Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  I spoke, “I can tell you right now, I don’t plan on getting married anytime soon.” Me and marriage would never work out anyways, due to my soon-to-be death.

  “Well, that’s how it usually goes,” she muttered. “That’s how it went for my sister. Half-sister. She didn’t plan on marrying Steven. But in the end, she did.”

  “What happened to her, if you don’t mind me asking?” I asked, knowing full well that Claire might have another episode.

  “She…died. Just like everyone else in my family. Just like I will, too,” she said the words with resignation, letting me know that she’d pondered this for quite some time now.

  “Claire,” I gently touched her arm, “nothing’s going to happen to you. You have me now. I’m here for you, though if you ever need anything built, do not come to me.”

  A gentle laugh came from her lips as she opened the physics book. “Thanks, Kass, but what could you do to stop fate? If it were as easy as that, I would have stopped my parents from going out that night. There’s nothing any of us can do. Besides, people in my family have a habit of dying…in very extraordinary ways.”

  Extraordinary ways?

  That didn’t sound good.

  If two people were ever meant for one another, Claire and Max would be the two. They were in love with each other, even though they hadn’t even gone out on a date yet. Not that I could judge. I liked John, even though we never went out on an actual date.

  But John and I were nothing compared to those two. For the first ten minutes of lunch, I sat there and ate, watching and listening to them exchange horror stories about science projects gone wrong. How nerdy Max was for conducting science experiments on his own when he wasn’t purifying. Total dork.

  “Kass,” Claire paused hers and Max’s conversation, “I wanted to tell you in physics that I love your necklace.” Max’s beady eyes followed hers, taking in the pricey piece of jewelry.

  Whoa. A compliment from Claire? I was stunned. A surprised “Thanks” was all I could say.

  Her blue eyes squinted at the diamond-studded cross and heart on my chest, making me a bit uncomfortable. “That looks expensive. Where’d you get it from?”

  I almost choked on my sandwich.

  I knew it. I just knew someone was going to ask me that question. Yeah, it was Claire, so I didn’t mind as much as I would have if it was a total stranger, but still. What was I going to say? Was I really going through with the it’s a gift tagline?

  Rich, eighty-year-old boyfriend here I come.

  “It was a gift,” Gabriel answered for me.

  “Really?” Claire was taken aback. She clearly knew how much this baby was worth. “Who would give a gift like that?”

  Sighing, I scratched my head and said, “Get ready for it.” I knew what was coming, but they didn’t, so I figured I’d give them a warning. Gabriel was strange to some people.

  “The one, the only,” he played the imaginary drum on the cafeteria table, “me.” Gabriel did his signature one eyebrow up expression to me as he burst into laughter.

  “Wait,” Claire cut in, commanding him to stop laughing. “You bought that for Kass?”

  “That’s right.” Gabriel bobbed his head like he was listening to a head-banger song.

  “Are you two—” She motioned to both of us. “—dating?”

  I opened my mouth to react, but Gabriel said first, “Are you and Max dating?”

  Max’s astonished “Huh?” came out the exact same time as Claire’s speedy “What?”

  Gabriel nodded once and shot a superior look at me. “Yep. That’s what I thought. Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think you should date.” He smirked at their dubious expression.

  Claire and Max held their hands up, covering their mouths, and spoke quietly so Gabriel and I were left out in the cold. What jerks. I could only guess that they talked about us.

  “Now look what you did.” I directed at Gabriel, “Are you happy?”

  “Max and I think you two should date,” Claire said with a million-dollar smile on her face. It was good to see that she wasn’t acting all sad and depressed.

  “We’re all in agreement,” Gabriel said louder than he should have. “You and Max will date and so will Kass and me.” Three pairs of blank eyes glared at him. “It’ll be great. We can go on double dates, kind of like we are right now. Don’t get me wrong, the cafeteria’s no place for a date, but it’s a start. Am I right?”

  The bell rang, cutting off my chance to fend the blonde boy off.

  “Come on,” Raphael taunted, “was that all you got? I know you can do better than that, Kass.” He lifted his bandage-wrapped knuckles in the air, basically commanding me to get up and fight him some more.

  And after battling with him for thirty minutes straight, I wondered how much longer I could pull this off. Max and Gabriel were fighting each other, so they weren’t getting beat up as much as me. Raphael was good. Too good.

  So good that I had bruises on my bruises.

  Groaning, I propped myself up using my shaking and abused arms. This was ridiculous. Ridiculous and tiring to the point of death. I was out of breath, muscles sore, and my legs were unsteady. A great combination when fighting Raphael.

  “Raphael,” I managed to breath out, “I can’t.”

  “Yes,” he encouraged me. “Yes, you can. If it helps, imagine I am someone else. Someone, or something, you want to attack like there is no tomorrow.”

  “All right.” I moaned as I stood, arching my back and cracking it several times. Of course, I knew what he was saying, and I also knew who he meant. Crixis. I wanted to kick his Demon butt like no other.

  What I needed was sleep that wasn’t interrupted by a bloody awakening.

  A slow breath escaped my mouth as I lifted my own bandaged fists to fighting position. For some reason, it was easy to swap out Raphael and Crixis. They both had almost the exact same eyes.

  Normal eyes, I should say, since Crixis’s Daywalker eyes were red.

  I threw a punch, which he effortlessly caught and spun back to me. I stumbled back, almost falling on the ground, like I had for the last half hour. Shaking off the discomfort that erupted when his fist made contact with my shoulder, I spun a roundhouse kick and landed it hard on his chest.

  That’s more like it.

  Raphael fell back, momentarily stunned. I made a move to stomp on him, but he dodged it by rolling swiftly onto his feet. He wiped his mouth using a bandaged hand, looking at me all the while.

  I remembered the permanent evil glare Crixis had. The way his shoulders rose and fell as he enjoyed the thrill of the fight. The way he almost killed me three years ago. The way he was intent on destroying my life before finally destroying me. The malicious half grin glued to his face every time he spoke.

  All those things were ripe in my mind. And that made me hate him even more. Crixis deserved purification.

  What made Crixis so different from all the other greater Demons the Council purified? Crixis was only a Daywalker, so there was no reason to not have purified him by now. If I were part of the Council, I would be ashamed with myself.

  Then again, he had red eyes. I’d never seen another Daywalker with red eyes.

  That begged the question: who was the normal Daywalker, Crixis or Rain and John?

  Getting caught in the moment, and fully drowning myself in the illusion that Raphael was Crixis, I showed my teeth and started to run to him.

  I was having no problems with that, until I reached within a foot’s distance from him. A sharp pain emitted from the center of my forehead. A muffled sound reverberated through my ears. It sounded like talking.

  Or singing.

  Images of blood flashed in my mind. There was so much of it. I couldn’t even describe what I saw. Puddles and puddles of blood.

  Feeling abnormally nauseous and remembering last night’s fiasco, I shook my head and tried to get the mental pictures of blood out of there. Luckily, they followed orders and left. Unluckily
, images of Crixis appeared. All different kinds.

  One of him from thousands of years ago, when he was under command of the terrible, snake-like woman who used him for everything. One of him being crucified. One of him as a gladiator. One of him as an aristocratic man.

  The mind-flash didn’t stop there. It kept going.

  Crixis killing the Shifter’s family, him meeting me in the cemetery and telling me why he wants me dead, and him at the football game, where we found out Claire’s father was dead. In the majority of the images, he was covered in blood. If he could, he would probably bath in the stuff. What a demented sicko.

  Crixis had done countless unspeakable things, made my life awful. I truly hated him unlike anybody, anything before him.

  A low, deep hum banged through my mind’s eye, making me fall to the ground. That tune. Why did this song seem so important? It was only a song. It had no meaning to me. None that I could recall.

  To think all that happened in just a few seconds. And it wasn’t over yet, either.

  All the words he’d ever spoken to me came rushing back, colliding with each other and fighting for my attention. They were spoken so fast I couldn’t make out any of them.

  I closed my eyes, blocking out Raphael, who fell on his knees and asked what was wrong with me. Wrong, with me? Those were two words you never heard together. Because nothing’s ever wrong with me. Well, beside the fact that I was having a vision without really having a vision.

  I strained my mind, aiming to slow down the words and make them understandable. My head felt like it was going to explode. The pain kept adding up as the words slowed to a recognizable rate.

  Two words stood out more than the rest. Remember, don’t.

  That was weird. Out of all the times I talked to Crixis, he’d never said those words. Together, at least. What did those words even mean? What was I supposed to remember not to do?

  Two strong hands clutched my shoulder, shaking me forcefully. I gradually opened my eyes, finding that Raphael was the owner of the hands. Gabriel and Max knelt behind him, looking equally, if not more, worried.

  “Kass,” Gabriel was the first to speak, “are you okay?”

  I opened my mouth to say that I was fine, but nothing came out. To avoid even more worry, I quickly closed my mouth and nodded.

  “You’re bleeding,” Raphael whispered.

  Realizing he was staring at my nose, I automatically wiped the back of my hand on it. Instantly I felt the gooey substance that seeped from my nostrils. What was going on with me and blood lately?

  “It’s nothing,” I assured them all as I unsteadily stood up. My knees wanted to buckle, but I wouldn’t let them. I made them stable, continuing, “I’m fine. Really.” Why did it seem that lately all I’d been saying was I’m fine? I was so sick of those stupid words. I never wanted to hear or say them again.

  Raphael glimpsed to Max. “Max, you are with me. Kassandra, go sit down and relax. I would prefer that you do not collapse again.”

  Finally. A break. It only took me falling onto my knees and having a strange, visionless vision, but at least I got a break, right? Deep down, that’s all that really mattered. Sighing, I turned and started walking slowly to the church’s walls.

  But not before I saw Gabriel stand in a soldier position and say, “Sir, where am I stationed, sir?”

  I took my time sliding my back down against the rocky wall, enjoying the decline and what was to come. My butt was going to sit on some grass. Some comfy and calm grass. It was the perfect break in my book.

  Eavesdropping a bit, I heard Raphael sigh. “You go and…just stay out of our way.”

  The blonde boy nodded and rushed to my side, falling on his butt with a hard thud. His blue eyes were suspicious. “I saw it. All of it.”

  I creased my eyebrows and stared at him. Gabriel was being completely serious. He saw my whole vision thingy?

  “Now, before you bite my head off for infringing on your personal space-slash-thoughts, hear me out. I’m not saying any of it made sense,” he was quick to say, “because it didn’t. The pictures were switching so fast and the words were—oh, God. It’s confusing just trying to explain it.”

  A gentle laugh came from me. What would I do without Gabriel?

  “We’ve already been through this about a million times,” Gabriel smiled, “you’d die without me. I know it. Could you…make out any of it?” He easily switched the subject back to my vision. “All I got was that it was about Crixis.”

  “That’s all I got, too. And the words remember, don’t.” Biting my lip, I made an effort to understand what it meant. But, just like a minute ago, I drew a big, fat blank.

  “Remember, don’t?” Gabriel repeated the words, sounding like a two-year-old who’d just spoken them for the first time and didn’t quite know the meaning. “What does that mean?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  That seemed to be the theme of the day.

  Chapter Twelve – Kass

  Max and Gabriel left, leaving me all alone with Raphael. My mind mused, speculating if he was going to ask me about what happened before.

  Sighing, I snuggled into the pew I was laying in. I waited not-so-patiently for Raphael to finish putting away the weapons that were used in today’s lesson. I could’ve helped him…but I wasn’t a very helpful girl.

  Footsteps echoed throughout the church, indicating that Raphael was on his way. I sat up and waited for him to reach me. He smoothed his collar out as he sat beside me. He looked uncomfortable, and slightly annoyed.

  “What happened earlier? Were you…having a vision?” Raphael’s dazzling emerald eyes dug into me, making me stare into my lap. How badly I wished I didn’t tell him about my visions.

  It took me a while to react. “Yeah. Kind of.” My eyes moved to my hands. They started fidgeting and I could not stop them.

  A hand was gently placed on my own, stopping me from distracting myself with the weird ways I could bend my fingers. I froze, my lips drawing into a thin line.

  “Kassandra,” Raphael breathed out my name like he was on an Old Spice commercial, “you know I am here for you. You can tell me anything.”

  The sincerity in his tone was overbearing and frankly, I didn’t like it one bit. “I…I saw Crixis. And blood. Lots and lots of blood.” I closed my eyes, reliving the vision-like thing all over again. “And I heard a song that I know I’ve heard before.”

  Raphael seemed surprised for only one second. Either that, or he was really good at hiding his true feelings. “Anything else?”

  “He…said remember, don’t.” I shook my head, getting some of my sweat-filled, kinky hair in my face. “But I have no idea what it means. I don’t know what any of it means. All I know…is that Crixis is…”

  The images of blood flashed through my mind once more. I wasn’t scared of death. I wasn’t frightened of Demons. But Crixis…there was something about him that was terrifying. His strength, his age, his power. I wouldn’t run from a fight with him, but I wouldn’t go looking for one, either.

  “I know.” Raphael’s face softened. I’d never seen him look so thoughtful and considerate.

  Silence flooded the church. On a normal occasion it would have felt unnerving, but this time, it was just what I needed. I loved the silence more than anything at the moment. But as much as I wanted the quiet to stay forever, I had to ask a question.

  It was the perfect time for a question Raphael wouldn’t normally answer.

  “Raphael,” I said slowly, “why did you lie to me about Crixis? Why did you tell me he was dead when you knew he wasn’t?” Even though I attempted to make my voice sound normal and indifferent, it came out troubled and uneasy. Crixis wasn’t the only thing he’d lied about.

  He sighed. “I lied because I was trying to protect you from him. I thought that if you knew he was dead, you would forget all about him and stop asking questions that might have led you straight to him.” Raphael paused, “What I did not know was that you alr
eady met him and survived.” He held me at arm’s length, staring me squarely in the eyes. “That is a feat almost no one can accomplish.”

  “But that doesn’t matter.” My face turned away, breaking the intense eye contact we had. “Because he’s still after me. He still wants to kill me for fun.” Demons killed not for sport, but because they couldn’t help it. He was killing for fun. The difference between an animal and a psycho.

  “Kassandra,” he said lightly, “Crixis is not known to kill people just for fun.”

  My mouth dropped, because I was pretty sure that he did.

  “He has his reasons. They may be sick and twisted reasons, but they are reasons nonetheless. If Crixis killed without a purpose…the world would be a much different place,” Raphael assured me.

  “How can you act so sure?” I frantically asked. “He told me the only reason he’s after me now is because I survived him three years ago. He’s hunting me for sport. For fun. Just because.”

  Raphael pinched the bridge of his nose. He said, “Crixis is not after you just because. He is not after you because you survived a random encounter with him.”

  Blinking at him, I slid a few inches away so I could get a better look at him. What was he saying? The way he spoke with such confidence, it made me recall the Alyssa of the other world, what she begged me to do. Forgive him.

  A wave of suspicion grew within me, a wave I could not stop.

  His hand chopped the air. “He is not after you for fun. Do you not see all the trouble he has gone through to get you here? No, he is not after you for sport. Do you think running into him in that crypt three years ago was pure chance?”

  “What?” I asked, uncharacteristically timid.

  “It was not. He followed you there. No doubt he has been doing it your entire life, and you have only recently begun to notice,” Raphael told me sternly, acting like a know-it-all about Crixis.