by Meg Xuemei X
Yet he drew me in.
We prowled through a withered garden of black trees concealing a gunmetal-gray building. Kaara explained to Gabriel that the building housing the torture chamber had once been part of an art and history museum. It had survived whatever had happened to this planet, but half of the garden had been burned down. Some stone columns etched with complex drawings still stood as witnesses to a once old, grand civilization.
Had I always allowed her to talk so much?
Gabriel and I followed her into the building and down the corridor to the torture chamber.
Four of my soldiers stood guard around a vampire sitting on a hard chair.
The room was dim, the high window not allowing much light into the chamber.
There was never enough light on this planet anyway. The lack of sunlight, however, never bothered the vampires. They favored it. They might be the only species who never wanted to leave this shithole.
I strode toward the messenger. He stared at me. I had no idea whether I’d seen this particular vampire or not. He was pale-skinned like me. Their race believed they represented the finest in the universe.
On my way here, I’d gleaned enough information from Kaara as she’d told Gabriel about the vampire race. They’d been the first aliens on this planet and had once lorded over Pandemonium, until the wolf clans had arrived and my coven had joined the power battle. Gabriel had shared what he knew about them. He’d met a branch of their kind before he’d crashed here. The vampires here were mutants.
Gabriel’s mood had turned dark when Kaara mentioned the Dark Prince being the most stunning and powerful vampire, and he’d given me a sidelong glance to gauge my reaction. I had my perfect, icy mask in place, as always.
I didn’t remember what the vampire prince looked like.
The vampire messenger didn’t blink. Evidently, he had no problem seeing me well in the darkness.
He opened his mouth, his voice silky and sexy. “Do you remember me, Lady Fiammetta?”
Gabriel growled.
It hit me the next second that the voice didn’t belong to this vampire, because though his lips parted, they hadn’t moved.
A chill crept up my spine. Desdemona had the power to speak through others. What else could he do? Had I encountered him, flirted with him, or even fought him? Why hadn’t my markings told me more about this formidable being other than a warning of “do not go near Dark Prince Desdemona” on my ankle?
“You think you’re that impressive that I should remember you?” I asked.
The Dark Prince chuckled through his vessel. Again, his voice was rich, velvet, and seductive, as if it could caress without a touch.
“Let me end him!” Gabriel snarled, his black wings arched aggressively behind his shoulders as he drew his sword.
I gave him a hard, warning look, as did Kaara.
“Is that winged being your new pet, Wicked Witch?” Desdemona asked, flicking a glance at the Angel. “He killed three of my warriors.”
“They attacked him first,” Kaara said. “Your sister worked really hard to breach the truce.”
“We’ll discuss my sister another time.” Desdemona returned his gaze to me, dismissing my general. “The winged creature desires you. You should hand him over to me. I don’t want him near you.”
Fury seared me, and my eyes grew colder. “I choose who stays near me, Prince Desdemona.”
“We have an agreement about our future arrangement,” he said.
I should have let Kaara brief me on the details of the arrangement between Desdemona and me.
“In the future,” I said.
The vampire’s eyes grew hard, and there was jealous rage in them. “The future is a dangerous business,” he said, his voice no longer silky. “I can’t allow anyone to taint you. You’re mine.”
Rage sizzled off Gabriel, and Kaara stepped in front of him to block him.
“I belong to no one, Desdemona,” I said.
“I’ve fulfilled the obligations you required of me,” the vampire prince said. “For three years I’ve protected your interests and offered you peace and freedom, but I won’t be strung along forever. A man has needs! I’m only being reasonable.” His predatory gaze fixed upon me. “If you want me to refresh your memory on the details, Lady Fiammetta, I’d be more than happy to oblige.”
He knew. The Dark Prince knew. That was why he’d come for me. I didn’t know how he’d learned about my secrets, but I wasn’t going to let anyone else find out about them.
“Let’s get it over with then,” I drawled, my gaze staying on the vessel as I waved the guards out. “You’ll guard the door in person, Kaara. Anyone who enters will die.”
“I’ll stay,” Gabriel said. “With a vampire in the room, one can never be sure. Their kind craves blood more than anything else.”
Desdemona sneered. “This being should learn his place.”
“Get out,” I told Gabriel, frost emitting from me. He thought he could interfere with my business because I’d slept with him? He hadn’t tasted my true wrath.
Kaara dragged Gabriel out with her. “We’ll be right outside the door, Lady Fiammetta.”
I regarded Desdemona with more interest when the door shut behind them.
“Come to me, my lady,” he said. “I can’t contain my craving for you any longer.”
“You’re an immortal. You’re supposed to be patient. That’s why I dealt with you in the first place.”
“Things have changed. I am immortal, but that doesn’t mean you can take me for a fool. Come to my tower and be with me, and I’ll protect you and your secrets.”
“What secrets?” I asked softly.
“You can’t remember your own secrets,” he said, watching me intensively. “Or can you?”
“My secrets might be too much even for you, Dark Prince,” I purred. “By the way, who offered you the garbage information?”
“I have my resources. I’ve been here much longer than you, longer than anyone, and I plan to stay here with you for eternity. Be mine, Lady Fiammetta, and I’ll protect what’s mine. My secrets will be yours as well.” He chuckled. “Even though you won’t remember any of them the next day.”
He wasn’t going to tell me who had betrayed me unless I became his.
Until he turned me.
“You came to my tower to gloat and threaten me?” I drawled.
“I came to make a final offer. Be my queen.”
“And if I refuse?”
Desdemona’s eyes flashed crimson. “You’ve toyed with me long enough, Fiammetta. I’m giving you an ultimatum: surrender to me as my bride, or be drained of every drop of your witch blood. My sister said I was too soft on you and that you walked all over me. I don’t like being hard on you, but I won’t tolerate any deception. To show my final courtesy, I’ll give you a week to decide. And if you still can’t decide for yourself, I will do it for you.”
“That’s very generous of you, Prince,” I said. “I’ll let you know my decision right now to show my appreciation.”
Desdemona smiled, though it didn’t reach his cruel eyes. “I knew you’d make the right decision. We’ll be good together, my queen, and we’ll rule this planet together and forever.”
I shivered. I couldn’t explain why I resented people calling me princess or queen.
“Forever?” I asked.
“I’ll always cherish you.”
“You’ll cherish me even more after this, Desdemona,” I said. “No one should ever come to my door to give me an ultimatum. I might not remember it all, but I do know I am the Wickedest Witch in the universe. And in case you forgot, now’s the perfect time to remind you.”
My time had run out with the Dark Prince.
Three years of being stuck on Pandemonium had finally taken a toll on me.
I struck.
22
The Angel
I stood guard outside the wooden door with Kaara, listening attentively and searing with fury.
The vampire and the w
itch were whispering, but I caught every word with my superior hearing.
It was all about Fiammetta’s secrets. I wanted to know all of them urgently. But the vampire had said she couldn’t remember her own secrets.
What had he meant by that?
“Be my queen,” he enticed.
Black jealousy poured over me. I clenched my teeth and commanded myself to stay where I was instead of charging in to impale the leech.
He wanted to possess her!
I’d cut off his fucking head for his atrocious attempt at claiming Fiammetta.
“And my secrets will be yours as well,” the vampire chuckled, “even though you won’t remember any of them the next day.”
Was Fiammetta forgetful? Was he insulting her, or did he have the means to erase his secrets from her mind once he took her?
I would never allow him to take her.
They parried verbally back and forth. I glanced at Kaara. She was tapping her fingers on her blade and biting her lip, clearly anxious.
The vampire was displeased with Fiammetta’s deception, which offered me some satisfaction. What had the idiot expected? She was the Wickedest Witch in the universe! I’d tasted her wickedness even in her bed.
Fiammetta softened her tone, and the vampire promised they would rule together.
I balled my fists. That would never happen. I wouldn’t let them ride into the sunset together. Fiammetta had to help me get back to ThunderSong first.
“Forever?” Fiammetta asked sweetly.
She’d never sounded that sweet with me. I clenched my jaw. I wanted to pound the vampire’s face until he was unrecognizable.
“I’ll always cherish you,” said the fucking vampire.
“You’ll cherish me even more after this, Desdemona,” the slutty witch purred.
My hand moved to my sword strapped on my back. Just as I was about to kick open the door and charge in to stop their indecent deal, a whipping sound rammed into my eardrums, followed by a heavy thud on the floor.
Were they fucking? The blood vessels in my eyes bulged.
Before Kaara could stop me, I smashed through the door, stormed in with my sword raised high, and roared.
My shout died in my throat.
The messenger was still seated on the chair, but he had no head. It rolled and stopped a few feet away. The vampire’s empty eyes stared ahead.
Kaara flew into the room after me, her eyes shifting between Fiammetta and the vampire’s head.
Fiammetta turned. “Dispose of him. We must prepare for war with the vampires.”
I grinned in approval. “War is my specialty.”
Fiammetta ignored me and stalked out of the room, a wave of darkness twirling and hissing behind her.
23
The Witch
I stood by the window in my tower, overlooking the City of Nine in the gray fog.
Through the fog, I could make out the faint outline of the distant black tower the vampires occupied. The Dark Prince dwelled on the top floor, just as I did here.
I’d overheard Kaara telling Gabriel that Desdemona had been lusting after me from the moment he’d first seen me.
Kaara trusted and relied on Gabriel. The Archangel had risen in rank and bossed everyone around. He’d even tried that on me, using the excuse that he was in charge of the tower’s security.
Gabriel was born a pure alpha, and there was no way around it.
The day I’d beheaded the vampire messenger, he had chased me, demanding to know what was going on between me and Desdemona. No one in my tower dared challenge me, yet he kept coming to me for more.
The damned Angel had gotten the hang of seducing my dark magic. It now had less effect on him. A few times it only twirled around him like a pet, wanting his attention.
It was as if I’d lost my grip on my magic when it came to Gabriel. But I could still hurt him in other ways.
I had whipped around toward him. “Who gave you the right to ask?”
He’d blinked, surprised I would even challenge him back.
Kaara had briefed me about Angels conquering one galaxy after another. If that were the truth, why hadn’t they come to colonize this planet? But then who would want Pandemonium for anything other than a dumping ground?
I’d wisely tried my best to stay out of his way—which wasn’t exactly the Wickedest Witch’s style—unless he undermined my rule. He was careful with that as well. I’d broken up with Desdemona, so I needed this Archangel more than ever to fight my war.
The vampires hadn’t attacked, but they would soon.
Though my memories were gone, my inherent knowledge and instinct stayed with me.
I wasn’t fool enough to dismiss his military expertise. Under his command, my army had started preparing for the vampires’ invasion.
Kaara had begged me not to leave the tower with the threat of war hanging over our heads. I was at my strongest inside my tower, where my magic was heavily rigged.
When I had sparred with Gabriel on the training field, I’d been surprised at my own fighting skills and pleased that I wouldn’t have to completely rely on my magic.
On this alien land, my magic drained fast. I had no native soil to draw my strength from. Pandemonium loaned me energy if I kept pounding on it, but borrowing it was different from owning it.
Darkness caressed me at the thought, offering me an assertion as to how powerful I had been in my own land, craving to return to our home planet. Why would my magic and I long to go home so badly? Hadn’t my home people cast me onto this horrible place? And what had I done to deserve such harsh exile? How had I earned the title of the Wickedest Witch in the universe? Even the worst criminals feared me. Even Akem’s monsters left me alone if I did not provoke them. And the Dark Prince desired my wicked blood.
Were there more powerful witches on my former planet? Had they combined forces to drive out the most dominant one among them? Why not just kill me and be done with me instead of leaving an opening for me to return for vengeance?
Of course, they knew there was no damn chance of getting off this planet. The ships fell, but they would never take off. But if I couldn’t leave, why had they erased my memories and rewired my brain to stop me from forming new ones?
I’d had my first flashback when I’d looked into Gabriel’s green eyes.
I glanced at the symbol of the black wings on my skin. Maybe Kaara had been right when she said the Angel’s ship would get us home. She’d said “us” to include her, and the language she’d used sounded like home. No one else could understand her tongue except for me. But then, no one could understand the Angel’s tongue, except me.
“Killing him will kill your own future,” Kaara had pleaded.
What else did she know?
A pair of black wings swung in the dark, darker than midnight. And the wind carried them.
Gabriel was climbing up my tower toward my chamber.
My heart pounded, my pulse raced, and lust showered over me.
The flesh between my thighs pumped with need.
A vibrant delight had coursed in my blood when he had trapped me in his arms from behind on the training field. I had wanted him right there. Hours had passed and I still remembered the feel of pressing against his solid, warm chest. His huge erection had pricked into my back. It was a pity I wouldn’t remember the feel in the morning.
With the speed Gabriel possessed, I knew he would reach my chamber in a few seconds.
Once his wings healed, he would fly up here. If I could remember a healing rune or spell, and if he could put me in a good mood and serve me well, I’d cure his broken wings.
I ducked behind the curtain just as Gabriel appeared on the windowsill.
He slid in.
My ice spear materialized and I drove it toward him. I didn’t want to pierce him, but I wanted to scare him.
His strong hand lashed out faster than I’d expected, grabbed my wrist, and pushed the spear away from his face.
He regarded me wit
h a sly smile on his face. “That’s how you welcome your lover? I hope it isn’t a habit.”
“Who said you’re my lover?”
“Call me whatever you want,” he said, sliding his hands down to cup my breasts.
My spear vanished into the mist, and I arched my back as his sizzling heat washed over me.
He pulled me against him, his hand sneaking around my waist, and crashed his mouth on mine, his tongue darting out to lick my lips.
Without any difficulty, he swept me off my feet and carried me to my bed.
He threw me down on the bed and I bounced from the impact, my breath leaving me in a sigh. I didn’t require tenderness.
His green eyes were the color of dark forest in the dim light and heavy with lust. His intense sexual need made him appear savage and it spurred the liquid heat to pool between my thighs.
My nipples tightened and my breast grew heavy as I watched him drop his blade at the foot of the bed and strip off his clothing.
I took him in, from the tattoo twirling down his neck and chest, to the hard ridges on his abdomen, down to his strong, muscled legs, before drifting back up to the erection straining against his briefs, the outline of it telling me it was quite a formidable specimen.
I swallowed. I wanted to pull out his cock and stroke it, lay my lips on it, and swirl my tongue over it, but I restrained myself, waiting for him to make the first move.
I always waited for others to move before I struck.
I had to be cautious.
“Undress, witch, unless you want me to rip your gown off your body,” he said hoarsely as he shoved his briefs down to the ground, his hard length springing out.
I slipped one strap of my gown off my shoulder, teasing him as I lowered my gown enticingly down my body, revealing inch after inch of my skin.
The night air brushed over the swell of my breasts as the material skimmed over them, and I tugged my gown down until it only covered my mound.
Gabriel watched every movement, his chest heaving when I stilled my hand on my pussy.
He growled and I allowed a teasing smile to play on my lips at his impatience, then shimmied the material down my legs, leaving my body naked under his gaze.