Wicked Witch: A Post-Apocalyptic Paranormal Romance (The Wickedest Witch Book 1) Read online

  “Have you met their kind before?” Kaara asked.

  “We colonized a vampire planet a thousand years ago,” Gabriel said. “The former Dark Lord of All Angels used them for genetic experiments because of their speed and night vision, not because of their diet.” He chuckled, pleased with his sense of humor. “I’m curious to find out if they’re the natural-born or the experiments.”

  “Next time you see one, ask for his cooperation to let you check on him,” I said.

  My subjects snickered. They regarded him as a threat to their status quo. Gabriel hadn’t acted like a bottom feeder, as any newcomer should behave.

  Kaara blinked. “Your race experimented on them? How did you even control those monsters?”

  “We Angels are specialists in dealing with monsters,” Gabriel said.

  I gave him a sidelong glance, and my heart fluttered at his stunning, wicked smirk. The male vibrated with powerful sexiness. The heat between my thighs grew hotter.

  He held my gaze, not bothering to disguise the hunger in his green eyes.

  I let my ice magic flow in me to diffuse his effect.

  “I hope you’re what you said you are,” Kaara said. “I sincerely hope you last here. By the way, I’m Kaara Nightshades.”

  Gabriel looked indignant.

  I turned away, not wanting anyone to see the amusement in my eyes. The Wickedest Witch didn’t amuse. She punished. She conjured fear.

  “I’ve lasted eons on the most brutal battlefields,” he said. “This planet is peachy.”

  I wheeled toward him, my eyes widening. “Eons? So you’re older than the bark of the most ancient trees in the jungle.”

  He hissed. “I’m not some bark of the trees! I’m an immortal. I’ll never get old.”

  “If you say so,” Kaara said.

  We worked together to bruise the Angel’s ego.

  But Kaara liked him.

  He ignored her and told me, “You need to tend to the claw wounds.”

  Why would he be concerned about some scratches on my left thigh? He’d just met me.

  “If you don’t have an experienced medic, I can tend to you.”

  Do not get cozy with me so soon, stranger.

  I was the Wickedest Witch. I don’t do warmth.

  This male needed to learn his place and earn it, just like everyone else.

  “Now you’ll answer some questions, Gabriel,” I said, my voice cold, harsh.

  10

  The Angel

  The apocalyptic city sprawled ahead. There had once been a civilization here. The Witch Tower had been a part of that old world.

  The pillars in the room were made of rare red marble. The windows, once majestic, were shattered. Had Atlas’ force once come here and stripped the planet of its civilization as they’d done to so many worlds that had refused to bow to the Angels?

  I would have to further investigate to find out if there had been any fingerprint of the Angels’ destruction and whether the Dark Lord lurked on this planet, even though I was sure these mortals had never seen my kind before.

  Fiammetta’s perfume wafted toward me. I withdrew half a step, so I wouldn’t lean in to sniff at her and make a fool out of myself. I prided myself for taking measures to fight off her spell, though my cock still grew harder in my trousers at her scent.

  I arched my wings at the effort.

  Kaara, who stood at Fiammetta’s other side, snapped her head toward me. My wings fascinated her. I didn’t blame her. Who wouldn’t be fascinated with them?

  The others, however, drew their weapons, deeming the shuffling of my wings an aggressive act.

  Fools. They stood no chance. Once my sword was out, they’d all go down.

  “My wrecked wings aren’t working at the moment,” I said with irritation as I swept my less-damaged right wing to cover my erection.

  This was getting inconvenient.

  Kaara waved the others to stand down and gestured for me to follow her to the center of the hall, but I was reluctant to leave the witch’s side.

  Fiammetta stayed where she was, looking out at the destruction of the city beyond with a forlorn expression, as if she missed some place or someone.

  Did she have a lover? Jealousy stabbed at my heart. She could have anyone she wanted here. I’d seen how the males looked at her, and I wanted to strike them down for it. They were brutes. They lusted after her, but feared her more.

  Everyone stilled as I waited in the center of the hall.

  Clearly, this was a routine—all newcomers claimed by the Wickedest Witch underwent the initiation into the witch’s coven. Most certainly she’d demand me to swear fealty to her, but I would have to decline. I wasn’t going to stick around, no matter how hot she was.

  I had to find my crew and do a thorough scan of the planet to see if Atlas was hiding here. If he was, we would get ThunderSong to inform the High Prince immediately. I would leave this planet far behind after we annihilated the Dark Lord once and for all, and the witch could shove her lust spell up her shapely ass.

  But my erection didn’t agree with my plans.

  Fiammetta turned around and strode toward her throne. Frost covered her skin, sparkling off her paleness.

  She sat on her throne and tilted her head. The witch had transformed into another person. There was no amusement in her eyes, but coldness and cruelty. All thoughts of her not being the most beautiful woman fell away.

  Her beauty—dangerous yet seductive beyond measure—was like a punch to my gut and I was rendered breathless as I studied her. I hadn’t met a woman like that; not even High Prince Seth’s mate carried such potent menace wrapped in such a lovely form.

  I drew a sharp breath. If I didn’t have to return to my ship and carry on my duty as its captain, I would be happy just to stare at her for all eternity.

  Fiammetta gave an almost imperceptible nod, and Kaara announced, “Archangel Gabriel, you’ll answer us truthfully. If you lie, the great Wickedest Witch will know, and you’ll suffer dire consequences. Do you understand?”

  “I think I do,” I grunted. I had firsthand experience with Fiammetta’s vexation.

  But this time, I was prepared. I wasn’t as dazed as when I had first crashed.

  Bring it on, babe. Let’s see what you got.

  “Where are you from, Archangel Gabriel?” Kaara asked.

  I was disappointed that the violet-haired minion was doing the witch’s dirty work. I wanted to talk to Fiammetta directly.

  “Originally or lately?” I asked.

  Kaara glared at me. “Originally and lately.”

  “Originally I’m from Seventh Heaven,” I said, “an angelic planet flowing with an abundance of honey, milk, and wine.” I knew how lacking this planet was.

  Fiammetta had her icy mask perfectly in place, but Kaara swallowed.

  “Most recently,” I continued, “I departed from Earth in the Milky Way galaxy.”

  Kaara pursued me with a sequence of relentless questions about Seventh Heaven and Earth. Fiammetta remained silent, but listened attentively. They’d never heard of either planet. Soon Kaara lost interest in both, as did Fiammetta.

  “What brought you to Pandemonium?” Kaara asked.

  “Misfortune,” I said. “After attending my friend Seth’s wedding on Earth, I departed the blue planet and set the course home. When I passed by this place, there was a vortex above the atmosphere. It sucked my shuttle in. I crashed.”

  I observed them closely to see their reactions. I needed to know what they knew.

  Fiammetta and Kaara traded a quick glance.

  “What kind of vortex?” Fiammetta asked.

  I explained the details as I watched her.

  “You mentioned a belt of asteroids surrounding Pandemonium. Why didn’t you crash into any of them?” Fiammetta asked. “I checked your spacecraft and didn’t see any damage from the asteroids.”

  “I’m the best pilot in the universe,” I said, glancing out the window at the gloomy sky. “This pl
anet doesn’t get much sunlight. Is it because of the asteroids?”

  “Are you the only one who was sucked into the vortex?” Fiammetta asked.

  I hesitated for a second. “No, my away teams were with me, but I didn’t see them in the vortex. Has anyone in your tower heard of any other crashes? I must find them. After that, we’ll be on our way.”

  “Your ship was the only one that crashed, a couple of hours ago,” Kaara said.

  Anxiety spiked in me. “Maybe they landed instead of crashed. I need to contact them.”

  “Earlier, you said you were merely passing by Pandemonium,” Kaara said. “If that were the truth, why did you send scout teams to this planet? You also bragged you were a decorated superhero in a war. But then you said it was a friend’s wedding. Did I not warn you of the consequences of lying to Lady Fiammetta?”

  I frowned at the violet-haired vixen. Clearly she had seen right through my half-truths. I wasn’t fluent in lying. We Angels didn’t need to explain ourselves to other species. We claimed and took whatever we wanted. These mortals had never met my kind and didn’t understand how Angels operated.

  “After we won the war,” I said, “my friend High Prince Seth wedded his mate on Earth. That’s the wedding I was talking about.”

  Fiammetta rose from her throne, her breath coming out in icy slivers. “What’s your true purpose in visiting Pandemonium?” she asked softly, but her voice conveyed her lethalness.

  Her minions looked more fearful than thrilled, but her menace merely aroused me even more.

  I smirked, and a stream of cold, strong wind slammed into me. Ice spread onto my wings, freezing each feather in place.

  I’d roamed the sky for eons. Storms were my constant companions. Even the weakest Angel could conjure enough heat to counter extreme low temperatures, and I was one of the strongest.

  I stood my ground, my arms folding across my chest.

  With my Angel Flame coursing through my blood, her ice couldn’t get into my veins. She couldn’t ice me over now. No, all her ice managed to do was engorge my cock even more than it already was.

  I was still defenseless against her lust spell, but she would never take my will and render me mindless. Angelic willpower was a terrible thing. She’d have to step down if she didn’t want to land on her perky ass.

  At the thought of her curvy shape, my cock jerked in need, wanting nothing more than to bury itself in her and feel her muscles milking it.

  Surprise flickered across Fiammetta’s icy face, but I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t been studying her so closely. Kaara’s face lit up. It was as if the witch’s second had prayed for me not to fail. As if my triumph guaranteed her survival.

  But I let myself stagger a step. If I wanted Fiammetta’s future cooperation, it wouldn’t do to let her lose face in front of her subjects.

  “It’s classified information,” I said, suddenly switching to the angelic speech. “I prefer not to discuss it in front of everyone.”

  “What?” Kaara looked confused and annoyed. “You’ll speak the common language, Archangel Gabriel.”

  “What classified information, Gabriel?” Fiammetta replied in the same angelic tongue, her voice not carrying the slightest hint of an accent.

  I had merely tested her, driven by my hyper-sensor instinct. Indeed, Fiammetta did not only understand the angelic tongue but spoke it fluently.

  “You understand my language, witch,” I said. “Yet you act like you’ve never met my kind before.”

  Something dark flashed in her eyes. “I’m the great Wickedest Witch for a reason.”

  Kaara darted her gaze between her mistress and me, looking unsettled and worried. She didn’t understand a single word exchanged between us, and her curiosity at what was transpiring between me and Fiammetta was palpable.

  I then tried a Fey tongue, and the witch answered in the same fashion.

  Was she a Fey? But Fey were earthborn immortals and lived inside their warded Twilight Realm. Fiammetta had a mortal’s scent. But when I sniffed again, my nostrils flaring, I suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore.

  The witch was more—she was more than a mortal.

  I didn’t have my High Prince’s Sky Power, but I had keen observation with the aid of my Angelic High Sense. The witch was veiled by the most potent dark magic.

  When I pushed further and turned my magnified sensors on the witch, I got a blank slate. It was as if she didn’t store anything in her mind.

  That impressed the hell out of me.

  Fiammetta’s magical shield was beyond excellent.

  I picked up a forbidden tongue, and Fiammetta responded.

  My heart raced. Who was she? How had she ended up here?

  “This is Fey tongue,” I tested. “How can you speak it?”

  Fiammetta stared at me, but I caught a fleeting confusion, panic, then anger in her eyes. Normal species wouldn’t be able to catch it, but my High Sense was formidable.

  “Of course I speak Fey tongue,” she said haughtily.

  It wasn’t the Fey tongue. It was an ancient angelic tongue, the pure language of Heavenly Fire spoken by only a handful of extremely powerful Archangels, such as High Prince Seth, the former Dark Lord, and the High Commander of the Fallen Angels.

  The most ancient eleven Archangels had once spoken the power language as well, but Atlas had eliminated them all.

  Seth had taught me some of it. When he spoke in the tongue, power rolled off him like waves of fire and lightning. And with it, he commanded the ultimate power in the universe—the Forbidden Glory.

  Fiammetta hadn’t passed my test.

  Another possibility dawned on me—perhaps she didn’t know what language she was speaking.

  What was her true heritage?

  Had her ship also crashed here?

  From what I’d gleaned here and there, it seemed these people lived on the resources from the crashed ships.

  “Archangel Gabriel, what’s your mission?” Fiammetta asked, demanding absolute truth.

  “I’ve been looking for the worst criminal in the universe.”

  “Pandemonium has no shortage of them,” she snorted. “You can round up every one of them if you want—if you can.”

  “I seek only one.” I shifted to the common language.

  She arched an eyebrow.

  “The Dark Lord of All Angels,” I said.

  “Have you ever heard of him, Kaara?” Fiammetta jabbed.

  “Maybe,” Kaara said.

  “Dark Lord Atlas is the most formidable Angel,” I said. “His eyes convey the power of the deepest universe and they know no difference between good and evil. He’s primordial, as ancient as the cosmos. Very few do not tremble in his presence.”

  “What if he’s here?” Fiammetta asked with more interest.

  “I’ll go in to seize him and bring him to justice,” I said.

  “You think he might be holed up on Pandemonium?”

  “I won’t rule out the possibility,” I said. “I’ll search every hell pit in the universe until I find him.”

  “And you think you can take on this primordial being? A being who makes everyone tremble before him?” Fiammetta asked, arching her eyebrow.

  Her minions snorted.

  “I have my advantages,” I said.

  “Which are?”

  “I’m relentless. I never give up a mission,” I said. “I know almost every corner in the universe. I’m well-liked wherever I travel to. The natives share intel with me for free.”

  “I see,” Fiammetta said. “You’re charming.”

  I grinned at her. I was confident she also felt the intense chemistry between us.

  Just when I was about to deliver an excellent flirtatious line, the corner of my eye caught a shooting comet, its tail blazing a path behind it. Instinctively, I lunged toward Fiammetta; I was at her side before anyone could react. I grabbed her to my chest, ready to fly her to safety, only to realize my wings were limp behind me.

  The
sonic blast hit, rocking the Witch Tower for several seconds before it stabilized.

  Fiammetta gazed up at me through her thick lashes, heat pervading her icy mask. My own heat seared my veins and my hardness pushed against her abdomen.

  As soon as the shockwave ceased, she shoved me away and scrambled toward the window. Her followers rushed to the other windows and peeked outside.

  I was relieved that it wasn’t one of my shuttles that had crashed. The comet had hit a building a few miles away, demolishing it beyond recognition. Fire and smoke surged into the sky.

  Outside, wolves howled.

  “It hit one of the wolf clan’s outposts near us,” Kaara said, her voice tense.

  No wonder half the city was in ruin.

  Atlas wouldn’t hide on such a toxic planet. Even as an evil refugee, he had standards.

  I had to find my crew as soon as possible and take off. We were racing against time with the Dark Lord’s resurrection to power.

  If Fiammetta asked nicely and gave me what I wanted, I might let her hitch a ride when ThunderSong came for me.

  “At least it didn’t hit their bar,” Fiammetta said.

  “This hellhole has a bar?” I asked.

  Kaara gave me a look. “By invitation only.”

  “How do I get invited?” I asked, though I didn’t need it. I could just charge in with force.

  Kaara seemed to read my attitude and sneered, “First, you’ll need to avoid becoming a snack for the wolves.”

  The guards all around guffawed, as if they were all privy to some inside joke.

  Fiammetta wheeled away from the window, her face expressionless, her eyes uninterested. “Find Gabriel some accommodation, Kaara. If he can’t earn his keep, show him the door.”

  Earn my keep? She had to be kidding.

  I watched her exit, the growing distance between us paining me. I wanted to go with her and pick up where we’d left off in my wrecked shuttle.

  I needed to ease the heaviness in my groin.

  “If I were you,” Kaara drawled, “I’d refrain from staring at her as if she’s your evening dessert. I hope you last longer, Angel. A born warrior is hard to come by these days.”

  Now I’d been reduced to their henchman?

  “I’m glad you recognized the gold in front of you,” I said drily.