Mortal Read Online Free Page A

Dragons ." He leaped
from his chair and started to mimic himself riding on an imaginary
broomstick. "I’ve always wanted to fly on a broomstick—"
    "Can you shut up and let her finish,"
said the same blond girl that had given Kara the look of loathing.
Her voice was like ice. She smiled defiantly. "Warlocks don’t fly
on broomsticks, stupid. But you wouldn’t know that. I guess the
rumors are true...you’re just a pretty face with nothing between
the ears, David McGowan."
    David’s face hardened.
"Relax, friend . No
need to get your panties in a bunch."
    He sat down and crossed his arms over
his chest. Kara could almost see the steam shooting from his ears.
Kara felt her temper rise as well. She glared at the blond girl,
and to her surprise she was not looking at David at all, but at
Kara—and with the same distasteful look on her face as
before.
    "Enough!" Ariel hit the table with her
hand, sending a great boom across the chamber. "I don’t have time
for your childish games. You are soldiers of Horizon, guardians of
Earth—act like it. Now listen up. I will not repeat myself. Are we
clear?"
    Kara turned away from the girl. Why
did she loathe her so much? Kara had never even seen her before.
What was her problem?
    "Good, now let us continue," said the
archangel with a touch of venom in her voice.
    Ariel’s eyes darted to
David for a moment. "Warlocks are masters of the demonic arts. They
can summon demons as their minions, and they use an ancient evil
called dark magic. A dark warlock can take his victim’s soul and leave the body behind to
die. A dark warlock is an evil trickster o f
the worse kind imaginable."
    "Sounds like a few angels I know,"
whispered David so only Kara could hear. She silently prayed that
he would stop. Ariel looked livid and ready to kill anyone who
interrupted her again.
    "Mortal souls have a unique, pure
energy," explained Ariel. "When you combine the energy of many
souls together—it becomes a great power—and warlocks crave power
for themselves. The warlock has already begun collecting souls
across North America, and soon he will plague the whole earth with
his dark magic. With the energy from millions of mortal souls, he
will become unstoppable. The mortal world as you know it will cease
to exist. All living things will die."
    Kara thought of her mother and Sabrina
with the green symbols on their faces. It had to be connected. She
began to grow angry.
    "Archangel Ariel, the recent flu
epidemic...my mother’s sick...she has these green markings on
her."
    "She is not sick, but infected by Dark
magic—her soul has been taken," said Ariel somberly. "The markings
on your mother are the marks of a dark warlock. The sickness that
is spreading and killing the mortals is caused by his dark
magic."
    Kara’s expression turned sullen. "I
need to get to her. She needs my help."
    "There’s nothing you can do for her
now," said Ariel gently. "Only the death of the dark warlock will
reverse the effect and save her soul. There is no other
way."
    Kara leaned back in her chair and
tried to stretch out the tension in her back that her rage was
causing. She couldn’t feel her arms anymore. One thing was for
sure—she was going to kill this warlock.
    Ariel raised her voice.
"This dark warlock has been dead for over a century. Something or someone with great
knowledge of dark magic has raised him back from the dead. They
have unleashed an unspeakable evil upon the mortal
world."
    Kara chewed her lip uncertainly. She
didn’t like the wavering in Ariel’s voice; it was almost as though
the archangel thought they couldn’t defeat this guy.
    "I’m sure we can defeat this dark
warlock," said Kara, aware of all the eyes watching her and
thankful that her voice came out strongly. "I mean...we’ve defeated
demons before. We’ve been to the Netherworld, and we’ve faced some
pretty gruesome creatures. I’m sure we can defeat one
warlock?"
    Kara heard murmurings around the
table, but they were quickly