Mortal (24 page)

"Well. Well. Well—what do we have
here?"

Kara recognized the voice and the
cruel blue eyes of the girl immediately. She wore a white down coat
with a fox-fur hood and knee-high white leather boots. Her long
white-blonde hair waved behind her in the wind like a cape. Her
pointy features were twisted in a fake smile.

"Hello, sister dear," said Lilith in a
pleasant voice. "Didn’t expect to see me again, did
you?"

K
ara’s anger erupted. "Lilith!
I’ve
should have known you’d be involved in something like
this."

Kara tried to move out from under the
drooling creature, but it was like trying to move a car.

Lilith laughed. "I guess
you wish you had killed me when you had the chance—right? But you
couldn’t, could you—your pathetic conscience wouldn’t let you. It’s
always been your greatest weakness—so totally predictable—you’re
just so
good.
It’s
sickening."

Kara struggled under the snow beast’s
weight. She felt warm liquid trickle from down her left
eyebrow.

"What’s this?" Lilith bent down and
traced her finger on Kara’s forehead. "Blood? You’re mortal? Yes, I
see it now—you’re not a glowing puppet like them."

Lilith stood up and shook her head.
"Tut-tut-tut, how delightfully perfect. It’ll be even easier to
kill you, and this time you’ll stay dead. Your cursed angel soul is
going to die tonight, dearest sister, along with your angel
friends. I can’t say I feel sorry. Nope. It’s time for you to feel
the pain and suffering that I did in this blood-bag of a body.
You’re going to pay dearly for doing this to me."

Kara glowered. "I didn’t do anything
to you—you did it to yourself. What are you doing here anyway? I
thought you’d be in a girl’s correction facility or
something."

Lilith’s red lips spread into a smile.
"I broke out of that easily after I was caught robbing a jewelry
store, then a Mercedes Benz, and after that a few ATMs. Those
stupid mortals weren’t very happy when I got my hands on a few
automatic weapons."

"News flash—you’re a mortal
too."

Lilith’s smile disappeared. "Yes, an
unfortunate oversight thanks to you, but not for long."

Kara screwed up her face. "What? What
are you talking about?"

Her half-sister ignored her and called
out to the snow beast. "Bring the others. It’s time."

The snow beast released Kara, and she
gladly filled her lungs with air. She winced as she stood up. She
knew she had a few bruised or broken ribs, but she was still
alive.

Something hit her in the back, and she
staggered forward. The snow beast prodded her with its nose, urging
her forward.

David and Jenny stumbled beside her,
each with a snow creature nudging them on. Jenny turned around and
punched the creature on its snout. The beast retaliated with a
powerful blow to her head and knocked her to the ground. Cursing
loudly Jenny struggled to her feet, more angry than
hurt.

David’s expression darkened at the
sight of Lilith. "Well, isn’t it my favorite albino-Barbie? I
thought you’d joined the freak show by now. But I guess the circus
couldn’t fit you in between The Elephant Man and The Four legged
Lady. I thought you’d make a splendid Queen of the
Freaks."

Lilith giggled and raked her long
blonde hair with her fingers. "I knew you’d tag along, David
McGowan. You always seem to appear whenever I have dealings with my
sister."

"I’m like a bad habit—I always turn
up."

"Take their weapons. Search
them."

The beasts obediently took away their
soul blades and Jenny’s bow and quiver with the few arrows she had
left.

With a red manicured finger, Lilith
counted their heads. "Aren’t you missing someone? Yes, the boy with
the glasses—the mousy looking one. Didn’t something unfortunate
happen to him?" she laughed.

"Shut up," growled Jenny, "Don’t say
another word."

Lilith raised her brows at Jenny, a
hint of a smile on her face. "Ah yes, Janet. I see you still have
that abominable purple hair."

She inspected Jenny more
closely. "You’d think the angel legion would have had higher
standards. You look so
trashy
—with that hair and those
clothes. I’m surprised they let you out looking like
that."

Jenny glared at her and
said in an icy tone. "The legion isn’t
shallow
and
fake
like you—they don’t care what we
look like, as long as we do our jobs."

"I can
see
that." Lilith grinned wickedly.
"But don’t worry, you won’t be an angel for much
longer."

She snapped her fingers. "Come along,
Wergoth would like a word." She strolled ahead of them.

The snow creatures pushed them along
behind her. David and Kara shared a look. Her heart rang in her
ears, and she shook her head with dread.

"Lilith, please tell me you
didn’t..."

Lilith laughed and kicked some snow
with her boot. "But of course I did—what did you expect? That I’d
stay in this pathetic disgusting weak mortal body? Never. I did
what I needed to do to get back to my home, to where I
belong."

Kara stumbled forward, numb
from the realization of what her half-sister had done. Jenny looked
confused, and she mouthed the word
what?

"Lilith...what did you do?" her voice
came out as a whisper of desperation.

Lilith turned her head as she walked.
"When I was transformed into this disgusting human body, I still
had remnants of my superb demonic self—I could still see and sense
my servants, just as I can see angels and other supernatural
elements. They called out to me. I knew I couldn’t stay in this
weak shell—I needed to do something. I needed something to turn me
back into a demon queen."

David snorted.
"
Pftt
. You were
never a queen—just a Barbie with an oversized head."

Lilith shot him an evil look, but
continued. "I knew I needed a powerful energy to transform my
mortal body into an immortal one. Necromancers and warlocks are the
only ones who can channel such powers. Warlocks and demons have a
lot in common. I knew about dark creatures, and I knew where to
find the most powerful one. So I dabbled in a little dark magic.
With the help of my servants, and after breaking through the first
planes of death, I found a specter—and I made a deal with him. I
would raise him back from the dead in exchange for transforming me
back into a demon."

"Lilith, you don’t know what you’ve
done! He’s a dark warlock. He can’t be trusted."

Lilith’s expression darkened. "Right,
just like I trusted my own sister."

"You tried to kill me?" protested
Kara. "Or have you forgotten that?"

"Ah, the devil is in the details,"
said Lilith smiling mischievously.

Kara didn’t know what Lilith meant.
"What—"

"Who says he’s going to keep his side
of the bargain," interrupted Jenny.

Lilith didn’t answer right away. "He
will. I’m not worried. Now, enough with the chitchat, let’s keep
moving."

Kara stole a look behind her. There
was no sign of Gideon anywhere.

"Are you hoping for
reinforcements?" laughed Lilith. "Forget it. The park is surrounded
by dark magic. Even angels can’t get through anymore—you got here
just in time. Your guardian friends would be foolish to try; their
souls would disintegrate into dust.
Poof!
" She mimicked an explosion with
her hands and laughed like it was some sick private
joke.

Kara ignored Lilith’s theatrics. Even
if their original plan had failed, there was still hope. Gideon
must have a plan of his own. The old witch doctor was clever enough
to disappear just at the right time. Or was he just a coward and
had abandoned them? Her insides churned.

They passed tall snow banks and
snow-covered trees on either side of the path. Slowly they emerged
into a large clearing.

Cleopatra’s Needle was surrounded by
snow covered magnolia and crabapple trees. The obelisk was even
bigger than she had first thought. At least seventy feet tall, its
sharp granite point stood out like a giant’s pencil. Its rough
granite surface glowed an eerie green. The six hooded men continued
to chant but didn’t look up as the group approached.

Kara walked as slowly as she could.
She needed time to come up with a rescue plan that didn’t involve
getting killed. She only needed to fight off the snow beasts, save
David and Jenny, and in the process kill all the warlocks, and save
the mortal world—no biggy.

She searched for her elemental power.
A shimmer came from deep inside her, like a spark of light. It
pulsed momentarily, full of promise—and then it went out. It was
hopeless. She wished her powers were bottled up in little grenades,
like Gideon’s. It would be so much easier.

David sensed her discouragement. His
smile told her that he didn’t want her to feel this was her
fault—even if it was her half-sister that started the whole thing.
If Kara had finished Lilith off, none of this would be happening.
But Kara wasn’t like that—she couldn’t kill Lilith in cold blood,
not even after everything she had done. It wasn’t up to her to
decide if Lilith lived or died.

Lilith caught Kara and
David’s tender moment. "Oh, how cute, the ongoing love affair that
never goes anywhere," she laughed. "Aren’t you two tired of
pretending? It’s not like I can’t
see
the way you’re looking at each
other. It’s so painfully sad. Angels and mortals are a
no—no,
if I remember the
rules correctly."

"Shut up, Lilith," hissed Kara. Blood
gushed to her face. It was awkward enough having strong feelings
for David while she was mortal. She didn’t need reminding. David
winked and seemed rather pleased with himself. Her face burned even
more.

"Oh, look everyone. Look at
how red Kara’s face is—it’s like a tomato," taunted Lilith. "My
guess is that your face is so red because you don’t want him to
know how much you
love
him, am I right?"

Kara’s ears burned, and she kept her
head down. She didn’t dare look at David. If she did, he would see
that Lilith was right.

"Leave her alone, albino," said
David.

Lilith laughed softly.
"Whatever—love is so overrated anyway. It’s a disease for the
living, for the weak. I don’t need
love
—it’s a distraction from what is
really important."

Kara watched Lilith. There
was something odd in the way she said
love
. It almost felt like she was
angry. Had something happened to her?

A snow beast came up to Lilith. It
brushed its nose against her hip with a pleading look in its eye,
like a dog. Lilith smiled and stroked the creature tenderly. It
closed its eyes, enjoying the attention. Lilith’s face lit up, and
Kara saw a kindness in her half-sister that she had never seen
before. There was good in her. She saw it.

They were only a few yards away from
the obelisk now. Kara’s insides twisted at the sight of the men in
the black cloaks. Her throat started to close up, and her lungs
felt on fire. She took a chance and walked alongside her
half-sister.

"Lilith—you don’t have to do this."
She searched her sister’s face.

"You can let us go. You can have a
life of your own—you can find love."

"Love? Don’t patronize me. I’m not in
the mood."

"I know that part of you knows this is
wrong. We can help each other. You can come stay with me and my mom
after this is finished—you’ll love her. We can be sisters, be a
family."

Lilith’s eyes filled with tears. For a
moment, Kara thought she had reached her.

"Stop talking, or I’ll cut out your
tongue. Move!" Lilith shooed the snow creature away and stormed
ahead. She wiped her eyes and clenched her fists.

Kara stared at her half-sister walking
away—she even walked more like a girl now and not some demon-diva.
Perhaps there was more human in Lilith than she was letting
on.

A snow beast prodded her in the back,
shaking her out of her thoughts. After stumbling through knee-high
snow, the beasts led them right up to the obelisk.

Kara came face to face with the ring
of warlocks. The growling creatures retreated, as though they
weren’t allowed to come any closer.

As she edged nearer, Kara sensed evil
that made it difficult for her to breathe, as though cold hands
gripped at her throat. Her heart raced, and she felt weak. She
stared at the circle of warlocks around the obelisk. She noticed
that five of the warlocks’ bodies were semitransparent, almost like
holograms. Were they specters of lost warlocks? She was sure her
fingers would simply pass through their bodies.