The Order (Nightwalkers Book 8)

by Candace Wondrak

  I was at least going to wait until he woke up. Come on. I wasn’t that much of a barbarian.

  Max stayed with us, though he stood as far from Crixis as he could, which clearly amused the murderous Daywalker. “You found him fast,” Max remarked.

  “No one can run from me” was Crixis’s unperturbed response.

  “Should I let Gabriel know we got him?”

  Both Crixis and I shot Max dirty looks. What kind of stupid question was that?

  “No,” I said quickly. “If he wanted to be here, he would. Leave him alone. I…” God, I sounded like a lunatic. A cold-hearted madwoman, vengeful and vindictive. Similar to how I usually sounded, but way more serious. “…I don’t want him here.”

  A lie, one both men in the room let slide.

  “Okay,” Max said quietly. “Then we wait.” He leaned on the wall, sliding down until he sat. He looked out of place in the training room when he wasn’t training or busy burying his nose in a book.

  Crixis strolled over to him, making a big show of sniffing the air. “My, my. Somebody smells like a Morpher.” He laughed when Max did nothing but ball his fists in his lap.

  The comment snapped me out of my self-imposed misery. Were they dating now? Were they technically together? Why didn’t either of them tell me? I knew they went on a date, but it was while I felt so awful, it was hard to pay attention and care about it.

  I was a terrible friend. All the more reason why they didn’t need me.

  With one more laugh, Crixis returned to my side. “I thought there were rules you Purifiers had to follow, especially when it comes to courting the supernatural.”

  “Nobody says the word courting anymore,” I muttered. Michael needed to wake up soon, otherwise I might start contemplating using the dagger in my hands on Crixis. The last thing I needed to do right now was anger the all-powerful, ancient Daywalker who until very recently had a thing for making my life a living hell.

  “Right. Hooking up?”

  I chuckled, a bit of my icy exterior melting. He was close enough.

  “Tell me,” Crixis said, “why haven’t you and Gabriel hooked up? Before now, you’ve clearly been in love with each other—”

  Okay, that caused me to snap.

  I whirled on him, lifting the pointy end of the dagger to his neck. He didn’t even blink. We weren’t…I wasn’t—

  “It’s not like that,” I hissed, sounding like a tried and true you-know-what. A teenager. Ugh. “It’s…complicated.” I slowly lowered the dagger, hooking it through a belt loop as I looked away, hyper-aware Max listened even though he tried desperately to look bored and lost in a daydream. Or nightdream. Or whatever-the-time-of-the-day-it-was dream.

  “Oftentimes, when people claim complication, they’re too lazy or frightened of change. Which one are you, Kass?”

  I glared at him.

  I wasn’t lazy or scared. The very opposite of both those things. I told him it was complicated because that’s what it was—complicated. Intensely complicated. Almost indescribably complicated.

  Gabriel and I shared so much history. We were like brother and sister for most of our lives, always competing, bickering with each other and rarely seeing eye to eye on things, but we got along under it all. We were super close. I’d risked my life for him three years ago when his first ever girlfriend was going to feed him to her pet Nightwalkers. I never regretted the decision of marching headfirst into danger, not when it included saving his sorry butt.

  Things were even more complicated ever since I came back from that other reality. The me in that world had died, turned into a psycho Daywalker by Crixis—was in a (yuck) relationship with Crixis—and the other world’s Gabriel had let everything descend into chaos. He’d come back, tricked me into believing he was like my Gabriel, stole a kiss out of me…then I may have given him a night full of kisses he didn’t even ask for. He was older than my Gabriel, the blueness in his eyes held a certain sadness. He was more serious than my Gabriel, so downtrodden. I couldn’t help but be drawn to him.

  It was complicated because it was freaking complicated.

  Gabriel and mine’s story was just too long and twisted. Even if he did like me more than a sister, even if I loved him back, he didn’t want anything to do with me now, and my heart was too broken, too beaten and weary to try to change it.

  Plus, he burned me. Still kind of pissed about that.

  “It’s clear he needs you, even if he doesn’t see it,” Crixis said with a shrug. “I’m not rallying for the Devil-boy, but sometimes I am reminded of your age. Young and foolish.”

  “We can’t all be evil like you.”

  He laughed. “No, you can’t, but I would like to see you try, starting when he wakes up.” His green eyes darted to Michael, whose head was so far forward his chin touched his chest. If he didn’t wake with a headache, he’d at least wake with a severe neck ache.

  “Don’t bring up Gabriel again,” I said. I didn’t want to talk about him anymore. I didn’t want to think about him. If I thought about what I’d lost, how Gabriel acted, I’d surely lose what remaining sanity I had left.

  And that, my friends, wasn’t a lot.

  It was very tiny. So miniscule, in fact, that I couldn’t even measure it.

  Chapter Eleven - Michael

  The last thing I remembered was a feeble attempt at attacking Crixis. I knew enough about him, had seen enough first hand to know I wouldn’t win. I couldn’t. He was thousands of years old and more powerful than nearly any Demon I’d seen so far in my life. He was nothing, though, compared to what Gabriel could be, if I could just end Kass’s life.

  Really—who knew killing a teenager would be so difficult?

  I remembered Crixis lifting me up, my feet losing contact with the ground, gasping for a breath that just would not fill my lungs. A painful experience, one that made me pass out soon after.

  My mind was the first thing that returned to me, and as I gathered my thoughts, I might’ve groaned. My neck ached with a dull fire, my body sore, like I was a ragdoll thrown around without a care. I felt my chin touching my chest, and it took a lot of strength for me to lift my head.

  God, my neck hurt. But it was nothing compared to what I’d soon feel, if what Crixis told me was true.

  Kass wanted revenge, to interrogate me for information. Let us see how much she could glean from me, for I wouldn’t voluntarily tell her anything. I was trained to fight pain; she could peel my skin off inch by inch and I still wouldn’t tell her squat. She could gut me, impale me, poke needles into my eyes, and my lips would stay shut.

  The only way I would ever give up information was unwillingly, if Crixis used his greater Vampire power of beguilement. He would, probably, when enough time passed and I hadn’t told them a single thing of use.

  When I opened my eyes, I knew exactly where I was: the training room, second floor, right across from my bedroom. The cushioned mats in the room were folded up and moved to the side. My wrists and legs were tied tightly to a wooden chair that belonged in the kitchen.

  I wasn’t alone in the room, either. Three others stood near me: Max, Crixis, and of course, Kass.

  I stared squarely at Kass. “You recovered quickly.” My eyes danced to Crixis. “Did she have help? Is that why you’re so close to her now?” Kass ingesting Crixis’s blood—it was not something I would’ve guessed.

  “That is none of your business,” Kass snapped, her temper showing. She never was good at hiding it. Not like me. I was a master at concealing my true feelings, my real self. She should take a lesson from my book. “You’re not the one here who should be asking questions. You are the one tied up, if you didn’t notice.”

  Giving her a calm smile, I said, “In fact, I did notice. You could’ve come for me yourself, Kass, instead of sending your pet Demon. Why didn’t you? Were you afraid you’d lose?” My intent was to throw her off her game. Try to.

  “How could you do this, Michael?” It was Max who spoke next, the little nerdy
Purifier who had always seemed a tad out of place in the duo that was Kassandra and Gabriel. “We trusted you.”

  “You really shouldn’t have,” I said, shrugging as much as I could, given my restraints.

  Kass’s spiky exterior faded, and her next question was spoken with a curious and innocent voice, “Was any of it real? Is Michael even your real name?”

  There was no harm in telling them that particular truth. “Was any of what real, Kass? My Guardianship? Yes, I was certified as a Guardian, but the entire time I had other orders. The accent was never real, the glasses weren’t real—and you know the most shocking thing? I hate tea.” I paused. “And I prefer Mike, thank you for asking.” I laughed when I watched her face twist in disgust, as if calling me Mike was the worst possible thing.

  “What were your orders?” Kass asked, cocking her hip and alerting me to the fact she held a dagger in her belt loop. Leather pants and a small black lacey thing covered her chest. She did not look like the Kass I remembered. Maybe she was finally breaking.

  I rested my head back, whispering, “I think you can guess what my orders were by now.” And if she couldn’t? She was stupider than I thought. Kass had never been the most intelligent of the group, but surely she was aware of the fact I’d tried to kill her. Surely. When she said nothing, I carried on in a careless tone, “I’m to kill you. Doesn’t matter how.”

  She stepped forward, leaning down, placing both her hands on top of mine, squeezing tightly. Ah, that wonderful Purifier strength. I felt my hands bend where they shouldn’t bend, my palms caving in onto the armrests beneath them to escape her sheer strength. “It’s over, Mike. You’re not going to fulfill those orders.”

  Giving her my best smile, I said, “Oh, it’s not over yet. Not even close. Even if I don’t kill you, one of the others will. I’ll be sure to tell them to laugh over your corpse—”

  Kass abruptly released her hold on my hands, punching me in the face, on the cheek. My jaw took the brunt of it, and my head flew back. I was dazed for a few moments after. She was strong, wasn’t she? Blood seeped into my mouth, and I felt a molar with my tongue that had suddenly gotten loose.

  “You and your friends won’t win this,” she hissed. She stood straight, retrieving the dagger and holding the tip against one of her fingers.

  That was my dagger, the one I was going to use to kill her. Figured.

  “Let’s talk about your friends, shall we?” Kass asked, using her hands to gesture as she spoke, flinging the dagger every which way. “We know what Order you come from.”

  “You do?” I sounded relieved. “Great, so I don’t have to tell you how big they are, or how they always get what they want.” I smiled, because right now, they wanted Kass dead. Gabriel might fight them, but once Kass was out of the picture, he would go with them when he realized the Order was only trying to save the world.

  It was Crixis who spoke next, “I do believe there’s a saying—first time for everything. I’ll be certain to help them through the disappointment of failure.” The grin that crept over his face was leagues away from my pathetic attempt at acting at ease. He was a king of monsters, a threat to all living creatures big or small. How could Kass trust him? Sure, he aided her now, but tomorrow? Tomorrow he would change his mind.

  That, I realized, wouldn’t be an awful thing.

  “We are everywhere,” I said, shooting a glance at Max, who remained terribly quiet behind both Kass and Crixis. “We have more eyes than you think.” My words held more than one meaning, but all of which none of them seemed to comprehend.

  My neck was met with the blade of the dagger. Kass held it steadily against my flesh, increasing its pressure to the point where, if she’d put just an ounce more, it would cut into me. “Why do the Templars want Gabriel? Why do they want me dead?”

  I chuckled, though the movement in my throat caused my Adam’s apple to scrape along the steel. “I’m not going to tell you that. It’s going to be a surprise—”

  As Kass increased the pressure, I felt the metal nick my skin, a sharp stinging pain on my neck. Crixis pulled her away, saying, “Did you have your fun? Shall I?”

  Kass’s eyes were closed for only a split-second before her free hand curled into a fist, connecting with my nose. A crack reverberated through my skull, and blood soon fell from each nostril, coursing down my lips and chin.

  Okay, that hurt. I could see how she’d broken Gabriel’s nose so many times before.

  “Now I’m done,” she stated, crossing her arms as she stepped aside.

  Turning to me, Crixis was as calm as ever as he gripped my face. Holding my head up, forcing me to gaze into his green eyes, his fingers dug into my cheeks, already bruising from Kass’s thrown punches.

  I felt the glamor sweeping over me, but I tried fighting it nonetheless. It was a useless endeavor, pointless in every way, but I still struggled in my mind to pull away from his jade stare. A feeling of tranquility encased me, enveloping me in a comfortable warmth. Like an ocean breeze. I was lost in his eyes in a matter of moments, not that I was proud of it.

  But, again, it wasn’t like I couldn’t not fall for it. A greater Vampire’s compulsion was a legendary thing; almost no being on this earth held immunity from it. Their far-reaching powers were the main reason the Council sought to eradicate them in its early days. However, clearly they missed a few, particularly one infamous man named Crixis.

  And if they missed one, well, one was enough, especially when said Vampire could create more of his kind with only his blood, like a self-procreating rabbit.

  Once the beguilement settled inside me, my body slacked in relaxation. I knew I’d tell them anything now; they only had to ask the right questions. And with Crixis here, with Max as backup, they were certain to eventually stumble across the right ones.

  “Why did you try to kill Kass?” Crixis asked, letting go of my face but not breaking eye contact.

  “I had to,” I explained, “to help Gabriel awaken to his true self.”

  No one in the room looked surprised. Crixis spoke, “And what is his true self?”

  “He is the one we’ve been waiting for for centuries. He is Lucifer reborn.”

  “I thought the Templars were Christian warriors,” Max spoke from his position in the back. “Why would they want Gabriel if he’s…him?”

  “Answer his question,” Crixis told me, so I did.

  “The world is corrupt and full of sin. Demons on every street, the unholy hiding in plain sight. The world needs to be born again, like it was once, eons ago in the Great Flood. Humans procreating with Demons, sodomites and sinners. The slate must be wiped clean. This time,” I said, “the world won’t drown. It will suffocate in fire, and from the ashes the New Age will be born. No Demons, no sinners, only pure, innocent life.”

  Kass’s eyes grew wide. “Gabriel is supposed to burn the whole world? Is he that powerful?”

  “When he has nothing tying him to this life, he will be,” I said simply. Couldn’t she understand the world had to be born anew? Why was it so difficult to grasp? Surely she had witnessed enough suffering in her life, fought enough Demons to know they were never going to stop unless the slate was wiped clean?

  “And in this plan,” Kass went on, “does anyone survive?”

  When I kept my mouth shut, Crixis growled, “You will answer every question any of us asks of you.” His glare hardened on me, and my will to fight against Kass and Max crumbled to a nonexistent heap.

  “Those in the Order will survive, and we will repopulate the earth with sin-free, holy children,” I said. It wasn’t that hard of a question. Really, the answer should’ve been obvious.

  “Of course,” Kass muttered.

  The three standing in front of me were so very inquisitive. They asked me about everything, and due to Crixis’s unwavering compulsion, I was all too happy to answer each and every question. Hours passed, and I told them all about the Order’s secrets, about where we had our origin, why we were still around. I ex
plained how I’d supposedly snuck under the Council’s radar for long, how I was trained from birth, much like Kass, Gabriel and Max, though my purpose was far holier than theirs.

  The Purifiers were the foot soldiers. The Templars were the heavy cavalry, the last line of defense humanity had against evil. Purifiers knew nothing of the bigger picture, only following orders to fight and purify until they could do neither, until some Demon claimed their lives. They didn’t need to know the whole picture. Only those in the Order did.

  I told them where our headquarters were when Crixis asked. I freely gave the name of our leader, to which Kass’s eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. She recognized the name. She had to. She wasn’t that stupid.

  “Does the Order ever gather in one place?” Crixis inquired, and I knew precisely to what end he asked. He wanted to know if there would be an opportunity to wipe us all out in one, clean sweep.

  “Not usually, but we were given orders to meet in three days at the safehouse. I’m supposed to bring Gabriel there after Kass’s death.” The safehouse, I’d recently explained, was our little bunker, heavily fortified with living quarters, recreational rooms, and even classrooms. A vault that was self-sustaining, full of food that would last for years and gardens with bulbs that simulated the sunlight. It was where we would wait out the fire, how the Order would survive.

  “Three days,” Kass repeated. “Is it enough time to get over there?” She glanced to Crixis.

  “I can see about—” Crixis paused, tilting his head like he was thinking, listening to his thoughts. “—renting a private aircraft.” And by renting, he meant compelling. Semantics I let slide, because it didn’t matter.

  In less than one week, the world would be engulfed by fires no firemen could put out. No amount of water or chemicals or even anti-flammable material could stop the flames Gabriel was capable of creating. The world would burn, and I couldn’t wait to see it.

  Chapter Twelve - Liz