t let it touch her skin.
She stopped and studied the creature. As she hesitated, the demon’s four heads turned as they saw her. The head on the top stretched its mouth abnormally long, and its glowing red eyes focused on the unconscious Fred. With one of its stick-like legs it brought Fred towards its gaping maw.
In a flash, Kara threw her blade. It pierced through the demon’s eye.
The creature threw back its head and wailed. The eerie sound of dead human voices crying on its back made Kara wince. It thrashed around on everything it could reach. White smoke coiled from where the blade had touched the demon’s skin.
The demon faltered backwards for a moment.
Then it reached out and pulled out the blade from its eye. It threw the blade away, and Kara watched it bounce along the ground.
Black blood spilled from the demon’s eye socket. The four heads screamed a piercing, stabbing wail that attacked Kara like knifes. She faltered, covered her ears, and when she was about to fall over, the screaming stopped.
She looked up.
The creature stood staring at her. Kara saw an eerie intelligence flash in its red eyes.
It turned away from her, opened all its mouths and covered Fred in a vomit of black blood acid. Fred only had time for a small whimper—then his body dissolved, and his clothes floated to the ground, like dried leaves.
Then the demon turned and focused on Kara. It cocked its heads as though challenging her next move.
Kara pulled out two Soul Blades, and grasped them tightly in each trembling hand.
“Kara! This way!”
Jenny and Peter ran out the exit.
Without hesitating, Kara ran back past the remnants of the shadow demon that Jenny had killed and followed her comrades out the door. Jenny and Peter bolted up the stairs.
“Wait! Why are we going up?” cried Kara. “Shouldn’t we be going down!”
“I saw more shadow demons below. We’ll take our chances on the roof!” yelled Jenny.
“You think that’s wise?” shouted Kara. Jenny didn’t answer.
They clambered up the remaining two stories and pushed open the door to the roof.
Kara cried in surprise, fell to the ground, rolled to her side and pushed herself up, still holding her two Soul Blades in her hands. She hated the white hair, grayish skin, black hollow eyes and gray tailored suits of the three higher demons who stood in front of her.
“Stay close!” Jenny pulled out another silver arrow and sidestepped to her left. Kara heard a whimper and saw Peter back up and head towards the roof’s ledge.
“What have we here, brothers? Three more little piglets?” laughed the closest of the higher demons. His grayish skin stood out white against the darkening skyline. His eyes were bottomless holes. “The master will be very pleased indeed. Three more scrumptious souls to add to the feast.”
“You better watch the name calling, freak—if you know what’s good for you.” Jenny grinned and twirled her gleaming silver arrow like a baton. She planted herself in front of him.
Kara sidestepped to her right. “I’ll show you what we do to pigs where I come from.” She held up her two blades. “I’m thinking Canadian bacon.”
An evil grin flashed on the demon’s face. “Yes, the master enjoys the feisty ones. He’ll be very pleased with you.”
Jenny stepped forward. “Over my dead body, freak.”
“Well then, your wish is our command.” He snapped his fingers.
“Ahhhh!”
Jenny lifted in the air and was wrenched backwards, her neck wrapped tightly in the grasp of the new breed demon who had followed them up the stairs.
Kara ran forward, but it was too late. Jenny screamed and kicked as hard as she could. Her arms were free, and she stabbed the creature repeatedly with her arrow. Black blood trickled out of multiple lesions. But the demon didn’t let go.
Kara cursed silently. How could she have forgotten the demon? She shared a look of horror with Peter. His eyes reminded her of the little elemental boy she had rescued—his face streaked with fear and tears. She knew he wanted to run.
Kara looked back at the higher demons behind her.
The demon closest to her grinned. “Oh—I see you’ve met our new pet. A little experiment our master has been dabbling with. We finally found another use for the pathetic little mortals. They’re much more valuable to us as creatures of the Netherworld. Who would have thought we could use them for our pets?”
Mortals? Kara screwed up her face and turned to look at the new breed again. It was like a giant mass of disheveled human and insect flesh. She wondered if she was looking into the faces of four dead mortals who had been bred with a demon insect. She shivered with pity and fear.
“You angels have it all wrong. You are stronger than these pitiable mortals. Why are you serving them? It’s pathetic really. Angels the slaves of mortals. It’s laughable.” The demon laughed, a sick wet laugh that sent shivers down Kara’s back again.
Her eyes met Jenny’s. She winced at the pain in Jenny’s eyes. For a moment, Kara remembered the fear in Brooke’s eyes before the higher demons shred her body to pieces.
Jenny’s mouth moved. It said help.
“Don’t listen to them, Kara,” urged Peter. “They’re trying to distract us!”
“Kara?” A strange hunger flashed in the leading higher demon’s eyes. “—the same angel Kara who attacked our master? Well, well, well. This is most agreeable.”
Kara ignored the demon and focused. What could she do against three higher demons and a new breed on her own? It was suicide. She ransacked her brain for a plan.
“Ah, come on now, little angels—why the frightened faces? We’re just having a little fun.” Its black eyes studied Peter. “You there … against the wall. You are right to be terrified. You know death is near for you, don’t you. You can sense it in your pitiful little angel soul.”
The higher demon threw something at Peter. He screamed and fell to the ground.
“Peter!”
As Kara ran over to him she could see black smoke curl up from a black blade that had punctured his stomach. Kara cried out in pain as she wrapped her hands around the burning handle and pulled the death blade from his abdomen. She tossed the blade. She could see the holes it had burned through the hands on her M-5 suit.
“Ah, we have a hero amongst us. The famous Kara Nightingale.” The higher demon laughed. He clasped his hands behind his back and raised his chin in the air. “How I love a good show.”
He lifted his hand, and before Kara realized what was happening, he had thrown another blade straight into Peter’s neck.
“Stop!” Kara hurled her blade at the higher demon, but he knocked it away easily.
“It’s me you want,” she screamed at the demon. “Leave him alone!”
Kara watched in horror as the poison from the Death Blade poured into Peter’s body like black spidery veins. She knew he would die within seconds. Despera
tely, and ignoring the pain in her hands, she pulled the Death Blade free of Peter’s neck.
“Come, my pet,” said the higher demon to the new breed monster. “You have one more little piglet here.”
The new breed demon landed beside her. Kara blanched when she saw the gaping hole in Jenny’s right shoulder where her arm used to be. The new breed had ripped it right off. Jenny’s lips trembled, and her body shook in spasms.
The higher demon stepped closer to Kara. “Do you want to see a show, Kara? I love shows. We have our own theatrical performances in our world, you know, with stages and a wide audience. Demons love shows. But we mostly put on our best performances when we devour mortals on earth. That, my dear, is pure entertainment.”
He clapped his hands. “I’ll call this one—seeing your friend die an excruciating death—how’s that for a title?”
“Don’t you dare!” shouted Kara. Her hands quivered. “You touch her, and I’ll kill you! I swear!”
“I don’t think you can stop us, little piglet.”
“I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you all!” Kara’s body trembled. Anger surged inside her and she felt something else trigger. At first she thought it was the M-5 suit powering up some more, but then she felt the small flow of a power she recognized. Like turning on a switch—what had lain dormant inside her was waking up. Kara felt it well up inside her chest.
The higher demon lifted his head and howled like a wolf. He danced around on the spot. He gave Kara a mischievous smile. “Prepare yourselves, brothers, for another great show!”
He looked at the new breed. “Kill.”
The new breed opened its giant contorted mouths and brought Jenny’s body closer.
Kara, feel your power—let it loose, said the voices inside Kara’s head.
Kara’s body started to shake. Heat spread from her toes to her fingertips. Her vision became sharper. She could see a golden glow around the edges of her eyes. Her tracker mite slipped from her ear. It landed with a soft thump and was still.
You are elemental, Kara … let it go, let it go …
The demon lifted Jenny.
Her anger fed her power. She felt it overpowering her. In her mind’s eye she saw Brooke’s silent plea before the higher demon had ripped her apart—she wouldn’t let that happen to Jenny. A hunger to kill spread through her like a poison—she wanted to slay them all—to tear out their spirits until they were no more. Anger welled inside her chest until it consumed her. She only saw death. The new breed’s death.
And without a second thought, Kara’s right hand lifted in the air, as though it had a mind of its own. Her body shook, and a ray of golden light shot out of her palm like the blast from a rocket.
The new breed demon twitched and wailed as the golden light enveloped it. It let go of Jenny as the light crawled over it like golden tendrils of fire. Its skin cracked and oozed black acid blood and it crashed to the ground, burning itself into a lifeless jumble of insect limbs and human faces.
In a moment, the demon was no more.
Kara stared at her hands in disbelief—remnants of the golden light ran across her palms like yellow electric current. She felt the elemental power drain away as her anger lessened.
“Fool!” The higher demons ran towards her.
Kara only had a second to react. She shot her hand out—and the demons all jumped and fell out of the way, half expecting the golden beam to hit them. But nothing happened.
Kara shook her hand and tried again desperately, but nothing happened.
She jumped up and ran over to Jenny. She pulled her to her feet. Jenny wavered slightly, but opened her eyes and seemed stronger than Kara had thought. Hope filled Kara with new energy.
The demons inspected themselves. They realized they weren’t hurt, and they charged again.
“Run!”
Kara dragged Jenny over to where Peter lay helplessly in a fetal position. Kara felt pity for him. She bent down and pulled him over her shoulders as though he weighed no more than a child. She hoped her M-5 suit’s strength could save them now. It was all she had left.
With Jenny and with Peter over her shoulders, Kara sprinted across the roof towards the ledge of the building. She stretched her neck to look down into a dark alley blanketed in shadow before she jumped. A soft light glimmered below from a single lamp post, giving enough light for Kara to see the bottom. It stood alone amongst the tall stone buildings. Hard concrete ground was fifty feet below them, she figured. She prayed her M-5 suit could make the jump—and stay intact. She knew if she ended up like a squished tomato at the bottom, the demons would have a feast with their souls.
Kara heard the scraping of boots behind her. She knew she had only five seconds before the higher demons were upon them. Using all the strength her mortal suit could muster, she grabbed hold of Jenny’s arm and pulled. She didn’t look back. She prayed for the strength of the M-5 suit as they fell.
Kara, Peter and Jenny smashed onto the alley with a thundering crash. Kara rolled over—her limbs were all still attached. Peter and Jenny were stunned, but okay.
Hearing the eerie cry of angry higher demons spitting and hissing at her from above, Kara carried Peter and Jenny out of the dark alley and into the shadows.
Chapter 8
The power within