Nightwalkers
Page 20
If only I could’ve struck the final blow myself to save her from this torment. If only I could’ve been the hero for once.
Chapter Thirty-Five – Kass
The ride to school seemed so long. So painfully long. I sat there and stared out of the window the entire time. I didn’t even think I blinked once.
I stepped off the bus and walked into the school building, feeling that many pairs of eyes were on me, though I knew that wasn’t true. All the other people were busy with their own lives, their own normal, teenage lives.
They had no idea how lucky they were.
I went to my locker, wishing that I could be like them. I wished that I could be normal. That I wasn’t this swift, agile purifying machine. Sometimes it was hard living my life. Hell, more often than not it was damn near impossible. Where most other people would fail doing what I did, I succeeded.
I got the job done. I purified. I made the world safer for them, so they could continue to live normal, ignorant lives. So the girls could worry about their hair, their makeup or their outfit. So guys could worry about sports, about cars, about work.
And so they all can worry about each other. Girls worry about the boys. Boys worry about the girls. And let’s not forget those boys and girls who worry about other boys and other girls. It went back and forth, almost an even exchange, though guys would be hard pressed to admit the fact that they thought about girls as much as girls did guys.
I protected them so they could all bitch and whine about how their lives sucked, how they wished they had it better, how they didn’t know how they’d survive their lives. It was all pointless.
Oh, Kerry broke up with Dan? Boo-hoo.
What, Bill got a C-minus on his chemistry test? Cry me a river.
Huh, Nancy got fired from her cashier job at Giant Eagle? So what.
Things could always get worse. Things could always go farther down the hill, making it harder to get back up. Making it harder to survive.
But hey, I never told them that. I couldn’t tell them that they’re all lucky to be normal, to have a life-expectancy that allowed marriage, children and families, to be able to give in to the feelings they had towards each other.
To be able to love and be loved.
Because I was just not meant for that. For any of it.
But that was my life, and I couldn’t change it. I couldn’t change me, what I was meant to do. It’s my job to help these people, shield them from the supernatural, and purify Demons before they wreak havoc among the world.
This time didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. John was dead. He was gone. Forever. And it was my fault. I had to live with this shitty guilt for the rest of my life. I had to go on, no matter what. I had no time to rest, no time to stop and think about what I did.
I’d have plenty of time to do that after I was dead, after something kills me. And that something would be a Demon, most likely.
My feet stopped right outside my first period room door. I needed to act normal, like nothing happened last night. Like I hadn’t killed John. I needed to act like an average teenage girl, even though that’s not what I really was. I needed to act like a typical girl who had regular high school problems.
Normal.
Yeah. Acting normal was probably one of the hardest things I had to do.
No, I took that back.
It was the hardest thing I had to do. k12
The End
Don’t Miss book 2: Daywalkers, out now!
Thank you for reading Nightwalkers!
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed Nightwalkers. It’s the first book in a series I’ve been writing since I was in high school, and that was years ago. While it has gone through numerous changes throughout the years (like adding John’s perspective throughout the novel), it is still very much close to what I dreamed it would be: a book with a kick-butt girl in a supernatural world who may or may not be good at making decisions and her sarcastic, slightly annoying best friend.
That said, there are a lot of different things heading toward Kass and Gabriel—some I’ve been planning from the beginning, and others I’ve just started fiddling around with. I would absolutely love to hear what you liked, disliked, hated and adored.
And if, by chance, you have the time and the inclination, I would love a review of Nightwalkers. There is nothing I appreciate more than honest reviews—which can be hard to come by these days. You can help make this book a book worth sharing and spreading across the world. You guys can send me any questions you want on my Goodreads’ Author Page.
Once again, thank you for coming along on Kass and Gabriel’s first ride. It won’t be the last, and it definitely won’t get easier for my two favorite Purifiers.
Candace Wondrak