Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  Except his piece was older, darker, and full of loss.

  I lost myself in him, kissing him back, running my hands down his chest. I must have been too into our make out session, for I didn’t know until that moment that his shirt somehow came off.

  I wasn’t complaining.

  It was like John said with the hormones. I was raging with them. I didn’t want to stop.

  Gabriel picked me up and carried me to the bed. No warning bells rang in my head. I was too busy enjoying the feeling of his hands sneaking below my shirt.

  What got into me?

  Why did I want to keep going, to let this Gabriel—AKA the Devil, AKA someone I technically just met a week ago who did nothing but lie to me—do anything he wanted to me? I never knew I could get so hot and bothered.

  I was going to need some real therapy after I was out of this world.

  The sunlight shining through the window woke me. Whatever time it was, I didn’t care. I was tired from my all-nighter with Gabriel. We didn’t go all the way. I managed to regain some control over myself, and he didn’t push, which surprised me. You’d think the Devil wouldn’t care about consent.

  This one, at least, did.

  I had some massive stubble burn on my face, though, and as I rolled over to look at him, I rubbed my cheek, still feeling like his mouth was showering me with kisses, both light and hard, hungry and passionate.

  Gabriel laid in the bed beside me, already awake. For the first time, he didn’t look sad. No gloom and melancholy rested in his handsome features, and I had a pretty good idea why that was.

  He grinned as he watched me yawn. “When I look at you, I still can’t believe you’re real.”

  I smirked at myself, laying on my back. “With the decisions I’ve been making lately, I’m surprised I’m still here.” I moaned. “This is going to make my reunion at home very awkward.”

  Gabriel ran a finger along my collarbone as he said, “You could always stay here.”

  “You know I can’t.” As I met his blue stare, I added, “Last night…it doesn’t change the fact that I have to get home.”

  He turned silent, thinking. “You could do the same thing with me, the other me, when you get home. There isn’t any alternate reality where I would stop you from kissing me.” Dimples appeared on his cheeks, and for a moment, he reminded me so very much of the Gabriel I missed dearly.

  Of the Gabriel that could read my mind.

  He was going to have some colorful things to say to me, I knew.

  The Gabriel in this world was seconds from saying something else when the door opened. John stepped in, talking before his mind registered what he was seeing, “Can you wake up already? If we want to get moving, we need to go soon. Lesser Vampires are gathering in front of…” He finally trailed off, seeing Gabriel and I in bed together.

  Gabriel had his shirt off, sitting up and letting John see for himself.

  I was quick to get up, about to say something along the lines of this isn’t what it looks like, but then I realized I didn’t owe John an explanation. I didn’t owe anyone anything, so I kept quiet.

  “Oh,” John coughed, eyebrows creasing. “Okay. Well, Raphael and I…we’ll be waiting for you outside. Whenever you’re ready to get this show on the road.” Biting his lower lip, he quickly left in a Vampiric flash.

  “He’s right,” I said, glancing at Gabriel. “We should get moving.” I was up and zipping up my boots in the next moment, while Gabriel took his sweet old time. Stretching and making an obvious show before slipping into his shirt. He had the exact same Celtic cross tattoo on his chest as my Gabriel. Thankfully it was too dark to see it last night, otherwise it would’ve made separating the two in my head a lot more difficult.

  As we walked through the house, I shot him a look. “Did you even sleep at all last night?”

  “No, but if the snores were any indication, you did.”

  I stopped directly in front of the door, slamming a quick hand in his gut. “I did not snore,” I muttered under my breath, astounded that after that hot and heavy make out session, he was starting to act more like my Gabriel. I flicked him off for added effect as I pushed the door open and stepped out in the artificially created light of day.

  Gabriel let out a low sigh, whispering, “If only that were true.”

  I glared at him, shooting icy daggers with my eyeballs. It was a look I was well-accustomed to giving the Gabriel in my world.

  John and Raphael stood on the sidewalk. John was still mortified about what he thought he walked into, while Raphael seemed…happy. That was a switch from the solemn, serious tone he wore on his face and the heavy-handed way he spoke. In fact, the man was smiling at nothing. A boyish grin, one I deduced came from a certain witchy sister of John’s.

  I chuckled at the thought that John had walked in on them, too. How horrible, yet hilarious would that have been?

  Yeah, I was bad. I’d say this world was rubbing off on me, but I’d always had a dark sense of humor. Twisted. It came with the territory and promise of dying young. Live while you can, right?

  That’s…what I did last night.

  With this world’s Gabriel. With the creature who had a thousand names.

  I had a feeling I was going to regret my decision to make out with him once I went back to my world. It was a good thing I still had some time to figure out how I was going to get out of explaining it to Gabriel, to stop the blonde boy from reading my mind and seeing that I kissed his older, evil doppelganger.

  Quite a lot, too.

  Raphael continued to smile as he greeted us. “Good morning. I hope you all had a good night. Alyssa’s waiting for us in the front barracks.” He hummed, beginning to walk, “Let us be on our way.”

  John didn’t look at anyone as we walked through the street, back to where we were first greeted by guns and swearwords. There was a one-story building off to the side, where Alyssa was waiting. Raphael was the first to enter. John stepped aside, letting Gabriel and I through. The two men shared a look, causing me to roll my eyes.

  We headed into an office, where Alyssa stood over a desk, a map splayed out, flat. Her kind gaze rose, a smile forming when she saw Raphael. If Raphael had a dopey expression, hers was borderline Hallmark channel, too cheesy to be real. If I ever had a lovey-dovey look like that, kill me. Seriously, just end it there. Permission: granted.

  “Morning,” Alyssa spoke, mostly to Raphael, who giggled.

  Yes, the man giggled.

  It was soft and it was gone the moment it came, but I heard it. We all heard it. The giggle. It was a sound that would haunt my nightmares for the foreseeable future.

  John paled, gagging slightly as he muttered, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  That made Alyssa quip, “Why? Because two people have found happiness in each other?”

  “You all have found…happiness in each other,” John said. “And that’s great. For you. But for me, it makes me want to vomit. So, can we get this over with?”

  At his reference to Gabriel and I, Alyssa’s eyebrows rose and she turned to me. All I could do was nonchalantly run my hands through my hair, admiring the split ends. I hoped I wasn’t turning cherry red.

  “I’m sure Kass can’t wait to go home,” John added, his dark expression all-too knowing for my tastes, his voice dripping sarcasm.

  Alyssa chose to ignore her brother’s last comment, saying, “I hope you’re all ready for what you’re going to face today.”

  “Let me guess,” I spoke dryly, crossing my arms, “the King has the staff.”

  “Unfortunately, you’re not wrong,” she said. “I’m afraid you will all have to face your fears to reach it.” Alyssa leaned on the table, and in that moment, it was so very difficult to remember her as the soft-spoken girl who became my only friend in school. Until Claire, but truthfully, I wasn’t sure if Claire was my friend or not. “I will not spare any of my men or women to help you, but as it is, the four of you are better than any small army I have
. You’ll do fine if you’re vigilant.”

  Alyssa pointed to the map. “The building he chose as his castle was town hall. I have the blueprints. Top few floors are destroyed. He converted the basement offices to a jail of sorts. It is there the staff lies.” Her finger moved to the corner-most room. “Here. You can take the stairs right beside the elevator in the main hall. From what I can tell, they don’t have guards. They don’t need them. They will put up enough of a fight.”

  “They?” I echoed, cutting in. “You keep saying they. I thought it was just the King?”

  She frowned somewhat, looking to Raphael. “You haven’t told her?” Next to John, and then to Gabriel. “No, of course you wouldn’t.” Sighing, she addressed me, “The King has his Queen, and she is as slippery as a worm, but as vicious as a lioness.” Alyssa paused, noting, “You do not even know the King’s true identity, do you? None of the men who accompany you dare speak it, for various reasons.”

  “Who is he?” I asked, stepping forward. “Who killed me?” My mind rang back to what my mother had told me in my most recent vision. Whoever had killed this world’s me would also lead me to my downfall in mine.

  “He is an ancient being. He has seen the rise and fall of Rome, the conquering of the New World, the genocide of World War II. My people have dubbed him the King, but you might know him from his real name—Crixis.”

  Of course.

  Crixis. He was behind everything bad that had happened to me recently, so it really shouldn’t surprise me. I should’ve seen it coming.

  Once I recovered from hearing his name aloud, I was sluggish to ask about the Queen. “And the Queen? Who’s she?”

  Alyssa’s gaze fell, and for a while no one in the room spoke.

  “The Queen,” John eventually broke the silence, “she, uh…” But even he could not finish.

  “She’s you,” Gabriel whispered, watching my reaction.

  “Me?” I backed up, shaking my head in disbelief. “But you said I died.”

  Alyssa spoke next, agreeing, “You did die.”

  “But you did not remain dead for long,” Raphael added.

  “You were taken,” Gabriel said, moving to my side, gently touching my arm, drawing down it, similar to the way he touched me last night. “From me.”

  “From all of us,” John said, voice rising. His stance grew aggressive as he watched Gabriel touch me. “From the world. Gabriel wasn’t the only one who lost everything when you died.” He referred to Kirk, his now-dead older brother. “The world lost, and Hell gained a ruler.” He exchanged dirty glances with Gabriel.

  “You’re lucky Kass is here,” Gabriel growled, sounding like his eight-foot-tall, horned side. “Otherwise you’d be there now.”

  John smirked, chuckling lowly. “Yeah, I’m real lucky she whipped you good and fast, aren’t I?”

  “Oh,” Gabriel uttered, lifting his hand, red, fiery smoke appearing, shimmering off his flesh as if it were naturally there. He went for John. “I’ll—”

  Grinding my teeth, I moved between the two, still reeling after learning that my alter ego was the Queen beside Crixis. “Stop it,” I spoke through bared teeth, not wanting to deal with their egos right now. “Grow up. Right now, we’re working together.”

  “Right,” John said, bitter. “You think he’s going to let you go once we find the staff? You think he’s going to let you go after you spent the night together? You’re out of your mind if you think—” He stopped as my hand turned into a harsh point, one I held right below his chin.

  “I think,” I said, annoyed, “that Gabriel will do the right thing. And if he doesn’t…” I threw a glance at Gabriel. “…I won’t let that stop me from getting home.”

  Alyssa spoke, bored with the displays of masculinity, “Good. Now that this room is filled with nothing but tension and testosterone, I have something for you.” She bent, retrieving something long and wrapped in a cloth. Setting it atop the map, she gestured to me.

  Once I cooled down enough, I went for the object, slowly unwrapping it. Silver glimmered through, and as I fully tore away the cloth, I inhaled deeply. A smile formed as I effortlessly lifted the sword and twirled it in the air. The rose on the hilt, the petals crafted in the handle, the thorns growing down the sharp edges.

  My rose blade.

  As I tested its weight in my hands, for it was a while since I last held it back in my world, a light blue grew from the sword, reflecting more light than it should. This wasn’t my rose blade. At least, not entirely. There was something magical about it.

  “I enchanted that blade.”

  I met her eyes. “It’ll work on Crixis?”

  That made Alyssa smile. “It’ll do everything a normal sword can’t.”

  Remembering the night where I’d first met Crixis, a nameless, red-eyed Nightwalker who I staked in the heart, yet somehow the Demon survived, I managed to mutter, “Good.” Maybe he wasn’t invincible after all.

  “Now go,” Alyssa said, standing straight. “And good luck.”

  I thanked her. Raphael went to kiss her goodbye, telling her that he’d return this time, he promised. Who knew the guy had it in him? He was such a know-it-all jerk in my world, though he had his moments. John and Gabriel left, and I was about to follow, but Alyssa called after me, gripping Raphael’s hand until their arms could no longer reach each other.

  “Wait,” she said. Alyssa let Raphael go, and once we were alone, she moved closer to me. “I need to ask you a favor, Kass.”

  “Anything,” I readily said.

  “When you return to your world, I need you to do something for me. It was only your death that brought us together, so I don’t know where I am in your world, otherwise, I hope I’d have enough sense to do it myself,” Alyssa explained, not quite clarifying what she wanted.

  Cocking my head, I asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Forgive him,” Alyssa whispered, “forgive Raphael.”

  The favor stumped me, confusing me totally. I tried to figure it out, yet for the life of me, I couldn’t. “Forgive him for what?”

  “For everything,” she said, hugging me. In my ear, she added, “And anything he does. His past haunts him, and it shouldn’t.” Alyssa pulled away from me, giving me a sad grin that fell off her face as she backed up to the desk. “He is a good man. Just…forgive him for me.”

  I gave a nod. “I will.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured, meeting my eyes. “Go catch up with them. I’m sure you’re dying to get back to your world. If we didn’t have this place, I think we would’ve forgotten what the world was like before.”

  As I left, I waved. “You did good here, Alyssa. Or should I call you the Prophet?”

  She laughed softly, reminding me of the Alyssa I knew. “Goodbye, Kass.”

  Goodbye. Somehow it always came down to goodbyes. It was how my world’s Alyssa left me. I missed her, but I didn’t blame her. She had to go with her brothers, she had to be there to help John, though I still didn’t know if we should’ve let him go. After everything he did, all those innocent civilians he murdered, he didn’t deserve to go. He deserved to be punished.

  Although, if he hadn’t done so, like I voiced when I talked with John yesterday, it would’ve been me killing, ending the world. And if there was a chance that my sanity could’ve been restored, I would’ve wanted mercy.

  Mercy.

  Mercy was always the one thing I had trouble with.

  In my opinion, if you did something, something with world-ending consequences, you did not deserve mercy. I was a Purifier, not God. I did the purifying, not the forgiving.

  Chapter Thirty – The King

  I stormed through the hall, finding her sitting on a chair we’d created from the bones of the humans we hunted down, locked up and bled one by one. She drank deeply from a wine glass, licking her lips that were covered in blood. She smiled at me from beneath her mask.

  “You look angry,” she mused, smiling.

  “I am,”
I swiftly agreed, grabbing her by her arms, forcing her to stand. She dropped the wine glass, shattering it on the floor, the shards flying in every direction, the blood that remained scattering on the tile. “It’s been too long. Your pet should’ve returned by now. He failed.”

  She shook with laughter, enjoying my roughness and my rage, two things I was not accustomed to controlling. “I thought you hated my pet. It sounds like—”

  I threw her against the wall with my strength, her back crushing the brick. “It sounds like I should’ve gone myself. Never send an incompetent fool to do the job when you’re better suited to do it yourself.”

  My lover recoiled with ease, her skill top-notch, save for me. No one was better than me. “You,” she whispered, “are so full of it. I’m not even confident that whatever you sent him out there for is real.” She aimed a punch at my gut.

  “It is!” I shouted, blocking her blow. How was I supposed to explain the unexplainable feeling? It was impossible, yet I had to try. “The last time I felt it…was when you were human.”

  At that, our fighting stopped. Her voice quieted, “When I was human…you felt something?” She was incredulous. “From me?”

  I despised this coming-clean business. It’s why I never did it. Yet I found myself telling her one of the many things I never told her before, “Yes. Something that made me think you were more than human.” There was a pause as I sized her up. “But clearly, if you were, you wouldn’t have so easily become a Vampire.”

  She scoffed, “Don’t tell me that’s why you turned me.” When I opened my mouth, she held up a hand, interrupting, “I said don’t. Do you need me to get a dictionary so you can learn the definition of the word?”

  Her irreverence made me laugh. “No. I’ve had thousands of years to learn it.” I flashed before her, snaking my hand around her waist and pulling her in for a deep kiss. A deep, unnerving feeling grew inside me, causing me to pull away from her hungry lips and glance out the window.

  Lesser Vampires gathered in huge numbers outside our abode. They filled the city street en masse, a horde of unintelligent animals, mindlessly searching for flesh, their souls long gone. What reanimated their corpses was something supernatural. Their bite was venomous, their infection extremely catchy. One bite, one scratch from their teeth, and any poor human would soon die and become one of them.