Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  His orange eyes were taken aback. “What?” His voice was hesitant, but then became firm once more, “Of course he is. I’ve been searching for this man my whole life. I think I’d know his face.”

  Gabriel’s eyebrows wrinkled at me. Max was silent. Michael’s eyes were confused. Raphael was the only one who reached out to me, trying to stop me. But I shook him away, continuing, “I’ve seen it.”

  The man snickered. “Seen what?”

  “The house. The smoke. The fire.” With every word, the man’s expression softened, so hopefully he believed me. “Your parents were murdered.”

  “How…” The man’s head turned to me. “How do you know that?”

  “You’re not the only special person in this room.” My mind recalled the other visions I had, the ones with Crixis and the woman. “You’re a Shifter. I see things. Gabriel can heal himself. Trust me when I say Koath is not the one who killed your parents.” Lightning lit the room, making me pause before continuing, “He came to help them, but it was too late. Koath was their friend.”

  “He was covered in their blood!” The man yelled to me, still keeping a good hold on Koath’s neck.

  “Because he tried to slow the bleeding.”

  “He took my family’s amulet—”

  “Your father gave it to him. He thought you escaped and ran. He wanted Koath to find you and give it to you.”

  “If…if he didn’t murder my family, then who did?”

  Well, he had a good point there. I had no idea who the real perpetrator was.

  My silence made him say wrathfully, “That’s what I thought. You’re just trying to save him. You know nothing about—”

  I walked closer, interrupting him and starting to ramble off all the details I could remember. “Your mother had long, curly brown hair. Your father was big in size. His neck was practically ripped off. The amulet was orange and has the same markings as the tattoo on your chest. You were hiding in the closet, only a few feet away from your parents.”

  Every detail seemed to calm him down. No, I took that back. It didn’t calm him, it troubled him even more. His hand dropped off of Koath’s neck and he wobbled back, looking at me, uncertain about everything.

  “No…that…” The sword disappeared into his skin as he brought his hands up to his head. “That can’t be…”

  Koath caught his breath and said, “It’s true. Your father and I were good friends. In fact, you were named after him, Vincent.”

  Vincent stumbled back, shaking his head. “No…this—you’re all wrong.” The lights dimmed. “You’re all wrong. You have to be…”

  “Vincent, we aren’t wrong. However, if I would have gotten there sooner, I could have stopped him.” Koath’s gaze fell to the floor. What was he talking about? Did Koath know who did this?

  “So you know who killed them? Tell me.” Vincent commanded. When no one answered him, he repeated himself. “Tell me.”

  “I cannot. You can’t defeat him, Vincent. He’s too strong,” Koath said.

  “Then give me what’s rightfully mine. Give me the amulet. I know you have it!”

  “I cannot do that, either. You don’t believe our story. If I give you the amulet, what’s stopping you from killing us all after?” Koath posed a good question. “You know what you must do. You have to give up on this foolish quest, or it’ll get you killed.”

  “I—” Vincent clenched his teeth. “—can’t do that.”

  Thunder rumbled the ground, shaking the house and darkening the lights. When the lights finally came back on, Vincent was gone. And the back door was open.

  Great. Just what I wanted to do. Go back out into the worst lightning storm that I’d ever seen and chase down a hysteric man hell-bent on killing someone.

  I ran to the back door, stopping and glancing back when I realized no one was following me. “Come on!” I yelled. “We have to get him.”

  No one asked why. They simply nodded and followed me out and into the rain.

  Even my best buddy Raphael was with me.

  Chapter Thirty-Six – Vincent

  The rain stung my face, feeling more like hail than drops of water. That girl…Kass, she knew what happened to my family all those years ago. She knew details that no one would know unless they were there.

  If…if that man, Koath, she called him, was not the murderer, then who was? Who killed my parents?

  I continued running for a long time. I was in good shape, so if those people followed me, they were probably very far behind me. Unless they were in good shape, too, in which case they were closer to me than I wanted them to be.

  I just wanted to be alone. I wanted to be alone and I wanted to be miserable. I needed to gather my thoughts.

  The woods seemed to last forever. I ran out the back door because it was the closest to where I was standing…but now I wished that I took the front door instead. Because, if I had, then I would actually know where I was headed.

  For all I knew, I was going around in circles.

  Unexpectedly, my legs skidded to a stop. The trees above me caught most of the rain, so I wiped the wetness off my upper chest. My tattoo was burning. The leaves around me rustled and a large stick behind me snapped in half.

  The hair on my arms rose. Something was here. And I didn’t mean those people. It was something else.

  Coarse breathing entered my ears. A black being came into my peripherals, but as soon as I flipped to look at it, it was gone. Whatever it was, it was fast. Inhumanly fast.

  Giving up and deciding to run more, I made a one-eighty and froze instantly. Two giant red eyes were level with mine. The beast snarled, lifting up its snout and showing its insanely sharp teeth to me.

  I took a few gawky steps back. This Demon was remarkably similar to the Zeny. It was large and black. The only differences were the numbers of the eyes and legs. A Zeny had only three legs and eight eyes. This had six and two, respectively.

  It was like a mutation of the Zeny, mixed with a black wolf. And it was intimidating.

  A sound came from its Demonic lungs. Its shoulders shook, cueing me in that the sound was laughter. This thing was laughing at me. Why? I didn’t know, but I did know that it was pissing me off.

  Its front claws scratched the wet forest floor and its eyes glared at me. “It seems that I misjudged your intentions.”

  Creasing my eyebrows, I didn’t respond. Did this thing just talk to me?

  Tilting its head, like it was a dog trying to figure something out, it laughed more. “I gave you everything you needed, but you refused my help.”

  I shook my head. I swore this thing was speaking to me, but its mouth wasn’t moving, so how could I hear it? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t you?” It raised its red eyes to mine. “I think you do. Now’s your last chance.”

  “My last chance,” I echoed, soon realizing that those people had arrived behind me. “My last chance for what?”

  “Kill him. You know he’s responsible.” It looked around me, at the man named Koath.

  Kass’s mouth pursed as she walked to my side and glared at the Demon eye-to-eye. This girl sure had some guts, that’s for sure. “You…” Her voice trailed off.

  The Demon laughed and feigned a lunge at her. But she didn’t flinch. She didn’t even blink. “You’re the thing that interrupted Alyssa’s spell. You’re the reason why they all had to leave,” she muttered, staring with intense aversion. “And now you’re trying to get Vincent to kill Koath. Why? Koath is innocent.”

  “You make a good case. But in the end, we choose our own paths.”

  My fists tightened, and I yelled, “And you chose to meddle where you have no business to.” For some reason, I directed it at the beast. I could not go against this girl. Something about her made me believe that everything she told me was true, and that Koath wasn’t the one who killed my parents.

  I didn’t know why I believed her, though.

  A snarl erupted on its face as its
back straightened. “Is that what you truly think? You side with her?” Its snout motioned to Kass. I nodded gravely. “Then you will die. Just like your family.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven – Kass

  “Then you will die. Just like your family.” The Demon turned its crimson eyes on me. In a flash its lethal teeth were about to rip my face off, but I felt a hand pull me back and away from the Demon.

  After my breathing caught up to me, I became aware that the hand didn’t belong to Gabriel. Or Michael. Or Koath. Or Max. Basically, not anyone who I wanted to touch me. Raphael had grabbed me just in time to save me from my foolhardy courage.

  When Raphael put his arms around me, holding me in place, I gritted my teeth, wishing that I could punch him again.

  I tried unsuccessfully to escape him, but his grip was fantastically strong. His green eyes did not leave the Demon, which had turned back to Vincent, as he said to me, “I cannot have you going and getting yourself killed, can I?”

  “Well, that’s a switch,” I grumbled.

  Gabriel started towards it, but with one skilled swipe he was thrown back. As he shook it off and stood, he told Max, Michael and Koath, “Yeah. I wouldn’t get closer to it. Not a good idea. Especially since you guys can’t heal.” His hand came up to his ripped shirt, revealing his healing wounds.

  “You will explain that to me later,” Koath said, staring at me even though he was talking to Gabriel.

  The Demon stared at Vincent, who was still motionless. It spoke, showing its teeth, “You may be the last of your kind, but you are weak. For thousands of years I have wasted time trying to make the remaining Shifter stronger.”

  Vincent’s face twisted. “What do you mean by that?”

  It lowered its head so that its snout was nearly on the wet ground. Lightning hit the sky, making everything look yellow. “You know exactly what I mean. For countless of generations, I have plagued your ancestors. When a son was born, he carried the gene. When that boy turned five, I came. And I killed everyone but him. It’s a family tradition.”

  “You’re the one who—”

  “Enough,” the Demon barked, attacking him.

  Mouth agape, I watched Vincent and the Demon attack each other, locked in head-to-head combat. I sought to escape Raphael to help the man, but my teacher was inescapable.

  Anytime Gabriel got close to try and help him, it used one of its six legs to throw him back. It was clear that the Demon wanted to finish its business with Vincent.

  To think that this Demon was the one who killed his family…

  Wait a second. How did a thing like that get into a house and start a fire? And why did the same Demon disturb Alyssa’s spell? Some things weren’t adding up.

  In a few brutal and gory minutes, Vincent fell back onto the leafy ground. The Demon stood over him with dominance. It promptly brought its snout down and ripped apart his stomach.

  “No,” I whispered. This couldn’t be happening. The Demon couldn’t win. “Michael, get a crossbow—get something!”

  Michael started running back to the house with Max in tow.

  My eyes saw Koath reach inside his shirt. His wrinkling gaze landed on Vincent, who was bleeding out. An experienced throw landed the amulet on Vincent’s chest.

  Using his last reserves of strength, Vincent swung a spiked arm at the Demon, flinging it off him. His bloodied hand grasped the amulet as his body relaxed. His orange eyes closed and a short breath flowed from his mouth.

  Oh, God.

  He was dead. Vincent was dead.

  Wait.

  Remember how I said he was dead?

  Well, that was obviously not true, because in about thirty seconds Vincent was back on his feet and fully healed. Even the three long gashes were gone. That amulet held that much power? Unbelievable. It was unbelievable.

  Soon Vincent had the amulet around his neck and was waiting for the Demon to launch at him again. But the Demon was cautious, because it knew that Vincent was practically unstoppable now. Vincent ran at it, his arm suddenly an axe.

  But not just an axe. An executioner’s axe. Double-edged and jagged with fuller.

  It was awesome.

  With one swing, the Demon fell on the ground, dead.

  Vincent’s arm transformed back and he turned to Koath. “Thank you for this.” He glinted the orange amulet in the dim light. It was the exact same color as his eyes. “And…I’m sorry about trying to kill you.”

  Koath nodded, understandingly. If I was him, I didn’t think I would have acted like that. Vincent had been after him for God knew how long, and Koath was just going to forgive him like that?

  Vincent turned to Gabriel. “And for trying to kill you, too.”

  As Gabriel came up with a smart reply, I looked up at Raphael, whose grip hadn’t loosened one bit. “You can let go now…” My voice trailed off as I noticed Raphael’s eyes drew away from me and back to the dead Demon. I followed his eyes as I stepped away from his hold, which had loosened considerably.

  Raphael was as stunned as I was.

  A vicious laugh made Gabriel and Vincent stop talking immediately.

  I watched as the Demon stood on its hind legs. “Just so you know, the offer still stands.” The black fur was slowly but surely seeping back into its skin. Its claws grew shorter. The two extra legs were retracting into its stomach as its snout became less pointed and toothy.

  Soon I realized that it was morphing into a person.

  A person I hated above all others.

  Or, more correctly, a Demon. A Daywalker.

  Crixis.

  So Crixis was the one who killed Vincent’s parents. His whole line of descendants. It made sense now. And he was the one who interrupted Alyssa’s spell. Crixis was just intent on destroying my life, so I should have expected that it was him. What other powers did he hold? How could a Daywalker turn into a six-legged wolf?

  My mouth dropped open as Raphael swiftly covered my eyes with his hand.

  Crixis was stark naked.

  I heard Crixis laugh and knew it was probably directed towards me. “How cute,” his evil voice said as I swatted Raphael’s hand away, confirming my suspicions that he was laughing at me. “Well, this has been fun, but now it’s time for me to go. I’ll be seeing you later, count on that.”

  A gush of wind swished past me and Crixis disappeared.

  Vincent was pissed. Koath was worried. Gabriel was pissed. Michael and Max appeared, holding a vast array of weapons, confused that we were alone, no Demon wolf or Crixis in sight.

  Vincent was the first to speak, “I—He…”

  Sighing, Koath placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Come, Vincent. We need to talk…and report this to the Council.” Vincent’s wet head bobbed and soon we were all walking back into the house.

  This day was just getting better and better, wasn’t it?

  Chapter Thirty-Eight – Vincent

  “Now…where have you seen him before?” Koath leaned forward, putting his elbows in his knees and staring intently at me.

  My gaze fell to the floor of the library room. I wasn’t sure how to answer that. If I took too long to respond, he’d know that I was taking my time to come up with the best answer. Should I tell him how I ran into him one night, when I was walking away from Koath’s house and that I believed he was the one who gave that diary to me?

  My mind weighed back and forth.

  “I…met him one night when I was roaming the streets,” I said, completely fibbing to him. I was sorry for doing it, but sometimes lying was the best option. “I mean, I ran into him. He didn’t say anything at first, except for…”

  “Except for what?” Koath prodded.

  “Except…he said you’re welcome,” I slowly replied.

  Koath’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Do you know what he meant by that?”

  “Well,” I began, thinking of the diary once more. “No.” Koath was unbelieving for a few seconds, pushing me to say, “I have no idea what he meant by it.” I shrugge
d, trying to make him believe me. “The only thing I can think of is that he thought he was making me stronger by killing my parents.”

  “Hmm.” Koath’s wizened eyes looked out the window. The thunderstorm had subsided as we came back into the house. If only it would have done so a little earlier, then I wouldn’t have to sit here in my wet clothes.

  I didn’t even have a shirt. It was torn to shreds last night. Koath was nice enough to get me a blanket so I could attempt to get warm and dry myself. If I was him, I didn’t think I’d be as nice to me. For the last twenty years I stalked this man while thinking of the perfect way to kill him, so in my opinion, I didn’t deserve to be treated this well.

  Then again, he didn’t have to know all the details, did he?

  It was a few, awkward moments before he asked, “Do you know what he meant by ‘the offer still stands?’”

  Inside my blanket, my hand grasped my amulet. My orange eyes met his as I told him as convincingly as I could, “I do not.”

  His expression fell a little. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded.

  Koath stood up and headed to the door, saying, “I’ll be right back. The Council needs to be notified. I will come back with the official questions, so be prepared.”

  “I…will be preparing myself for them,” I said, smiling and hopefully putting on a convincing show.

  “Great.” Koath smiled in response and walked out, leaving me alone.

  As soon as I was sure he was gone, I got on my feet, threw the blanket off me, and shut the door as quietly as I could. My eyes searched the room that was filled to the brim with books of all shapes and sizes, making me wonder if this was where Crixis had stolen the journal from.

  The diary looked like it would belong here, on the shelves.

  I spotted a pen and notepad laying on top of an end table.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine – Kass

  Gabriel’s blue eyes were upon me. “Are you okay?” His voice was heartfelt.

  I couldn’t help myself. I started chuckling right at his face, making him mad. His eyebrows went together and his lips pouted, causing me to say, “I’m sorry. Sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed. I’m fine, Gabriel.”