Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  He began to walk out of the bathroom, glimpsing over his shoulder to reply, “It was worth a try. I will get you eventually, Kass. Remember that.” He reached the door when Michael emerged, looking worried. Gabriel held up a hand, saying, “Situation resolved. Where’ve you been?”

  Michael stared at him with puzzled eyes.

  “Never mind. Too long a story.”

  Shaking his head, Michael was speechless.

  “Let’s do some quick review, help Ms. Niles catch up. Physics. What is physics?” Mr. Straum, the bald man himself, was walking in front of the board. Back and forth. Just pacing. Well, pacing and pissing me off.

  I hated pacers. They bothered me. Why couldn’t he stand in one place? Why did he feel compelled to continuously walk the length of the front of the room as if the fate of the world depended on it?

  I looked at my pencil and wondered if I could will myself out of this classroom. This was pure torture, and beside the first night involving a Nightwalker in the cemetery, this place looked Demon-free.

  The class quieted as a boy walked in the room, saying, “Mr. Straum.” With his black hair and darkly attractive good looks, I quickly realized it was John.

  “Good morning. Is there something I can help you with?” Mr. Straum’s hands fiddled with the marker. Which, apparently, was quite a distraction for some of the kids in the room, especially when he dropped the cap and had to bend beneath his desk to retrieve it.

  “I had to change my schedule. You’re lucky enough to have me for third period now, instead of having to wait until end of the day.” John smiled a million-dollar smile and surveyed the room. When his gaze landed on me, his grin widened, causing some strange, unexplainable and tingly feelings in my stomach.

  Whoa. That sensation was new. Part of me liked it, but the realistic part of me knew this couldn’t go anywhere.

  “I don’t know if I would call myself lucky…” Mr. Straum jested as the class laughed. “But there’s nothing I can do about it, is there?” He chuckled to himself, making his round belly jiggle. “Take a seat in the back there, by Nicole.”

  John stuck one of his hands in his pocket and replied meekly, “Um, I can’t sit there. I need to be close to the board. Sometimes my contacts get blurry and I can’t see far away.”

  As if the boy spoke ancient Greek, Mr. Straum stuttered, “Oh, all righty then. Harry, would you be willing to trade spots with John?”

  I secretly hoped with all my heart that Harry would say no, and that his own contacts got blurry sometimes. Was that even a thing? Contacts getting blurry? I wasn’t so sure, believing it was just an excuse to sit somewhere else. Somewhere less than a foot from me.

  Cliché? Totally, but sometimes those pesky clichés turned out to be reality.

  Harry just happened to be the kid sitting next to me, in my lab station. While I found the kid attractive, and his dimpled grin gave me goosebumps, I didn’t want John next to me. At all.

  Harry mumbled something incoherent and stood up, sluggishly walking to the back of the room while Mr. Straum thanked him. As the skater boy took his new seat in the far reaches of the science classroom, my mind once again wandered, trying to come up with the positive side of this.

  John would at least talk to me, which was something I couldn’t say for Harry.

  John slid into the stool next to mine and set his book down. His dark eyes stared into mine, upsetting my fluttering stomach even more. Was I getting sick, or were these those pesky teenage hormones everyone’s been warning me about?

  “Want to know something?” he asked.

  “I guess.” I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling, even though all I wanted to do was get the heck out of this school. That wasn’t an option, sadly.

  As Mr. Straum began teaching again, he leaned over and whispered, “I don’t have contacts.” His handsome face wore a smile, and I did something that nearly knocked me out of my seat.

  I giggled.

  God. I really, truly giggled.

  What was happening to me?

  Chapter Six – Kass

  “Um. Hello?” I glanced around, seeing not a darn thing. “Raphael, are you here?” After two seconds of searching for him in the dilapidated church, I grew happy. “Well, I can’t find him. Let’s go.” I turned and began to leave the place I never wanted to return to, but before I made my first stride, Raphael appeared in front of us, as if he was there the whole time, waiting for us to try to sneak out.

  “Okay.” Gabriel took a step forward, lifting a hand. “Two things. One: how are you so quiet? You’re like a mouse. And two: do you know of any places that have laser-tag nearby?”

  Raphael’s face turned scornful, taking away from his good looks. That whole thing with John threw me off the deep end. Stop thinking that, I scolded my mind as I immediately nudged Gabriel as hard as I could without being too obvious.

  With a stern look, Raphael replied seriously, “This is not the place for fun and games. If that is what you are looking for, then leave now.”

  Gabriel shrugged. “Alright.” He started walking, but I grabbed his arm at the last second, once I got over the fact that he was really going to walk away. My brows went together, and I hoped my face said enough. He glanced at me, Raphael, and then back at me.

  “What? I was kidding.”

  A breath escaped from my lungs, one of relief. “Right” slowly came from my lips. I wouldn’t trust Gabriel as far as I could throw him, and I could probably throw him at least a foot or two. Not much. Not much at all.

  Choosing to ignore my what-the-heck glare, Gabriel questioned, “Can you teach us to do that? However you move, it would come in handy in certain situations where you have to be real sneaky. For instance, I’d love to do that when Kass is in the shower—”

  My mouth dropped, and I found myself gasping. Why would he go and say something like that to Raphael? When it was just me and him, sure, I was used to things like that coming from him. But here, now? Raphael seemed like a no nonsense man, and this was undeniably not the way to get on his good side.

  Observing us both with disgust, the man in the uniform replied slowly, “You lack the…skill it takes to be quiet, it would seem. Follow me.” Raphael’s hands were stiff behind his back as he walked through the church, to the area where the altar was located. “Sit.” He motioned us to do so on the step in front of the altar, which was in the middle of a strange dip in the floor.

  We listened to his command and sat facing the old altar.

  He stood behind the altar, a podium intricately designed with swirls and shapes of various depth, and inquired, “Tell me, what Demons are most common?”

  In a split second we spoke in unison, “Nightwalkers.”

  “Wrong,” he swiftly countered. “I didn’t ask what Demon you most often face. If I had, your answer would certainly be correct. Be,” he paused, “broader.”

  We were quiet. Normally we didn’t use the word he was referring to. The monsters we faced almost every day were not handsome, brooding care bears with fangs. Nope, those were only the ones in the movies.

  My gaze landed on my lap as I muttered quietly, “Vampires.”

  “Right, Vampires. The Nightwalkers, as you nicknamed them, are Vampires.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the altar. To my amazement, the old wood held his weight. “Why have you given them this moniker?”

  Moniker? I nearly laughed out loud. Was this guy born in the middle ages? No one said that word anymore. Maybe he should take a lesson from Gabriel and I and start to catch up on reality.

  “The definition is why. They literally walk in the night.” Gabriel looked to the ceiling, breathing in the blue sky that peeked through the cracks. It was a nice day. Too bad we were stuck here, with the man in the uniform.

  “Interesting. Now tell me their weaknesses, and myths associated with the Vampire.” Pushing off the altar, Raphael searched for something inside of it. As he rummaged through the contents, I wondered why he was quizzing us on stuff we learned the d
ay we could hold a stake.

  “Well.” My head turned to Gabriel. “They’re harmed by sunlight—the obvious one. Something sharp in the heart purifies them quick, and completely severing the head works, too. Garlic does squat and they don’t sleep in coffins. And they cannot control themselves.” I elbowed Gabriel. It was his turn to talk now; I was done reciting lines like I was in a Vampire horror movie flick, just learning the ropes.

  “Ouch. That’s going to bruise.” Gabriel rubbed his arm, like I did some damage. “Let’s see. They can only come inside your home if the door’s open. Too brain-dead to figure out how to open doors—”

  From his hunched position behind the altar, Raphael froze to send a glare at the blonde.

  Gabriel coughed awkwardly and continued, “They’re super strong and fast, except for right after the turn. For a few moments they’re discombobulated and can barely do anything. You can take their picture, but I don’t know why you’d want to.”

  “Enough,” Raphael demanded, tossing a round cloth at us.

  Gabriel skillfully caught it, and turned to me with one eyebrow up, asking if I was impressed. I shook my head no.

  “What’s…” I stopped as Gabriel unwrapped it, revealing what was inside. The sight burned my eyes. I thought I’d seen everything, but I guessed I was wrong. Dead wrong.

  No pun intended.

  It was a skull, an old one, one that was possibly centuries old. That was all fine and dandy, but the thing that got me was that it was a Vampire’s skull. How could that be? When a Nightwalker was purified, they burnt up and left not a thing. Even their clothes disappeared in the flames, along with the stake if you didn’t pull it out in time. How could this skull be real?

  It was at that moment when I noticed the teeth. The teeth did not belong to any Nightwalker I had seen. Nightwalkers’ eye teeth were the sharp ones. But this one…this one’s teeth weren’t just sharp. They were literally like little, one-inch razors, and it wasn’t only the canines that were insanely sharp. All four front teeth were pointed to varying degrees, especially the two middle ones. They were as sharp, if not sharper, than the canine teeth.

  What was this thing?

  “That is a Vampire’s skull.” Raphael’s tone was harsh and severe. “One that you might want to take a picture of. One that can enter any house it desires…door or not, locked or not. Anything involving God or his servants does not harm it, but it does empower it, anger it. One that is faster, smarter, and stronger than any Nightwalker either of you have encountered. Kass, Michael told me about how you saved Gabriel that night, almost three years ago. You both almost died fighting a nest of Nightwalkers, but that is nothing compared to this. You come across one of these, ever, and you will die.”

  Gabriel handed me the skull, allowing me to get a better look at it. Tearing his blue gaze from me, he spoke confidently, “We could handle it. After all, we’re stronger than we were three years ago.”

  Raphael shook his head, tightening his priest’s neckpiece. “No. I do not think you understand. This is not a Nightwalker I am talking about. This Demon goes far beyond the skills and capabilities of the lesser Vampire.”

  “I know.”

  Gabriel was interrupted by Raphael, “No. You do not know. You cannot begin to comprehend how much power this Demon has. Nightwalkers flee in terror from this Demon. This can control itself. One of our main weapons against them, sunlight, does nothing. These can walk in the sun.”

  The last statement caused Gabriel and I to meet eyes. “Daywalkers.”

  That didn’t sound good at all.

  Friday. Today was Friday.

  The days went by slowly after learning about Daywalkers. I couldn’t believe it was Friday, and I also couldn’t believe I never learnt about Daywalkers before that night. Why did Koath keep them from us? If they were so powerful, so scary, why not train us to fight them? Why hide them?

  I did not look forward to today at all, and not because of my quiz in Calculus. No, tonight was the first home football game, and Michael wanted us to go mingle and make friends, blend in. But, oddly enough, that wasn’t why we were going. Well, in all actuality Gabriel probably would have gone no matter what. Girls and all that crap. My reason was Raphael. He was forcing me to go too, because the good man wanted us to be bait.

  Bait for what, you ask?

  Nightwalkers. But not just any Nightwalkers, mind you—the group that killed the family and that little boy whose body was still missing. By now, it was clear to me the body wouldn’t be found. Sad as it was, he was nothing but bones after all this time with those hungry Demons.

  Mr. Straum walked through the class, eyeing every pair’s marble shooter as if he was judging some kind of county fair contest. Thank God he wasn’t, because as turned out, I wasn’t too good at making things. Purifying evil was easy-peasy, but making something out of a block of wood, a screw, a bolt, and this weird metal thingy was asking way too much of me.

  Luckily for me, I had John as my partner and he knew how to make pretty much anything. That said, he did have a hard time paying attention, I’d admit, with all the flirting he tried to do with me.

  I could say this: I did not not flirt back with him. Though I shouldn’t have, it was kind of fun.

  “John, I suggest that, if you and your partner want to finish this project on time, you start working on your marble shooter and not your love lives. Do that on your own time,” Mr. Straum added the last part as an afterthought as he walked away.

  “Will do.” John winked while using some kind of power tool to screw in the giant metal thingy to the wood. I was completely clueless, and he knew it. John put a marble in the shooter and tested out the waters. The marble landed a few feet from us. Not overwhelming results. “Crap.” He retrieved the marble and looked me in the eye, like he was going to explain to me why we were going to fail.

  The bell rang, permanently cutting the time John and I had to fix the shooter short.

  “That sucks.” John picked up his books and walked next to me, saying, “I’m sure Mr. Straum’ll give us some time on Monday to fix it up before we get tested for a grade.”

  “Thank goodness, now I won’t have to worry about it all weekend,” I pretended to be concerned, but my sarcasm seeped into the sentence anyway. Oops. I steered away from his side and began opening my locker, trying to find the correct numbers amongst all those tiny ones.

  My mind traveled to another place, so it took me a few moments to notice that John stood close, leaning against the locker next to mine. I had to stop myself from telling him to get the heck out of my light before I did something he’d regret.

  “You going to the football game tonight?”

  “Yes,” I said with a feigned sense of excitement.

  “You doing anything after?” was his next question. When I didn’t answer, he went on, “Then I’m going to have to insist we grab a bite after the game.”

  I couldn’t believe it. I really, truly couldn’t believe it. John was asking me out? His question sounded like a statement, but I was positive that was what just happened.

  For a moment a ray of light shot through my brain, letting me think that maybe I wouldn’t end up dying alone. Maybe I could date, have a normal part of my life. But it was a ray of hope that I quickly quelled.

  So, I did the only thing I could: I turned him down as politely as I could, saying I had a previous engagement. That was enough of an indication, right?

  Keeping the knee-shaking grin on his face, John inquired, “Saturday, then?” Still the hopeful boy.

  After the second attempt, I lost it. I lost what small semblance of normalcy that I had. I told him I was going out of town to visit my Aunt Flo.

  He shrugged, saying, “Maybe later.”

  But the fact of the matter was that later was never going to happen. I had a job to do, and I couldn’t let a boy distract me. The fate of the world rested on my shoulders.

  Okay. That last statement wasn’t true. I wanted to sound dramatic.
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br />   And, other than the whole lying part, I thought I pulled off rejection pretty well.

  Chapter Seven – Kass

  Raphael paced the church, clutching a book. A few small beads of sweat rolled down his fair face, and he wiped them with his long sleeve. He acted worried, perturbed. And as I watched him move back and forth, walking just like Mr. Straum did on a daily basis, I realized if he was worried, this was bad.

  I hated Michael and Gabriel for leaving me here with him while they went shopping for some school-oriented clothes. Really. I did. No playfully exaggerated tone there.

  “I know we haven’t exactly been on the best of terms since we met.” Raphael sat on the pew next to me. “But I need you to understand how important tonight is. We need to catch the Demons responsible for the murder of that family.”

  I crossed my arms, not liking where this was going. I thought Gabriel and I were going to be working as a team tonight, but nope. I was going to be alone again. I was going to be the bait.

  Hoping to overlook the overall closeness of the attractive guy in priest’s clothing, I tore my gaze from him and muttered, “The Nightwalkers, I know. I have to bait them, act like an outsider. They’re drawn to that. I still don’t like this plan, though. How do we know they’ll be there and not somewhere else?”

  Raphael sighed, abruptly standing. “This town is not huge. There are only so many places that would garner a Demon’s attention on a Friday night. I know that you do not want to do this, but that doesn’t change the fact that you must do your duty.” His green eyes demanded that my gaze return to his. I had no choice but to stare deep into his unrelenting stare.

  “I know that. It’s just—”

  He cut me off and opened the book that had to be centuries old. Handing it to me, Raphael stated, “Look at it, Kassandra. Look hard.”

  I looked and looked. For all my looking, the only thing I saw was a picture of some kind of Demon along with a bunch of gibberish. It was gibberish because I didn’t speak freaking ancient whatever-this-language-was. Who did these days, other than Raphael?