Status: Finished.

Club Angel's Kiss

I Won't See You Tonight, Pt. 2

Everything slowed to an agonizing crawl around me. The entire club switched to slow motion, and I was front row to the festivities. I had to stand in the line of fire, watching the oncoming crisis…That I couldn’t stop.

My ears were deaf. I couldn’t hear a single thing, not even my own breathing or my own heartbeat. It felt like all of this was fake…A movie for the silver screen.

None of this could possibly be real. Things like this just didn’t happen!

And yet it was.

Cassariah grabbed both of Matt’s arms and yanked them backwards. Within the same second, she lifted her foot and secured it between his shoulder blades.

“Now!” she shouted.

And, suddenly, everything came flooding back. I could hear the screams and yells and sobs going on in the environs of where I stood.

Everything was normal speed again.

Drakkar, something large in his hand, came from the left. He raised the large object up in the air and swung. My human eyes were too slow to see exactly what happened until it was already over. The damage had already been done.

Something flew across the room. The sound of shattering glass filled my head.

Cassariah tossed Matt’s body to the ground.

I stopped breathing.

Someone around me screamed. People were yelling, telling me to move, or just repeating Matt’s name like a broken record. But…I couldn’t move. Besides the fact that I was having issues regaining control of my limbs, I didn’t want to.

I wanted to know if something was coming to get me, though I knew that wouldn’t happen. Cassariah and Drakkar knew just how to get revenge.

An ice cold feeling rose up from the pit of my stomach. It spread over my entire body, soaking me in numbness.

My hands slowly raised themselves to my mouth. My eyes clouded over with tears.

Before I knew it, an ear splitting, blood curdling shriek escaped my lips. Everything else went silent. Only my scream echoed off the walls enclosing in on me.

Blackness and shadows started growing closer all around me. I suddenly felt very claustrophobic. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what to say or even where to turn to look for my friends.

“I…Can’t breathe.” I shook my head from side to side frantically.

“You are not getting away!” Jimmy shouted.

I heard the distinct sound of a scuffle going on somewhere to my left. The sound of feet scraping against tile and stone hitting stone.

Still, I had no control of my legs or arms.

What was I supposed to do? I knew Matt was…um…gone, and I’m sure everyone else did, but what happened next?

I was the queen…

Then, bye bye, Miss Queenie. We will see you again.

I turned my head to the side. Cassariah and Drakkar were gone already. They had done what they came to do. There was no reason to stay.

I ignored it and forced myself to look at the empty space where Matt had previously been standing. He was no longer there.

“Is…Is he dead?” I whispered.

Hands started grabbing various parts of my body and pulling me away from the dismembered man--I refused to think of him as Matt.

One pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and twisted me around. Zacky’s familiar brown eyes stared down at me. Remorse seemed to be etching his entire expression.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” I asked.

Zacky nodded slowly.

My legs fell out from underneath me. I slid right between Zacky’s strong grip and collapsed to the tiled floor, immediately watching the rest of the world fade out.

All my fault.

/ - / - / - /

“She’s waking up.”

“She is?!”

Cold hands grabbed my cheeks. I groaned, feeling sick, my stomach rolling and turning. A thin sheen of sweat was covering me.

One hand left my cheek and swiped through my hair.

“Amber,” Zacky whispered.

I forced my eyes open. Zacky, Brian, Rave, and Chalice stood in a circle around me. I was lying flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

“Hi,” I murmured. “What happened?”

“You…fainted.” Zacky lowered himself beside me. “After I told you Matt was dead. Are you okay? Do you feel alright?”

Using my good arm, I pushed myself into a sitting position. The room spun, but other than that, I was okay.

I nodded.

Zacky kissed my hair.

Chalice sat down on my other side. She gently grabbed my broken arm and lifted it in my line of vision. I was expecting to see the familiar light colored cast, but instead was my arm. My shrunken, fragile, abnormally pale arm.

“Where’s my cast?!” I cried.

“I took it off while you were passed out,” Chalice answered. “When you fell, you cracked it right down the middle, and since you have had it on for almost six weeks, I took it off. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all!” I grinned. “I hated that cast.”

“Good.” Chalice patted my leg carefully. “You should be able to regain the muscle and strength if you work it in the next few days. Can you do that for me?”

I gave my alien arm another look. It was so breakable looking…

With a sigh, I whispered a soft yes.

Chalice stood up. “Alright. I am very glad that I could rid you of such a horrible monstrosity. Be very careful.”

She hopped off the stage and strode away.

Brian and Rave followed behind her.

Zacky scooped me up and pulled me into his lap. He stayed silent, content with staring down at me as I stared back up at him.

What was wrong with these vampires? Their King was murdered just a few moments ago and they were completely ignoring the elephant in the room. No one was even mentioning it, besides Zacky. Really! We needed a plan to get us through.

Or was I supposed to do that? I did happen to be their queen, and, since the King was M.I.A, the responsibility had to be passed to me.

But I had to no idea how to run a coven! I didn’t know the first thing of giving orders or making a plan.

“Shit,” I cursed, shaking my head.

Zacky tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m the queen,” I responded. “I have to keep this coven running, but Matt never told me how. He should have mentored me, just in case something like this happened.”

Then again, who could have possibly imagined this would occur?

No one. We all had a great amount of faith in Matt. And to think he was defeated in seconds flat, right before our eyes, by only two enemies. The whole concept sounded so unfeasible, impossible. He was the King!

Wasn’t he always supposed to win?

A muscle in Zack’s jaw twitched.

I slid my arms around his neck. (It was much easier to move my newly acquired arm than I imagined.) I pecked his lips.

He scrunched up his nose. “Amber, I am not thrilled with the idea of you running this coven. By yourself nonetheless! You are insane.”

I rolled my eyes.

Protective, much?

“Why?” I questioned. “Because it’s a possibility that I could get killed? Because I will never be able to keep us safe?”

Zack stroked his fingers up my forearm. “No,” he whispered. “That is not what I was talking about. I was simply implying that maybe I could help you.”

“Oh.”

Well, that didn’t sound too bad. No. That sounded absolutely perfect.

I slid off his lap and jumped down from our seat on the edge of the stage. Despite the loud sound of my feet hitting the tile, no one looked in my direction.

Really! What happened to, “Oh, Amber. This isn’t your fault.” I guess they weren’t singing the same tune now that they lost two of their own.

Zacky hopped down beside me and grabbed my hand in his.

I pushed away from the stage and skulked my way over to the ‘Staff Only’ door. I pushed it open and took my time walking up the stairs. Zee remained silent behind me.

I skipped over the piles of glass and broken objects until I came to the wide open throne room door.

The upstairs of the club was dead silent. None of the quiet twittering from below reached this far away, thankfully.

I padded carefully along the concrete. Our thrones were overturned, the railing around the platform was splintered into a thousand pieces all across the room. There were holes punched through the walls. Dents littered the wooden platform.

It was obvious the fight had picked up intensity in this certain room.

I pulled my hand from Zacky’s and grabbed the arm of my throne. I pulled it back into its original position and collapsed onto it.

Zack pulled the other one upright and sat beside me.

“What happened?” I dropped my head in my hands. “While I was upstairs, what happened to cause this? I missed everything…”

“You really didn’t miss anything,” Zack answered. “Cassariah and the boy came in attacking. We fought back. Blah, blah…They killed Inez. And, then, they surrendered. They told us all of that bullshit about you.”

He gave me a desperate, fleeting look that made my heart flutter.

“We captured the boy, the younger one, and Matt let the other two go. I knew it was a terrible idea, but they left.”

I leaned my head against the back of the throne. “They came up to my room after Matt let them go,” I murmured.

Zacky’s face took on a shocked expression.

“Mhm,” I breathed. “And told me that it was time for revenge. So, like an idiot, I said that killing me would be what I wanted.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but I raised my hand to cut him off.

“That’s when Cassariah got the idea that she would get revenge in a different way, by killing someone that I loved.” My voice began to shake. “I thought it was going to be you. I was terrified, I didn’t want you to die. That would be the worst thing they could do to get revenge on me.

“I came downstairs as fast as I could. I found Rave in the kitchen, having some kind of mental breakdown, and she told me that everything had gone terribly wrong. She led me down to the club, and I was greeted by being harassed, when I was not a vampire.”

I tried not to sound upset or angry. Zacky had nothing to do with it, but it still irritated that all the people that I grew to love would doubt me in such ways.

They should have known better than to listen.

“And you know what happened after that.” I closed my eyes. “It is completely my fault that Matt is dead. If I wouldn’t have drawn attention…”

I broke. Tears spilled down my cheeks. Sobs escaped my throat. My entire body shook with ferocity as numbness cascaded over me again.

Zack snatched me up and pulled me into his lap. His arms wrapped around my shaking for, crushing me to his chest.

“Shh,” he whispered in my ear. “This is not your fault. They were going to kill someone anyway, no matter if you drew attention to anyone or not. Please, stop crying.”

I wish I could.

Crying was not my favorite thing to do. The whole concept of bawling my eyes out on the lap of my lover made me feel like a complete idiot.

Though it did make me feel a lot better.

“I’m--I’m just happy…it wasn’t you,” I sputtered. “I can’t live without you now.”

“I know.” Zack kissed the tip of my nose. “You are my everything. I cannot even begin to imagine the rest of eternity without you.”

I curled against him.

Silence fell upon us.

I bit my lip.

Everything had to change now. We would have to leave, that was for sure. Find another place, maybe just a random, abandoned building or house. We would be able to fix it up eventually.

The coven had to start coming to me for questions or guidance. Zack would have to help with that. I didn’t know the first thing about being a vampire.

Something white hot stabbed in my heart.

I wasn’t a vampire. Zack was. The rest of the coven were. I was a human…I would eventually die, while they would live forever.

I gritted my teeth.

No way. Nu-uh. I would not sit by and watch myself get older while Zack remained beautiful and stuck at the age of twenty something.

“What’s wrong?”

I looked up at my Zee. “What?”

“What’s wrong?” he repeated. “Your heartbeat is raging at top speed. What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing, nothing,” I lied. “Just wondering what we should do next..”

Nice save, Amber.

I cleared my throat. “Can I ask you something?”

He nodded.

“Is there somewhere else we can stay?” I asked. “I mean, did Matt ever have a backup plan in case something happened to the club.”

“Yes.”

I sat up stark straight. Perfect!

“Good, because I have my first order as a single Queen.”

/ - / - / - /

Bright, orange flames licked up against the charcoal sky. It almost looked like a painting from where we stood, quite a bit away from the burning remains of our previous home.

Fire trucks and panicking passersby were whizzing down the street at full speed.

They could try all they like. All they would find inside the building would be empty, scorched rooms, and a fire started by alcohol.

As far as they would be able to tell, there were possibly no survivors, or all the workers managed to get out alive.

I sneaked a quick peek at Zack.

The fire cast a gorgeous glow all across his body. Shadows flickered over that glow at random.

His arm slithered around my waist.

I readjusted my duffle bag of belongings on my shoulder so I could lean into his side.

The others stood behind us. I could hear their quiet whispers and sighs of either relief or frustration. They weren’t that happy about having to leave their club, but they knew it would be for the best.

Especially since the bad guys wouldn’t be able to find us at our new location.

At our new home…

With Zack at my side, I turned around and whispered another command.

“Let’s go.”
♠ ♠ ♠
FOUR COMMENTS, AS USUAL.
Yeah, this one was a bit of a filler. I am terribly sorry.
I wrote this in the span of a few hours, so I'm pretty sure it is not my best work.
But, I hope you like it anyway!

-Holly.