Mortal (25 page)

But there was one who stood out
amongst the others, one whose body was as solid as hers—the dark
warlock himself.

A green shadow mist rolled in from the
line of trees. It crawled into the clearing and wormed towards the
obelisk like a collection of toxic snakes. Kara’s heart sunk.
Thousands of glowing spheres floated in the mist. It coiled around
the obelisk and disappeared into it, taking the souls with it. The
obelisk shimmered and expanded as though it were taking a
breath.

A hard knot of anger formed in Kara’s
chest.

A whisper of bells reached
her ears. She searched again for Gideon, but there was no sign of
the old witch doctor.
Gideon, where are
you?

David and Jenny’s saddened faces were
illuminated by the thousands of souls that glowed in the
mist.

"Kara—we have to stop them," whispered
David, as he fidgeted on the spot. "We have to do
something."

"I know...I’m thinking," she whispered
back.

"Well you better do it fast, because
it’s starting," Jenny pointed to the sky urgently.

Kara stopped breathing. The sky had
turned a deep purple, and the snow had taken on hues of gold. It
was as if the park had suddenly been painted. To the west, the
orange semi circle of the sun disappeared behind the skyline of
Manhattan. Kara glanced at her watch.

4:39 p.m. She was too late.

"You can forget about whatever you
were planning," laughed Lilith.

She stared at the obelisk like it was
some kind of expensive jewel. "Isn’t it beautiful?"

As darkness touched the tip of the
obelisk, glowing green runes appeared on its surface. The obelisk
became a glowing green totem pole. The ground trembled and moaned.
At the foot of the obelisk, a fissure broke the frozen ground and
made its way around the warlocks in a perfect circle. Green vapors
rose into the air from the ring of open ground.

Bells rang. Kara’s pendant burned
against her skin. She staggered forward. The one solid hooded
figure turned towards her. He stared at her with gleaming red eyes,
and she felt invisible bonds strap her wrists. She couldn’t
move.

You’re too late elemental
witch
, whispered a voice in her
mind.
There’s no stopping it now. The
ritual has already begun. My brothers will rise again—all of you
will die!

K
ara watched in horror as five more hooded figures climbed out
of the ground. The air was heavy with a mixture of rotten flesh and
a hundred year old sewer. Slowly they rose and made their way to
stand behind each of the warlock ghosts. Each warlock revenant
stood behind a specter. Then they stepped forward into the five
specters, which appeared just to have been stand—ins waiting for
the real thing. There was a sudden green glow, and then the
specters vanished into the cold winter air. The revenant warlocks
stood and waited.

The shadow mist disappeared. Kara’s
heart ached as she watched the last of the souls that had been
suspended in the mist disappeared into the obelisk.

"That’s it...we’ve failed," cried
Jenny. David rested his hand on her shoulder
reassuringly.

But something inside told Kara that
this wasn’t the end. The ritual wasn’t over yet. She stood frozen
in the cold, thinking.

She needed a diversion.

Laughter boomed across the
park. "Welcome,
friends
," said an echoing voice—the same as the one she had heard
coming from the rats.

The dark warlock walked towards them.
He was even larger than that big policeman that had showed up at
her home. He wore a long black cloak with glowing green circular
symbols and runes that shifted like liquid. He stood in front of
her and removed his hood.

Kara forgot to breathe. His skin was
as rough as leather. It, too, had gleaming green symbols etched
into it, as though he had been branded. His red eyes glowed as
brightly as sunlight and burned Kara’s eyes as she looked at him.
Maggots and insects fell from his rotten corpse and left a
squirming trail in the snow behind him.

Kara hadn’t known what to expect, but
she knew right away that he was the same dark warlock that had
killed Olga and stolen thousands of human souls. More than
anything, she wanted to destroy him.

He smiled, and Kara could see that his
blackened teeth were sharpened into fangs like piranhas’. The bonds
on her wrists slipped away, and Kara could move again.

"We meet again, elemental
witch," he said. "I’m glad you could join us on this very
festive
night."

"Speak for yourself," said
David. "There’s nothing festive here,
witch man.
"

The dark warlock studied David and
Jenny for a moment.

"
Spirit walkers
—we always seem to
cross paths, unless I’ve killed you, of course. I haven’t forgotten
what your group did to me and my kin. You spirit walkers have
always thought yourselves superior to the rest of the supernatural
world. You’re always meddling in things that don’t concern
you—crushing down warlocks, witches, and demons. I remember the
great war of the warlocks, the battle on Mordent Hill, where we
defeated your lot and sent you packing. But then the white witches
sided with you spirit walkers and sent me to death. You condemned
me to spend my eternal life as a shadow of my past self, to linger
forever in nothingness."

"The mortal world doesn’t belong to
you anymore, spirit walkers. We will destroy all the remaining
witches in this world."

He turned his fiery eyes on
Kara. "After we finish making some
necessary
changes, we will avenge the
blood of our kin. We will take back what was ours."

He lifted his arms in the air. Green
flames danced from his fingertips. "Every non-magical being will be
our slave. The time of the warlocks has come. We will take the
world from the weak. The warlocks will rise to power
again."

Hot anger surged through Kara. "It’s
never going to happen, warlock."

Wergoth edged closer. "You have
courage—lots of it. It is no wonder, the elemental power flows so
fully in your veins. But it has clouded your judgment, made you
cocky. You do not posses the power to stop me, elemental. You and
your spirit walker friends will all die tonight."

"No one’s dying tonight." Kara stood
her ground.

Wergoth’s face warped in an evil grin.
With a twist of his wrist, his arms blazed with green fire. The
five other warlocks arranged themselves behind him. Their long
black cloaks trailed behind them, and as they stepped closer Kara
could see their rotted flesh beneath their hoods. Their eyes burned
with the same evil fire.

In one rapid movement two of the five
warlocks lifted their arms, and jets of green fire shot out of
their fingers like water from a fire hose. The brute force blew
David and Jenny into the air and engulfed their bodies in green
fire. They hovered in the air, screaming as the green flames burned
their mortal suits.

Without a second thought, Kara ran
over to her friends. She reached out to David first, but pulled
back her hand in excruciating pain. Her hands were charred and
covered with angry red blisters. She tried to ignore the pain and
reached out again. But it was like sticking her hands into boiling
water, and she could almost feel her skin slipping from her bones.
She couldn’t touch them.

Jenny’s face was contorted in a silent
scream. David’s body twisted in agony. Their eyes met. She knew he
wanted her to run, to leave them here and save herself. But she
couldn’t. Her eyes burned.

"Stop it! Let them go, you’re killing
them," she howled.

She looked over to Lilith, but her
sister’s expression was stone cold.

Wergoth roared in laughter and looked
back at his followers.

"Let them go? We will never let them
go. Tonight we will drink their souls—and there’s nothing you can
do, elemental. You were fools to think you could survive a dark
warlock’s power. We are invincible now. You spirit walkers will
fall like flies. And with each fallen soul, we will replenish our
strength."

The warlocks stepped
forward.

"Stay back!"

Kara narrowed her eyes and made fists
with her hands "Don’t you touch them! I will kill you!"

The warlocks laughed.

"You know, if you were any smarter,
you’d run away and save yourself. Why do you care so much for these
spirit walkers? They are worthless."

David and Jenny’s cries filled the
night as they fought desperately in their green fire prisons. But
the more they fought, the more they suffered. Kara knew they
couldn’t last much longer. She would never give up on her
friends—she would fight till the death to save them.

"Gideon, now’s the time," she called
out to the night sky.

Wergoth’s narrowed his eyes. He turned
to Lilith. "Where’s the witch doctor?"

Lilith paled. Kara saw fear flash in
her eyes. "Uh...there was no one else with them, I swear. Just Kara
and the other two."

In a frightening rage, the dark
warlock lurched forward with lightening speed, like a shimmer of
green light, and struck out at Lilith with liquid green fire.
Lilith’s body lifted into the air and slammed back hard on the
ground. She brushed the flames from her coat desperately. Her nice
white coat had saved her from being burnt. Shakily, she pushed
herself up from the ground. Her blue eyes were wide with
fear.

"Idiot!" bellowed the dark warlock. "I
sensed the old fool’s presence underground—he fought my magic. He
was here with them. How could you let him slip from your fingers? I
was wrong about you, demon girl—you can’t even catch a weak old
man."

"I’m sorry...let me go look for
him—"

The dark warlock lifted his hand to
silence her. "No. I’ll deal with him later. We have more important
matters to settle. I will not be distracted by that old fool, not
when the time is near."

His blazing eyes focused on
Kara.

"And now for the human sacrifice,"
said the dark warlock. He reached into the folds of his robes and
withdrew a gleaming sword with green markings etched on the long
curved blade. He walked over to Lilith and handed her the
sword.

"Kill the elemental."

K
ara held her breath—being sacrificed wasn’t part of her plan.
The sword gleamed in Lilith’s hand. Her own half-sister was going
to behead her like Anne Boleyn—except that no one would ever know
or care. She was a nobody.

David and Jenny’s movements were
slowing. Through the green flames Kara could see their angel
essence seeping out through their mortal suits. Their souls would
soon be destroyed by the fire.

The dark warlock bowed reverently
toward the obelisk.

"To make the ritual
complete, I need the blood of an innocent, mortal blood. Any mortal
blood would do, but I’ve decided to use
your
blood, elemental."

"Kill her," ordered the
warlock.

Lilith hesitated. She looked at Kara.
Fear and regret flashed in her tearful eyes, and the silver sword
shook in her trembling hands.

"Are you deaf? I said kill
her!"

But Lilith didn’t move. She opened her
mouth to speak, but shut it again. Her lips were shaking. She
locked eyes with Kara, and a silent understanding passed between
them.

The warlock glared at
Lilith. "We need to perform this sacrament
precisely
on the winter solstice—now.
It cannot wait. If you don’t kill her, then I will!"

The dark warlock drew another sword
from under his cloak and advanced towards Kara.

In a flash Lilith lunged at the
warlock, her sword high in the air above her head. With force that
Kara didn’t think Lilith was capable of, she swung her sword at the
warlock’s head. His body shimmered and disintegrated into a cloud
of black mist as though all the molecules in his body had
separated.

But the next second, the dark warlock
reappeared behind Lilith. He grabbed her from behind and with a
great stroke, he slit her throat.

"NO!"

The warlock tossed Lilith’s lifeless
body to the ground. Her blue eyes stared blankly into the
sky.

Kara felt like she was in a
dream.

"You...you monster! You promised her.
She was helping you! How could you do this?" Rage poured through
her like hot magma. Her eyes burned and tears fell freely down her
cheeks. Her heart pounded in her ears, and her hatred for him
intensified. He was going to pay for this.

The dark warlock laughed. "She was a
fool to trust me. Why should you care for someone who wanted you
dead anyway. You should be glad, I’ve done you a favor."