Seirs, Soul Guardians Book 5 by Kim Richardson

David.
    Kara put on speed. Her boots grazed
the ground as if she were floating in the air. Just a few more
paces, and she was out.
    Pushing his weight into it, David
turned the wheel with all his might. The metal chains spun around
the winch. An earsplitting screech echoed around the courtyard. The
ground trembled as though the ancient castle had suddenly awakened
from a long sleep.
    The black metal spikes of the gate
protruded beneath the archway.
    Kara flew through the air into the
waiting hands of her friends and landed on her stomach like a
baseball player sliding into home plate.
    With a thunderous crash, the gate came
down.
    Kara spit the dust out of her mouth
and smiled.

Chapter 5
    Coup D’état
     
     
     
    K ara strolled along the sidewalk behind David, Jenny, and
Peter. Men and women scurried by, sipping coffee from Styrofoam
cups with one hand while talking on their cell phones with the
other as they rushed to their daily jobs. She was surrounded by
happy conversations and laughter. She studied their faces. They
were normal. She couldn’t see any traces of deranged anger. Lilith
hadn’t changed anyone here yet.
    Glass and metal buildings
loomed up on either side of the street. A flock of pigeons flew
across a blue sky and dodged the buildings effortlessly, like
miniature jets. Cars slowed to a crawl. The exhaust filled air was
loud with honking as angry drivers rolled down their windows and
cursed. A white and red city bus rolled to a stop. Downtown Toronto ,
flashed in yellow light at the front of the bus. Its doors swung
open and a group of overly excited kids poured onto the sidewalk.
Monitors chased them up and down the street, doing their best to
herd them into a group, while other kids laughed and slipped away
easily.
    A shiver ran up her back as she
remembered the madness in the mortals’ eyes at Dirleton Castle.
Lilith had changed them into beasts. Kara didn’t want to think
about what would happen to these children if Lilith got to them
too.
    The children—the Sensitive children—
weren’t at the castle. In a way, Kara was glad they weren’t stuffed
in the castle’s dingy dungeon or turned wild like the rest of the
mortals. But that left her with more questions. If they weren’t
there, then where were they? And what had Lilith done with
them?
    “ So, there’s a bounty on
your soul?” said David forcing Kara out of her reverie. His blue
eyes glistened with concern. “That sucks.”
    Kara shrugged and sidestepped a blue
metal recycling bin. “Lilith is up to something, I can feel it. She
wants me out of the way for a reason, and I have to figure out what
it is.”
    David looked behind him and
dropped his voice to a whisper. “This is bad, Kara. It means every
Seir in the freakin’ world is looking for you. And we can’t even
fight back—we can’t even mess them up a little. It really sucks.”
    Kara shook her head and did her best
to hide the frustration in her voice. “I know. I wish there was a
way we could defend ourselves against them somehow.”
    “ But there isn’t. God knows
I’d love to take care of a few Seirs,” David threw a punch into his
palm, “one on one, and see what happens. We’re just going to have
to be extra careful now.”
    A group of teenage girls wandered past
them. All five pairs of eyes were glued on David. A tall pretty
brunette with tanned skin and too much makeup winked and smiled at
him. Kara’s temper flared. The girl completely ignored her. It was
as though she was invisible. The giggling girls batted their
eyelashes at David, one after another, before they wandered
off.
    David raked his fingers through his
hair and walked on with a bounce in his step and a self-satisfied
smile.
    “ Ouch!” David rubbed his
arm. “You punched me,” he laughed. “I love it when you’re
forceful.” He beamed and examined Kara’s face closely. “I knew it.
You’re...jealous.”
    “ No, I’m not.” Kara looked
away. “You’re delusional.”
    “ You love