My tired eyes glanced at the alarm clock that rested on my nightstand. It was four in the morning. My ears distinguished a laughing track, making me notice that the television across from my bed was still on and playing reruns of some old show.
Groaning and feeling too lazy to get up and turn it off, I decided that I was just going to ignore it and go back to bed to get some good, un-vision-filled sleep. But as soon as I finished rolling over, I smacked into someone’s body.
I propped myself up on my arms and beheld the sleeping boy. Gabriel, the giant, blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy. He slept as if he was totally ignorant about the fact that he was in my bed and that he was also on the verge of falling off.
Smirking to myself, I knew what I was going to do. I was going to annoy him and possibly shake him awake, hopefully waking him up and scaring him enough that he’ll freak out and fall off my bed. It sounded mean, but in reality, if I pulled it off, it was going to be hilarious.
After all, if the positions were switched, wouldn’t he do the same to me? Yes. Yes, he would. That, or do something totally inappropriate. Either one, really. Maybe even both.
A small breath of air came from my mouth and onto his face, right over his nose. I got no response. Taking a finger, I gently touched the tip of his nose with it. He stirred under the covers. Under my covers.
I swore this boy had no boundaries. He was probably shirtless under there, too. It’s not like I hadn’t seen him shirtless or in a towel before, because I had. Many times. I’d known him for almost my whole life and lived with him for the past five-ish years, so I could see why he had no boundaries.
I, however, would always have boundaries.
My finger touched his nose again, a little harder this time. His eyes stayed closed, but his stubbly face twitched. I did it one more time, causing him to roll to his right, say “I’m drowning in furniture catalogues” and fall off my bed.
I quietly suppressed my laughter at my maniacal plan as I laid back down and pretended I was still sleeping.
I heard Gabriel get up, saying, “Weird dream.” I felt his presence on my bed once more. He didn’t leave. Gabriel crawled back into my sheets and whispered into my ear, “If you want me to leave, all you have to do is ask.”
Oh, yeah. This boy also could read my thoughts. Just my thoughts, too. No one else’s. Talk about weird. And he could heal himself. Not to mention the thin, intricate tattoo all over his body. He also had a Celtic cross on his chest.
But there was a key difference between those tattoos. The Celtic cross he got tattooed on. The other one just appeared in his skin one day, pulsating and moving. It was a good thing he bought a ton of cover-up that he wore daily, otherwise the schoolboard would certainly ask questions. Then again, my old Guardian, Koath, was our new principal, so maybe they wouldn’t.
Gabriel did all that and I had visions/dreams that came true or hinted at something. We weren’t exactly the most typical teenagers, I was told.
I groaned, giving up my sleeping façade and opening my eyes. “You caught me. Happy?”
“No. I won’t be happy until you kiss my elbow,” he paused, holding it out in front of my face, “I landed hard on it because of you.”
“Keep dreaming.”
“Oh, I’m not dreaming. Because if I was,” I could see the glint of his blue eyes, “then I’d ask you to kiss something else.” I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. He was so serious. “I am serious. If I was dreaming, you and I would be—”
“Gabriel?”
“Yeah?”
“Do me a favor and stop talking.”
“But don’t you want to know what we’d be doing in—”
“No,” I told him, beginning to shove him off my bed. “I want to go back to sleep.”
“Okay, then let me get in next to you,” Gabriel spoke quietly, coming back in even though I had just succeeded in pushing him off.
“Your room is right across the hall,” I whined, head falling back on my pillow.
“Oh, it is? Thanks for telling me. I thought this was my room. Truthfully, I was starting to wonder why you were always in my room, especially at nighttime,” his voice was dripping sarcasm. Standard Gabriel procedure. “Though, it’s not like I mind. I actually like having you next to me when I wake up in the morning. For some odd reason, you don’t get morning breath, which is so tough to find in a girl.”
My eyebrows rose. “Really?” He began to say something, but I cut in, “Go to your own bed. Get under the covers. Fall asleep.”
“So that’s the correct nighttime system. I’ve been doing it wrong for more than eighteen years then,” he said, smiling a lopsided grin. His white, straight teeth were abnormally bright in the moonlight.
“Leave before I make you,” I threatened him, giving him my famous death glare. Usually that would work on him. But, apparently, not tonight.
“I’ll let you do anything to me, my dear raccoon.”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled the covers over my head and thought, my dear raccoon is the crappiest nickname ever, Gabriel.
His hand was on my cozy comforter and he yanked it down. Gabriel brought his face down to mine. “Fine, but,” he spoke softly, “you should just get used to having me in your bed.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but was abruptly silenced as he kissed my forehead, threw the covers back up, and left the room. All in about two seconds, too. All I could think was, that boy was weird.
Morning came too quickly, and I did not want to get up and start the day. At least it was Sunday, meaning that I didn’t have to go to school. That was about the only bright side I could see.
My laziness overtook me, causing me to fall back asleep, thankfully into a dreamless sleep. The next moment I was aware of, I sat upright and stared out my sun-filled window. I could only imagine how long I was out. I was sure the sun wasn’t this bright at nine in the morning.
I threw the sheets off and staggered over to my clock. Ooh, crap. It was twelve. I wasted practically half the day by sleeping.
In record time I was dressed, my teeth were brushed, and I was downstairs looking chipper. As if I hadn’t slept in for an extra four hours. Michael waited for me in the living room. He had his normal cup of tea in one hand and the newspaper in the other. His eyes blinked under his small-rimmed glasses as he turned the page, apparently not noticing that I was standing there staring at him like a creeper.
“Michael,” I said, causing him to jerk slightly.
“Bloody hell,” his accent was thick, “you scared me.”
Eyebrows wrinkling, I responded, “I could tell.” I made a big show of skimming the surrounding, and empty, area. “Where is everyone?”
“And by everyone you mean Gabriel?” Michael corrected me as he turned another page. “Because he’s the only one who’s missing. Regardless of how often Koath, Max, and Raphael have been here the past few days, need I remind you that they do not live here?”
“I know that.” My mind recalled how Koath had recently came back to America from England to be the high school’s new principal, since the last one was murdered by the first guy I ever had a crush on, and brought a super dorky purifier with him. I could still remember the time I first met Max. He was sitting in the room the whole time Koath and I were catching up (since he used to be my father-figure and all that jazz), and I didn’t even notice him.
How someone could miss his huge, bug-eyed glasses and flaming red hair, I had no clue.
Don’t even get me started on Raphael. He was a hit-or-miss kind of guy. A while ago, I hit him for saying some awful things to me, even if some of them were sort of true, and we ended up on the floor with his hand around my throat. But I kind of wanted to forget all about that and just think of how he was when we last talked one on one. He was nice to me. I was nice to him. It was a good change, since we’re usually at each other’s throats—figuratively and literally—in seconds.
And, as the days progressed, I also caught him looking at me.
Of course, he looked a
t me. I meant he looked looked. As in, I was ninety-five percent sure I caught Raphael checking me out. I was torn. Half of me kinda liked it, because he was a very good-looking man with his intensely green eyes, light hair, and high cheekbones.
But he was my teacher. Not a school teacher. He was the one who taught Gabriel and I (and now Max) about the correct ways to severe a Nightwalker’s head, easy ways to lodge a wooden stake in its heart, and stuff like that. More advanced tactics than Koath or Michael ever taught us.
He also dressed like a priest, even though he wasn’t one. And he was older than me. Not by much, though. At the most, he was in his mid-twenties.
I should just forget about it, because, so far, when I liked a guy they turned out to be a psychotic Daywalker (John) who had a very attractive older brother (Rain) who also happened to be a Daywalker and whose sister (not by blood) was a Witch (Alyssa) who just happened to be my only friend.
I could sure pick them. But that didn’t matter anymore, because they were gone now. I was back to the friendless state I was in before.
You might think that I was exaggerating, and that’s because I was. I tended to do that. My friends included and were limited to: Gabriel, Koath, Michael, Max, and (sometimes) Raphael. Claire…well, we were getting there.
“So,” I said, shaking myself into focus, “where is he?” I had an inkling of where he was, but didn’t want to face the music.
“He is having a lesson with Raphael at the church,” Michael answered. I knew it. “We tried to wake you, but you were in some deep sleep.”
“Does this mean…” My voice dragged out.
“Yes.” Sighing, I turned and headed to the front door. Michael stood up. “I can drive you.”
“No,” I told him swiftly. The only reason he offered was because Crixis was still out there somewhere, just waiting to torture me. Why? Only because I survived our first encounter three years ago, when I had to save Gabriel’s sorry butt from a nest of twenty Nightwalkers.
The reason I survived that fight was pure luck, in my opinion. I was in a fricking comatose state for the next few days. It was a memory I’d rather forget.
“No,” I insisted when I saw that he wasn’t completely convinced, “I’m fine. It’s only a ten-minute walk from here. I’ll be fine.” Though, I did realize that every time I said I’ll be fine, things seemed to go to bad pretty quickly.
Michael’s eyes softened as he told me, “All right. Be careful.”
“I’m always careful,” I said slyly, even though that statement couldn’t be farther from the truth. But Michael seemed to believe it, so why bother correcting myself?
Chapter Two – Kass
To my surprise, Max wasn’t there. It was just Raphael and Gabriel, who were deadlocked in a fight. We fought each other all the time, so I shouldn’t be shocked by the fact that they were using staffs.
But I was. Because when were we ever going to need to use a wooden pole?
Raphael caught Gabriel off guard and hit the end of the staff lightly over his neck. “If I would have put all my force behind that blow, your neck would be broken.”
Gabriel looked awesomely geeky in his Farscape T-shirt. It was a tad tight on him, though. I could have sworn that his arms were going to tear the sleeves if he breathed, for God’s sake. That was a shirt he should either toss or store in the bottom drawer of his dresser for sentimental reasons.
I couldn’t help but notice that it did hug his muscles well, however.
His blue eyes darted from Raphael to me.
Crap. He heard that thought. Ah, well. It’s not like I hadn’t thought that before, because I had. Many times.
The sun around the dilapidated and abandoned church that Raphael lived in was dazzlingly vivid. It was so bright outside that it was difficult to see.
If that’s normal or not for North Carolina, I was still unsure.
“I don’t know,” Gabriel smiled foolishly, “I think my neck muscles could have overcame that little stick.”
Raphael smirked in response. “Well,” he held up the staff, “this little stick had you howling in pain a few minutes ago.”
“Shh,” Gabriel hushed him while shooting a huge grin at me, “that may be true, but that was before Kass got here.”
Walking over to the two bickering boys, I placed my hands on my hips and said, “What do I have to do with any of this?”
Raphael’s emerald eyes were upon me, making me exhale sharply. “Exactly. He has to pretend to be a man to impress you.”
“Pretend?” Gabriel was incredulous. “Pre…tend? Are you kidding me? Do you see this?” He pointed to his arm muscles and flexed. “And do you see these?” He lifted up his shirt and revealed a defined six pack.
I rolled my eyes at his ego-show. “We’ve seen it all before, Gabriel.”
“I have not, and I want you to put your shirt down,” Raphael said, looking from me to Gabriel. “Because I don’t wish to see any of that.”
Gabriel completely ignored him and pointed to his upper belly. “No, I’m not talking about those six, though they are something to marvel at. I’m talking about the two that are coming in. See? Don’t you see them? Aren’t they the cutest little things?”
I bent down and acted as if I couldn’t see them. “Are you talking about the little, white hairs?”
Gabriel laughed and put his hand on my face, humorously shoving me away. “Get out of there.” He whispered, “Not while Raphael’s standing right here. Later.”
Laughing, I shook my head at him and looked to Raphael. His jaw was set, meaning that he grew angry. Which was great.
“I do not find the humor in this. Put down your shirt, or…” Raphael swatted the staff at his stomach, causing Gabriel to flinch, though he didn’t hit him. “I won’t stop short next time.”
I giggled and promptly covered my mouth. Why was I giggling at Raphael? Maybe I was simply finding this whole conversation extremely amusing.
“Fine,” Gabriel said, acting like a five-year-old and letting his shirt fall to its rightful place. “I see how it is.”
Raphael nodded. “Good. And, for future reference, Nightwalkers won’t fall and purify themselves when you show them your toned stomach.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. You made a funny. Toned? Did you even see it?” Gabriel freaked. “That was not toned; that was muscular. You may not know the difference, but now you do.”
“I’ve got to say,” Raphael set the staff vertical and leaned on it. “You, Gabriel, are great at one thing: wasting time.”
Gabriel glared at him for a moment before saying, “I’m going to not say anything. Besides that. And this: I’m going to leave now, if we’re done. And I’m betting we are. So,” he turned and winked at me, “I’ll see you at home. I would stay, but…I’m really sweaty and I need to take a shower.”
“Whatever,” I spoke. Probably best that he didn’t stick around to watch Raphael kick my butt this way and that.
I fell back to the grass. My body ached badly, so for a few seconds I stayed down and took in the feel of the prickly grass on my back and the sun on my face. The sun felt good and the cool grass felt amazing.
After today, I honestly believed I was going to get sunburnt. It’d been a while since I was burnt. Years, probably.
Raphael stood over me, possibly wondering why I had the ah-I’m-in-heaven look on my face.
A strange smile entered my lips as I said, “I vote for a break.”
A small chuckle left him. “No breaks until we’re done.”
“What?” I blinked at him, taking in the way he looked from this angle. His chin was more defined than I thought. “You mean we still have a long way to go?” He smiled at me, so I covered my red face to shield it from the sun. “When are we even going to fight a Demon using a staff? It just seems so…old-fashioned.”
“Well,” Raphael paused, wiping the sweat off his forehead, “you are right there. It is an outdated practice. All the more reason for you to learn it. After all, the more weapo
ns you study, the more prepared you’ll be in all situations. If you’re walking alone in a forest and you come across a Demon, you might not have anything with you.”
My hands fell to the grass as I asked, “So?”
“So,” he finished, “you’re going to have to find the nearest thing, and the nearest thing is most likely going to be a stick. Hopefully a sizeable one. If not, then you either run or take it on unarmed. Trust me, it pays to be adaptable.”
“I don’t plan on walking into the woods with no weapons.” I grinned at his reaction.
Smiling, Raphael replied, “We shall see about that.”
In a heartbeat I was back on my feet and clutching the wooden staff. “We shall.”
His bright eyes fell to my feet and slowly traveled upwards. Raphael tilted his head, getting a clump of hair over his right eye, “Good.”
I loosened my shoulders, readying myself for another fight that I would definitely lose in about…five seconds. Seriously, that’s been my average time today. Better than normal, though. It wasn’t my fault. Well, it was partially my fault, but I blamed Raphael. He was just too good of a fighter. It was as if he were born a natural. A god of fighting.
Raphael stood, feet shoulder-length apart, facing me and raising his staff. His way of saying get ready, and I did.
We circled each other for what seemed like forever; neither of us wanted to make the first move. I usually did, but then I lost immediately. At least when he made the first move, I lasted a longer.
A weird concept, but it was true.
Screw it soon became my mindset. I lunged at him, and rapidly we were deadlocked as we each tried to outdo the other. And when I say deadlocked, I meant we were deadlocked for about four seconds. On the fifth second, just as I suspected, Raphael swept his staff behind my feet, making me fall to the ground again.
And for some odd reason, I didn’t instantaneously give up. I rolled out of his staff’s reaching distance and jumped to my feet.
What could I say? Sometimes I fought till the end…others I didn’t, when I was tired. I suddenly had my second wind and was ready for this fight to continue.
Staked! Page 51
