Seirs, Soul Guardians Book 5 (19 page)

Kara raised her brows. “So...if you’re
not handing me over to Lilith, then what are you going to do with
me?”

If not Lilith, then who? Who else
wanted a piece of her? It hit her then. What if the king were
allied with Morthdu? What if Morthdu had a hold on the Seir king?
It would explain his power to control that crystal. The blackness
she had felt was the same kind of icy feeling she had felt when
Morthdu had spoken with her. How were she and Morthdu
connected?

The Seir king leered at
Kara with cold grey eyes. “
I’m
going to ingest your soul, and become the most
powerful demon of all.”

Chapter 17

The Essence
Chair

K
ara shook her head. This didn’t make any sense. Mortals can’t
ingest souls. The Seir king was more metal than flesh, but he was
still a mortal, more or less. Or was he?

Kara winced as the blade’s poison
burned her mortal flesh. Soon she wouldn’t be able to stand
anymore.

“
This is crazy. You can’t
ingest souls,” she said after a while, her voice echoing around
her. “You’re mortal; it’s not possible.” She figured the king was
delusional.

The Seir king smiled for the first
time and revealed rows of sharp metal teeth like tiny daggers. “But
you are wrong, angel. I am no mere mortal.” His smile widened at
her confused look. “I’ve been around for many centuries—no mere
mortal could live that long, could they? I am something different
entirely.” His liquid-like face rippled into a grin.

“
What are you then, a
machine? How do you continue to live so long?”

From what she could see, the Seir king
was probably over a hundred. But centuries, she doubted that. She
examined his metal torso. It looked more like a futuristic
warrior’s breastplate. She wondered if there was a heart beating
underneath all the wires and tubes.

The king raised his arms and pressed
his hand against his metal chest. “You see, I’ve been recompensed
for my pledge to the netherworld—a prolonged life,” he twirled his
finger in the air, “with added benefits.”

Kara noticed that his eyes had widened
at the mention of benefits. “What kind of benefits?” she
asked—figuring he was expecting her to. He seemed keen on having
this conversation.

The king made a fist and held it in
the air dramatically. “Power.”

Kara made a face. Of course, it was
all about power with them. The more power they got, the greedier
they became. Seirs were just like demons in that respect, perhaps
that was why they longed to be reunited with their cousins from the
netherworld.

“
I get the power thing, but
it doesn’t explain how you’ve lived for as long as you say you
have.”

The king leaned forward in his chair.
“By experimenting with cybernetics and by dealing with dark
powers...powers that would have killed a normal man. But mostly my
extended life is a result of dabbling with angel
essence.”

Kara felt her soul drain
from her. Her knees buckled. “A

angel essence? No...that’s
impossible! That doesn’t make any sense.” She sensed her own
essence bleeding out as she stood there before him.

His evil smile confirmed
her suspicion. “Yes—up till now—
regular
pitiful angels have
satisfied me by prolonging my life, under the teachings of the
netherworld of course. But now that I have you...” His eyes
widened. “All is changed.”

The king Seir had been using the souls
of angels to prolong his life, but how? The notion was sickening to
Kara. It was mad. It didn’t make any sense—he was still mortal. She
was dealing with a madman.

She stared at the creature-man before
her and wondered how many thousands of angels had died to prolong
his life. The thought sickened her.

“
Whatever your plan is with
me...it’ll never work,” Kara spat. “You’ll die, my essence is
different from that of the other angels. It’ll kill you.
”

“
Kill me?” laughed the
king. He stood up proudly on his four legs. “Look at me, I am more
creature than man. I cannot die. And soon I will be
immortal!”

“
All things die,” said Kara
under her breath. She grimaced at the sound of his mechanical body
clanking. Black fluid seeped through translucent tubes around his
body, like leaking blood transfusions.

“
When I discovered of your
existence,” continued the king, his metal legs screeching like
chalk against a blackboard. “I started to plan. I knew your soul
would soon be mine. I was patient. I’m a very patient man. I waited
until the perfect opportunity arrived and I took it.

“
With your angel soul, I
will pass through to the other planes and become the most powerful
demon in the netherworld. Your special mix of angel, elemental, and
demon essence will give me incredible powers. Why settle for a life
as a mere higher demon, when I have within my grasp the chance to
become a creature of unimaginable power. I will be king of the
Seirs, but better yet, king of the demon world as well! Nothing
will match my power. Lilith will bow down to
me
!” The cave walls shook, and Kara
felt a tremor pass under her boots.

“
I have been waiting for
centuries for this opportunity, and now it is mine to take,” said
the king with a satisfied smile as he sat back on his throne.
“Nothing stands in my way. I will have your essence. All of
it.”

Kara felt a feeling of déjà vu.
Asmodeus had used her elemental power as a portal to the Mirror of
Souls and brought demons through to the mortal world. She had felt
responsible, and it still weighed on her heavily. Now this Seir
king wanted to use her, too. Her elemental power quivered with
resentment deep inside her.

She knew she didn’t have much time
left. The only way out of this predicament without injuring anyone
was to run. She needed to escape with the weapon and to find the
way back to the lift somehow. With the death blade still in her
chest, and the manacles around her wrist, her chances were slim.
How to get them off? The only blade she had to cut them with was
the one sticking out from her chest.

Her elemental power bubbled inside
her, and she fought to control it. What would happen if she used
it? She couldn’t risk hurting anyone. She would have to escape
old-school style—like a regular angel.

A deafening roar shook the craft as
the engines kicked into life.

“
But Lilith is already on
her way,” said Kara, as she tried to ignore the sounds of the
engines. “She’ll be here any minute, and she’ll stop you. She’s not
as useless as you think. I’ve seen her power.”

The king laughed. “The Grimmer never
stays longer than a few hours below a city. We’ll be out of Rome
within minutes after the ritual. She will never find us. And once I
am all powerful—I will destroy her.”

Kara’s eyes went to the giant clock.
The two hands were nearly touching each other at the number
twelve.

Loud screeching interrupted her as two
Seirs pulled a large trolley towards the throne. The wheels skidded
along the metal platform, making a sound like that of daggers
dragging along a stone wall. A giant chair made of iron sat on the
trolley. Tubes with black liquid wound around the arms and legs
like thick black veins. Wires and clockwork contraptions were also
wrapped around the chair like a skin. Tiny particles of white sand
were scattered around the seat in small piles. Kara noticed that
more of the same specks of sand were sprinkled around the arms of
the chair.

The Seirs dropped their chains with a
loud clang and stepped aside, waiting.

“
Cut the manacles and put
her in,” said the king and a wicked gleam flashed in his grey eyes.
“Make sure her arms are straight—it helps the essence to flow
smoothly.”

With a jerk, Kara’s arms were pulled
back and then she felt a release. Her arms fell to her sides and
her manacles fell to the ground. Light spilled from large lesions
around her wrists. She rubbed her wrists—her hands were
free.

Mistake number one.

The Seirs each grabbed an arm and
threw her into the chair.

“
Let go of me!” Kara
struggled against their iron grips. “I don’t want to sit. I’d
rather stand. Get off!”

The Seir king laughed. “Oh, but you
will sit for me, one last time, angel.” He wiggled in his seat
anxiously. “I long to taste your essence, and I’m sure it will
be...delicious.”

Metal restraints were locked around
her wrists and ankles, but they weren’t made of the same metal as
the manacles—they were plain old iron. With enough strength, she
could probably break them. She gazed at the death blade sticking
out of her abdomen. It was draining her energy. She would never be
strong enough to break the metal.

She stared down at the seat. Something
about the brilliant little particles unnerved her, but she couldn’t
put her finger on it. They twinkled in the eerie green light like
tiny specs of sugar.

“
I see you’ve already made
your acquaintance with some of your lost kin,” said the king
mockingly. “But don’t worry, they were nothing compared to
you.”

Kara’s jaw dropped as she stared at
the remnants of other angels. Desperately, she bucked in her seat,
trying to lift herself from the chair, but the metal restraints
were too strong. Burning pain shot through her body with every move
as the death blade continued to deplete her energy. She wanted to
scream, to cry. She trembled as she stared at the remnants of other
dead angels, wondering if she’d become a handful of shiny sand like
them.

“
You’re sick,” said Kara at
last. “How...how could you do this?”

“
Don’t look so distressed,
angel,” laughed the king, his mechanical voice sending chills down
Kara’s back. “You’ll be joining them shortly, I promise you.” He
waved his right hand. “Let us begin. I am ready.”

A sudden pain erupted from Kara’s
right arm. “What are you doing?” she yelled as she looked down at
her arm. “Stop that! Don’t touch me!”

A Seir had perforated her mortal skin
with a large grey needle. A transparent tube was attached to its
end.

“
The ritual, little angel,”
sneered the Seir. “We need your special essence—and we’re going to
take it all, drop by drop until we bleed you dry.”

More pricks, and the cool sting of
needles perforated the skin on both of her temples. Soon Kara’s
arms, legs, and head were covered by tubes.

Kara glared at the king. “It will
never work; my essence will kill you. Stop this now before it’s too
late.”

“
On the contrary,” said the
king, “your essence will give me the strength to rule above all.
And now I will have it.”

Once the Seirs had finished
working on Kara, they moved over to their king. From the chair they
pulled another selection of tubes with metal plugs at their ends.
The king leaned back into his chair, grinning. With echoing
clicks
, his disciples
connected the plugs to openings like electrical outlets around his
head, torso, limbs, and over his entire body until he, too, was
covered by long transparent tubes. Hunger flickered in his cold
grey eyes.

Disgusted, Kara looked away. She
pulled at her restraints, but it was no use.

With all the tubes finally connected,
one of the Seirs walked back to the side of Kara’s chair. He
wrapped his hands around a metal lever and yanked it
down.

With a sudden jerk, the chair vibrated
violently. Immediately, green electricity shot down the sides of
the chair and wrapped around Kara like thousands of razor blades
cutting into her flesh. She felt as if she were falling into a deep
lake and was not able to swim back up to the surface. She looked
down and flinched. She felt increasingly cool as her golden essence
was sucked out of her and then back into the tubes attached to the
Seir king.

Kara watched horrified as her golden
essence hit him. His eyes widened as it flowed inside his body. His
grey eyes began to shine a brilliant golden color. The ecstatic
smile on his face made Kara want to vomit. She wished she could
spit in his face.

The death blade cut deeper into her
mortal flesh. Her abdomen was paralyzed by the blade’s poison. Her
teeth chattered, as her body seemed to pull in opposite
directions—as though the blade’s poison fought against the suction
on the tubes. She noticed gaps in the fluid flowing through the
tubes.

“
Get the blade out of her
chest,” said the Seir king, his voice soft and nearly human. “I
don’t want to lose anymore of her essence. I need all of it,” he
said greedily. “Every single drop.”

“
Yes, my king.” A Seir
rushed over to Kara’s side and pulled the blade from her
chest.

Mistake number two.

The blade had done a number on her M-5
suit. She was incredibly weak and felt as though the blade had
burned a hole through her chest. But now that it had been removed,
she wasn’t sure if she still had the strength to break free from
the chair and get the weapon back.