The Nightwalkers Saga: Books 1 - 7

by Candace Wondrak

  Knowing it would ignite Gabriel’s anger, I spoke to Raphael, “Are you coming?”

  A sad smile spread across his face before he responded, “I do not think so. It would only waste Michael’s money. After all, I don’t eat much.”

  Right. Raphael didn’t eat like a normal human. He was a Daywalker, and they didn’t have to eat. I wondered if that included blood. That was how Nightwalkers and Daywalkers got their strength from. It didn’t just magically come from nowhere.

  But never knowing how good pizza was? That was a torture I’d never wish upon my worst enemy.

  The outside of the buffet restaurant looked a little divy. Trash cans were thrown about; some had garbage in them and others were completely empty. Dead bushes littered the window’s edge, where the parking lot met with the sides of the building.

  I hoped the food wasn’t as bad as its outside appearance suggested.

  Gabriel appeared by my side, whispering, “Do you think this place’s any good? Because I’m having some serious doubts.” Michael held the door open for us, and we all entered the restaurant without any problems.

  All of us except Taiton.

  It was a single glass door that must have been too small for him to normally walk through. The giant had to bend his head down and shuffle in. It was amusing, almost enough to help me forget my miserable woes and terrible life.

  A dry-erase board that said please wait to be seated in all uppercase letters was the first thing to greet us. Behind it, the restaurant’s inside was nothing like its outside. The lighting was a little dark, but well-designed. The booths and chairs were velvety, which had to be a hassle to clean. The buffet itself was in the back of the room, and it was huge.

  So huge that it could be Taiton in buffet form.

  Gabriel elbowed me, saying, “Look at the sign.”

  I rolled my eyes, because I was finished looking at the sign a long time ago. “So?”

  “Doesn’t the handwriting remind you of a serial killer letter? You know, the kind they leave for you with letters cut from different magazine articles?” I tilted my head, hoping that would make me see it better. “See how each letter is a different size and thickness?”

  When Gabriel and I were finished making fun of the terrible handwriting, a voice, originating from somewhere near my back, said, “I was never good at handwriting. My mom says my handwriting looks like a caveman’s. You’d both agree with her then, huh?”

  We quickly turned to face a boy who was staring at his sign with a fixed, blue eyed stare. I recognized those blue eyes, along with the other attractive parts of him. He was a little different wearing his work uniform, but all in all, he still looked amazing.

  I peeked a side glance at Gabriel, seeing if he was glaring at me with a knowing icy blue stare. Thankfully, he was too busy ogling the food in the back.

  Shaking my head, I focused on the kid I first met on Friday. He was the one who picked me up from physics and told me Koath wanted to see me. We were supposed to (maybe) see each other at the football game, but I ended up not going.

  Because I found Michael unconscious and Koath dead.

  With a toothy grin on his gorgeous face, he said, “Six?” What was his name? Did I even know it?

  Me being stupid me, I said, “Six what?” An idiot, I was.

  The boy laughed and motioned for us to follow him. Knowing I’d just make more of a fool of myself, I waited behind while everyone else followed the kid first. Everyone except Gabriel, because he was stuck to my side like glue, it seemed.

  His eyes were critical. “Who’s this kid?”

  “He goes to our school, Gabriel,” I sternly told him, adding quietly, “drop this.”

  “I don’t want to drop this,” he hissed as he pulled out two chairs, one for him and one for me. Weird.

  I sat in the one nearest to me and said as calmly as I could, “Jealousy is not an attractive trait.”

  Max, Liz and Michael took the seats opposing us.

  “Jealousy?” Gabriel echoed. “You think I’m jealous of that busboy? I am not.” He froze for a few moments, watching Taiton sit on my other side. He was probably hoping the chair would break.

  “You know what I think?” My fingers wove together, creating a small wedge where my chin could rest. “I think you are jealous. Actually, I think you’re jealous of every male who knows me.”

  “Preposterous.” He leaned toward me. “I am not jealous of Taiton. Or Michael. Or Max.”

  I blinked at him, because that wasn’t a very good list.

  “That’s such crap,” Gabriel stated simply, as if saying that would make this conversation end right here. But I wasn’t about to let that happen. This discussion wasn’t anywhere near being over.

  Narrowing my eyes at the immature boy, I said, “Should I ask for a pen and paper so we can tally them up, or do you want me to just list them off the top of my head?” Since Gabriel kept quiet, I continued, “First and foremost, John. Rain. Vincent. Steven. Raphael. Oh, and that guy—” I pointed to the sexy kid who was in the process of getting our drinks. “—but besides that, no. You never get jealous.”

  Everyone around us walked to the buffet, but Gabriel, Taiton and I stayed put because we were still busy arguing and Taiton had to keep an eye on me.

  Gabriel rested his arm on the back of my chair, securing me from a mad dash out of this. But I wasn’t even thinking of running away from this talk, because it was just so fun to get into an argument with him when I knew I was right and he was wrong. It’s funny; he probably thought the opposite was true.

  “Steven?” Gabriel echoed, shock evident in his voice. “I’m not jealous of Steven—but now that you said that, I’m starting to wonder if I should worry. Your taste in men hasn’t been too good lately.”

  Grinding my teeth, I tried pushing my chair back and standing. I wanted to keep this talk going, but Gabriel bringing that up was it. “Let me past,” I growled through my bared teeth.

  His blue eyes had traces of amusement and a whole lot of defiance. “No, and you know it’s true, Kass.”

  Shaking my head, I whispered “Jerk” and climbed over the other side of the chair, where Taiton sat as an audience to the debacle that had just taken place. I knew he got up and followed me, I didn’t have to look to make sure of that.

  Gabriel ran past the dark giant, because he soon grabbed my arm and forced me to look in his eyes. “I’m sorry—”

  “No.” I jerked my arm out of his insanely strong grasp. “You’re not sorry, so don’t even bother.” I grabbed a white plate and picked out some fruit. I hustled to the salad part of the buffet, leaving a motionless Gabriel in the dust.

  “I do think the boy is apologetic.”

  I dropped the cucumber slice back in the pile of cucumber slices. My head slowly turned to Taiton. His attention was on a stubborn tomato that refused to be moved with the pair of tongs in his hand. “What?”

  His black eyes met mine after he decided to manually pick up the tomato. That had to go against the rules of a buffet. “The blonde one is sorry for what he said,” Taiton elaborated his previous statement, to my utter amazement.

  The blonde one? Was that what Taiton called Gabriel? Funny. That’s what I called him sometimes, too.

  “Well,” I said after I got over the fact that Taiton talked for the first time, “he should have known not to say it from the beginning.” I spread ranch dressing on my small salad. Taiton didn’t reply. I guess that’ll be all I hear from him until tomorrow.

  The hot kid refilled the carrot tray, brushing against my arm in the process. “Did your boyfriend say something that upset you?”

  I stifled a laugh. “He’s not my boyfriend—” My eyes read his nametag. Seth.

  Seth chuckled. “Are you sure about that?”

  Wrinkling my eyebrows, I quickly said, “Yeah, I’m sure. Gabriel just—”

  A deep blue stare silenced me right away. “Wants to be your boyfriend?”

  “I was going say is a jerk
,” I slowly replied when my thoughts came crawling back to me after I became used to his ultra-intense stare.

  Gabriel’s likely to settle down as soon as we’re not needed as Purifiers anymore. And we were going to be Purifiers until we died.

  I spent the rest of dinner making eyes at Seth, much to Gabriel’s annoyance. This wasn’t like with John. I smiled and batted my eyelashes to piss off Gabriel. The stupid boy deserved it.

  Luckily for me, Taiton didn’t need to stand in the bathroom while I took my shower. Sure, he stood right outside the door, waiting for me to come out, but at least I was theoretically alone.

  That was good. It’s very strange taking a shower when there was someone else in the room.

  Muffled crying sounds overcame the running water’s noise, making me pause in my shampoo application. Was that real, or did I make that up? The faint sobs came again, but this time, they were shorter and louder.

  Cautiously, and with a full head of foamy hair, I poked my head around the curtain to see where those sounds came from. A small boy stood there, empty eyes staring holes through me. The same boy I saw earlier.

  His green eyes were filled with tears, and his boney arm suddenly shot out, freaking me out and causing me to swiftly close the curtain. Seconds ticked by, and my fingers strummed the edges of the cloudy curtain, debating if I should yank it open once more.

  Would the boy still be there, or would he be gone?

  Maybe against my better judgment, I decided to pull it open slightly, so there was just enough room for my eyes. There was something about the kid that set me off. Something about him just wasn’t right. It was too early in our relationship to tell.

  Yep. He was still there, but this time there was blood.

  The boy was covered in blood, just as the floor around his dirty feet was. Teeth wounds were scattered along his head, bleeding profusely. My mind flashed back to Koath, and for a moment, I felt my eyes tear up.

  “Help,” his voice squeaked, sending impulsive chills up my spine and raising the hair on my arms. Kids were always creepier than adults, weren’t they? “Help,” he repeated, sounding more urgent.

  “Okay,” I spoke to the boy, who probably wasn’t even really there, “I’ll help you…help you do what, exactly?” The kid shook his head and said help a few more times before fading from my view.

  I remembered the sight of his body near his mother’s in my chaotic vision. Could it possibly be that he wanted me to help him finally purify Crixis? Was that what he wanted? Well, if it was, then I’d try my hardest.

  Crixis deserved nothing less.

  Chapter Nine – Gabriel

  Tap. Tap. Tap. All I could do was tap my fingers on the counter and scratch my chin. I had no idea what to do to make Kass not mad at me. It was all because of that dumb John comment.

  Maybe eating would help me think of something. It’d already been two hours since dinner, so I was ready for another meal. Sad, wasn’t it?

  What did my bestest buddy Raphael get when he went shopping today? I mused as I opened the fridge and searched. To my surprise, it was fully stocked with meat, vegetables, fruit, and anything else you could think of that you wanted.

  My eyes quickly spotted a bag filled with cherries. Perfect. Cherries were exactly what I wanted as of two seconds ago when I first saw the clear bag. Reaching for it, I grabbed it and tore open the bag before I realized that was probably a bad idea.

  Fortunately, I was fast enough that I caught the easily-ripped bag and all the cherries that were close to falling out. Once I poured the delicious cherries in a bowl fitting for a cherry feast, I meandered into the living room and collapsed on the couch.

  The only thing bad about cherries, I decided, was the seed in the center. They were a pain.

  I was too absentminded about my cherries to notice Michael, who was sitting in his usual seat reading the paper, getting ready to say something to me. “Gabriel.”

  Looking up sharply, I shoved another cherry in my mouth before saying, “What?”

  “Do I really have to spell this out for you?” Michael adjusted the height of his glasses. My blank stare told him all he needed to know. “Kass is upset with you. We both know what you need to do.”

  “Wait until tomorrow comes and hope she forgets all about it?” I offered, wishing it was the truth. I was no good at apologizing. I knew it the first moment I said the lame I’m sorry remark back at the restaurant. But, seriously, what did she expect, listing off guys like that? Why didn’t she know that I—

  Michael crinkled the paper. If I were a cat, he would’ve swatted at me. Then again, if I was a cat, there’d be no competition for Kass’s love in the first place. She’d love me no matter how much of a jerk I was. “No, that’s not what you should do.”

  I was seconds away from saying something about shoes when Raphael walked in the room, eyes on my big bowl of cherries. If he was going to ask for one, my answer would be an astonishing no for two reasons: he didn’t eat and I didn’t like him; therefore he didn’t deserve any cherries.

  “Those cherries were for Kass,” Raphael spoke slowly, eyeing me up like I was Lucifer himself who came to steal away his wooing cherries.

  Well, they were my wooing cherries now.

  “I guess I ruined your plan,” I snarled in his direction as I stood, heading for the stairs. I wasn’t about to let him give these cherries to Kass. No way. If anyone was going to give her cherries, it’d be me.

  After a good five minutes of being extra careful, I finally made it to her closed door. Taking a manly breath, I readied myself and turned the knob to see Kass nowhere in sight.

  Taiton sat on his own chair in a corner, reading a romance novel.

  I searched her bedroom, finally spotting her. She sat on her windowsill, mopey and depressed and staring out at the night sky. Her beautiful eyes were scornful. “What do you want?”

  The view of Kass in her little shirt and even smaller shorts made me freeze immediately. Sometimes I might show an extraordinarily great sense of strength and intelligence, not to mention my attractiveness, but I was a man. Some might call me a boy, still, but I’d argue for a man. And Kass in her barely-there pajama outfit…

  Thank God I was the mind-reader here, otherwise she’d know that I needed to go take a cold shower to snap myself out of it. Or think of burning babies.

  Why was I here again? And why did I carry a bowl full of cherries?

  Her bored expression turned into confusion. “Gabriel?”

  “Huh? Oh, I got you these cherries.” I walked to her as she swung her legs off the windowsill, freeing up some room beside her, where I chose to sit. I set the bowl between us and covered myself with a pillow. She immediately took one.

  Kass spat out the seed and tossed it to her trash can, acting like she was a hotshot basketball player. Yeah, right. Like a basketball player could ever look good in clothes like that.

  “So you walked to the store and bought these?” She lifted her eyebrows, and I could tell she already knew the truth.

  “Sure.” I plucked the stem off one. “If by walked to the store you mean walked to the fridge, and by bought you mean tore open the bag and put them in this bowl, then yes. I did.” When she smirked at what I said, I couldn’t help but smile in return.

  “That’s what I thought,” she said, stuffing another cherry into her mouth.

  God. Maybe it’d be better if I just left right now. That cold shower called my name…

  “Gabriel.”

  Oh, crap. I knew that tone of voice. I knew it, and it made me uncomfortable.

  “I’m sorry for snapping at you today.” Kass fiddled with her hands. God, she was adorable. “We’re all we’ve got.” Pausing, she rose her eyes to my level. “And I don’t want to constantly fight with you.”

  “It’s my fault, Kass.” I had my own Kass moment as I tugged at the fluffiness of the pillow that was on my lap. “I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t your fault that John was, well, you know. And besides
,” I broke the seriousness of the conversation, “you have the best guy with you almost all the time—”

  Kass gently hit me on my shoulder and giggled.

  I held a cherry stem to her face. “Can you tie one of these with your tongue?”

  “No,” Kass was quick to say.

  “That means you’re a terrible kisser,” I said as I slid it into my mouth. In seconds I pulled it out, showing her the newly-made knot that laid near the center of it. “But don’t worry. I can teach you all about it.”

  With a knowing smirk, Kass patted me on the hand, sending tingles up my arm, and said, “Maybe next time, Gabriel. Maybe next time.”

  It was worth a shot.

  Chapter Ten – Kass

  The little boy stared at me again. His bright green eyes bore into me, making me sick and sad. Sick because he was so bloody and sad because I wanted desperately to help him.

  I was in the same village as before, the only difference being time was stopped around us.

  “Help,” his cracked voice begged of me.

  “I will” I knelt before him, my face at his level. “I’ll help you—”

  A woman appeared behind the boy, setting a dirty hand on his wiry shoulder. Her brown eyes used to be kind and happy, but now all they were was empty and heartbreaking. The old cloth that draped along her body flowed, even though there was no wind to be had. Her long, brown hair was curled with dried blood.

  Seeing both of them together was sad. So indescribably sad.

  “You.” Her tone was calm and smooth, a complete switch from her son’s. “You will help us?”

  I nodded, agreeing when in truth, I had no idea what I was agreeing to.

  “Do not cry,” the woman spoke to her son harshly, surprising me with her instantly angry tone. “It is a sign of weakness. A warrior never cries, even when facing death. Do you think your father would cry in the face of death?”