Horrified, Kara screamed in rage. Her vision blurred in her madness. She felt the elemental power within her waken. She called to it as she ran. It answered. She thought only of saving David. Nothing else mattered. Not Asmodeus. Not the Legion. Just David.
Kara dashed down the rest of the hill. She could see David’s arms flailing beneath the throng of demons who held him down. They tore at his flesh. Kara heard him scream again. She flinched at his pain. They were hurting him.
She was almost there.
Her vision changed, and everything was covered with hues of gold. Kara rejoiced in her power. She would destroy every last one of them. She tossed her soul blade. She didn’t need it anymore. With a final jump, Kara landed in front of the mass of creatures. Her wrath burned at her core. She only saw death. Her fury escaped with a thunderous roar.
“No!”
Golden light flickered and danced in her palms like electricity. The demons stopped and looked up.
“Get away from him!” Kara threw out her hands, ready to launch her attack—
Then she recoiled.
The demons scattered away from David, suddenly, as though they were frightened. They fixed their eyes on Kara; they waited.
“What the hell?” David sat up and rubbed his head.
Kara noticed a few bite marks, but other than that he appeared to be fine.
“What did you do? How did you make them listen to you?”
Kara was dumbfounded. She hadn’t even released her power. She had only told them to get away, and they had listened to her. Kara strained to keep her emotions intact, her elemental power ready and waiting within her, just in case she needed it. But the demons had done what she asked. They had backed away from David, and were standing there—waiting. It was as though she was their master somehow. She decided to test out her theory a little further.
“Demons, I want you all to sit down—and be still—until I tell you to move.” Kara watched anxiously as the entire mass of demons sat down. It worked again. They obeyed her.
“Well, I’m glad I had an M-5 series on.” David inspected his body with a silly grin. “Otherwise, I think I would have been reduced to angel jam.”
He pushed himself up and walked over to the closest demon. “Let’s test this further, shall we?” It was a pitiful creature with no eyes and a large gaping mouth full of yellow teeth. Black liquid oozed from the many sores around its body. David stabbed it with his blade. The creature howled, twitched, and then fell over, dead.
“Interesting. The little bugger didn’t even fight back. How did you do this, Kara? It’s as if they’re listening to you—you’ve somehow become their boss. I mean, why now and not before … what’s different?”
Kara shrugged. David had a point. “I don’t know. I told them to stop … and they did. It just happened.” And then it hit her. She knew. With the elemental energy still flowing freely inside her, she felt another presence inside, like a bond. She felt a connection to these creatures somehow, and she knew without a doubt that the demons felt the same connection to her. They recognized her elemental power. She was the one who had released them into the mortal world. She was their master.
“I think I know why.” Kara looked at David.
She turned away, afraid of what he might think when she told him. “They’re connected to me somehow … because of my elemental power. It was my power that allowed them to cross over into the mortal world. And I think they recognized it when it surfaced. I think … I know they will do as I say.”
David pursed his lips. “Very interesting. Might come in handy. So they’ll just sit there and wait?”
“I think so.” Kara surveyed the demons. A gentle breeze brought with it the stink of rotten flesh and something more revolting that Kara didn’t want to think about. Hundreds of pairs of red eyes watched her silently. Intelligence reflected back in some of them, whereas others had only a bleak expression. Some were just bodies without consciousness, twisted and misshapen.
They waited patiently for her instructions. She thought of the only thing that made sense.
“Demons. I command you to leave the mortal world. I want you to go back to the Netherworld and stay there. You must never return here, and you must never hurt a human being again. Now go.”
David came to stand by Kara. They both watched in wonder as the creatures got up swiftly and disappeared into the forest one by one. In less than three minutes, the grounds were empty.
Flocks of multicolored birds chirped happily and squirrels chattered as they chased one another up a pine tree. The air smelled of pine needles and spring blossoms. There were no more traces of demons anywhere.
“Nice job.” David’s eyes glistened. “Think you could do that to all the demons? Maybe even higher demons?”
Kara brushed the hair from her eyes. “I don’t think I can control higher demons. I think this only worked because these are the same demons Asmodeus released by using the mirror … and me. I doubt it’ll work on new breeds or higher demons.”
“Well, that’s too bad. But I’m glad it worked for this stinking lot.” David shrugged and searched inside his jacket. He pulled out a blade. “I wonder what Gabriel’s gonna say about all this.”
Kara frowned. It still felt a little strange that she had been able to control those demons. She didn’t want to be associated with Asmodeus. If the Legion found out, would they think she was playing for the other team? Was this what Zadkiel had meant about her being more demon than angel? She wasn’t sure how she felt about all this. She was glad it had worked, but it left her wondering if there was something more to being part elemental than she knew, if she was ready to accept it.
“David, do you think you can keep this between us? Until I figure out what to do about it. I don’t know what Gabriel or the Legion would think about my new ability. Can we keep this just between the two of us for now, please?”
David looked at Kara kindly. “Of course, Kara. I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to. They don’t need to know about this. I’ll leave this part out of my report to the big man, don’t worry,” he laughed softly. “Probably wouldn’t even believe me anyway.”
Relieved, Kara stared at the dark opening on the east side wall of the castle. “Do you still want to check it out?” Kara glanced at her watch. “We still have a half hour before we have to report back.”
“Yeah … I think we should.” David dusted off his jacket. “We can’t leave without knowing if he’s in there or not. I don’t want to disappoint the big man on my first mission as a CDD field agent. I can’t do any more begging … it’s beginning to affect my reputation.”
Kara ignored him. She looked down at her hands and wondered if this new ability was part of Asmodeus’s plan. Was he going to use her to control the demons on Earth? What if he, too, could feel what she just did to his demons? If he did, that meant he might be waiting for them inside the castle. The elemental power had already left her, and she didn’t have any other weapons. She brushed the tall grass with her boots and searched for her soul blade.
David handed her his blade. “Here—take this one. We don’t have time to search for yours. I have another one.” Kara took the blade and clasped it in her hand.
“Thanks.”
“Let’s go inside and look for lord dumbass.”
Kara followed David along a small stone walkway overgrown by weeds and grass. It led to the opening in the wall. Large jagged rocks projected from the top like fangs, a warning to those who dared to enter. Kara shivered involuntarily. Hiding her fears from David, she followed him in.
They stood in a dark lobby with narrow walls. Soft light flickered from the lanterns on the walls. Someone or something had been in there for sure; they had taken the time to fire up the lanterns. Dirt covered the floor like a grey carpet. The air was hot and stuffy. Kara suddenly felt claustrophobic. She didn’t want to stay there for much longer. Thankfully, David crept forward and the air cleared up a bit.
They walked silently f
or ten minutes, both with their weapons out and ready. The light from the torches flickered on their soul blades. They didn’t meet any other demons. The tunnel was as silent as a grave. Every so often they would pass collapsed walls. And Kara wondered what supported the upper levels. The light weakened up ahead. David slowed down and pressed his body against the wall. Kara followed his example. Together, they moved slowly towards the waning light, careful not to make any sudden loud crunching noises with their boots.
They entered a large round chamber. Yellow light spilled in from the roofless top. A large pile of flat stones lay crushed on the floor. The roof, Kara guessed. Weeds sprouted from cracked floor stones in a tile pattern of moss green. Trees had found spaces to grow and flourish in the room. Four stone columns rose from the ground and reached the open sky. Birds’ nests rested on the tops like crowns made of straw. Bird droppings painted the floors and columns in a sticky whitewash.
A raised marble platform stood in the center of the room. A great wooden chair with carved legs in the shape of lion’s paws, rested upon the dais.
A man sat in the chair.
Slumped casually against the chair, he gazed at them with dark, unblinking eyes. He wore a light grey suit and light pink tie. His hair was dark brown and cut short. He wasn’t moving.
“Stay behind me.” David walked towards the man cautiously. He balanced his soul blade between his fingers. With each new step he looked around the room nervously, as if expecting to be ambushed any second.
Kara felt something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong with the man, but she couldn’t figure out what. The closer she got, the stronger she felt that something was amiss. She looked over her shoulder nervously. What if this was a trap? Still the man didn’t move or blink.
Flies buzzed around her face, and she waved them away impatiently. She bumped into David’s back. His face was drawn into a frown. Kara realized he was staring at the man. She stepped aside and gasped.
A mortal man sat in the chair. His flesh was dark grey and covered in sores. Decaying flesh peeled away from his face and hands, leaving exposed wet wounds. Large gashes oozed green pus. Buzzing sounds echoed around them. He was covered in flies. The smell of rotten flesh burned Kara’s nostrils. His eyes had been removed, Kara noticed. But it was the expression on his face that terrified her. It was frozen in an expression of pure terror. Kara knew he had suffered. Sadness welled inside her. He didn’t deserve this. No mortal deserved to die and be exposed like this. A single yellow post-it was stuck to his forehead. Kara edged closer and read;
Your love for the monkeys has blinded you from the truth
“What does that mean?” David ripped off the post-it, crumpled it and threw it on the ground. “Is this some sick joke? You think this is funny—you demon lunatic!” His voice carried throughout the chamber.
Kara picked up the creased note and evened it out against her thigh. She studied it for a moment. “It doesn’t make sense. Why go through all this trouble? Why was this place guarded if he was never here?”
David kicked the chair. “Because he’s a sick bastard! This is a game to him! He’s probably hiding somewhere having a good laugh.”
But Kara wasn’t convinced. None of this made any sense.
“But why hide? He’s supposed to be strong, right? He believes he’s more powerful and cleverer than any of us. He’s not afraid of you or me, or the Legion. It—it just doesn’t make any sense.” She thought for a moment, and then she read the note again out loud, desperately trying to decipher the meaning.
“I’m telling you, he’s mocking us! He’s not here. It’s just me, you, and this poor bastard.” David smoothed the top of his hair down with his hands. Kara thought he was going a little mad.
Kara squinted down at the note. It was written in the form of a riddle. She was never good at cracking riddles. Their hidden meanings always gave her a headache. “Would a king hide away from a weaker opponent? No. Asmodeus is smart … really smart. He’s testing us with this, I’m sure of it. This note is a clue. It means something … I … I just can’t figure it out.”
“It means we’re fools.”
Kara ignored David as she focused on the note. She kept repeating the words over and over again inside her head until she chanted them. The truth. What was the truth? Your love for the monkeys has blinded you from the truth. And then it hit her.
Kara’s face paled. “David. I know what it means.”
David whipped his head around and stared at her with wide eyes. “So … tell me? What’s the dumbass trying to tell us?”
Kara crumbled the note in her hand. She stared at the floor for a moment, as though preparing herself for what she was about to say. “It means … he was never after the mortal world. The attack on the mortal world was just a diversion.”
Kara watched the realization flicker across David’s face. She knew he thought she was right. “Think about it. He hates mortals. Why would he want to control a world filled with so-called monkeys? That’s something he never wanted. He’s been planning this all along.” Kara met David’s eyes.
“He’s going after Horizon.”
Chapter 11
The 8th Plane