The Nightwalkers Saga: Books 1 - 7

by Candace Wondrak

I certainly didn’t want to.

  It would be so very easy to compel Raphael to keep his findings to himself…

  Chapter Sixteen – Kass

  I feigned left, seeking to hit him right in his side, but Gabriel saw through that in a New York minute. He blocked my real blow with ease, spinning my arm and flipping my body on the floor of the church, kneeling over me with a smug expression that my Gabriel often wore, and a half-smirk I could only describe as sexy.

  Did the Sorcerer hit my head when I wasn’t looking? Did I retain some brain injury from the many battles I’d seen? Calling Gabriel sexy was something other girls did, not me.

  Definitely not me.

  Although…I was oddly comfortable beneath him.

  Thank God this Gabriel couldn’t read my mind, otherwise I’d have a lot of explaining to do, and frankly I didn’t think I could explain it.

  “You’re getting too much enjoyment out of this,” I said with a smile as he grabbed my hand and helped me up.

  The tiny smirk faded as he seriously told me, “Someone has to keep you in shape.”

  I playfully slapped his arm. “Are you saying these past few days have made me soft?”

  “I never said that,” he remarked, sitting in a pew as he took a swig of water.

  Wiping the sweat off my brow, I stole the bottle from him and drank from it. After a few sips, I paused to ask, “Is this weird? Should I not be doing this?” I offered him back his water. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” It was something I’d do with my Gabriel without any hesitation whatsoever.

  “It’s fine, Kass, really,” Gabriel assured me.

  That’s when my Gabriel would’ve made a you-can-take-whatever-else-you-want-from-me joke. But, as I often reminded myself the past couple days, this wasn’t my Gabriel. He was older, gloomy, preoccupied. He scarcely smirked, never smiled. There was a heavy air about him, especially when he was around John. If that was due to a rivalry between the two or something else, I couldn’t say.

  Sitting beside him, I lifted my legs and held them on the broken pew before us. “I can’t believe Raphael hasn’t come up with any solutions yet.”

  “Maybe this Raphael isn’t as good as the one you know,” Gabriel offered, finally taking the water bottle back from me, fingers grazing mine and lingering for a few seconds too long. We met eyes at the contact, and I was the one who broke it by looking away.

  That blue-eyed stare was too intense, for some reason.

  I stood, saying, “Maybe we should help him.”

  “Wait,” Gabriel cut in, suddenly on his feet and grabbing my wrist.

  Facing him with growing confusion, I glanced at the strong hand holding me before questioning, “What is it?”

  “There’s something I need to show you first,” he spoke softly. “It won’t take long.”

  “Is it something in the church?” I asked, mainly joking. “Because the last time I was out there, I got mauled by a pack of Demon dogs, and getting surrounded again is at the bottom on my list of things to do.”

  “We will not run into any stray packs of Demons, that I promise you.”

  I squinted up at him, having never heard Gabriel say that he promised anything to me before. “You…promise?” I spoke, not knowing how he could promise something like that. Demons ran on their own schedules, after all, and in this world of perpetual night, they could show up anytime, anywhere.

  Despite knowing that, hearing him declare “I promise” again made me relax. I believed him. He might be a different, more mature, handsomer Gabriel, but I found myself trusting him just as much as I did my own blonde boy.

  His hand slipped into mine, and as he led me from the church, I shouted a goodbye to John and Raphael, neither of whom moved to stop us.

  The Gabriel that held my hand wasn’t a boy. He was a man. A man who made my stomach twist and my cheeks flush of my own accord.

  I had to get back to my world as soon as possible, otherwise I’d dig myself into a hole with this particular Gabriel.

  Gabriel never once let go of my hand as we walked along the overgrown streets. Cars, long-since crashed, sat in front yards and ten-car pileups. Grass was waist-level, having not been cut in years.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked, more curious than anything.

  The man remained silent, simply leading us down a side street whose sign was broken and spray-painted over. We turned off the road and headed up a weed-filled gravel walkway, stopping before a large, mansion-like house.

  Though the trees were larger, the yard was unkempt, and the windows were dark, it slowly dawned on me where we were, where Gabriel brought me. The steps that held no positive memories, the front door that looked like it was taken straight off a castle, the three floors whose layout I knew perfectly.

  This was our house.

  “Come on,” Gabriel said, pulling me up the steps as I mentally relived the moment John switched our places, taking in Osiris instead of me. Apparently in this world, that never happened.

  Because I died.

  He stopped by the giant front door, holding his other hand on the doorknob. I was seconds from asking if it was locked when he twisted the knob and pushed it open. Gabriel let me enter first, and I held in a cough as I breathed in the stale air. It was as if the air in this house hadn’t been circulated in years, like it was locked up, waiting for some unlucky individual to walk in the hazardous Carolinian mansion.

  I stepped out of the entry vestibule and into the kitchen, dragging a finger along the countertop and collecting thick, heavy dust. Uncleaned dishes sat in the sink, and a part of me expected to hear Michael’s English voice drone on and on about how Gabriel and I never did our part to take care of the house.

  Michael wasn’t here, though.

  Meandering out of the kitchen, I walked into the living room, finding a game of cards that was started and never finished. A newspaper from years ago sat on Michael’s favorite recliner, yellowed from age. I imagined the runner whom Gabriel and I saved, how he attacked Koath in this very living room…only that never happened here, either. Koath never came back from England. There was nothing to come back for. John never went psycho, never killed the principal and countless others; there was no reason Koath had to return. The Purifier he took care of for years (ahem, me) was dead.

  I was starting to wonder if John getting Osiris’s powers was a good thing. At least the world didn’t end. A terrible thing to think, and I immediately felt awful.

  “Up here,” Gabriel spoke from the stairwell, and I was beside him in an instant, following him up the stairs to the third floor, where our bedrooms sat. We came upon my room, its door hanging slightly ajar.

  As I went to investigate the pictures sitting on the dresser, I heard him say, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this house.” A pause. “Feels like forever.”

  I wiped off the dust on the mirror, cleaning a streak so that I could see my face. “I think it has been forever, if the levels of dust mean anything.” Gabriel stood near the window seat, arms crossed; I could see him in the mirror’s reflection.

  “After that day,” he said, “everything happened so fast. Demons started appearing in numbers no one could face. The Council was blown up by some group of high-tech Demons. Ninety percent of the civilians in this city died in the week after you…” Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to finish that particular sentence. “Some tried to run, fleeing to other states, other countries. But it didn’t matter how far they got. The whole world fell into chaos, and no one was there to stop it.”

  Picking up a photograph, I used my shirt to clean the frame, viewing an old picture of a young Gabriel and an acne-riddled me. Early teenage years, out west, some birthday or holiday. It was sad I couldn’t remember what occasion had us so happy.

  “How could one death cause all this?” I spoke, turning to face him after carefully setting the picture down. I took a few steps toward him, adding, “We’re Purifiers. We die young. It’s a given. We don’t get to gro
w old and have families and grandchildren.” We locked gazes. “We just don’t.”

  “It’s hard to explain,” Gabriel muttered. “You were like the glue that held existence together.”

  I couldn’t help but crack a smile. “That seems a tad dramatic, don’t you think? There has to be some other reason all this happened.”

  “No, it was because of you. The world needed you to live, to survive.”

  “Why? Why me? There’s nothing special about me, and definitely nothing special enough to merit the end of the world,” I told him, believing it wholeheartedly.

  Gabriel shook his head. “You have no idea, Kass. What you meant, what you mean, to the world. Forces beyond your comprehension—the ultimate battle between good and evil.” His fists clenched at his sides. “It all depended on you. Good lost. Heaven doesn’t exist here anymore.” He collapsed on the window seat, his wide frame hunched.

  It was clear that losing me destroyed him. I wasn’t sure of the whole my-death-meant-the-end-of-the-world thing, but me dying did end Gabriel’s world. If the positions were reversed, I would probably be the same. He was my best friend, the one constant in my life. If I lost him, I’d go crazy.

  Biting my lip, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Comforting wasn’t something I was too good at. I was more adept at wallowing in self-pity and masking my emotions with anger and sarcasm.

  Glancing at the dresser, my eyes fell upon the picture I wiped clean. I swiped up the frame and went to sit beside him, holding the picture between us. This might end up making him sadder, but it was the only thing I could think to do.

  Here goes nothing, I thought, inhaling unhurriedly.

  “Do you remember the day this was taken?” I asked quietly, lightly elbowing him in the side to get his morose attention.

  Gabriel gently took the picture, rubbing his thumb along its edges. His tired, weary eyes studied the two young Purifiers in the picture. He was farther from that boy than I was the girl, but we both did a lot of growing up since then. He a bit more so.

  “Your thirteenth birthday,” he finally answered me, still as sad as ever.

  Him saying that made the memory come to my mind. Remembering the day, I smiled as I said, “We had a three hour game of Uno. We both refused to lose, so we kept picking up cards until we got one of those draw-two or draw-four ones.” I chuckled. “Michael got so fed up with us that he quit the game and went to bed early.”

  “At six,” Gabriel whispered with an unbelieving grunt.

  “He forgot to set the timer for dinner, and we almost burned the kitchen down.” I rested my head on his shoulder. “Although that wasn’t nearly as bad as that day you tried baking chocolate chip cookies. The fire department was called on that one.” I laughed to myself.

  His head turned, and Gabriel rested his cheek on the top of my head as he said, “We did have fun, didn’t we?”

  “We did,” I agreed. “Gabriel…I think you’re wrong. Heaven does exist. It’s up there somewhere, and it’s here. Now, this moment. In this picture. It’s anywhere we make it to be.” I picked my head off his shoulder and studied him, watching the way he watched me in the moonlight.

  “That’s…” He was having trouble finding the right words to say, and I couldn’t blame him. I got deep, fast. So deep that I even surprised myself a little bit. “…not something I thought you’d say.”

  I bumped his leg with my own, grinning. “There’s your problem. You have to remember I’m not your Kass.” Taking the picture, I finished as I stood, “I’ve seen a lot of things yours never did.”

  As I meandered back to the dresser and set the photo down, I recalled all the horror I’d been through. The Osiris ritual. Stalker John. Nemesis Crixis. How could I have survived all that, but this world’s Kass couldn’t? What did I have that she didn’t?

  In theory, weren’t we the same?

  “It might not be anything compared to this world,” I spoke, seeing how Gabriel never took his eyes off me as I made my way to the other side of the room, “but I’ve been through a lot.”

  Gabriel was almost inaudible when he said, “So have I.”

  “Well, for now at least, we can get through this together,” I told him, trying to raise his spirits even though I knew it was next to impossible. “Now, either you turn around or leave the room.” I dug through the top right dresser drawer. This Kass kept her underwear in the same place. “Because I’m itching to get out of these stinky clothes.”

  I didn’t wait for him to decide. In the next moment my back was to him and I was sliding out of my shirt. Before changing bras, however, I threw a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t looking.

  He was staring out of the window, contemplative.

  With a sigh, I hooked the new bra and slid into a loose tank top. I worked to undo my belt and pull down my pants.

  Nothing I said would make this Gabriel feel better.

  Chapter Seventeen – John

  I sat near Raphael, balancing on the back end of a pew, perched like a bird. My mood was beyond foul. Kass was gone, with him. I didn’t trust him one bit. What could he possibly have to show her?

  I may have had mistakes, deadly ones, hidden in my many closets, but I was not comfortable with what the beast masquerading as Gabriel was doing. Hiding his true self. Lying to her. Making her believe that he was the same Gabriel she always knew, just a little worse for wear.

  The Devil playing the sad card…who knew he could do it so well?

  “Where do you think he took her?” I finally broke the silence in the church. “What could he show her?”

  “Whatever it is,” Raphael paused as he glanced up from an old journal, “it must suit his purpose. I imagine it’ll draw on Kass’s emotions, make her feel for him. That is what he wants.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I, but we do not have a choice in the matter. Because of what we are, we must follow his commands.” Raphael sighed, returning to his journal, flipping the page and rubbing his brow.

  I gritted my teeth. “I thought he told you not to research the spell?”

  He shook his head. “His specific words were: do not tell Kass anything.” He grinned somewhat, adding, “He said nothing about not researching.”

  “What good is research when you can’t tell her your findings?” I ran a hand through my hair, wondering when the last time I showered was. It’s been a while, that I could tell. “What’s the point?”

  Raphael stood, moving beside me, looking around us to make sure they were still gone. Couldn’t be too careful when the Prince of Darkness was involved. “There is a…loophole in his command. I cannot tell her, but you can.”

  That was definitely something I could do.

  It might cost me an eternity of Hell, but if it meant bringing Kass back to a world, a good world, a world which didn’t end, I didn’t care. Plus, I’d do anything to keep her out of his clutches. His intentions weren’t good. The Devil’s never were.

  “And I think I might have found exactly how to reverse the spell,” Raphael continued, drawing my attention. “Each Sorcerer has a staff that is unique to it.” He pointed in the journal in his hands. “The only way to reverse any spell that a Sorcerer casts is to have the Sorcerer reverse it.”

  “Great” I whispered, holding a hand to my face. That didn’t sound good.

  “Before you get totally down in the dumps—”

  I groaned, for hearing him say something like that nearly made my ears bleed.

  “—this journal details a certain Sorcerer’s movements in the thirteenth century. It cast spells that forced entire villages to fall into an eternal slumber.” Raphael held up a finger as he said, “But, the owner of this journal was able to break every spell the Sorcerer cast by destroying its staff. All the villagers woke up simultaneously, and missing children returned to their parents, not having aged a day.”

  “How are we supposed to find the Sorcerer?”

  Raphael already had an answ
er planned for me, it seemed, for he carried on without delay, “We’ll need to focus on the staff. Since it’s an object, we can find it through a locator spell, use Kass, something its magic touched, to find it.” He closed the journal and tapped its binding, eyeing me wearily. “But to do that, we’ll need a Witch.”

  I groaned, knowing where this was going. “Don’t tell me.”

  “We’ll need to go to Haven.”

  I was off the pew instantly, repeated more vehemently, “I said don’t tell me.”

  “The only Witch who’s powerful enough to search the entire globe with a spell,” Raphael said, ignoring my antics, “the only Witch who we know is still alive.”

  “What makes you think she’ll help us? You and her didn’t part on good terms, last I checked,” I reminded him, crossing my arms.

  Raphael’s stare fell to the floor, undoubtedly reliving his moments with the girl the King nicknamed the Prophet. Of course, I knew her by her other, human name, and she wasn’t a girl anymore. Time had caught up to her.

  “I am hoping that she can forgive me enough to help us,” he spoke softly, eventually lifting his light eyes to me. “If she sees Kassandra, she’ll know that we have to return her to her world.”

  “You really think she’ll let us in Haven? No, scratch that. Do you really think Gabriel will allow this journey? Do you think he’ll help us willingly? He won’t let Kass step a foot in Haven. He won’t let her go.”

  “Perhaps he will have a change of heart.”

  I chuckled, walking away from him, the urge to hunt not for food, but for sport, in my veins. “The Devil doesn’t change.”

  “John, there is something other than the Devil inside of him.”

  At that, I held in a laugh. The Devil didn’t change his feathers. The Prince of Darkness was always that: the Prince of Darkness. Evil, deceiving, prideful. He would not let Kass go, not this time.

  That I was sure of.

  Chapter Eighteen – The Prince

  For the first time, I realized that what she said was true. Not about the nonsense of Heaven being here or in our pasts, that was wishful thinking on her part. But that she wasn’t a copy of the Kass I once knew. I didn’t believe the Kass I lost would’ve said anything close to what she did. I couldn’t recall the same saunter in her walk that this one had.