Nightwalkers

by Candace Wondrak

  Michael went to shake his hand, but not before he gave me a look. You know, the one with one eyebrow up. The one that asked if this was the boy who I may or may not like. The one that wondered if I’d be dating him more often, that I’d finally have my first kiss…

  Okay. Maybe Michael wasn’t thinking that last part.

  “I’m Michael. It’s very nice to meet you, John. Kass has told us—” He caught himself when I nonchalantly shook my head no. “—absolutely nothing about you,” Michael finished while making me seem like a jerk in the process.

  Thanks, Michael. Thanks a lot.

  “Okay.” Michael took a sip of his tea and walked over to the bags. Peeking inside them, he asked, “These all presents for—”

  I ran over and hip-pushed him aside, making him stop speaking since he almost spilled his dumb tea. “Yeah. These are those. Those are these. Yep.”

  Great. Now I was babbling like an idiot. It was harder keeping a secret than telling the truth, but I was almost home free so I wasn’t going to let the truth slip now.

  Michael said nothing as he stared at me and then John. He was loving this, clearly.

  Fine, maybe I should just come out and say ‘hey, John. Turns out I’ve been lying to you pretty much the whole time you have known me. I actually purify Demons, which means I’ve probably saved your life more than once.’ And while I was at it, I’d also say ‘oh, by the way, your cologne or aftershave or whatever the hell it is you use smells delicious and it makes me go crazy every time I’m around you.’

  Um, no thanks.

  Think I will keep those statements to myself.

  “Well,” I muttered, breaking the silence, “I have to go, um, put these away, so…I’ll see you later, John.”

  He nodded and replied, “Okay. It was really fun today at the mall. We should definitely do it more often.” Michael’s eyebrow rose even higher, if that was possible. “And,” without a warning, John hugged me, which was weird, because I’ve never been hugged like that before. The hug was warm and strong, and it forced the breath right out of me.

  I never wanted him to let me go.

  He whispered into my ear, “Someday, Kass.” John let me go and shook Michael’s hand once more. “It was nice meeting you, sir.” He glanced back at me, seeing that I was recovering from blushing at his ‘someday’ statement. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Our physics project is waiting.” With a wink, he left.

  Michael waited a minute before speaking. “Seems like a nice boy.”

  “Oh, God.” I rolled my eyes as I stormed up the stairs, making great effort to take all the bags up in one trip, which proved to be a difficulty. It was like he was my boyfriend, and it was the first time he met my dad, even though Michael wasn’t my dad and John wasn’t my boyfriend. But it felt awkward nonetheless. Or, at least as awkward as I imagined it would be, since, you know, I’d never had a boyfriend before. Or a dad.

  I spread all the gifts, the scissors, and the wrapping paper out on my bed. I began cutting when Michael entered my room and sat across from me on my bed. Once I cut a sheet, I gave it to him, along with the appropriate gift, and he started wrapping it.

  “Now don’t kill me for what I’m about to say.” Michael started wrapping the second present. “But do I need to have the talk with you?”

  I looked at him sharply. “If I throw these scissors at your face, will you know what the answer is?”

  “Okay, okay! Bloody hell, I was teasing! I wasn’t sure if—”

  I cut him off, “Michael, we’re not even dating.”

  “Well, from what I observed downstairs, it seemed like you were.”

  “We’re not.”

  “Kassandra.” Micahel reached his hand over to me, trying to comfort me, but I was too angry.

  “No.” I shook his hand off. “No,” I said a bit more calmly. “No.”

  “I understand what you’re going through. You’re experiencing feelings you’ve never felt before and you’re confused, and—”

  “It’s not that.” My head shook, causing my wavy hair to get in my eyes. But I was too lazy to move it out of my face. However Michael, was not.

  He moved the pieces of hair behind my ear. “And you don’t want your first boyfriend to try to kill you.”

  I couldn’t deny that, because it was true. The last time, and the only time, Gabriel was in a relationship that lasted more than two dates, the girl had tried killing him. And she had almost succeeded in killing both him and me.

  Maybe that was the reason I was afraid of taking the thing between John and I anywhere. I was afraid.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” I stammered.

  “Take it from me, Kass.” Michael wrapped up the final present. “Not every guy in this world is an evil Demon.”

  Gabriel and Raphael walked in and were, for the most part, unknowing of what surprises awaited them. And by surprises I meant presents and cake. And by them I meant just for Gabriel. Raphael, that hard-ass, didn’t deserve any surprises. Not any good ones.

  Michael sat on a barstool and I sprawled out on a few kitchen chairs. It was six-thirty, which meant they were thirty minutes late. Not that I was complaining.

  “Sorry we ran late,” Raphael apologized the second he saw us waiting.

  It’s not like it mattered. I’d only been sitting here for the past thirty minutes in the same chairs, barely moving because I was lazy and my legs had fallen asleep. Mostly I was lazy.

  Gabriel, much to my chagrin, slapped my foot off a chair and sat next to me. “Yeah. You are going to be jealous. Raphael took me to an arcade and bought me ten bucks worth of games. I lost them all, of course. And then he took me to that little pet store down on Water Street. They had the most adorable puppies. I asked ‘Raphy, Raphy, can I keep one?’ And he said no, being the mean person he is.”

  I laughed because I couldn’t help it. “Raphy? Did you really just call him Raphy?”

  Raphael stood properly, as if he was ignoring everything we were saying. “We did no such things. Do not listen to this boy’s ceaseless lies. I would sooner kick a puppy then let this boy get away with calling me Raphy.”

  “Whoa. Simmer down there, Raphy.” Gabriel continued, oblivious to the fact that Raphael scowled at him. “And kick a puppy? You are a mean, mean man. Besides, it is this randomly chosen day that I have grown up and am no longer a boy. I am a man. A sexy, grown, no-nonsense kind of man.”

  Michael brought out his wrapped presents, setting them on the table.

  Gabriel clapped. “Ooh, goody! Presents!”

  I rolled my eyes. So much for him being a ‘no-nonsense’ kind of man.

  Raphael turned to Michael. “Randomly chosen day?”

  “Yes.” He nodded while Gabriel started to rip open his first gift. “Gabriel and Kass don’t know when they were really born, so they picked a day. For all we know, Kass could be only fifteen and Gabriel could be twenty. Though,” he said, sneaking a glance at us, “based on the way they act, I would say the opposite, I suppose.”

  “What…what’s this? Is this what I think it is?” Gabriel looked at me, and I smiled in response. “A Snuggie? It is! It is! It’s a Snuggie! I’ve always wanted one of these!”

  Michael chuckled, saying, “I believe the whole world knew that, Gabriel.”

  I could have sworn, one second he was staring at the box, and after I blinked, Gabriel was already done opening all his other presents: a Spartacus action figure, a garden gnome, a tiger Pillowpet, and a Staples Easy Button.

  “Alright, I told myself this morning that I was going to stop giving group hugs because they’re a little juvenile, but oh, what the hell? Come here, all of you,” Gabriel motioned for all of us to come closer as he stood up. Michael and I made our way to him and he welcomed us with open arms, but when Raphael stepped closer, Gabriel said, “Not you, Raphy. I don’t know you well enough to include you in this hug fest.”

  “Gabriel!” I scolded him, even though it was true.

  Gabriel started chanting
cake again and again, forcing Michael to retrieve it from the fridge. He took it out of the box and brought it in front of Gabriel. I huddled next to him. The boy was standing in front of the cake, so it was hard for me to see. Michael went to look for matches and candles.

  “Hey,” Gabriel whispered to me, “what’s that?” He pointed to the cake.

  “What’s what?” I asked, studying the cake for the offending thing.

  “That.” k|1|2

  “What?”

  “That!”

  While Raphael had gone to help Michael find the matches, I brought my face down to the cake, truly not seeing anything wrong with it. There were not spots or hairs or anything. “What?”

  That’s when Gabriel shoved my face straight down, into the cake.

  There was so much cake on my face, and the frosting…was the frosting ever going to come out of my hair? I was wordless. Seriously. I couldn’t say anything, so I glared at him. Gabriel almost doubled over from his laughter.

  That’s it.

  I took a giant piece of cake with both hands and spread it across his whole face. Now it was my turn to laugh. I had gotten it in his eyes.

  He wiped it out of his blue gaze and glared at me.

  What was he going to do—throw cake at me?

  Yep.

  A giant ball of cake landed on my neck and slid down my shirt.

  My mouth dropped open. “This was a nice shirt,” I exclaimed, irritated. He was going to get it back tenfold. As I threw another ball of cake, I managed to get a chunk of it to slide down his shirt and land in the center of his crotch.

  I stuck my tongue out.

  Grabbing some off of his body and smacking it on top of my head, he stuck his out.

  Michael and Raphael saw us for the first time, in our cake-smeared glory. They glanced at each other, set the matches and candles down slowly, and walked up the stairs. Michael said, “Happy birthday, Gabriel. And so you both know, I’m not cleaning this up.”

  “Wait!” Gabriel yelled around the stairwell. “What cha doing?”

  “Having a grown up discussion. Don’t wait up.”

  Gabriel stared at me from underneath his cake-stained face. “Since when does Michael say don’t wait up?”

  My shoulders shrugged. And then I shoved some more cake in his face, just to see if it was still funny.

  And, yep. It was.

  The kitchen was clean. My body was clean. Gabriel’s body was clean. Everything was taken care of. But were we sleeping, or at least getting ready to sleep, like we should have been doing on a Sunday night before school? Nope.

  We were reclining on the couch in front of the giant flat screen in the living room. That was when I remembered I had something to give him. Something that was just awesome. I had even hidden it under the pillows on the couch.

  Good thinking, I praised myself on guessing that I would feel lazy tonight (which I did), and hiding it here. I found it and turned to Gabriel, hiding it behind my back.

  “I have something for you,” I said as I revealed it.

  Gabriel managed to murmur as he saw what laid in my hands, “Is that…yes it is! Malcolm in the Middle! I haven’t seen that in forever! I love you, I really do.” He pulled me into a hug. “You aren’t bad, I hope you know that.”

  “Oh, thanks,” I answered as I lightly his arm.

  Gabriel held my squished (and squeaky-clean) face between his two hands. “I have something for you too,” he spoke ever so quietly, below a whispering tone.

  He was starting to scare me. For a few moments, he didn’t move, which made me unsure of what he was talking about. His sapphire gaze fell to our laps, hands not moving from my face. There was something else he wanted to say—I could tell, but in a flash he let go of me and ran upstairs.

  I sat back, collecting myself. That was weird, wasn’t it? Or was I just making it weirder than it really was? Because, I have been told, I did do that.

  Suddenly he was back down, jumping over the back of the couch and landing perfectly next to me. He was holding a long thin, black box.

  What could possibly be inside? I wondered. And why was he giving something to me on his birthday? That’s not how birthdays work. This boy had to be up to something.

  “Here.” He handed it to me, oddly hesitant.

  I took it and divided my time staring at the box and at Gabriel.

  “I…bought it a long time ago. About three years ago, actually.” He swallowed, as if he was trying to say something important.

  “Three years?” I questioned. Three years ago I had saved his life. Barely.

  “Yeah.” Gabriel rubbed his hands on his face, which needed a shaving, to be honest. “I went and got it right after…well, you know.”

  “But that was three years ago,” I repeated, incredulous.

  “I know, I know. I…got it on an impulse the day after, while you were in, like, a comatose state.” My blank look made him continue, “You don’t understand. I thought you might never wake up. The second you brought me to Michael, you passed out and became unresponsive for the next seventy-two hours! I was so worried. You just—looked so still…so white. You didn’t react to anything. You couldn’t even squeeze my hand.” Gabriel stared at his own hand, as if reliving it.

  He looked up at me, deadly serious. “You were so badly beaten, Kass. I came out of there with a few bumps and bruises. But you…you had ribs cracked, your nose broken, a concussion. All because of a damn girl and her pet Nightwalkers. And it wasn’t like we could take you to the hospital. What were we supposed to say? ‘Oh, yeah. She was fighting twenty Nightwalkers, which are Vampires, by the way, and—’”

  After putting the box down on my lap, I reached over to him. But he smacked my hand away. “Kass, it was my fault. It was all my fault. You even warned me, but I didn’t believe you. I thought this girl really liked me, but it turned out she only wanted me as food. You almost died because of me. If you would have died, I don’t think I could have lived with myself…”

  “Gabriel.”

  He didn’t look me in the eye.

  “I’m not dead. I’m okay. We weren’t meant to die there, Gabriel. That day was supposed to make us stronger,” I said what I had only recently begun to believe.

  “Did it?” Gabriel finally glanced at me. “Did it make us stronger?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Gabriel

  Three Years Ago

  I searched every glass case, looking for the perfect one. Michael’s stolen card was in my pocket, so the amount wasn’t the problem. The problem was finding the right one for her, for Kass.

  A stout woman walked up to me, dressed in fancy clothes. She sized me up, her scowl indicating that she was unaware of the card in my pocket. “Can I help you find anything?”

  I bit my lip, unsure of what to do. “Yeah,” my voice cracked, “I’m looking for something for…my…” Damn it, it hurt like hell to talk. My lip was bruised and my face swollen. I wondered if this lady thought I was a hoodlum or a kid just wasting her time.

  “Girlfriend?” The lady finished my sentence.

  I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, my…girlfriend.”

  Kass as my girlfriend. That was…not something I normally thought about. I never once thought of her like that, never.

  She smiled and folded her ringed fingers on top of the glass. “Have anything in mind?”

  “Not really,” I answered truthfully. I didn’t know what things Kass liked. If she would rather have girly jewelry, a ring, a bracelet—I had no damn idea. “Uh, it has to be…I’m really not good at this kind of thing…”

  “Come with me.” The woman led me through the store, to a back room with some really expensive stuff. Who the hell would pay three thousand for a half-carat of black diamond?

  “Depending on your price range, might I suggest this?” The woman opened the display case. She held it up to my face. “This is a very unique item we just got in stock. The only one we have. It is a beautiful piece, even if you and your girlfriend are n
ot the religious type.”

  Not tearing my eyes from it, I said, “We are. What does this mean?”

  “The cross represents God and his love. I like to think of it as God’s protection. And the heart—I think we both know what the heart means.”

  I did, though I was uneasy getting it for Kass. “I’ll take it.”

  The woman seemed happy, albeit skeptical, but she rang me out with no problems.

  After making the purchase that Michael will definitely not be happy about when he finds out, I ran home. I may have been hurt, but I still made the distance in ten minutes.

  I busted through the door, hoping Michael was somewhere else. But he wasn’t. He was standing there, arms folded, acting like he was my father. Which he wasn’t.

  “Where the bloody hell have you been?”

  “Nowhere” was the only word I said as I stealthily hid the long box in my coat pocket. He didn’t need to know about the purchase yet. Swallowing, I inquired, “How is she?”

  Michael’s eyes met with the linoleum floor.

  Damn it.

  I didn’t wait for his response, for his disheartened expression was all I needed. Instead, I ran up the stairs and barged in her room, half expecting her to be up and about, jamming to music and putting away her clothes. But she wasn’t.

  Kass was still laying in her bed. The same position Michael had placed her in two days ago. I ran up to her and knelt by her bedside. “Kass—” I held her hand. “—can you hear me?” I squeezed her hand, hoping she’d feel it, wherever she was. “Kass, come back. Please come back. Please.”

  I heard Michael’s soft footsteps behind me. “Gabriel.”

  “No!” I yelled, because I knew what he was going to say. ‘What if she never wakes up, Gabriel? What will you do then? You know you have to go on…without her.’

  But that was one thing I could never do. I could never, ever go on without Kass. She was like my second half. She was my best friend. No, she was my only friend. The only person I needed in my life.

  “Leave,” I growled as fiercely as I could, though my voice broke, signaling that I was about as dangerous as a sick kitten.