The Nightwalkers Saga: Books 1 - 7

by Candace Wondrak

  He ran a thin, freckly hand through his short, red hair. “It’s okay. It’s much better than where I was before.”

  I never thought of that. Max was somewhere else for his whole life. He wasn’t always with Koath…because I was. “Where were you before?”

  “Cleveland.”

  “So this is a big change for you?” I watched him nod slowly. “Yeah, me too. Before coming here, Gabriel and I were stationed out west, where there’s no green grass and hardly any trees. And absolutely no rain,” I added as an afterthought, thinking of the huge thunderstorm that had just taken place this past weekend.

  “Tell me about it,” his deep voice joined in. “This location, and the people here, are much different than the ones in Cleveland.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” I began slowly, “what happened with your old Guardian?”

  It was moments before the small, leprechaun-like boy responded, “He died.”

  “Ah,” I said with a note of sympathy in my voice, “a Demon got him?”

  “No,” Max shook the idea off easily, “he was shot.”

  I jumped back at his statement. “He was shot by a Demon?” Even I knew that was a long shot. The kid shook his head. “Oh. I’m sorry.” I placed a gentle, somewhat awkward hand on his wiry shoulder. “At least…you have us now.”

  Wow. Me and the bright side? Those were two things that seldom crossed paths.

  “And…” My voice trailed off. For some reason, I felt weird trying to pry into Max’s deepest and inner feelings. “Other friends.”

  His eyes appeared shocked. “Other friends?” Max repeated, sounding unsure of himself.

  “Yeah, you know…” There was no way this wasn’t going to be awkward, so I was just going to come out and say it. “Claire.”

  “Claire?” He rubbed the back of his sunburnt neck. “Yeah, I guess. But she’s different, you know?”

  “Different how?” I prodded.

  “She’s smart, nice, funny, pretty,” Max rambled off without thinking. He caught himself, quickly saying, “I mean, a good personality, inside and out.”

  Well, I got him to admit that he thought she was smart, nice, funny, and pretty. Not sure I agreed with all of them, but then again, I wasn’t Max. There was something in the tone of his voice that made me feel like there was a but… statement coming.

  And there was.

  “But I could never…I mean, we could never—” Max was clearly having some trouble with his words, and it was kind of cute. “She’s normal. A civilian. And I’m not. We could never date or anything, so it’s pointless to try and convince myself otherwise.”

  “Max,” I said lightly, “those aren’t rules…they’re more like guideline. You can do whatever you want.”

  “But Koath always says that—”

  I held up a hand, stopping him. “Believe me, I know what Koath says. That’s just his way of saying be careful. He doesn’t actually mean that you can never have a relationship.”

  “Don’t scream at me for saying this,” Max started. Great. That was always a fantastic way to start a sentence. “But didn’t your relationship with a civilian cause a lot of people to die?”

  I thought back to John and the way I used to feel about him. None of those feelings were alive now, not after all the things he did. Sure, the John in the other reality was good, but I had to force myself to forget all about him.

  “That was purely incidental. Nothing like that would have happened if Crixis wasn’t out for me. John would never have turned crazy and killed all those people. And besides, our relationship had nothing to do with that part,” I said, sincerity literally dripping from my voice.

  “Plus,” I added, sneaking a look at Max, “John wasn’t human to begin with.”

  Chapter Eighteen – Crixis

  The smell of putrid humanity was dank and unavoidable in this dive of a bar. I could feel the beat of the music pumping through my body. Some seemed to really like this feeling, but I was not among them. It was annoying and distasteful. I much preferred jazz.

  This was where the Oracle wanted to meet. It was ridiculous. She thought that, since this was a public place filled to the brim with young, sweaty, sex-crazed adults, I could do nothing against her.

  She could not be more wrong.

  If I wanted to kill her, there was always a way. However, in this instance, that was not what I was here for.

  The Oracle, Katarina, called herself such, even though she was simply a Witch. A small, element-sensitized Witch. I was not one to be acquainted with Witches, because they were usually unhelpful and weak, but Katarina was in tune with nature, ancient nature, and that was something very rare these days.

  The song abruptly switched to a heavier beat. I leaned on a column and watched the humans in their sensual dancing. It was something I never understood, maybe because I did not grow up in this era.

  A tall, thin woman casually made her way to my side. Her long, black hair masked the giant dragon tattoo she had on her back. Black leggings covered her legs while a tight dress covered the rest. Her Latina eyes slowly turned to me.

  “Hola,” I spoke with a perfected Spanish accent, “Katarina.”

  Her tiny jaw clenched as she instantaneously corrected me in English, “Oracle. I figured after ten years you’d remember that by now.”

  “Lo siento,” I apologized.

  A sigh left her, telling me that she was having none of my nice act. The Oracle told me using her native tongue, “She is fine. Her body still separated throughout the seven seas and the pyramids.”

  Ah, Katarina…

  “Good,” I paused and held a hand to her, “now let’s not waste the rest of this fantastic day. Dance with me.” The regular lights shut off and strobe lights took their place, flickering every few seconds. It was the most ideal surrounding for what I had planned for her.

  The Oracle was suspicious for only a moment, until she realized that I was not going to take no for an answer. “One song only.” She slipped her jeweled hand in mine.

  I smiled in eagerness of what was to come. Leading her through the dance floor, I guided us to a dark and secluded corner, where the dancing humans were too busy with each other to notice us.

  As her hips began to sway to the music, I pulled her close and held her there securely. My lips touched her ears as I murmured, “Katarina, you should not have lied to me.”

  She tried struggling, but my inhuman strength prevented her from succeeding. “Lie? I—I didn’t lie.”

  My right arm kept her body in place while my left hand gripped the back of her neck. “When did I ever speak of pyramids?” Katarina began to say something, but I cut in, “And don’t tell me that you see things. All you can do is sense changes in the ancient energy. It is not possible that you’d know where her body lies, unless you and your Witch friends are searching for her.”

  Katarina laughed shortly, her façade fading. “The lioness will soon return, and this time the cub will not beat her…” I choked the remainder of air out of her before moving her hair out of my way, loosening my grip a bit. “What are you doing? You cannot kill me, not here…”

  “I’m not going to kill you, just bite you.” My lips nibbled her neck. “The bite is what’s going to kill you, not me. And don’t worry—” The fangs grew. “—you’ll make it home before you die.”

  Closing my green eyes, I kept our bodies swaying as I sunk my fangs into the tender flesh of her neck. The metallic taste of her Witch blood flooded my mouth and flowed down my throat, sending pleasure shooting through my nerves.

  After making sure I had no blood on my mouth, I let the dying Katarina go and flashed out of the club when the lights darkened.

  In a minute, I stood at the edge of a pier, looking out at the ocean. The sun was hot and gracious on my skin. That coupled with the warm, salty air made me beyond comfortable. I breathed in and felt the Witch blood pumping through my body, mingling with my own.

  At least this way, I would feel if
she awakened.

  Chapter Nineteen – Kass

  Sweat dripped from my hairline. Fixing this ancient and broken armoire that was recently brought out by Raphael turned out to be harder work than I previously thought. Then again, I was wholly surprised that I was able to fix it at all.

  So what if it took me four and a half hours? I still did it, and that was all that counted.

  Me and tools didn’t get along, whether it was out of school or in physics class. I was not a carpenter, and by the lack of my fixing skills, I never would be. And that was fine with me. If I had the chance to pick between being a Purifier and being a carpenter…

  Well, it would actually be a bit of a stalemate. Being a Purifier meant that I would have to die extra early, and being a carpenter meant that I would have to fix and make things for a living. I didn’t want to die, for obvious reasons, but I really didn’t want to fix and modernize things that were never meant to be repaired.

  Wiping my forehead using my weary arm, I stood and stared at the mahogany armoire. It was perfect. As perfect as it was going to get with me, anyways.

  I reattached a broken door, sanded it, re-stained it, and then moved it to Raphael’s room. The door was what took me the longest. My guess was that he was going to use it to store some books in. Still, it seemed like a waste of almost five hours.

  Raphael appeared next to me, tilting his head and taking in the sight of the restored armoire. “The left door is not straight.”

  Squinting my eyes at him, I speedily defended myself, “That’s the best it’s going to get since I don’t plan on making a career out of this.”

  He nodded as if he completely understood. “Yes, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, because professionals do not normally spend fifteen minutes figuring out how to correctly use sand paper.” Raphael smiled down at me, letting me know that it was A-Okay that I spent the first seventeen-almost-eighteen years of my life unaware of the proper usage of sand paper.

  “Where were you this whole time? I needed you. I had to do this myself, moving it and everything.”

  “That was the whole point. And in case you forgot, you are stronger than the average teenager.”

  “Yes,” I interrupted him, just as he did to me, “but this thing is heavy. Really heavy. And if there’s some drag marks on the floor, just know that it wasn’t me dragging this ten-ton thing across the entire church.” I peered at him, gritting my teeth at the thought of me pushing the oversized armoire. “By myself.”

  “Well, you will be happy to know—”

  As soon as he said that, I knew I wasn’t going to be happy to know whatever he was about to say.

  “—that your next task will be to fix up the old altar.” Raphael laughed at my incredulous face and continued, “That will no doubt take you two days to complete.”

  Sighing, and giving up the urge I had to fight him, I glanced at the watch on my wrist. Koath was late. Usually he’d gotten me out at an acceptable time (eight-ish), but tonight he wasn’t here. Why?

  I walked out of the backroom and into the wide, open space of the church. When I was sure Raphael was near me, I asked, “Where’s Koath?”

  The man acted as though he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right. While you were—” Raphael pointed his thumb to his room. “—fixing that armoire, he called.”

  “What’d he say?” I proposed, seeing how the only reason he’d ever call Raphael was to tell him he’d be late.

  “No. Unfortunately, Koath has some prior engagement and will not be able to make it, so he requested me to walk you home.”

  “Don’t bother,” I laughed, secretly telling him that I was capable of walking home by myself.

  “Kassandra,” Raphael’s voice took on a scolding tone, “I am going to accompany you home, whether you like it or not.” His green eyes told me that he was not going to let up. “Your old Guardian made me promise, and I am not a man to break promises made, regardless of how small they are.”

  My eyes rolled. There was no need for such dramatics.

  Unless it came from me.

  Chapter Twenty – Koath

  The metal of the cell phone against my cheek gave me a tiny chill. I should get a new one; I’d had this one for almost three years now. It was considered dinosaur technology by most of today’s population. But as I saw it, the phone had lasted this long and it’s proved resilient against being dropped and thrown, so why bother wasting money to buy another one that would probably break in less than a month?

  “Okay,” Michael’s English accent was unusually thick on the other side of the line, “Max’ll be fine here. He can borrow some of Gabriel’s clothes for school tomorrow, or I suppose, he’d better fit mine.” I waited patiently as there was a pause. “Don’t worry, Koath. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

  A half-hearted smile crossed my face. “Fantastic. I’ll pick them up at the normal time.”

  “Before you go,” Michael was inquisitive, “I’m a bit curious as to what you’re going to do tonight. Does it involve the Council, or is it something more…personal?”

  I chuckled as I responded, “Both.” Before he was able to say anything else, I said, “See you tomorrow,” and hung up. Sighing, I locked the phone screen and set it on the nightstand beside my bed.

  I walked to my closet and drew the doors open. Kneeling, I slowly brought out a dusty, hardly-opened leather box, one that I rarely pulled out of the bottom of my closet. One that’s been with me for the longest time. It meant a lot to me.

  Since I was still unaccustomed to this room, I picked the box up and looked for an outlet. Sadly, the only one that was visible to me was the one my alarm clock was inhabiting. Carefully balancing the great box in one arm, I pushed the clock and my phone onto my bed.

  In seconds I had the box resting atop the nightstand and yanked out the plug that belonged to the clock. After tossing it on the bed, I dusted off the box and unlatched it. Technology that was more prehistoric than my phone sat, staring back at me in its nearly untouched glory.

  I bent down and plugged in the cord. Noticing that the protective cover was still on the needle, I quickly pulled it off and set it beside the machine. The needle was in pristine condition; that was something Phoebe always made sure of.

  Slowly, I placed the needle in the all-too-familiar spot and sat at the edge of my bed before the tune made its way to my ears. The recognizable melody of the old, familiar song danced throughout the room, making me smile.

  Phoebe loved old music. Forties and fifties were her specialty. To suit her strange habits, she bought every single record player she set eyes on. This was the only one left. The only working one.

  Her favorite song came on, and I hummed to the slow, rhythmic beat of the music as I lifted the silver chain off my neck. My eyes fell to my hands, staring at the golden bands that circled the chain. My thumb stroked my ring finger, remembering how it felt around it.

  I closed my eyes and inhaled, imagining Phoebe’s long, brown hair. The way her eyes sparkled when she sang this song to me while baking dinner in the kitchen.

  Those were memories I’d never forget.

  To think it’s been almost seventeen years since…since she left.

  Chapter Twenty-One – Kass

  The conversation was light as Raphael and I walked to my house through the cemetery. If things kept going on like this, I’d know the cemetery better than I knew our house. And that’s not an exaggeration.

  We talked about food. We talked about favorite things. We talked about school. Basically, we talked about everything that you talked about when you had something you wanted to say, but you didn’t know exactly how to say it.

  When we rounded my driveway, I reckoned it was now or never. Well, now or later, to be more literal.

  “Raphael?” I spoke his name as if it were a question, cluing him in to the fact that I had something I wanted to ask him. “Do you know if the first Purifier knew Crixis?” I already knew what he was going to say, though.


  His hair fell over his right eye as he cocked his head, saying, “What makes you ask something so specific? Did you have a vision about it?”

  I nodded.

  He thought about his answer while we made our way to my front door. “I cannot say for sure if he did or did not. There are no records detailing his adventures, if that is what you want to call them, so I really do not know.”

  “Oh,” I sighed out the word. “That was not the answer I was hoping for.”

  A white smile spread across his lips as he laughed. “What were you hoping for?”

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. But I did know—and I wanted the truth.

  Raphael knocked on the door after saying “Sorry to disappoint.”

  I eyed him, the door, and then him some more. “You do know I live here, right? It’s kind of pointless to knock on the door because it’s my house. What are they going to do, not let me in?”

  Gabriel swung the door open, looking too chipper to describe, and said, “Why, actually, that’s precisely what I was going to do. I’m not going to let you in.” His bright eyes turned to Raphael. “But I will let you in. Come on, we have five pies to eat. You, Michael and Max can share one while I eat the other four.”

  Shaking my head, I laughed. “Gabriel, I’m so hungry that my stomach is caving in. You can’t deny me pie.”

  His blonde eyebrows wrinkled. “I don’t know what that means, but it sure sounds impossible.” A wide half-grin came upon his lips.

  “Move it,” I commanded, storming my way past him and into the kitchen to see if the blonde boy was telling the truth about the pie situation. And, to my surprise and delight, he did.

  “Well?” I heard Gabriel’s voice say to an unmoving Raphael. “Are you going to come in or not? I’m standing here with the door open, letting in mosquitos.”

  Raphael looked as if he was about to turn him down when Michael came to the entryway, saying, “What are you doing? The Council has to pay for our air conditioning, you know. Oh. Hello, Raphael. Care to join us for some pie? I bought five. With any luck, there’ll be some leftovers for tomorrow.” He pushed his small-rimmed glasses farther up his nose.