Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  But how do you beat something that can’t die?

  Rolling to my side, I glanced at the alarm clock. It was three in the morning. Holy freaking crap. You would think that since I was tired and weary, I’d get right to the unconscious bit and not take over six hours to fall asleep, but that’s not how it worked with me.

  Huffing and puffing like I was the big, bad wolf himself, I got to my feet and took baby steps to the room across the hall. The coldness of the metal doorknob shocked my warm skin before I was able to successfully open it. To my annoyance, the door decided now would be the best time to creak loudly.

  Whatever, right?

  In seconds, I gently closed the door and walked to the bed, where a big, six-foot lump was rolled up in the soft sheets. When I came closer, I saw tuffs of his bleached blonde hair flying every which way.

  And I thought I had bad bed head.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, mere inches from him, I set my hand on his shoulder and shook him.

  His sapphire eyes were open in an instant and he was in the process of sitting up when I realized he was shirtless. His muscular chest was covered in the thin, intricate tattoo that had suddenly appeared on him a while back. The Celtic cross on his chest seemed like a baby’s tattoo compared to it.

  My eyes fell to his abdomen as I thought, God, please let him have pants on under there.

  A handsome smile formed on his defined jaw. “I do, though you’re welcome to take them off.” Gabriel smiled broadly as he answered my thoughts. Good thing he could somehow read my mind, because there was no way I could’ve asked that question aloud.

  I lightly smacked his arm, saying, “No. Sicko.” I should’ve scolded him for reading my thoughts. He wasn’t supposed to. It was creepy and invasive.

  Gabriel breathed in heavily while saying, “It’s three in the morning. I’m sure you didn’t come here just to check if I had some pants on. Oh, and by the way, they’re boxers. Glow in the dark ones, too. Want to see?” He gripped the sheets and began lifting them up, completely serious about showing me.

  Oh, dear Lord. No.

  “I swear,” he laughed, “I could stay up all night playing with it.” Gabriel pursed his lips together and thought. “Wait. That sounded wrong.”

  I giggled at his foolishness. “A little. But, no.” I forced his hands down, covering his glow in the dark boxers. “I don’t want to see that. I just…” Ah, how could I say this without sounding like I was a three-year-old? “Can’t sleep.”

  Way to fail, Kass. Way. To. Fail.

  Gabriel whispered, scooting over and giving me room, “This isn’t a late night/early morning booty-call? I figured, but I’m disappointed.”

  I said, “Stop. I’m beginning to think this was the wrong idea.”

  “Oh.” Gabriel turned serious. Something he always did before he deadpanned his next sentence. “So, coming into a guy’s room at three in the morning’s a good idea, unless he’s super talkative? Uh-huh. You sure this isn’t a booty-call?”

  “Gabriel.” I smacked him again. That only got him more wound up, so I decided that I’d play his game. For about three seconds. “If I wanted a booty-call from you, you’d know it.”

  “Ooh, snap.”

  Once I controlled my eye rolling, I said, “But really. I can’t sleep.”

  “And what, my dear raccoon, would make you think that you’ll get any sleep in here, with me? If anything, you’ll get less sleep.” Gabriel winked.

  I ignored the heat rushing to my face, saying, “You’re such a jerk.”

  Gabriel faked a laugh before pulling me down onto his bed. “I am. I am such a jerk. A jerky jerk who lives in Jerktown next to the Jerksons who go on their annual jerky vacations to a place called—”

  Setting my head on his pillow and getting under the covers, I interrupted, “Jerkville?”

  “What?” He placed his head beside mine, using his two blue eyes to stare holes through me. “No. Hawaii. Come on, Kass, I thought I made that clear?” With a feigned grunt, the back of his head was shoved in my face.

  A slow, elongated sigh escaped my lungs as I took in the coziness of his bed. Was it just me, or was his mattress fluffier than mine? Was his pillow softer? It sure seemed like it.

  “It is,” Gabriel flopped over, facing me once more. A hand was placed on my stomach. “I am in it, after all, so it’s naturally going to be comfier.”

  Feeling the sleep coming, I murmured “Gabriel, get your hand off me—” before I fell into a pleasant, dreamless/visionless sleep.

  Michael was making omelets. Trying to make omelets, I should say, because he went through a good half an hour without cooking something edible. Of course, it wasn’t like I liked omelets anyway, so it was all the same to me.

  While I came to terms with the fact that I sat only a few feet away from where Koath died, Gabriel jumped down the stairs and into the kitchen, looking as spiffy as ever. He sat across from me, a huge smile plastered on his face. It was killing him not to say something to my thoughts. Yet again, the boy wasn’t listening to me when I told him to lay off (or out of) my head.

  “Where’s Raphael?” I spoke the question, regardless of how Gabriel would react.

  To my surprise, Gabriel did not outwardly act jealous. But he did do something, saying “Where’s Raphael?” in a high-pitched, mocking tone under his breath.

  Our Guardian fixed his glasses as he turned to us, temporarily forgetting that he had three omelets to look after. “I sent him out with a list of groceries.”

  I said “What?” the exact time Gabriel laughed, saying, “You sent him out on a grocery run? Priceless!” He smacked the kitchen table, acting as if it were a joke worthy of a knee slap. “You should have told him to pick out good fruit.” Lifting a finger to his eye, he wiped an imaginary tear away. “That’s such a girl’s job—I mean…”

  My famous death glare stopped him cold.

  “What was I saying again?” Gabriel stood and walked next to Michael, had burned yet another omelet. He picked up the spatula and said, “Do you want me to make them? I’m sure they can’t turn out as bad as those chocolate chip cookies I made that one time.”

  With the mental reminder of a burnt down kitchen, Michael snatched the spatula from his hand, saying, “Tell me why I allow you to set foot in the kitchen again?”

  Gabriel leisurely reached for a cereal box, ripping the seal and tossing a piece in the air seconds after. Like an expert, he caught the marshmallow on its way down. Goodbye, little rainbow. “Because I can make a mean bologna sandwich?”

  Michael’s eyebrows flew into the air, as did mine after that comment. Sure, his bologna sandwiches were good, but one needn’t have a good culinary skillset to make a bologna sandwich. It was bologna.

  Since I wasn’t feeling very hungry, I got back up and headed to the vestibule. I stopped myself at the front door. Something was missing, but what was it? My mind quickly came up with the answer. My tennis shoes. Last time I came home from running, I set them right here. But here they weren’t. “Where are my tennis shoes?” I directed the question to anyone who would respond.

  “Oh, yeah.” Gabriel shoved two bites of cereal in his mouth before finishing, “I tossed them outside. Boy, did they reek.”

  Sighing, I rolled my eyes and reached for the door. He threw them outside because they stunk? I’d have to remember to return the favor. Twisting the handle, I expected to see my shoes lying there. What I did not expect to see was a tall, thin Englishwoman arguing with a giant, muscular, stone-silent man.

  I really should have, because we spent the last two-ish days going over every inch of this house with a white glove.

  Chapter Two – Kass

  “Kassandra,” the woman spoke my name before, to my bewilderment, entering the house, “or is it Kass? Well, either way, I’m glad I’m finally meeting you. You are a mirror image of how Koath described you.” Her English accent was impossibly thick, even more so than Michael’s.

  Her round face was
framed by her long, strawberry blonde hair, and her light brown eyes seemed kind. She clutched an ugly, worn-out and beaten purse, whose flower pattern looked like puke from a kid who just ate a ton of M&M’s.

  Her gaze fell to the floor. “I heard about what happened, and I’m sorry we couldn’t get here sooner. But now there’s no need to worry. We’ve taken up residence a few streets down, so we’ll always be a short holler away.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  Covering her mouth with a quick hand, she sighed. “Oopsie-daisy. Right. Bugger…why do I always forget to introduce myself? Blast, I’m terrible. Just terrible.” The woman calmed herself enough to say, “I’m Liz Bennet, Councilmember eight—”

  It took me a good few seconds to make the corners of my mouth curve slightly upward, into a welcoming smile, though the last thing I wanted to do was smile. “Hi. If you, um, don’t mind me asking, why are you here?”

  “Ooh, right. I came here with Taiton—” Liz gestured to the giant man standing behind her. “—to help defend you.” With that, she pointed to me, sighing again, because she probably realized that she was speaking to me like a child.

  What she told me was pretty clear, but I was still having some hard times thinking of why they both came here to protect me. Sure, Taiton was big, but Crixis could make short work of him. Besides, the bigger they were, the harder they fell.

  “Taiton,” Liz whispered to the stoic man, elbowing him in the side. “Smile and say hello.”

  As Taiton inhaled, he seemed to think about it. This guy must either not like to talk/smile, or just not talk/smile often. Somehow that didn’t surprise me.

  Instead of saying hello like any normal person would, Taiton bowed his dark head. When he straightened himself out, I realized his skin was almost the exact same color as Liz’s eyes. A medium brown. His head was shaved, showing off the few scars that were littered on his scalp. God only knew what they were from.

  Liz turned to me, apologizing, “I am sorry about him. He hardly ever talks. Or smiles. Or does anything remotely customary like that. Still, he’s the best Agent I’ve ever seen.”

  “Agent?” I echoed, sounding incredulous.

  “Yes,” Liz answered me with a white smile on her face. “He’s here to terminate Crixis, and he is armed with everything he needs to do it.”

  I bit my lip and eyed Taiton up some more. “What am I supposed to do? Call him over when I’m feeling scared? When I need to be tucked in?”

  “No.” She quickly said, “Taiton will be with you all the time, until Crixis is taken care of.” Liz smiled and glanced from me to the man, who must have been at least six inches taller than Gabriel. Impressive.

  “Even in school?” Why would I be worried about school at a time like this?

  “Don’t be silly.” Liz placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re not going to school this week, or any week, until we deal with Crixis. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to collect your assignments and drop them by after work.”

  “Work?”

  Her eyes studied the inside of our house, settling on the huge staircase. “Yes. I am to be filling in the principal’s position. And, of course, I will be taking care of Max until the Council locates a free Guardian. Now, this house is quite lovely. How about a tour?” Liz glimpsed to Taiton. “Doesn’t a tour sound brilliant?”

  Taiton said nothing as he exhaled loudly and stepped into the house.

  I took it that meant yes.

  Chapter Three – Michael

  “Gabriel,” my voice took on a scolding tone, “you really should not have eaten Kass’s omelet.” I watched the boy shrug, as if it were nothing that he devoured, like a rabid animal, the meal I spent the last hour trying to create.

  “It’s not my fault she’s taking forever to find her stinky shoes.” His tongue played with the fork he recently shoved in his mouth. “Besides, she won’t find them.”

  Tearing off my glasses, I smiled and cleaned them. “Why won’t she find her shoes?” It seemed my glasses were always collecting dust, even though they were constantly on my nose.

  “Because,” he paused, lifting both feet on the kitchen table, “I put them in her room.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I didn’t want to, but sometimes this boy was so ridiculous that I forgot he was an adult. He resorted to childish pranks and sayings on nearly a daily basis. That got old, really quickly.

  My ears heard collective footsteps entering the kitchen beside me, way too many to belong to Kass. There were others with her. Couldn’t be Raphael already, could it?

  I placed my newly-cleaned glasses on my nose the moment the woman next to Kass said “Hello, Michael. You’re looking well.” Elizabeth’s brown eyes were warm with gentleness and recollection.

  “Elizabeth.” I could barely force myself to say her name, fearing I didn’t have enough breath in my body to do so. Seeing her awakened many memories I had not too long ago forgotten. “What are you doing here?”

  Elizabeth smiled her all-too familiar smile, dimples around her full lips. “You always had a way with words, among other things.”

  My comeback was cut short by Gabriel, who immediately yelled, “Oh, gross. Get a room! And by get a room, I don’t mean any room in this house—I mean a hotel. Go to a hotel before you make me barf up Kass’s omelet.” He set a hand on his stomach for an added effect.

  “Gabriel,” I spoke without tearing my eyes from her, “sit with Kass on the back porch please.”

  He forced a sigh before saying, “Okay. We’ll give you some privacy, but that also means we get some privacy of our own—”

  I shooed him off, not paying much heed to what he said. “Yes, yes, that’s fine. If there’s a sign of Crixis, shout, will you?”

  “Shout?” He was unbelieving. “Yeah, we’ll be sure to do that.”

  “Good,” I said, never once taking my gaze off of the woman before me.

  “Sick” was what Gabriel chose to say before grabbing Kass’s hand and leading her out of the kitchen and out of the house. I was too besotted to think of a snide remark about him, and that said a lot.

  Elizabeth faced the tall man near her, gently whispering, “You know what to do.” The man nodded and was following the two kids in an instant. She faced me, smiling and saying, “Taiton. You’ll grow to love him, trust me.”

  Chapter Four – Kass

  Our walk to the back porch was fast, quiet, and awkward. We left Michael and Elizabeth alone in the kitchen, while a tall, dark and intimidating man followed us like our own personal body guard or secret service agent.

  As we exited the house, my mind flashed back to a day I spent in the town park with Koath. The memory of us eating hot dogs there was alive in my mind. It seemed like it was just yesterday, but I knew it wasn’t.

  “So,” there was a pause as Gabriel eyed up the huge man, who stood silently on my other side, leaning on the wooden railing, studying the expansive backyard that gave way to woods about an acre back. “Who’s he? And why is he so huge?” His voice had traces of amazement, shock, and confusion. “Unusually tall and muscular, I thought I was. Two of me, he is practically. Makes me feel tiny and insecure, it does.”

  Now was not the time for his Yoda. I wasn’t in the mood to play along.

  Realizing Gabriel waited for an answer from me, I snapped my attention back to him. “That’s Taiton. He’s the Agent the Council sent to help us take down—”

  Gabriel stopped me by cutting in, “I get it. What I still don’t understand is why he’s just so large. You do see that that man is roughly the size of a barge?” A sly smile spread across his face when he peered around me to stare at Taiton directly. “I want you to answer two questions. Listen carefully. When you were a lad, did you eat four dozen eggs every morning to help you get large? And, now that you’re grown, do you eat five dozen eggs, so you’re roughly the size of a…barge?” Towards the end of his Beauty and the Beast song reference, he started carrying the tune like he was an expert on the sub
ject.

  Taiton looked at him blankly for only a second before deciding to ignore the blonde boy altogether, which was a good choice, I’d admit.

  “Seriously, though.” His deep blue eyes were back upon me. “No amount of eggs—regular, or even injected with steroids—could make him look like that.” Gabriel rubbed his chin, thinking of what outrageous thing to say next. When his eyes widened, I rolled mine.

  “It’s like he’s part Hagrid and part Juggernaut, with a sprinkle of Denzel Washington. Hmm. Maybe add a hint of Natalie Portman.” He lifted an eyebrow at my confused expression. “What? Don’t you see his hands? They may be oversized, but they’re woman hands. Elegant, feminine woman hands.”

  Rolling my eyes, I noticed Taiton gazing down at his supposedly woman-like hands. It was near impossible for me to believe that he was indeed wondering whether or not he had feminine hands. More like wondering how anyone could put up with Gabriel’s antics for more than a minute without going nuts.

  Poor Taiton. He had a long way to go.

  “So,” Gabriel dragged out the word, making it last five seconds, “is he going to be following us everywhere, even in school? Because, I seriously doubt that we can pass him off as a foreign exchange student.”

  I relayed what Liz had said to me earlier, “Liz said I can’t go to school. Not now, anyways. And besides, Taiton’s following me, not you.”

  Yep. This was my life. Just dandy, wasn’t it?

  Chapter Five – Michael

  Elizabeth ruffled her hair, that same enthralling smile glued to her tanned face. “Michael, aren’t you going to invite me to sit?” Her head gestured to the living room, where there was ample room for both of us to recline on something comfortable.