Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  I was so caught up in my thoughts that I walked straight into a tall, skinny, blonde girl that was also making her way to my lunch table. And I could only think of one reason for that: Gabriel.

  Instead of saying that she was sorry, like any other person who actually cared that they bumped into the most popular girl at school, I gave her a death glare and said “Watch it” with the meanest tone I could muster.

  She stared at me with unbelieving brown eyes before following me to my table. Gabriel was oblivious, until she shoved me aside to another chair and sat on my seat beside him, saying “You watch it” under her breath so only I could hear it.

  This girl was asking for my fist in her face.

  Gabriel’s blue eyes silenced her instantly. His normally deep and warm blue stare was now an ice cold one. Sometimes it’s amazing what that boy could do. “What do you want?”

  She gave him a smile that I was certain had melted many boys’ hearts. “I want to know why you haven’t called me. I gave you my number three weeks ago.”

  As she kept talking, and making a fool of herself in my book, I peeked around the girl to look at Gabriel and see in what way he took this in. Hint: it wasn’t an oh-my-God-you’re-totally-right-let’s-date-right-now look. It was more of a why-are-you-still-here-wasting-my-time one.

  A year ago, I was sure he would have loved to try her out. After moving here and going through all of this crap, I had to admit he changed. Or maybe I was the one who changed.

  I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of his uncaring face.

  The girl’s eyes narrowed as she spun to face me. “What are you laughing at, freak?”

  My giggle turned into a cough, drowning out the threat that was seconds away from slipping from my mouth.

  “Hey,” Gabriel said, icy stare becoming even colder and meaner, if it was possible. And, yes, yes it was. “You’re sitting in Kass’s spot.”

  I poked my head around her astonished one, wondering why Gabriel didn’t let me handle it myself. Sure, it would’ve involved more swear words, but as far as I was concerned, they got the point across that normal language couldn’t.

  “Sorry,” she said, sounding thoroughly not sorry, “I didn’t realize you were into—”

  Gabriel interrupted, “No, I bet you didn’t. You saw me, you realized how totally handsome I am, and that was all you needed to know about me. Here’s a hint: I have a lot more substance than my good looks would show.” She opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but he quickly said, “Please don’t. Just get up and go.”

  “But—” Her brown eyes widened as he reached down to her chair and used his muscular arms to slide it to the nearest table, which just happened to be filled with all outcasts of the popular system. She dug her manicured nails into her palms before standing up and storming away.

  Gabriel laughed and scooted the chair I was resting in next to him, sadly leaving my lunch a good two feet away. My short arms couldn’t reach it, so I stood to push the food closer to my spot. When everything was a respectable and arm’s-distance away, I reclined back in the uncomfortable cafeteria chair…only, the chair wasn’t there, so I fell.

  My butt landed hard on the ground as I glared at the laughing Gabriel. He had one of his hands on the chair that had suddenly scooted itself out. His blue eyes were closed, and his body was bent, trying to capture some much-needed air.

  The redness rushed to my face as I stood and glared at Max and Claire across the table, who’d remained silent until now. They laughed too. I angrily snagged my chair from Gabriel’s hand and sat down, making sure no one yanked it from me this time.

  Gabriel knew I hated it when people laughed at me. He knew it, and yet he went ahead and pulled something like this…why?

  “That’s for eating my fruit rollup,” he said, leaning on the lunch table and hiding his mouth with his other hand.

  My mouth dropped. “I hate you.”

  “Hey,” he shrugged it off, “I told you I’d get you back when you’re least expecting it.” Gabriel’s eyes met my death glare. “What better time than right after I defend you from the school’s it-girl?”

  I had to roll my eyes at that. I was fairly certain no one said it-girl anymore.

  “True,” Max said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them when his breathing got under control after his laughter. “Very logical.”

  “Yeah.” Claire smiled at Max, who was busy paying attention to his bug-glasses. “Very logical.”

  I rolled my eyes and pointed a finger in my mouth, signaling that I was getting way grossed out by what was unfolding across the table. I was scared that in a minute they’d start making out. And that, I could not watch, even if you paid me.

  I kept my eyes off Gabriel and watched Claire sharply look away when Max glanced up and was finished with his glasses. She bent over the table, saying, “I’ve never seen anyone tell her off like that. It was amazing.”

  “Eh,” Gabriel’s voice sounded as if it was nothing, “you just got to have the balls to do it. And I have my fair share of those, believe me.”

  Claire became somewhat awkward, coughing, “Um, okay. Anyway, it’s great. She’s never going to live that down.”

  I gave way to my aching body as I fell down, onto the grass near Max. After carrying my heavy rose blade, fighting Raphael with it for over an hour, and losing the majority of that time, I was dead tired.

  But there was still something I had to do before passing out.

  “So, Max,” I said, trying to act normal. And failing. It was completely obvious that I wanted something from him, I could tell from the tone of my voice. And if I could tell, he could definitely tell. I quickly changed my approach, “How do you like it here?”

  He ran a thin, freckly hand through his short, red hair. “It’s okay. It’s much better than where I was before.”

  I never thought of that. Max was somewhere else for his whole life. He wasn’t always with Koath…because I was. “Where were you before?”

  “Cleveland.”

  “So this is a big change for you?” I watched him nod slowly. “Yeah, me too. Before coming here, Gabriel and I were stationed out west, where there’s no green grass and hardly any trees. And absolutely no rain,” I added as an afterthought, thinking of the huge thunderstorm that had just taken place this past weekend.

  “Tell me about it,” his deep voice joined in. “This location, and the people here, are much different than the ones in Cleveland.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” I began slowly, “what happened with your old Guardian?”

  It was moments before the small, leprechaun-like boy responded, “He died.”

  “Ah,” I said with a note of sympathy in my voice, “a Demon got him?”

  “No,” Max shook the idea off easily, “he was shot.”

  I jumped back at his statement. “He was shot by a Demon?” Even I knew that was a long shot. The kid shook his head. “Oh. I’m sorry.” I placed a gentle, somewhat awkward hand on his wiry shoulder. “At least…you have us now.”

  Wow. Me and the bright side? Those were two things that seldom crossed paths.

  “And…” My voice trailed off. For some reason, I felt weird trying to pry into Max’s deepest and inner feelings. “Other friends.”

  His eyes appeared shocked. “Other friends?” Max repeated, sounding unsure of himself.

  “Yeah, you know…” There was no way this wasn’t going to be awkward, so I was just going to come out and say it. “Claire.”

  “Claire?” He rubbed the back of his sunburnt neck. “Yeah, I guess. But she’s different, you know?”

  “Different how?” I prodded.

  “She’s smart, nice, funny, pretty,” Max rambled off without thinking. He caught himself, quickly saying, “I mean, a good personality, inside and out.”

  Well, I got him to admit that he thought she was smart, nice, funny, and pretty. Not sure I agreed with all of them, but then again, I wasn’t Max. There was something in the tone of h
is voice that made me feel like there was a but… statement coming.

  And there was.

  “But I could never…I mean, we could never—” Max was clearly having some trouble with his words, and it was kind of cute. “She’s normal. A civilian. And I’m not. We could never date or anything, so it’s pointless to try and convince myself otherwise.”

  “Max,” I said lightly, “those aren’t rules…they’re more like guideline. You can do whatever you want.”

  “But Koath always says that—”

  I held up a hand, stopping him. “Believe me, I know what Koath says. That’s just his way of saying be careful. He doesn’t actually mean that you can never have a relationship.”

  “Don’t scream at me for saying this,” Max started. Great. That was always a fantastic way to start a sentence. “But didn’t your relationship with a civilian cause a lot of people to die?”

  I thought back to John and the way I used to feel about him. None of those feelings were alive now, not after all the things he did. Sure, the John in the other reality was good, but I had to force myself to forget all about him.

  “That was purely incidental. Nothing like that would have happened if Crixis wasn’t out for me. John would never have turned crazy and killed all those people. And besides, our relationship had nothing to do with that part,” I said, sincerity literally dripping from my voice.

  “Plus,” I added, sneaking a look at Max, “John wasn’t human to begin with.”

  Chapter Eighteen – Crixis

  The smell of putrid humanity was dank and unavoidable in this dive of a bar. I could feel the beat of the music pumping through my body. Some seemed to really like this feeling, but I was not among them. It was annoying and distasteful. I much preferred jazz.

  This was where the Oracle wanted to meet. It was ridiculous. She thought that, since this was a public place filled to the brim with young, sweaty, sex-crazed adults, I could do nothing against her.

  She could not be more wrong.

  If I wanted to kill her, there was always a way. However, in this instance, that was not what I was here for.

  The Oracle, Katarina, called herself such, even though she was simply a Witch. A small, element-sensitized Witch. I was not one to be acquainted with Witches, because they were usually unhelpful and weak, but Katarina was in tune with nature, ancient nature, and that was something very rare these days.

  The song abruptly switched to a heavier beat. I leaned on a column and watched the humans in their sensual dancing. It was something I never understood, maybe because I did not grow up in this era.

  A tall, thin woman casually made her way to my side. Her long, black hair masked the giant dragon tattoo she had on her back. Black leggings covered her legs while a tight dress covered the rest. Her Latina eyes slowly turned to me.

  “Hola,” I spoke with a perfected Spanish accent, “Katarina.”

  Her tiny jaw clenched as she instantaneously corrected me in English, “Oracle. I figured after ten years you’d remember that by now.”

  “Lo siento,” I apologized.

  A sigh left her, telling me that she was having none of my nice act. The Oracle told me using her native tongue, “She is fine. Her body still separated throughout the seven seas and the pyramids.”

  Ah, Katarina…

  “Good,” I paused and held a hand to her, “now let’s not waste the rest of this fantastic day. Dance with me.” The regular lights shut off and strobe lights took their place, flickering every few seconds. It was the most ideal surrounding for what I had planned for her.

  The Oracle was suspicious for only a moment, until she realized that I was not going to take no for an answer. “One song only.” She slipped her jeweled hand in mine.

  I smiled in eagerness of what was to come. Leading her through the dance floor, I guided us to a dark and secluded corner, where the dancing humans were too busy with each other to notice us.

  As her hips began to sway to the music, I pulled her close and held her there securely. My lips touched her ears as I murmured, “Katarina, you should not have lied to me.”

  She tried struggling, but my inhuman strength prevented her from succeeding. “Lie? I—I didn’t lie.”

  My right arm kept her body in place while my left hand gripped the back of her neck. “When did I ever speak of pyramids?” Katarina began to say something, but I cut in, “And don’t tell me that you see things. All you can do is sense changes in the ancient energy. It is not possible that you’d know where her body lies, unless you and your Witch friends are searching for her.”

  Katarina laughed shortly, her façade fading. “The lioness will soon return, and this time the cub will not beat her…” I choked the remainder of air out of her before moving her hair out of my way, loosening my grip a bit. “What are you doing? You cannot kill me, not here…”

  “I’m not going to kill you, just bite you.” My lips nibbled her neck. “The bite is what’s going to kill you, not me. And don’t worry—” The fangs grew. “—you’ll make it home before you die.”

  Closing my green eyes, I kept our bodies swaying as I sunk my fangs into the tender flesh of her neck. The metallic taste of her Witch blood flooded my mouth and flowed down my throat, sending pleasure shooting through my nerves.

  After making sure I had no blood on my mouth, I let the dying Katarina go and flashed out of the club when the lights darkened.

  In a minute, I stood at the edge of a pier, looking out at the ocean. The sun was hot and gracious on my skin. That coupled with the warm, salty air made me beyond comfortable. I breathed in and felt the Witch blood pumping through my body, mingling with my own.

  At least this way, I would feel if she awakened.

  Chapter Nineteen – Kass

  Sweat dripped from my hairline. Fixing this ancient and broken armoire that was recently brought out by Raphael turned out to be harder work than I previously thought. Then again, I was wholly surprised that I was able to fix it at all.

  So what if it took me four and a half hours? I still did it, and that was all that counted.

  Me and tools didn’t get along, whether it was out of school or in physics class. I was not a carpenter, and by the lack of my fixing skills, I never would be. And that was fine with me. If I had the chance to pick between being a Purifier and being a carpenter…

  Well, it would actually be a bit of a stalemate. Being a Purifier meant that I would have to die extra early, and being a carpenter meant that I would have to fix and make things for a living. I didn’t want to die, for obvious reasons, but I really didn’t want to fix and modernize things that were never meant to be repaired.

  Wiping my forehead using my weary arm, I stood and stared at the mahogany armoire. It was perfect. As perfect as it was going to get with me, anyways.

  I reattached a broken door, sanded it, re-stained it, and then moved it to Raphael’s room. The door was what took me the longest. My guess was that he was going to use it to store some books in. Still, it seemed like a waste of almost five hours.

  Raphael appeared next to me, tilting his head and taking in the sight of the restored armoire. “The left door is not straight.”

  Squinting my eyes at him, I speedily defended myself, “That’s the best it’s going to get since I don’t plan on making a career out of this.”

  He nodded as if he completely understood. “Yes, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, because professionals do not normally spend fifteen minutes figuring out how to correctly use sand paper.” Raphael smiled down at me, letting me know that it was A-Okay that I spent the first seventeen-almost-eighteen years of my life unaware of the proper usage of sand paper.

  “Where were you this whole time? I needed you. I had to do this myself, moving it and everything.”

  “That was the whole point. And in case you forgot, you are stronger than the average teenager.”

  “Yes,” I interrupted him, just as he did to me, “but this thing is heavy. Really heavy. And if there�
�s some drag marks on the floor, just know that it wasn’t me dragging this ten-ton thing across the entire church.” I peered at him, gritting my teeth at the thought of me pushing the oversized armoire. “By myself.”

  “Well, you will be happy to know—”

  As soon as he said that, I knew I wasn’t going to be happy to know whatever he was about to say.

  “—that your next task will be to fix up the old altar.” Raphael laughed at my incredulous face and continued, “That will no doubt take you two days to complete.”

  Sighing, and giving up the urge I had to fight him, I glanced at the watch on my wrist. Koath was late. Usually he’d gotten me out at an acceptable time (eight-ish), but tonight he wasn’t here. Why?

  I walked out of the backroom and into the wide, open space of the church. When I was sure Raphael was near me, I asked, “Where’s Koath?”

  The man acted as though he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right. While you were—” Raphael pointed his thumb to his room. “—fixing that armoire, he called.”

  “What’d he say?” I proposed, seeing how the only reason he’d ever call Raphael was to tell him he’d be late.

  “No. Unfortunately, Koath has some prior engagement and will not be able to make it, so he requested me to walk you home.”

  “Don’t bother,” I laughed, secretly telling him that I was capable of walking home by myself.

  “Kassandra,” Raphael’s voice took on a scolding tone, “I am going to accompany you home, whether you like it or not.” His green eyes told me that he was not going to let up. “Your old Guardian made me promise, and I am not a man to break promises made, regardless of how small they are.”

  My eyes rolled. There was no need for such dramatics.

  Unless it came from me.

  Chapter Twenty – Koath

  The metal of the cell phone against my cheek gave me a tiny chill. I should get a new one; I’d had this one for almost three years now. It was considered dinosaur technology by most of today’s population. But as I saw it, the phone had lasted this long and it’s proved resilient against being dropped and thrown, so why bother wasting money to buy another one that would probably break in less than a month?