Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  Silence permeated the space between us, and I pretended to not notice it as I continued to chow down. Maybe if I acted like a gross pig, he’d become disgusted with my lack of etiquette and decide I wasn’t worth chasing.

  “I like a girl who isn’t afraid to eat,” John said as he noticed I was already through the majority of my lunch, most of which was in my mouth behind my chipmunk cheeks.

  I looked at Alyssa as I struggled to swallow the huge pile of food I’d stuffed in. She was small in frame, probably about as big as me, black hair, dark eyes. Dressed like a Wiccan. Then I studied John. Broad shoulders. Defined arms. Over six foot, nearly the same height as Gabriel. Like a darkened version of the blonde boy.

  And John’s nose was straight. Not in the least bit crooked. The only reason I noticed this was because Gabriel’s nose was crooked terribly, on account of being broken a good ten or twenty times.

  I looked sharply at John. “I eat a lot.” My tone was short, telling John and Alyssa that I wasn’t used to this sort of thing. I wasn’t used to people talking to me or staring at me and waiting for me to say something.

  He laughed deeply, and I scolded myself for somewhat liking the sound. “I could tell.”

  Alyssa cleared her throat, trying to ease the tension that rose between her brother and I, who would not stop eyeing me up like he’d never seen a girl eat. “So, Kass, where’d you come from?”

  I nearly choked on my orange juice. Once I regained my posture, I realized that I did not feel like talking at all, that I really wasn’t a friendly person. And yet, here these two people were. Granted, one of them only wanted to get in my pants, and the other one was probably a friendless loser.

  After I thought that, I realized something else. I was a mean, mean person too.

  Chapter Three – Kass

  “What a crappy day,” I whined as Gabriel and I stepped off the bus.

  “Not for me.” Gabriel smiled that superior smile that was usually plastered on his handsome face. He tilted his blonde head in the sunlight as we strolled to the front porch.

  My eyes rolled. I knew what he was talking about. How? Because I knew him too well. Sometimes I hated myself for knowing him so damn well. “How many?”

  With a quick hand, he opened the door and spun around, a huge grin on his face. “Eleven, Kass. Eleven numbers. On my first day! Hot damn, it’s like I’m—I’m…I can’t even think of a reference to reference.” Gabriel threw his backpack on a barstool and stretched, like getting all those numbers was hard work.

  “Wow, that’s a first.” Sarcasm dripped off my voice as I wandered over to the fridge. I knew that lunch today wasn’t enough. Michael should know by now that I could eat an entire grocery store and still be hungry. He’d had his hands full with Gabriel for nearly eighteen years now, and me to deal with for the last three.

  Thinking of lunch made me think of John. He was a good-looking boy. Though he might not be as godly in his looks as Gabriel was, he was still one of those guys girls automatically swooned for.

  Swoon? Oh, god. Did one day at a public high school make me go insane?

  My stomach rumbled, making me realize that I wasn’t just hungry. I was starving.

  “I know, it’s going to bother me all night.” He rested his head on the countertop, trying to search his mind for a usable reference. It was on rare occasion he was at a loss for words, even if it was accidental.

  “I bet,” I spoke seriously. My eyes spotted a note hanging haphazardly on the ivory-colored fridge. “Hey, Gabriel.” I creased my eyebrows. “There’s a note.”

  He lifted his head up, obviously interested. “What’s it say?”

  I prepped my voice, so I could do the best Michael imitation I could muster, English accent and all. “Gabriel and Kass, I went to take a look around the woods. When you read this, head over to the old church on Forty-Second Street. Gabriel, you know the one. Someone’s waiting to meet you. And don’t take the car, you’re going to have to learn how to walk. Michael. P.S. This was not my idea, so don’t blame me.” I glanced up, meeting his blue-eyed stare, speaking in my normal, American voice, “You know where this place is?”

  Gabriel sighed. “Unfortunately, I do.”

  I threw the note in the trash after crumpling it. “Then let’s get this…whatever this thing is over with.”

  We walked out of the house and as Gabriel locked the door, he mumbled, “It should go without saying, but I hope Michael knows that I’m blaming him for this.” He threw me a look that twinkled in the bright, North Carolinian day.

  “Well, that makes two of us. You have any idea what this is?” I kicked a rock down the driveway.

  “I know as much as Grace Stewart did in the beginning of The Others.”

  “And I am choosing to ignore that.”

  The doors were thrown open to reveal something truly scary: a bat that flew right in my face. I ducked and frantically waved my hands above my head, giving the blonde behind me a good laugh. After I recovered from that suspenseful moment and gave him a frown, I searched the decrepit church for any signs of life. The place looked like it needed a massive renovation.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a trap. Maybe a group of Demons had overtaken Michael, forced him to write that note, and kidnapped him. Or, perhaps this was a test. I was about to voice my concern a man dressed in a priest’s uniform walked across the altar of the church, reading a book that appeared to be older than the church itself.

  Gabriel coughed loudly, creating an endless echo throughout the entire church. It was a good thing that the bat flew out and startled me half to death. I was already creeped-out. Funny how I could take on supernatural Demons, but a bat gave me a big case of the heebie-jeebies.

  Closing the book abruptly, the man’s attention was on us. “Ah, you must be Gabriel and Kassandra.” He walked slowly up to us and into the full light. A young and proper looking man who must have been in his mid-twenties.

  I didn’t even know they made priests that young…not that they made priests at all, because that wasn’t how it worked. Not at all. Purifiers, though, we’re something else. Human, to be sure, but with a tad of God’s righteous power. It’s why we’re stronger than your average Human, a tad faster, too. Blessed at birth or something like that.

  “Yeah, hello, Father…” Gabriel got quiet, waiting for him to introduce himself to us.

  “What? Oh.” He glanced down at his clothing. “I am not ordained, so there is no need for either of you to call me Father.” His vibrant green eyes landed on me. With his light hair, pronounced cheek bones, and fair skin, he was a good-looking man.

  I felt a little guilty for thinking that of man in priest’s clothes, even if he wasn’t a real priest. Guilty, guilty, guilty. I blamed my hormonal thoughts on John and how close he sat to me at lunch.

  “Then why are you wearing that outfit?” Gabriel was suspicious and didn’t even bother trying to hide it. “It’s a little weird, man.”

  “I am not a priest, but I am a servant of God, just as you both are. I wear this because I serve Him.” It was evident that this man found Gabriel irritating, for a look of disdain grew on his face. “You are wondering why you are here. I told him why, but I instructed him to keep silent. I trust he did so?” His green eyes sparkled with unmatched luminosity.

  “Has anyone ever said you talk like someone from the fourteenth century?” When the man didn’t answer, he continued, “He didn’t tell us anything. But from what the note said, I don’t think we’re going to like it.” Gabriel looked to me for confirmation. I gave him a nod.

  “Yes. That is most likely true. My name is Raphael, and all will be learned in time.” There was a pause in his explanation as his unique eyes disregarded Gabriel before returning to me. “Now, follow me. Your test awaits.”

  Gabriel and I exchanged a quick glance before tagging along.

  Why didn’t I like the sound of that?

  A test. I was going to have enough of them in school, so I didn’
t see why I should have them outside school as well.

  Walking through a graveyard by myself was no fun. Gabriel and I had to scout it out, by ourselves. Separate. Alone. Which, to me, was a pretty monumental task, considering how big this particular cemetery was. A lot of people in this town died, apparently.

  That wasn’t the only part of our test.

  No, because that would make things way too easy. We also had to find a Nightwalker and kill it. The only problem there was that this Nightwalker wasn’t walking around like idiots, as the two Purifiers were. The specific one we had to purify was still in the ground, and we had no idea who was the most recently deceased.

  This whole thing was pure ludicrousness.

  And, here’s the expired icing on the already crummy cake: Gabriel and I did not have a single weapon. Fighting and purifying a Nightwalker without our stakes wasn’t new to us, but it was no fun either.

  My eyes scanned the rows and rows of graves, looking for any relatively new ones. Nightwalkers took various times to awaken. Sometimes it was mere minutes. Other times it could be days. One case even reported that it took a whole month to stir from its grave.

  But somehow our darling Raphael knew it would be tonight. How? I hadn’t a clue, not one freaking idea. The only thing I knew was that I already loved that man.

  Notice the sarcasm there.

  It was almost midnight, and my legs and eyes were tired, so naturally I took refuge on a giant gravestone. I felt a bit bad about putting my butt on this guy’s grave, but I figured he was dead, so what would he care?

  I dug my eyes into my hands and sighed. This had been a long day and it wasn’t over yet. Added onto that the fact that I had to wake up at six tomorrow morning to get ready for school and do it all over again? Fantastic.

  My ears heard nothing.

  Which was weird. No birds. No crickets. Not a single thing.

  That meant one of two things: A) it was an abnormally quiet night or B) the Nightwalker rose and was coming toward me.

  I speculated it was the second one, because a hot/humid night in this state was never quiet, so I leapt over to the next grave, landing on my feet. I stared in all directions and finally spotted the Nightwalker coming for me.

  Coming for me. Very, very slowly coming for me. He was slowly coming in my general direction, towards me, where I was standing. Waiting for him.

  This particular Nightwalker seemed perfectly intent on walking like a fricking zombie.

  “Fine, you stupid mother—” My voice froze, my swearword caught mid-word.

  In a sharp turn of his head, its eyes flashed bright yellow and his face twisted; the Demon was barely human-looking anymore. Its teeth bared and spit dripped. Disgusting. And then he ran after me in an abnormal show of speed.

  I sprinted in the opposite direction, cupped my hands over my mouth, and ca-cawed like a really, really sick crow. Raphael wanted us to take on this Nightwalker together, even though we were both more than capable of taking it on ourselves.

  I made the world’s most terrible bird noise once again, right before I turned a sudden corner into another row of gravestones.

  And also right into Gabriel, who was running in my direction. My bottom landed hard on the grass, and my face actually hurt from the impact of my face-to-chest collision. If Gabriel wasn’t so solid, so muscly, if he had a film of blubber on him, I wouldn’t have hurt so badly.

  “Kass.” Kneeling on the ground, Gabriel grabbed my hand and stared deep into my eyes.

  I knew exactly what was coming. Wasn’t it a little late for a Gabriel rant? I was allowed to drone on and on in my own head, but that didn’t mean I wanted to listen to him do the same out loud. I got enough of that on a daily basis. Why’d he have to make this so torturous for me?

  “I think this might be fate. Don’t you agree? I mean, running into you here, in a graveyard? What are the odds?”

  We stood. “Are you done?” I asked as I took my hand away from his unbelievingly warm and large one, throwing a glance over my shoulder.

  “No. I am currently unemployed, therefore your wedding ring will be extremely small, maybe a tiny, singular dust particle of the worst kind of diamond in the market—”

  I had to raise my eyebrows at that one. I looked around once more; the Nightwalker was nowhere in sight. Weird. Almost weird enough to take my mind from Gabriel’s nonstop ranting.

  “Our wedding theme will be: Star Wars. It’ll be a costume wedding. All the guests have to come in Star Wars regalia. It’ll be so much fun. We can have a costume contest, and everyone can vote, even our six dogs. Whoever they sniff the most wins.”

  That was it. The last straw was passed about five minutes ago. I punched him in the gut. Not too hard, but hard enough to make him stop and bend over. Otherwise, I was afraid he might never stop. He’d started to act out what he was saying, getting way too into it. It wasn’t that I didn’t like seeing Gabriel acting like a little, shaking Chihuahua; it was just that now wasn’t the best time.

  “Too much time on your hands?” I asked while taking another glance around, starting to walk. Where was that Nightwalker and why did I have a feeling that Raphael was going to have our necks for this? If we didn’t purify it—

  The Nightwalker lunged at me from behind a tall grave.

  “Hey ugly,” Gabriel yelled. The Nightwalker and I looked at him in amidst our struggle. “Not talking to you this time, Kass.” He started laughing as he picked the Nightwalker up and off me. Using his solid muscles, he threw the Demon and said, “Though I do like an ugly joke every now and then.”

  “I hate you.”

  Gabriel ran after the Nightwalker, who was in the process of standing up. “I know.” He started punching the Demon, and sounds of a fight entered the air around us. What welcoming sounds they were. “Tell me, how do I look? Round, firm…handsome?” After spinning in a roundhouse kick, he patted his butt.

  Oh…jeez.

  I frantically glanced everywhere for a weapon of some sort that we could use to purify it. We didn’t need one, but Raphael had given us specific parameters. We needed to purify the Nightwalker together with a weapon we took from our surroundings. Maybe our funding from the Council was decreasing and us Purifiers had to learn to be scrupulous.

  I spotted a mini-American flag stuck in the ground by a nearby grave. I ran over and yanked it out. I sprinted behind the Nightwalker and shoved the tiny wooden stick straight through its heart, up through the chest cavity to avoid the ribcage.

  Gabriel quickly dropped the Nightwalker on the ground as it caught fire and disappeared seconds after. Hell welcomed its Demons back speedily, that’s for sure. The fight messed up his perfectly styled hair, and he endeavored in a desperate attempt to fix his golden locks, showing his vanity.

  I shook my head at him, saying, “How can a butt be handsome?”

  “What? No, Kass, I didn’t say that. Butts are ugly. Just like feet, with their little finger-like toes…plain creepy when you think about it.”

  “Then how can—” I began my refute, but he held up a hand, stopping me cold.

  Gabriel interrupted me, something he did quite often, laughing out with a hint of sincerity, “You forget that everything on me is impossibly and ruggedly sexy.” He accompanied it with a shrug, as if that was that.

  “Oh, right. I forgot.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I forgive you. Just don’t let it happen again.” I started laughing, but he interrupted my laughter too. “No, seriously. Don’t let it happen again.” His gallant face was completely humorless.

  “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes at him, whispering under my breath, “Jerk.” We started heading in the direction of the church. Not long after that, our path was intercepted by Raphael himself.

  The moonlight glimmered on his light hair, his features twisted into a mixture of anger and disappointment. Did he watch us this whole time? The man must have had some skills of his own.

  “I do not know h
ow you both survived unscathed.” Raphael crossed his arms, and his eyebrows were creased to the point it looked unnatural. That was the first time I’d seen a priest, or a guy in a priest’s outfit, cross his arms and scowl. It was strange.

  “You do know that we’ve been training for years, basically our entire lives, for encounters like that?” Gabriel posed the question, and Raphael responded by silently glaring. “Other than that, my sexiness definitely played a large part.” The blonde boy shifted his attention to me, like he forgot I was there. “And I guess teamwork always helps.”

  “You find yourself humorous, do you, Gabriel?” His lips were taut and slim, taking away some of his attractiveness. Not that I would call him attractive…oh, wait a moment. I already did. I was a sinner, I supposed.

  Gabriel thought for a moment. “Actually, I do. Not in a funny, comedian way. That’s overrated. More in an inside joke way, with a specialty in the stuff you can’t stop yourself from chuckling at.”

  “I am surprised that your incessant rambling did not get you both killed,” Raphael stated matter-of-factly, effectively displaying whatever rage or disgrace he felt for us. “You are a very arrogant, conceited, and idiotic boy.”

  I laughed, because it was true. The guy in the priest’s neck piece had Gabriel pegged spot-on. It was an amazing thing. However, my outburst of joy was short, for when Raphael suddenly became aware of my presence, I stopped with a hastiness I never knew I was capable of.

  “And you. Don’t get me started with you. You stopped and rested while out patrolling. That’s something you never do, Kassandra. You stood there and watched the Demon walk toward you for far too long. That endangers not only you, but also Gabriel. You taunted it, which made it angry. I thought you would have learned by now to never taunt the Demons. And your stealthy bird call was absolutely appalling. Something like that in a real situation would have attracted more of them to your position.”

  In the light, I imagined he would have been red in the face. That was what he sounded like. I couldn’t believe he yelled at me the most. Yeah, I made some mistakes, but come on. He yelled at me about my bird call and how bad it was. It’s not like I was trained for years, perfecting every birdcall known to man. That’d just be freaking ridiculous.