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  “They are…”

  The man-demon paused as he took a moment to inspect her wings thoroughly, moving his black eyes over every inch of her, “…remarkable.”

  “I know.”

  Kara shoved her captive higher demon to the ground and resisted the urge to kick it. The demon smiled at her viciously and then stood amongst its brethren. Their hollow black eyes and their identical faces were warped and twisted into unnaturally large sneers. These higher demons, clones from the abyss, always freaked her out.

  She sensed that they were hiding something, like they knew some sort of secret about her that they weren’t about to share. She was really starting to get annoyed.

  “If you don’t stop staring at me like that, I’m going to start chopping off heads.”

  “So you’re the infamous Kara Nightingale,” said the man. He stood too close, and his black eyes rolled over her body once more.

  “My, my. You’re not at all what I expected.”

  Kara grimaced at his foul breath and shuddered at his nearness, but she wouldn’t move. Showing this demon any kind of weakness by stepping back would be a victory for him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. So instead, she squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “Yeah? And why’s that?”

  He raised his brows. “I imagined you…taller. But, you’re still very…exquisite.”

  The frown on Kara’s face deepened. “And you are?”

  “Salthazar,” said the demon pompously. His voice was oily and treacherous. It was the voice of a madman.

  Kara twirled her blade in her hand, inches from Salthazar’s suit.

  “You say that like it’s supposed to mean something to me.” She forced a laugh. “Never heard of you.”

  Salthazar lost his smile for a second, but when it returned, and to Kara’s surprise, his teeth were sparkling white.

  “No matter, you will hear of me soon enough. But to help enlighten you—I’m your late father’s successor.”

  Kara flinched as though Salthazar had slapped her across the face. With all that was happening to her, and with the archfiends’ escape, the last thing on her mind was her father, the demon lord that she had killed.

  “Yes,” continued Salthazar.

  He clearly enjoyed the distress on Kara’s face.

  “We all know what you did to your own precious daddy. You were the talk of the Netherworld for a long time, the angel that destroyed the powerful Asmodeus. He was the strongest and greatest of our kind, and yet you…” his black eyes sparkled, “…destroyed him. How did you do it?”

  A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “It just happened.”

  “Nothing ever just happens. There is always an explanation. Was it cleverness? Wit? Strength? Or just dumb luck? I guess we’ll never really know how you managed to vanquish the most powerful demon lord of our time.”

  Kara let out a growl of annoyance. “Guess not.”

  Salthazar watched her for a moment. “Rumors spread of your elemental power. Yes. I know of it. It sparked lots of interest amongst our kind—to be able to control such wild and fierce energy. It is a power that demons have long desired to manipulate ourselves. But we never succeeded. Your father tried and failed. It must take a great deal of self-control, not to let it control you. But I guess things have changed now. I know that you don’t possess it anymore.”

  Kara did her best to hide her annoyance and bitterness. Her elemental power was gone, and she felt miserable. It had left a hole in her, and she wanted it back.

  The demon lord shook his head. “You lost an incredible gift, there’s no denying that…only to be replaced by wings? Don’t you think it’s strange that these things keep happening to you, Kara Nightingale of the legion of angels? Yes…tell me, why is that?”

  “It’s a mystery.”

  Kara gripped the handle of her dagger. Her nails cut into her palm. She tried to ignore the surge and crash of bitter emotions that had awoken within her. Truth be told, she wished she knew the answer, too. But she didn’t. She didn’t know why these horrible things kept happening to her, the elemental power…the wings…it was like a dark force kept throwing obstacles at her, challenging her, keeping her from becoming the guardian she was supposed to become, keeping her from attaining her full potential.

  Salthazar let out a cold laugh. “Well, whatever. I think I should be thanking you, really. Without you, without what you did, I wouldn’t be here. So thank you for clearing a path for me.”

  He paused. “I’ve always wondered why you didn’t take his place.”

  Kara frowned, but she couldn’t find her voice.

  “You could have, you know,” continued the demon. “It was rightfully yours. You could have taken your father’s place in the Netherworld. To rule the demons as their queen.”

  “My job is to kill demons,” said Kara. She trembled with rage and squeezed her soul blade. “That’s what guardian angels do. We rid the earth of scum like you, and we protect the mortals. I would never side with you, with demons. I would rather die a thousand true deaths than join the Netherworld.”

  Salthazar laughed harder. “So very dramatic, but then again all you angels are such dramatic creatures. But you…” he faltered, “but you’re different, aren’t you, Kara? You’ve never been just a regular angel. You’re different. You always have been, and never more so than now.”

  His eyes moved to her wings, and Kara squeezed them together in an unsuccessful attempt to hide them behind her back.

  The demon raised his eyebrows and waved his hands in a dismissal.

  “Never mind. Well then, that’s settled.”

  He raised his voice. “I’m Lord Salthazar, ruler of the Netherworld. I’m taking over where Asmodeus left off.”

  “What do you want?” growled Kara, unable to control the hatred and anger that boiled inside her. She wanted to cut that pretty smile off Salthazar’s face.

  The demon lord smiled at Kara’s sudden rage. He was enjoying seeing her struggle internally. He wanted to push her buttons. He was testing her.

  He regarded her silently for a moment and then said, “Just wanted a look. I wanted to see who this famous Kara Nightingale was, the little girl who killed the powerful Asmodeus, the one who’s been brewing up such trouble in my world. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.”

  His black eyes widened. “But most of all, I wanted to see your wings. I wanted to see them in all their glory myself.”

  Kara felt the eyes of the all the higher demons on her. Their gray, identical faces were frozen like ugly life-size demonic dolls. Their black eyes glimmered with evil. How could Horizon make a deal with these treacherous, vile creatures?

  She glowered. “Well, you’ve seen them, so get lost.”

  She waved her blade menacingly at the demon’s face, knowing all too well that demon lords were powerful and that her puny blade probably wouldn’t do much damage.

  Salthazar laughed playfully as though Kara had said something very funny. “Of course.”

  His black eyes rolled over her body once more, and she resisted the urge to shiver under his creepy, oily stare.

  “See you soon, butterfly,” he said and turned on his heel.

  “Not if I can help it.”

  Kara hated the fact that only moments ago David had called her that, too. But now, hearing it from the lips of the demon lord made her feel dirty somehow.

  Kara watched the demons leave. Butterflies were beautiful and fragile, while Kara was nothing of the sort. She wasn’t weak, and she would prove it.

  But first she’d have to apologize to David.

  Just as she turned to leave, a choking, mind-searing pain burst from her chest and extended to her fingertips and to her wings. White lights exploded from behind her eyes like a giant migraine, like someone beating her head with a sledgehammer. Her ears popped, and she could scarcely hear her own screams. She was on fire, burning from the inside out. She closed her eyes. She could feel her body swell. She was changing into
something else.

  Kara dropped her blade and crumbled to her knees. The weight of her wings was like a backpack full of bricks. It pinned her to the ground and paralyzed her. She could feel the infection coursing through her. She gritted her teeth as another spasm of pain hit her. What was happening to her? Fear replaced her pain. She was sick with trembling and felt a madness infecting her mind. Darkness. Evil…

  She struggled desperately to cling to her sanity—to herself. But it was no use. Fighting it was useless. The darkness was now part of her, like a piece of her soul. She couldn’t stop it. It consumed her.

  And then the pain subsided, and she could move again. But she was different. She could sense it.

  With a trembling hand, she pulled up her sleeve and held back a scream.

  Intricate designs of large black veins throbbed in her arm from her wrist to her elbow, foul and monstrous.

  She was changing, and not into a beautiful butterfly. She was becoming an abominable and evil monster.

  Chapter 2

  The Four Knights

  Three days had passed since the archfiends had escaped from their eternal prisons. Dark clouds had formed over the entire mortal world, and the sun hadn’t shone in three days.

  Kara stood in what was left of Mr. Patterson’s bookstore. It wasn’t much. It had four walls and a roof, and it looked like it’d been hit by a tornado. With the help of Jenny, Peter, Ashley and David, she had done her best to rebuild his shop with old planks of wood and drywall that hadn’t been destroyed by the imps. They had created a haphazard building with a crooked roof, boarded up windows, mismatched exterior siding, and trickling wet gray paint that oozed from the boarded windows. The bookstore looked like it was crying.

  While the rest of the legion were making important and secretive plans with the servants and Lords of the Netherworld, Kara and her friends had been charged with rebuilding one of the safe houses. They had chosen Jim’s Old Bookstore, partly because it was one of the key safe houses, but mostly because they felt a close connection to the place.

  It pained Kara to see the look on Mr. Patterson’s face as he picked up the remains of his beloved collections of books, magazines, and other memorabilia. He looked like he’d just lost a member of his family. His books were a part of him. Even though they had rebuilt his store—Kara knew it would never be the same.

  Just like her. Too much had happened. Too much had been damaged and couldn’t be fixed. She couldn’t be fixed.

  That’s exactly how Kara felt about herself. She was damaged goods. No one could stop the mutation from happening. The black veins continued to spread, and darkness coursed through her mind. It was like developing some deadly disease. She was watching her body change. She barely recognized herself. All she could do was wait in pain for the mysterious transformation that preoccupied her to manifest itself completely. The lingering hope that she could fight the demon that dwelled inside and wanted to come out was fading away.

  The white oracle mother had told her that she was, indeed, part archfiend, or something along those lines—a monster. She had seen that in her, and Kara had seen it, too.

  The white oracle had showed her a world of fire—buildings burned and smoked as millions of dead mortals lay piled and splayed out on the streets of dead cities. She remembered the sound of people dying in battle. She remembered seeing Horizon burning and devastated. But worst of all, the white oracle had shown her herself…or the black-hearted angel-killing monster that she was to become.

  Kara wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. She had screamed in the sky many times before. Alone in the sky, her screams echoed like thunder.

  The white oracle had said, “Remember who you are, Kara. You can still change the future.”

  Kara planned on doing just that. She was going to change the future. She just didn’t know how, exactly, she was going to do it.

  Kara focused on the bookstore. Although they had managed to salvage half the books, the store would never be the same. The cheery old bookstore with its knickknacks and smell of mothballs and burnt wood still looked abandoned. Even their hopeful attempts to find the bookstore’s sign and lift everyone’s gloomy spirits had failed miserably. There was no more sign. There was nothing but ash and crumpled chunks of plaster.

  Mr. Patterson had lost the bounce in his step and the twinkle in his eyes. The escape of the archfiends weighed heavily on him, but Kara was sure most of his gloom was caused by the destruction of his shop and the loss of his cherished crystals.

  Most of his crystals had been destroyed in the fight with the imps. And now, Mr. Patterson stood behind what was left of his counter, which was nothing more than a taped cardboard box with legs, and polished his last remaining crystal ball.

  Kara wished she could do something to help him.

  Suddenly, the old man’s face slackened and he looked as if he were far away, like he was in a trance. His blue eyes and skin blazed and turned a soft golden color. The crystal ball shimmered and glowed brighter. Its insides churned until it was glowing like a tiny brilliant star. She knew he was seeing or communicating with the legion. He would be gone for a while. Maybe it was better this way. It would keep him preoccupied with matters of the legion. He needed a break from the devastation that was his bookstore.

  Kara sighed. Her thoughts returned to her own gloom, and her eyes settled on David.

  During the days of rebuilding, David still hadn’t uttered a word to Kara. He didn’t much look at her either, and he ignored her many attempts to apologize. When they had returned to Horizon, Kara had joined David and Ashley as they had welcomed back Jenny and Peter from the Healing-Xpress. But David had ignored her completely. He was his usual friendly self with everyone except her, and that made everyone else uncomfortable, too. Jenny kept looking at Kara for an explanation. But she had no answers, nothing she wanted to admit yet, so all she could do was look down. She had made a real mess of things with David.

  But she was determined to make it right.

  Even now as he hammered the last nail into a supporting beam, David was a lot quieter than usual. His face was pinched, but it couldn’t hide his handsome square jaw and his perfect cheekbones. When he finished nailing the beam, David tossed his hammer into a red toolbox and moved toward Peter, who was painting the back wall very badly.

  Did David know she was watching him? If he did, he didn’t show it. He continued to avoid her gaze.

  Kara could feel Jenny’s eyes on her while she and Ashley organized some of the books on the rescued bookshelves. But Kara couldn’t look at her. She didn’t want to see the pity in her eyes.

  “Kara?” she heard Jenny’s voice. “Since when do you wear gloves?”

  Kara braced herself as everyone, even David, turned to look at her hands. She could feel their eyes like laser beams piercing through her black leather gloves. If she had been a mortal girl, her face would have been beet red. Thank goodness she wasn’t.

  Kara stared at her hands. Her chest tightened. She hadn’t told anyone about the mysterious black marks on her arms. The markings had started to spread to her legs as well. She had panicked and hid her hands with a pair of leather gloves she had found back in the lockers at the Counter Demon Division.

  It was a foolish way to try and pretend the change wasn’t happening. She felt it in her body, felt it in her soul. There was no denying it anymore—she was changing. First she had sprouted wings, then ugly black veins on her arms and legs, and then…

  Kara looked up at Jenny and forced a smile. “Thought these black gloves would look cool with my new wings. You know, thought I’d make it a look or something.”

  Jenny’s bright green eyes sparkled in delight.

  “Yeah, totally. You look amazing. Maybe we could find you a complete leather outfit? That would be killer. You’d look so badass in leather.”

  The spark faded in Jenny’s eyes for a moment.

  “I wish I had wings. Then we could fly together and beat those stupid archfiends.”
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  Jenny’s camaraderie only made Kara feel worse about lying to everyone, especially to David.

  Kara kept her eyes on Jenny. “Let’s start with just the gloves. I’m not sure how flexible a leather jumpsuit would be.”

  “It is time!” announced Mr. Patterson.

  He made his way to the center of the bookstore, and Kara could see that his bare feet were dangerously close to sharp wood splinters. His eyes gleamed their natural blue again, and he held his crystal close to his chest, like he was protecting it, as though he feared it would suddenly burst.

  As they gathered around the old man, Kara’s eyes automatically went to David. She expected him to say something sarcastic or make a joke, as he always did. But his lips were tight, and his eyes never left Mr. Patterson. It was like she wasn’t even there, like she didn’t exist to him, not anymore.

  David’s indifference felt a lot worse than her stupid mutation.

  “It is as I feared,” said the old man.

  He looked like he’d aged a few centuries during the past three days. His eyes were bruised with deep circles.

  “What is?” said Kara as she found her voice. She tensed. Did David just look at her?

  Mr. Patterson closed his eyes. “The end of days.”

  Kara and Jenny exchanged worried looks.

  “I’ve just received vital information about what is to come,” continued Mr. Patterson.

  He opened his eyes. “I wished…I prayed to the souls that I might be wrong…but as usual, I was not.”

  “The end of days,” repeated Ashley solemnly, and as she shook her head, her long blond ponytail brushed across her shoulders. “You mean the end of the world? Because of the archfiends? Because they escaped?”

  Mr. Patterson nodded. “The apocalypse. It has already begun. The archfiends have cast a shadow over the sun. You have already seen it.”

  “This is bad,” said Jenny as she crossed her arms.

  “It gets worse,” said Mr. Patterson. “Without the sun, the earth will freeze over. Without the sun, plants will no longer be able to inhale carbon dioxide and exhale the life-sustaining oxygen that mortals and all living things need. By the end of this week, the average surface temperature will be below the freezing point. The planet’s ocean surfaces will freeze over. Temperatures have already started to drop. Within a year or so most of the human population will die. Life on Earth cannot survive without the sun. The planet will die. The archfiends want death.”