The Nightwalkers Saga: Books 1 - 7

by Candace Wondrak

  “Yes,” he encouraged me. “Yes, you can. If it helps, imagine I am someone else. Someone, or something, you want to attack like there is no tomorrow.”

  “All right.” I moaned as I stood, arching my back and cracking it several times. Of course, I knew what he was saying, and I also knew who he meant. Crixis. I wanted to kick his Demon butt like no other.

  What I needed was sleep that wasn’t interrupted by a bloody awakening.

  A slow breath escaped my mouth as I lifted my own bandaged fists to fighting position. For some reason, it was easy to swap out Raphael and Crixis. They both had almost the exact same eyes.

  Normal eyes, I should say, since Crixis’s Daywalker eyes were red.

  I threw a punch, which he effortlessly caught and spun back to me. I stumbled back, almost falling on the ground, like I had for the last half hour. Shaking off the discomfort that erupted when his fist made contact with my shoulder, I spun a roundhouse kick and landed it hard on his chest.

  That’s more like it.

  Raphael fell back, momentarily stunned. I made a move to stomp on him, but he dodged it by rolling swiftly onto his feet. He wiped his mouth using a bandaged hand, looking at me all the while.

  I remembered the permanent evil glare Crixis had. The way his shoulders rose and fell as he enjoyed the thrill of the fight. The way he almost killed me three years ago. The way he was intent on destroying my life before finally destroying me. The malicious half grin glued to his face every time he spoke.

  All those things were ripe in my mind. And that made me hate him even more. Crixis deserved purification.

  What made Crixis so different from all the other greater Demons the Council purified? Crixis was only a Daywalker, so there was no reason to not have purified him by now. If I were part of the Council, I would be ashamed with myself.

  Then again, he had red eyes. I’d never seen another Daywalker with red eyes.

  That begged the question: who was the normal Daywalker, Crixis or Rain and John?

  Getting caught in the moment, and fully drowning myself in the illusion that Raphael was Crixis, I showed my teeth and started to run to him.

  I was having no problems with that, until I reached within a foot’s distance from him. A sharp pain emitted from the center of my forehead. A muffled sound reverberated through my ears. It sounded like talking.

  Or singing.

  Images of blood flashed in my mind. There was so much of it. I couldn’t even describe what I saw. Puddles and puddles of blood.

  Feeling abnormally nauseous and remembering last night’s fiasco, I shook my head and tried to get the mental pictures of blood out of there. Luckily, they followed orders and left. Unluckily, images of Crixis appeared. All different kinds.

  One of him from thousands of years ago, when he was under command of the terrible, snake-like woman who used him for everything. One of him being crucified. One of him as a gladiator. One of him as an aristocratic man.

  The mind-flash didn’t stop there. It kept going.

  Crixis killing the Shifter’s family, him meeting me in the cemetery and telling me why he wants me dead, and him at the football game, where we found out Claire’s father was dead. In the majority of the images, he was covered in blood. If he could, he would probably bath in the stuff. What a demented sicko.

  Crixis had done countless unspeakable things, made my life awful. I truly hated him unlike anybody, anything before him.

  A low, deep hum banged through my mind’s eye, making me fall to the ground. That tune. Why did this song seem so important? It was only a song. It had no meaning to me. None that I could recall.

  To think all that happened in just a few seconds. And it wasn’t over yet, either.

  All the words he’d ever spoken to me came rushing back, colliding with each other and fighting for my attention. They were spoken so fast I couldn’t make out any of them.

  I closed my eyes, blocking out Raphael, who fell on his knees and asked what was wrong with me. Wrong, with me? Those were two words you never heard together. Because nothing’s ever wrong with me. Well, beside the fact that I was having a vision without really having a vision.

  I strained my mind, aiming to slow down the words and make them understandable. My head felt like it was going to explode. The pain kept adding up as the words slowed to a recognizable rate.

  Two words stood out more than the rest. Remember, don’t.

  That was weird. Out of all the times I talked to Crixis, he’d never said those words. Together, at least. What did those words even mean? What was I supposed to remember not to do?

  Two strong hands clutched my shoulder, shaking me forcefully. I gradually opened my eyes, finding that Raphael was the owner of the hands. Gabriel and Max knelt behind him, looking equally, if not more, worried.

  “Kass,” Gabriel was the first to speak, “are you okay?”

  I opened my mouth to say that I was fine, but nothing came out. To avoid even more worry, I quickly closed my mouth and nodded.

  “You’re bleeding,” Raphael whispered.

  Realizing he was staring at my nose, I automatically wiped the back of my hand on it. Instantly I felt the gooey substance that seeped from my nostrils. What was going on with me and blood lately?

  “It’s nothing,” I assured them all as I unsteadily stood up. My knees wanted to buckle, but I wouldn’t let them. I made them stable, continuing, “I’m fine. Really.” Why did it seem that lately all I’d been saying was I’m fine? I was so sick of those stupid words. I never wanted to hear or say them again.

  Raphael glimpsed to Max. “Max, you are with me. Kassandra, go sit down and relax. I would prefer that you do not collapse again.”

  Finally. A break. It only took me falling onto my knees and having a strange, visionless vision, but at least I got a break, right? Deep down, that’s all that really mattered. Sighing, I turned and started walking slowly to the church’s walls.

  But not before I saw Gabriel stand in a soldier position and say, “Sir, where am I stationed, sir?”

  I took my time sliding my back down against the rocky wall, enjoying the decline and what was to come. My butt was going to sit on some grass. Some comfy and calm grass. It was the perfect break in my book.

  Eavesdropping a bit, I heard Raphael sigh. “You go and…just stay out of our way.”

  The blonde boy nodded and rushed to my side, falling on his butt with a hard thud. His blue eyes were suspicious. “I saw it. All of it.”

  I creased my eyebrows and stared at him. Gabriel was being completely serious. He saw my whole vision thingy?

  “Now, before you bite my head off for infringing on your personal space-slash-thoughts, hear me out. I’m not saying any of it made sense,” he was quick to say, “because it didn’t. The pictures were switching so fast and the words were—oh, God. It’s confusing just trying to explain it.”

  A gentle laugh came from me. What would I do without Gabriel?

  “We’ve already been through this about a million times,” Gabriel smiled, “you’d die without me. I know it. Could you…make out any of it?” He easily switched the subject back to my vision. “All I got was that it was about Crixis.”

  “That’s all I got, too. And the words remember, don’t.” Biting my lip, I made an effort to understand what it meant. But, just like a minute ago, I drew a big, fat blank.

  “Remember, don’t?” Gabriel repeated the words, sounding like a two-year-old who’d just spoken them for the first time and didn’t quite know the meaning. “What does that mean?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  That seemed to be the theme of the day.

  Chapter Twelve – Kass

  Max and Gabriel left, leaving me all alone with Raphael. My mind mused, speculating if he was going to ask me about what happened before.

  Sighing, I snuggled into the pew I was laying in. I waited not-so-patiently for Raphael to finish putting away the weapons that were used in today’s lesson. I could�
��ve helped him…but I wasn’t a very helpful girl.

  Footsteps echoed throughout the church, indicating that Raphael was on his way. I sat up and waited for him to reach me. He smoothed his collar out as he sat beside me. He looked uncomfortable, and slightly annoyed.

  “What happened earlier? Were you…having a vision?” Raphael’s dazzling emerald eyes dug into me, making me stare into my lap. How badly I wished I didn’t tell him about my visions.

  It took me a while to react. “Yeah. Kind of.” My eyes moved to my hands. They started fidgeting and I could not stop them.

  A hand was gently placed on my own, stopping me from distracting myself with the weird ways I could bend my fingers. I froze, my lips drawing into a thin line.

  “Kassandra,” Raphael breathed out my name like he was on an Old Spice commercial, “you know I am here for you. You can tell me anything.”

  The sincerity in his tone was overbearing and frankly, I didn’t like it one bit. “I…I saw Crixis. And blood. Lots and lots of blood.” I closed my eyes, reliving the vision-like thing all over again. “And I heard a song that I know I’ve heard before.”

  Raphael seemed surprised for only one second. Either that, or he was really good at hiding his true feelings. “Anything else?”

  “He…said remember, don’t.” I shook my head, getting some of my sweat-filled, kinky hair in my face. “But I have no idea what it means. I don’t know what any of it means. All I know…is that Crixis is…”

  The images of blood flashed through my mind once more. I wasn’t scared of death. I wasn’t frightened of Demons. But Crixis…there was something about him that was terrifying. His strength, his age, his power. I wouldn’t run from a fight with him, but I wouldn’t go looking for one, either.

  “I know.” Raphael’s face softened. I’d never seen him look so thoughtful and considerate.

  Silence flooded the church. On a normal occasion it would have felt unnerving, but this time, it was just what I needed. I loved the silence more than anything at the moment. But as much as I wanted the quiet to stay forever, I had to ask a question.

  It was the perfect time for a question Raphael wouldn’t normally answer.

  “Raphael,” I said slowly, “why did you lie to me about Crixis? Why did you tell me he was dead when you knew he wasn’t?” Even though I attempted to make my voice sound normal and indifferent, it came out troubled and uneasy. Crixis wasn’t the only thing he’d lied about.

  He sighed. “I lied because I was trying to protect you from him. I thought that if you knew he was dead, you would forget all about him and stop asking questions that might have led you straight to him.” Raphael paused, “What I did not know was that you already met him and survived.” He held me at arm’s length, staring me squarely in the eyes. “That is a feat almost no one can accomplish.”

  “But that doesn’t matter.” My face turned away, breaking the intense eye contact we had. “Because he’s still after me. He still wants to kill me for fun.” Demons killed not for sport, but because they couldn’t help it. He was killing for fun. The difference between an animal and a psycho.

  “Kassandra,” he said lightly, “Crixis is not known to kill people just for fun.”

  My mouth dropped, because I was pretty sure that he did.

  “He has his reasons. They may be sick and twisted reasons, but they are reasons nonetheless. If Crixis killed without a purpose…the world would be a much different place,” Raphael assured me.

  “How can you act so sure?” I frantically asked. “He told me the only reason he’s after me now is because I survived him three years ago. He’s hunting me for sport. For fun. Just because.”

  Raphael pinched the bridge of his nose. He said, “Crixis is not after you just because. He is not after you because you survived a random encounter with him.”

  Blinking at him, I slid a few inches away so I could get a better look at him. What was he saying? The way he spoke with such confidence, it made me recall the Alyssa of the other world, what she begged me to do. Forgive him.

  A wave of suspicion grew within me, a wave I could not stop.

  His hand chopped the air. “He is not after you for fun. Do you not see all the trouble he has gone through to get you here? No, he is not after you for sport. Do you think running into him in that crypt three years ago was pure chance?”

  “What?” I asked, uncharacteristically timid.

  “It was not. He followed you there. No doubt he has been doing it your entire life, and you have only recently begun to notice,” Raphael told me sternly, acting like a know-it-all about Crixis.

  The suspicions inside me multiplied. What evils had Raphael seen or done that merited Alyssa asking me to forgive him? Did it involve Crixis?

  “Crixis is one of the most intelligent beings to ever roam the earth. He does not leave things up to chance and he does not kill for fun. It is not his way. He is a methodical beast that has evaded the Council’s watchful eyes since the beginning.” Raphael stood angrily, stepping out of the pew. “I am almost one hundred percent certain that Crixis does not want to kill you.”

  I eyed him up, watching him lean on the next pew, closing his eyes and breathing out slowly. I doubted Raphael in more ways than one. I was one hundred percent sure Crixis wanted to kill me. “Then what does he want?”

  “If I am correct, he has been after you for a long time. He is not striving to kill you. He is a creature born of chaos, and he revels in it. Only one thing would create more chaos around here than your death.” Raphael’s jade eyes met mine, appearing concerned. “He intends to turn you.”

  “What?” I got to my feet, mind flashing back to the other world. A sense of dread filled me as I remembered that world’s me, how despicably horrible and evil I was. “Turn me? I’d rather him kill me.”

  A long pause sat between us before he spoke again. “Crixis wants no one to know his true agenda. If he told you he is going to kill you, that is only what he wants you to think,” Raphael explained his reasoning. “He is doing all of this to see if…”

  “If what?” I stormed up to him, shooting him a famous death glare.

  “If you are worthy,” he mumbled.

  “Worthy?” I echoed, getting louder. “Worthy?” My voice resonated through the church, coming back once. “So, you think that since he’s trying to kill me, finding ridiculously outdated rituals and endangered Demons to take a swipe at me, that he’s really trying to see if I’m worthy of being turned? That’s—” But as I spoke, I wavered. I did have the evidence of the other world, after all.

  “You do not understand.” He faced me, growing flustered. “In Crixis’s eyes, no one is ever worthy. For him to come across someone like you, it must be beyond thrilling.”

  “Someone like me?” I repeated, face twisting in confusion and revulsion.

  “I only meant…a Purifier, such as yourself.”

  “Such as myself?” Crossing my arms, I glared at him some more. “Care to elaborate on that, Raphael?” Care to tell the full truth?

  “You have skills that no ordinary human possesses. Though you are terribly rash, you are intelligent.” Raphael stuck his hands in his pocket. The only skin that was visible was his face. “You have a silver tongue and are not afraid to use it, in any situation. I am certain he finds you physically appealing and fascinating to the point of insanity.”

  My anger was blindsided with confusion. Did he just say that I was pretty? Pretty and irritating? I felt the heat gathering in my cheeks and swiftly realized how lame I was. Firstly, this was Raphael. Secondly, I couldn’t let the fact that he called me physically appealing take away from the main point here.

  He was a liar.

  When I remained quiet, Raphael took a step toward me, saying, “Would you like me to continue? Because I will. You care about others more than yourself. You have a good heart.

  You—” He stopped when I held up a hand.

  “Okay,” I spoke faintly, the blushing finally fading, “I g
et it.” My hand sluggishly fell to my side as I made my way back to the pew to sit. Suddenly I was so very tired.

  He deliberately took his time sitting beside me.

  I waited for him to get situated before asking, “In all our years of training, no one ever mentioned Daywalkers. I assume it’s because they’re nowhere near as common. Is the process the same?” I absentmindedly rubbed my neck, where John had bit me when he was filled with Osiris’s power.

  If you got nicked by a Nightwalker’s tooth, even a teensy-weensy scratch, you would turn into one of the blood-sucking fiends in as little as a day or as long as a month. Apparently, the venom coating their teeth was very pungent.

  “The act of changing into a greater Vampire is a very ancient ritual. No one alive should know its secrets.”

  I elbowed him, saying, “But you do, don’t you? You know basically everything. Of course, you’d know this.” Sighing, I leaned and rested my back on the pew and my legs on Raphael’s lap.

  It was a very odd position, but it was comfortable. It was a position I often took with Gabriel. This was the first time I did it with Raphael. The me from a few weeks ago might’ve scoffed in horror at this position, but the me now? I couldn’t care less. I was just so done with everything.

  Raphael took a look at my legs, sluggishly saying, “I do know, but if I tell you…you need to promise me you will not tell anyone, even Gabriel.”

  I hesitated for only a moment. “Promise,” I said, holding up my hand as if I were in the Girl Scouts.

  “Very well.” Raphael laid his head back on the pew. “I will tell you how a greater Vampire is created.”

  Chapter Thirteen – Raphael

  Kassandra was incredibly curious about every little thing I said. I did not blame her; if I were in her shoes, I would want to know everything as well. The secret of creating a greater Vampire was a secret that should never get out.

  But I found myself telling her the truth anyways. Well, part of the truth. The entire truth…I wasn’t certain that she was ready for it. Neither was I, truthfully.

  If she knew how one was turned, then she would be able to recognize the signs and hopefully prevent it. Crixis had told me numerous times that he wanted to kill her. So many times, in fact, that I was beginning to doubt it.