Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

I opened the door to see Michael and a woman, who by the look of her, was the same woman who called here yesterday asking for directions. What was her name?

  Liz.

  “Michael,” I made the tone of my voice so pleasant I actually forgot it was faked, “so nice to see you’re doing good. Why the sudden visit?” I baited him, wishing he would simply take the boy and go.

  His wiry hands pushed up his glasses before replying, “Elizabeth is here to take Max. I just came here for the ride.” He flicked his brown eyes to hers.

  It was obvious to me what was went on between them. It was also obvious that their ride must have been really good. I could practically feel it in the air. It was nauseating.

  Liz walked into the house, looking around. “It’s good to see you in person, Cleo. And thank you for the directions yesterday. You were our savior. Now, where is Max? I’d like to take him off your hands quickly, so you’ll be free to go home after we leave.” She smiled at me. “And don’t worry, we’ll take care of the house and everything in it. In fact—” She paused, motioning outside. “—provided that you don’t have much to pack up, you can go right now.”

  Was she serious? Could I really leave now? Fantastic.

  Her warm smile was met with a strained one from me as I said, “Let me get my things and I’ll be out of your way.”

  She nodded, saying, “Of course.”

  Faking calmness, I took my time walking up the stairs and into Koath’s room, but once I was in there and the door was shut behind me, I rushed. I had no idea they were going to come this soon. Yes, I wanted Max gone before I even got him, it was true, but I had set up shop in this room, expecting to be in for a while longer.

  I picked up my luggage from the corner of the room and set it on the bed, unzipping it with a quick hand. The flap flew open, revealing another, smaller bag inside it. Taking a breath to ready myself for the packing marathon that was about to take place, I fell to the floor and collected all my ingredients.

  All of the non-breakable, more sturdy things went in the bag first. Pure salt. White lilies. Nightshade flowers. Ginsengs. Mandrake roots. Bowls. Matches. Stirrers. I zipped up the main compartment and opened the side ones, where the more fragile stuff went. A big jar filled with newt eyes. And on the other side went the blood of Vexillion.

  Everything, minus the blood, was for me and my spells. The Vexillion blood was next to impossible to get, and it seemed a little old to boot, but I didn’t ask the dealer how or when he got it. I didn’t need to; I could feel it was him. When the ritual was complete, and the lioness awakened for the first time in thousands of years, she would need to taste him in order to track him.

  At least, that was what I’d been told.

  I set the bag in my luggage and threw my pile of clothes over it, covering the black bag. I closed the luggage and set it on the floor, rolling it after me. When I was safely out of the room, I tossed one look back into the empty room, at his laptop that was tucked under his bed, exactly where I put it.

  It was nothing more than a wiped laptop, reset to its factory setting.

  Chapter Eight – Kass

  Taiton stood with his legs shoulder-length apart and his hands behind his back, without moving. For fifteen minutes straight. Impressive.

  Gabriel and I sat on the couch and tried not to stare at him in awe. We were entranced in his lack of movement for a good while, and I’d admit, we probably looked like creepers.

  Raphael walked in the room, carrying one of the books from Michael’s library. At first he was unaware of the three people in the living room, and his green eyes were glued to a page in the ancient book. It was when he suddenly decided to glance up that he noticed us.

  He looked from me to Taiton, ignoring Gabriel completely. Raphael and Gabriel did not get along; they were at each other’s throats constantly, which I understood. I still wanted to beat the liar up myself.

  “What is going on?” Raphael’s eyes were locked on Taiton. “And who is that?”

  “That’s Taiton—” I explained as he did a short head bow. “—he’s a Council Agent.”

  “He is?” Raphael eyed up the large man. He stayed silent, probably reliving earlier parts of his life. He was the first Purifier, after all. “Interesting. And why—” He turned his gaze upon me once more. “—are you watching him?”

  “I...” My voice quickly trailed off. How was I going to explain why we were sitting here, on the couch, watching Taiton in total silence? “I don’t know.”

  His fingers tapped the book. “That is a tad bizarre.” Raphael turned his head, revealing the golden chain around his neck and the tips of the black tattoo-like symbol on his back. After sitting on the couch opposite us, he let out a sigh.

  I tore my eyes from him to look at Gabriel. There was an alpha-male tension in the air that I could literally reach out and feel. Raphael slowly brought his own eyes up, meeting Gabriel’s glare with his own. Both men were intimidating in their own way.

  When we were staring at Taiton, we were sitting in silence, but this type of silence was totally different. This absolute silence was filled with things that both boys wanted to say to each other. I wanted to say something to break the mute tension, but thankfully I was interrupted by the opening of the front door.

  Michael was the first one in the house, followed shortly by Liz and Max. She was busy saying “We’ll go get the rest of your belongings tomorrow, while you’re at school.” Her brown eyes flicked to me. “We’ll also collect Koath’s personal property, so you’re free to accompany Michael and I, Kass.”

  I nodded to show her that I was going to come with them. I knew it needed to be done, sooner than later. For some reason, it still came as a shock. When we went through his things, Koath was really gone. Every, single piece of him was going to disappear.

  Gabriel abruptly stood and looked to Michael, who was too entranced at Liz’s long, wavy hair. “Dude. You said dinner will be ready at five. Last time I checked, it was a minute after five. You, my banging Guardian, are late.”

  Liz giggled as she tore her eyes from Michael’s chest, said “That would be my fault,” and insinuated something I hoped was just in my imagination. Judging from Gabriel’s my-mind-went-the-wrong-way-on-that-one expression, I wasn’t wrong.

  “I have an idea.” Michael pushed his glasses up. “Why don’t we go out for dinner? All of us. We can try out that buffet on Coral Street.”

  “Sweet,” Gabriel said under his breath as he ran to the door and held it open. “Let’s go. I’m starving.” His blue eyes fell on me, he was probably wondering why I hadn’t moved an inch.

  Knowing it would ignite Gabriel’s anger, I spoke to Raphael, “Are you coming?”

  A sad smile spread across his face before he responded, “I do not think so. It would only waste Michael’s money. After all, I don’t eat much.”

  Right. Raphael didn’t eat like a normal human. He was a Daywalker, and they didn’t have to eat. I wondered if that included blood. That was how Nightwalkers and Daywalkers got their strength from. It didn’t just magically come from nowhere.

  But never knowing how good pizza was? That was a torture I’d never wish upon my worst enemy.

  The outside of the buffet restaurant looked a little divy. Trash cans were thrown about; some had garbage in them and others were completely empty. Dead bushes littered the window’s edge, where the parking lot met with the sides of the building.

  I hoped the food wasn’t as bad as its outside appearance suggested.

  Gabriel appeared by my side, whispering, “Do you think this place’s any good? Because I’m having some serious doubts.” Michael held the door open for us, and we all entered the restaurant without any problems.

  All of us except Taiton.

  It was a single glass door that must have been too small for him to normally walk through. The giant had to bend his head down and shuffle in. It was amusing, almost enough to help me forget my miserable woes and terrible life.

  A dry-er
ase board that said please wait to be seated in all uppercase letters was the first thing to greet us. Behind it, the restaurant’s inside was nothing like its outside. The lighting was a little dark, but well-designed. The booths and chairs were velvety, which had to be a hassle to clean. The buffet itself was in the back of the room, and it was huge.

  So huge that it could be Taiton in buffet form.

  Gabriel elbowed me, saying, “Look at the sign.”

  I rolled my eyes, because I was finished looking at the sign a long time ago. “So?”

  “Doesn’t the handwriting remind you of a serial killer letter? You know, the kind they leave for you with letters cut from different magazine articles?” I tilted my head, hoping that would make me see it better. “See how each letter is a different size and thickness?”

  When Gabriel and I were finished making fun of the terrible handwriting, a voice, originating from somewhere near my back, said, “I was never good at handwriting. My mom says my handwriting looks like a caveman’s. You’d both agree with her then, huh?”

  We quickly turned to face a boy who was staring at his sign with a fixed, blue eyed stare. I recognized those blue eyes, along with the other attractive parts of him. He was a little different wearing his work uniform, but all in all, he still looked amazing.

  I peeked a side glance at Gabriel, seeing if he was glaring at me with a knowing icy blue stare. Thankfully, he was too busy ogling the food in the back.

  Shaking my head, I focused on the kid I first met on Friday. He was the one who picked me up from physics and told me Koath wanted to see me. We were supposed to (maybe) see each other at the football game, but I ended up not going.

  Because I found Michael unconscious and Koath dead.

  With a toothy grin on his gorgeous face, he said, “Six?” What was his name? Did I even know it?

  Me being stupid me, I said, “Six what?” An idiot, I was.

  The boy laughed and motioned for us to follow him. Knowing I’d just make more of a fool of myself, I waited behind while everyone else followed the kid first. Everyone except Gabriel, because he was stuck to my side like glue, it seemed.

  His eyes were critical. “Who’s this kid?”

  “He goes to our school, Gabriel,” I sternly told him, adding quietly, “drop this.”

  “I don’t want to drop this,” he hissed as he pulled out two chairs, one for him and one for me. Weird.

  I sat in the one nearest to me and said as calmly as I could, “Jealousy is not an attractive trait.”

  Max, Liz and Michael took the seats opposing us.

  “Jealousy?” Gabriel echoed. “You think I’m jealous of that busboy? I am not.” He froze for a few moments, watching Taiton sit on my other side. He was probably hoping the chair would break.

  “You know what I think?” My fingers wove together, creating a small wedge where my chin could rest. “I think you are jealous. Actually, I think you’re jealous of every male who knows me.”

  “Preposterous.” He leaned toward me. “I am not jealous of Taiton. Or Michael. Or Max.”

  I blinked at him, because that wasn’t a very good list.

  “That’s such crap,” Gabriel stated simply, as if saying that would make this conversation end right here. But I wasn’t about to let that happen. This discussion wasn’t anywhere near being over.

  Narrowing my eyes at the immature boy, I said, “Should I ask for a pen and paper so we can tally them up, or do you want me to just list them off the top of my head?” Since Gabriel kept quiet, I continued, “First and foremost, John. Rain. Vincent. Steven. Raphael. Oh, and that guy—” I pointed to the sexy kid who was in the process of getting our drinks. “—but besides that, no. You never get jealous.”

  Everyone around us walked to the buffet, but Gabriel, Taiton and I stayed put because we were still busy arguing and Taiton had to keep an eye on me.

  Gabriel rested his arm on the back of my chair, securing me from a mad dash out of this. But I wasn’t even thinking of running away from this talk, because it was just so fun to get into an argument with him when I knew I was right and he was wrong. It’s funny; he probably thought the opposite was true.

  “Steven?” Gabriel echoed, shock evident in his voice. “I’m not jealous of Steven—but now that you said that, I’m starting to wonder if I should worry. Your taste in men hasn’t been too good lately.”

  Grinding my teeth, I tried pushing my chair back and standing. I wanted to keep this talk going, but Gabriel bringing that up was it. “Let me past,” I growled through my bared teeth.

  His blue eyes had traces of amusement and a whole lot of defiance. “No, and you know it’s true, Kass.”

  Shaking my head, I whispered “Jerk” and climbed over the other side of the chair, where Taiton sat as an audience to the debacle that had just taken place. I knew he got up and followed me, I didn’t have to look to make sure of that.

  Gabriel ran past the dark giant, because he soon grabbed my arm and forced me to look in his eyes. “I’m sorry—”

  “No.” I jerked my arm out of his insanely strong grasp. “You’re not sorry, so don’t even bother.” I grabbed a white plate and picked out some fruit. I hustled to the salad part of the buffet, leaving a motionless Gabriel in the dust.

  “I do think the boy is apologetic.”

  I dropped the cucumber slice back in the pile of cucumber slices. My head slowly turned to Taiton. His attention was on a stubborn tomato that refused to be moved with the pair of tongs in his hand. “What?”

  His black eyes met mine after he decided to manually pick up the tomato. That had to go against the rules of a buffet. “The blonde one is sorry for what he said,” Taiton elaborated his previous statement, to my utter amazement.

  The blonde one? Was that what Taiton called Gabriel? Funny. That’s what I called him sometimes, too.

  “Well,” I said after I got over the fact that Taiton talked for the first time, “he should have known not to say it from the beginning.” I spread ranch dressing on my small salad. Taiton didn’t reply. I guess that’ll be all I hear from him until tomorrow.

  The hot kid refilled the carrot tray, brushing against my arm in the process. “Did your boyfriend say something that upset you?”

  I stifled a laugh. “He’s not my boyfriend—” My eyes read his nametag. Seth.

  Seth chuckled. “Are you sure about that?”

  Wrinkling my eyebrows, I quickly said, “Yeah, I’m sure. Gabriel just—”

  A deep blue stare silenced me right away. “Wants to be your boyfriend?”

  “I was going say is a jerk,” I slowly replied when my thoughts came crawling back to me after I became used to his ultra-intense stare.

  Gabriel’s likely to settle down as soon as we’re not needed as Purifiers anymore. And we were going to be Purifiers until we died.

  I spent the rest of dinner making eyes at Seth, much to Gabriel’s annoyance. This wasn’t like with John. I smiled and batted my eyelashes to piss off Gabriel. The stupid boy deserved it.

  Luckily for me, Taiton didn’t need to stand in the bathroom while I took my shower. Sure, he stood right outside the door, waiting for me to come out, but at least I was theoretically alone.

  That was good. It’s very strange taking a shower when there was someone else in the room.

  Muffled crying sounds overcame the running water’s noise, making me pause in my shampoo application. Was that real, or did I make that up? The faint sobs came again, but this time, they were shorter and louder.

  Cautiously, and with a full head of foamy hair, I poked my head around the curtain to see where those sounds came from. A small boy stood there, empty eyes staring holes through me. The same boy I saw earlier.

  His green eyes were filled with tears, and his boney arm suddenly shot out, freaking me out and causing me to swiftly close the curtain. Seconds ticked by, and my fingers strummed the edges of the cloudy curtain, debating if I should yank it open once more.

  Would the
boy still be there, or would he be gone?

  Maybe against my better judgment, I decided to pull it open slightly, so there was just enough room for my eyes. There was something about the kid that set me off. Something about him just wasn’t right. It was too early in our relationship to tell.

  Yep. He was still there, but this time there was blood.

  The boy was covered in blood, just as the floor around his dirty feet was. Teeth wounds were scattered along his head, bleeding profusely. My mind flashed back to Koath, and for a moment, I felt my eyes tear up.

  “Help,” his voice squeaked, sending impulsive chills up my spine and raising the hair on my arms. Kids were always creepier than adults, weren’t they? “Help,” he repeated, sounding more urgent.

  “Okay,” I spoke to the boy, who probably wasn’t even really there, “I’ll help you…help you do what, exactly?” The kid shook his head and said help a few more times before fading from my view.

  I remembered the sight of his body near his mother’s in my chaotic vision. Could it possibly be that he wanted me to help him finally purify Crixis? Was that what he wanted? Well, if it was, then I’d try my hardest.

  Crixis deserved nothing less.

  Chapter Nine – Gabriel

  Tap. Tap. Tap. All I could do was tap my fingers on the counter and scratch my chin. I had no idea what to do to make Kass not mad at me. It was all because of that dumb John comment.

  Maybe eating would help me think of something. It’d already been two hours since dinner, so I was ready for another meal. Sad, wasn’t it?

  What did my bestest buddy Raphael get when he went shopping today? I mused as I opened the fridge and searched. To my surprise, it was fully stocked with meat, vegetables, fruit, and anything else you could think of that you wanted.

  My eyes quickly spotted a bag filled with cherries. Perfect. Cherries were exactly what I wanted as of two seconds ago when I first saw the clear bag. Reaching for it, I grabbed it and tore open the bag before I realized that was probably a bad idea.