Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  “I already told him,” I chirped with sincerity, “I found it on the ground, in the woods.”

  “Right. But just so you know,” he said, holding a finger up at me, “I know you and I’m not believing a word you say. Sooner or later the truth will come out, and let me be the first to tell you that I won’t be there every afternoon to save you from your punishment.”

  I laughed, then I shrugged.

  I sighed. After five minutes, I sighed again. And every five minutes after that I sighed again. Needless to say, I did a whole lot of sighing and not so much sleeping. For the life of me I couldn’t fall asleep.

  I cleared my mind, counted imaginary sheep, and went backwards from one hundred. Nothing helped me. Not a thing. Why was I having so much trouble falling asleep? And why was there a huge pit in the bottom of my stomach?

  Another sigh came from my lungs as I snaked my way out of my covers. I practically tiptoed out of my room, down the hall, down the two flights of stairs, and out of the front door. My feet knew where to go—it was kind of freaking me out, because the last time something like this happened, I landed myself somewhere in the cemetery with Crixis. Rain had gotten there just in time, saving me from an untimely and horrific death. He wasn’t going to save me this time. Who knew where he, John and Alyssa wound up.

  Translation: Crixis might actually kill me. A bad thing, surely, but I hated this waiting game. I hated it with a burning passion.

  I rounded the driveway and tried grabbing hold of the stone arch that surrounded it. For the first few moments I had a firm grasp on it, but as my legs kept going and putting more distance between the two, my fingers slowly lost their grip.

  Just like last time, the sensation was hard to explain. It felt like I just needed to go somewhere. My legs knew but my brain didn’t. It was the weirdest thing.

  Maybe this was my destiny. To march myself into the murderous hands of Crixis and let him kill me without putting up any semblance of a fight. The houses fell behind me as I marched to a familiar location: the cemetery.

  The headstones which I passed in the graveyard were ancient; all were from over two hundred years ago. Some of these stones held up better against the weather and time than the newer ones did, besides the limestone ones.

  Wind whipped at my bare legs and arms, making me wish that I wore actual pajamas and not short shorts and a flimsy tank top. It had to be done though, since all the sheets Michael had left in the house were flannels, and even with the air conditioning on, it was too hot in this town. He was supposed to buy new sheets for me after the blood fiasco, but he hadn’t gotten around to it today. Too much back-and-forth with the Council. Apparently, no one ever had that much blood appear out of nowhere. They doubted his story, and they doubted me.

  This North Carolinian air was muggy and hot, even though it was in the middle of the night, but I’d rather cover myself up than bare it all before Crixis.

  That was not something I’d ever do while I was alive.

  This was ridiculous. Why was I here? What made me come here? And could somebody please tell me why I felt like something momentous was going to happen?

  “Don’t you look…tasty,” a harsh voice whispered in my ear. Crixis.

  Gathering up my courage and hoping it was enough, I slowly turned to face the menacing man who would not leave me alone. Except he wasn’t there. Squinting my eyes, I scanned the area. Nothing.

  “Show yourself,” I stated, fists clenching. “Coward,” I spoke the word softly, hardening it into a threat-like sentence. If I was going down tonight, then I would make it as hard for him as I could.

  “I think we both know that I’m the very opposite of a coward.” Crixis flashed in front of me, inches away. “Unless you wish to convince yourself otherwise, then by all means, go ahead.”

  Unmoving, I silently glared at his green eyes. Those were among the only things I could make out on his face. Everything else disappeared into the darkness of the night, blending in as well as his black hair did.

  “How did you make me come here?” Despite everything, I wanted answers. To the end, I was curious.

  “You mean you don’t feel it?” His deep voice was barely recognizable. For once, he sounded normal. Like he had just smooth talked his way into a date.

  “No,” I spat, “all I feel right now is hatred and disgust.”

  “You think yourself so witty, don’t you? Such a shame nothing can kill me. You—” His strong legs stepped closer. “—on the other hand, can die like any other. You truly have no idea how much I’m going to enjoy this. And this time, there’s no pathetic Vampire to save you.”

  I tilted my head, letting some long, brown hair cover my face. “Are you?”

  Crixis paused his approach, seeming confused by my question. “Am I what? Going to kill you? I thought you were smart enough to know that the answer’s yes.” Ignoring the awful circumstance, his bewildered face was amusing.

  “Is it?”

  His expression returned to seriousness. “It is.”

  My mind recalled what Raphael had said: Crixis wanted to turn me. Judging the look on his face, Raphael was wrong. He wanted to kill me once and for all. But, that was good. The world needed a Daywalker Kass like Gabriel needed more tattoos.

  And he did not need more tattoos.

  My courage came full circle, that or I was too tired to care, so I shrugged it off, saying, “Then save me your evil monologue and just bring it for once. Unless,” I mocked what he said earlier, “you wish to waste time, then by all means, go ahead.”

  “The more you talk the more I—”

  I punched him directly in his face, making him stumble back and look surprised at my sudden outburst. “I said I don’t want to hear your I’m-going-to-kill-you speech. Guess I’m just fickle like that.”

  “That, or you want to die sooner—” Crixis grunted as I kicked him, sending him flying back a few feet. He flashed into a standing position. “Years ago, we wouldn’t have this problem because there was a such thing as courtesy. All people had their say before—”

  I went to strike him again, but he easily caught it. “This is the twenty-first century,” I jeered as he twisted my hand and tossed me back like I weighed five pounds, “courtesy doesn’t exist.”

  I hurried to stand, but Crixis flashed on top of me, slamming my back down onto the dewy grass. Mercilessly, he grabbed my neck and constricted. Out of all the moves he’d done so far, I gasped for air, this was the most common. Maybe strangulation was one of his old-time favorites.

  My mouth fell open as I tried breathing in once more. I grabbed his hand with both of mine, trying to pry his off my neck. He had none of it. It was like I was a small, insignificant bug and he was seconds away from squashing me just because.

  That was closer to the truth than I would like it to be.

  Crixis brought his face down to mine, touching his nose to my cheek. “Why can’t I place you? Why do you…”

  As my vision started to blur, I shook my head, signaling that I did not know either. Maybe his senses were a little off tonight.

  “After all this time,” he murmured into my face, “I should have known.” With his hand still around my throat, he lifted me up and smashed me against the ground. I saw stars. “Why?”

  He blinked, eyes becoming red. That’s when I, almost unconscious, noticed something very peculiar. His irises were blood red, and yet his teeth were still normal. No Daywalker fangs. When Daywalkers eyes turned to black, their teeth sharpened. It’s a must-have blend. A Daywalker couldn’t have one or the other; it’s both or none.

  “Before I kill you, I am going to taste you.” Crixis brought his lips to my neck.

  This was it. I didn’t even put up as much of a fight as I wanted to. How disappointing. Crixis was going to feed and kill me. To think some teenagers stressed about what they’re going to wear, what their tests grades were going to be, and who liked who. None of them really knew how much better their lives were than mine.

&nbs
p; A vicious growl rang through the air. It was bizarre because the growl didn’t come from Crixis.

  The man of the hour flashed off of me and snarled in response, leaving my neck intact and untouched. I was alive, and I gasped for air.

  Sitting up, I grabbed my neck and coughed. My breathing needed to catch up with me, otherwise I might actually pass out. And that wouldn’t be good. I glanced at Crixis, taking in the sight of his newly-sharpened teeth, his red eyes, and his hunched figure.

  It was the first time I’d seen him act and look like what he truly was: an animal.

  Crixis bared his teeth, trying to fend off the source of the original growl. I tilted my head to the right, finding that he was not growling at some normal wolf. It was the white wolf.

  Pushing against the grassy ground, I coughed again. I was directly in the middle of their my-teeth-are-bigger-than-yours match, and that was a place I’d rather not be. Once my feet pushed myself another foot away, my mouth dropped when I realized the white wolf was bigger than I imagined.

  Of course, the wolf was scary. The newspaper said it was around five feet, but I thought it meant horizontally, not vertically. If I stood, it would be as tall as me.

  That’s a pretty big wolf.

  Horizontally, the wolf must have been at least eight feet. The claws on this thing alone would pack a heavy punch, but couple that with the teeth and you’ve got a nasty critter.

  Crixis’s red eyes darted from the wolf to me. He probably debated if he could make it to me before the wolf could. His back straightened, cluing me in to the fact that he decided he could take on the white wolf.

  Another white being entered the picture, stepping between me and Crixis. A thunderous roar erupted from the second beast.

  I wasn’t sure what these things were, but I decided I liked them better than I did Crixis.

  The red eyes disappeared and green ones took their place. Crixis stared at me over the two overly large animals. “I don’t know what it is with interruptions…but I can guarantee the next time we meet, the ending will be much different.” A vicious laugh came from him before he flashed away, leaving me alone with the two white creatures.

  Did I manage to get out of a dangerous situation, only to step into another one?

  That was my life, apparently.

  I quickly sat upright and watched the two white animals glance at each other and then to me. The wolf’s eyes dug into me as it stepped closer. I didn’t move; I wasn’t afraid of it. For some reason, I didn’t feel like this wolf wanted to tear me apart like Crixis did.

  My eyes flicked to the other white being. A white cougar, something I’d never heard of before, which meant that these two animals weren’t natural. It was slightly smaller than the wolf and had two, bright blue eyes.

  I furrowed my eyebrows when I switched back to the wolf. Standing, I tried to slow my breathing and get a grasp on this. These white animals saved me from Crixis. Why? How did they know I was in trouble?

  The wolf lowered its head, letting its eyes level with mine. That’s when I noticed that it’s eyes weren’t black, though they might look that way from far away. They were brown. What an odd combination.

  A white wolf with a flawless body and dark brown eyes. Who else did I know with those same characteristics? Only one. But that was impossible, because—well, actually, it’s very possible.

  My voice was slow to come, but once I knew it was ready to speak, I said, “Steven?”

  Its ears perked up at the sound of my voice and its head nodded.

  My head flipped to the white cougar. The vibrant blue eyes. The short hair. The athletic build. If the wolf was Steven, then naturally this cougar must be… “Claire?”

  The sizable feline licked her chops as her blue eyes blinked.

  This was so not happening.

  Turning its back to me, the wolf started walking away, followed shortly by the cougar.

  I contemplated running home as quick as I could or tagging along with them for the current moment. I chose to tag along with them because I needed some answers.

  “Wait,” I said, sprinting for a short time to catch up to them. While we were walking, all I could think about was how weird this was. And how awesome. Weird because I knew nothing about it until now and awesome because I knew Claire and Steven weren’t bad people, so I didn’t have to purify them or anything like that, regardless of the Council’s view on it.

  We passed a group of great trees. I kept going for a bit, not noticing that they stopped. Spinning on my heel, I asked “What are you guys doing?” before I saw the two piles of clothes laying near a tree stump.

  “Oh.” Realization dawned in me. They had to switch back to human form and put their clothes on. That made sense. Clothes didn’t just magically appear. “Right,” I smiled awkwardly, facing the opposite direction.

  I waited patiently, all the while wondering how I was going to tell Gabriel about this. Whoa…forget Gabriel. Max. I had to tell Max. The girl Gabriel and I thought was a perfect match for him was now more perfect.

  If she was a cougar-girl, that meant she knew about the bizarre and Demonic things in this world, which was fantastic for Max. He didn’t even have to go through the pain of hiding something from her when she already knew what he was.

  She’s going to know what I was soon enough, so why not tell her about Max while I was at it?

  Biting my lip, I couldn’t take it anymore. I gave them enough time to get dressed, right? Sure, sure, I decided. “What are you guys?” I inquired with a cheery tone and a dumb smile on my face as I faced them.

  Claire hurriedly yanked down her shirt and fixed her hair. Steven, on the other hand, seemed to take his time. He was still shirtless and fiddling with his belt when he glanced up, saying, “We call ourselves Morphers.”

  “Morphers?” I repeated.

  “We can morph into animals.” Steven broke eye contact to bend down and pick up his shirt. He inserted his arms in the black dressy shirt and began buttoning those teeny buttons Gabriel always has so much trouble with.

  “Can you change into more than one?” My eyebrows were probably so high they were in the sky.

  “No,” Claire answered me, “just the one.”

  “How come you guys are two totally different animals?” I pointed my stitched-up finger between them. “How did that happen?”

  Steven’s eyes fell on Claire. “I am the most common. Morphers are usually wolves. Anything other than that is rare. Claire’s family has a mutation. Instead of wolves, her sister and her are mountain lions.”

  “Oh,” I stumbled back from the impact of his words.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in,” Steven tried comforting me.

  “No,” I quickly shook my head, “it’s not that. I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on it. That’s the whole reason we moved here, why I’m stuck going to that stupid high school. I’m supposed to be able to detect these sorts of things—” I stopped when I saw the looks they were giving me.

  Claire and Steven probably thought I was crazy. Then again, they were Morphers, so maybe their crazy scale was a bit different than the typical person’s.

  Steven finished with his shirt and eyed me up. “What are you?”

  I chuckled. “You know me. I’m Kass. Nothing out of the ordinary.” They threw some oh, come on stares at me, so I continued, “Well, except that I’m a Purifier.”

  “What’s a Purifier?” Claire glanced at Steven, who nodded in agreement.

  I said, “I’ve been trained since I was a little girl to fight Demons and purify them.” I shrugged. “Mostly I deal with Nightwalkers, you know, lesser Vampires.”

  Awareness filled in Claire’s blue eyes. “Oh. So, you’re kind of like Buffy?”

  My hands moved to my hips. “Yeah…kind of.” That was the only real-world reference she would understand, so I went with it.

  “Is there anyone else like you?” Claire sounded excited. For some very obvious reasons.

  I wasn’t supposed t
o tell anyone, but since they saved my life, I was sure Michael would understand. Besides, this way Max and Claire would have an honest relationship. If they ever got the guts to ask each other out, that was. “Gabriel and Max.”

  “Max?” Claire’s eyes widened to the extremes. “Max is like you?”

  A warm smile filled my lips, because I knew what she was thinking. The exact same thing I was. Her and Max were perfect. As perfect as it got. I nodded.

  “That’s cool.” Even though she acted indifferent, I knew deep down she was jumping for joy.

  Steven’s albino eyebrows went together. “Who’re Max and Gabriel?”

  “People from school,” Claire replied heatedly. Either she didn’t want Steven to know anything about Max, or she just didn’t want him to know anything about her personal life. Her blue eyes were upon me. “Oh, God…what should I do? Should I…you know, tell him about me?”

  “That,” Steven interjected, breaking into a brisk walk, “we can discuss later. Right now, I need to get both of you home. That man might still be out here.”

  Claire nibbled her chapped lip, looked at me, and followed him, running to catch up. I was beside her in seconds, saying, “So the famous white wolf isn’t a werewolf.”

  A short, rough laugh came from Steven as he glanced back to us. His impossibly dark eyes met mine. “A werewolf? I think you’ve been watching too many movies. A wolf-like creature who’s normal for twenty-eight days and turns into this unstable killing machine every month? Absolutely unrealistic.”

  “I know. Sad. But after the last few weeks, I figured anything was possible,” I specified.

  His blonde head spun, and he eyed me up.

  My gaze fell to the sidewalk. It became uneven over the years as the trees around it kept growing at a steady rate. Werewolves weren’t real. That much I already knew. There was already enough bad in the world. Looking up sharply, I spoke, “So there’s no connection between the werewolf and the Morpher?”

  “We are typically wolves,” Steven paused, rubbing his clean-shaven face, “so there could be a connection. A man could have seen a Morpher change during a full moon, and his imagination created the rest.”