The Nightwalkers Saga: Books 1 - 7

by Candace Wondrak

  He lost himself, buried inside his deepest thoughts. Crixis wanted to believe he was going to kill her. But the way he said it time and time again…

  I knew Crixis better than anyone. I knew his ways like no other. Crixis didn’t merely want to turn anyone anymore. He found it boring and wasteful. Unleash a world of predators and eventually the prey ran out.

  The last time he changed someone, a woman, it didn’t turn out well. Since then he’d given it up, but I feared that would change when he finally realized that Kass was something no one had ever seen, at least in a very long time.

  The pull, the attraction, the magnetism. There was something about her that drew me in, that drew us all in, like moths to flame. Alas, when the moth reached the flames, it died.

  I felt energized, alive. I felt empowered to be a good man and to never let anyone down ever again. Urges that I’d never experienced in a very long time rose to the surface while she was near. It was an amazing feeling. A peculiar feeling that I couldn’t help.

  A human could never incite such things this naturally. I came to the conclusion long ago that Kassandra wasn’t human. The mystery still remained, however, of what exactly she was.

  I sighed. “It is a very complicated ritual. The ritual itself is not the complicated part, though. The complications are usually dealing with the preparations.”

  Her vibrant green eyes stared at me, silently asking me what those preparations were.

  “A greater Vampire obviously has to be willing to perform the ritual. Usually, the Demon has its eyes set on a human lover, or even a close friend. In most cases—” My mind flashed back to Leliana. “—it’s the first one. The Vampire also must have found and procured a Zeny.”

  “A Zeny?” She twirled her hair around her finger, gazing at me intently, something dawning on her.

  “Yes. It is a three-legged Demon dog with eight eyes. A very frightening sight.”

  “Yeah,” Kass spoke, “I think Gabriel and I fought one of those. It was huge, and when it died, it—”

  “Burst into fire?” I finished her sentence confidently. It was an odd thing that they came across one, especially in America. From my research, the Zeny should have been extinct. Or nearly so, anyways. Perhaps it followed the Shifter here from England.

  She was confident, “Just like Nightwalkers.”

  “Yes. Nightwalkers originated from a single man who was bitten by a Zeny millennia ago. The toxin on their teeth kills instantly. Once it works its way deeper into the body’s dead systems, it reanimates it. That is how lesser Vampires came to be. They are driven on the same instincts as the Zeny, to feed. That is why if you are bitten by one, you will die and become one.”

  “I didn’t ask for a history lesson on Nightwalkers. Get to the Daywalker part.” Kass looked down, getting some brown hair in her face. “How does the Zeny tie in to the ritual?”

  “After the greater Vampire kills its human, the Zeny must bite him or her.” Part of me pondered if Kass wondered about how I knew all this.

  “The dead person? Won’t that just bring them back as a Nightwalker?”

  “Yes,” I nodded once, “normally. But not on a full moon. They come back to life in seconds after being bit when the moon is full.”

  “Why not as a Nightwalker?”

  “Because…a full moon was the night the original greater Vampires were created. The Originals are descendants of a human and a Zeny that procreated on a full moon. A bit of magic, I suppose.”

  I jerked back when Kass yelled, “What? That’s not biologically possible. I’ve never seen an Original, but I’ve got to assume they’re mostly human. Humans and dogs don’t, uh, do that.”

  “Oh, but it is possible. A Zeny is not an animal, not a dog. It’s a Demon. It does not follow the rules of nature.” I chuckled at the expression on her face and continued, “Full moons are sacred to Witches and Demons alike. The moon slows the Zeny’s toxin.”

  She flipped her hair to her other shoulder, asking, “So if I got bitten by one on a full moon, I’d be fine? I wouldn’t turn into a Nightwalker?”

  “Not until the full moon was over,” I answered, breaking eye contact. “If the ritual was not properly done or completed on time, the person would turn into a Nightwalker.”

  “Okay…so, after being bitten and coming back to life during a full moon, what’s next?”

  “Then the greater Vampire would feed some of its blood to the human, securing the person to higher Demon-hood. Then—”

  Kassandra stopped me, saying, “The bloodrush?”

  Staring quizzically at her, I wondered how she knew that. The bloodrush was something only greater Vampires had. If she had no idea how they were created, she shouldn’t know a thing about the bloodrush.

  “Michael mentioned it to me,” she answered my puzzled eyes.

  “You are correct. The bloodrush. Usually the greater Vampire helps its protégé to overcome it, so as to not lose control. With help, the bloodrush can be avoided altogether.”

  If a Vampire, say, Crixis, left his newly-turned Vampire protégé without teaching it the ways of the world, bad things would happen. Very bad things that would alter lives that were never meant to be touched.

  “Hmm. Good to know.” Kass appeared happy that she knew the truth.

  But she didn’t know the whole truth. Not yet.

  “Crixis is different,” I told her seriously, noting the worry returning to her magnificent eyes. “There is something else inside of him that gives him more power. If he consumes something, be it human or Demon, he gains their strength, their power. Crixis did devour a Zeny before the Council hunted them down.”

  “What are you saying?” Her tone was alarmed, and for good reason. “He can turn someone whenever he wants?”

  “That is exactly what I am saying. If he bites you on a normal day, you eventually die and become a Nightwalker, but if he bites you on a full moon and feeds you his blood in return, you become one of him.”

  “Crap.” She blinked.

  “But,” I said, placing a reassuring hand on her back, “you should not worry. You have everyone on your side. You will be fine. Perhaps you should avoid wandering in the cemetery alone any time soon, though.” As I said this, I bit the inside of my cheek, my mind a mile away, as it always was when Crixis was mentioned.

  “Give me some credit.” Kass laughed and pushed my hand away. “I’m not that stupid.”

  “You are not stupid; you merely lack good judgment on occasion,” I said as I heard the doors to the church opening. Turning my head, I noticed Koath walking down the aisle. He was early. We stood and met him halfway.

  “Sorry to cut your punishment short,” Koath glanced at Kass, “but I figured you and I could go out to dinner. Like old times. I hope that’s all right with you, Raphael?” He turned his aged eyes on me.

  What was I supposed to say? All I said was “Of course” with a smile on my face to hide my true thoughts.

  “Great.” Koath laughed and motioned for Kass.

  Grinning, she side-glanced at me and walked with Koath out of the church.

  Alone once more. That’s how it always turned out for me. I was not complaining, but I wished that things were not as they were. That I was as I was all those years ago. What a simpler existence.

  When the doors closed, I turned to face the giant cross.

  Kassandra had no idea what she was, I knew it. And I also knew that what she was had an effect on every Demon she met. Those feelings would draw any Demon without restraint off the edge. John/Osiris included.

  I had my theories why John liked her as much as he did before and after being purified by Kass. The attraction was too much for his Vampiric self to keep away from her and too strong for even Osiris to resist.

  If something as powerful as Osiris couldn’t resist her, how could Crixis be any different?

  Chapter Fourteen – Kass

  “Hello,” the man behind the hot dog stand smiled a toothy grin, asking, “what’ll you
have?”

  Without thinking for one second, Koath answered, “Two, please. One with everything.” That man knew me too well. All I ever wanted on my hot dog was ketchup. I was the normal one out of the two; Koath was the weird one with his hot dog covered in everything known to man.

  Yeah. He wanted to take me out for dinner, anywhere I wanted. The only place I’d been dying to try (and the only place I knew about in town) was the hot dog stand in the middle of the park. The same park I first ran into Vincent, the Shifter.

  Koath paid the man, and as he readied our order said, “Can’t believe this is what you want. If I said I’ll take you anywhere to Gabriel, he would have picked the most expensive place and got the priciest meal.”

  Shrugging, I said, “What can I say? I’m a simple girl, deep down.”

  A simple girl that could die at any moment, any time. And what’s worse? I could get turned. I mentally cursed Raphael for telling me all that stuff. If only knowing made me feel better. It didn’t. Sometimes the truth just made things worse.

  The chubby man handed us our hot dogs and we scurried to a nearby bench. As I held the wiener up, I wondered if it was going to taste as good as it looked. Michael refused to make hot dogs because he believed they were wholly unhealthy. That might’ve been true, but they were tasty anyways.

  Taking a giant bite, I reveled in the scrumptiousness. When was the last time I had a hot dog this good? Years, probably.

  Koath caught some of the radish before it fell onto his lap, saying, “I faxed the last of the papers over to the Council.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I turned to face him, swallowing before I continued, “What about?”

  “Sending over an Agent to help deal with Crixis,” he replied with a mouthful.

  “Really?” I was incredulous. “That’s…” So incredulous that I could not form another sentence, apparently.

  “That’s good, Kass. That’s good.” Koath wiped his scruffy face with a napkin.

  “Yeah,” I managed to say, “do you know who they’re sending?”

  He shook his head, much to my disappointment. “I do not. The papers were ratified Saturday night. The Agent should be here in a week, at the absolute latest. I, myself, am hoping he’s here by Thursday.”

  Sighing softly, I said before chomping a huge bite, “Why is the Council always so slow at everything?” It was a legit question, because from everything I’d heard, the Council moved at a snail’s pace. Maybe even slower than that.

  After a while we stood and walked to the trash can.

  Koath wandered us to the trail that wound around the huge lake in the center of the park. “The Council is very careful. They make sure everything’s in order before acting upon anything. I’ve been part of the Council for the last twenty-two years, and they’ve never been faster.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Hard to believe.”

  “I know.”

  A random, but reasonable question came in my head, like they most often do. “Koath, where does the Council get people like us? Like Gabriel and me. Where do they find us?”

  He seemed to think on this for quite a while before saying “Most Purifiers are orphans. The Council adopts kids who show a strong potential for intelligence, physical fitness, and integrity.”

  My eyes became glued to him as runners passed us by. “What about the others?”

  Koath rubbed his stubble with his left hand and dug his right in his pocket. “The others are…saved from disaster.”

  “Disaster?”

  “If the Council spots a potential recruit, they place tabs on them, making sure nothing bad happens to them, or their family. If something does happen, if the father decides to murder his wife, for example, the Council would step in and take the child.”

  A grin of skepticism swept across my face. “They kidnap kids?”

  “Not technically, no,” Koath was slow to say, “they never kidnap anyone. Everything they do is legal. Granted, some it pushes the limits, but legal it is nevertheless. I answered your question, now you answer mine.” He paused, “Why won’t you tell Raphael where you got the staff?”

  I chuckled. Seriously? Raphael told Koath to ask me this? Lame. Although, under his stare, I felt like coming clean. But that wasn’t going to happen, because I wasn’t going to let it. The lie would continue because it was just too hard to explain the truth. Plus, Raphael didn’t deserve the truth.

  “I already told him,” I chirped with sincerity, “I found it on the ground, in the woods.”

  “Right. But just so you know,” he said, holding a finger up at me, “I know you and I’m not believing a word you say. Sooner or later the truth will come out, and let me be the first to tell you that I won’t be there every afternoon to save you from your punishment.”

  I laughed, then I shrugged.

  I sighed. After five minutes, I sighed again. And every five minutes after that I sighed again. Needless to say, I did a whole lot of sighing and not so much sleeping. For the life of me I couldn’t fall asleep.

  I cleared my mind, counted imaginary sheep, and went backwards from one hundred. Nothing helped me. Not a thing. Why was I having so much trouble falling asleep? And why was there a huge pit in the bottom of my stomach?

  Another sigh came from my lungs as I snaked my way out of my covers. I practically tiptoed out of my room, down the hall, down the two flights of stairs, and out of the front door. My feet knew where to go—it was kind of freaking me out, because the last time something like this happened, I landed myself somewhere in the cemetery with Crixis. Rain had gotten there just in time, saving me from an untimely and horrific death. He wasn’t going to save me this time. Who knew where he, John and Alyssa wound up.

  Translation: Crixis might actually kill me. A bad thing, surely, but I hated this waiting game. I hated it with a burning passion.

  I rounded the driveway and tried grabbing hold of the stone arch that surrounded it. For the first few moments I had a firm grasp on it, but as my legs kept going and putting more distance between the two, my fingers slowly lost their grip.

  Just like last time, the sensation was hard to explain. It felt like I just needed to go somewhere. My legs knew but my brain didn’t. It was the weirdest thing.

  Maybe this was my destiny. To march myself into the murderous hands of Crixis and let him kill me without putting up any semblance of a fight. The houses fell behind me as I marched to a familiar location: the cemetery.

  The headstones which I passed in the graveyard were ancient; all were from over two hundred years ago. Some of these stones held up better against the weather and time than the newer ones did, besides the limestone ones.

  Wind whipped at my bare legs and arms, making me wish that I wore actual pajamas and not short shorts and a flimsy tank top. It had to be done though, since all the sheets Michael had left in the house were flannels, and even with the air conditioning on, it was too hot in this town. He was supposed to buy new sheets for me after the blood fiasco, but he hadn’t gotten around to it today. Too much back-and-forth with the Council. Apparently, no one ever had that much blood appear out of nowhere. They doubted his story, and they doubted me.

  This North Carolinian air was muggy and hot, even though it was in the middle of the night, but I’d rather cover myself up than bare it all before Crixis.

  That was not something I’d ever do while I was alive.

  This was ridiculous. Why was I here? What made me come here? And could somebody please tell me why I felt like something momentous was going to happen?

  “Don’t you look…tasty,” a harsh voice whispered in my ear. Crixis.

  Gathering up my courage and hoping it was enough, I slowly turned to face the menacing man who would not leave me alone. Except he wasn’t there. Squinting my eyes, I scanned the area. Nothing.

  “Show yourself,” I stated, fists clenching. “Coward,” I spoke the word softly, hardening it into a threat-like sentence. If I was going down tonight, then I would make it as hard
for him as I could.

  “I think we both know that I’m the very opposite of a coward.” Crixis flashed in front of me, inches away. “Unless you wish to convince yourself otherwise, then by all means, go ahead.”

  Unmoving, I silently glared at his green eyes. Those were among the only things I could make out on his face. Everything else disappeared into the darkness of the night, blending in as well as his black hair did.

  “How did you make me come here?” Despite everything, I wanted answers. To the end, I was curious.

  “You mean you don’t feel it?” His deep voice was barely recognizable. For once, he sounded normal. Like he had just smooth talked his way into a date.

  “No,” I spat, “all I feel right now is hatred and disgust.”

  “You think yourself so witty, don’t you? Such a shame nothing can kill me. You—” His strong legs stepped closer. “—on the other hand, can die like any other. You truly have no idea how much I’m going to enjoy this. And this time, there’s no pathetic Vampire to save you.”

  I tilted my head, letting some long, brown hair cover my face. “Are you?”

  Crixis paused his approach, seeming confused by my question. “Am I what? Going to kill you? I thought you were smart enough to know that the answer’s yes.” Ignoring the awful circumstance, his bewildered face was amusing.

  “Is it?”

  His expression returned to seriousness. “It is.”

  My mind recalled what Raphael had said: Crixis wanted to turn me. Judging the look on his face, Raphael was wrong. He wanted to kill me once and for all. But, that was good. The world needed a Daywalker Kass like Gabriel needed more tattoos.

  And he did not need more tattoos.

  My courage came full circle, that or I was too tired to care, so I shrugged it off, saying, “Then save me your evil monologue and just bring it for once. Unless,” I mocked what he said earlier, “you wish to waste time, then by all means, go ahead.”