Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  I smirked, which was all she needed.

  She drove her fist through the man’s chest, tearing through his ribcage like it was tissue paper. In a second, she tore out his still-beating heart, holding it in her flat palm, blood dripping easily from the gory organ. Biting into it, she smiled as red fell from her chin to her chest. She let out a laugh as I flashed beside her, dropping the mug on the floor and breaking it into dozens of pieces.

  I pushed her down, laying her on top of the dead human. The heart rolled from her hand, falling to the floor and bouncing twice.

  “I love it when you’re covered in blood,” I whispered, drawing my tongue along her chest, where blood had fallen.

  “I know you do,” she muttered softly, tearing open my shirt. She traced her fingernail down my chest, cutting into me easily. She knew I liked pain, blood and death.

  In all my time, I’d never had sex on top of a dead man, but with a life like mine, there was time enough for anything and everything. Soon we were naked, nipping and biting each other, tearing the corpse below into pieces. Blood coated our bodies by the time we were done, and she laid on top of me, her brown hair matted in maroon.

  I held her with one hand and gripped her mask in the other. She liked the fact that masks hid one’s face. Behind a mask, you could do anything and no one would know it was you. It was an excuse of sorts, only my lover did not need excuses. She was like me, and she reveled in it. Those protected by the Prophet called us the King and Queen. We turned this world into a certain Hell on Earth.

  And was it fun.

  Yet…that strange feeling nagged at me. Somewhere in the Carolinian forests was something…known. The proverbial light in the eternal darkness that this world had. I thought I’d snuffed it out.

  My lover looked up at me, concerned. “What is it?”

  “You don’t feel it?” I asked, meeting her gaze. “You don’t feel that…pull?”

  “This again?” She rolled off of me, off the table, standing. “I thought we talked about this already?”

  Right. She didn’t feel it like I did. Still, I wasn’t assured.

  Sitting, I said, “Send your pet out. Tell it to fetch. Your pet will know what I’m talking about. Tell him to bring whatever it is back.”

  My lover stepped toward me, standing on her tiptoes and planting a gentle kiss on my lips before she questioned, “I thought you didn’t like my pet?”

  “I don’t. But I want this taken care of, and I have a rebellion to watch. Send your pet,” I repeated, fangs disappearing from my mouth. “And tell him to bring whatever it is back alive.”

  She grinned. “All right. Anything for you, my love.” With one last kiss, she vanished from my sight, leaving me with the macabre scene of our lovemaking.

  Chapter Twenty-One – John

  Kass was busy with Raphael, trying to find out information about the King. The blasted Demon ruled what once was their Carolinian city. He fed the chaos and loved to watch it fester. It was a sure thing that he would send something after them.

  I wasn’t worried about the King right now, though, as I stood outside in the darkness. No, I was fairly certain I had worse problems. I was face to face with a very unhappy Gabriel. Though, it wasn’t truly Gabriel. Not anymore. We never got along before; it was ten times as bad now.

  Especially now that there was another Kass.

  Gabriel’s head was down, his breathing nearly nonexistent. He was angry with me. He was probably going to kill me. For the first time in my life, I was ready. I was done. A part of me wanted to die.

  It was a darker night than usual, and I remained silent, knowing nothing I said or did could stop what was about to happen. Gabriel’s silence made me anxious. Just get it over with. Kill me.

  Please.

  Suddenly I felt a searing pain in my gut, and soon, around my heart. It was like ten thousand needles piercing my arteries at once. My body felt like it was on fire. The pain was unbearable, worse than I had ever experienced in my unnaturally long life. In the blink of an eye, Gabriel had closed the distance between us and tore into me with his hand, up through my stomach to avoid the ribcage, around my lungs, and currently had his hand around my heart.

  A dark red fire burned in his eyes as he slowly looked at me. “You should not have done that.”

  I managed to smile through the pain, coughing up blood. “I never liked following orders.” It hard to speak. Every breath was labored, each word felt like acid on my tongue.

  “And now your soul is forfeit,” Gabriel said lowly. Before he lost Kass, I never thought twice about the guy. I didn’t think he could sound so menacing, so evil. Yet here we were, and I was seconds from finally dying, from leaving this world for once and for all.

  “Do it,” I spat. “Kill me. I would rather die…than be a part of this.” I mentioned his lie, how he wanted to deceive Kass. She wasn’t his Kass, she wasn’t my Kass. She was from a different world, and if she remained here, this world’s darkness would catch up to her. She wouldn’t stay so innocent.

  “You have no idea what awaits you in Hell, do you?” Gabriel questioned, already knowing the answer. Who better knew Hell than its ruler? “Once I have your soul, you will regret this decision.” His grip on my heart tightened, causing me to tremble uncontrollably.

  I whispered in between ungodly coughs, “She will find out…you can’t hide yourself forever.”

  “I don’t plan to” was what Gabriel said next, and it dawned on me that perhaps he wanted to keep up the lie long enough to sway her to his side, to make her feel something for him. Surely, though, he wouldn’t risk taking her with him to the Underworld, to Hell? He was its ruler, but Kass would never be its queen.

  Gabriel’s hand was ready to yank out my heart, to kill me and take my soul, forcing me to his domain, but I watched him pause. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe he was undergoing a change of heart; but I saw his mind racing. I saw the wheels turning in his head. Why was he hesitant? Why did he not simply do it and get it over with? Finish this last scene in my life? I was more than ready.

  And that’s when my supernatural hearing heard it: the moaning. The drooling. Feet shuffling in a mass of bodies. They were headed in our direction. Something wasn’t right.

  Gabriel must’ve sensed them too, for he sharply yanked his hand away from heart and out of my stomach. His hand dripped my blood, dropping to the grass, akin to how I immediately collapsed, coughing and retching.

  It took me a minute to get to my feet, my muscles twitching, the spasms irregular. Holding a hand to my wound, my heart ached. It felt like his hand was still there, threatening to end my life. It was a threat I wished would’ve come true. I would heal soon enough.

  “Lesser Vampires,” I said, wincing. “Moving as one? They would not attack us…” I sent Gabriel a glare. “Not you.”

  He was sullen, not even bothering to meet my gaze. “Sometimes,” he mused, “even dogs need to be reminded who their masters are. Or in this case…” The fire burning behind his gaze erupted, burning away at his flesh as he morphed into the creature his human face hid. “Master.”

  The horde emerged over the nearby hill, and I saw just how large their numbers were. When their yellow, demonic eyes saw us, their inept shuffling halted instantly, and they transformed into a fast, deadly company. Over thirty surrounded us, and none seemed to know that they surrounded the being who held their souls.

  “This isn’t right,” I said, dodging a rolling Vampire. “They’d never move in a group like this.” I followed Gabriel’s lead, shoving my hand through their bodies and yanking out their hearts in rapid succession. Fires engulfed the dead ones. One after the other, I went through them as fast as I could until I heard the sounds of harsh breathing behind a metal mask.

  Hearing that stopped me cold.

  It couldn’t be…could it?

  Gabriel’s true form held out his long, clawed hand, stopping the horde that surrounded us from attacking. He must have sensed him too. His horned hea
d turned to me, the fire burning in his eyes darkening as he spoke in an otherworldly voice, “Taking your soul would be far too easy. No, I want you to suffer. I want you to know true pain, to lose the only thing you ever cared about.”

  His grey arm lifted, his hand disappearing in a cloud of invisibility. Though I wasn’t there, I knew where his arm was, where the veil broke and he sought to take the one thing that was ever truly good in this world.

  My brother.

  “No,” I shouted at the Devil, lunging for him, tackling him to the ground and catching him off-guard. His arm, wherever it emerged, was taken out of the mystical cloud. I knew I couldn’t keep him occupied for long, and I dared not forget the crowd of Vampires watching us with blank expressions. The only thing on my mind was saving my brother’s soul.

  If anyone deserved to move on, it was him.

  He was always the better brother, the morally righteous one.

  I just hoped to keep Gabriel occupied long enough that Raphael could do what he was made to do.

  Save Kirk’s soul.

  Chapter Twenty-Two – Kass

  “Why won’t you tell me anything about the King?” If I said I was annoyed, it’d be the year’s worst understatement. Raphael was doing his best to ignore me and my countless questions, just as I was doing my best to try and forget the kiss between Gabriel and me.

  The worst part was…it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

  A part of me liked it.

  Bad, bad Kass.

  “And why does he call himself the King? Could’ve been the Dictator, or the President…but the King? Seems a little old-fashioned, don’t you think?” I ran my fingers along the spine of an old book about Demons. I remembered being forced to read it and then quizzed on it while sparring with Raphael.

  “He is an old soul,” Raphael spoke slowly, looking to me. “Older than you think.”

  Eyebrows coming together, I put two and two together. “You know him, don’t you? I know him, too. What is his name?”

  Raphael appeared as if he was about to answer, but something changed in his expression. He drew his curved dagger, quickly handing it to me as he said, “Remain here. We are no longer alone.” And then he disappeared in a blue rift.

  I waited there a few moments, realizing that I was me, after all, and I never did the smart thing. I’d rather be in the thick of the fight than cowering in a hidden room. Gripping the metal tightly, I heard loud thumping as I entered the great hall of the church.

  The doors were broken down, wood splintering everywhere. I knew the Demons standing on the opposite side: Nightwalkers. With their venom-dripping fangs and their rotting, gross flesh. Gabriel and I had fought countless Nightwalkers. They were easy pickings.

  Although, I soon saw as their bodies ran into the church, not quite as many at once before.

  Three Nightwalkers lunged at me; I leapt to the side, expertly impaling their hearts with Raphael’s dagger. I was quick to yank the metal from their hearts before they burst into flames. Too often I lost stakes and other weapons to the eternal orange fires that devoured them once they were purified.

  As I fought another pair in front of me, I heard one coming up from behind. Just as I turned, though, an arrow was shot from the rafters, piercing its heart. Raphael stood above me, above the group of Nightwalkers, with John’s bow, shooting at an inhuman pace. Almost as fast as a Nightwalker, I realized.

  Don’t tell me he was made into a Daywalker or something after this world’s Kass died. Just…don’t. I didn’t need any more on my plate.

  I remembered something. “Crap,” I yelled over the masse of Demons.

  “What?” Raphael called back, clueless as he continued to fire, though he was losing arrows fast.

  “Gabriel and John are out there.” I ran through the crowd of Nightwalkers without waiting for Raphael’s reply. Those two could take care of themselves, I knew, but I had to make sure they were both all right. Yes, even John.

  Old feelings died hard, if they ever really died at all.

  I stabbed Nightwalker after Nightwalker as I ran, attacking only those that were close enough. I was confident that Raphael would finish the rest. So far, I’d put their numbers in the fifties. But the moment I ran outside in the dim moonlight, I saw their numbers were much greater than that.

  Fighting my way through the horde, I called for Gabriel and John, but heard no answer. Nightwalker after Nightwalker, I staked them with Raphael’s blade. I didn’t think twice when I came across a bare chest whose flesh looked nothing like old, sagging Nightwalker skin. The dagger was in its chest, cutting through its heart. Yet it did not burst into flames.

  I heard a growl rumble from its chest, and with my hand still on the dagger’s hilt, I was slow to look upward. The metal mask the man wore was just like the one I dreamt of, the one that haunted my recent visions. In a swift movement, the man grabbed my neck, squeezing as he lifted me off the ground, the dagger still implanted in his chest, his heart.

  In all my life, I’d only met one other being that could take something to the heart and live. Red Eyes, who I now knew as Crixis. But this, whoever he was, wasn’t Crixis. He didn’t have as wide a frame, nor as powerful a walk, even if his grip was as strong as iron.

  No, this was someone else.

  My vision blurred, my consciousness starting to fall away. The being threw me against the wall of the church, and as my back collided with the stone, I noticed that the Nightwalkers weren’t interfering. Those that weren’t fighting Raphael in the church merely watched. I blinked, trying to regain my senses, to get up, to fight, but being choked wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

  I felt like passing out.

  The man yanked the dagger from his chest, dropping it on the grass. The mask covered his entire face, save for a tiny hole in the mouth and two for the nose and eyes. His breathing behind it was erratic but powerful. I was very sluggish in standing, shaking away the blurriness. My head pounded, and I was so out of it I didn’t see the warning signs.

  His stomach was caving in on itself. He was thinner than he should’ve been. He was hungry.

  And he wanted to eat me.

  He reached for me, holding my shoulders. In an unavoidable headbutt, his metal mask met my forehead, blood trickled from my hairline. Did that hurt. I punched him in his gut, but my usual strength was practically gone. I saw double and had a migraine the size of Texas.

  I didn’t want to think of the bruising that would result on my back or my face.

  He pushed me against the wall of the church, headbutting me again. Bringing his hands to his face, his fingertips pried beneath the mask, and he used his supreme strength to tear it off. The mask must have been melded to his skin, for the top layer tore off. His lips, his eyelids, most of his nose. All that remained was blood and muscles and tendons.

  It was a disgusting sight. It made me want to vomit.

  He hit me with his mask, knocking me to the floor and pouncing on me like an animal. His tongue licked his lipless mouth, his teeth those of a Daywalker. I bared my own teeth, grabbing his neck with both my hands, trying to stop his descent toward me. I wasn’t strong enough.

  Soon, his teeth were near my pulsating veins. They broke the skin easily, tearing through like I was nothing but tissue paper. The pain that erupted was unbearable. I remembered being bitten by John. That lasted but a moment, and he somehow regained his senses the instant he tasted by blood. This one, though, I feared he did not have any senses to return to.

  He was mad, and he drank me hungrily, as if he hadn’t had a meal in ages.

  A blackened, strong hand came from nowhere, out of a cloud of fiery mist. It grabbed the Daywalker, pulling him off me. I immediately pressed a hand to my neck, slowing the blood flow. I was woozy, tired. Too tired to question the black hand or the fact that it disappeared as quickly as it came.

  Raphael rift-walked behind the bloody Daywalker, his hand glowing an iridescent blue as he shoved it in his chest. Whatever his dagger
could not do, Raphael succeeded. In a bright teal flash, the Daywalker burned away, fading from sight.

  “What was that?” I whispered, though my words did not come out as clear as I thought they did. “What did you do? Actually, save it for later. We have to find John and Gabriel.”

  The crowd of Nightwalkers was gone in a flash, and I had an uneasy feeling as to where they went.

  Raphael was quiet as we ran over the hill, finding John alone. He clutched his stomach, beaten and bloodied.

  “Are you all right?” I questioned, still holding onto my neck.

  John managed to nod once, looking to Raphael, who nodded the affirmative in return. “Good. If anyone deserved to move on from this, it was Kirk.”

  The metal-masked man…was Kirk Rain? John’s brother? This world was so many different ways of twisted, yet I had to find Gabriel before it was too late. I would ask Raphael about his powers later, along with saying my apologies to John.

  As if knowing my question, John pointed. “He took the horde that way.”

  How Gabriel was able to take the horde by himself worried me. He was only one person after all. There was no way he could handle them all by himself. I took off running, stumbling a bit, even though unconsciousness was calling me.

  I had to find him.

  As I came upon the field of Nightwalkers, I stopped. Gabriel was nowhere in sight.

  But the Devil was.

  Chapter Twenty-Three – The Prince

  I had them enthralled. The remaining lesser Vampires that hadn’t already met their true death. It was not difficult to enthrall them once they saw who I was. I already had their souls marked for my realm, yet throughout the past years I let them linger and multiply on this world. I lost the will to keep balance.

  But the balance would be restored. I would see to it.

  I stood in the center of the field, surrounded by countless Demons whose mouths dripped venom that would turn any human into one of their kind. A time long past came to me, and I remembered the zombie movies I forced Michael and Kass to watch with me. My grey lips smirked, but the smirk fell away the moment I heard her footsteps.