Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  I wanted to say something more, I wanted to touch her, hold her, love her, but I had to let her go. I had to live without her, because I knew she was needed in her world. This world would recover; it would take years upon years, but I would see to it that it went back to the way it was. It would be a lonely existence, but it was one I could handle.

  Still…that didn’t make it hurt any less.

  I offered her the staff, not saying a word as she took it from me. The expression on her face made me content, though I remained sad that I was losing her.

  Holding it to her chest, Kass turned to Raphael and John. She gave them a smile, thanking them, her sincerity plain on her face and in her voice. “I couldn’t have made it this far without you guys. Thank you.”

  Raphael took her thanks with nothing more than a smile, and John simply shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal. In fact, it couldn’t have been a bigger deal. He went against me, fought with me, fought for her. Maybe he was a better man than me.

  Or maybe not.

  Kass turned to me, gazing up at me, her innocence and beauty overwhelming. It was not so easy to fight Demons and remain whole, yet here she was. “Thank you, Gabriel.” She looked down, the words not coming easily to her. “For…” It seemed she could not finish what she wished to say.

  It didn’t matter. She didn’t need to.

  I gently cupped her face, tilting her toward me, bending my top half to give her one, final kiss. Slow, soft, tender. I didn’t want her to go, but she had to. When our lips parted, I whispered, “Goodbye.” And then I did the only thing I could.

  I took the staff, snapping it in half before I could hear whatever she was about to say. I could not bear the thought of hearing her voice say something along the lines of I’ll miss you. I could not hear that from her.

  As a yellow light took her from this world, away from me, everything was as it was before.

  Chapter Thirty-Six – Kass

  I wanted to say something to him, to tell him goodbye, to thank him for helping me even though I knew he didn’t want to, but before I had the chance, the jerk took the staff and broke it. A light enveloped me, blinding me and forcing me to close my eyes. Once I felt the light die down, I slowly opened them.

  The Sorcerer stood before me, holding his yellow-tipped staff. His bald head was as scarred and ugly as I remembered, maybe even more so. When his golden gaze saw me, he grew confused, glancing at his staff, probably wondering why I was here and not gone. The thing didn’t realize how long I’d spent in that other world. It went to lift the staff and do the spell again, but I was quicker than it.

  “I don’t think so.” As I grabbed the staff, I kicked it hard, sending it to the ground. The Sorcerer tripped in its robes, remaining on the floor, begging me wordlessly not to do anything to the staff. Feeling the white wood, the magic ebbing and flowing, radiating around the crystal at the top. “Sorry, but no more spells for you,” I said, breaking the staff over my knee.

  The very second I broke it, the Sorcerer doubled over, holding its stomach as holes appeared in its body, growing and enlarging until it was no more, gone. A staff could go on without its Sorcerer, but a Sorcerer could not go on without its staff. I took a moment to catch my breath, still reeling from everything I’d done to get back here. All that work just to get home. It was worth it.

  I reached for my neck, where the necklace from other Gabriel was. Somehow it remained, despite the fact that it shouldn’t. I pulled the collar of my shirt up, hiding it. It seemed it was the only thing I brought back with me; I wore the same clothes I wore before this whole mess. The last thing I needed was for Gabriel to see the necklace and question me on it.

  My ears heard the sounds of grunting and fighting, and I suddenly recalled just why I decided to venture into the forest in the first place. Holding the two halves of the staff, I sprinted out of the woods and into the cemetery, where Max and Gabriel were busy holding off a group of five Nightwalkers. Koath stood to the side, arms crossed, studying the way the two boys worked together.

  I was beside Gabriel in an instant, staking a Nightwalker from behind and then tossing the staff to the blonde boy, who then did his part and stakes the two surrounding him. I shouted to Max, “Here!”

  The nerdy, oddly small Purifier caught the other half easily, and his enemies were nothing but flames in mere seconds. Looking at him, you wouldn’t think he had such skill or strength, but a Purifier’s abilities weren’t just due to their physical size. It was also because we were divinely blessed.

  Wiping sweat from his brow, along with some of the cover-up that hid his intricate tattoo, Gabriel spoke, “About time.” He gave me a grin. “I was beginning to think that I’d have to go in there and drag you out. I definitely would’ve enjoyed that.”

  I found myself smiling at Gabriel. His messy hair, his young face. No wrinkles surrounded his eyes, nor was his gaze sad. He was my inappropriate, sarcastic, immature Gabriel. I wanted to hug him, but figured that’d be weird, so I settled with leaning my head on his arm…to which I still received a puzzled look from everyone, even Gabriel.

  “You tired?” he asked jokingly, to which I responded by moving away from him.

  “No, but I am hungry.”

  Koath nodded in agreement. “I think I’ve seen enough. Let’s head back to the house. Once we get there, you can finish your dinner.”

  Gabriel walked beside me, quietly studying the staff half in his hands, shooting me a questioning glance. But I ignored him, muttering, “I’ll take anything besides deer.”

  At that, Koath laughed. “When have you ever eaten deer?”

  I looked at Koath, took in everything about him. How he walked, the way he talked more with the left side of his mouth than the right, the greying in his goatee. I missed him so much over the past few years, and the last week or so only made me realize how I loved having him back in my life.

  When I did nothing but laugh, Gabriel nudged me, holding the crystal end of the staff. “Where did you get this? I don’t think things like this are just lying in the forest.”

  Koath took the half from Gabriel, and Max offered him his half without argument. We walked home in relative silence, save for the strange looks from Gabriel and Koath’s questions. I did my best to answer them, minus the whole other world part, and I also focused on how good it was to be back, to have Gabriel and Max and Koath.

  I wasn’t ready to talk about it.

  We soon reached the house, and Koath and Max walked in, but I pulled Gabriel back, to which the blonde boy asked, “Have something on your mind?”

  Sighing, I pleaded with him, “Please, Gabriel, I need you to promise me something. Stop reading my mind. Let my thoughts be the one private thing between us.” My hand was in his, squeezing it as I spoke. Funny; I didn’t remember reaching for him. Not like that. I took my hand back as nonchalantly as I could.

  A single eyebrow of his rose, and he was slow to say, “Fine. But we should have a code word for situations when I’m allowed, or when you’re in danger but can’t say so.”

  “I bet you already have a word in mind.”

  “I do,” he agreed. “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

  I rolled my eyes, stepping into the house to find that Koath had given Raphael the two staff halves. Raphael examined them alone in the kitchen as Max got some pizza slices around him. Koath and Michael were busy chatting about how we worked as a team. We did well, apparently, but not as well as we could’ve. I was not as fast as I could’ve been with getting weapons from the forest.

  Everything was my fault, apparently, but I didn’t let it dwell on me. I got my pizza and collapsed on the sofa in the living room, humming as I devoured the room-temperature, cheesy goodness. It felt like forever since I ate anything this good.

  The five of us sat in the living room, the TV’s volume turned down low for background noise. We ate ourselves full, talking and laughing. Gabriel told an exaggerating tale of how Max took on the entire group of Nightwalkers al
one. It involved a lot of pow-pows, spinning kicks and comically-placed gravestones. His tale even got Raphael to smirk, once he entered the room.

  I never realized how good I had it. I never knew how at home I felt with these people, even Max. He was part of our makeshift family now. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Gabriel’s inappropriate remarks, Raphael’s guise of eternal disappointment, Max’s strange way of trying to be cool. Even Michael’s tea-addiction. Sure, sometimes they got on my nerves, but that was family.

  I loved everything about these people. Without them, I’d be nothing.

  After a while, when everyone was done eating, when the jokes were spent and the clock drew close to twelve, Raphael motioned for me to join him in the kitchen. Already knowing what it was about, I measuredly got up and avoided Gabriel’s suspicious look.

  Raphael stood near the kitchen table, where the staff lay, its two halves mere inches apart. His arms were crossed, the collar on his priest’s uniform tight on his neck. His hair was short, his face free of stubble. Handsome in a modern, clean-cut way. It would take me a while to get used to this appearance again.

  “Where did you find this staff?” he asked, gaze heavy on me.

  “I just found it,” I spoke quickly, the telltale sign that I hid something. A lot of somethings, actually, or depending on how you looked at it, one really big something.

  “Did you?” Raphael’s tone was skeptical, knowing. “You want me to believe that you simply happened to stumble across this? That this staff was not being held by some sort of Demon, namely a Sorcerer?”

  “I don’t know,” I acted clueless, shrugging. “What’s a Sorcerer look like?”

  Raphael smiled somewhat, shaking his head. “Kassandra, you are aware that lying is something Purifiers should not do.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “I am not as gullible as you may think,” he told me, sighing softly as he added, “what am I going to do with you?”

  “Nothing,” I offered. “Absolutely nothing.” And it was true. I didn’t want him to do anything with me.

  “I will give you one more chance to come clean. Where did you find the staff?”

  I knew if I told him where I found it, how I found it, how I knew to take it from the Sorcerer before it could use yet another spell on me, I’d also have to explain my sojourn to another world. A world where I died and he hadn’t aged a day in twenty years, where he could cut through space in a blue rift.

  I wasn’t ready for that admission. Not yet. I needed time.

  So I said a lie that wasn’t believable in the slightest: “I found it in the woods, on the ground.”

  “Is that your final answer?” Raphael asked, not bothering to wait for my reply. “If that is the case, you are going to have no free time in the foreseeable future. Do you know why that is?” He cocked his head, gaining the slightest bit of superiority, the reason I often went head-to-head with him.

  It was odd. The Raphael in the other world was so different. I liked him. He didn’t get on my nerves one little bit. Unlike this one.

  “No,” I answered, “but I have a feeling you’re about to tell me.”

  “After our usual training sessions, Gabriel will get to go home, but you will stay with me. Whether it be training more or having you scrub the floors of my church with a toothbrush, I will get the truth out of you. Until then, we will see a lot more of each other.”

  I grunted, frowning. The last thing I wanted to do was spend more time with Raphael. My mind flashed back to what happened upstairs. Things got heated, but they never should’ve gone that far. Maybe I should’ve told Gabriel and Michael about it, but I wasn’t a wimp. I could handle myself.

  It must’ve been evident that the last thing I wanted to spend time with was spend more time with Raphael, for he said, “I know you probably hate me, as do most other children when they are being disciplined. It is a good thing I am used to the feeling by now.”

  He knew exactly what to say to grind my gears. “I am not a child,” I spoke through clenched teeth, wanting to punch him in his haughty face.

  Chuckling to himself, Raphael murmured, “You are. With all the fighting you have done, with everything you have seen, you still know nothing of the world.” He turned and headed to the front door after picking up the two halves, throwing me a smirk as he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Grinding my teeth, I couldn’t believe I was being disciplined by Raphael. How stupid. Yes, I lied, but I had a feeling that once I came clean, Raphael would wish I hadn’t. Call me psychic.

  Gabriel met me in the front vestibule, noting how upset I was. “What did he want?”

  I found myself laughing it off, saying, “Nothing important.”

  He didn’t believe me, but he also didn’t read my mind to find out the truth. At least he was good for his word. Within moments, I told everyone goodnight and made my way upstairs, showering quickly before hopping into bed. I put the winged necklace beside the diamond-studded heart one. I didn’t own much jewelry, so I didn’t have a jewelry box or anything. They sat bare on my dresser, where I’d see them daily.

  Never did sheets feel so welcoming, nor did my pillow ever feel softer.

  I couldn’t have asked for more.

  The next time I opened my eyes, I was on the floor of a large, circular room. The tile beneath my cheek was cold, making me jolt. I got to my feet, eyes traveling up a nearby marble column. A stone gargoyle sat on top, caught in a perpetual growl.

  Spinning, I walked a bit, taking in the giant, painted-glass windowpanes. Side by side, they told a story, a long, intricate mural of a very famous man’s life. His life began as he was born from a virgin. All the miracles he performed, everything that led to the last stage of his life in the final window, where he hung on a cross.

  On the ceiling was a painted scene, full of winged beings in battle armor. Archangels.

  I heard a cough behind me, and I spun to view a high platform situated upon a marble slab. Three men sat at the platform, their appearances telling me that I was not in today’s world. This particular vision was of the past, but just how far in the past, I hadn’t an idea.

  The left man had a long, gnarly beard that reached his chest. He was older, probably around sixty. His face was bold and strong, and yet it was filled with many wrinkles. The middle man was slightly younger, maybe near fifty. His beard was of a similar length but braided. His graying hair was pulled back into loose ponytail. The third man, the one farthest to the right, was the youngest. He seemed to be forty-ish and had no facial hair besides mutton chops. A pair of small-rimmed glasses sat atop his large nose.

  They were all different, in their own way, and they each commanded a certain amount of respect. Each was fitted in a black robe and had a golden talisman hanging from their neck. From what I could see, the design was an intricate mixture of Celtic symbols and crosses.

  Who were these men?

  Something black below my feet caught my eye, and a short breath escaped me when I saw that I stood upon a huge, black design in the tile. The design was the same as the symbol on their amulets. It looked like an ancient design, something a tough guy would want as a tattoo just because it looked cool. Outdated symbols weren’t really my thing, so I had no idea what it meant.

  “We’ve wasted too many men, too many good men,” the man in the center said. “When will it finally be ready?”

  The eldest man stroked his beard, pensive. His old eyes seemed to stare right through me as he responded, “In due time. And he, Gregor. It is a he.”

  The man on the right laughed, saying, “If it is a he, as you say, then how will it hold up against the Vampires? Our men were failing terribly, that is why we decided to venture into this direction, no?”

  The oldest man shook his head in response.

  The youngest continued, “It is not a he. It is an it. It doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t eat. It doesn’t feel. It only does what we tell it to. It doesn’t have a mind of its own. It’s simply our
instrument, nothing more. And if it were anything less, then it would be unable to complete the tasks which we will set before it.”

  “Peter,” the old man turned to face the youngest, ready to scold.

  “Joseph,” the youngest pointed at him. “Do not lecture me. I know very well that it is of a different caliber than its prey. That is why we had Helio, and not any other Witch, create it.”

  “Then you are aware that this being is his final creation.” Joseph kept shaking his head. “Helio put all his power into making him. We lost the most powerful Witch.”

  The middle man, Gregor, cut in, “But when he died, his magic was sent to his children. We did lose him, however we gained three more like him.”

  “Such as it is,” Joseph wiped the sweat off his forehead, “we must respect him. We must not treat him like he is a Demon, because he is not. He is our beginning. He is the reason we will take back our home, our Earth, from Demons such as the Vampire.”

  “This…being doesn’t even age, and yet you want us to treat it as if it were Human?” Peter looked and sounded completely incredulous.

  “That is exactly what I want you both to do.” Joseph leaned back and closed his eyes.

  “Well, since you won’t allow us to call it what it is, what shall we name it?” Peter and Gregor met eyes and chuckled.

  “The man has already been marked, and he has chosen his own name.” Joseph opened his tired eyes and gazed at the ceiling. At the mural of angels. There was one that stood out: the one that was bent down and healing a common human. “God heals” was his only explanation.

  “What? We will not indulge this…man,” Peter argued. “He cannot be named after an Archangel, taking into account—”

  “Peter,” Joseph broke eye contact with the grand mural and glared at him, “it is the name he has chosen. He will be called so.”

  As the men’s voices fell, I thought back to all my lessons with Koath. Joseph, Gregor, and Peter. Those three names were familiar. So familiar that I should know who they were instantly.