Nightwalkers

by Candace Wondrak

  Looking on the bright side of things (which I never did), at least they didn’t have it all. But it still sucked.

  Things the Nightwalkers already had for the Osiris Ritual

  (a checklist by, yours truly, me)

  1. Blood of Ta-Bitjet (?)

  2. Cat’s head (Check)

  3. Falcon’s claw (Check)

  4. Virgin (?)

  “Kass,” a raspy and disheveled voice spoke.

  I looked around me, frantic to find the owner of the voice. But it was too dark. This forest was too dark. I couldn’t see a damn thing. The only thing I was able to make out was the glint on my sword that the moon’s light created.

  “Kass,” it said again.

  Who was it? Or…what was it?

  A bright light spiraled toward me. I took a step back, because lights were hardly ever a good thing. In a blaze of luminosity, it flew straight through me, making me feel dizzy and short of breath.

  In a second, it was impossible for me to breathe. I fell to the floor, dropping my blade and holding my neck. My eyes ached and burned. I closed them for a moment, trying to pull it together.

  A leaf cracked, making me open my eyes and move into a defensive position. Shoes were standing in front of me. And those shoes were attached to legs. And those legs were attached to a torso. And that torso…well, you get the idea.

  But it was the head that I couldn’t see. Everything was fuzzy, and all I saw was darkness.

  “Kass,” the voice came from the thing, or person, standing and looking down at me.

  I attempted one last endeavor to obtain a breath, but I failed. Collapsing, my body fell to the floor and I was met with pure nothingness.

  I bolted upright in my bed and seized my neck, worried that I wasn’t able to breathe. But air easily flowed in and out of my lungs, thank God.

  What a weird dream, I thought as I tossed the warm, comfy covers off my body. What could it possibly mean? Why couldn’t I make out the being’s face? And that light…

  I wondered if I should tell Gabriel about it. He told me that if I had any other visions to let him know. Did that dream count as a vision?

  Wait. Gabriel. Gabriel…

  There was something I had to remember about that blonde boy.

  Ah, yes. Today was Gabriel’s birthday and I had yet to go buy him some presents. Why did I always wait till the last minute to do things like this? If I wouldn’t have waited, things wouldn’t be half as crazy as they were right now.

  I picked up my clothes and was about to head into the bathroom when I glanced at the clock.

  Oh. My. God.

  It was one-thirty. In the afternoon.

  I slept till one-thirty? I never slept that late. I was lucky to hit ten-thirty, and that’s when I really tried, but one-thirty? Jeez, that’s never happened before.

  Except after I took a bad beating, when I saved Gabriel three years ago. Yeah, the day after… Let’s say when I woke up, it was the next day’s tomorrow.

  I rushed in the bathroom, throwing my clothes on, brushing my teeth, applying deodorant. I had to get to the mall pronto to get some gifts.

  Wait a second. Where even was the mall?

  With that concerned thought in my head, I ran downstairs and found Michael sitting on his chair with the laptop in his lap.

  He looked at me from under his rimmed glasses. “Ah, finally awake, are you? Marvelous. Well, since you slept in so bloody late, I called Raphael.”

  My eyebrows went up in confusion. Why would Michael call Raphael because of me?

  He typed something and, seeing that I was still standing there, said, “Raphael came for a surprise visit and took Gabriel away for some lessons. They will be back at six sharp.”

  I still was a bit lethargic in my thought process, so I continued to stand there, needing a bit more of an explanation.

  An explosive sigh seeped from Michael’s lungs. “You are wasting time. Go, begin shopping for him, since I assume you have not yet?”

  “Oh,” I muttered slowly, grasping what he was saying. Duh. I only thought of this like, right when I woke up. And then I promptly forgot. That just showed how tired I actually was. “Okay. Where’s the mall?”

  “Norwalk Road,” was his curt reply.

  I nodded and turned. I grabbed my purse and rummaged through it, searching for my card. There was no way I was going to lug around this damn purse just so I could pull out this same card every time I found Gabriel a good gift, so I decided to leave the purse and take the card.

  Don’t know why I didn’t figure that out years ago.

  “I’ll be back in a few.” And with that, I was out the door and down the sidewalk.

  This mall was nice. Like, really nice. Not that I haven’t been to nice malls before, it’s just this one was nice and huge, with every possible store you could imagine.

  I went to the nearest map station. I didn’t exactly have to wait in line, since I seemed to be the only loser who didn’t know how to navigate this place. Tons of people walked around me, talking and going on with their lives. Some I even recognized from school.

  School! Alyssa!

  My head suddenly recalled that I had told her I had some shopping to do this weekend, and she told me to come visit. She worked at Payless. And that’s where I was headed first, since after that my sole purpose was to shop for Gabriel.

  Yeah, after I went to see her, I was going to be breathing like Gabriel, I was going to be thinking like Gabriel, hell, I was pretty much going to be Gabriel. All so I could find good presents he’d like.

  I went up two escalators and made a right. According to the map, it should be around here somewhere. My eyes scanned the area. There it was. Heading towards it, I looped my fingers around my belt loops and meandered in, acting as nonchalant as I could.

  She was in an aisle, assorting the shoes.

  “Alyssa, hey,” I said, as coolly as I could, even though I wasn’t exactly the coolest person around.

  She jumped and almost dropped a shoebox that she was in the process of placing in the highest row. “Oh, boy. You almost gave me a heart attack. For a moment, I didn’t know it was you.” Her long, frizzy black hair was in a ponytail, something that didn’t quite look like her.

  I laughed and replied, “Yep. It’s just little old me. Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Now it was her turn to laugh, a few curls, too short for the ponytail, fell into her face. She pushed them aside. “Oh, you didn’t scare me. You just surprised me.”

  “So…” I skimmed around the store, and seeing it was empty, I said, “Not too busy in here today?”

  She shrugged her small shoulders. “The people come in rushes. One minute it’ll be really boring and slow and the next, ten people will come running in, asking if we have our BoGo sale going on, which we don’t. And I tell them that, then they get upset. It’s the same thing every day.” She chuckled. “I’m glad you came to visit. Gives me an excuse not to work as hard.”

  “How could I pass up the chance to see the quiet Alyssa in a work uniform?” I mocked, even though it turned out that Payless employees didn’t really have a uniform besides slacks and a company t-shirt.

  “Hey, I’m not that quiet,” she said quietly. Yes. Quietly. She said she wasn’t quiet quietly. Exactly my point. “Now, before you get mad, let me apologize first. I’m sorry…I might have let it slip that you were coming and visiting me here.”

  I tore my eyes away from the pair of red high heels that were luring me to the dark side of the shoe world. “What?”

  That was the moment that a customer walked in the store, holding two cups of coffee.

  Before he made his way to the back of the store, where we were, Alyssa added hastily, “I didn’t know he was going to stay here all day and wait for you. I’m so sorry. I think he really likes you, though.” Her last words I could barely hear, but I heard them alright.

  Who was she talking about? Certainly not—

  “Here. One coffee. Black. N
o sugar, but five Sweet-N-Lows. Even though, they are basically the same thing.” John shrugged his wide shoulders and smiled at his sister, then at me.

  I stood staring at him, my mind flashing back to yesterday. What happened (or what didn’t happen) in his car. I couldn’t even croak out a hello or a smile. I was too freaked out, plus my face was getting hot.

  John continued to smile at me like an idiot, and it made Alyssa uncomfortable, for she instantly said “Thanks for visiting me. I’ll see you tomorrow at school,” and walked away quickly, her coffee hot in her hand.

  “Hi, John,” I finally managed to say, eyes on the floor. I was still embarrassed at my oh, I love the material exclamation.

  Hi, John.

  Wow. I felt so stupid when he looked at me like that, I couldn’t come up with anything cool. Although, like I said, I was anything but cool. I was probably one of the dorkiest people alive, besides Gabriel. Gabriel may think he’s a stud and the sexiest man alive, but that didn’t change the fact that he knew every word to every song in every single Disney movie out there. Every musical. And he also had special Tom and Jerry boxers, which were his favorite, second only to his Scooby-Doo one. But, he had to get rid of that one a few years ago.

  Don’t ask me how I knew these things. I wasn’t proud to know them.

  “Hey, strange seeing you here.” John winked. “Isn’t it?”

  “Hmm.” I thought for a moment. “Are you sure you’re not the one stalking me?”

  He smiled a million dollar smile. One that made my heart skip a beat. “I’ll admit. Today you’re right. I was hoping to run into you. But, normally, you are the one stalking me.”

  “Okay, we’ll agree to disagree then.”

  We started walking out of the store and I saw that our legs were in synch. How weird was that? Or was that normal? Someone tell me please, because I had no idea.

  “So, Alyssa told me you have shopping to do? What for?” John broke the silence between us.

  I lead us to a toy shop. Yes, a toy shop. Gabriel was…unique just didn’t seem to do him justice. “Um, no. Actually I’m…” I decided to not tell him it was Gabriel’s birthday. I didn’t want John getting jealous or anything. “I’m just looking around for some things for my nephew.”

  Yeah, that was a good one. A nephew. The perfect alibi for Gabriel.

  “And you need to look for some in a toy store?” John laughed out as we wandered the aisles filled with various Barbie products. “How old is this nephew?”

  “Ten? Ooh. This,” I joked, picking up a dress and some shoes that were being sold separately from all the other Barbies. I showed it to him and he shook his head, grinning at my foolishness. “This one’s perfect.”

  “I hope you’re kidding.” John continued to shake his head as he stepped closer to me, popping my personal bubble (though I didn’t mind, at all). He reached over me and took a different type of dress off the hook – a polka-dotted purple ball gown. Showing it to me, he said, “This one screams your nephew.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I think my aunt would die of laughter if I got him this. He, on the other hand, might not think it’s so funny.”

  “Hm. Then how about something more like a ten year old boy?”

  His easy response lightened my nerves. “Alright.” I set them both down. “You’re right. We need something better, something more boyish.”

  “I have just the idea.” John took my hand and led me to another aisle.

  His hands were rough, the kind of hands a man had. The kind of hands I could effortlessly picture holding every day for the foreseeable future. They were nice hands, strong hands.

  John squeezed my own hand as we stopped in the action figure aisle. He was right. This was better. There were so many—mutants, slayers, Marvel and DC heroes. Gabriel would die if he ever saw this particular aisle. The boy loved action figures, maybe even more than he loved girls.

  That was saying something.

  “Which one’s your favorite?” John asked, gazing intently at the shelves.

  It was so very difficult to pay attention to the action figures when he was still holding my hand. My heart was beating faster than it had in a long while, all because of him. I side-glanced at him, at his profile. A strong nose, a pronounced brow line. His cheekbones were gaunt but chiseled. It hit me like a brick.

  John was so attractive it hurt.

  Slowly but surely I tore my eyes from him and found one that stood high above the others. It cost one hundred dollars and odd cents, way too much for an action figure, whether it was a super-limited edition or not. No wonder it was still here, collecting dust, even though the movie was like twenty years old.

  I pointed with my free hand, saying, “That one.” It was a beautifully handmade Edward Scissorhands, with a real leather outfit and stainless steel scissors.

  “Yeah,” he spoke after a while, “that one is pretty cool.”

  I looked up at him, surprised and not sure if I believed him or not.

  He saw my expression. “What? It is. I’m man enough to admit it.”

  In a few minutes we decided to buy a Spartacus action figure. That one cost only fifteen dollars. Before leaving the store, still holding John’s hand, I inhaled the plastic aroma, savoring it. I loved that smell, weird as it was.

  “Where to next?” John asked, smiling.

  “Everywhere that we can hit in the next—” I looked at my watch. “—three hours.”

  “I got the perfect place, Kass. Come on.” And with that, John began dragging me all over the mall for those three hours, looking for the craziest things. We hit almost every store, making weird noises, trying silly clothes on, and all in all just having a fantastic time, like in one of those eighties’ movie montages.

  It was the instant when John told me he was driving me home when I realized that I was definitely falling for John. Hard.

  A Purifier-civilian relationship. Could I actually entertain the thought?

  How hard could it be?

  Chapter Twenty-Two – John

  I couldn’t believe this. I was running around the mall with the girl who made me want to lose control like I was a little kid. This was asking for trouble—Alyssa even said so. Kirk even jumped in, giving me the brotherly talk, like he had to do every time.

  But it’s been so long, and she was so different. I would never hurt her like I had the others. She was good for me, I was sure of it.

  It was so much fun.

  I dragged her into almost every store here. Even the store that only sold puzzles. That store had been fun, too. Kass must bring out the best in me. Why else would I not care if I continued to waste all my time going from store to store, pissing off the managers and employees like there was no tomorrow?

  I didn’t know. It’s weird.

  “What do you think?” Kass looked up at me from underneath her huge, gangster glasses. They were as big as her head, and the smile on her mouth made me want to lean down and kiss her. But I held back. “Aren’t they awesome?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, if you plan on getting a matching velvet suit.”

  Kass quickly took them off and put them down. “Oh-kay. Never mind that one, then.” She picked up another pair. “How about these babies? I always wanted to get some cop glasses.” She placed them on her nose and looked like a police woman from an old eighties movie.

  “Those…” I paused, feeling the heat flowing from my face and down into my entire body. I desperately wanted to yank those glasses off and do what I tried doing last night, and this time succeed. “…would look so much better on me.” I caught myself quickly and yanked her close, pulling the glasses off and placing them on my own face. “Aviators are a man’s glasses.”

  Kass laughed and said, “Jerk.”

  Being careful to not get myself into any more trouble, I placed my chin on the top of her head and guided us to a mirror. “How do they look on me?” An enormous grin entered my face. I didn’t think I looked half-bad.

  “Terrible,” Kas
s muttered, smiling herself.

  “What?” I turned my face to hers.

  She quickly looked in the opposite direction and bit her lip. Damn it.

  Kass sure knew how to drive me crazy. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take it.

  She got out of my grasp and ran out of the store, giving me a look that said ‘aren’t you going to come after me?’ At least that’s what I got out of it. And, smiling and putting the glasses down, I gave her a look that said, of course I’m coming after you.

  At least, that’s what I hoped my face said. Because lately, it’s been hard to tell, since I’d been acting kind of creepy, in my opinion, anyway.

  Chapter Twenty-Three – Kass

  We slowly pulled up to the house. John usually just dropped me off at the end of the driveway, but since I had so many bags, he figured that he had to go all the way up, like I was some helpless girl who couldn’t carry seven bags by herself.

  This year I went a little overboard with presents. But it’s not like it was totally my fault. John had been the one who showed me some of this stuff, so I blamed him as much as me, even though he didn’t know why I was buying all this stuff. But, the way I see it, life was better lived on a need-to-know basis.

  John got out of the car and opened the trunk. I took a few bags and said, “John, you don’t need to do this. I got it from here.”

  “I’m sure you do.” He grabbed the remaining bags. “But this way, you’ll get all of it done in one trip. And besides, I’m trying to be the gentleman here, so cut me some slack.” A huge grin appeared on his handsome face.

  “Alright. I’ll let it slide this time.” I smiled up at him before turning and heading up the stairs to the front door. I struggled to open it, but I was finally able to after a few awkward moments as I shoved all the bags on one arm.

  Michael was waiting for me in the kitchen. “Ah, about bloody time.” He stopped when John entered the house, carrying five bags. “Who’re—”

  “Oh, sorry. Forgot my manners,” John spoke, setting the bags down on the ground. He walked over to Michael with his hand outstretched. “I’m John.”