by Meg Xuemei X
“What if we’re too late for him, Kaara?”
“We won’t be. We’re going to get him back, you’re going to reopen the portal, and we’re all going home.”
I clung to Kaara Nightshades. I was no longer alone.
Kaara grabbed me tighter. “I’m here, Fia. I—we’ll always be here for you—Gabriel, Marrok, and me.”
“We’ll all go home, and I won’t allow anyone to stop us.”
But first, I must get my mate back.
14
The Angel
After I’d tried a hundred times to jump through the window, only to be dragged back into the dark tower, I charged out of Jasmine’s chamber.
She didn’t stop me but followed me down the stairs, giggling, as if we were playing hide-and-seek.
I strode into a hall that looked like a ballroom, with a white marble floor, sculpted columns, and a high, arching ceiling dangling with chandeliers. It had all the grandeur of a royal palace. There was even a grand piano in the center.
Along the full windows, there were a few stylish tables dressed with chic tablecloths and gold utensils.
Who would dine here?!
The vampiress’ chamber must be warded, but I should have an easy exit through the ballroom.
The vampire prince Desdemona leaned on the railing above us, watching, neither interested nor bored. In his hand, which looked like it played the piano a lot, swayed a glass of wine—no, a glass of blood.
I aimed for the wall near a full window. The window in the vampiress’ chamber had been greatly warded, but this wall could be the weakest spot. I broke into a run, my wings spreading and propelling to give me more power. I rammed my shoulder into the wall.
The wall collapsed, tearing a hole large enough for me to get through.
I laughed. No bricks, stones, or steels could stop an Archangel.
I was going back to my mate.
I leaped through the gap, my wings extending to slow my descent.
Only I didn’t land on the ground outside the black tower, as I’d planned to.
Instead, I crashed onto the ground in the ballroom, and the wall that I’d fractured sealed again. A few vampires snickered. If I weren’t so dizzy and dazed, I’d tear out their hearts for their insolence.
Jasmine laughed as if she’d never had so much fun in her life.
“Honey,” she said. “I applaud your endless efforts, but at some point, you gotta give up. You’ll only hurt yourself, silly.”
I pulled my ass up. “Answer some questions, vampir—” Pain hit me. “—princess.” The pain dissipated.
Her compulsion remained in me.
“Princess,” I grated, “I need answers.”
“Why don’t you take time to discover the mystery for yourself? It’ll be more fun that way. You’re not going away, anyway.”
I hissed, “I don’t have much time.”
“Oh, you do. We have all the time in the world.” She laughed again at my outraged look. “Fine, I’ll tell you this: once the Wickedest Witch gets into the tower, she’ll never leave, either.”
“Jasmine!” Desdemona warned from the stairs, no longer leaning on the railing; he’d drained the glass of blood.
“Don’t worry, brother,” Jasmine said. “The Angel won’t fly away with our secrets. And soon you’ll get your long-awaited date with the nasty witch.”
Horror struck me.
That was why the Dark Prince had insisted on one date with her in the tower. He’d been planning to lure her into his nest. And once she came, she’d be stuck, like me.
No! I would never let my mate come in here.
She needed to find a way to get past Akem and leave through the portal without me.
This planet was too fucking dangerous for her.
I’d need to get the message to her as soon as possible, to prevent her from ever coming here.
In the meantime, I must figure out why the tower had the power to keep me prisoner.
Jasmine turned to me with a spiderlike smile. “We’ll become one big, happy family. Don’t you like it?”
“No!”
“Why? I thought you’d be pleased to see the Wickedest Witch here,” she said casually, but her malice and jealousy were palpable.
Now that I couldn’t leave the tower, and the vampiress’ venom in me still bound me, I needed a different strategy, one that could protect my mate.
“The Wickedest Witch is too much trouble,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’ve suffered enough of her abuse in the Witch Tower. I don’t want her to come here.”
“What did she do to you?” Jasmine asked.
I kicked out a velvet throne chair from the dinner table and slouched on it, my feet on the table, my wings draping behind me.
Desdemona growled. He seemed to want to throw the empty glass at me for my efforts to make myself comfortable. But he pricked up his ear to listen, his coal-black eyes flashing an evil interest.
“A question for a question, Princess,” I said.
“I can compel you to answer, you know,” Jasmine said, playing with her manicured fingernails.
“Not completely,” I said. “I bet you’ve realized I can resist your orders that go against my very nature. We Angels are on a higher plain than you bloodsuckers.”
Desdemona snarled, eyes flashing red now.
He wouldn’t put up with me for too long, but I didn’t give a shit.
“You’ve pumped more than half of your venom into me,” I continued, “and expected me to turn. But you failed. I’ll never be a vampire or even a hybrid, no matter how much venom you inject into me. In the past, a few drops of your venom could easily turn an ordinary man. But I’m an Archangel, the best and the strongest.”
As her black blood blended with mine, I’d also gained some of her knowledge, but she’d warded the crucial data with spells and codes.
Given time, I might be able to decode all of it. However, I didn’t have time. I needed quick answers.
“I didn’t exactly fail,” Jasmine protested, glancing at her brother. “My venom binds you.”
“To a degree, yes. I can’t harm you,” I said. “And your venom numbs my High Senses. But you can never completely control me. I’m just not that kind of male.”
“I don’t want that kind of male,” she said, heat starting to rise in her crystal-blue eyes.
She fancied the way I talked to her, and she looked like she wanted to stalk over to me and sit on my lap, even though her brother and other vampires were watching.
The vampiress was a pervert, and I bet she had a harem, considering how many of her guards glowered at me with red killing light in their eyes whenever I passed by them. However, none of them dared make a move. They’d experienced firsthand how I’d treated a threat, and many of their peers were no longer here because of me.
The vampires had never met my kind before, so, Jasmine and her brother had no reference as to how to handle me. Jasmine desperately wanted to control me, not understanding that an Archangel’s will was a terrible thing.
“You want to get into my head, Princess,” I said. “But neither you nor your brother can ever succeed. Even Akem had to back the fuck off. My superior race can’t be enslaved. So, play the fair game with me, and I’ll be more cooperative.”
She’d failed to get into my pants as well, but I didn’t want to point that out and get her too worked up. I needed to take advantage of her infatuation.
“How dare you bargain with us?” Desdemona hissed.
I arched an eyebrow.
“Fine, Angel,” said Jasmine. “We’ll play a fair game. Sounds like fun.”
“Don’t play his game, Jasmine,” Desdemona said. “This male is extremely dangerous, violent, and malevolent.”
Jasmine’s lips curled up. “Just my type.”
“I’ve warned you. Don’t come back to me and cry on my shoulder,” Desdemona said. Yet he lingered, wanting to watch the game.
I needed him to stay as an unwilling part
icipant, so I could gather more intel.
“Ask away, Angel,” Jasmine gestured. “Oh, I already know your question. You’re dying to know why you couldn’t fly out.” She smiled, savoring her own cleverness.
“You wired the tower with some kind of trap spell, obviously,” I said. “But I didn’t expect vampires to know any spells. Did the evil, brilliant Wickedest Witch give you some pointers before she declared war on you? She might come to take down your tower, considering her temper.”
The vampiress was somehow in competition with Fiammetta. Riling her up could make her reveal what she usually wouldn’t spill.
“The Wickedest Witch doesn’t know as much as you think,” Jasmine spat. “She can’t even remember her name.”
I smirked lazily and mockingly. “That’s overstretching the facts. The witch seems knowledgeable to me, and her magic is amazing. If she can’t remember her own name, as you said, how can she deploy her great magic?”
Jasmine looked at me with disdain and bitter jealousy. “You don’t know anything about her! None of her guards know, either. That’s how she controls them.”
I frowned. “I think she runs them by pumping fear into every man’s heart.”
“That, too,” Jasmine said. “She fooled everyone until Akem told us.”
“If your source is Akem, I wouldn’t put too much credibility in his words. Princess Jasmine, I expected you to be smarter than that. We both have reservations toward the entity. What else did Akem tell you? I can break down his lies for you bit by bit.”
“Akem said the Wickedest Witch opened the portal to his realm, erased her own memories, stepped through the getaway, then sealed it,” Jasmine blurted out.
I laughed so hard I had to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” I said. “Hilarious! Does Akem think Pandemonium is the planet of treasure, or the most attractive vacation resort in the universe? So that even the Wickedest Witch had to come and get herself stuck here?”
Jasmine now looked uncertain, and Desdemona appeared thoughtful.
My heart bled for my mate. I’d watched Fiammetta open the portal. I doubted anyone else could do that. So, it was possible she’d created one in the first place. If it had been done by mistake, then she wouldn’t have wiped out her own memories and stepped through.
If there were any truth to Akem’s tale, I wondered, what could make my mate exile herself like that? Who had she been running from? And now, she could remember nothing about it and was so determined to go home and exact her revenge.
“Why did Akem deceive you, Princess?” I asked. “You don’t seem dumb to me, but maybe to the entity—”
An indignant light flashed in Jasmine’s eyes.
“We have a new deal with Akem,” Jasmine said.
“Stop, Jasmine,” the Dark Prince warned, blade in his voice. “Say no more.”
Jasmine bit her lip, and for the first time, she obeyed instead of rebelling against her brother.
“Are you trying to fish around for the Wickedest Witch?” she said. “I saw how cozy you were with her in the jungle. You were willing to give your life for her. If in the end I can’t have you, no one else can have you, either, and definitely not the witch.”
“I need to study the witch because she hexed me,” I ground out. “Your venom prevents me from hurting you, but her black spell is even worse. She compelled me to protect her above all else. The bitch stabbed me with her ice spear three times, and after she failed to kill me, she used her ice and darkness to torture me for hours.” I spat. “After she found out I was too powerful to kill, she hexed me, using her nasty blood magic to bind my will. As I said, we Angels are no one’s slaves. And we never forget a bad debt. I’m not interested in the Wickedest Witch the way you think, but I’m actively seeking a way to lift her spell, just as I’m vigorously trying to throw off your compulsion.”
Jasmine blinked.
Desdemona laughed coldly. “I can easily see why my witch tried to kill you. Unfortunately, she didn’t carry it through.”
I wanted to tear his tongue out for calling my mate his, but I held back my anger.
“Tell me how you felt when her darkness assaulted you,” Desdemona ordered.
He was testing me. So, I told him how her ice had gotten into my veins and frozen my blood, until I’d thawed her dark magic with my angelic power. Then her icy storm had tossed me to the marble floor, to crack my skull open, but my head was harder than the marble and dented it. So, the witch’s living darkness, which had claws and teeth, had invaded me and snuffed out all light and hope in me. Yet I’d prevailed, as my Flame had driven away her darkness at the last minute.
My nostrils flared at the painful memory.
“The Wickedest Witch is so mean and cruel,” Jasmine said, shaking her head in sympathy.
“My Flame burned you two as well when you tried to drink me,” I grinned. “It’s too hot for all of you.”
Desdemona hissed, but he traded a look with his sister.
They believed me now.
“I deserve an answer,” I said. “Why can’t I get the hell out of here?”
“The tower is an extension of my will,” the Dark Prince said. “No one can leave it without my permission.”
The fucker!
“There’s no use trying to murder my brother,” Jasmine said with an affectionate smile, as if perceiving what was running through my head. “Prince Desdemona is like a god. He can’t be killed. If you cut off his head, it’ll only grow out again. Just like the walls and windows you naughtily damaged. Didn’t they come together? As I said, you’ll be with me forever, my Angel.”
15
The Witch
The wolf scouts brought news: the vampires had dragged Gabriel to their nest, but he was alive.
While Kaara was briefing me, Marrok came to knock my door. The Wolf King wanted to be with his mate every second of the day. It was a wonder the dominant Alpha let his queen serve me and resorted to protecting us both.
They belonged together.
If worse came to worst and I failed to get Gabriel back, I would send them through the portal first. I alone would stay behind. I wouldn’t leave without my mate, as I’d vowed.
Kaara opened the door for her mate.
Marrok gazed at her with adoration. “Hey, love.”
She smiled at him. “Hello, bad wolf.”
Marrok peeked into my room. I wasn’t sure why his eyes widened, but I took it that, other than Kaara and Gabriel, no one had ever seen my room before.
I guess it had been forbidden.
“Lady Fiammetta,” Marrok said, “we caught a bloodsucker. Would you and Kaara like to interrogate him?”
I nodded at the Wolf King with my usual icy gaze. “Yes, I’ll interrogate the vampire.”
“Please bring him to the torture chamber in the old museum, Marrok,” Kaara said.
He grinned at her and left.
Kaara briefed me further as we trekked through a withered garden toward a gray museum building ahead. The stone columns that were still standing had once witnessed a grand civilization on Pandemonium. No one knew what had happened to it.
I followed Kaara down the corridor, then into the torture chamber.
A vampire knelt in the center of the room. Marrok and another shifter guarded him. The other shifter looked like a hard-ass. He might be the wolf general.
The room was dim. There was never enough light on this planet. The lack of sunlight never bothered the vampires. The wolves could see well in the dark, too.
Icy light radiated on my skin, illuminating the room for Kaara and me.
The pale-skinned prisoner raised his head and leered at me. A vampiress’ silvery voice purred through his mouth. “Remember me, Wickedest Witch?”
The vampires had learned about my amnesia.
“Do you expect me to know every insect on Pandemonium?” I asked coldly.
“What do you want, Jasmine?”
Kaara snapped.
“Oh, Nightshades, what a pleasure,” Jasmine said through the vampire. “How’s your doggie mate in bed?”
The wolves didn’t react. Didn’t take the vampiress’ bait.
“I got one here, who has magnificent wings,” Jasmine gloated. “He’s amazing in bed. His every stroke is like fire licking every inch of my skin.”
She started moaning through the vampire prisoner, “Yes, Gabriel! Yes, oh, more. Harder. Yes, my Gabriel!”
Acid flooded my stomach and pain burned my heart. But I held myself still and kept my icy mask in place. I wouldn’t allow her to rattle me. I was the Wickedest Witch for a reason.
I couldn’t hear Gabriel on the other side, but at least the vampiress had confirmed that he was alive.
He had to do what he must do to survive. Or was he really smitten with her?
My eyes fixed on the vampire prisoner emotionlessly. “You made such an effort to show up through your vassal just to entertain us. How considerate of you.”
“Who cares who you fuck,” Kaara said. “Just get off already.”
“You don’t need to listen if you’re such a prude,” Jasmine said. “But I’m going to finish this with my Angel lover. Oh, yes! Yes, Gabriel. Deeper!” she moaned breathlessly. “Yes! I’m going to cum, honey.”
“The show is getting boring.” I turned to the shifters. “The vampire you caught is useless. He isn’t going to tell us anything. Why don’t you slice off his head, end his pathetic existence, and help the vampiress get off sooner.”
“My pleasure,” the wolf general said, stalking toward the moaning vampire.
The vampire-Jasmine instantly stopped moaning and gave us a measured look. “So, it’s information you want. What do I get in return?”
“You get to keep the Angel,” I said.
Kaara and the others tried not to look at me.
The vampire-Jasmine blinked.
Hadn’t expected that, had she?
“But I already have him,” she said.
“I doubt you truly have him,” I said.