Unlikely Queen (Crystal Castle 1)

“You would choose this over my powers?” I ask. “Which do you want more?” I tease her. “Me or this.”

She straightens her shoulders. “Both.”

Well, I didn’t expect that answer, but I should have. She is one of the most selfish bitches I have ever had the misfortune of meeting.

“I guess not many people have told you no for a long time,” I say. “Pity, because I don’t plan to give you either.” I shrug my shoulders, smiling at her.

“You will not leave here alive.”

“Try me, because I think I just might.” I turn and feel no movement from the angels as I walk toward the door.

The queen screams, but none of them move.

I look back and then I break the halo.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Her scream rips through the castle. The vampires that are near, all rush in and surround us, but it’s the angels that interest me. They seem to look dazzled, like they are waking up from a spell. The one closest to the queen stares at her and then shakes his head.

Then, poof—he’s gone.

The others follow closely behind, leaving Bronik standing there.

He squints and looks at her as if he is finally awake, then shakes his head and looks at me. His silver eyes assess me with emotion I’ve never been able to see from him, before he walks over and reaches for the piece of the halo I’m holding, the other half on the ground, and he tears it from my grasp. I do nothing to stop him. He crushes it in his hands until it’s nothing but dust and then locks eyes with the queen. “You really thought you could do that?”

The queen crosses her arms over her chest and smiles. “I did, and I will do it again.”

He goes to make a move toward her but a loud buzz rings through the room, and he looks up to the roof, then he is gone as well.

We’re in a stand-off, the queen and her vampires versus us four—me, my two sisters, and one vampire.

Our odds shouldn’t look good, but they do. Because I am fucking mad and know I could kill every single one of them.

“You really tried to control everyone around you. Tell me, Veronica, did it hurt that the look he just gave you spoke volumes of hate?” I tease her, speaking of Bronik.

“Witch, you know nothing. I was going to kill you swiftly to get rid of you, but now I think I may drag it out and kill you slowly.” She steps into the middle of the floor and raises her hands, and the vampires start moving toward us.

I smile as they do and throw up a barrier strong enough to keep a few out.

One touches it and bounces back, then he starts hitting and hitting it while the queen watches on with interest as the others join in. I look back to my sisters to see them ready. I can’t hold it for long, so when the fourth one hits into it, I let it drop. They weren’t expecting it and almost fall over each other as they rush in.

Melvon catches one and tears his head from his body as my sisters stay close, side by side, backs protected as the others come. Two run for me, but I am prepared. My hands go up as I step toward them, and when they come down, they both turn to ash, falling to either side of me.

I feel the ramifications of the queen’s spell straight away, and I turn just in time to see both my sisters fall to the ground, clutching their heads. Melvon gets to them and blocks any attacks from the vampires left as I turn back to the queen. I stalk toward her, intending to tear her head from her body, but before I can, she throws something at me, like dust or dirt, and I blink to try to rid it from my eyes. When I open my eyes, she is behind me, her hands on my arms as she whispers in my ear, “We have somewhere we need to be.”

Then we are moving, fast, and the last place I would ever let her take me would be back to that room, but she’s used a travel spell on me. However, luckily for me, I learned how to break that. Tearing it to shreds, we both fall to the floor. When I look up from my hands and knees, I see the door where she kept me last time. She tries to stand, but her dress trips her. I walk over, place my hand on her skin, then smile. Her eyes go wide, and she glances to my hand, and the feeling of touching her skin lights something within me.

“I’ve wondered what you taste like. All power has a taste, did you know that? I bet yours is incredibly sour.” I’ve only ever taken power from those who have given it. I’ve never forcefully taken from someone alive before, but the vampires are different, they’re already dead. And when I do, I know why. A high hits me and it hits me fast with her first wave of power. She has a lot. It’s like it is stored in a box centered in her chest, and I try to pry that box open fully but I only get fragments of it at a time.