Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  Medieval. Christianity. Crusade.

  “Oh, my…God,” I murmured, transfixed on the screen. I knew I recognized that blasted, bleeding symbol. I knew I had seen it before, but I couldn’t remember where. I knew it because it was our history. Not only the world’s history, but also the Council’s, Purifier’s, even Demon’s. This was all of our history, and one of the darkest ages of man.

  The red cross belonged to a specialized fighting unit of the Inquisition, an order which was supposedly disbanded in the fourteen hundreds. From its ashes sprung the first-ever Council and the first Witch-made Purifier. They were supposed to be gone, nonexistent, especially now, today. This world was no place for such violence and barbarism. The world today did not need the Knights Templar.

  The Templar Order was supposed to spread Christianity, help those who needed it, while also providing military assistance in the Crusades. They were to protect the people from each other and Demons. When they were disbanded, the Council formed to take on the mantle of Demon-slaying, but, clearly, somehow the Templars had survived.

  I clutched the robe inside the chest, my hand shaking with the discovery. Standing, I dropped the robe and scrolled through my contacts. I had dozens of other high-ranking councilmen and women in my phone, but who could I trust? If Michael had hidden this the entire time…what if he was not alone?

  What if there were others?

  Who did I trust with my life? Certainly not the members of the Council. They were far too anti-Demon; they’d demand me to purify Claire and Gabriel, along with Crixis. While I still loathed Crixis, Claire and Gabriel did not deserve such a fate, even if Gabriel harmed Kass. Surely waking from a coma was a jarring experience. He’d return to normal. He had to.

  Michael, I spoke to him in my mind. What have you done?

  Chapter Five - Gabriel

  I stood by my window, staring out at the backyard. It wasn’t the backyard of my childhood, but it was a view I’d grown used to after moving here. To think, I used to like it here. I used to laugh here. There used to be a part of me that felt happy, the same part of me that adored Kass.

  Now? I could hardly look at her without remembering those visions. Her bonding with Crixis, the Demon who’d taken everything from her. The mere thought of them together, alone, sent fury coursing down my spine. I could feel my blood pressure rising. How could she be so stupid? Did she forget all he’d done to her?

  Either way, it didn’t matter. Not really. I saw the future. I knew what had to happen in order for the world to continue. I knew who had to die.

  But did it mean I’d go along with it? Did it mean I’d just do whatever I could to save the world? I was tired of saving it. For once, I wanted to watch it burn, for everyone living on it to burn with it, including Kass. A good Purifier never would think thoughts like those, but here I was, ready to throw in the towel and let the chips fall wherever they may.

  Still, even though I could hardly look at Kass, seeing Michael seconds from killing her had called to my old instincts. They were there, deep down, buried beneath the heaviness I felt after waking in the hospital. A part of me, as tiny as it was, wanted to protect Kass. She used to be everything to me. I loved her.

  How could she run to that evil, conniving Daywalker the moment I got sick? If she’d waited for me, if she’d been there when I woke, maybe I wouldn’t feel so angry and alone. Maybe I wouldn’t want to watch the world burn, I wouldn’t be so disillusioned with it all.

  Disillusioned. That’s exactly what it was. I was tired of fighting, of purifying. I didn’t want to save the world anymore. I wanted to be normal, to have normal worries. But, even if I wasn’t a Purifier, I supposed it was a pointless hope. I never was going to be normal.

  I lifted a hand to my chest, over my heart. It felt oddly heavy inside me, like it didn’t belong there. How could I ever feel normal when I wasn’t even myself? I wasn’t me. I was someone else, something else. I was the something everyone feared. I might’ve acted like a boy, like a human-turned-Purifier, but I was never as simple as that, even if I didn’t know it until now. The truth was a terrible thing, and I hated it all the same.

  I knew I was me, and yet, after waking, I felt like a stranger to myself. The soul inside me was not mine, but it was. I didn’t know him, the old me, but I did. This was a confusing show, and I wanted to turn it off. I didn’t want to play the Devil.

  The Devil. If I thought it enough, maybe I would begin to accept it. I must’ve already accepted it to some extent, because I was distant and cold, and because I’d burned Kass without even thinking about it. I didn’t want her touching me; it wasn’t as if I purposefully did so. It was an action I could not take back, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to. She had to learn I wasn’t hers anymore. I wanted nothing to do with her. If I didn’t let the world burn, I…

  Memories erupted in my head, forcing me to recall things I had no wish to. Kass, crying in the backseat after Koath left her with us to return to England. The way her eyes crinkle when she’s forcing out a frown and trying not to smile. Me, calling her my dear raccoon in the mornings, when she was likely to attack me if I gave her so little as the wrong look. Kass, covered in blood, a blank look on her face as she sat on the stairwell while Koath’s dead body laid eight feet away in the kitchen. How many times we’d spent the nights in each other’s beds, holding on for dear life.

  I didn’t want to forget those memories, even if I wanted nothing to do with Kass now. Those memories were all I had, the only thing separating me from him. Without the memories of this life, I was no better than the original me.

  Did I want to be better? It was hard to say, even harder to claim I did when I also wanted the world to burn.

  I tore my gaze from the window, sitting on the edge of my bed. The truth of it was I didn’t know what I wanted. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, whether I would help the world end or stop it. It was too much to think about. I squeezed my eyes close, stifling a moan. I hated this.

  A knock on my door took me from my thoughts, and I hissed, “What?” Even my voice sounded different, more serious, less joyful and sarcastic. I hardly felt like myself.

  Max poked his head in, a finger working to slide his glasses farther up his nose. “Do you want any dinner?”

  At the mere mention of food, my stomach growled. I did want to eat; I just didn’t want to eat with everyone else. Specifically, I didn’t want to eat with Kass. I didn’t even want to look at her. It would only upset me more.

  “No,” I said, even though it was the last thing I wanted. I might’ve felt indifferent and ambivalent toward a lot of things right now, but food? I could always pack away more food.

  Instead of leaving, Max fully entered my room, gently closing the door with his back. He was like the nerdy cousin who just couldn’t take the hint I didn’t want to play with him. Or, that’s what I assumed he was like, because I never had cousins. I might not even have had parents. Koath and his wife had just found me in an orphanage.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Just peachy, thanks.”

  “What happened when you were in that coma?” Max moved so he stood in front of me, his arms crossed. In the twilight, his red hair seemed to glow like dull fire. “What you did a few hours ago, the things you said—” He paused, shaking his head. “—this? It’s not you.”

  “You don’t know me,” I muttered. It was the truth. He hadn’t been in my life for that long. He was a stranger to me basically, just another Purifier the Council reassigned after his last Guardian bit the dust. We had nothing in common. We weren’t friends.

  Max didn’t argue with me. He said, “Maybe not, but I have spent a lot of time with you and Kass.”

  “You spent a lot of time with Michael, too,” I told him, shooting him a glare. “Did you know him well enough? Did you know he was hiding from us all along? What don’t you know, Max?”

  He didn’t flinch at my acid-laced words. “I don’t know why you’re
acting like a brooding narcissist whose only concern is himself and how he feels. I don’t know what happened to make you act this way. And—” His voice rose in pitch. “—I don’t know why you would hurt Kass. No matter what’s going on in your head, you know she cares for you. We all do. I’m not thrilled about having Crixis here either, but for the moment at least, he’s not trying to kill us.”

  “Oh, then we can just invite him to join our friendship circle.”

  Max was thoroughly unimpressed. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “Do I? Right now, all I know is you’re pissing me off, Max,” I breathed out, standing. I moved closer to him, staring down at him, fury in my eyes. He was on the shorter side for a guy. “Get out, and don’t come back.”

  He went around me, towards the door. “I’ll get out of your room, but I won’t leave this house. Whatever fight this is, it’s mine, too.” Max studied me for a few seconds before leaving me alone, slamming the door behind him.

  Whatever. I didn’t care if I upset him. He wasn’t my friend, and he never would be. He was useless.

  Something strange in my peripherals caught my attention, and I flicked my gaze to the window. My reflection was hazy, but one thing was clear: the two wisps of red smoke seeping from my eyes.

  Chapter Six - Kass

  I didn’t eat the pizza Max and Claire bought after they came home with the wood to fix the windows. Okay, not so much fix as it was used to just cover it up, but it would do. Either way, I didn’t really care. There could be a gaping hole in every single wall of this house and I wouldn’t care a single bit.

  I sat in my room, clothes thrown on the floor, makeup everywhere. I heard Liz talking on the phone earlier, knew she was calling them about Michael, about what we had to do about him, what the procedure for something like this was, but again, I didn’t care.

  Claire sat on the window seat, watching me fiddle around with my makeup. I had it caked on a bit more than I usually did, but she didn’t say anything. I also did most of it without a mirror, so I could only imagine how good it looked. My hand was nearly healed by now, the bandage off and somewhere on the floor. It still looked a little pink and extra puffy. Time would take care of it soon enough. I didn’t want to think about how close Gabriel was across the hall. It hurt too much to remember how he sneered down at me, what he said…

  “Your life is so messed up,” Claire said, jerking me from my thoughts.

  I managed a chuckle, though it was on the dry side. “I know,” I spoke softly, sadly. “It’s so fun being me. You should try it, sometime.”

  “I’d rather not.” She shook her head. “I just can’t believe I thought my life was crazy. You—everything you’ve dragged me into—makes my life look like a piece of cake.” I knew she was trying to comfort me, tell me how strong I was, blah, blah, blah. But a part of me shook it off, shook her words off.

  I didn’t feel strong. Right now, I didn’t want to be strong. I wanted to give up. It seemed like it never ended, and I was tired of it. Why couldn’t I just have some time to breathe before the next pile of crap hit the fan? Why couldn’t I think about the homecoming dance, which was coming up, without also thinking of what I’d do if Michael came for me again? Constantly fighting for your life was beyond tiring. It was hard.

  My jaw clamped shut, and I started to pick up the makeup scattered across my bed. Some of it leaked and smeared onto my comforter, but I didn’t care. “I’m so unlucky,” I finally said with a sigh.

  “You are not.” Claire was at my side the next moment, hugging me. I tensed in her grip; I only wanted to be hugged by one person, and he was clear in his feelings toward me downstairs. I could never touch him again.

  “I am,” I swore, too tired to lean out of the hug. “The unluckiest person alive. You’d think I’d be super lucky, since I’m…” I quieted, biting the inside of my cheek. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if what Crixis said was true.

  My mother was an Angel. Ethereal, beautiful, heavenly. In the few times I’d seen her, when she’d appeared to me, I supposed she did seem Angel-like, but me? I was nowhere near as flawless as her, nowhere near as pretty. Demons flocked to me like I was a fire, like…like I was the light to their darkness.

  I sighed. “Can I tell you something?”

  Claire nodded, slowly releasing me from the hug. “Of course.”

  “You promise you won’t tell?”

  Her blue gaze was somber as she said, “I promise.”

  “I…I think I’m part Angel.”

  She blinked at me. “What?”

  “My mother,” I explained quickly, “she’s come to be before, a few times, told me I was going to die. They weren’t dreams or hallucinations. She was really here with me, right in the backyard.” I pointed to the window. “I never put it together until…” Well, until Crixis, but I couldn’t give him the credit.

  “I’m sure there’s another explanation for what you are,” Claire spoke, meaning the pull she felt to me, the same pull all Demonkind felt.

  “When I died,” I spoke firmly, meeting her eyes, “I woke up in a place of white. What if…what if I was close to heaven?” But if it were true, I realized with horror, why was I sent back? My life hadn’t gotten any better since then.

  Why?

  “A lot of people who have near-death experiences say they see light.”

  “I didn’t just see it. I was there. I walked around. I hugged my dad.” I bit back the emotion that rose when I spoke of Koath. “Crixis told me he hunted my mother because she had the same pull towards her I do.” I told her about the reverse-aging and the floating, and lastly the disappearing into light.

  Claire shook her head. “He was probably lying to you.”

  “But what if he wasn’t? What if…” My eyes widened. “What if I’m supposed to fight him?” I couldn’t get any more descriptive. I couldn’t say it aloud. Just the thought of being sent back, coming back to life, only to fight Gabriel, was the worst thought I had in a while.

  If Gabriel never went back to himself, if he stayed this way, if—I hazarded the thought—he tried to end the world, would I stop him? Could I? I wouldn’t let this world fall like the other. I couldn’t let millions of people die. I would have to stop him. I would have to stop Gabriel.

  “Kass,” Claire spoke, knocking shoulders with me. “I think you’re overthinking it.”

  I wasn’t too sure about that. I thought I was thinking about it just the right amount. Giving her a look, I said, “And if I’m not? If—” A soft knock on the door caused me to stop, watching as Liz slipped through.

  “We have a problem,” she said, looking glum. Bags rested under her eyes, and she breathed a sigh. “I told the others. You should probably sit down.” Claire and I looked at each other. “Right. You’re already sitting. Well, then, I’ll just come out and say it. Michael didn’t act alone.”

  My eyebrows furrowed. “Pretty sure he was the only one who tried to kill me—that time,” I added.

  “Yes, but there’ve been numerous reports of Guardians leaving their posts. They…took their Purifiers.”

  At least they didn’t try to kill them.

  Liz swiped at her hair. “Some of them…the Council fears for their safety. Yours was not an isolated incident. It started a few days ago. I believe the Order has infiltrated the Council—” The way she spoke the word Order, like we should automatically understand who she meant, ticked me off.

  “Order? What Order?” Claire had me covered. On a normal day, Liz would never talk like this in front of a civilian, especially one who was not quite human, but today was nobody’s good, normal day.

  “The Templar Order, or Knights Templar, depending on who you ask.”

  I wracked my brain trying to remember. I knew I’d heard of Templars before, but I didn’t know where. History wasn’t my best subject.

  “They were disbanded over seven hundred years ago. They purified the lands from all sin and Demonkind before the rise of the Council and the firs
t Purifier. They were religious and holy fanatics, obsessed with spreading Christianity. They were not a friendly sort.”

  Clearly.

  “The Order, huh?” I spoke through grit teeth. “Do we know what they want?”

  “Collectively, no. Michael wants you out of the picture, though. I fear…” Liz trailed off, tossing a glimpse over her shoulder, as if Gabriel was behind her. “…it has something to do with Gabriel.” She came up to me, reaching for my hand. When she saw it was mostly healed, she released it. “If he is…more than what he appears to be, the Order will want him, as will the Council.”

  Handing Gabriel over to either of them—even if he was mean and cruel—was not an option, which Liz understood, judging from the expression on her face.

  I felt my will harden. “The Order won’t get him, and once we take care of them, we’ll go after the Council next.”

  “Go after?” Liz echoed. “There will be no going after anyone, especially the Council. They are the reason you’re here, don’t forget.”

  My fists clenched, and I slid off my bed, away from Liz and Claire. Arms shaking at my sides, I said quickly, “No, they aren’t. I’m the reason I’m here. Gabriel and Koath are the reason I’m here. The Council? Don’t make me laugh. They’re the reason I risk my life on a daily basis. They would have me purify Claire!” And if there was a part of me that wasn’t human, they might want me dead as well. “They aren’t the leaders you think they are.”

  “They fed you, clothed you—” Liz spoke, ignoring the confused and startled what? from Claire. “They provided everything for you.”

  “And all they ask is my life in return,” I said. “And my death. And, Liz, you know what? They had it. I died for them. I will not live and die for them again.”

  “Claire,” Liz paused, “can you give us a minute?”

  Claire pursed her lips, still not over the purify Claire bit, not that I could blame her for it. I wouldn’t get over hearing something like that either. She swung her legs off the bed, starting for the door, and she said, “It’s getting late anyway. I should go home. Steven’s been texting me nonstop.”