Well, I corrected myself, Gabriel and I sure knew how to pick them, considering the fact that Gabriel’s first girlfriend had tried feeding him to her pet Nightwalkers almost three years ago, almost succeeding in killing us both.
Actually, I took that back, too. It wasn’t one of her pets that nearly killed us. It was a Demon with red eyes, one that I suddenly remembered fighting a few nights ago, one that told me he was the reason the Hyena Demon knew about the ritual to summon Osiris. That meant this was all his fault.
Red Eyes had nearly killed me, and the only reason I was still here, still alive was because of Rain. Because he wasn’t human and was able to heal me with his blood. And then he kissed me before telling me to forget it all.
I could barely remember it, but the memory was there. The feeling of his lips on mine was still there. Now I was even more pissed. What was up with guys stealing kisses from me? Gabriel, John, Rain. Pretty much every guy I knew stole a kiss from me. Was I worlds more attractive than what I thought I was, or were these guys just insane?
I was thinking more along the latter.
Although, I did have to admit, I didn’t hate Rain so much anymore. That hate switched to John.
But if I lived through this, I definitely needed to have a talk with Rain. About the kissing and the memory wiping. I bet that would be a super fun talk. Odds were that I wasn’t going to have the chance to talk to him about it anyways, since I was in a fight with John.
John looked almost as pissed as me. I did have one thing he didn’t: a woman’s fury. And I learned that that weapon was pretty powerful.
“John, do me a favor.” I roundhouse kicked his chest, causing him to stumble. “Just die. And would it be too much trouble to stay dead this time?” I couldn’t believe I made jokes about how he wouldn’t stay dead. Strange to think that a few days ago, I was miserable because of it.
“Kass, you can’t kill me,” John spoke as he landed a hard punch on my face. “None of your friends can kill me. I can kill you, but you can’t kill me.” With every sentence, he punched me again and again.
I tried to stop each incoming blow, but he had Demonic speed, something my Purifier skills, even on their best day, couldn’t match. I fell to the grassy floor, coughing out blood. John could punch hard. I attempted to get to my feet, but he jumped on me, pinning me to the ground. Not a good position to be in with a murdering psychopath that you used to have a crush on.
John’s black eyes stared me up and down. “I like this. Me on top.” He brought his face closer to mine. “And you on the bottom.”
What a dick, I thought. I closed the distance between our two faces with a few vigorous head-butts. It gave me great pain, but it also got John off me, which was my goal. I felt a stream of blood trickling down my head, making its way to my chin.
I noticed John’s eyes were on it. I wiped it off with my hand and said, “Want it? Come and get it.” With inhuman speed, he lunged at me, but I evaded him and spun a kick that landed on his back.
I spread the blood on my hand on the grass and ran. I ran with all my heart away from him and farther into the flowery field. Where did I plan on going? Where did I plan on leading this monster? I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter, for I didn’t make it that far.
He tackled me to the ground in seconds. John’s elbow rested harshly on my neck and his legs intertwined with mine.
Chapter Twenty-Six – Gabriel
“Gabriel,” Mr. Wood spoke. “Gabriel, did you hear me?”
But I didn’t. I didn’t hear him. Truthfully I hadn’t heard a single word he said since fifth period started. I couldn’t focus. My body was anxious. My mind wouldn’t stop thinking that there was something wrong.
Deep down, I felt that Kass was in trouble, which was ridiculous, because she was in class too, as bored as I was.
But she wasn’t…was she? That’s what my mind kept saying to me. She wasn’t here. She was somewhere else. But where would she be if she wasn’t here?
“Gabriel!” Mr. Wood yelled my name again.
“What?” I shouted back, sounding pissed. Crap. I didn’t think I was supposed to talk to teachers like that.
“I asked you a question.” Mr. Wood’s lips tightened.
I glanced down at my wrists, feeling something peculiar happening. The black symbols were lightly appearing, barely visible. But instead of being on just one hand, they were on both, and instead of being only on my hands, they were all along my arms, too.
“Sorry, Mr. Wood. I don’t feel well.” I gathered up my books, hiding my arms as much as I could. “I think I’m going to barf.”
He made a disgusted face. “Okay, okay. Just, go to the bathroom and straight to the office after that.” Mr. Wood scanned the classroom. “Do you need someone to go with you?”
I shook my head and hurried out of the classroom, but instead of heading to the bathroom, I went to my locker and shoved my books in. Kass was in trouble. I could feel it. My skin was crawling, literally.
I had to go. I had to go and find Kass, make sure she was all right. My legs took me to the front doors, and when no one was looking, I slipped out and started running.
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Kass
My face tingled, and not because it still hurt from those headbutts. This was not a tingling due to pain. It was from something else. My mind flashed back to my mother. She said I was marked for greatness. She said I was going to die.
I stared into John’s blackened eyes.
If I was going to die now, I was going to take him with me. Try to, at least.
“John,” I spoke, sounding low and serious. I would try bargaining with him. It worked sometimes on TV shows, so I figured I’d try it here. Why not? I had nothing better to do besides kill him, and apparently I couldn’t do that either. “It doesn’t have to be this way, you know.”
“Oh.” John half-grinned at me. “It doesn’t? Say, that’s never occurred to me.”
“Enough with the cynicism, John. I was only trying to help,” I said while turning my head to look at the daisies that surrounded us.
“Were you? You need to understand that you can’t help me. You can’t make me better. This is who I am, and I love it. The weak John you knew before was just a show.”
“A show?” I repeated, still not looking at him. I had a feeling that if I looked at him, he might try to do something that I didn’t want him to do, since he was on top of me, and all.
And I couldn’t even headbutt him to get him off me again, since his arm was on my neck, completely constraining my head. All I could do was slightly turn it in another direction, which, so far, proved not so useful besides avoiding meeting those soulless eyes.
“Yeah, you know. A show. To get in your pants, as they call it these days. But now I see that wasn’t what I was really after.” John moved his arm from my neck, grabbing it straight after, choking me just enough that it hurt, but I could still breathe. “I was after your blood all along.”
“Hate to break this to you, but you can’t have any of it. It’s mine and I’m not going to share,” I told him through clenched teeth.
“I don’t ask. I take. But I have to say, right now…I do want to have all of you.” John brought his face down to my neck, so his lips touched my ear. “Your blood. Your body…all of you.”
“Well.” My eyes practically stared holes in the yellow daisy I was glaring at for the last few minutes. “This is really awkward.”
I felt John’s body shake with venomous laughter. “Oh, yes. Now I remember that time in my car. When I tried kissing you.” He grabbed my chin and moved my face so I stared at him instead of the lovely scenery. “You turned away at the very last second, saying something ridiculous about my car. Now you can’t move.” A sick smile entered his face.
“No,” I said, even though my face looked like a fish. “You son of a—” But I couldn’t finish that sentence, for it was stifled in my throat.
John’s mouth was on mine. But instead of being nice and ma
gical, like I had thought it would be a week and a half ago, it was the opposite. It was more horrible than it was when he kissed me in my room, after revealing himself to me. Hard and hungry, not in a good way.
I tried turning my head, but he had a firm grip on my face, preventing me from moving my head. I sought to kick him, but that failed too since his legs were still tangled with mine. I then attempted to peel his hands off me with my own, since they were now free, but he felt like stone. I couldn’t even budge him a little bit.
John let up on our lip lock and uttered quietly, “It’ll be much more fun, for the both of us, if you kiss back. Trust me.”
I squinted my eyes at him. In my head I was picturing all the ways I could skewer and stab him, maul and eviscerate him. “I’d rather die.”
“Really? I doubt that. I saw how broken you were after you thought you killed me. You liked me. Don’t bother denying it. And you know what?” His black eyes looked from my lips to my eyes. “I think you still do. So just give in. Give in,” he whispered once more as he came back and kissing me again.
And, despite my willpower, I kissed him back.
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Raphael
Michael and I ran into the school. We were running so fast that we almost passed the main office. I put an arm in front of Michael, stopping him right away. I pointed to the door. “There.”
Michael nodded and burst through the doors. “Raphael, you need to see this.”
I stepped around him and saw the bloody sight of the secretary’s body, and the picture her brains painted on the walls. I calmly walked over to the principal’s office, opening the door and peeking in.
“Well?” Michael asked with bated breath.
I shook my head. “Same as her.” I turned my full attention back to Michael. “Do you know what class Kass is supposed to be in right now?”
Michael said, “No. But—” He walked around the secretary’s desk and to her computer. “—I’m sure I can find out.” He yanked a tissue out of the box and wiped the keyboard off. His fingers typed nervously. It was a few more moments before he responded, “Kass is in room thirty-five and Gabriel is in sixteen.”
“Split up,” I ordered.
“I can’t,” Michael said as we exited the office. “You need to go. I have to call the Council…and the police.”
I nodded, understanding that was his job. But still, he should help me right now, not stop in the middle of this to call the Council. I quickly navigated my way through the halls, looking for the room labeled thirty-five. I found it quickly.
It was an English classroom. The door was shut, but there was a window. I peered into the room, taking in the view of the nineteen kids in class. One was missing. Kass.
I ran to room sixteen. This time the door was open. A young male teacher was in the middle of his lesson, but that didn’t stop me. I walked in, acting like a worried parent. “Where’s Gabriel? I got a call he was sick.”
The man crossed his arms. “Um, yeah. I told him to go straight to the office after going to the bathroom. I knew I should have sent someone with him…”
“So you have no idea where he went?” I clarified.
The second he shook his head no, I was out of there. I ran out, grabbed Michael, who was still on his cell phone. As we exited the school grounds, we had no idea where either of them were.
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Kirk
My eyes widened and my breath came out short. Something was happening. And I knew that, whatever it was, it involved Kass.
And if it involved Kass, it involved me.
I ran out of my bedroom door, agitated. I recognized the root of the agitation right away because it had been a while since I’d felt it. John. John was back, and he was with Kass. My mind could think of only one thing he would want to do to her.
Because I wanted to do the exact same thing.
But I could control myself. John couldn’t. And that…that wasn’t good.
I also knew that what I wanted to do with her was wrong. John embraced it. That wasn’t good either.
I stood on our porch, watching Alyssa’s car pull into the driveway. I ran up to her, bringing a current of wind with me. “Alyssa.” It didn’t even occur to me that she shouldn’t be home right now, that it was only midday—she should still be in school.
Her dark eyes looked worried. “School was called off. Everyone in the office was murdered,” she told me, opening her car door and stepping out. “I think it might be him.”
I looked down to the dirt, feeling guilty that I cared so much. “Then he did it to get to her. Kass is in trouble. I need to know where she is.”
Alyssa’s dark eyebrows came together and her dark, curly hair flew about. “You mean you can’t sense her?”
“Vaguely, but I can’t get a location.” I returned my eyes to her own. “John’s with her. I know it.” Just how I knew that, though, I had no idea. All I knew was that I had to get to her. As fast as possible.
“I can’t believe this.” Alyssa’s tone changed immediately. “Are you sure?” I nodded. “Come on. I’ll help you find her. Don’t worry, we’ll get to her in time.”
“We better, for John’s sake. If he hurts her…” I stopped myself, realizing I was speaking about my brother. My brother. I cared more for Kass than I did for my own brother. What was wrong with me?
And why did I feel like ripping John’s head off if he hurt her?
Chapter Thirty – Kass
Okay, before you judge me, listen to my plan: first I kiss him back, then I distract him with my kissing skills (or lack thereof), third I roll myself out from underneath him, and fourth…I didn’t get that far yet.
Step one: done. When I started kissing him back, he took his hands off my face and started to move them all along my body, freeing me from his trap. Step two: done. I placed my hands on his chest and slowly moved them up to his neck. He didn’t think twice about it, probably figuring I was wrapping my arms around him and embracing him for what he was. Little did he know I was actually positioning myself to flip him off me, and hopefully give me enough time to roll away and get up.
With all my strength, I managed to push and twist him off me, clearly taking him by surprise. I rolled in the opposite direction and wiped my lips off. Step three: done.
Step four was to shoot him with an evil expression, wordlessly telling him that I hated him. Within another second, as I straightened my posture, step four was done as well.
“Bravo.” John smiled and clapped, laughing all the while. “That was smart. And fun.” He started walking toward me. “Let’s do it again.”
I heard a noise. It took me a few seconds to realize what that noise was. I saw the wooden stake sticking through his heart. Someone had thrown it with such force, it impaled John through and through. Who had that much strength? I frantically glanced around, my gaze landing on Gabriel.
Gabriel.
Gabriel was here, and he looked really pissed off.
“Gabriel,” I yelled to him. Something was on his hand. It looked like a tattoo. And not like the tattoo that was all over John’s body. The thin, black lines seemed to move with each breath he took, twirling and changing.
Gabriel stole a quick glance in my direction, giving me a wink before turning his full attention to John. I watched in horror as John stood up and simply stared at the stake that was lodged deep in his chest.
“Kass, tell Gabriel to leave,” John spoke to me, not even bothering to yank out the stake from his chest. “Or I will kill him.”
I began to say something to Gabriel, but he held up a hand and said, “No, Kass. Last time I screwed up, and this happened. I swear, I’m going to take care of it, of him.” The blonde kept talking about how, for once, he was going to be the hero and save me, overlooking the fact that John was about to do just what he threatened to.
John’s blackened eyes looked at me for a split-second before he violently yanked out the wooden stake in his chest and threw it at Gabriel. It all happened too
fast. I couldn’t warn Gabriel. I couldn’t stop it. All I could do was witness the stake break through his flesh and pierce his heart.
“No!” I cried, hand outstretched toward the boy who’d seen me through my frizzy brace-face stage of life, the boy who stayed up all night playing Pokémon with me, the boy who stole my first kiss while I was unconscious and waited three years to tell me.
My best friend. My only friend.
Gabriel.
Please, I felt tears welling, tears I would never dream of shedding for anyone else. No.
Chapter Thirty-One – Gabriel
The breeze swayed my hair as I ran unusually fast to…wherever I was running to. I had no idea where my legs took me, but I knew that they were taking me in the right direction. An uncanny sense of direction when it came to Kass.
Deep down I knew Kass was in trouble. It was like I could feel her. I could feel her struggling with John. I could feel her losing. I could feel that bastard kissing her.
That was not going to go by unpunished, trust me.
I planned on taking my fists and punching him repeatedly. And then shoving the stake I took from my locker through his heart. Even though it wouldn’t kill him, but it was a start. Somehow I’d find a way to eliminate him for good, so that he’d never be able to come back. So that Kass would finally be safe.
Safer than she was now, anyway.
I came across a hill that overlooked a flowery field. Standing on the top, it was as if I were looking down on the world, looking down on its inhabitants, looking down on everything.
My shoulders raised as I inhaled slowly, feeling the symbols moving all along my body. My eyes closed. When they opened, I saw Kass and John laying down in the field, on top of each other. No. I took that back.
John was on top of her, kissing her.
I was going to enjoy this. Way too much.
Staked! Page 28
