Nightwalkers

by Candace Wondrak

  God, help me, I thought as I leaned in, expecting, and hoping wholeheartedly, to kiss her. Kiss her hard and passionately. However, at the very last moment, Kass turned to look at my backseat, saying, “Oh, I love the material.”

  Shit. There was no turning back now.

  My lips landed on her cheek.

  Damn, she’s soft. I wondered if her whole body was as soft as her cheek. Then I started thinking some really dirty thoughts. I just couldn’t help it. I was a guy, after all.

  “Well, this wasn’t how I thought it’d turn out. But, I can’t complain. Your cheek is really soft,” I spoke into her cheek, not bothering to move myself. I didn’t want to.

  She was quiet for a few moments before saying, “Well…Thanks for the ride. Again.” Kass turned to get out of my car, but she wasn’t going to get away that easily. Oh, no.

  I grabbed her face with both of my hands, lightly, turning her head to me as I managed to say, “Someday I want to find out if your lips are as soft as your cheeks.”

  God damn it. I wanted her so bad. I wanted to have her, all of her, right here and right now. I wanted to kiss her, among some other things. She was right here in my hands. It would be so easy to just bring her face to mine. But…no. I couldn’t do that.

  Maybe it was a sign that I shouldn’t pursue her. Karma had caught up to me once before, why not again?

  Reluctantly, I let her face go and immediately started thinking ‘why did I just let her go?’ If it had been any other girl, I would have kissed her, whether she liked it or not. But Kass was different. I couldn’t do that to her.

  Regardless of whether it was right or not, I wanted her to want me to kiss her. I wanted a two-sided thing.

  She smiled at me awkwardly, making me go crazy inside. She had started walking up her driveway, but I had something else to tell her. I had to make sure she knew I was serious about kissing her soon.

  I leaned over the seat, smiling like a moron. “Someday, Kass.” Without taking my gaze off her, I rolled my window up and drove away, silently cursing myself for acting like such a child.

  Chapter Twenty-One – Kass

  As soon as I opened the huge front door, Gabriel ran over to me, looking down at my empty hands. “What the hell? You were gone forever! Where’s my coffee?” The blonde’s eyebrows furrowed.

  “Oh.” I realized that I had thrown it out after the talk John and I had. I couldn’t tell Gabriel the truth. He would either get unreasonably jealous again, or get really annoying. And I couldn’t take either of those right now, so, like a normal person, I decided to make up a whole intricate story. “I, uh, forgot it. Oops.”

  So much for the intricate part. And the story part.

  I tried walking around him, but he got in my way, knowing that I was trying to dodge his questions. “What the hell do you mean you forgot it? You were going to Starbucks! You don’t just go to Starbucks and forget to buy the coffee! Starbucks is a coffee shop! How did you forget?” He held up his hands in despair, like it was the end of the world and he was giving up.

  But that was my signal that I could sneak under his arms, since he was so tall, and run up the stairs. The only problem was that he was following me, and he didn’t seem too happy about the whole not-having-caffeine situation. I thought about telling him that there’s coffee beans in the cupboard, but that would irritate him further. Gabriel’s anger was not a thing to be taken lightly, trust me.

  “Stop running!” He yelled after me, probably climbing the stairs two at a time, trying to catch up to me.

  I was too freaked to look behind me and see if I was right. “I said I forgot! Bad me!”

  We were now on the second flight of stairs, and Gabriel responded, “Don’t say you forgot! Don’t say ‘oops!’ And don’t say ‘bad me!’”

  I could hear his voice getting closer and closer. I was sure that he was right behind me. Shit. I felt a strong arm on my waist, and then I was tackled by Gabriel.

  In a normal situation, between two average teenagers, a boy tackling a girl would have been bad. It would have hurt. Alas, we weren’t normal, and it didn’t hurt. I was expecting it to come, actually. Sometimes tackling me was the only way Gabriel could have a face to face conversation with me. But, let me say, having a six foot five guy who weighed double of what you did on top of you was not a fun thing.

  He pinned my wrists back with his hands and my legs with his own. Parts of his blonde hair fell in my face as he stared at me intently, watching. Waiting. But I wasn’t going to give in. I’d rather take a hundred tackles from Gabriel than tell him what really happened, because I couldn’t deal with jealous or annoying Gabriel.

  “There’s something you’re not telling me,” Gabriel finally spoke, as if he knew what the reason was.

  “You’re right.” I tried squirming, but he had me good this time. “I dropped your toothbrush in the toilet this morning.”

  Ignoring that remark, he brought his face down, inches away from mine, closer than John’s face had been right before I freaked out.

  But this was Gabriel. He made me everything but uncomfortable. That was because I knew that he would never try to kiss me or anything, unlike John. Which was a good thing, because kissing Gabriel would be…weird. That’s about the only word that effectively described it. Actually, after kissing him, he’d probably just make fun of how bad it was. How bad I was. Yep, that was Gabriel.

  Our noses were touching, and his blue eyes were staring into mine. “I’m not going to believe that, though I wouldn’t put it past you. What are you hiding, Kass?”

  “I’m not hiding anything!” I said a little too quickly, which to him, only meant that I was indeed hiding something. And that something he was bound and determined to find out.

  “And why do I not believe you?” he asked, as if he really expected me to answer.

  “Um, because you have trust issues?” I repeated the line he always used on me, time and time again. But he wasn’t buying it.

  A small, subtle smile crossed his face. “Then why does your breath smell like coffee? Say—” He moved his nose to my lips. “—that wouldn’t happen to be my frappuchino, would it? Tell me now, or forever hold your peace.” He brought his nose back to mine.

  I locked my jaw. I wasn’t going to say anything, because if I did I would have to go on and explain why I drank his disgusting coffee thingy (which I didn’t feel like explaining), and then go on and talk about John (which I didn’t want to ever explain), and then that conversation would probably head towards him driving me home and the almost-kissing-him incident (which I wasn’t even sure how to explain).

  “Mhmm. That’s what I thought.”

  Gabriel was cut off by Michael, who had just exited his private bathroom, wet and wearing nothing but a black robe, “What the bloody hell is going on out here?”

  We glanced at Michael for a moment, then returned to our own glaring contest. I wasn’t going to be the one who cracked first. Fortunately, I felt Gabriel’s body start shaking, and soon we were both laughing hard at him.

  “Well?” Michael stomped his foot, acting like the parent he wasn’t. “Is someone going to tell me what the two of you are doing entangled on my floor?”

  And that only made us laugh harder. What we were laughing at, I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was the fact that Michael seemed genuinely concerned about what we were doing. I mean, what the hell did he think—that we were going crazy and getting it on right here? Um, I didn’t think so. Maybe we were laughing about the fact that we were in this position to begin with. Or, maybe we laughed because we both just needed to laugh.

  “Yeah.” Gabriel stood up and held out a hand to me. “I just found out that there’s a new Enrique Iglesias song. I had to run and tell Kass, because it’s so damn catchy.”

  Michael rose a single eyebrow, not believing his story. “I doubt that.”

  “Which part? The new single part or the part that it’s so damn catchy? It really is. I have the CD in my room, if you want to listen.”


  “No.” Michael shook his head as I finally grabbed Gabriel’s outstretched hand. He pulled me up. “The part where you needed to tell that to Kass on the floor, on top of her.”

  “You’re right,” Gabriel agreed. When I tried letting go of his hand, he yanked me in close, so my whole front body was pressed against his. He pulled me in harder by placing his other hand on my butt. I was too shocked to move or say anything.

  “I was on top of Kass because I had to tell her that I have suddenly realized that I am completely in love with her, and we decided to have hot sex right there in front of your bathroom, hoping you’d come out and—”

  Michael held up a hand, obviously having enough of Gabriel’s explanation. “Bloody teenagers,” he breathed out while walking away.

  “Wow,” Gabriel shook his head, “I’m kind of disappointed that he walked that quickly. I hadn’t even gotten to the part where I surprise you with a promise ring from a twenty-five cent vending machine. What if we were serious, and he didn’t believe us? Now that’d be a case of…well, I’m sure it’d be a case of something.”

  “Gabriel?” I asked, ignoring his rambling.

  “Yes?” He looked down at me, expectantly.

  “Since you’re done with your whole story thing, can you get your hand off my ass?”

  “Hmm…I don’t think I’m done holding it yet.”

  “It wasn’t a question.”

  “Really? It sure sounded like one.”

  “It wasn’t. It was a statement.”

  “Oh. Maybe next time you should say, ‘hey Gabriel. Get your hand off my ass before I shove it up your ass.’”

  “Hey Gabriel, get your hand off my ass before I shove it so far up your ass it’ll come out of your mouth.”

  He winked at me. “Nice addition to the threat. I really like it. I might have to use it sometime.”

  I sighed. His hand was still there. On my ass. I bet he was just loving this. “Michael’s gone. You can stop the charade now.”

  “Oh. So, what you’re saying is that anytime we’re around Michael I can touch your ass? It’s very firm by the way. Good to know.”

  “Get. Your. Hand. Off. My. Ass. Now.”

  He quickly pulled his hand off me, finally saying, “Okay. All you had to do was ask. A please would be nice every now and then.”

  “So I was supposed to say ‘please get your hand off my ass before I kill you with your own hand?’ That would have made you stop holding it sooner?”

  Gabriel shook with laughter. “Hell no. A please doesn’t mean shit to me. If I want to touch your ass, I’m going to touch your ass whether you like it or not.”

  “Oh, my God,” I exhaled a big sigh. “Did you really just say that to me, Gabriel?

  “Actually,” he held up a finger, matter-of-factly, “I did. Now what about other body parts? Am I allowed to touch those as well when Michael’s around?”

  I put my hands on my ears, trying to drown him out. “La, la, la! I can’t hear you!”

  “I think you can, you just don’t want to have this conversation. Admit it, it’s one we had to have eventually.”

  “Stop it.”

  “Make me.”

  My fists clenched, temper flaring. Gabriel was asking for a fist in his face. Another broken nose would do him good.

  “I’d love for you to make me do anything, actually.” A sly, half-grin spread on his face.

  Great, now he was acting like a five year old kid again. I swear if this boy turned out to be bipolar, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

  “But, all sexual tension aside, seriously.” He turned solemn. “You do have a great ass.”

  I threw my hands up in the air and turned to head up the stairs to the third level. “You are impossible.”

  Gabriel was like a dog on my heel, following me and eventually passing me, on account of his long legs and the fact he took two steps at a time. Walking up the stairs backwards, he smiled and said, “Don’t I know it, my raccoon.”

  I rolled my eyes and ran after him. “Oh, I’ll show you where you can put your ‘my raccoon.’”

  Gabriel turned to me before he entered his room to reply “Please say on your ass. Please.”

  “Whooooosh! Cling! Whish! Bing! Clang! Slang! No, wait. That one doesn’t make sense. Um, oh. I got it. Bang!”

  I eyed the sword in my hand, thinking for a moment, only a moment, what would happen if I just hit Gabriel on the back of the head with it. Not to kill him, but to put him into an unconscious state. That would surely shut him up.

  “If you make one more noise that you think the sword makes when it swings in the air, or hits something, I swear…” I couldn’t even think of a proper threat, so I grew silent, figuring he would fill in the rest of that sentence.

  The minute we came to the cemetery, he had suddenly decided it would be fun to make noises while we were walking. And, when we came across a Nightwalker, he felt the urge to shove me out of the way and make one of the said noises.

  “I see one!” Not even waiting for me, he flipped over about ten gravestones, did two back handsprings and a cartwheel, all while carrying his new sword. I could tell the offending Nightwalker had just risen, since it didn’t even snarl when he swung his sword cleanly through its neck.

  “Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom,” was what he said while watching it burst into flames. “Don’t worry, I got it!” He came back to my side—after jumping over ten gravestones, doing two back handsprings and a cartwheel.

  “Okay,” I acted relieved. “Because for a moment there, I thought he might stare you to death. Possibly drool on you and drown you.”

  “I know, right? I mean, what the hell? None of them are challenging tonight. It’s kind of sad when you think about it. I mean, I’ve already gotten eight of those bastards.” Gabriel turned his blonde head to me. “How many have you got?”

  I counted on my fingers. This was going to be difficult, that’s for sure. Not. “Well, not counting the five you pushed me on a grave to get to, and not counting the two you shoved me on the grass to reach—oh, and not counting the one where you took my sword and did a double sweep to behead…I have a resounding, zero. Whoo-hoo!” I mocked enthusiasm for my lack of purifyings.

  “Hmm. Wow, you’re slacking tonight, aren’t cha? Well, don’t worry, I’ll pick up the slack. I don’t mind. Tonight I’m feeling so energized. And, I want you to know that I’ve come to the conclusion that your ass must be like a battery to me, because I’ve never felt so alive. I credit this feeling entirely to the fact that I held your ass today.”

  Gabriel stopped, thinking. “Then again, maybe it’s the badass sword I have. But, anyway—” He wrapped the arm that wasn’t holding his new prized possession around my shoulders and squeezed me. “—I’m always watching your back. Although, I’ll admit, after tonight, I’ll do much less watching of the back and more watching of the ass.”

  I ignored my urge to slap him a good twenty-something times.

  We made our way, doing our rounds, when Gabriel started doing the whole noises thing again. I stopped my legs and turned to face him. “Stop doing that!”

  “What? Stop being sexy? Sorry, can’t do that. It’s something I can’t control. It’s like this beast lurks inside me, waiting to emerge all the time.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “A beast that’s obsessed with marshmallows, the Hallmark channel, and garden gnomes.”

  “Hey! You forgot that I’m also obsessed with My Wife and Kids reruns, Lea Michele in Glee, and the original Planet of the Apes! Only the first three movies, of course.”

  “Oh, right.” I rolled my eyes.

  “God, you know how to kill a romantic mood don’t you?”

  My eyes rolled yet again. “A romantic mood? How the hell is this—” I motioned to the cemetery around us. “—a ‘romantic mood?’”

  “Simple.” Gabriel shrugged his broad shoulders, rolling them into some kind of dance move. “Because I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so se
xy it hurts. I’m a model, you know what I mean? What is love? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more!”

  I couldn’t believe he was really dancing and singing like it was an 80’s sing-off and dance-off. It was like his dream where he starred in Glee and created his own mash-up of Right Said Fred and Haddaway. And, I supposed the fact that I knew both of those artists was a sad thing. I blamed Gabriel for my almost unrivaled knowledge of all things arcane and useless.

  He looked down at me and held up one finger, saying, “There is one more reason why this is a romantic mood: I’m blue, da ba de da ba di, da ba de da ba di, da ba de da ba di—oof!”

  I hit him in his stomach, and no matter how hard his stomach was, and it was pretty hard, it still couldn’t shield him from all the power of my blow.

  “What?” Gabriel wheezed out. “I thought you were getting a kick out of that? And, truthfully, so was I.”

  “It’s not that—Gabriel, get down!”

  He turned to fully face me. “Now is this about all the times I pushed you on the ground? I’m sorry about that, by the way—”

  I fell on the ground, pulling Gabriel down after me.

  He army-crawled next to me. “What’s going on?”

  I clamped my hand down over his mouth, and pointed. There was a group of Nightwalkers walking about a hundred feet away. A group of about seven. Gabriel saw and grabbed his sword, silently asking if we were going to fight them.

  I thought about it, if it were better to charge head-on, or go for a stealth attack. Tonight was kind of dull for me, it’s true. But that didn’t necessarily mean that I wanted to jump into danger. Then again, this could be the same group that’s working with the Hyena Demon. So it was our duty to—

  My feet were being pulled. Hard. And fast. I reached for my sword, but it was too far away. Figured. I was about to yell for Gabriel, but then saw that he was a bit preoccupied with his own Nightwalkers.

  I shook my legs, trying to get free before one of them bit me. Because, if that happened, I would just turn into one of those brainless, allergic-to-sunlight zombies. And that wouldn’t be good. No blood exchange needed. One foot escaped, so I kicked the one holding my other leg hard.