Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  After all, they wanted to tear each other’s heads off.

  Because of me.

  Alyssa placed her backpack down on the table and began emptying its contents. I watched her and asked, “Where are we going to do this?”

  Her dark eyes looked up. “Somewhere outside. Somewhere that…has a meaning to him. If the place has a meaning it’ll be easier to call him.”

  Michael came down the stairs, carrying a chest. Raphael was seconds behind him, carrying a similar container. Michael wiped the sweat off his forehead, saying, “I wasn’t sure what weapons we’ll need…so I just brought them all down.” Raphael coughed, making him continue, “We brought them down. We’ll pack the car while you figure out the location. These are quite heavy, despite their appearance.”

  “And I believe it,” Gabriel slapped him lightly on his back, much to Michael’s chagrin.

  “Any ideas where we should do this?” Alyssa spoke to anyone who was willing to answer.

  Silence entered the room. No one answered her because no one knew where we should do the spell. No one except me. It took me a little while to muster my voice to say, “Right here.” I was met with questioning eyes. “Well, not right here. I meant here, in the driveway. Where I, uh,” I paused, “stabbed him.”

  Rain glanced down, seemingly unperturbed by what I’d said. “I agree.”

  “Well…” Michael stole a look to the two chests they had just lugged down. “…I wish you would have told us that a few minutes ago.”

  I shrugged. “Sorry.”

  Alyssa gathered up her ingredients and made her way to the front door, telling me, “Kass, show me the exact spot.”

  I nodded and followed her out to the driveway. We walked a few steps down when my mind flashed back. The sword. John’s eyes. The sound he made when he hit the ground. Tonight would mean that a week passed since that night.

  To think so much changed in so little time.

  My legs stopped suddenly. “This is it.” The wind whipped my hair all around my face.

  Alyssa sat down on the stone ground. I got to her level as she said, “Cauldron.” She lifted up a bowl to show me. “It’s not a traditional Witch’s black cauldron, but a pottery bowl will work just the same.”

  “Dirt?” I rose my eyebrows as she set down a bag of, well, dirt.

  “No. It’s not just dirt. It’s hallowed ground from Jerusalem.”

  “How did you get something like that?” I was truly curious.

  Alyssa chuckled. “When you have brothers like Kirk and John, anything’s possible.” She handled a small glass container, whose size rivaled a penny. “Air. Taken from the top of a mountain. And—” She lifted up an undersized leathery canteen. “—holy water, purified by the Pope himself.” Her face widened as she reached into her purse and yanked out some matches. “For the fire,” she explained.

  “Oh,” I said, like her short explanation had made everything clear, when in actuality, nothing made sense to me. Nothing in my life made sense. And, could I just say, I hated it.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Rain spoke to Alyssa.

  Her head flipped promptly in his direction. “Kirk, I’m going to do this. I can do this. Have a little faith in me once in a while, will you?”

  “All right.” Rain glanced to the stone driveway and gripped my rose blade tighter. Yes, I said my rose blade. Rain chose my own sword as his weapon. Even though I wasn’t going to use it in this specific encounter, it still rubbed me the wrong way. It was my sword for a reason. Mine.

  Alyssa sat cross-legged a few inches away from her bowl and breathed in deeply. “I’ll call him here, make him come back and after I do, I won’t even have a minute to say the spell. John will be here fast, so be prepared for the worst. Are you—” She looked at all of us. At me, sitting Indian-style across from her. At Rain, still stone silent and staring at the ground. Michael stood a few feet away, holding holy water in one hand and a crossbow in the other, while Raphael clenched his jaw tightly, getting ready for the fight that was about to ensue. And, finally, at Gabriel, clutching his dragon sword so hard his hands were white. “—ready?”

  I nodded. “Let’s get it over with.” Before I throw up. But I didn’t say that part, because, what kind of Purifier felt like throwing up in an extreme situation like this?

  Alyssa closed her eyes slowly, calming her nerves. She exhaled loudly, fingers trembling. She was still for a few moments before saying suddenly, “He’s coming.”

  Witchcraft; it made no sense.

  She dumped the bag of dirt into the bowl, followed shortly by the holy water, then she threw the small bottle of air into the pottery, breaking it instantly. “Earth. Air. Water.” Alyssa lit the match, and keeping her eyes closed, tossed it into the bowl, landing it with precision. “Fire. Help me in this situation dire. In lieu of John’s immorality—” Her head jerked upwards. She opened her eyes, revealing they had turned black. “—take away,” she struggled with the words, “his—”

  Her body slumped to the stone floor.

  My heart rate tripled. “What’s wrong?”

  But Alyssa didn’t respond. All she did was jerk and grab my wrists. I tried to get away, but then figured that this might help her do the spell. Why? I didn’t know. I was fuzzy with the practices of Witches. Her grip tensed as she repeated, not moving the rest of her body up into a normal sitting position, “Earth. Air. Water. Fire. Help me in this situation dire. In lieu of John’s immorality,” she paused.

  I felt someone behind me. John. It was John. It had to be. Who else would it be?

  Alyssa hurried to finish, “Take away his—”

  But that’s when I saw John standing behind Alyssa. My eyes widened. If John was there, then who was behind me?

  “—immortal—” I heard Alyssa’s voice say hastily. But she didn’t finish before someone grabbed my shoulders and yanked me from her grasp. I struggled and soon took in the fact that whoever had taken me out of the spell was gone.

  But John wasn’t. He still stood there, with a malicious expression painted all over his handsome face.

  “—ity,” Alyssa finished before she knew I was gone. Her eyes widened as her body flew back, hitting the stairs to the house. She slumped over.

  John moved not a muscle as Michael ran over to her, kneeling beside her, holding her head in place as it twitched back and forth. His dark eyes landed on me as he said, “Witchcraft has agonizing consequences if the spell is interrupted. The curse all Witches, including Alyssa, bear.”

  My jaw clenched. I stood up and watched Gabriel lunge at him, but Rain stopped him, saying, “No. He’s my brother. This burden is mine.”

  John tilted his head, noticing his brother and Gabriel for the first time. But soon he ignored them and focused his attention on me. Lucky me. “The question is—” He stepped towards me. “—who was it that broke apart your connection? Whatever it was, I must thank it, for my immortality remains very much intact.”

  “Beats me,” I answered, squinting my eyes.

  “John.” Rain flashed in front of him, between us. “Stop.”

  John studied his brother, no emotion in his face whatsoever. “And why would I stop? Because you asked me to? I’m not sorry to say that I’m not a compliant person. Never was. Never will be. You should know that by now, brother.”

  “I do. I didn’t say that for you, John. I said it for myself, to know that I tried one, last time to help you.” Rain swung my sword. “Remember this?”

  I was waiting for John’s smart reply when a huge body of fur tackled me to the ground.

  I couldn’t move. This thing, whatever it was, had me pinned good. That sucked. I glanced to Michael and Alyssa. He was still trying to calm her, holding her down as she thrashed about. I looked to Gabriel and Raphael since they were the only free ones around.

  They were running to give me aid.

  “What is that?” Gabriel swung his sword.

  I heard a whimper as the thing got off me. I stood and
faced my new adversary. To say it was an ugly Demon would be an understatement. The biggest understatement of the year, actually.

  “That, if I’m correct,” Raphael said, lifting his old-fashioned crossbow and aiming at it, “is…well, I don’t rightfully know.”

  “What? How do you not know what it is?” I examined the six-legged Demon that had me pinned down just a few seconds ago. Its claws were huge, at least six inches long apiece. Its teeth were the same. Its scraggy fur was black, and its eyes glowed red. It stood at over six feet tall. An abomination of nature. A Demon wolf.

  “I’ve…never seen anything like it.” Raphael appeared breathless as he triggered the crossbow and landed it on its nose.

  It howled and reared on its hind four legs, using the other two to get the arrow out violently. Gabriel muttered, “I don’t care what it is. As long as it can die.” He shoved his dragon sword straight through its back while it was busy growling at Raphael. “I don’t care.”

  The huge creature collapsed on the grass.

  “It’s—” My voice wavered.

  “Amazingly easy?” Gabriel offered, interrupting me. And in the process, also totally mistaking what I was going to say.

  “—not dead,” I yelled, seeing the beast stand on its legs and bare its teeth. Black blood flowed out of its nose and underbelly alike.

  Gabriel screamed “What?” as Raphael said calmly “Duck.”

  “What?” Gabriel repeated himself. His blue eyes widened as Raphael released the trigger once again, directly at him. In a second, he dropped himself on the ground, grinning clumsily at me. “So that’s what he meant by…holy fruitcake.” He covered his face as the beast jumped over him and swiped at Raphael’s crossbow. The blow was swift, and the bow broke instantaneously.

  Gabriel, sword in hand, turned to me and quickly said, “I’m really beginning to not like this thing.” He walked, acting like he was the greatest fighter since Sylvester Stallone, to the Demon.

  After gnawing on Raphael’s shoulder, it turned and roared. It spread its six legs out and readied itself. But instead of launching itself foolishly at Gabriel, like a normal animal would have done, it waited. What did it wait for?

  “For me to make the first move, I think,” Gabriel answered my thoughts. His strikingly composed face turned to me. “That’s really strange.”

  “Gabriel,” I said to him.

  “Yeah?” One eyebrow rose.

  “Focus.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six – Kirk

  “Oh, yeah. I think that sword was in my heart, what was it, a week ago? It’s been quite a while, so I can’t be too sure.” John shrugged and smiled.

  “Enjoy your last moments of decipherable life, for when I’m through with you, you won’t have much life left,” I told him. John had to be dealt with, now that Alyssa’s spell was interrupted. But, unfortunately, making him mortal was no longer an option, thanks to whatever attacked Kass.

  My ears heard a growl. Something else was here too. My peripherals spotted a giant six-legged Demon that body slammed Kass to the ground. Raphael and that idiot Gabriel were already running over to her. I would have too, if I didn’t have John to take care of.

  “In that case, excuse me while Kass and I go somewhere private,” John spoke as he started heading to her, even though she was busy with that other Demon.

  I flashed in front of him, stopping him hastily. “That I will not allow, and you know it.”

  A grotesque laugh seeped from his mouth. “Don’t I ever. You never let me have any fun.”

  “I have no problems with fun. I just have a problem with the fact that your fun involves killing women brutally after you compel them to follow you into bed.” I dived for him, swinging the sword by his neck.

  But he flashed away, disappearing from my view. I couldn’t see him, but I heard his voice say, “Give me some credit.” John appeared behind me, landing a swift kick to my lower back. I recoiled quickly as he said, “I didn’t have to compel all of them.”

  I spun around on my heel and the blade gashed the side of his face. “I’ve had enough. John, you must go, for good.”

  A sick smile entered his face, and I could barely recognize him. John, my brother, was long gone. “You can’t kill me, brother. I thought you’d know that by now.”

  I stood tall and was going to strike another blow with the sword, but I was unable.

  “But I can kill you. I can kill all of you,” John laughed out as he motioned to everyone else. His black eyes narrowed.

  I dropped the blade and fell to the floor, writhing in pain. I placed my hands on my head, trying to make it hurt less. Trying to keep it together. My eyes flicked to Kass. She was alright. She wasn’t in this much pain. No one else was. It was just me.

  “You know what this is?” John knelt next to me. “This is one of those handy-dandy Osiris powers. The one where I make your brain grow and grow until your head explodes. And I’ve found it works on every kind of living thing—humans, Demons, or animals. Anything. Even you. Now, tell me, doesn’t that sound useful? Did these pissheads tell you that it’s their fault I’m like this? That they failed, and because of that, I’m like this?”

  I couldn’t respond. All I could do was swear in my head and glare at him while blood began to pour out of my nose and ears. I could honestly say that I had not been in this much pain since the transformation. That trumped this easily. However, it had been quite a while, and I was not accustomed to this sort of pain.

  “It’s my favorite, I have to say.” John rubbed the tattoo that was on his neck. The one that was everywhere on him. “But before I finish you and—” He glanced around him. “—the rest of these people, I want you to watch.”

  “No,” I managed to say. My blood mingled with my words and it was truly disgusting. But I didn’t care about that. All I cared for was Kass. She needed to be safe. And in order to make sure that will happen, I was prepared to die. I took away one hand from my head and slowly reached for the sword, but John kicked it away.

  “Ah-ah-ah.” He shook his index finger at me, like he disciplined a child. “I don’t think so.” John’s black eyes glared down at me, causing the pain to sharply increase.

  I gripped my head and closed my eyes, which started to leak red as well. This was the end for me.

  No. No, it couldn’t be. I still had a job to do. I still had to save Kass.

  “I am going to drink her dry, brother.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven – Kass

  Gabriel started to lunge at the Demon, but he stopped in mid-strike. I was about to ask when I saw him fall to the ground, twisting and contorting his body as he grabbed his head.

  No. I knew what this was.

  I looked over to Raphael and saw that he was in the same position. So was Michael, and so was Alyssa…and Rain. Oh, no. The six-legged creature turned its red eyes to me, soon after vanishing and causing me to wonder why it was here in the first place.

  Blood dripped from their mouths and noses. And that’s when I knew that I had to do something before they were all family to the headless horseman.

  I stood on my shaking legs. “John,” I called out to him. To the guy I used to like. To the guy I thought was one of the most attractive people I’d ever met. To the guy I believed I killed a week ago. “I’m what you want.” My eyes fell to Gabriel. “Not them. Let them go.”

  “Hmm.” John flashed closer to me. “And what will I get in return?”

  I saw Rain’s wide eyes and hated myself for what I was about to say, “Me.”

  A white smile curved on his face. “Now that’s what I’ve wanted all along, Kass.”

  “Great. Now let them go,” I stated, braver than I felt. If someone was going to die, it would be me. My life for the lives of Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Rain and Alyssa? Yeah, that was a pretty good deal.

  “Let me have a taste first. You have to give a little to get a little.” John licked his teeth and flashed inches away from me.

  I breathed heavily an
d turned my head aside. I felt John’s hand on my neck, moving my unruly hair away and making my neck visible with no obstructions. He placed his hands on my waist and pulled me into him. “Just a small disclaimer,” John whispered, “Vampire venom hurts like hell.”

  Just what I wanted to hear.

  John brought his mouth to my neck. I knew he took too much pleasure out of this, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was me or everyone else, and I chose to save everyone else, at least temporarily.

  His breath was hot, and it soon became sporadic, giving me the telltale sign that his teeth changed into fangs. The ends of his teeth felt sharp on my skin, and I braced myself, mentally and physically.

  His teeth pierced my skin, sending excruciating agony through every single nerve. He was right. This did hurt. I closed my eyes and bit my lip to keep myself from crying out as he started drinking my blood.

  A twinge surfaced on my cheek.

  Marked, my mother said. I was marked.

  Marked to die.

  John ferociously wrenched himself off of me and grabbed at his throat, scratching like a maniac. His eyes widened as he dropped to the stone driveway. I fell to my knees, placing a hard hand on my neck to slow down the blood loss.

  My whole body felt weird. Foreign. Like I wasn’t really there, like I watched it unfold. It was difficult to explain.

  Gabriel was there suddenly, pulling me into his lap and putting his own hand on my wound. His tattoo pulsated, light blue eyes staring into me, prying into my soul and seeing all my secrets. “Gabriel,” I whispered, feeling a strange sensation underneath his hand, on my neck. “What are you doing?” My words came out wispy.

  “I don’t know,” Gabriel answered me. He peeked under his hand, shock drawing upon his face. “Healing you, I guess. You’re welcome.”

  I shook with one, tiny chuckle. “Thanks.” The blonde could heal not only himself, but also others. He was full of surprises, wasn’t he?

  “Kass.” Wrapping his arms around me, he hugged me. “Don’t do that again. Ever. I thought I lost you. No one here wants you to be a martyr. That was…look.” Gabriel pointed to John, who still laid on the ground, motionless.