Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  They were leagues different than I, even from my lover. What they needed we simply desired, lusted after. Blood, the delicious, warm life force of humanity, was a drug that tasted like no other.

  Beside me in an instant, she spoke as she gazed out of the window, lifting her mask so she could better see, “Nightwalkers. And a whole lot of them, too. What are they doing?”

  “It would seem,” I sluggishly said, “that not all of them followed your pet out of the city.”

  “That’s obvious,” she hissed. “But what are they doing?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She gasped. “There are people coming.” Her wide, green eyes turned to me as she said, “I bet they’re the ones who killed my pet.” Her fists clenched, her sharp nails drawing blood. “I’m going to tear them apart.”

  Though they were far away still, I saw how the lesser Vampires parted for them, how they didn’t move to attack. How one of the men stood behind, drawing the Demons in and allowing the rest to pass and eventually stop at our front door. “Do not be overzealous,” I whispered, not bothering to hide the amazement in my voice. The girl who was with them…how could it be?

  It was her.

  I creased my eyebrows, glancing at my lover beside me, at the girl I turned. The same very girl who was walking up to our home, sword in hand. Kass.

  The girl beside me must’ve been too upset about her pet to see her lookalike, for she already turned away, planning how she would destroy them. After all my years, I had a keen eye for detail. The Devil was in the details, pun or not. They were important, such as the detail about how a very alive, very human Kass was on our doorstep when in fact I’d turned Kass more than twenty years ago…the girl who fumed silently in same room as me.

  Though it was confusing, it made sense. She was the reason I felt the inexplicable draw. It was literally the exact same feeling I had twenty years ago, all those years of chase until I finally caught my prey…her.

  It was a few moments until I met my lover’s angry glare, saying, “Shall we greet our guests downstairs?”

  Her thin, muscular body trembled with rage as she lowered her mask. “Let’s give them a welcome they won’t soon forget.”

  While I admired her pluckiness, I was not as ambitious. In all my time, and I’d had a lot of it, I never encountered a doppelganger. Such things were in stories only, fairytales.

  This wasn’t a fairytale.

  Maybe in the beginning, but anything I touched turned into a bloody, violent, nightmare.

  Chapter Thirty-One – Kass

  The walk through town was nothing short of terrifying. Even with the attack on the church, I’d never seen this many Nightwalkers together before. It was a startling and sad thought that each of the drooling, waddling, decaying things used to be human. Their flesh rotted, their fangs sharp. Each wore whatever they died or were buried in, fancy clothes and athletic gear alike.

  They wanted to lunge at us, at me, more specifically, and with their closeness I kept my rose blade ready, but they didn’t attack. They watched us, with their dead, droopy eyes, keeping their distance from the only thing they feared: the Devil himself.

  Just before we reached town hall, where Crixis and his Queen, AKA the other me, lived, Gabriel slowed to a halt, causing me to break away from John and Raphael, who both had their weapons drawn.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him.

  He was pensive as he studied the Nightwalkers around him. “It’s time to do some balancing.” His blue eyes seared through me, peeking into my soul, the intensity of it almost too much. “Go on ahead. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  I didn’t know exactly what he meant by that, but maybe he didn’t want to face the other me. Maybe he wasn’t quite ready. Either way, we had to keep going. I didn’t fight him, I knew I couldn’t. I simply nodded and met with John and Raphael, gripping my sword tighter as I reached for the door.

  “Do you think it’s unlocked?” I said, mostly joking. Yet when I turned the knob, it was indeed open. “Nuts. I was hoping it would be locked. It’s been too long since I kicked down a door.”

  John cursed under his breath. “Save your strength for the fight. You’ll need it.” He pulled back on his arrow, the first to enter the building whose roof had collapsed some years ago.

  “He is right,” Raphael agreed. “Even as a Purifier, greater Vampires are still stronger and faster than you.”

  “Trust me,” I said, pushing past him to get inside, “I know.”

  The ground floor of the building was dirty. Dim lights flickered. How the electricity was still on confused me. Perhaps Crixis saved some people to keep it up and running to a degree.

  We were alone, but a gust of wind blasted the room, and the doors were shut behind us, Crixis leaning against them, smiling at our backs while another masked figure stood in front of us, hands on her hips, a stance I used all too often.

  “Well, well, well,” the woman before us spoke, her face hiding behind a mask. “Who do we have…” The moment she saw me, she trailed off, muttering a startled “here” before tilting her head. “What is this? Magic? Some kind of new trick the rebels are using?”

  Holding my sword steady, I said, “We’re not with the rebels.”

  The masked me shrugged. “Whatever. I don’t really care who you’re with or why you’re here. All I know is that—” John shot his arrow at lightning speed, aiming it at her heart, but she caught it in a very Xena-like move. “—wow. Rude. I never get to give the big, evil speech. Not fair.”

  “Those things are always at the end for a reason,” I said.

  She responded by throwing the arrow at me after spinning it so its head faced me. It would’ve got me, too, if John hadn’t flashed between us. The arrow pierced his gut, and the pain on his face was instant. He winced, staggering toward me.

  He muttered, “That hurts.” John tore the arrow out, a bloodied hole where it was. He glanced to Raphael, who had turned to face Crixis behind us.

  “Do not worry about me,” Raphael said, not taking his eyes off his enemy. “I can handle Crixis.” To that, the Demon behind all my recent woes smirked like all dastardly, evil villains did.

  The masked me made her own I’m-evil-and-I-love-it face, a face I personally never made. It was so hard to think of that thing as me. “It’s too bad about your brother, John. Too bad I couldn’t get the both of you.” She laughed, eyes glowing and teeth growing. Daywalker teeth. “This is going to be fun.”

  In a flash, she was between the injured John and I, tossing him out of the picture quickly. He hit the wall so hard, the bricks collapsed, falling on top of him before he could stand and recover. Maybe being created by Crixis, she was more powerful than John, who was only a Daywalker due to a curse.

  Their eyes were different when they showed their Daywalker face. John’s grew all black while hers simply flashed a more iridescent hue than what they naturally were.

  The other me motioned to her face, framing it as she feigned a toothy smile. “How do you like my mask?” she asked, grinning.

  I personally thought the golden hue was a little too gaudy, the way it hung on her head like a crown a little too symbolic. “I don’t like masks. I’d rather be up front about everything,” I spoke honestly, clutching my sword with two hands.

  “I guess we’re not the same, after all,” she mused, finally noticing the semi-glowing sword in my hands. “That’s my sword.”

  “Now it’s mine,” I told her, circling her. For a moment, the Vampire and I did the same dance I used to do with Raphael in the beginning of sparring. “Try and take it from me.” I twirled the blade through the air, anticipating her first move.

  “Oh, I will,” she hissed, disappearing in a flash.

  Turned out, it was impossibly difficult to predict a lightning fast opponent, unless you were lucky. She was behind me in an instant, kicking the back of my knee, causing me to fall to the floor. Before she could hit me again, I rolled to a standing position, swin
ging the sword as I went, gliding it down her face, cutting her cheek through the mask.

  That infuriated her.

  Snarling like an animal, she bared her teeth and punched me square in the stomach, sending me flying twenty feet back, into the desk the receptionist used before the world ended. I groaned, feeling the splinters piercing my skin. A little pain wouldn’t stop me. But as I worked to stand, she pounced on me, kicking the sword out of my hand. The sword clattered on the floor, sliding across the room, its glow dimming once it left my hand.

  Grabbing my neck, she choked me, snarling, “I don’t know who you are or how you got here, but I’m going to enjoy killing you.” With every word she spoke, her grip stiffened around my neck. She let out an inhuman growl, but an arrow burst through her shoulder, stopping her from her next move. Another arrow punctured her chest, near her heart. The Demonic me howled in pain, looking less and less like me by the minute, her fingers loosening on me.

  While she was distracted, I used all my might to grab her outstretched arm and fling her off me, scrambling to get to the rose blade. Without a weapon, it was only a matter of time until I was beaten.

  John shot arrow after arrow until he was out of arrows, not bothering to dust himself off from the rubble. As Raphael and Crixis were in their own fight, the evil me rushed John, swiping the bow from his hands and bending the metal, breaking it. About a dozen arrows littered her body, but that barely slowed her down.

  “Funny thing is, you can’t kill us by conventional means, but you can be put in a type of…hibernation state,” she told him as they fought hand-to-hand. She was stronger than John, faster. With a maniacal chuckle, she shoved her hand through his chest as he blocked a blow from her other fist.

  I had my hand on the rose blade, picking it up and dashing to John’s side, but it was too late.

  John gasped for air, muttering a soft, “You’ve got to be kid—” He didn’t have the chance to finish, for she yanked out his heart, freezing him instantly.

  If only I had the strength to do that.

  As John’s body collapsed like a ragdoll, I glared at the other me, saying, “Cool trick, now put it back and I’ll make this quick.”

  She laughed, trying to squeeze his heart, but the beating appendage refused to be squashed. It continued to beat, in spite of its surroundings, so she dropped it, turning to me. “You can’t kill me with that sword, sorry.”

  I cleaved through the air, swinging it toward her side. She caught it, gripping the blade with her hand, the sharp edge cutting into her palm deep, her Vampiric blood dripping to the floor. Growling, she jerked her hand, spinning and landing a hard punch to my face, bruising me and shattering my nose. An instant headache grew, spreading from my broken nose and jaw. I saw stars momentarily, making me stumble and sway.

  I did my best to shake it off, to stand and fight, but I blinked, and suddenly the sword wasn’t in my hands any longer. It was in hers. The other me held it up, smiling widely, meeting my wounded, swollen stare with glee. Blood poured from my nose.

  “But I can kill you with it,” she finished, shoving the rose blade Alyssa had given me right into my abdomen. The metal went all the way through, cutting my inner organs easily, exiting in my back as easily as it entered.

  I fell backwards, stumbling. With the adrenaline pumping through me, I could’ve overlooked the facial injuries, but a sword in the belly was not so simple to ignore. Falling to my knees, I looked up at me, at the Daywalker I’d become. She was smug, happy, she thought she’d won.

  And, I realized as I began coughing up blood, maybe she had. I fell to the floor, on my side, wincing as I gripped the sword’s hilt. It sat against the skin of my stomach; she pushed it nearly all the way through me. I tried pulling it out, but my strength faded fast.

  I started to black out, but not before I saw the bright flash of light outside.

  When I closed my eyes, I knew I wouldn’t open them again.

  Chapter Thirty-Two – Raphael

  Across from me, Crixis smirked. It was his chosen facial expression, if the past was any indication. “You can handle me, can you?” he referred to what I told John and Kassandra. “When have you ever handled me?”

  Tapping my curved dagger’s hilt, I spoke, “I admit, I have not done a good job in the past. That changes now.” I lunged at him, swiping my dagger through the air. He blocked my first few blows, but eventually I distracted him with a feigned lower left, managing to impale his chest.

  If he had a heart, if it was the key to his death, it would’ve killed him. But throughout my journeys, I had already learned that Crixis was a cunning enemy, one who was not a greater Vampire alone. That might be what he began as, but it was not all he was today. From our encounters over the years, from what I saw him do, such as creating his own kin with nothing but his blood when a Zeny’s blood and full moon was required, I knew he was more. He had to be.

  Alas, the dagger to the heart did nothing but make him smile.

  “Reminds me of old times,” Crixis said, flashing a dazzling, perfect smile. Behind that deceivingly handsome exterior lied a creature worse than the Devil himself.

  The ruler of Hell was a king of souls, a master of balance, even if he hadn’t acted as such of late. A creature like Crixis? True evil, amorality and maliciousness. Sinful to the extreme. Wicked to the point where he could never be redeemed. How many hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, had died by his hands over his lifetime? How many families had he destroyed? Countless children would never see their parents again. The whole world flipped upside down, everyone feeling the repercussions of his actions, and more specifically, his action of killing and turning Kassandra.

  “Though,” he paused as he plucked the dagger out and wiped off his blood on his shirt, “I do remember you packing a bit more of a punch. Tell me, old friend, have you gotten soft?” He threw the dagger at me, but I stepped backwards, opening a rift through space, its blue light enveloping me and helping me disappear and then reappear beside him.

  I swiped a foot beneath his legs, tripping him as I said calmly, “We are not friends.”

  Crixis was so confident, he simply laid on the floor for a bit, holding a hand to his chest and acting hurt. “You wound me, Raphael. After everything we’ve been through together, I can’t believe you don’t consider me a friend. I’m the only one who knows your beginning,” he spoke with a sly grin, jumping to his feet and landing a hard foot on me, “and your downfall.”

  As we fought, I kept an eye locked on the fight between John, Kass, and Crixis’s perversion of Kass. They seemed to be doing all right, save for John getting himself caught in rubble.

  “Tell me,” Crixis said, laughing as he clearly enjoyed our fistfight, “did you enjoy setting that fire? Did you relive that moment when you found the journal in the study?” His thick chest rumbled. He liked to taunt, tirelessly.

  “My suspicions were true,” I whispered, fighting the memories that plagued my mind. “It was you.”

  “How many nights have you lied awake, praying to your God that he’d absolve you? How many nights have you asked forgiveness for what you did? For what you did to her?”

  With each question, I ached inside. How true they were, even if they were meant as jabs, meant to confuse and hurt me. And, as terrible as it was, I allowed him to get inside my head. I let his words hurt me more than his fists or any weapon ever could.

  Farther inside the entry room, the Vampiric Kassandra had her alive, innocent twin pinned down as John fired arrow after arrow.

  “If it weren’t for me,” Crixis continued, landing a side kick on my side before I could fade into a rift, “you never would’ve met her.” His features turned cruel as he added, “But you’d probably see that as a blessing, wouldn’t you? You self-righteous—” He punched me in the ribcage, and I heard a loud crack. “—high-and-mighty—” Another blow, this one breaking my right wrist. It would heal, but it would take time. “—devoted, faithful, God-loving piece of—” With each word, h
e hit me again and again.

  Before he could finish his hate-filled rant against me, I grabbed hold of his arm, stopping him from his assault. My hand glowed blue, and I tore through all physical barriers to reach inside Crixis, to feel his heart, to touch his soul. But what I felt…what I felt was nothing. There was no heart, no soul.

  I could not send him to the afterlife that he so deserved. He would not purify as Kirk did.

  With my hand still inside him, Crixis grinned. “Expecting to find something there? Sorry, Raphael, but I don’t have a soul to take.” He suddenly grabbed my head, digging his fingers in my scalp. “Let me show you just how late to the show you are, my friend.” And then he forced a series of visions into my brain.

  I could not stop them from invading my thoughts, dominating every ounce of self-preservation and fight I still had left in me. The truth was that I could keep going. A broken wrist, a few cracked ribs; physical pain was nothing to me. It was the mental anguish that got to me the most, and the visions that he was force-showing me were full of it.

  A dead village, murdered friends and family. A woman whose appearance was nothing short of snakelike. Armies falling at his feet. The most famous crucifixion in history. An entire species, wiped out save for the lone son whom always survived long enough to further his line just once more. A creature so old, so powerful that it could instill fear in every Demon. A deal that even the Devil would not make.

  During the visions, I fell to my knees, though Crixis kept his fingers on my head. Behind me, John laid frozen while the two Kassandras battled. One would win and one would lose. I was too busy gazing up at Crixis to see who had won.