19
The Witch

 

 

 

The tower of black steel and glass loomed; its gate left wide open in invitation.

The vampire hordes kept a respectful distance from us, perhaps warned by their Dark Prince, who wouldn’t want to scare me off before he could ensnare me.

The wolves and my army waited at the perimeter of the vampire territory.

I strode toward the gate with Kaara beside me, clad in my usual three pieces—breast plates, leather skirts, and knee-high boots—but this time with a red cloak that covered my fighting gear.   

Gabriel’s frantic shouts blasted out of the door. “Get the fuck away, Wicked Witch! Don’t ever come in. Run away from here! Now!”

“That’s rude and unnecessary,” I told Kaara. “Was he always this obnoxious?”

“And shockingly arrogant,” she confirmed.

“Once you’re in, Fiammetta,” Gabriel kept yelling, not giving up, “you’ll never leave. It’s a fucking trap!”

I passed through the first gate and jogged straight toward the gated door. 

Gabriel tossed aside the vampires in his path and blocked the door, making me wonder why he didn’t just step out.

He charged toward me, but something bound him to where he was. Then I realized he couldn’t get out. He was elbowing some unseen force, his veins jumping on his ink-tattooed temples, his muscles twisting in his corded neck.

His wings fluttered with the effort.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Gabriel,” I said, as I regarded him with my usual icy demeanor.

He widened his bloodshot eyes, once so green. The Archangel looked haggard, as if he hadn’t closed an eye since we’d separated.

My heart contracted.

“Fiammetta,” he bellowed. “This is no fucking joke! Don’t you ever enter! I warn you! Kaara Nightshades, stop your mistress while you both still can leave!”

He tried to reach me again, his wings finally breaking some kind of pulling force, and propelling forward to sweep me away.

Several vampires who had been flung away rushed back at him. They held his arms, grabbed his legs, and hung onto his wings to hurl him backward from the door. He threw them off again with his explosive strength, and they fell upon him the next second like vultures.

He had no angelblade with him, so he couldn’t cut a trail of bodies to reach me.

My Angel had been disarmed.  

Lifting the hem of her elaborate, heavy blue gown, Jasmine descended the stairs in the grand hall, and hurried toward the struggling Gabriel.

“Stand down, Gabriel!” she screamed. “I command you! Stay back!”

Desdemona appeared from behind them in a black tuxedo that made him look lordly and striking. He wore a white shirt and black tie. “Control your pet, Jasmine!” he hissed.

My Archangel is no one’s pet.

Gabriel fought the compulsion, his face distorted with agony. As the vampiress kept screaming at him, he grasped his head.

“Let him go, or I’m leaving,” I said.  

“Leave the Angel alone,” Desdemona ordered, and Jasmine stopped shrieking at Gabriel.

Her pale skin took on a purple tone. She was furious with him.

The vampire henchmen didn’t swarm Gabriel again with their overwhelming numbers.

As soon as they released Gabriel, he lunged, not at me this time, but at the vampire princess. He grabbed her into his arms, with no care or tenderness, and kissed her on the lips.

My eyes burned, and my darkness twirled around me, hissing. I wouldn’t allow him to touch anyone. I wouldn’t allow anyone to touch him.

He turned to me with a menacing look. “Not so happy about it? If you came for me, it’s already too late. I’m with her. I fucked her. She’s way better than you. Right now, I can’t even stand the sight of you. So, why don’t you get the fuck out, Wicked Witch! Get the fuck out, before I get violent!”

Even so, I wouldn’t leave him behind.

While he had her in his arms, his left wing stretched out from his side to prevent me from entering the tower—his last attempt to keep me out.

Jasmine laughed, caressing his wings.

I stepped in through the door, tossing my darkness at her to tear her from his arms.

Kaara followed.

“No!” Gabriel roared in horror, and immediately shoved the vampiress aside.

“Not so fast, lover,” Jasmine purred. “One more kiss, please.”

I was about to summon my ice spear.

“Quiet! All of you,” Desdemona snapped at his sister. “My lovely date is here. Must you spoil this day that I’ve been awaiting for three years?”

He turned to smile at me charmingly. I’d entered his nest. He believed I was finally his.

Especially when I realized that, a bit too late, the darkness I’d hurled at Jasmine had vanished without a trace before it hit the target.

The ice shield in me and Kaara also dropped.

My power wouldn’t work in the vampire tower.

The moment I’d stepped in, I’d sensed its wrongness. It had been woven through and through with dark spells and curses. Desdemona must have made a pact with some ancient evil power to make his tower predatory and alive. 

It chilled me there were things worse than Akem.

That was why Gabriel couldn’t leave. That was why he’d screamed at the top of his lungs for me to flee before I walked right in with Kaara.

And I’d sensed the potent vampire venom flowing in his angelic veins. He’d been fighting it.

Others would have been long gone, their former selves diminished, as they became a vampire. It seemed that Desdemona, or his sister, hadn’t been able to completely turn Gabriel, but he was still under their compulsion. Otherwise, the superior Archangel, who had an ego bigger than the galaxy, wouldn’t have slumped in a corner now, looking defeated.

My Angel was incredibly strong, yet he would need my help to overcome the vampire influence.

He didn’t know we wouldn’t leave him behind. 

He thought he was disposable.

“Tried your black magic the moment you came in, didn’t you, Wickedest Witch?” Jasmine taunted, laughing in vicious delight. “Did it work? I’d love some of your icy storms, please.”

“Jasmine,” Desdemona said. “Be cordial. I warned you to behave.”

“I was welcoming my future sister-in-law,” she said. “But I forgot—not everyone knows how to appreciate my fine sense of humor.”

Gabriel snarled, though I wasn’t sure to which part he was objecting—her addressing me as her future sister-in-law, or her self-proclaimed fine sense of humor.

“Welcome to my humble abode, Lady Fiammetta,” Desdemona said. “I’ve prepared refreshments for you.”

“I prefer to dine on the high floor, with a full window and a spectacular view,” I said.

“Of course,” Desdemona said. “It’s arranged to your liking. Every one of your requirements will be met.”

Gabriel raised his head, a heartbreaking look in his eyes. “You came for the leech? You want to date him? Have you lost your mind? What do you see in him? What can you possibly get out of him? Kaara Nightshades told you he’s powerful and strikingly handsome, so you listened to her bullshit? You should never have trusted dimwit Nightshades’ judgments. I used to have an above-average opinion of her, and now I have only contempt for that stupid girl. She failed in her duty.” He growled. “Fuck! This is it. Pandemonium is getting all of us.”

Kaara scowled at Gabriel.

“How foolish are you, Fia?” Gabriel continued to blurt out, his voice quieter now. “What have you done? I was trying to keep you away from this nightmare, and you had to dive right into it. Now that you’ve done it, what am I going to do with you? Why couldn’t you just listen to me for once? Do you know what my worst nightmare is? It’s watching you live in it.”

“Aren’t you a killjoy, Gabriel,” I said. “I can’t let you keep all the fun to yourself.”  

“Do I look like I fucking enjoy myself here, witch?” he said in fury. “Look at me! I was the greatest captain in angelic history and a decorated war hero. But now, I’m being treated like a whore by lesser beings in this fucking tomb. My ship can never find me. But must you reduce yourself to my fate?”

I regarded him icily, though my heart went out to him. My entering the vampire tower had broken his spirit. He thought I was as doomed as he was, and that there was no salvation for me.

“Jasmine! I told you that you should have chained your pet!” Desdemona turned to his sister with a stormy face. “Now he’s only an embarrassment. I won’t put up with him for long.” He shook his head in disgust. “Ignore him, Lady Fiammetta.” He raised his elbow for me. “Shall we?”

I placed my finger on the vampire prince’s arm.

Gabriel snapped his head up at us, his eyes burning with rage and jealousy as we glided past him. He struggled up, his wings shuffling aggressively.

“Don’t mind him,” Desdemona advised. “It’s only a show. All day long, he likes to huff and puff, but he can’t do much harm. My sister’s blood binds him for eternity.” The prince chuckled in amusement. “He constantly wants to kill us, but his body won’t listen to his will or his command. Sometimes it’s quite entertaining when it’s not so pitiful to watch him fail. But I won’t let him stay in my tower for too long. I’ve never met anyone more annoying and aggravating than him.”

“Brother, you promised you wouldn’t get rid of him!” Jasmine protested. “He’s mine!”

He looked behind. “Jasmine, keep him somewhere else, will you? Lady Fiammetta and I should not be interrupted today.”

“On the contrary,” I said. “I’d like to have your sister join us. She’s the Princess of the tower, and shall receive the same courtesy and respect. And my former pet, Archangel Gabriel, should accompany us, as a means of entertainment. His misery, our delight.”

Desdemona smiled. “As you wish, Lady Fiammetta.”