Raphael was surprised at the move, and he ineptly fell backwards, straight on his back. I straddled him, very similar to how Leliana did as she and him did the nasty, but instead of sex, I was going to kill him. I reached for a piece of the broken pew, needing something that resembled a stake.
He tensed, grabbing my wrist before I could bring the stake down onto his heart. Whether it would’ve killed him, or he’d merely walk away, inconvenienced, I didn’t know. I didn’t have a lot of dealings with Daywalkers, considering the Council and my Guardians hid their existence from me for the first seventeen years of my life. Yet another reason I wasn’t too fond of the Council.
A laugh came from him. “You think a stake to the heart can beat me?” Raphael grinned, his teeth a frightening length. A blue portal opened beneath him, swallowing him until I was straddling nothing but air.
I stood, frantically glancing around. His Purifier powers, that I seriously wished I had, weren’t as obvious as his Daywalker ones. A Daywalker flash made noise. A rift didn’t. When he didn’t reappear, I shouted to the seemingly empty church, “Come on out. Unless you’re scared.” I waited a moment before adding, “In which case, still come out, because we need to finish this.”
A blue rift opened, and Raphael hopped out, perching himself very much like a bird on the altar. His bare arms rested on his bent knees, a smile widening on his lips. “So brave and headstrong. No wonder you always get into trouble.”
“Trouble seems to find me wherever I go.”
He ran his tongue over his teeth, pondering. “Do you know that I have never bitten anyone before? That I never tasted blood?” My face must’ve given something away, for he continued, “There was always a part of me that clung to my old life. Somehow, I had saved a kernel of my soul, never experienced the bloodrush. I tried protecting my soul from the world, but it was difficult. Now, I fear there is nothing left of it.”
I gave him an unimpressed frown. “I don’t care about your sob story. I know everything I need to.” Harsh, but Raphael wasn’t on my good side. I threw the stake, a flawless spiral, and he swatted it away like a fly. I bent to retrieve another wooden piece.
“Of course, you do not.” He hopped off the altar. “I never asked you to. I knew you would not. No one ever truly cares.” With a flash, he was in front of me, and I threw everything I had at him. My punches were on-point, my feints well-done, and yet he was able to block every single one. “Tell me: why come here? Why come to me? I was not the one who murdered your old Guardian.”
At the mentioning of Koath, I bared my teeth, kneeing him in the gut, something he hadn’t expected.
He acted as if I hadn’t touched him. Grabbing my hair, he pulled me head back, baring my neck. I attempted a punch, but he caught it, not letting my fist go. “What do you have to gain from this?” He bent my wrist, nearly breaking it. “My dear, headstrong Kassandra…” He bent his head down, far too close to my neck for my liking. With my free hand, I punched his side, but I was like a fly on an elephant. Small, insignificant, too useless to be a bother. “You have everything to lose from this.”
I blinked, and we were on the floor. This time, positions were reversed. Raphael was on top of me, his lean legs holding mind down. His whole body pressed hard against mine; I felt like I was suffocating. He moved to hold both my wrists over my head with a single hand. I knew better than to waste energy and struggle.
He had me.
But there’d be an opening, sooner or later.
His other hand grabbed my chin, our noses touching. His green gaze bore into me, and something occurred to me.
“It won’t work,” I told him. His grip on my chin tightening as I spoke, but it didn’t stop me from saying, “Your compulsion won’t work on me.” I was reasonably confident of this, after what happened with Kirk in the cemetery. I liked to think I’d grown since then.
Raphael did what all crazy guys did: he smirked. “How interesting. I have never heard of anything that could resist a greater Vampire’s compulsion. However, you do make me question what I know.” His lips neared my ear, his breath hot on my skin. “I will not lie to you anymore, Kass.” The hand holding my chin loosened, and it moved to my neck. It didn’t stop there, either. It kept moving down. “I have thought about this…more than I should have.”
Oh, boy. What mess did I get myself into now?
The hand that groped me returned to my neck, and Raphael drew his mouth from my ear, pressing it against mine before I could argue. It didn’t register what he was doing until he bit my lip. The bite drew both blood and made me wince. Raphael’s mouth was suddenly on my neck.
I knew what was about to happen. I’d been bitten by John and the other world’s Rain. It wasn’t fun. It hurt. No endorphin-releasing nonsense that movies and books said it was.
My hands, still restrained above my head, tensed.
Raphael bit me.
Chapter Thirty-Five – Raphael
The moment she walked in, I knew I lost it. Whatever held me together, whatever kept me sane…I didn’t care anymore. I was going to end this one way or another. And due to the fact that I’d tried to purify myself, to end my own life, and failed, I would say I had a leg up on her.
I supposed I was more like Crixis than I wanted to admit.
Kassandra looked so angry, so filled with rage. She didn’t care that I wasn’t the one who killed Koath. She merely wanted someone to pay. This was the game board Crixis laid in front of us, and we were either too blind or too tired to see it.
We fought a little. She surprised me with her tactics once or twice. I didn’t want this to end too quickly, for I enjoyed myself far too much. The man upstairs would be greatly disappointed in me; but then, he hadn’t looked out for me in a long time.
I did not care anymore.
And that was why, as I laid atop her, holding her at bay quite easily, I kissed her. Lines had already been crossed, one very particularly bloody line was about to be crossed, so what was one more?
It was a soft kiss, nowhere near as rough as the rest of this encounter. In my life, there’d only been one woman. She opened my eyes to the world of love, and then she turned my heart black. The love of my life turned me into a monster. She was a monster. I…should not have given into temptation. I should’ve purified her straight away. But I didn’t, and here I was: full of self-loathing and resentment.
My teeth nicked her lip, and I pulled away as she winced. Her mouth was soft and inviting, but there was another part of her that called to me.
Her neck.
I took my face to her neck, my supernatural hearing detecting her increased heartbeat. The blood pumped faster. Baring my teeth, I hesitated. What was I doing? Was I truly going to…to bite her?
God help me. I was.
Her skin broke for my teeth easily. Like a knife through butter, they slide inside, puncturing her vein. Her blood flowed into my mouth, and I heard her whimper, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. As I swallowed a mouthful, my body spasmed. Was this how everyone tasted, or just her? She was…her blood was…
“You are more than what you believe you are,” a light, feminine voice broke through the silence of the church.
I withdrew my teeth, taking my mouth off her neck. Beneath me, Kass was frozen. Blood did not ooze from her wound. I quickly looked around the church, standing. A woman stood, dressed in a flowing white garment, near the altar, near the broken statue. Stood might not have been the most pertinent word, though. She floated.
Stumbling to her, I couldn’t find any words to say. The woman had bright, loving eyes, wavy, dark hair. Though she floated a few feet above the ground, her stature was short. She looked like Kass, but she wasn’t.
“You think you’ve been abandoned,” she spoke, reaching her hand out to my face, gently caressing my cheek. I felt my Vampire teeth withdraw. She held my gaze. “God never abandons his children.”
“But I…” I quieted, unsure of what to say. “…I do not have a soul.”
; At that, the woman smiled. “Every being has a soul. It matters not that you’ve been touched by darkness. Repent for your sins, Raphael. Remember that even the worst sinners are welcomed back at his table.”
I didn’t speak.
“You have much work left to do. Many are counting on you. This is not the end for you.” Her hand moved up to my temple, and images flashed in my head. Unlike the images Crixis had forced into me, these felt real. These felt prophetic.
A girl sat, hunched, on a broken swing set. The wind blew her hair in her face, getting some in her mouth. She ran a hand through her hair to get it back in order, her face new and unrecognizable to me. She was young; maybe twenty.
She was crying.
Even though I did not know her, I had the urge to help her. A very different experience than the one I’d just had with Kass.
Next she was in a house, talking to a man I hadn’t seen in ages. She was in the middle of a heated discussion, but she trailed off, turning her head. She seemed to look right at me. A frown appeared on her heart-shaped face before she walked away.
“As you can see, you will soon be needed elsewhere,” the floating woman spoke, my mind returning to reality. “But not until she is taken care of.” As I glanced over my shoulder, looking to Kass, who remained motionless on the floor, the woman shook her head. “Not her. Another being is coming. A creature that predates even Crixis.”
I found my voice after all this time, “Who are you?” How could anyone possibly know what the future held? Sure, I knew Kass had visions, but…to know exactly what would happen? To show it to me and have it be so real?
“A concerned third party,” she answered. Her expression morphed into one of sternness and slight anger. A white light grew behind her, filling the entire church. Her hair lifted, flowing as if it were in water. Her eyes that were so much like Kass’s began to glow. The light got so bright, it hurt my eyes, and I had to shield them. “And if,” her voice, loud and thunderous, hurt as it entered my ears, “you ever lay a hand on my daughter again, I will escort you to Purgatory myself.”
With a gust of cool air, the light faded, and the woman was gone.
I stared at where she’d been, seeing a faint, white outline of a winged being. I fell to my knees, incredulous, amazed. Whatever madness Crixis had stirred within me was gone, and regret filled its place, along with sorrow.
What had I done? What had I almost done?
That woman…Kassandra’s mother?
The light outline disbursed, soon the color of my dark church. I sat there, still, hearing Kass fumble to get to her feet. The clanging of metal bounced off the walls, and I waited for her to reach me. My punishment for my cruelty, for my impure thoughts, for what I’d said and done.
Kass stood before me, pressing the edge of her sword hard against my face, cutting me. I didn’t stop her. I couldn’t. I deserved this.
Holding onto her neck to stop the bleeding, she said, “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I can tell you that this isn’t going to end well for you.”
Her spunk, even in this situation, made me smile, but the smile soon fell away as I replied, “In all honesty, I never believed it would end any other way.” Holding my head low, I closed my eyes. “Please. Find some way to…end it.” I knew I looked like an animal, her blood staining my mouth, and I knew I should be put down like one.
Kass increased the pressure for a split-second, but she didn’t slice. She didn’t swing. Instead, she slowly lowered her sword and headed for the backroom. I didn’t move an inch while she was gone. When she came back out, she tossed something to me. It rolled until it hit my knees.
Opening my yes, I saw the Sorcerer’s staff.
“It took me to another world. Just like this one, except…it pretty much ended. Crixis turned me,” she told me matter-of-factly. “John never went crazy. I never met Max. Koath never came back. Gabriel was the Devil. And you—you were something else, too. I thought you weren’t human because of my death in that world.” She shrugged. “Everything seemed to come back to that. But apparently not you. You were always this. You punish me for lying, but you’ve been lying from day one!”
Her words were blunt, but true.
“Were you even supposed to be teaching us?”
“No,” I muttered, my fingers lightly touching the stone on the broken staff piece.
“You were never supposed to be in our lives,” she hissed, irate.
I opened my eyes and gazed up at her. “No,” I agreed. “But I saved Michael that day.” Since she was clueless, I filled her in, “John must have compelled him to stab himself, but I was there, and I broke through it.”
“Well congratulations, Raphael,” Kass spoke. “You saved Michael, but you couldn’t save Koath? I bet you didn’t even try.” She held onto her silver sword tighter, her muscles shaking.
“I did,” I said. “But he was too fast. Crixis is stronger than I. In all the times I have tried, I could never purify him.”
She got in my face, shoving me back. I fell onto my hands. I did not fight her. “Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Am I supposed to forget this?” Kass pointed to her neck. “That all this happened? All because you’ve had a hard life? Got news, Raphael—” She practically shouted my name. “—a lot of people have hard lives!”
“You are right,” I said, “I should have been stronger. I should not have let Crixis inside my head.”
Kass stared at me for the longest while, studying me intently. Her anger faded somewhat, reminding me of the woman who’d appeared minutes ago—her mother. She touched her forehead, rubbing it. Turning her back to me, she whispered, “You know, before I came back here, to this world, someone asked me to do something.” She stopped rubbing her forehead. “A favor, for helping me get back. It involved you, and at the time, I had no idea what she meant, why she’d ask me to do something like that.”
Clueless, I remained silent.
“I’m supposed to forgive you.” Her voice was a mere whisper as she added, “But I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Then do not. I do not deserve it.”
Kass studied me, and just as the woman did, she peered into my deepest thoughts. “I think that’s what you want. You want to punish yourself.” She lightly touched her swollen lip, where my sharpened teeth had nicked her. “I’m not God. I can’t forgive you for everything.” Her eyes narrowed as she slowly finished, “Maybe I can forgive you for this, but make no mistake, I won’t forget.”
That was not what I expected her to say. She could not possibly forgive me for what I did to her. If she knew the thoughts I had…
Kass walked out of the church, leaving me shocked and alone.
Forgiveness.
I stared down at my hands. Bloodied, beaten. I did not know what to say, so I supposed it was good that I was alone.
Things had to change. They could not continue the way they were.
Chapter Thirty-Six – Kass
I returned to the house the same way I left. I found the back door unlocked, though, and I didn’t feel like doing some acrobatics to get to my room’s window, so I sat on the back porch, tired. I was so, so tired.
I still couldn’t believe Raphael. The things he said; they’d stick with me for a long time.
Setting my rose blade down, I buried my face in my hands. I still bled a bit, and I knew I looked awful, but even so, there’d be no sleep for me tonight. Not after finding the body. Not after that fight with Raphael. How could I possibly…
“Kass,” a sweet, familiar voice broke through my wallowing, and my head snapped up. Out in the yard, she was there, floating. A light shone from within her, and I quickly got to my feet, more awake and alert than ever.
“Mom?” I sounded anything but sure. Did I step into a vision when I wasn’t paying attention?
“I don’t have much time left,” she said. I was a foot from her. I wanted to touch her, to feel her, but I knew she wasn’t really here. This was all in my head. “I came to
warn you.”
I sighed. Visions of my mother never came of good terms. It was always you’re going to die. Never good news. “I know,” I said, “I’m going to die. Unless you’re going to tell me how and when, I’ve heard this all before. From you. A lot.”
“You’ll be standing where I am when it happens,” she said. My blood ran cold. “You’ll feel it trying to crawl inside of you, and then you’ll hear it.” A loud crack reverberated through the night air. The sound of bones breaking. “It will be painful.”
“I was kidding about the how and when. I don’t really want to—”
“Your death will start a series of events that will change everything. That, my girl, is why your death is necessary.”
“I don’t know if you know, but I was in another world where I died, and things didn’t turn out too good for anybody.”
My mother smiled. Her warmth flooded me. “This world is not the same. You should know that by now.”
My hand went to the necklace, the one the other Gabriel gave me. “Gabriel,” I spoke his name tentatively. “Is he…”
My mother’s form began to fade, her light dimming. “Gabriel’s destiny is laid before him, just as yours is.” Her expression changed. “My time is nearly gone. Before I go, your father wanted me to tell you how proud he is of you. You make us proud.”
As she disappeared right before my very eyes, I pleaded with her. “Wait. My father? Who—” But she was gone. I collapsed on the grass, fingers curling around the green blades. I wasn’t alone for long.
Gabriel burst through the back door, shouting my name, “Kass, there you are. I thought you’d…” He trailed off when he saw my rose blade, the blood on it. “What’s—” He saw me, the blood that covered me, as I stood to face him. He noticed the bite on my neck. “—what happened? Where did you go? Why didn’t you call out for me? You could’ve died. You’re so stupid!”
I couldn’t believe it. Gabriel was yelling at me. He called me stupid, and he wasn’t being funny about it. My mouth opened to respond, but the emotion welling in his eyes caused me to stumble with my words. Since I couldn’t talk, apparently, I settled for running to him and hugging him. It clearly wasn’t what he expected from me. He kept his hands firmly on his sides.
The Nightwalkers Saga: Books 1 - 7 Page 86