Club Angel's Kiss

All I could hear was yelling, screeching, and crashing. The sounds were coming from all around me and from all corners of the darkened club. I could not put my finger on what exactly it could be or why it was happening so late at night, but it sounded so scary and disturbing.

I wanted it to stop! I would eventually lose my mind and jump off the balcony. I already felt a little weary and concerned. Did I really want to push that to the brink of insanity?

The noises were testing me like none other, testing every inch of my self-control.

I pressed my hands against my ears, squeezing my eyes shut.

Every single sound echoed through my head at a thousand intervals per second, jabbing my body with pain and fear.

Terror struck right through my heart. What if something was happening to Zacky? Or someone else? What if my darling club was under attack? I couldn't help anyone! I couldn't even be for sure if anyone was still alive enough to speak...or possibly get me out of this room.

I scooted out of my fetal position beside my bed, my hands falling back to my sides. I crawled my way slowly over to the door.

The sounds got louder as I grew closer to the opposite side of the room. Everything intensified drastically around me. I could make out voices now, especially that of Brian yelling something in the weird vampire language. He sounded so frantic...

Besides that, all the screams and cries...and ripping sounds were much more prominent, and they absolutely sent horror through my entire body.

I couldn’t stand it anymore! I had to get downstairs.

My hands shot out to the doorknob and gave one single firm yank.

I was prepared to see anything outside my bedroom door. Dead bodies, massacred humans or animals, or possibly just a little tiff between vamps. Who knew! Mythical creatures tended to be a little moody and testy during the right time of day.

But, nothing happened. The door remained in the same place, closed as tight as a tomb. My hand still sat on the doorknob, as if I had never put all my force into trying to force it open.

Confusion clouded every crevice of my mind and my body stood stark still.

What had happened? Did I imagine turning the knob?

Quickly, I tried again.

The same thing happened.

“What...the....hell?”

Oh!

Oh fucking God! I was locked in! Someone locked me in! Someone locked the bedroom door with me still inside, without informing me, without giving me an alternate way to escape.

I was fucking stuck!

“Zacky!” I screamed, beating my palms against the door. “Zacky! Anyone! Let me out of here, please. I beg you!”

My cries weren’t going to work, I just knew it. I would be left to die in my room without the company of my friends or my lover.

Shit! Everything was so fucked up.

Everything.

Absolutely everything.

“Help me!” I yelled as I fell to my knees. “Zack, please. How could you leave me to die? I thought you loved me! What happened to that?”

My queen, you’re still alright! Thank goodness!

The random voice that filled my head took me aback, almost forcing me to keel over backwards from the surprise.

Rave?

So they could hear me downstairs. And they were all ignoring me like I wasn’t screaming my head off for help.

Assholes.

“Yes, I’m alright,” I snarled. “For now at least! I’m freaking locked in my bedroom and I have absolutely no way to get out!”

NO, MY QUEEN! STOP TALKING!

I jumped away from the door and slammed my lips together. I had never heard Rave yell in such a way, and I most definitely had never heard her sound so scared.

Why should I stop talking? Something terrible just had to be happening downstairs, something that they obviously didn’t want me to know about.

That’s where you are. I knew we would find you eventually.

Rave’s voice no longer filled my senses. This one was much more familiar, a voice that would forever be burned into my memory, a voice that made my stomach do complete three sixties inside of me.

Drakkar.

“HELP!” I cried, cupping my hands around my mouth. “Zacky, Brian, Johnny, Jimmy, Matt! Please! Help me! RAVE! Can you still hear me?”

No response came.

But, something else did.

This wasn’t a voice, though. And it was not reserved only for my thoughts. This particular sound reached my ears and echoed so loudly that I doubled over against the concrete floor.

My name. A female screaming my full name at such an incredible, inhuman volume. It was almost as if someone were standing right beside me and just screeching right into my ear drum.

“Stop,” I whimpered.

“Nope, don’t think I will.”

I raised my head toward my door, which was now agape. Two figures were blocking out the view to the hallway, but the light was do dim around me that their faces were merely black.

“Who is it?” I muttered, pushing myself up.

They both flickered from sight, before reappearing right in front of me. Two pairs of shoes resided right in front of my face, one a pair of bright red pumps, the other a pair of black skate sneakers.

The pumps shifted.

I refused to look up. I didn’t dare to. I knew exactly who were standing in front of me and I had no desire to see death coming my way.

Drakkar and Cassariah...Or December...Whatever the hell the bitch’s name was! They were here to kill me, so why fight it? I knew they would catch up to me in due course.

Frankly, it was about time. They were some of the slowest vampires I had yet to meet.

“Quite excellent to see you again, Amber.” The left pump connected with my chest, sending me soaring across the room.

My back connected with my vanity. Glass from the mirror was sent flying all around me, scratching and nicking my exposed skin wherever it could reach.

The vanity flipped and I landed roughly to the floor. Pain shot up from the bottom of my spine, but I did my best to bite back any sign that it hurt.

Nothing would stop me from getting at least one good lick in at Cassariah. It might mean the death of me, but what the hell ever! She had done nothing but make my life a living hell since I first came in contact with Matt at the grocery store. She deserved some kind of punishment or something.

“We finally caught up with you, Miss quote unquote Queen.” Cassariah came quickly across the room, grinning. “And I have a bone to pick with you, you selfish bitch.”

“Oh, is that right?” I slammed my hands on the glass covered ground. “And what the hell did I do to you, Cassariah? Hmm?” I forced myself to my feet. “Are you upset that I foiled your plans on taking over the coven again? Because I convinced Matt not to take you back as his disgusting lover.”

She gasped, her hand slapping against her chest.

I gave a short, quick humorless laugh, as did Drakkar.

Cassariah growled deeply. “Both of you need to shut up!”

“Or what?” I dared. “Honestly, Cassariah. What could you do to me that wouldn’t make my life better? Hm? You could kill me, and I’m sure that’s what you want to do, but that would be heaven!”

I rolled my eyes and threw my head back.

“I want to die,” I said a little softer. “It would make this coven’s life so much easier without me. And you would have no more reason to bother them.”

The room went silent.

My heavy, frustrated breathing and my pounding heart were the only sounds filling the room. Cassariah and Drakkar remained motionless, as far as I could hear, and had nothing else to say about my little outburst.

I frankly didn’t blame them. I sounded crazy, borderline insane. Even a vampire had to know when someone was about to completely snap.

“As you wish.”

I snapped my head back to look at them both.

Drakker was staring at Cassariah in blatant shock.

“What?” I muttered.

“As you wish,” Cassariah repeated. “If dying is what you want, then it is not what you are going to get.”

Drakker yanked her backward by her shoulder. “What are you talking about? Have you lost what little mind you have? I thought that was the whole reason we were even doing this?! The coven is nothing without their queen.”

Cassariah whispered something quickly and swiftly in her mate's ear. A grin broke out on Drakkar's face and he whispered something back.

I clenched my teeth together.

I should have just kept my mouth shut. It was the worst idea to tell them that. Now they would do something that would be far worse than any kind of death.

"What--"

But it was too late. They already disappeared from my bedroom.

/ - / - / - /

The hallway down to the club was pitch black. No lights could be seen from anywhere, not even the windows in every room I passed by.

I had to feel my way down the long expansion, my hands pressed against the walls on either side of me. That still resulted in issues, though.

There seemed to be various items scattered around the floor and my feet kept getting caught on them. I couldn't see what they were, but it was quite obvious they were broken and out of place.

Which only meant bad things. Matt was always sure to keep everything clean in the entire club. He would never stand for anything such as this, with everything and the kitchen sink (seriously! I think I tripped on it) hanging out in the walkways and whatnot.

“I swear,” I grumbled, shuffling my feet. “Like my life wasn't weird enough! I mean, my lover is a vampire, my best friends are vampires, I haven't seen my parents in a few months, and now everything is being turned upside down by an enemy coven. What else could go wrong?”

Finally, I turned a sharp corner and saw light from the staircase leading down into the kitchen. I heaved a heavy sigh of relief and grabbed the railing on both sides before stepping onto the first stair.

Everything was relatively quiet now. I heard no more struggling and fighting, and no more yelling or screaming. Even the disturbing ripping sounds were over with.

Maybe the corruption had actually stopped! Or maybe my beloved vampires had rid the world of the enemies.

I could only be hopeful.

My body hit something hard. I fell backwards onto the stairs and stared up in shock.

“What the hell?”

A bookshelf blocked the rest of the way down the stairs.

“HEY!” I called, jumping up. “Somebody help! I'm stuck on the stairs!”

I heard something shift nearby.

Hope surged up within my chest. “Hey! Help me!”

“Amber?”

I gasped. “Rave! Rave, I'm on the staircase!”

Rave came into view around the corner. Her hair was messed up and she looked absolutely disheveled.

“Are you okay?!” I cried.

Rave ignored my question. She came up on the staircase, grabbed the bookshelf, and tossed it to the kitchen floor.

In silence, she grabbed me up in her arms and squeezed me close.

I wrapped my arms around her neck.

“What happened?” I whispered, running my fingers through her hair.

Rave let out a dry sob. “Oh, Amber,” she whimpered. “You-you should go into the club. Everything has gone...g-gone wrong.”

I pulled away.

If she could cry, I was sure Rave would be sobbing and puking and throwing one hell of a fit right in front of me.

“Take me to where everyone else is,” I ordered softly.

Rave grabbed my hand and led me quickly through the maze of halls and rooms to the throne room.

Every room that we passed was absolutely destroyed, like a war had happened through the short time I was locked upstairs.

We moved down the two flights of stairs to the entrance of the club. Rave stopped short of the door, pulling her hand from mine.

I raised my eyebrow at her. She simply gestured for me to go on ahead.

So I did.

I grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open.

Like I had expected, the final room in my home was also in complete shambles. Bottles of alcohol were everywhere, some broken with puddles of liquid laying in their wake. Others sat in random places, still in tact.

The small tables were upturned and thrown to the back wall. In their place sat Johnny, his head in his hands. Brian stood behind him, patting his back, with Jett right at his side.

The rest of the coven stood closer to the middle of the room, all in a jumbled up circle, staring down, their heads bowed.

I pressed my lips together.

This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. What did Cassariah and Drakkar do? Better yet, who did they do it to? I knew that what they said implied that they would get revenge in another way, probably by killing someone very close to me.

I was scared, terrified. The entire coven meant everything to me, and I loved everyone in it. They were my new family; I couldn't imagine losing even one of them.

I stepped out from the archway of the staff only door. Every pair of eyes flashed in my direction, including the one I wanted to see the most.

My Zackary Baker stood by Matt. Both were looking intently over at me, and both looked concerned and irritated about something.

“Zacky,” I breathed. “Zacky!” He was in one piece. He wasn't hurt; he still had all of his limbs and he was standing so close to me.

Zacky tilted his head slightly, his eyes still set on me. His nose crunched up in concentration, his eyebrows furrowed. Almost instantly, everyone else joined in on the ritual.

I rolled my eyes. “Weirdos,” I muttered, and lifted my foot to take another step.

“STOP!” Matt bellowed.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Rave, who had been walking at my side now, grabbed my arm and jerked me behind her. I latched my hands on the back of her blue sweater.

There was not a single reason for Matt to outburst like that. I had done nothing to deserve to be yelled at. I merely walked across the shiny, black tiled floor of the club, like I did every morning and night.

I peered over Rave’s shoulder. My best friends looked tense, on edge, ready for a fight. And -- to top it off -- it was all centered around me, as if I had done something wrong.

Rave screamed something quickly. Matt snapped something in response. Apparently, that was not what she wanted to hear.

“What are you problems?” Rave cried. “Amber is still Amber! Nothing has happened to our queen, so why are you thinking this nonsense?”

“What nonsense?!” Johnny yelled, jumping up. “If she is one of them, she deserves to die just like the rest of them. Just because she was once our human queen does not make her an exception to this much needed revenge.”

Oh. Dear. God. They thought I was a vampire now, one of the enemy coven. They wanted to kill me!

I slid away from Rave. “Excuse me?” I shot. “Who the hell told you that I was an enemy vampire? I am still your human queen. Nothing has changed.”

My eyes roamed back over to Zacky. Though doubt clouded his eyes, I could tell I was getting through to him. Oh, as long as I could get through to him, that would be absolutely enough to get me through this…strange ordeal.

I sent a small smile his way. He smiled back.

“Zee,” I whispered. “You have to believe me.”

Zacky slowly crossed the room over to me. He laid one hand on my shoulder, and the other on my hip. I leaned closer to his frigid body.

“I don't care if you're a vampire,” he muttered in my ear. “That just means you can be my mate for eternity, my love.”

I shook my head. “As beautiful as that sounds, I am still a human. I am not a vampire.”

Zacky traced a finger across my bottom lip, a smile forming on his face. My heart skipped several crucial beats. I felt faint, and almost wanted to fall to my knees.

His smile turned to a full out grin.

“You're still warm…And you still have a heartbeat.” He rested his forehead to mine. “You're still my fragile Amber. Thank the nights.” His hands whipping up, he grabbed my face between them and crashed his lips against my own.

My head blacked out.

I heard gasps cascade around the room. Johnny cursed loudly, and Matt whispered something about betrayal, but I paid them no mind. And neither did Zack.

My fingers tangled themselves in his dark, tousled hair. He pulled me ever so closer to his chest, his arms tightening their grip.

A snarl filled the room. I felt Zack loosen his arms and the kiss stalled for a moment.

Footsteps started crossing the room at an incredible speed.

“Johnny, stop!” Rave yelled.

But the demand fell on deaf ears.

I heard what sounded like stone hitting stone. My eyes snapped open to see Johnny's hand gripping Zacky's shoulder.

“Johnny?” I whispered, furrowing my brows. “What are you do--”

With every bit of his strength, Johnny jerked Zacky backwards and sent him flying across the room. His back cracked against the back wall.

My hands flew to my mouth. “What are you doing?” I screamed. “You're going to kill him!”

“He deserves it,” Johnny snarled directly in my face. He grabbed my cast covered arm in his hand. “And you! You told them to kill her! You betrayed all of us...your COVEN! You are disgusting.”

Copying what he did to Zack, he threw me to the ground. I landed with my cast breaking my fall, though that probably wasn't smart. The thin plaster cracked with my weight and split almost completely down the middle.

I cursed loudly.

“Johnny, leave her alone!” Jett flickered to my side, immediately grabbing my arm and lifting me up. She balanced me against her body, her arm around my waist. “Johnny, you will stop. You know amber had nothing to do with it.”

“I know nothing!” Johnny sneered. “All I know is that this bitch is the reason for the rest of eternity to be one big ball of hell!”

I could not believe my eyes.

This was Johnny? This was the same Johnny that took me to my house to gather my clothes? This was the same Johnny that told me everything about vampires and how I was now a queen?

This could not be that same, gentle soul that I became great friends with. It was impossible! I had confided in the vampire that I knew, and now he thought I was a betraying wench. What on earth had I done?

I had been up in my room during whatever happened.

“Hey, hey, hey!” I cried. “I don't have a damn clue what you are talking about, Johnny, but you are wrong. I would never betray this coven, no matter who tells you so.”

“Liar!” Johnny reached his hand out to grab me, but Jett pulled me further backward.

“Get hold of yourself,” Jett ordered. “You're just hysterical. Everything will be--”

“Shut the fuck up, sl--”

“Choose your words wisely.” Brian stepped in front of us. “You wouldn't want to insult our queen and my mate.”

Johnny dropped to his knees.

I raised an eyebrow.

“Don't say that word,” Johnny pleaded. “Please. I can't handle it.”

What word? Mate?

Oh, no.

I whipped around, my eyes scanning around the coven members. I noted everyone…Everyone except a certain annoying blonde girl.

“J-Johnny,” I murmured shakily. “Where's Inez?”

Jett twitched her head to the side. Her eyes were the size of saucers. “You...You don't know what happened?”

I mouthed no.

“She...she was killed.”

I peeked down at Johnny's pathetic form. Again, if vampires could cry, Johnny would be absolutely sniveling like a newborn infant.

“By Cassariah and her mate,” he explained with an amazingly calm voice. “They blaned it on you, Amber. They told us they turned you and you had become their queen. You ordered them to kill Inez, because you were tired of her snippy remarks and beauty.”

He gently grabbed my hand in both of his, balancing himself on his knees. I lowered myself onto the floor in front of him.

His face had softened dramatically since his angry escapade. He looked like the person I remembered, the person I had spent several nights just sitting up and talking to.

“I am terribly sorry.” Tears began brimming the corners of my eyes. “They should not have done that to Inez, and I know you are distraught right now, but you have to answer some of my questions, okay? Does that sound good?”

Johnny nodded his head once.

My heart went out to him. It was hard to imagine what kind of pain he was going through. How it would feel to lose the one you love, the only one you love.

Johnny had every right to have a mild mental breakdown. I would have done the same.

“Good.” I pulled my hands from his and laid them on his shoulders. “First, Cassariah and Drakkar told everyone that I did all of that, right?”

Another nod.

“And when did this happen?”

“Right before you and Rave came downstairs.”

“Why did anyone give them the time to explain any of that bullshit? All of you are powerful enough to take down two goons, correct?" I lowered my voice to an angered whisper. “You should have killed them both.”

Johnny moved his eyes over to the group of vampires still standing in a perfect circle by the bar.

“We had no reason to kill them,” he said. “They surrendered.”

I scrambled up to my feet, shaking.

Surrendered? No. Those godforsaken damned would never do such a thing as surrender. That would mean they were giving up! They were letting the good guys win.

You're right. Something in my head whispered.

I balled my hands into fists and pressed them into my thighs. I had to ignore that voice, even though it always seemed to be right.

“Surrendered?” I choked. “No. Impossible.”

Johnny pointed his index finger toward the group again. I looked at them, just as Matt motioned with two fingers for me to come closer.

My breathing hitched in my throat.

They must have had proof that the baddies actually surrendered. What else would they be showing me?

I skulked as slow as possible across the room. I wasn't completely prepared for what they were about to show me. I didn't even want to know what was in the middle of the circle, but since they were wanting to show me.

I reached Matt's side and grabbed his arm.

“What do you want me to see?” I questioned.

“This.” Matt nodded toward the floor.

My stomach rolled. I cautiously turned my body to face the mysterious scenario, with every expectation that I was about to see some kind of dead body or haggard body pieces. Something that would scar me for life and give me nightmares for years to come.

But none of that sat in the middle of the ring of vampires. It was...Draegan, sitting with his legs crossed on the concrete floor, staring up at me.

“What?!” I cried. “Draegan? I thought you said Cassariah and Drakkar surrendered, not the only good person in that coven!”

Matt took a step backward, away from me.

“Where are Cassariah and Drakkar! I demand to know right now!” I stamped my bare foot on the ground with irritated fervor.

“We-we let them go,” Matt responded. “They stopped fighting, surrendered, told us everything, and we let them go. But they told us that this one was teamed up with you to destroy the entire coven.”

I threw my head back and let out the loudest cry of frustration I could manage.

Cassariah and Drakkar were let free. Even after they told me they were going to get revenge on me somehow, and that did not involve me being murdered.

Or had that already happened? They threw my coven into shambles and killed Inez Puckett…That honestly was not the kind of hellish revenge I imagined earlier.

Unless…

“This isn’t over,” I whispered, lifting my hands toward Draegan. “This isn’t over, oh my god!”

Draegan shook his head.

I was probably the only one who saw the next response, but that was probably a good thing. I knew how to decipher it, and I knew that Draegan only meant it in the best way.

“Setup,” he mouthed silently.

A setup. Of course it was. This wasn’t over. Cassariah and Drakkar were not going to leave that easily, not without causing me pain and terror in some sort of way.

They had more horror to wreak.

“Right again, Miss Queen!”

I whipped around at the sound of the familiar, female voice. And there she was, coming right in my direction from the stage.

Drakkar was nowhere in sight.

“AMBER!” Zacky shouted.

I saw a blur flash beside me. I heard screams and cries and yells of panic, but I couldn’t move from where I was standing.

I knew they weren’t coming for me, so I would much rather stay out in the open, away from everyone else while they tried to find out who meant the most to me.

I knew what they were going to do. I wasn’t sure how, but I did.

The first person I would run to would be the one I loved the most. The first person I ran to would be the one they would eliminate.

I remained frozen on the spot.

The last thing I would give them would be the pleasure of killing my lover, my mate.

Cassariah jumped from the stage and zigzagged her way across the room. She ignored every vampire she passed, just like I had guessed. She didn’t even give them a single look.

Drakkar appeared mere feet away from her…But he wasn’t heading for me. His direction was for Matt.

“Matt!” I yelled, unthawing from my frozen state. “Move, quick!”

Cassariah smirked.

And I watched on in horror as they closed in on my King.