Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  Just like that. Just. Like. That. It was gone.

  A small wave of depression hit me. I wanted to see it again and show it to Koath. Maybe he’d know what it was. The white wolf was too perfect to be just a wolf. It had to be something more.

  Part of me wished that it wasn’t something more, because if it was, then I’d most likely have to deal with it. And that wolf was too pretty to purify. Plus, it ran away. It didn’t attack. It couldn’t be that vicious.

  My attention was now undivided on Koath. Seeing I was now paying attention to him, he commenced our interrupted walk to my house. His footsteps were slow, meaning there was something else he wanted to talk about.

  What else could there be to…oh, no. The whole Gabriel slept in my bed thing.

  “Where were you today, after school?”

  His question caught me off guard. Was this his way of leading up to the Gabriel discussion? I shook the mental image of my bleeding finger out of my mind, replying, “I was with Claire. My, uh, locker kind of attacked me, so she took me to her house to get my finger stitched up.” I held up the finger to his face, letting him see that I was indeed telling the truth. “She acted like it was life or death. I couldn’t say no.”

  Koath studied it, examining it from all different reference points. “You managed to hurt yourself this bad on a school locker?” Even with the evidence, he was doubtful of my story. And I didn’t blame him. It was unbelievable.

  “Yeah,” I said matter-of-factly, “as the principal, you should think about getting some kid-friendly ones.”

  Laughing, he let my hand go. “And as the principal, I’ll be sure to put that right on top of my to-do list.”

  “Good,” I laughed along with him.

  “While you were gone, Gabriel and I had a very…”

  My laughter stopped. This was it. The air was about to be cleared. The elephant in the room was going to get discussed. The eight-hundred-pound gorilla was going to get talked about right now.

  “…lively talk.”

  Even though my mind knew we needed to have a discussion about this, I couldn’t force myself to say anything besides a small “Yeah?”

  “Yes.” He dug his hands in his pockets once more. For all his years and years of wisdom and maturity, Koath couldn’t have talks like this freely. People who didn’t know him like I did might think it’s a little awkward…and that’s because it was. Just not to him. It’s only awkward to the person who was on the other side of the chitchat.

  “It started out with me asking him why you both slept in the same bed, but it quickly,” Koath thought, “changed. Gabriel managed to turn the tables on me.”

  I’d never seen a grown man look so indifferent when admitting that he was bested by a boy who was less than half his age. This was not the direction I thought this conversation was going to go.

  “And he,” Koath swallowed and glimpsed at me, saying, “made some good points.”

  An angry sigh left my mouth. What did Gabriel say to Koath to make him act like this? Not once in all my life had he acted so regretful.

  He placed a wrinkled hand on my shoulder, stopping us both in our tracks. Koath’s wise eyes bore into me, letting me know that he was conflicted about something deep down. But what was it? “You don’t hate me for leaving you, do you?”

  “What?” I yelled, my voice tearing through the stillness of the night. I shrugged his hand off my shoulder, saying, “No, of course not. Did Gabriel say I did? I’m going to kill him.”

  “He didn’t say that exactly,” he clarified. “But it was a direct Council order. I couldn’t disobey. For what it’s worth now, I’m sorry I left you when you needed me most.”

  “Koath,” I interrupted, trying to snap some sense back into him. Which was strange, because usually, he was the one filled with the most sense. “I understand. And I don’t hate you for it. Believe it or not, I do know that there are more important things in the world than me,” I attempted to bring some humor in.

  “Not to me,” his rough voice said lightly, “and not to any of us. We’re all family, Kass. We’re all we’ve got. There’s nothing that can change that. I should have come back, at least until I knew you were going to be okay.”

  “It’s fine,” I reassured him, though I knew shortly that it was a pointless endeavor. I didn’t particularly want to relive that part of my life anyway.

  “No, it’s not fine,” he easily argued with me, “I should have pulled some strings. I should have been at your side while you were in a coma.”

  I silently gasped at Koath, who seemed to be on the verge of tears. What was Gabriel’s problem? I certainly needed to have a few words with him about this.

  “Michael and Gabriel took great care of me,” I added, “so it’s not like I was alone. And the Council doesn’t order things just because. I’m sure they had a very important reason for you to come back.”

  “But they knew I had you to take care of. The Council knew I had other responsibilities.” Koath’s shoulders rose and fell with an irritated breath. “And yet they still made me leave you behind. The only thing that turned out well was that Michael agreed to take you in. And that, in itself, was surprising because he already had his hands more than full with Gabriel.” He was practically shouting, revealing that he was deeply troubled by what we discussed.

  “It all worked out, though, right? I mean, you’re here now, so it’s all good.”

  “If the last principal and secretary didn’t get brutally murdered by a supernatural force, I wouldn’t be here,” Koath told me gently, calming somewhat. So far, this conversation sucked more than I thought it would. “Add onto that tragedy the fact I had to practically beg on my hands and knees to be positioned here.”

  I bit the bullet and drew him in for a hug. Hugs were usually dumb, stupid, worthless things, but on some occasions, they were vital, crucial, meaningful things. I felt his body relax, and soon he hugged me back.

  “All things considered,” I spoke into the hug, squeezing him with all my might, “I’m glad you’re here.”

  He chuckled softly, agreeing, “Me too.”

  Our hug ended, and I stared at him square in the eye. “And from now on, don’t listen to anything Gabriel says, because ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s not true.”

  Our walk in the cemetery was over. There were no more creepy headstones and no more eerie sightings of the wolf. The first part I was happy about, but I wished the second wasn’t true. That wolf, I needed to see it again.

  Koath and I were now walking on the sidewalk that was on my street. My house was still a good distance, but that didn’t matter to me. It was a rare occasion when I had Koath all to myself with no Max or Gabriel around.

  I watched a huge moth fly straight into a streetlamp and get zapped by the heat. Why were bugs always attracted to light? It sucked for them, because usually when they reached the light, be it a bug zapper or a television screen, they died. The zapper would do its job and the person watching the TV would quickly and gently kill it, being extra careful to not hurt their TV.

  “Let’s see it,” Koath smiled and glanced at me.

  “See what?” I asked, truthfully not knowing what he meant by that.

  “The necklace,” he offered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I see the chain around your neck. Let’s see this infamous piece of jewelry that cost Michael over a thousand dollars.”

  “Oh,” I breathed, suddenly realizing what he was talking about. The necklace Gabriel bought me over three years ago using Michael’s stolen card. The one he recently gave me, on his own birthday to boot. I reached for the costly necklace and surfaced it, glinting it in the dim street light.

  I forgot that I put it on this morning. It was a habit; I did it so much that when I thought about it, I didn’t even remember doing it.

  The necklace the other Gabriel gave to me sat at the bottom of my underwear drawer. Wings instead of a cross and heart. Different, yet the thought behind it was the same.
It was my way of focusing on the differences between that Gabriel and mine.

  There was no way my Gabriel was the Devil, anyway.

  “That…” Koath softly touched the silver and gold cross and heart. Diamonds covered the face, which was definitely why it was so expensive. “…is beautiful.”

  A warm smile erupted on my face. One that I could not stop from forming. “I know.”

  “Why do you hide it under your shirt?” Koath posed the question like he was a reporter, trying to find out every, single detail about something that, in the end, didn’t matter.

  “Um…” I slid the pricey diamond-studded necklace back into its rightful place. “Because I don’t feel like making up a story when people ask me where I got it from.” Truth be told, that was a fear of mine. I hated talking to people, especially high school teenagers. “How am I going to explain how I got such a nice necklace?”

  Koath considered my worries thoroughly as we continued to meander to my house. “Who’s to say you can’t tell the truth?”

  “Are you kidding?” I was incredulous.

  “Now, don’t get me wrong,” he said, holding two hands in the air, as if saying slow down, before continuing, “I’m not saying the whole truth. Just some of it.”

  “It’s a gift? That’s what you want me to say?”

  He nodded vigorously. “Yes.”

  “People are going to start thinking I have a rich, eighty-year old boyfriend.” I was serious as I was saying it, but soon after I broke into a fit of laughter. Koath joined in, reminding me of old times. Sure, I was in a lot more danger now than I was then, but the basics were all here: me and Koath. Koath and I. Us, together. An unbeatable team.

  As his laughter quieted, he said, “He cares for you, you know.”

  I flipped my head to him quickly, momentarily hitting a mental block. “Who? My eighty-year old boyfriend?”

  Koath chuckled. “No, Gabriel.”

  A soft sigh escaped me as I replied, “I know.”

  “I don’t know if you do,” he said quickly, “I thought I knew, but after our conversation today, I realized just how much he does care for you. He’s very protective of you, even from

  me—”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I cut in as we rounded my driveway. “Because you’re you. You’re Koath. Why would he—”

  “Gabriel doesn’t want you to get hurt. His intentions are pure, as they always are with you. I know,” Koath laughed to himself, “sometimes it may not seem that way, but it is. Gabriel’s growing into a good man.” He reached for the front door, stopping shortly.

  The door swung open, revealing an ecstatic Gabriel. He was practically jumping up and down when he said, “Kass, Michael made me pizza rolls. A whole bag. Technically, he made some for you too, but since you weren’t here, I ate them.” His broad shoulders shrugged. “I didn’t want to waste the deliciousness.”

  I took a single step into my house before turning back to Koath, saying, “Man? More like boy.”

  Koath laughed at Gabriel’s quizzical, one-eyebrow-up expression. “I’ll see you both tomorrow, bright and early.”

  We said our goodbyes to him. Gabriel hurried and shut the door, facing me with an accusatory look. “What were you two talking about?”

  Smirking, I walked into the kitchen and went for the graham crackers. I mischievously tossed one his way, watching him catch it with ease. As I put one in my mouth, I said, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Uh-huh,” he nodded with his words, “yes, I would, that’s kind of why I asked.” Gabriel acted like the bad cop, getting closer to me when I finished the first round of graham crackers and opened the next. His eyebrow lifted. “Was it about me?”

  “Speaking of you,” I expertly caught a giant crumb before it hit the ground, “what’s the matter with you? Why would you yell at Koath?”

  “So you were talking about me.”

  “Yeah, so what?”

  “What’d he tell you?”

  I smashed the empty box and threw it in the garbage, saying, “Everything.”

  Chapter Ten – Kass

  A field of green grass surrounded me, occasionally interrupted by a giant, protruding tree every now and then. This place…

  I breathed in the warm, fresh air.

  …was stunningly simple, and yet it was filled with more beauty than I’d ever seen. The sun was blindingly bright as it heated up the field, making everything that much greener. The temperature was balmy and the wind was gentle; it was a perfect day here, wherever here was.

  A loud scream pierced the stillness of the area, sending chills up my spine and raising the hair on my arms. Anticipation swept over me like a storm at sea. The scream wasn’t a normal one. It sounded like a gurgled, blood-curdled scream of last hope.

  I was slow to turn around, fearing the worst and hoping for the best. I was not expecting to see a woman tied to a cross, said woman being burned alive. I gasped and made my way closer, inching at a snail’s pace.

  This woman seemed so familiar. I knew I’d seen her before…but where? She was beautiful, with her pale complexion and noble face. Her mouth opened for either another scream or a groan, but nothing came out. Her Daywalker teeth became visible as her flesh began to sag.

  Prickly grass was being crushed behind me.

  I turned to face who, I guessed, was the culprit of this whole mess.

  There stood, less than five feet away from me, in a tight and aristocratic ruffled shirt and leather pants, with long, black hair strung into a loose ponytail, Crixis. His green eyes were the only unchanged thing. They were bright, vivid, and unapologetically wicked.

  He shook his head, crossing his arms and saying, “My dear, I see life hasn’t treated you well since my departure.”

  “Please,” the woman was able to gasp, “help me…”

  A short, curt laugh erupted from his lungs. “Help you? Tell me, why would I help you when I’ve already done so much for you?”

  “Bastard…” Her red lips dribbled blood onto the fire, fueling it.

  Crixis cocked his head, looking directly into the fire. But at what specifically he was staring at, I had no clue. Flashing beside the flames, he used his inhuman speed to reach a hand inside the fire and pull out what he had his eyes fixed on.

  A diary.

  “Interesting,” he mumbled to himself. “I do say, I am intrigued by your…protégé. We will most definitely have to meet in the near future. Perhaps discuss some sort of agreement, because, honestly,” his handsome face looked up to the bones and muscle tissue that remained on the cross, “I was unaware that fire would do this much damage.”

  Crixis sighed and reached to the exposed facial tissue, caressing it gently. “Such a shame…once upon a time, you were a very beautiful woman. Now you are nothing except innards and bones.”

  The skin-free woman bared her teeth. Crixis laughed and began ambling away, clutching the diary as he seemed as uncaring as ever. Having a thought, he gazed back, saying, “The Vampire’s body is a miraculous thing. I wonder if you will still feel all the pain after he’s through with you.”

  I jerked back to reality, comprehending the fact that I stood in the shower and gripped a bar of soap so hard there were finger marks in it.

  Rubbing my forehead and trying to make sense of the vision I just had, I shut off the water and stepped out. In seconds a fluffy, white towel was around me and I was inches away from wiping the hot steam off the bathroom mirror when a déjà vu moment hit me.

  It was just like this. I got out of the shower, heard my name and slipped on the floor. I saw two bloodied feet and felt evil I had never knowingly experienced before. Later I found out that man was John.

  In that case I put together the puzzle, just not quick enough.

  After throwing some shorts and a tank top on, I wandered downstairs, looking for more food. I knew all those graham crackers weren’t going to be enough. Was this how it was going to go from now on, until my punishment was over? If so,
it sucked. How was I supposed to survive on snack foods alone? I needed dinner like a fish needed water.

  Laziness overcame me, so I grabbed a water bottle and sat at the kitchen table. I took a swig as Michael sat across from me. His finger pushed up his glasses. “How was your day?” His tone was nice and sincere, a complete switch from this morning.

  Shrugging, I said, “It was okay. Yours?”

  Michael sighed. “Same. Listen, I want to apologize for snapping at you this morning.”

  “It’s fine.” Truthfully, I had forgotten all about it, until now. Today was a long day.

  “I had no reason to get angry with you,” he continued apologizing, “after all, they are your parents and you do have a right to know. It’s just…”

  “Just what?” I prodded, hoping he would give a little more information.

  “You’re not allowed to know.” Michael ran a skinny hand through his dark hair that, honestly, needed a trimming.

  I blinked, not understanding. “Not allowed to know?” I echoed. “Says who?”

  “The bloody Council says so,” he answered quickly, holding my gaze. He slid the newspaper to me. “I doubt you’ve read it, but…”

  “The white wolf,” I said too quickly, remembering Steven talking about it when he was stitching up my finger.

  “Oh,” Michael looked stunned somewhat, “then you have read it?”

  I thought about it. “Not exactly.”

  “Then how?”

  “I’ve seen it.”

  Michael stared at me, unblinking and completely incredulous. “What?”

  “I saw the white wolf that everyone’s been making such a big deal about,” I mumbled softly, breaking eye contact and fearing that he’d know I was over Claire’s house today getting stitched up by a shirtless Steven who told me all about the beast.

  Okay, not all about it. He merely informed me of its presence.

  “When?” he wanted to know. “How? Was it hostile or predatory in its movements? Why haven’t you bloody told anyone?”

  “Whoa,” I said as I held up two hands, “calm down. I just saw it when Koath walked me home. I was the only one who saw it and, from what I could see, it was a normal, slightly bigger than average, white wolf.”