The Queen of Swords (Villainess Book 1) Read online

  I wore the mask to protect my face… and to prevent identification. My face cost me a lot of money. Yeah, I had good genetics to work from, but I still had every little imperfection removed because I couldn’t stand to be less than what I could be. That reason alone was why this bottom-feeding rankled me so much. As I paced my prey, I reminded myself that I started from the ground once, and I could do it again. I’d be stronger for it, too, and wiser.

  My mark kept walking along the bright lights and busy sidewalks. Like almost everyone else in the city, he didn’t have a car. There was plenty of energy--the emergence of the metahumans had really advanced tech by leaps and bounds and had solved the energy crisis--but not enough parking. It was easier to commute or walk. He’d just come off of the subway and was heading to his home on foot. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hit him on the streets or if I wanted to do it in his apartment. I know the mob boss I’d contracted out to wanted to make sure the cops knew it wasn’t him, so I’d toyed with the idea of doing in front of a street cam. I hadn’t made up my mind yet.

  I didn’t want to take too much time with this, so in the end, I decided to wait for a sheltered part of the city, maybe an alley or a darkened street. I read his mind quickly to get his route home, and then planted the suggestion to take a short cut. When I had to cross the street, I flew quietly to the next rooftop over to keep next to my target. Another two blocks, and the suggestion sank in; he turned down a mostly unpopulated street, and then into an alley. I jumped down and landed quiet as a shadow behind him, my sword already drawn. Without further ado, I stabbed through his side and up, crosswise, to do the most damage possible in one strike. I know I got his kidney, and perhaps part of his intestines. I twisted my sword in the wound and jerked it out. My mark gasped and fell, blood pouring from the vicious stab.

  Stretching out with my telepathy, I felt his pain echoed through my own body, and I savored it. His terror and pain rang through my head, mirroring faintly in me what was happening in him. I stood there over him, stealing his emotions for my own. It was a pale imitation of what he was feeling, but I filtered it through nevertheless, sorting it out, and filing it away for later contemplation. He knew why he was being killed, too, and he couldn’t understand how people had known so quickly. He’d only just reported the information today, and people were watching--

  Before I had a chance to process that thought, a blast hit me from behind, sending me flying down the alley. I hit and bounced off the ground, and then skid the rest of the way, partly on my face. The mask cracked and a piece sheared off under the onslaught of friction. When I slid to a stop, I used my power to lift me to my feet and turn around all in one smooth motion. A man landed not far from where I had come to a stop, dressed in a black and blue uniform: one of the meta division from the local ICPD. “You’re under arrest,” he said, his voice authoritative. The dark visor of his helmet concealed his eyes, and I could tell he was fit and lean under the sharp lines of the uniform.

  A piece of my mask dangled from the strengthening backing, so I snapped it off and cast it aside, exposing my chin and mouth. “Shouldn’t you help the poor guy?” I asked, raising my sword as I prepared to defend myself.

  “He’s as good as dead,” the cop said, lightning crackling around his hands.

  “Not if you fly him to the closest hospital,” I pointed out, wondering if holding the equivalent of a lightning rod was a good idea. Dropping my sword, I held out my hands as if to be cuffed. “You can save him, or arrest me.”

  He wasn’t turning away, more interested in taking me in than saving their informant. So much for public servants. The lightning around his hands increased and he raised them both. A second later, he cut loose with beams of electricity. I threw up a telekinetic shield, and the lightning splashed over it, dissipating as it hit the invisible wall. “You’re not getting away,” he said.

  “Maybe you’re not getting away,” I taunted and reached out with my mind… then frowned. I could see him there, a beacon of light and color, but I couldn’t touch him. I redoubled my efforts, and felt something invisible flex underneath my mental onslaught, but it wouldn’t break. “You have psychic protection.” That was new… and not good.

  The cop smiled slightly and strode forward, throwing bolt after bolt at me. I channeled all my energy and focus into the shield, but with each jolt, my feet slid back. First an inch, then three. Then a half a foot. I could do a lot of things with my teke, but he made me pour as much power as I could into the shield to protect myself. Screw this, I thought. Target’s dead, time to rabbit. I diverted as much as I could to take off into the air while maintaining my shield and grabbing my sword telekinetically. As I jumped and flew up, I tasted freedom… for a second. Something looped around my foot and yanked me down. I cushioned the fall as best as I could, but still landed heavy on my side, and my blade went skittering further away from me. A rib cracked, and I winced in pain. When I glanced at my caught foot, I saw a ribbon of electricity dissipating slowly. He wasn’t just a blaster of electricity, but a manipulator of it, able to use it for a variety of purposes. This didn’t bode well.

  He lashed out again with his lightning and I deflected it, pulling my sword back to me. Yeah,it conducted electricity, but with the way he was blasting, I’d be out of reserves in a matter of a few seconds. I curled my fingers around the handle and brought it close. He’d closed the distance between us, and I got to my feet slowly. We circled each other, and while his electricity still danced around his hands, it was a bit dimmer than before. Maybe he couldn’t keep up the onslaught. When he lashed out again, I dodged this time. Both static and exhaustion licked around the edges of my body. My reflexes were slower, and having had to block so many times, so hard, and so fast drained me quicker than I’d thought. He swept the alley, making me have to jump and hover to avoid the lightning, and then I charged, dive-bombing him. My blade was true, and I struck home… but he twisted, and the edge deflected off of his armor.

  This guy wasn’t a slouch, and he’d blocked my most effective weapon: my telepathy. Paranoia began to rise up in me, and the thought that I was set up… again… rang in my head. “Who sent you?” I demanded as we faced off.

  “Just doing my duty,” he said, shooting out a lick of electricity, forcing me to move to the side. I was a hair’s breath from the wall, and I scooted alongside it, jabbing out with my sword, forcing him to keep his distance.

  “Your duty is dying right over there,” I said, nodding my head towards the accountant. I blinked behind the mask as realization hit me. “You didn’t even call for back up. You don’t care about him. This is to get me.”

  He lunged, his fists alight with electricity. I parried with my blade, and a jolt of electricity raced down the sword and up my arm, causing it to go numb. I ducked his other fists and rabbit punched him in the side, ineffectively due to his armor. The cop swiveled, backhanding the empty air as I ducked then rolled. I came up on my feet again, dancing closer to the mouth of the alley. If this was personal, then it would be better to bring it to a more open forum. Anything could happen behind closed doors and veiled shadows.

  My hand and arm were still numb, but I forced myself to keep hold of my sword, using both hands as if it were a bastard sword. I lost some range, but gained speed with strikes using it this way, if the numbness didn’t fuck up my aim too much. He must have sensed my intention as the next strike forced me away from the mouth of the alley when I dodged. I lashed out with my teke, trying to trip him up, and knocked him back instead. With his momentary disorientation, I took to the skies again, reaching the top of the building. I inwardly gloated for a moment, reveling in the fight and that I’d lived… and then the lightning hit me. I shrieked, not prepared for it. I fell… and as before, cushioned my fall. Light danced through my eyes as I landed hard on the ground, even with the telekinetic cushioning.

  That was all it took. That’s how fast it was. You either had the upper hand or you didn’t, and I didn’t.

  Dazed, I tr
ied to regain my feet, but he kicked away my blade and was on top of me. He ripped the mask off and cast it aside, tearing some of my hair out in the process. He grabbed my jaw and forced me to look directly into his reflective visor. “It is you,” he said, his voice quiet. “I knew it. It’s my lucky day.” He forced my head away so I couldn’t see him, which was smart. If I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t use my teke on him.

  “What am I to you?” I coughed out, looking around for anything to use. Electricity jolted through me. Pain raced through my body as I convulsed. I couldn’t even scream. Nothing was under my control, and when he lifted his hand, I could see wisps of smoke curling up from my face.

  “About a month ago,” the cop said, turning my face back to look at him, “my brother in law took something home from work, a sword. The next day, the criminal who it belonged to took it back from his house… and left my sister’s and nephew’s head on the mantle in return.” He leaned in and I could smell the minty gum he’d been chewing. “I was so hoping I’d run into you, some day.”

  Oops. Yet more fallout from that job. If I wasn’t regretting it before, I sure as hell was now. I tried to say something to defend myself, but his tasering had worked too well. All I could do was grunt. Feeling was coming back pretty fast, but I didn’t have regenerative powers. Even as I thought that, he zapped me again. I cried out, but it was an involuntary action, my body responding to the tasering. More smoke drifted up and away, and I blinked, trying to clear my head and make my body move.

  “It’s too bad you’re resisting arrest,” the cop said, but I could barely register his words. This was it. This was how I died. It wasn’t some big fight against overwhelming odds. It wasn’t some dramatic explosion. I died in an alley at the hands of a vengeful cop.

  He grabbed my aching jaw and centered me on him again, so I couldn’t help but to look at him. My brain was so fried at the moment, I couldn’t have used my telepathy even if I could get through his psychic defenses. If I lived through this, I would remember to smash helmets first, but it was looking like a pretty big if. “They never did anything to you,” he said, his gloved fingers tracing around the burn marks on my face. “You could have just taken it and gone.” Grief cracked his voice. If I had been a more normal person, I would have felt sympathy for him. Of course, if I had been normal, I wouldn’t have killed his family in the first place. “They weren’t metas. They weren’t anything… why? Why did you do it?”

  I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Everything hurt. The numbness from the tasering was wearing off, leaving behind aching agony in its wake. My vision swam, and I found it increasingly difficult to focus on his face. He knew it, and slapped me, hard. That helped me to focus a little, but I still couldn’t force words out. It was hard enough to just breathe. Instead of doing the smart thing and killing me, he kept talking.

  “People like you are what’s wrong with this world,” he said, tracing the burns along my face with a gloved finger. “I’m going to make sure you can’t hurt anyone else’s family ever again.” As he studied me, I got the sense he was looking into my deep blue eyes, looking for something… maybe a sign of remorse? Fear?

  Fuck that. I wasn’t going to give it to him. If this was it… if this was how I died… I’d do it my way.

  I worked my jaw slowly, and started to clear my throat. He tensed, waiting for whatever revelatory words I was going to speak. Instead of talking, I spat in his face and croaked a laugh. The spittle hit his visor and began to slide off as he recoiled. I couldn’t see anything more than his jaw and lips because of his Judge Dred-esque helmet, but I could read the surprise and distaste as his mouth twisted. “They were there,” I croaked.

  He raised his hand back, and I tensed, looking in myself for the last of my reserves. My head hurt too badly for much; the most I was able to do was push him back with a small wave of telekinesis. That was all, and it wasn’t enough.

  Blood sprayed over my face, and his jaw split in two. A brutal edge of metal shoved through the broken pieces of his face, twisted, and jerked out again roughly, sending bone, gore, and teeth flying. The carnage sprayed over me as the body fell to the side, and a new, cold body took its place.

  Nosferatu.

  Alana Melos' Amazon Author Page

  Villainess

  Meet Caprice, otherwise known as Capricious Whim, a veteran villainess of Imperial City. She works hard and she plays hard. While she plots to achieves her own goals, she takes whatever other jobs come along, and any uninended consequences from them!

  The Queen of Swords – Caprice, along with the vampiric Nosferatu, takes a job for a known fixer, Harry, to steal a piece of advanced tech. When the aftermath of the job catches up, Caprice deals with the fallout in this introduction to the world of Villainess! 26,000+ words, also available in audio book!

  The Prince of Cups – It's hard being a villain, and even harder when the local contacts think you could be out to get them. Realizing she needs someone to watch her back and negotiate jobs for her, Caprice is in a sticky situation... but she needs the perfect partner. Enter Regulus, a villain from the “bad old days”. The psychic operative has got the experience, subterfuge, and brutality she needs to succeed in her goals. In him, Caprice meets her equal in power, bloodlust, and desire. A meeting between their minds results in a dark, dangerous passion, a thirst unable to be quenched with just one drink. There's only two problems... he's an interdimensional fugitive from Axis Earth, an alternate dimension where the Axis powers won World War II, and his help comes with a price. When Caprice agrees to help him get free from the hunters who pursue him, a seemingly straightforward task becomes complicated... fast. This is the first full length novel from Alana Melos, and the second in the Villainess series. Now available as an audio book as well!

  The Princess of Wands – When the beautiful and deadly Nacht Sirene comes calling, Capricious Whim's night to party with the villains of Imperial City turns to nothing but trouble. The pair are hunted by vicious and implacable foes from two dimensions. With Regulus missing, Sirene's loss of her powers, and Caprice's struggle with problems within her mind compounded with hasty decisions, the combination makes for a rough night which doesn't end. When you're a villain, having a bad night could mean a stint in jail... or worse. This novel is for mature readers only and contains explicit descriptions of violence and sexual situations. It is dark fantasy/science-fiction centering on a villain as the protagonist and is not for the faint of heart!

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