Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  I would not fail this one.

  I spoke softly, faintly, barely at all, “I will not fail you.”

  Kass abruptly tossed, murmuring, “Don’t forget the meatballs and the…giraffe…” And once again, she was asleep.

  I slowly laid down beside her, placing my head beside her pillow, staring into the flawlessness that was Kassandra Niles. My hand was even slower to reach for her, cupping her face like I did when I was in my true form, when she didn’t recognize me.

  Her skin was as smooth as satin, softer than anything I’d ever felt. How could I have let her slip through my fingers? How could I have lost her? What stupidity was in my head when I let all those years go by and never once said to her how I felt?

  I was the biggest moron.

  The Prince of Darkness, admitting a mistake.

  It was something I wouldn’t do again, trust me. My pride wouldn’t allow it.

  “I promise you,” I whispered, hushed, “I will protect you. I…” Whatever else I was about to say was halted when I sensed the feelings of a particular Demon in the rafters of the church. My caring persona fell off my face instantly, and within the blink of an eye, I was in the shadowy rafters, standing behind John with a scowl on my face.

  John was busy fiddling with his bow. “Who would’ve thought that the Devil himself would come back to town for one girl.”

  “You should’ve known I would feel her presence, as I’m sure others have,” I told him, my voice low and deadly. “And when they come for her, you’ll be thankful I’m here.”

  “You can’t be so naïve that you believe she won’t find out your true face” was what the greater Vampire chose to say to me.

  “Well, you’re brooding attitude isn’t helping much, if we’re being honest here,” I stated seriously.

  “I’m not afraid of Hell. It can’t be worse than this world.”

  I stood beside him. “Take it from its ruler, this world is nothing compared to what mine holds.”

  John smirked to himself. “If you’re ruling it, it must be pretty bad.” His dark gaze moved to me, examining my human form. “You’re tricking her, deceiving her. You know that. But I guess to the Devil, lying comes naturally.”

  “If you’re insinuating that I enjoy deceiving the love of my life,” I spoke quietly, deliberately, “you’re wrong.”

  “That is not the same Kass you loved,” John attempted a different tactic.

  I took an aggressive stance, baring my teeth. “You didn’t know her like I did. That is her.” I turned my head to the direction of the room where she still slept, oblivious to us and our discussion. I could hear her snooze peacefully, and I wished I was beside her, holding her, touching her, loving her.

  “She is my Kass,” I whispered.

  John was broodily silent for a few moments until he muttered, “Once Raphael figures out how to reverse the spell that sent her here, are you going to let her go, or do you plan on keeping her here against her will? If given the choice between going back to her world and staying here, do you really think she’ll choose you? She has her own you, a non-evil you by the sound of it.”

  “Evil is a relative term, don’t you think?” I posed my own question. “I could tear out your heart and toss you off these rafters, feed your soul to the hungry beings down below. Is it evil, or is it justice? Is it what you deserve after killing—how many women was it?” I noted the way John winced, and it gave me satisfaction.

  “That was a very long time ago,” he hissed.

  “To an immortal being, time is also relative.”

  John chuckled, clearly fed up with the conversation. “Go back to your girl, Devil, and lie to her some more.”

  I silenced him by grabbing his throat and lifting him in the air. He weighed nothing to me, and he couldn’t fight me or my will. “You’re lucky that Kass cares for you somewhat, otherwise I’d be rid of you right here and now. Your sudden disappearance would give rise to too many questions.” With a sudden jerk, I dropped him and stepped away, wiping my hands off as if I were covered in filth from touching him.

  I grew disgusted with the Demon before me and appeared back in the room where Kass laid, fast asleep.

  Being in the same room as her soothed me instantly, and as I laid beside her, John’s questions rose in my head. Could I let her go? Would I?

  I certainly didn’t want to.

  It would be so very easy to compel Raphael to keep his findings to himself…

  Chapter Sixteen – Kass

  I feigned left, seeking to hit him right in his side, but Gabriel saw through that in a New York minute. He blocked my real blow with ease, spinning my arm and flipping my body on the floor of the church, kneeling over me with a smug expression that my Gabriel often wore, and a half-smirk I could only describe as sexy.

  Did the Sorcerer hit my head when I wasn’t looking? Did I retain some brain injury from the many battles I’d seen? Calling Gabriel sexy was something other girls did, not me.

  Definitely not me.

  Although…I was oddly comfortable beneath him.

  Thank God this Gabriel couldn’t read my mind, otherwise I’d have a lot of explaining to do, and frankly I didn’t think I could explain it.

  “You’re getting too much enjoyment out of this,” I said with a smile as he grabbed my hand and helped me up.

  The tiny smirk faded as he seriously told me, “Someone has to keep you in shape.”

  I playfully slapped his arm. “Are you saying these past few days have made me soft?”

  “I never said that,” he remarked, sitting in a pew as he took a swig of water.

  Wiping the sweat off my brow, I stole the bottle from him and drank from it. After a few sips, I paused to ask, “Is this weird? Should I not be doing this?” I offered him back his water. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” It was something I’d do with my Gabriel without any hesitation whatsoever.

  “It’s fine, Kass, really,” Gabriel assured me.

  That’s when my Gabriel would’ve made a you-can-take-whatever-else-you-want-from-me joke. But, as I often reminded myself the past couple days, this wasn’t my Gabriel. He was older, gloomy, preoccupied. He scarcely smirked, never smiled. There was a heavy air about him, especially when he was around John. If that was due to a rivalry between the two or something else, I couldn’t say.

  Sitting beside him, I lifted my legs and held them on the broken pew before us. “I can’t believe Raphael hasn’t come up with any solutions yet.”

  “Maybe this Raphael isn’t as good as the one you know,” Gabriel offered, finally taking the water bottle back from me, fingers grazing mine and lingering for a few seconds too long. We met eyes at the contact, and I was the one who broke it by looking away.

  That blue-eyed stare was too intense, for some reason.

  I stood, saying, “Maybe we should help him.”

  “Wait,” Gabriel cut in, suddenly on his feet and grabbing my wrist.

  Facing him with growing confusion, I glanced at the strong hand holding me before questioning, “What is it?”

  “There’s something I need to show you first,” he spoke softly. “It won’t take long.”

  “Is it something in the church?” I asked, mainly joking. “Because the last time I was out there, I got mauled by a pack of Demon dogs, and getting surrounded again is at the bottom on my list of things to do.”

  “We will not run into any stray packs of Demons, that I promise you.”

  I squinted up at him, having never heard Gabriel say that he promised anything to me before. “You…promise?” I spoke, not knowing how he could promise something like that. Demons ran on their own schedules, after all, and in this world of perpetual night, they could show up anytime, anywhere.

  Despite knowing that, hearing him declare “I promise” again made me relax. I believed him. He might be a different, more mature, handsomer Gabriel, but I found myself trusting him just as much as I did my own blonde boy.

  His hand slipped into
mine, and as he led me from the church, I shouted a goodbye to John and Raphael, neither of whom moved to stop us.

  The Gabriel that held my hand wasn’t a boy. He was a man. A man who made my stomach twist and my cheeks flush of my own accord.

  I had to get back to my world as soon as possible, otherwise I’d dig myself into a hole with this particular Gabriel.

  Gabriel never once let go of my hand as we walked along the overgrown streets. Cars, long-since crashed, sat in front yards and ten-car pileups. Grass was waist-level, having not been cut in years.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked, more curious than anything.

  The man remained silent, simply leading us down a side street whose sign was broken and spray-painted over. We turned off the road and headed up a weed-filled gravel walkway, stopping before a large, mansion-like house.

  Though the trees were larger, the yard was unkempt, and the windows were dark, it slowly dawned on me where we were, where Gabriel brought me. The steps that held no positive memories, the front door that looked like it was taken straight off a castle, the three floors whose layout I knew perfectly.

  This was our house.

  “Come on,” Gabriel said, pulling me up the steps as I mentally relived the moment John switched our places, taking in Osiris instead of me. Apparently in this world, that never happened.

  Because I died.

  He stopped by the giant front door, holding his other hand on the doorknob. I was seconds from asking if it was locked when he twisted the knob and pushed it open. Gabriel let me enter first, and I held in a cough as I breathed in the stale air. It was as if the air in this house hadn’t been circulated in years, like it was locked up, waiting for some unlucky individual to walk in the hazardous Carolinian mansion.

  I stepped out of the entry vestibule and into the kitchen, dragging a finger along the countertop and collecting thick, heavy dust. Uncleaned dishes sat in the sink, and a part of me expected to hear Michael’s English voice drone on and on about how Gabriel and I never did our part to take care of the house.

  Michael wasn’t here, though.

  Meandering out of the kitchen, I walked into the living room, finding a game of cards that was started and never finished. A newspaper from years ago sat on Michael’s favorite recliner, yellowed from age. I imagined the runner whom Gabriel and I saved, how he attacked Koath in this very living room…only that never happened here, either. Koath never came back from England. There was nothing to come back for. John never went psycho, never killed the principal and countless others; there was no reason Koath had to return. The Purifier he took care of for years (ahem, me) was dead.

  I was starting to wonder if John getting Osiris’s powers was a good thing. At least the world didn’t end. A terrible thing to think, and I immediately felt awful.

  “Up here,” Gabriel spoke from the stairwell, and I was beside him in an instant, following him up the stairs to the third floor, where our bedrooms sat. We came upon my room, its door hanging slightly ajar.

  As I went to investigate the pictures sitting on the dresser, I heard him say, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this house.” A pause. “Feels like forever.”

  I wiped off the dust on the mirror, cleaning a streak so that I could see my face. “I think it has been forever, if the levels of dust mean anything.” Gabriel stood near the window seat, arms crossed; I could see him in the mirror’s reflection.

  “After that day,” he said, “everything happened so fast. Demons started appearing in numbers no one could face. The Council was blown up by some group of high-tech Demons. Ninety percent of the civilians in this city died in the week after you…” Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to finish that particular sentence. “Some tried to run, fleeing to other states, other countries. But it didn’t matter how far they got. The whole world fell into chaos, and no one was there to stop it.”

  Picking up a photograph, I used my shirt to clean the frame, viewing an old picture of a young Gabriel and an acne-riddled me. Early teenage years, out west, some birthday or holiday. It was sad I couldn’t remember what occasion had us so happy.

  “How could one death cause all this?” I spoke, turning to face him after carefully setting the picture down. I took a few steps toward him, adding, “We’re Purifiers. We die young. It’s a given. We don’t get to grow old and have families and grandchildren.” We locked gazes. “We just don’t.”

  “It’s hard to explain,” Gabriel muttered. “You were like the glue that held existence together.”

  I couldn’t help but crack a smile. “That seems a tad dramatic, don’t you think? There has to be some other reason all this happened.”

  “No, it was because of you. The world needed you to live, to survive.”

  “Why? Why me? There’s nothing special about me, and definitely nothing special enough to merit the end of the world,” I told him, believing it wholeheartedly.

  Gabriel shook his head. “You have no idea, Kass. What you meant, what you mean, to the world. Forces beyond your comprehension—the ultimate battle between good and evil.” His fists clenched at his sides. “It all depended on you. Good lost. Heaven doesn’t exist here anymore.” He collapsed on the window seat, his wide frame hunched.

  It was clear that losing me destroyed him. I wasn’t sure of the whole my-death-meant-the-end-of-the-world thing, but me dying did end Gabriel’s world. If the positions were reversed, I would probably be the same. He was my best friend, the one constant in my life. If I lost him, I’d go crazy.

  Biting my lip, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Comforting wasn’t something I was too good at. I was more adept at wallowing in self-pity and masking my emotions with anger and sarcasm.

  Glancing at the dresser, my eyes fell upon the picture I wiped clean. I swiped up the frame and went to sit beside him, holding the picture between us. This might end up making him sadder, but it was the only thing I could think to do.

  Here goes nothing, I thought, inhaling unhurriedly.

  “Do you remember the day this was taken?” I asked quietly, lightly elbowing him in the side to get his morose attention.

  Gabriel gently took the picture, rubbing his thumb along its edges. His tired, weary eyes studied the two young Purifiers in the picture. He was farther from that boy than I was the girl, but we both did a lot of growing up since then. He a bit more so.

  “Your thirteenth birthday,” he finally answered me, still as sad as ever.

  Him saying that made the memory come to my mind. Remembering the day, I smiled as I said, “We had a three hour game of Uno. We both refused to lose, so we kept picking up cards until we got one of those draw-two or draw-four ones.” I chuckled. “Michael got so fed up with us that he quit the game and went to bed early.”

  “At six,” Gabriel whispered with an unbelieving grunt.

  “He forgot to set the timer for dinner, and we almost burned the kitchen down.” I rested my head on his shoulder. “Although that wasn’t nearly as bad as that day you tried baking chocolate chip cookies. The fire department was called on that one.” I laughed to myself.

  His head turned, and Gabriel rested his cheek on the top of my head as he said, “We did have fun, didn’t we?”

  “We did,” I agreed. “Gabriel…I think you’re wrong. Heaven does exist. It’s up there somewhere, and it’s here. Now, this moment. In this picture. It’s anywhere we make it to be.” I picked my head off his shoulder and studied him, watching the way he watched me in the moonlight.

  “That’s…” He was having trouble finding the right words to say, and I couldn’t blame him. I got deep, fast. So deep that I even surprised myself a little bit. “…not something I thought you’d say.”

  I bumped his leg with my own, grinning. “There’s your problem. You have to remember I’m not your Kass.” Taking the picture, I finished as I stood, “I’ve seen a lot of things yours never did.”

  As I meandered back to the dresser and set the photo down, I recalled all the
horror I’d been through. The Osiris ritual. Stalker John. Nemesis Crixis. How could I have survived all that, but this world’s Kass couldn’t? What did I have that she didn’t?

  In theory, weren’t we the same?

  “It might not be anything compared to this world,” I spoke, seeing how Gabriel never took his eyes off me as I made my way to the other side of the room, “but I’ve been through a lot.”

  Gabriel was almost inaudible when he said, “So have I.”

  “Well, for now at least, we can get through this together,” I told him, trying to raise his spirits even though I knew it was next to impossible. “Now, either you turn around or leave the room.” I dug through the top right dresser drawer. This Kass kept her underwear in the same place. “Because I’m itching to get out of these stinky clothes.”

  I didn’t wait for him to decide. In the next moment my back was to him and I was sliding out of my shirt. Before changing bras, however, I threw a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t looking.

  He was staring out of the window, contemplative.

  With a sigh, I hooked the new bra and slid into a loose tank top. I worked to undo my belt and pull down my pants.

  Nothing I said would make this Gabriel feel better.

  Chapter Seventeen – John

  I sat near Raphael, balancing on the back end of a pew, perched like a bird. My mood was beyond foul. Kass was gone, with him. I didn’t trust him one bit. What could he possibly have to show her?

  I may have had mistakes, deadly ones, hidden in my many closets, but I was not comfortable with what the beast masquerading as Gabriel was doing. Hiding his true self. Lying to her. Making her believe that he was the same Gabriel she always knew, just a little worse for wear.

  The Devil playing the sad card…who knew he could do it so well?

  “Where do you think he took her?” I finally broke the silence in the church. “What could he show her?”