Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  “What,” I spoke, “have you done? What are you?” I knew he wouldn’t answer, yet I found myself asking anyway, hoping, praying that he would reveal what type of being God’s light couldn’t purify.

  Whatever it was, it had to be something horrific…and beyond ancient.

  “What I am,” Crixis spoke deliberately, “is pretty pissed off. And what I’ve done? The answer to that is the same as it’s always been.” He leaned down to me, whispering in my ear, “What I had to.” His gaze moved to his queen. “Oh, look who lost.” His fingers compelled my head to turn, requiring me to finally see which Kassandra had won.

  His queen stabbed the Kassandra we were trying to help.

  “No,” I whispered, the disbelief written both across my face and in my voice. I dared not believe my eyes. We could not have gotten this far only to lose. I refused to believe it. “You have not yet won,” I spoke, pushing his hands off my scalp and falling downwards, into the floor, where a blue rift appeared. I stepped out of the same rift that opened behind Crixis. My unbroken hand sparked a bright blue, and as I brought it to him, faster than he could avoid it, a blindingly bright light appeared outside, shining through the windows. It was a good enough distraction, temporarily startling Crixis.

  This was not the end. Not for me, not for Kassandra, not for this world.

  I did not let the light blind me. Closing my eyes, I prayed that my faith would be answered.

  Instead of bringing it to his chest, to his heart, I brought it to his head, where his mind and memories were. If I could not purify his soul, perhaps I could do the next best thing: purify his memories, which would make him, as an enemy, not nearly as effective.

  I prayed it would work, and that somehow, someway, Kassandra and John would be all right.

  Chapter Thirty-Three – The Prince

  Seeing all the mindless lesser Vampires, Nightwalkers, we used to call them, gathering in the streets as if they owned the place hit me like a wall of bricks. There shouldn’t be that many on Earth. This wasn’t how the middle world was supposed to be.

  There was supposed to be a balance. That’s all this world was, after all: a balancing act between life and death. I felt compelled to help keep the balance; it was what I was tasked to do once my first self was sent to Hell for my pride. I let it go when Crixis stole Kass from me. I ran and hid in my ethereal darkness. I was a coward.

  But that changed today, I thought, deciding to end the reign of darkness on Earth. I was not a coward; running was not in my nature. Losing Kass made me feel things I never felt before; at least not in this lifetime. It was only thanks to a Kass from another world that I knew I had done wrong by neglecting Earth. I shouldn’t have let it go this far.

  We neared our destination, where Crixis and the Demonic version of my Kass lived, and my legs slowed to a halt. The lesser Vampires around us did not attack. They were unlike the group that attacked the church; they knew who their master was. Or perhaps the change was in me, that I now knew my place was with order and not chaos.

  Kass went along for a few steps, eventually seeing that I was not with them, that I had stopped. “What are you doing?”

  I sighed as I continued to study the Demons around us, and it took me a while to say, “It’s time to do some balancing.” I turned my gaze upon her, upon the Kass I spent the night with, upon the girl I wanted to make my own, somehow force her to stay. But I knew I couldn’t. How terribly badly did I want to, but along with balancing this place, I knew now that this world should only have one Kass, despite my personal feelings for her. “Go on ahead. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Yes, every world needed its own Kass. I just hoped that we weren’t marching her to her death by sending her back to her world.

  She looked as if she wished to argue with me, but Kass kept quiet, giving me a tiny nod before running back to John and Raphael, glowing sword in her hand. I watched her go, gaze falling to her backside.

  She always did have the perfect butt.

  I waited until they entered the building, feeling Crixis’s presence behind the doors. But he would have to wait.

  As I scanned the crowd of lesser Vampires, I felt the darkness eating away at my light skin, peeling it back until it was a smoky grey, my size growing, nails sharpening. Horns grew on my head, and I exhaled a dark maroon fire, my eyes radiating the same cloudy redness.

  I dove down, deep within myself. My energy mingled with that of the Earth’s, and for a moment, the world froze. With an exhale, I turned my hand, resetting the world’s axis, making it turn once more, stopping it only when the sun stood high in the sky.

  Around me, the lesser Vampires burst into oranges flames, but their deaths were not enough. I took control of their deaths, the fires enveloping their bodies transforming into the color of blood, the tallest flames a dark black. Their souls were mine, and my fires took them quicker than their natural abhorrence to the sun did.

  Each lesser Vampire vanished. The entire world lit with a blinding flash as it was saved from such zombie-like creatures. Every creature was vanquished. Crixis thought his power was unmatched, but mine was eternal.

  The sun did not hurt me. It did not bother me, either. In fact, it felt good. It warmed my grey skin, and I was taken for a moment in the simple bliss of the tranquil, easy warmth of the sun.

  The sound of doors opening caught my attention, and I turned my horned head to view Crixis stumbling out, beaten and bloodied. He had his hands in his hair, muttering incomprehensible things. When he saw me, he finally caught his voice, language returning to him, “Where am I? Who…” He fell to his knees on the steps, trembling as I walked to him.

  The creature couldn’t remember anything, it seemed. How neat. I should’ve thought of that.

  I rose a hand, lifting the man up in the air. Two dark, corporeal hands emerged from nowhere, gripping both his wrists and holding him at bay. “Your spirit is older than mine, but you are nothing compared to me. I may not be able to kill you, but I can open the door to Purgatory, where your soul will be tortured until you’re ready to return to this world, and maybe by then, I’ll have found a way to vanquish you for good.”

  Behind the whimpering, sniveling Demon opened a portal. Colors of all hues and luminosities formed the ghostly door, crackling in veins and splashes. The two giant, smoky arms threw him in, a wave of heat blasting me before the portal closed.

  I went to the front door, pleased with myself, when I felt something sharp in my gut. As I opened the door, I saw things I never wanted to see. Raphael was unconscious, his hands still sparking a light blue, probably from making Crixis a blank slate. John laid, frozen, his heart torn out. But the sight that made me stop in my tracks was Kass on the floor, a sword through her gut.

  My hands clenched into fists as the Kass I used to call my love flashed before me, grinning ear to ear with blood soaking her clothes and her face. Her eyes were lightened, her teeth that of a greater Vampire.

  “Gabriel,” she said, recognizing me though I still appeared as the Prince of Darkness. “How’ve you been? I’ve been having a great time, killing myself. I never knew I was so pathetic.”

  I couldn’t have failed Kass again. I refused to believe it.

  “You know,” she said, drawing a finger down my bare, grey chest, “I kind of like this new you. Who would’ve thought that you had this power in you?” She traced my abdomen muscles, and despite everything, a tiny part of me enjoyed it. “Maybe I should’ve come back to you after Crixis turned me. We would’ve made a fantastic team.”

  As she went on and on, trying to perhaps seduce me to her side, I couldn’t force myself to take her soul, even if it did belong in Hell. But I had to force myself to look at the Kass lying on the ground, at the sword through her stomach, pushed all the way through. Sunlight streamed in the room, and I was slow to grab the neck of the girl I once loved with all my heart.

  “The time for us has passed,” I whispered, squeezing her small neck. I lifted my other hand, read
ying myself to end her for once and for all, but a movement caught my eye.

  It was Kass.

  She wasn’t dead.

  I hesitated.

  Chapter Thirty-Four – Kass

  I thought I wouldn’t open my eyes again. I thought, with my nose shattered and my rose blade through my gut, I was done for. But I wasn’t. My eyes opened. My arms and legs still worked. I felt like passing out, definitely, and my brain felt like it was going to explode, but I was alive.

  For now, anyways.

  I struggled to my knees, gripping the sword’s hilt as I slowly pulled it out of me. The silver of the blade was coated in my blood, the feeling of metal in my body lingering even after it was fully out. Groaning, I glanced to see that Gabriel had finally decided to join us. He was in his Devil guise, with his hand around the evil Kass’s throat, but when he saw me stand, he wavered.

  It felt like my intestines were going to fall out of me, even though the sword’s wound was merely a slit. I bled fast though, and I put pressure on the injury with one hand, holding the sword in the other as I walked behind the Vampiric me.

  Blood spread between my teeth, a thin trail of it oozing my mouth as I spoke, “You’re not very good at stabbing people, are you? Luckily, I’ve had a bit more practice than you.” She couldn’t turn and look at me, for Gabriel hadn’t released his hold on her neck, but that didn’t matter.

  I didn’t want to look into my Demonic eyes as I did what I had to.

  After lifting the sword, I plunged it into her back expertly, knowing precisely where her heart lied. I had years and years of practice, after all. Just like I did with John.

  She started to laugh, most likely to say something about how a sword couldn’t kill her, but this wasn’t just a sword. It was not only metal. It was imbued with magic, thanks to Alyssa, and the moment it pierced her skin, the blue hue of it intensified tenfold. Sparks danced across her skin, swallowing her in fire. How very similar it was to how Raphael had purified Kirk.

  The Vampire me let out a loud scream, and Gabriel released her, stepping back as the blue ate her, leaving nothing but the sword, letting it clang on the floor.

  Once she was gone, I swayed, feeling faint. “At least we’ve cleared the way, right?” I fell into Gabriel, though he looked more Devil than man. His strong arms steadied me, the warmth from his body flooding into mine. “That wasn’t so bad.”

  A clawed finger tilted my head, and soon we were kissing. The intense, cold grip of death faded, and I no longer felt any pain. It was like the sword was never impaled in me, like my nose never met an iron blow from a supernaturally strong Daywalker.

  As our lips parted and I saw that he healed me, I stood on my own, picking up the magical rose blade. I wondered if Crixis had tortured me before he turned me, or even after, surely I wouldn’t be so evil simply because I became a Demon…right? Sure, we were taught from birth that all Demons were Hellspawn, that the world needed to be rid of them and that we were the keys to doing so. Across the globe, there were hundreds or maybe even thousands of Purifiers doing the exact same thing I did.

  Then again, none of them seemed to have any impact once I died.

  But recently, I had started to wonder if all Demons truly were bad. Yes, John went psycho after Osiris’s light went into him, but he didn’t show any signs of doing so before that. He was a little weird, a little too into me for his own good, but I couldn’t blame him for that, I supposed. He didn’t seem downright evil, and neither did his brother. Technically, in the Council’s eyes, I should’ve contacted them, told them about the pair of brothers, that the Daywalkers couldn’t be purified by our normal means, and I was sure they would’ve sent an Agent who dealt with such things for a living. And what did that make Alyssa to them? What did that make Witches?

  Earth should be Demon-free…but I was starting to think that maybe it depended on the Demon itself. This world’s John was all right, and Raphael, whatever had happened to him, bothered me less than my Raphael did. Condemning all Demons because a lot of them were bad was not a very faithful, moral thing to do, was it?

  Gabriel turned his horned head to Raphael. “I’ll get him, you help John.”

  I gave a nod, moving to where John lied, immobile. His heart sat a foot away from his body, still beating with whatever power kept Daywalkers alive, even with a pierced or torn-out heart. Grimacing at what I was about to do, I picked up his heart and put it inside his chest, past his broken ribs and lungs. It was like his body waited for its return, for muscles and veins snapped back into place. I was quick to remove my hand from his chest, not relishing the feeling of bodily organs and blood around my hand.

  As John gasped, coming back to life, I gagged somewhat, standing and muttering, “That is by far the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done.”

  “Does that include spending the night with the Devil?” John asked bitterly throughout a coughing fit, holding a hand to his chest as he struggled to stand, gripping the wall behind him for support.

  I shot him a glare. “I’ll take that heart right back out if that’s how you’re going to act.”

  Catching his breath, he uttered, “Sorry.”

  Gabriel was beside me in an instant, once more in the older, sadder, handsomer form that I often found myself blushing under, like some stupid giddy school girl. Then again, he was a lot less sad than he was when I first saw him in his world. Raphael came, trudging along, holding his head like it was about to explode. The man had never looked this worse for wear.

  “That,” Raphael spoke, “took a lot more out of me than I thought it would.” He managed to glance around. “What happened to Crixis?”

  Gabriel frowned. “He is out of this world for now, but he’ll return in time. Whatever’s inside him, it clamors for chaos on this world.” He turned smug, an action I never would’ve guessed him to take when I first met him, “You’re lucky I was here, otherwise I doubt you would’ve had the resolve to be in the same room as him, let alone fight him.”

  “Yeah,” John spoke, drawing out the word, “we owe you so much.”

  “Shut it and get along,” I told both of them, turning to Gabriel. “Heal him so we can get on with this.” I figured the least I could do was make sure John didn’t have a giant, gaping wound in his chest as we finished this mission. I doubted Gabriel would’ve helped him without my insistence.

  Begrudgingly, Gabriel waved a hand, mending the hole in John’s chest and fixing his broken ribs. John muttered his thanks, and I studied the room, amazed at how twenty years and one big, wall-breaking fight could turn a government building into nothing but dust and rubble. I spotted the stairs beside the elevator.

  “There. Let’s go.” I took the lead, rose blade in hand as I went down the flight of stairs. Just as Alyssa said, the rooms were offices-turned-jail-cells. I recalled the blueprint she showed us, remembering it in perfect detail, knowing exactly where to turn. Within a minute, we came upon a locked door. “Here goes nothing,” I said, kicking down the door, splintering the wood.

  As we entered the room, it was nothing but darkness. Next to me, Gabriel waved a hand, a fire floating in his palm. The flames were the color of blood, and he sent it upward to the ceiling, effectively lighting the room.

  “Why is it that every bad guy has to have a trophy room?” I asked, taking in the sight of all the artifacts, both magical and mundane. Masks hung on the wall, a collage of cheap, Halloween masks with expensive Venetian ones. They were pretty, sure, but I wasn’t obsessed with them like the other me was.

  Pretty. That’s all they were to me.

  “Spread out,” I said, setting the rose blade on a nearby table filled with odds and ends, gold and silver trinkets galore. Everyone knew what to search for; though they didn’t know precisely what it looked like, they knew enough.

  I was so close to my world I could taste it.

  Chapter Thirty-Five – The Prince

  We searched the room. Some of us looked with more gusto, picking through the items
as fast as possible. I wasn’t looking as fast as I should have been, nor was I being as thorough. It was simple, really. I didn’t want her to go.

  Was it surprising that I wanted her to stay? Was it truly that shocking that I wanted her for myself? I was the Prince of Darkness, the Devil, the first of the Fallen. I deserved to have one thing all to myself, didn’t I?

  I was all those things, yes, but before that, in this life, I was Gabriel. Being with her made me feel like Gabriel again, emotions I’d never dreamt of having again swam through me with ease. It was all because of her. I was whole.

  And perhaps it was fate that I would be the one to find the yellow-stoned staff while everyone was busy in their own corners of the room. Perhaps it was destiny that I, half man and half Devil, would find it. I reached for it, holding the timeless wood, drawing my finger down its stone. It was such a strange thing, yet it was the key to opening the door that would lead Kass back to her world.

  And out of mine.

  Seeing what had become of the Kass I’d failed was a hard blow, worse than any attack or injury. It reminded me of how truly good this one was, how fortunate I was to have found her, to have felt her presence, even in Hell. And last night, how wonderful it was. In reality, I wanted nothing more than to do that every night, to spend every day with her, to smile and laugh with her. I couldn’t do that if she went back to her world. I’d subject myself to a life without her.

  That was something I couldn’t imagine.

  I knew what I wanted to do, what the old soul in me wanted, but maybe it was because of her, because of what she made me feel, that I knew what I had to do. It was what Gabriel would do.

  I was Gabriel.

  With a long, explosive sigh, I turned to face the rest of them, saying, “I found it.”

  John and Raphael took their time with halting and coming to me, but Kass was on me in an instant, bouncing for joy, clapping her hands and murmuring, “I can’t believe we found it so soon.”