The Nightwalkers Saga: Books 1 - 7

by Candace Wondrak

  I wasn’t going to change. I would always be a killer, always love the thrill of the hunt, the excitement of the chase. I did not wish to change, simply because of an obligation. And I certainly did not change for a reason as foolish as fear.

  I would not change.

  I then found a small book, pictures scattered inside it. Most were of Kass and Gabriel. I shouldn’t have expected anything different. Seeing their faces, chubby and childish, growing up together, laughing and celebrating holidays—it made me feel…wistful. Somewhat jealous. There was a time in my life that above all else I yearned to grow old, have children and watch them grow old and, in turn, have their own children.

  Now, I ran from death. I ran from it, when it could only come from one being. A teenage boy, trapped in his destiny.

  A bitter feeling rose in my throat.

  “Why are you going through my things?” Kass’s voice was weak from the bed, and I saw from her reflection in the mirror that she hadn’t bothered to sit up. “Tell me, at least, that my underwear drawer’s safe from those dirty hands of yours.”

  I smirked, setting the picture book down before I turned to face her. “I wouldn’t dream of going in there, unless you begged me to.” I sounded confident, so much surer than I felt.

  Kass sent me a frown. “In your dreams, you sicko.”

  Hands clutching the edges of the dresser, I made a show of looking all around the room. It was a nice, spacious room, reminding me of the old houses in the early twentieth century, the rich, lavish houses with mahogany walls and hand-carved stairwells and marble statues. “Do you remember all the fun we’ve had in this room?” I asked, grinning as I noted her ticked off expression.

  “I remember all the times you tried to kill me,” she said. “Oh, and the time you dumped a bunch of blood on me.”

  I laughed. “How’d you know that one was me?”

  Her lips pursed. “I put two and two together.”

  “What can I say?” I shrugged. “I love playing with my prey.”

  “I’m not your prey anymore.”

  Looking at her, I was hesitant to agree. Somehow, through a twist of fate, she was not my prey. In all the years I watched her, I never expected it to come to this.

  For a few minutes, both of us were silent. I didn’t quite know what to say. I wasn’t good at having amiable conversations. I was only good at killing, and all the things that went with it. Tracking, torture of the physical and mental nature, maiming, planning.

  As I thought about leaving, Kass spoke as she struggled to sit, leaning her back and head against the cushiony headboard behind her, “What will I do if he never wakes up?” Her voice, usually full of gusto and strength, whether it was merited or not, was quiet, unsteady. She barely sounded like herself.

  Why was she asking that question to me?

  I told her what I thought she’d want to hear: “You do not have to worry about that. He will wake, and you’ll have your boyfriend back.” I smirked when she sent me a glare. Her glaring capacities were a lot less impressive when she looked like she was going to pass out. “Nothing will keep him down.” I suddenly had an idea, and I slowly ask, “Did he show any of the same symptoms you now have?”

  Kass looked at me like I was crazy.

  I supposed I was, in a way. Anyone who’d lived as long as I had was bound to lose their sanity one way or another. The herald of my loss just happened to be a deceiving, beautiful woman who loved to spill blood more than anyone. My world was so small back then, so tiny. I had no idea how many other lands there were, nor the cruelty in their hearts. Sephira shaped me, molded me how she liked, and I couldn’t stop her. If it wasn’t for her, there’s a good chance Koath would still be alive, and Kass could have her family back.

  But as for her mother…if she was truly a higher being, well. There was no stopping her leaving.

  “It’s a logical question,” I said. “As far as I can remember, I’ve never seen you get sick before. Neither has your boyfriend. And, now, somehow, you’re both sick simultaneously? It just seems a little odd to me.”

  She ground her teeth in a very unbefitting way. “I didn’t know you kept that close of a watch on us.”

  “You forget, Purifier, that I have nothing but time ahead of me. Keeping watch on two children was not that difficult.”

  Kass finally answered me, “No. He didn’t have any symptoms. We were at school, at lunch, and he…” Her voice trailed off, and I knew she mentally relived the moments leading up to Gabriel’s coma. Unpleasant memories that would, undoubtedly, stick around for a while. “He just collapsed.”

  A young, healthy boy collapsing out of the blue? It sounded far-fetched, and yet that was all I had to go on. Not that I was going to play Sherlock Holmes. I didn’t care enough to investigate.

  “Was he struck the period before in gym class?”

  She shook her head. “Seniors don’t have to take gym, and I’m going to assume that he wasn’t smacked on the head or anything in any of his other classes.” Kass buried her face in her hands. “I hate this. I hate it so much. I hate that I’m here with you and not him.”

  I merely smiled. Her insults just slid off me, like they always had. “Perhaps, after he wakes, you’ll use the second chance to tell him the truth.”

  That earned me a confused look.

  I grimaced as I thought about having to spell it out for her. “Please do not make me say it aloud.”

  “Say what aloud? What are you talking about?”

  Of course she would play dumb. She knew precisely what I referred to. Still, I found myself begrudgingly muttering, “That you’re in love with the boy.” Never had seven words been more difficult to speak. Never had I wanted to vomit more.

  “I—” She swallowed, blinking, feigning ignorance, “I am not. I mean, sure, I love him like family. Like a brother. I grew up with him. But I’m not in love with him—”

  In a flash, I was at her bedside, sitting near her, leaning close as I whispered, “You do not love him like a brother. You want him to hold you, touch you…be intimate with you—” Kass’s evil scowl made me laugh, even as she tried pushing me away. Her strength, like I mentioned, was next to nil, so I didn’t move an inch. Eventually, I straightened myself out as I sighed, still chuckling to myself. “It is amazing to think that neither of you have made a move on each other yet.”

  Behind her hazel stare, I could see her mind calculating, going over all their past interactions, wondering if she’d missed it. “No. You’re…you’re wrong.”

  “I’m not. I’ve been around long enough to know what love looks like.”

  Kass snickered, trying to twist it back on me. “How would you know what love looks like? How can you know what it looks like when you don’t even know what it feels like?”

  “On the contrary, little Purifier, I did love one woman. It was years ago, and the hole in me is full of rage and blood, but I have known it.” Why did I argue with her? It was pointless, useless.

  With a knowing twinkle in her eye, Kass asked, “And would she still love you if she knew all the things you’ve done?” It was a moment before she added, “Probably not. No one could love a monster like you.”

  My hands clenched into fists, and violent images flashed in my head—the things I could do to her to make her regret speaking those words—but I held back. Barely.

  I stood and meandered to the window, lifting it open. “Unlike you,” I said, glancing back at the Purifier on the bed, “I don’t need to be loved to be whole.” I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a response. Instead, I flashed away, back in Maurice’s house within a second.

  She hated me, of course. I had done terrible things to her. I didn’t seek repentance. Kass had every right to say all those things and more to me. That said, I still did not enjoy hearing them, I did not like letting the child think she had the upper hand. When it came to morality, sure, she could have that upper hand. But power? Strength? Eternal life? All those belonged to me. Who was she to say th
ose things to me?

  She was no one. She was nothing. She was just a Purifier who bit off more than she could chew. She was worthless.

  I stood in David’s room, slamming the door shut, ignoring Maurice’s concerned questioning downstairs. I should leave. I should just go and let whatever will happen, happen. I should leave Gabriel and Kass to their own devices and see how far they get.

  But…I knew I wouldn’t go anywhere. I would stay and hate myself for it.

  Within the next instant, my fist was through the plaster. My teeth bared, my eyes were red for only a moment, before they returned to their green hue. It had been too long since my last kill. Vexillion itched beneath the surface of my skin, wanting to break free and wreak havoc. It was what Vexillion was good at. It was why I turned to it while under Sephira’s thumb. Vexillion was the only reason I stood where I did, the only reason Sephira did not go to conquer the world.

  And conquer, she would’ve.

  I owed Vexillion everything and killing—something I quite enjoyed—for it wasn’t a steep price. It was rather cheap. It was fun.

  “You will not go out and kill simply to relieve the stress you have brought upon yourself.”

  That…was definitely not my voice.

  I was quick to yank my hand from the wall, ready to fight whoever had snuck up on me—a feat, certainly, but one that would foreshadow the death of its doer. But, somehow, I no longer stood in David’s room. I was in the room where I planned on killing Kass’s mother, the room where she disappeared.

  Unlike then, she did not touch the floor from the beginning. She levitated, her hair swaying with no breeze, her white robe cascading down, nearly touching the floor. “The beast inside of you is strong,” she said, gazing out of the window, at the dusk-covered landscape before her. The entire room was lit in an eerie, orange glow. The day was dying, and I had never felt more confused.

  She turned to me, spinning without a sound, her hair seconds behind her. She gave me a smile, and I was hypnotized. This was where Kass got it from. This was what made her so appealing. Not her looks. Not her personality. Not her stupid insistence on always getting the last word.

  This.

  “But you are stronger,” she stated. “You are stronger than you know.”

  “I’ve only met one being who is stronger than Vexillion, and it’s not me,” I spoke through bared teeth, hating to bring up the boy. Suddenly, without warning, a wave of pacification swept over me, and I couldn’t recall a time in my life when I’d ever felt so calm, so assured, peaceful. “What are you?” I asked, though deep down, I knew already, as did Kass.

  The woman let out a short, quiet giggle. “This is not about me, Crixis.”

  “It’s about Kass.” I should’ve figured. The oh-so-special one.

  “This is not about Kass. I have done all I can for her. Now, I come for another reason.” She lifted a hand, gesturing to…to me? “This is about you.”

  I studied her, skeptical. “Why would you come here for me? Don’t you remember I tried to kill you?”

  “Yes,” she said swiftly. “I do remember. I know everything that you have done. I know every face of your victims, every soul you snuffed.”

  “Then you know I killed your husband and made your daughter’s life a living hell.” I didn’t want to be here, so I shrugged, trying to turn to go back into the real world, into David’s room. But there was no other room to go back to. I was fully in the past. The vision. Whatever this was supposed to be.

  “I do.”

  “Then I don’t see why you’d want to help me, or whatever you’re here for. And you know what else? I don’t care. I don’t need to listen to you. I need—”

  She cut in, knowing what I was about to say, “You do not need to kill right now.”

  “Don’t tell me what I need, Angel.”

  “So headstrong, so rash, and yet—” She tilted her head. “—there is a seed of good in you, yet.”

  “There is not.” I didn’t know why I felt the urge to argue, when clearly, she wasn’t having anything I said. I felt like Kass, when she sought to argue with me about the boy.

  “You might not see it, but it’s there. You have the capacity to do good.” Her heavenly expression turned stiff as she added, “You must try, otherwise the world is doomed.” Just as I was about to rebuke her, she carried on, “She will need you.”

  “Kass doesn’t need me.”

  Chuckling, she said, “I told you. This isn’t about Kass.”

  “Then who—”

  “You haven’t met her, yet. She will need you to guide her. Only one who has lived in darkness knows what it feels like. Kass has been through some awful things, many thanks to you, but she will never know how easy it is to give in to the evil inside.”

  I shook the plaster off my hand, not liking where this was going. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

  “I want you to try. I want you to be better than the animal you used to be. I want you to be worthy of her.”

  “You make it sound like…”

  “I told you then that I see the things that have been, things that are, and things that will be. Your journey for penance has begun.”

  How many times did I have to tell this woman that I didn’t want that? I opened my mouth to argue, to deny her and her claims of forgiveness and needing me to turn to the good side of the spectrum, but before I knew it, her hand rested on my face, her sparkling skin touching mine.

  “Time is running short. I’m needed elsewhere. You’re not my only charge.” She whispered, her tone low and velvety, “This, I think, will change your mind.”

  And then, before the room faded away, and I realized that it was not the dusk sunlight but the dawn’s, I heard a single noise. A noise that made me want to believe her, to repent just to know what the future held.

  The sound of a baby crying.

  Chapter Twenty-Six – Gabriel

  My rage was great. I hated the past. Did I even want to remember it all now? I didn’t know. I knew there had to be good memories, too, but right now, I was blinded by what the other me showed me. I was enraged. I wanted to hit something.

  My hands remained clenched as I followed him through the portal, into a living room. Small and quaint, full of barely-touched furniture, as if it were all recently-bought. The walls were mostly bare, save for a few scattered canvas pictures of scenery and forests.

  A girl stood near the window, watching the dreary outside rain with her arms crossed. Her back to us, I didn’t need her to turn around to know who she was. Kassie.

  Even though I was mad, I still wanted to go to her, to touch her. I wanted to forget my anger and be with her, as stupid as it sounded.

  But the other me spoke, “Wait for it.” His peculiar way of speaking was, for once, overtaken by a mostly modern phrase.

  And, just as he said, I felt someone walk through me, heading straight for Kassie. By the square of his shoulders and the tint of his skin, I knew who he was, too. The red-eyed Demon who had somehow wriggled his way into her heart.

  Jealousy didn’t even cover it.

  “Come on,” he said, touching her arm. “We can go rent a movie. Get your mind off it.”

  “No,” Kassie shrugged him off, slowly turning to face him. “I don’t feel like going out.”

  “Then I’ll pick something up. What do you want to see? What snacks do you want—pickles and ice cream?” He sounded playful, teasing, completely different than what I knew he sounded like.

  “That was one time, Crixis. One time.” She laughed. “I hate you for bringing that up every day.”

  Every day? So they spent all their time together, did they? I felt my skin start to sweat.

  I was shocked, though, as I moved closer after the other me insisted on it. Shocked because Kassie had a round belly. She was…pregnant? Pregnant with this Demon’s child? No. No, that…that wasn’t possible.

  And yet, I saw it with my own two eyes.

  I saw how friendly they were
to each other, how the Demon’s eyes held no ill-will toward her anymore. Kassie looked, in spite of everything, relaxed and content.

  I hated it.

  I hated her, and I hated him. I hated them together. I hated that belly. Everything about this, I hated. I hated it all.

  And then, in a blink, we were no longer with them in the house. We were in a hospital, the room looking so very similar to the one I woke up in, though this one had a doctor and a nurse, along with Kassie and her spread legs. The Demon, Crixis, held onto her hand as she gave birth.

  After more labor, after the child was born, after it was cleaned and Kassie held onto it, she offered the tiny, crying babe to Crixis. And he took it, cradling it carefully, like he truly cared about it.

  My face twisted, and before I could control myself, I let loose a punch onto the nearby wall. I thought my fist would go through it, but instead, the vision around us cracked, splintered from the strength I had. Everything, Kassie and Crixis and the baby, everything was frozen around us. My field of view turned red, and it was hard to look at him, at the other me.

  “It’s not pretty, is it?” he asked me, eyes lingering on the hand that still rested on the splintered wall, cracked like a TV screen. “In fact, I’d call it downright disgusting. Wouldn’t you?”

  I followed his stare, finding that the skin on my fist had turned a smoky grey. The color, hardened skin, traveled up my arm at a slow, agonizing pace. The nails on my hand turned black and sharp. Was this what I was?

  “I would,” I agreed.

  The other me took a step nearer, the frozen room not bothering him in the slightest. “What if I told you that you have the power to change this?”

  “I’d ask you how,” I said.

  He gave me a look that read: finally, we’re getting somewhere. With a wave of his hand, the hospital room faded, and Kassie and Crixis were out of my sight, thankfully. I couldn’t stand to see either of them any longer.