Club Angel's Kiss

Brian and I hung back when Jett, Jimmy, and Zacky went into the throne room. Apparently they didn’t want me to see December—oh, pardon me—Cassariah again. They feared I would throw up or hyperventilate again.

I agreed to stay outside, not exactly wanting to relive the incident from last night. I had more than my amount of sick stomachs for one day.

I sat down on the floor in front of Brian and slapped my hand on his knee.

“I’m bored,” I whispered.

“Me too, but we can’t go in until they tell us we can,” Brian said, tapping his fingers on my hand.

I glanced at the throne room door. I could hear some sort of yelling go on inside, but like always, I couldn’t decipher what they were saying. There was also a strange scuffling sound, like chairs were repeatedly being pushed across the ground.

Brian looked to where I was looking as well. “Want to peek inside?”

I nodded. Without standing up, he opened the door slowly and peered inside. I joined him.

Matt was standing up, facing Zacky, both saying things at a scary pace. Jett and Jimmy stood in front of Cassariah, who was standing in front of my throne. They were talking, but much quieter than Jett and Jimmy.

“What are they saying?” I whispered, jabbing Brian in the ribs.

“Well, Matt and Zacky are not being nice to each other,” Brian said, a focused expression taking over his features. “And Jett and Jimmy are telling Cassariah that she needs to go back to hell where she belongs.”

“Ah.” I looked at the floor.

All this fighting was my fault, all on my account. It made me feel terrible and guilty, but, then again, Matt shouldn’t have brought in an enemy.

Zacky yelled something extremely loudly and slammed his fist down on the railing beside Matt’s throne. There was a cracking sound, and the railing buckled underneath the weight.

I closed my eyes.

“Zack is…defending you,” Brian whispered.

My eyes shot back open. “Why on earth is he defending me?”

“Matt is saying that you got everyone to do this because you’re jealous of Cassariah,” Brian explained.

I tightened my hands into fists. “That mother fucker,” I snarled.

“Mhm. And it’s not making anyone happy.”

“I would hope not.”

I leaned closer to the crack in the door.

“Amber, come here this instant,” Matt demanded. His voice reverberated through the room and seemed to shake the walls.

Brian stood up before I could and brought me with him. He led me into the room. I could tell he wasn’t happy either. He had a look of complete loathing on his face, but his was nothing compared to what Zacky looked like.

“What?” I asked innocently.

Brian stopped us beside Zacky.

I completely avoided even letting my eyes go in the direction of Cassariah. I didn’t want to risk getting sick or having to think back to being attacked.

Zacky put his arm around my waist protectively. “Matt, I don’t think you have to bring Amber into this argument.”

“Yes, I do.” Matt turned the full brunt of his angry gaze on me. “Amber, am I hearing this right? Are you really blaming Cassariah for attacking you?”

I nodded. If course she was! She was there to attack me. She was part of the enemy coven. Why was he being so ignorant?

“That is correct,” I shot angrily. “She was there with the other people in the enemy coven when I was almost killed. Does that mean anything to you? Or am I just like the other Queens? I mean nothing to you, right?”

Matt got even angrier. “Don’t you dare talk to you King like that!”

“No.” I stepped closer to him. “You will not talk to me like that. I am your Queen, not another one of your flunkies, so you will not address me as so, do you understand me?”

Brian snickered and Zacky smirked. Cassariah, however, gasped.

I shot my gaze in her direction. “And you, you disgusting vile bitch. I want you out of my fucking coven this instance. I don’t care if you were the Queen once. Now that position belongs to me now, and I demand that you leave.”

Oh my god. What was I doing? I was a human! Going up against two vampires! Did I freaking want to die?

“Babylon, don’t talk to her like that.” Matt was trying to sweet talk me now, but there was no way in hell I was letting that happen.

“Sit down, Matt! And my fucking name is Amber, not Babylon.”

Matt sat down in his throne and shut up.

I looked at Cassariah. “I told you to leave.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “What makes you think I’ll listen? You’re not my Queen.”

“I may not be your Queen, but you are in my coven, my territory, so I have every right to tell you what you can and cannot do. And while in my coven, you will listen to my rules.” I tried my best to sound authoritative, and it had worked on Matt, but not this chick.

I was guessing it was because she knew that I was a mere human that could be killed rather easily. She had already tried, after all.

Cassariah threw her head back and laughed shrilly. “Oh, you are such a pathetic little human.”

An inhuman growl ripped its way from Zacky’s throat.

Jett became strangely rigid, hunching her shoulders over as if she were a tiger preparing to pounce.

I must say, it was rather intimidating. And the tension in the air was thicker than a brick wall.

“Are you two really protecting her? She might be your Queen, but she’s a human!” Cassariah scoffed. “You guys have gotten even lower than when I was here before.”

“It doesn’t matter if she’s a human!” Zacky snarled. “I love her. We all do! So we will naturally want to protect her. And our main enemy right now is you and your little coven. You hurt Amber.”

“Yes,” Jett said. Her voice was very smooth and creepy. “We don’t deal well with psycho bitches who mess with the ones we love.”

She stood a stride forward, closer to Cassariah.

Matt moved as if he was going to sit up, but I glanced over at him quickly.

“You will stay.”

Brian came to my other side, the one that Zacky wasn’t currently taking up, and Jimmy stood behind me.

“Jett,” I called. “Please. Do not waste your time on such a pathetic person.”

“As you wish.” Jett straightened her posture and came to Brian.

“Now, Matt. Please show December the door.”

Cassariah looked slightly surprised that I remembered her vampire name.

Matt stood up, but Cassariah was already heading for the door.

“I will leave without a fight,” she called over her shoulder. “I don’t want to start a war with anyone, especially not your snobby new Queen.”

She disappeared from the room.

“Brian, Jett, Jimmy, Zacky, you all can leave,” I replied.

Brian and Jett left, hands interlocked like a high school couple.

Jimmy gave me a hug and left after them.

Zacky turned to me. “I’ll be upstairs in your room,” he whispered, and kissed my cheek lovingly. “Come find me when you are finished.”

“I will.”

Once he was gone, I turned completely to Matt.

“How dare you,” I began.

Matt held up his hands. “I did nothing, Amber.”

“Yes you did!” I shouted. “You brought a fucking murdering vampire into our coven! The same murdering vampire that tried to murder me. How could you do that to me? I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you.”

“Yeah, about as much as you loved all the other whores who were unlucky enough to be brought into this hell hole by your good looks,” I shot, feeling much more angry than I ever imagined I could. “I don’t fucking believe you!”

Matt remained silent.

“I don’t care if you still love me or not, you asshole. But I will always be the Queen of this coven, and there’s nothing you can do about that.” I shook my head.

“But you love Vengeance now,” he stated.

“Yes. Because he actually does care about me. He would never put me in danger like you just did,” I responded. “I mean, he tried to protect me when you were on that bitch’s side. You don’t know the first thing about love.”

Matt shrugged. “Maybe I do, or maybe I don’t. But you will always be my Queen.”

“Yes, you’re right. I’ll always be the Queen, not just yours. You and no one else owns me like a fucking animal.” I stomped toward the door. “Oh, and if you dare try to get in my room tonight, you will regret it.”

I ran down the hallway, away from the throne room, and up the stairs to my bedroom, where Zacky was outside on my balcony.

I hurried over to him.

“How did everything go?” he grinned.

“Oh, like you don’t already know,” I laughed, leaning beside him. “You were probably listening the entire time, weren’t you?”

Zacky shrugged. “It’s a good possibility.”

I shook my head and leaned forward, kissing him quickly on the lips.

“I hope you know that was very brave of you down there,” Zacky smiled, stroking my hair gently. “I’m very proud of you, sweetie.”

“I know. I’m surprised I didn’t throw up, even though the whole time I did feel a little nauseous.”

Zacky laughed again. “I saw you get a little paler than usual.”

I smacked his arm. “You’re just hilarious.”

“Aren’t I, though?”

“Yes, you are.”

/-/-/-/

Cassariah abided by all our warnings and actually did leave. It was strange; I thought she would plot revenge, but it was the complete opposite.

There was no sign of her, and the week passed in the blink of an eye.

Zacky and I were spending more and more time together, especially down at the club, where we figured out that Brian and Zacky sang rather well.

I helped Jimmy get the DJ set straight, and we decided we would have more live entertainment, but they would have to run it passed the Queen to be sure it was someone good.

Convenient, no?

Jett, Rave, and myself quickly were becoming a trio of troublemakers. We honestly caused a lot of headaches for the other vampires, especially the annoying ones.

The Guardians, the Loyals, and the Queen of Club Angel’s Kiss Coven formed a crazy, happy group of friends that got away with absolutely anything…

Well, almost anything.

“How dare you do this to me?!” Inez screeched, flailing a tangle of something green at our faces.

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

Rave and Jett remained completely motionless from beside me, but I could tell Rave wanted to burst into laughter.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Inez spat. “Someone dyed my extensions!”

Rave shifted in her stool. Under the table, she hit my leg in a silent way to laugh.

“Inez, do you actually doubt your Queen?”

Inez threw the extensions in the trash can as she stomped from the kitchen.

I let out a loud giggle. Rave quickly joined in with me, while Jett snickered quietly.

“That was one of the better things we’ve done,” Rave grinned. “I really can’t stand that girl.”

“No one can,” Jett said, wriggling around. “But it was fun.”

I sucked down the last bit of the milk from my cereal and put the bowl down. “What do you want to do today?” I asked, taking my bowl over to the sink.

Rave sighed and looked at the ceiling, like she was deep in thought. “Something amazing fun and exciting.”

“Like every day?” Jett giggled.

I rinsed the bowl out, washed it quickly, and put it back in the cupboard. I turned back as Jett started poking Rave’s shoulder.

“We need to do something that will make Obsidian mad,” Jett grinned.

“Yes, we do!” Rave clapped her hands down on the island counter. “Something bad.”

I laughed. “Not anything too bad. I don’t want to have to find a new place to live or anything to that extreme.”

“Oh, nothing that bad!” Jett cried. “Just something that will make him realize how unbelievably annoying he is.”

I snorted and shook my head. “Nothing in the world could make him realize something that huge!”

Rave cackled and looked around slyly. “I have a good idea.”

“What?” Jett asked.

“How about we—“

“OKAY! I KNOW ONE OF YOU DID THIS!”

Well, speak of the devil and he shall come.

Obsidian came stopping into the kitchen, looking furious, absolutely fuming. He held what looked like a picture in his hand.

“What did we do?” Rave questioned.

Obsidian held out the picture. Jett grabbed it.

As soon as her eyes fell on the thin object, she gasped, looking absolutely horrified.

Rave stood up and took it from her. She had the exact same reacting as Jett, so I had to see what this strange thing was.

I circled the island and peered over Rave’s shoulder.

I couldn’t exactly make out what it was. I saw a lot of…blood? No…

“What is that?” I whispered.

“It’s…It’s…the other Queen.”

I looked at the picture again. I saw it now. I saw the blonde and brown hair strewn around on the ground, but the body below that hair was…deformed, haggard, torn apart.

I let my mouth drop open.

“What?”

Obsidian made a face. “You guys didn’t do this?” he asked. “You didn’t put a picture of Haven in my room?”

“Lord, no!” Jett cried. “Why we would we do that?”

“Yes, that’s just cruel,” Rave agreed.

I looked at Obsidian, confused.

“Haven was the Queen before you. She was killed…” Obsidian looked at the ground.

“But before she was killed, she was Obsidian’s lover.” Rave patted his shoulder.

I looked at the picture again…

“Who could have done this?” Jett asked.

“Someone with no soul,” Rave answered.

And I knew exactly who had done it.

“Cassariah.”