by Meg Xuemei X
During that time, Kaara Nightshades had come into my life, aiding me with her natural-born warmth and calm. I still didn’t know what she meant to me, but she meant such a great deal that I’d once risked going to war with vampires for her.
After my last encounter with Akem, I became extremely cautious when toying with power much darker and greater than mine.
This planet was his, not mine.
But Akem hadn’t gotten anything out of me. My mind was a blank sheet. And I’d had a small vengeful satisfaction at his futile effort.
Now I’d finally seen a faint light, and the ultimate predator in the jungle wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to learn about me. He knew I wouldn’t risk fighting him to lose the pulsing light.
Whatever I learned, he’d know.
The beacon grew weaker.
No!
My ice spear pierced the tiny fracture in the wall in my mind’s world, turning and twisting to open more space, but a punishing force hammered into my chest and threw me back.
Whoever had put the barrier in my mind was more powerful than I. The excruciating pain drilled into my brain at my challenge, but I wasn’t giving up.
I was so close to reaching the glinting light! This could be my last chance.
With a furious roar, I got up, hurling myself toward the wall, and my spear went hurtling through the narrow rift. My ice crashed onto the barrier with a hiss.
The guiding light was inches away, within my reach. If I seized it, I could unveil what I had been seeking all these years.
My torment would be over.
The crack opened wider, and I inserted my hand through it. The ragged edge of the tear cut into my flesh, my witch blood dripping to the ground.
But I snatched the beam of light.
Reveal! I squeezed it and commanded, my dark power surrounding it.
The liquid beam twirled around my hand like a snake biting its tail. The rift in the wall was closing, its pressure threatening to shatter my bones.
I wasn’t powerful enough to hold on.
Reveal to me! I screamed, and Akem’s darkness creeped closer.
Bastard!
I threw up my free hand, my ice storm slamming into him and halting his darkness.
The light around my hand spelled Icearth 2788h 450.7m, −88975.01° (Y-1034b).
It was the magical riddle on my inner wrist.
What does it mean? Tell me! I ordered.
It hesitated.
I’ve come so far, I begged. Please. I’m failing, and I can’t continue like this.
The way home, my own voice answered. It didn’t sound like mine, which was often cold, harsh, but it was mine from the past—naughty and innocent at the same time, and sweet.
How? I asked. I need to know how.
A firestorm burst from the wall, repelling my ice and darkness, and sent me flying back.
The wall sealed, and then it vanished.
I held my ice spear tightly, but I knew if I stabbed into where the wall had been before, I would only damage myself.
I wheeled toward Akem’s darkness at the corner, my eyes burning with madness. Before I rained down my wrath on it, his darkness withdrew with a snicker.
He’d witnessed my failure. He’d accumulated another weakness of mine. And he’d learned I would never be able to move forward without the light of my past.
I sent an icy storm through Red Dragon’s opening. It howled and expanded, decorating everything it touched with icy frost and withering the black blossoms in its path.
How strange that there were blossoms in this poisonous forest of scarce light.
Akem was gone, not wanting to bother with me anymore.
The chilling realization that he could come and go at such speed with merely a thought sickened me.
I rummaged through the ship, hoping to find information that could shed a light on the riddle of Icearth 2788h…
If it was a way home, could it be the coordinates?
How could I have the resources to decipher it when every ship on this damned planet went dead before it’d crashed? After I went through every inch of the ship, I slumped to the floor in exhaustion.
If there was any data, it was locked inside the dead machine.
I abandoned the useless ship.
When I looked up at the broken branches above it, an idea formed in my mind.
Could the portal be in the air?
I sent icy mist up toward the sky where the shuttle had tumbled down, in the hopes of finding an aberration in its path.
All I saw was the gloomy, narrow open sky between the thick foliage.
On Pandemonium, days were short and nights were long.
I had lingered in the jungle for too long. I needed to return to my tower before night fell, before Akem’s creatures, especially the phantoms, came out to play.
15
The Angel
Hope’s entrance was sealed, but there was a vast tear in the hull’s side.
I leaped up, grabbed the sharp edge, and thrust myself in. I alighted inside the ship, my broken wings scraping the deck.
I scanned the interior, my blade in my hand, and my senses spiked.
There was no stir, no humming of machines. No sound at all.
The ship was dead.
The only lighting came from the outside, but it didn’t help much.
The dark didn’t bother me. Angels could see better in the dark than other species. As I gathered my wings, ready to explore further into the ship, a triangular hook flew up and locked onto the edge of the tear.
I looked down. Kaara was climbing the rope.
I shook my head at the girl’s persistence and headed deep into the ship. But then I stopped. I had always been soft on the inside. It was why my crew pretty much took advantage of me at every turn, though they were extremely loyal to me.
I went back, reached the hook, and lifted it off the edge.
Kaara stiffened on the other end. She was halfway up. If I simply loosened my grip, she would fall flat on her ass, and the sharp metal protruding beneath her would penetrate her spine.
She held my gaze and smiled, as if she knew I wouldn’t drop her.
With a stony face, I pulled her up.
“Thank you, Gabriel,” she said cheerfully.
“Watch your step,” I grunted. “There’s no light.”
Kaara grinned and pulled out a crystal to illuminate the ship.
“Witch light,” she said. “Lady Fiammetta’s gift.”
The girl secured the hook and threw the rope back down, and I peered down to see Boar climbing up. I didn’t offer to help him.
“I’ll meet you at the bridge,” I told Kaara.
“We move as a team,” she said. “There’s danger at every corner.”
I smirked. “I can take care of myself.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about.”
“Then I promise I won’t annihilate any species.”
“Learn to be a team player, Gabriel,” she sighed.
“That will only happen when I’m as slow as an ant,” I said, turning to head to the bridge.
“Don’t you want to gain Fia’s favor?” she asked slyly.
I paused. Instantly, like a spell falling on me, Fiammetta’s lovely face and figure filled my head. My body heated at the mere thought of her. I’d even thought of her when I’d held the blade against the vampire princess’ throat.
My cock hadn’t stopped throbbing since our interrupted fucking the day before. Pleasuring myself offered no release. I needed to be inside her and feel her clenching around me.
Fiammetta had awoken the wild beast in me that I hadn’t known was lurking inside for all these eons. When Seth had told me Angels had fierce inner beasts and once they were awoken it was a force that couldn’t be reckoned with, I’d laughed at him.
But one touch from the witch had turned me into a believer. My thoughts were filled with the fantasy of suckling her breasts, burying my cock deep inside her, a
nd pounding between her thighs mercilessly.
Tonight, I would go to her tower and fuck her the way I wanted.
I had to have her at least once before I left, so I could leave her and this planet behind without regrets.
I would get her out of my system.
Kaara’s team climbed up and a few of them took positions to guard the entrance and exit of the ship. A dozen wolves had also arrived, patrolling the perimeter of the arena.
After Kaara divided us into four groups, she sprinted after me into the corridor.
I’d visited thousands of spaceships, including a ship like this, so I knew a shortcut. A few more turns and I would reach the bridge.
“Where did you acquire that blade of yours?” I asked casually, though my voice held a hint of malice.
“It’s an angelblade, forged in your homeland, isn’t it?”
“Only Angels are allowed to carry an angelblade.”
“That’s what I heard.”
“You said you’d never met my kind before.” My voice wasn’t less menacing.
“Not until you.”
“Where did you get the blade?”
“Cut it out, Gabriel,” she said. “You haven’t earned the right to learn my secrets.”
“So it’s a secret,” I drawled. If I didn’t like her, I would strike her down for her defiance. “Even with the angelblade, you won’t have a chance to draw a drop of my blood.”
“Your blood doesn’t appeal to me,” she said. “I’m not a bloodsucker. Are you always this intolerantly arrogant?”
“What else do you know about Angels?”
“Not much, but I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve been desperately waiting for you to crash for nearly three years. I’m glad you did.”
What the fuck?
“The cold, killing light flashing in your green eyes doesn’t scare me, Angel,” she said, not impressed. “The First Seer predicted your fall.”
I gritted my teeth. Had they all preyed on my misfortune? How had the Seer gotten involved? And for what purpose? Whenever she meddled, things always got complicated.
But then, she’d prophesized that the Sky Power would end the reign of the Dark Lord, and the Sky Power had turned out to be High Prince Seth. Seth had shattered his father’s essence in the war of Earth against the Heavens, but Atlas had escaped. I’d been chasing him and ended up on Pandemonium.
It was like a full circle, but not in a good way.
“The Seer from the Death Valley galaxy?” I asked.
She had fled the galaxy after her prediction out of fear of the Dark Lord. And he’d been hunting her. Seth had been tracking her as well.
“Who else?” Kaara said. “She told me to wait for the Fallen Angel with black wings. She didn’t exactly say broken wings, but you still fit the profile.”
That was why her eyes had lit up when she had first seen me with her witch in the ruins. I’d thought she had been awed by my magnificent wings.
“When was the last time you saw her?” I asked.
“Nearly three years ago. If you want to go after her, you’ll need to get us out of here. But I don’t think she’ll stick around. She left my former planet right after me.”
“Did you meet her in person?” I questioned.
“As I said, you haven’t earned the right to get to know me.”
The Wicked Witch’s head minion was sly. She got me hooked so I wouldn’t harm her. Yet she wouldn’t give me enough, so I’d have to do her bidding to find out the rest.
I narrowed my eyes. “How do I know you aren’t bullshitting me?”
“She said to tell the arrogant jackass that the inked tattoos on your left temple are in remembrance of all of the lost warriors who matter to you. They’re forever in your heart.”
No one was supposed to know that. Angels weren’t praised for having a heart. We were cold-hearted, calculating, and steel-hard. We were the ultimate merciless conquerors.
“She wouldn’t call me jackass! She wouldn’t dare.”
“She dared. Sue her.”
“What does she want from me?”
“To get us out of here,” Kaara said.
Now she was being straightforward because she wanted something from me.
“Fine. When ThunderSong comes to pick up her captain, you can come with me.”
“And Lady Fiammetta.”
“If she doesn’t get in my way.”
Suddenly, the prospect of taking the witch with me sounded appealing. She would be sweet to me then, since I would be her savior, and I would fuck her many more nights before I dropped her on the planet she wanted to go to—if it wasn’t in the opposite direction from where I needed to head to.
Unexpectedly, the idea of parting from her stabbed at my heart.
I had no heart for any woman. This had to come from her hex.
“Everyone in the Witch Tower and the whole wolf clan will come with us,” Kaara said.
I gave her a sidelong glance. “Sure. I’ll take the whole population on board, including the cannibals.”
“A good idea.” She smiled. “We can eat them if we’re low on food resources.”
This girl was as crazy as her mistress.
I slowed my long strides so she didn’t need to scurry along beside me.
I demanded a few more answers regarding the First Seer’s prophecy, but the girl sealed her lips. It would take more than charm to get answers out of her.
I spotted two bodies at the end of the corridor, one leaning against the wall, the other sprawled on the floor. Species 581 was one of the advanced humanoids. This was one of the three ships that had escaped Atlas’ pursuit.
Fate hadn’t been kind to them.
I strode toward them. One look at them, and I knew they were dead.
“Most of them were dead at the crash,” Kaara said with a sigh. “Only the meanest survived.”
We left the corridor and the bodies behind.
“Which ship here belonged to Lady Fiammetta?” I asked as casually as I could.
After I was done with Hope, I would go check hers. The Wicked Witch was an enigma.
Kaara’s face became guarded. “She didn’t come from a ship. We don’t talk much about her behind her back. I hope you don’t get into the bad habit for your own sake.”
We reached the bridge and Kaara’s witch light outlined five bodies littering the floor.
The girl blinked. “They’re all dead.”
I ignored the dead and hurried to the console. I went for the communication devices first, but none of them were functioning. I fumbled around, trying to get the power back up, but nothing worked.
“The power was drained before the ship fell,” Kaara said quietly beside me, “just like all the other ships. There’s a great dark force on this planet that feeds on the alien energy. When ships stop falling, it’ll turn to us for the feeding. And it makes sure we can’t leave.”
There was a chilling effect to what she was saying, but I sneered. “Angels are not prey. I’ll leave this hole within a week.”
Kaara swallowed, hope and fear warring in her eyes.
I caught the sound of light breathing and stalked to a body. From her uniform, she had to be the ship’s science officer. As I felt her pulse, her eyes fluttered open and widened with terror.
“Angel!” she shrieked.
“Species 581,” I said. “I won’t hurt you if you cooperate and answer me truthfully.”
Kaara knelt beside me. “He won’t hurt you. He’s one of the good Angels.”
I snorted. If only she knew!
“But we need to know what happened to your spaceship,” Kaara continued, her voice serene and balmy.
The female calmed and nodded, though her eyes were still wide.
“Something pulled us here,” she said. “Our mothership sent us to investigate. Hope is a science ship. When we saw an unusual vortex, it piqued our interest. But the force proved to be too great and we were too close. It lugged us in just as I managed to wa
rn our mothership to get away. And then all power in Hope died. I blacked out after that.”
She struggled to sit up, and Kaara helped her.
“My peers?” the female scientist asked, darting her eyes around in dread.
“Your crewmembers are all dead,” I said. “You’re the only one who still breathes.”
She closed her eyes for a second, pain on her face, and we allowed her a moment to grieve for her crew.
“What is this planet?” she asked.
Before Kaara answered her, I cut in, “I need more answers from you. The vortex is a time portal. Before it sucked you in, what year did you come from? I need the universal year.”
“UA 58296,” the female scientist said.
It couldn’t be.
UA 58296 was two centuries before I had landed here. Her ship couldn’t have come from the past and met me in the present.
“Repeat your universal year, Species 581!” I ordered.
“UA 58296 and our planet year UF 3487,” she said.
My heart sank. Cold sweat coated my wings.
She didn’t come from the past. I’d fallen into the past.
“Time runs differently here than in other worlds,” Kaara said. “We all fell through the crack of time and space into Pandemonium.”
Species 581 looked awed. “I’ve heard of the theory, but experiencing it in person…”
“This is fucked up!” I snarled.
Species 581 cringed.
If I was stuck in a different time, how could I contact ThunderSong?
I wouldn’t be screwed like this!
“I’m going to check the other crashed ships,” I said, rising to my feet.
“I need you here, Gabriel,” Kaara said. “Species 581 also needs help. And I need you to carry supplies to our base.” She glanced at the female. “Do you have a better name?”
I sprang out of the bridge.
Soon, I reached the tear in the ship. Not bothering to explain to Kaara’s team, I leaped off the ship and landed five yards away from the protruding metal beneath Hope’s belly.
No one dared to stop me.
I set foot in one ship after another, rummaging through them. They were all in complete ruin.
