Rejected Queen by Meg Xuemei X.

CHAPTER 17

Tessa

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took me an hour to get to Bad Bunny nightclub, which perched on the cliff above a silky black ocean. Across the sea was a ring of black mountains that spewed lava. The sky was mostly red, with lavish streaks of gray spread across it. It was a spectacular yet apocalyptic view that could set anyone on edge.

Hell was all scorching heat and fiery inferno, the opposite of my Ice Kingdom, where endless ice ruled.

Flame to my glacier. Ice to his inferno. 

Maybe it was why Loki had been drawn to me briefly. Yet in the end, our opposite natures couldn’t co-exist.

I tried to expel the thought of the Demon King, but the muscle beneath my eye still twitched as my gaze fell on a silver ice rabbit with fangs and claws etched on the red double door.

Someone was definitely mocking me, painting me as a laughable prey with insignificant claws compared to those of a real predator. It was a sign. I had a feeling that tonight wouldn’t end well for me.

Which was fine. I was used to fate being a bitch.

I jogged toward the nightclub in my tight black dress that hugged my curves. Although the sleeves were long enough to wrap around my wrists, the hem of the dress barely covered my thighs. I wore leggings and slender boots so none of my scars were exposed.

Two giant bouncers gave me a once-over then waved me in. One of them was a pureblooded demon with horns, the other a nephilim. Hell collected all sorts of creatures.

The door opened, music blasting out, and I slid in.

The interior was enormous with arched ceilings, adorned with romantic lanterns and scary skulls. The foyer was packed with a variety of species who were dancing erotically, and when they were not rubbing bodies, they were drinking. Some of them might be fucking in the dark corners, judging from the moaning and groaning.

Other than its scorching heat, Hell was the place for a perfect orgy. So it shouldn’t shock me that the Demon King had moved on from me so damn fast.

I wound through the writhing bodies, careful to avoid their drinks, and scanned for the shifters. Based on the scene, I gave up on the idea that they had lured me here to deliver a blow.

A few booths were placed in the half-open and secluded section on the north side under the dim light. Colorful lights flashed all over the open dance floor, dazzling my eyes. As far as I could see, all the tables were occupied, and the shifters weren’t at any of them.

On a large raised platform was the second dance floor, also packed. Half of the crowd was made up of Bride Trials contestants. They were here to seek fun and their next fix before returning to battle and death.

I veered from my course, as I didn’t spot the shifters, but I could see a hell of a lot of unfriendly faces.

Bars and clubs used to be my scene, a good place to collect intel during those years when I was a dedicated assassin. And I’d always had my team with me.

But this time, I was all alone, and I’d never felt more alone amid the crowd in my life.

I spotted a less crowded bar curved around a corner with a couple of empty seats.

I could really use a drink while waiting for the shifters.

As I jogged toward my selected bar, I felt a pair of eyes boring into my head. I turned my face to the side, tracing the source, and looked up.

A concealed spiral stair rose up in front of me, leading to the second floor. As soon as I sighted it, the veil dropped, revealing a large open booth in a central position that offered its patrons a premier vantage point.

They could see the whole club from the elevated floor.

Lounging on the vast leather sofa was the King of the Underworld, surrounded by gorgeous women who barely had anything on. Two women had already draped themselves all over him, rubbing their curves against him.

Instead of being naked like a porn star featured in the erotic scene, he stayed fully dressed. His dark blue dress shirt stretched over his cut chest, and his slacks, showing off his powerful legs, remained unwrinkled.

What a miracle. I sneered.

I had to admit that the king looked every bit sexy and powerful, though he appeared more ragged than usual, which only made him hotter. His dark, formidable power and seductive demon magic were a lethal combination, and the coldhearted bastard knew exactly how to wield his weapon and make all of the woman fall over themselves for him.

Not all the women. I’d excluded myself from his harem.

He would never have power over me again.

Loki locked his gaze on me, a predatory light glinting in his midnight eyes. He might really see me as Bunny now, a prey to toy with before he ate it. And his look said that I’d be delicious.

If I hadn’t known better and hadn’t felt such heartache, I’d think from the way he was looking at me that he only saw me and no one else. He didn’t pay any attention to the women who were fighting to get on his lap.

He just stared at me as if he already missed me, shadows and hellfire swirling in his eyes. Was I reading him wrong? Was he thinking of pouncing on me from the perfect angle?

A blonde won and climbed onto his lap, grinding against his crotch, and he just looked at me, oblivious to his own setting.

I broke away from his intense gaze and glanced at the women around him. They didn’t seem to be contestants. Evidently, he’d gotten a fresh supply of new fans. Snow White told me the king might have a harem now. Those women were probably from his harem. 

Ice burned hot in my throat.

I was already history to him.

I swallowed hard as I told myself he was history to me too. He no longer mattered.

The dukes sat on the side sofas, all liberally supplied with women as well. The Duke of Envy snatched a drink from the table and took a swig from the bottle. He shrugged off a redheaded female from his lap. I’d heard that Leviathan preferred men to women unless that woman was remarkable.

Behind the group, the vast window displayed the view of lava burning the sky above the velvety black ocean.

Loki’s gaze hadn’t left me, and mine darted to him the next second, taking in the challenge. His eyes burned with raging hellfire, and mine gathered an icy storm, ready to unleash it at any second.

The women scooted away, terrified of his sudden display of power. I held my ground despite my skin tightening as I felt his power.

The dukes straightened up in their seats, pushing away their women, reacting to the tension between their king and me. Now those women also turned to stare at me with a scowl, noticing where the playboy king’s attention had gone. 

“Is that the little bitch you dumped?” A blonde pointed at me.

Rage rippled across Loki’s face and his features turned beastly. The king didn’t care about me, but his beast didn’t seem to like anyone insulting me.

My heart fluttered. When Esme had come for me, she’d said the king had wanted to kill me. Now, thinking back, it could be the black wolf who had stopped Loki from coming after me.

The air crackled with the king or the wolf’s ferocious power. The blonde who had spoken against me fled. The rest of the women pulled away further as well, huddling against the wall.

I left them to their drama and jogged to the bar, my magic and blades ready, bracing for an explosion of violence.

The trick was to show indifference, like the Demon King didn’t exist in my eyes, even though he owned every inch in Hell.

I mounted a high barstool in a corner, out of the king’s line of sight.

A blue-haired, curious-eyed bartender manned the full bar. He was bare-chested, showing off his tanned, smooth skin and hard muscles. At least he was wearing a pair of washed-out jeans, although they looked a bit too tight.

I tore my gaze away before he thought I was checking out his ass.

The bartender grinned at me. Too late. That was exactly what he thought.

After taking another look at him, I recognized him as half-Earth Fae and half-demon.

He slithered to my corner, still grinning. “Alone? Everyone else has a companion.”

“I’m not here for a hookup,” I said, all business like. “I’m waiting for some shifters.”

He sniffed. “I can’t tell what you are, but you aren’t a shifter. The pack doesn’t invite outsiders.”

“They invited me,” I said. “What’s your house special?”

“Scorching Frost.”

Ice and fire. How ironic.

“I’ll take one, under rock,” I said.

He moved away to fix the order and came back after a short while. He put a glass of half-red, half-blue liquid in front of me.

I thanked him.

“It’s strong,” he warned.

“That’s fine,” I said.

A sudden recognition sparked in his silver eyes. “Hey, you’re the contestant who shot down a whirlybird and slayed the bikers,” he exclaimed admiringly.

I forgot that everyone in Hell had also watched the show of the Bride Trials.

“They offended me,” I said.

He nodded. “Those punks were rude. They didn’t know how to treat a lady.” He shook his head, his earrings chiming. “These days, people have no respect. Well, to make up for their unforgivable sins, drink’s on the house, lass. I’m Ace.”

I liked this bartender, so I placed a gold coin on the counter. “I’m good. Your boss might not like you offering me free drinks. I’m not exactly popular here.”

Sharing the same space with Loki and his women, even though they were upstairs, became unbearable. I counted numbers in my head. I’d give the shifters five more minutes, which was all I could do.

I lifted the shot and downed the poison. A burning sensation, both hot and cold, rolled down my throat. Scorching Frost was a fitting name.

My nerves eased a little. A frosty breath trailed from my lips.

Ace’s eyes widened. “Are you also the maiden who made it snow in Hell?”

Talk about reputations.

That was two days ago, but it felt like ages ago, yet the memory still hurt.

On the other hand, it had worked out for the best that the Demon King had tossed me out like trash. In the end, it was either him or me.

Yet the idea of cutting off Loki’s head sent a haze of pain through my chest.

“Another drink please, Ace,” I said. “Something cheerful.”

“You got it,” Ace said with a smile, his muscles flexing for my benefit, then he froze.

A mixed-species group approached the bar from behind me. I didn’t need to turn my head to sense them and their menace. I also got their numbers according to their magic or non-magical signatures: two witches, one mage, two hybrids, one rogue shifter, and two vampires.

The last one lingered a little behind the group, and his power sent my body into high alert, even though he cloaked it. I hadn’t seen anything like it, yet somehow his magic also felt familiar. He was the true danger, and I wouldn’t underestimate him.

I turned my face to the side, my peripheral sight catching the man of unknown origin and magical signature. He didn’t join his pals to move toward me aggressively. Instead, he pulled back and leaned against a column with his muscled arms folded across his chest.

I couldn’t see his expression under his hood, but his body language showed how bored he was. He’d watch his team fight me first.

“You forgot my drink, Ace,” I said coolly, my lazy gaze darting to the bartender. “I said I need something cheerful.”

“Uh, sure, lass, cheerful,” he said, warning me frantically with his eyes. “I’ll get your poison. Cheerful it is. I’m going. And cheerful.”

“What happened to your eyes, Ace?” I asked. “They’re twitching badly.”

“They are?” he asked, still not moving, as if he wanted to aid me, but I didn’t want him to get hurt in the crossfire.

He was not a fighter but a lover type.

“Go, Ace!” I said forcefully. “You got to have respect. I’ve waited for that fucking drink for a long time!”

He moved away gingerly, his eyes wide, with more white than silver.

I’d noticed that the group coming after me was part of the mercenaries who ambushed me in the second trials. They’d almost gotten me with all the bullets, arrows, spells, and poison. I’d slipped through their fingers, and their bounty demanded they finish the job.

Right after the second trial, the dukes had hunted down the mercenaries who had tampered with the program. But it seemed they hadn’t gotten all of them. The elites were here now, closing in on me.

This time, the Demon King would want to watch them slaughter me. I sneered. It wouldn’t be easy for any of them. I’d make sure none of the nine mercenaries walked out of here alive tonight.

It was time to send another message to the contestants, especially to the vampire bitch.

The first attack came silently, except for the whooshing sound of a blade flying toward me. I ducked my head, and the throwing knife hit a bottle on the high counter, shattering it. Ace cursed.

A hybrid of demoness and warlock lunged at me, her axe cleaving at my chest. I slid off the barstool and wheeled away at the last possible second.

The axe missed my shoulder but bit into the wooden barstool where I’d perched, splitting it into two. The hybrid had planned to cut me into uneven halves from the shoulder down.

“Do you like tits for tits?” I asked. “Or is it tit for tat?”

My hand formed a tight fist, blades thrusting out of my knuckles, and I rammed them right into the hybrid’s ear. I heard a pop, but I didn’t stop there. I pushed the blades in to slice her brain tissue.

Her scream was short-lived, since she was dead before she had a chance to form a shocked expression.

I was just too fast.

Without waiting for a comment, I lunged at the group, my bladed hands severing a second demon’s claws. He howled in pain. 

“Stop complaining,” I told him. “At least act like a pro.”

I slashed left and right and sliced two more throats before the rest of the mercenaries recovered, jumped back, and regrouped to besiege me.

They came at me as one. I side-kicked the face of the first one who reached me as I yanked out my sanjiegun while my boot stayed in the air.

“Yes, babe, we’re going to whip some asses,” I assured my weapon.

While I took in the positions of my enemies and fended them off with my sanjiegun, my main focus stayed with the major player who still leaned against the column. He hadn’t moved, but he wasn’t that bored anymore. He was playing with some kind of squeezing ball in his hand.

The club suddenly turned silent. The music stopped playing. The crowd gathered around yet stayed at a safe distance to watch the show.

A vampire, a hybrid, and the rogue shifter reached me at the same time, their weapons—a sword, a half-moon double khopesh, and a mace—thrusting toward me from all three directions. If I’d been a nanosecond slower, half of my head would be gone, one of my legs would be missing, and my gut would have the sharp shaft of a mace buried inside.

I twisted out of the circle in a flash. My leg swung in a powerful arc and kicked a mage in the mouth. He was about to toss a net at me if the three of his comrades failed to maim or kill me. The mage looked surprised as the blades in the front of my boot struck out and severed half of his face.

I smiled. “Think I can’t kill because I’m wearing a dress?”

But he couldn’t hear anything anymore.

Silence belonged to the dead.

While I was kicking the mage, I elbowed a vampire who had tried to round me up with two of his pals, pushing him further into the trap they’d set for me. The three of them couldn’t stop their initial momentum. The rogue shifter got lucky and jumped away before his pal’s sword impaled him, but the vampire wasn’t so lucky, especially with my help. So his hybrid friend’s khopesh cut into his broad forehead.

I winked at the hybrid. “Your ancestors would be so proud if they could see you helping your undead friend stay dead.”

The hybrid lurched at me in rage. “You know nothing about my ancestors, bitch!”

That was what I needed from him. As he opened his mouth, I pulled the poisoned hairpin from my hair and flung it between his thin lips. It was a close fit. My hairpin went through his throat, and he was dead where he stood. The poison wouldn’t work on a vampire or a demon, but he had warlock and human blood.

“There you go,” I said cheerfully. “I let you finish your last word ‘bitch,’ didn’t I? Look who’s the bitch now.”

I punched my bladed knuckles into another mercenary’s neck. A large vampire was suddenly in my face. He was super fast. I ducked his swat at my head, avoiding being beheaded, but his next hit succeeded. His long, sharp claws slashed across my leg, tearing my leggings apart and opening a gash in my flesh.

The pain was instant before blood streamed out of my wound.

A wolf’s snarl sounded from upstairs.

Rage charged me. I brandished my sanjiegun and pierced the large vampire’s heart.

Some contestants peeled away from the crowd and joined the rest of the mercenaries. All of them wanted to take a shot at me. They closed in, relying on their numbers to overwhelm me, determined to make this nightclub my tomb tonight.

“Fuck off.” A deep voice, sharper than a knife, brimmed with magic and rendered the air thin.

For a few heartbeats, everyone seemed to have trouble breathing.

My heart pounded, responding to his power, my skin feeling every inch of it. A trail of frost twirled from my lips.

The voice belonged to the hooded man I’d been watching and waiting for, speculating that he’d be the last I’d battle if I survived the rest of the goons.

The crowd parted as if they couldn’t help it, opening a path for the man. He pushed off from the column he’d been leaning on and strode through the parted mob, his gaze fixed on me as if no one else existed.

“This fight is mine,” he said. “I don’t want them to wear you out. Killing a fatigued woman won’t gratify me.”

“What a gentleman,” I said flatly.

I was maiming and killing before. Now I would probably get to dance in blood, mine and his. I hadn’t encountered a power like his in years. I might die here today.

Yet panic didn’t own me.

Cold clarity washed over me, my ice magic coiling around me.

“Do you want to see my face?” he asked mildly, as if we were friends instead of opponents who would fight to the death in the next second.

I blinked at his strange question, but I met strange beings all the time. At least he didn’t ask me if I wanted to see his dick, like some men had tried.

I shrugged. “It’s up to you.”

“I like your answer,” he purred.

The being threw back his hood and revealed the face of a half-angel and half-demon. Its left side was the most gorgeous face I’d ever seen, but the right part was hollow and filled with shadowy flame.

I nearly stepped back a pace. I thought the angel of death was a myth.

But now, he stood right in front of me.

Without his cloak, his power claimed the room.

Everyone else on this floor gasped and staggered back.

With a nonplussed mask in place, I studied him, from the imperfect side of his face to his muscled body, seeking a weakness in the warrior, but I didn’t find any.

The angel of death was made to fight and kill.

He was a head taller than me and much broader. I had no doubt about his strength. If he was as fast as me and also immune to my power, I might not walk out of here in one piece.

He smiled as if he could read my thoughts on my impassive face.

The club was deathly quiet for a second as everyone held their breath with fear and thrills and bloodlust. The being seemed to be able to inspire just that.

The crowd had grown bigger, yet they gave us a wide berth.

The valkyries had taken the front row, watching with great interest, and for the first time, they didn’t appear eager to join the melee.

The wolves still weren’t here. So maybe this was it. They’d lured me here to let the others finish me off, to make it up to Veronica and her collaborators for helping me in the last trial. I didn’t blame them. No sane person wanted to paint a target on themselves by associating with me.  But I did not owe the wolves a debt after this.

The Demon King and his goons and harem had the best view from the open second floor. I could feel his intense gaze glued to me like a bear to a bowl of honey. He really wanted me dead badly, even though I’d been in his arms a couple of days ago.

I wondered if he’d combined forces with Veronica to bring the whole set of bounty hunters down on me, since she was watching amid his harem, a malicious, gloating smile on her cream-white face.

It didn’t matter. None of them, including the king, mattered to me.

A beastly snarl tore out of the Demon King, breaking the brief static and silent calm before the duel.

The angel of death gazed up and grinned at Loki, as one powerful being nodded at the other, before his gaze fell on me again.

“You know who I am, Lady Tessa Morrigan,” he said in the lost old tongue once used by Morrigan, the Goddess of War, and her people.

I was now the last of the royal bloodline.

“If you think you know who I am,” I answered in the same tongue, “you should not have debased yourself by accepting the contract from the low lives.”

“I have no contract,” he said. “I happened to be in the right place at the right time. You’re one hard woman to track, Lady Morrigan.”

“Why does the angel of death want to track me?” I asked.

“You can call me Azrael—or Bran; it’s friendlier,” he said with a smile like he was going to have fun. “All I want is a fair fight. Call me curious, but I haven’t met a Morrigan for a thousand years.”

I snorted. “You want more than just a fight, Bran.”

“Yes,” he said. “I want to make a bargain with you. If you lose, Morrigan, you’ll sleep with me.”