Burning Wild (Flames 0f The Sea Book 5) Read online

  For a while, Rashid simply strode blindly, waiting for his anger to abate. As his rage diminished, his pace slowed, until he was walking at a normal speed. Small scurrying sounds told him that there was a squirrel nearby, and Rashid pounced.

  The poor creature had no chance. He drained it of blood and threw the body aside, smiling as he licked his lips. He sat down on a nearby rock, thinking. He’d give his guests some time to recover before facing them again. He’d have to apologize for his outburst and explain that it was against Teo, not any of them.

  Rashid worried that some of them would leave after his display, and he couldn’t afford to lose any more fighters. When they moved on the witches, they would need everyone they could muster up.

  Maybe it was best that he was leaving, at least for now. He probably knew Ariana better than anyone, except maybe Julio. Of course, Rashid would know her a lot better if he’d raised her himself, but even with her moving from family to family, he had been the one constant in her life.

  He wondered what she must think of him. Did she hate him? She’d disappeared so quickly after he confessed everything, he’d never gotten a chance to talk to her. A small, honest part of his mind told Rashid that he had little hope of finding Ariana if she didn’t want to be found. He’d ensured that her education was thorough, and that included hiding herself from unwanted intruders.

  Julio would be with her, though, and Rashid was counting on that. With a mortal in tow, Ariana couldn’t move as fast or as carelessly as she would have been able to otherwise. While his presence might be convenient, Julio was another worry to add to Rashid’s growing pile of distress.

  Ariana was in love with him - a mortal - despite their laws. There was a good reason it was forbidden for vampires and mortals to mate. Mortals died. It was inevitable, and those kinds of relationships inevitably ended in death and despair. That was the last thing he wanted for his daughter.

  Rashid sighed, getting up and starting a slow amble back to the chateau. He wouldn’t have any chance of persuading Ariana to choose a more suitable lover until he found her, so that’s what he needed to focus on right now. He was sure that she would have returned to her current family in Russia, at least at first.

  He doubted she’d have stayed there for long, but it was a place to start. Rashid knew that Ariana would take dim view to any attempt to track her when she didn’t want to be found, but once he explained the situation, he was hoping she’d forgive him for it.

  After all, no matter what her very justifiable bitter feelings toward him and Mirabelle were, Rashid was sure she didn’t want either of them dead. Yes, Ariana would help him avoid a deadly confrontation with Mirabelle. What remained to be seen was whether or not she’d consent to any form of contact with either of them.

  The chateau had just come back in sight when something went wrong. It was like his body was suddenly turned to stone. His foot suspended in midair, Rashid toppled forward, unable to catch himself. Only his eyes could move, and as he stared upward, fear seized his heart.

  5

  Mirabelle grinned in triumph as she spotted the gerifian plant. She quickly conjured up a spade and started digging. For some reason, the roots resisted being harvested with magic, which meant that she had to do it manually. She didn’t really mind; at least she was finally making progress.

  Once she had the root, Mirabelle returned to her hut. She wasn’t quite ready to face the other witches yet. She’d have to help repair the tunnels, not to mention apologize to anyone she’d hurt in her frustration.

  Now that she had the spell ingredients lined up, she was much more cheerful, though still dangerously exhausted. For a moment, she considered taking a nap before trying to cast the spell. The last thing she wanted was to get it wrong in her impaired state.

  Mirabelle discarded the notion. She was too impatient to find Ariana, and besides, she’d been up for so long that if she slept now, it would probably be a solid day before she woke up. No, she’d find Ariana now and sleep later.

  Unfortunately, Ariana could be half way across the globe by now. Like witches, vampires could move very quickly when they wanted to. That would surely be doubled for a witch-vampire hybrid.

  Bile rose up in her throat at the thought. Pressing a hand against her stomach, Mirabelle muttered a quick anti-nausea spell. The thought of her only daughter being a vampire was even worse than the knowledge that Lisette was also one of them. Mirabelle couldn’t think of a worse nightmare – to find out that her daughter, the daughter she’d mourned for years, had survived, but that she was an undead monster…

  Her hands shook slightly as she started cutting up the root and throwing it into a bowl. Soon enough, she’d have Ariana in her custody, then she could work on curing her.

  Mirabelle wondered if Ariana would come willingly. She remembered how her daughter had reached out to touch her after Rashid’s confession. Shame welled up inside her. Mirabelle had freaked out. Seeing a vampire reaching for her, knowing that the vampire was her daughter, had made her snap.

  Would she be able to repair things with Ariana? Mirabelle had run instead of talking to her daughter. Ariana had every right to be upset. The worst of it was that Mirabelle had very little chance of forcibly restraining her, should Ariana be so far gone that she didn’t want to be cured.

  A vampire-witch hybrid might be an abomination, but it was a powerful combination, far more powerful than either witches or vampires. Mirabelle knew next to nothing about Ariana, and therefore had very little recourse in persuading her to cooperate.

  Rashid would probably have a better chance. Anger boiled inside her once more. Rashid, who had known Ariana this whole time, forged a relationship with her, while Mirabelle went on living her life never knowing she had a daughter.

  Mirabelle placed the ingredient bowl over the fire and started stirring it. She was in the middle of wondering how long it would take to get to Ariana once the spell found her when alarms started going off in her head. Mirabelle gasped and quickly pulled the bowl off the fire, closing her eyes.

  This alarm was set to go off concerning only one thing: her nieces. Mirabelle had long ago set a charm over all four of them that notified her when they were in danger. She had yet to do the same for Ariana – close contact would be required, and it was the first thing she intended to do once she found her daughter.

  Mirabelle concentrated, listening to the faint chiming of the alarm in her head. It wasn’t blaring, as it had been a moment ago. Whatever the danger was a moment ago, it seemed to have passed. This was the alarm linked to Tristan. Of the four sisters, Tristan was the least likely to end up in a life threatening situation, considering she was the only not directly involved with vampires.

  Still, Mirabelle wouldn’t take the chance. It was her fault, what had happened to Lisette, and the guilt still ate her up inside. She wouldn’t let anything happen to Tristan, no matter how remote the chance might be that she was still in danger.

  Mirabelle cast one last longing look at the bowl that of almost complete spell ingredients, but decided that for now, it could wait. She had no evidence that Ariana was in danger, and now had strong evidence that Tristan might be. The spell would still be here when she got back.

  It took three spells to unlock the secure cupboard. Once she had it opened, Mirabelle grabbed a broomstick and a wand, both powerful objects imbued with dangerous magical abilities. Without bothering to the lock up the cupboard again, she quickly leapt onto the broom, tucking the wand into her robes.

  The spell gave her Tristan’s location, though she wasn’t entirely sure where it was. As she kicked off into the air, Mirabelle remembered that she usually checked a map to see what she was walking into before charging ahead into potentially dangerous situations that her alarms called her to.

  She didn’t want to return to the hut; she wanted immediate action. She didn’t know where Ariana was, but at least she could locate Tristan, and Mirabelle derived immense satisfaction from being able to act on at least this one
piece of information.

  As she flew high over the land, through the clouds so that she’d remain unseen, peeking down every now and then, Mirabelle’s suspicions about where Tristan was grew.

  By the time she was nearing the source of her alarm, Mirabelle was sure that her suspicions were correct. Her hands shook slightly with rage. It was not good enough for Rashid to take her daughter from her, he also had to take her niece? Mirabelle would tear him apart when she found him – right after he told her where Tristan and Ariana were.

  It seemed that luck was with her, because Rashid was just walking slowly from the forest edge back to his chateau’s grounds, which would no doubt be warded. Mirabelle swooped down. Rashid must have been distracted, because he didn’t hear the sound of her approach. She immobilized him with a spell before he even knew she was there.

  Rashid fell forward and lay frozen on the ground. Mirabelle landed and flipped him over with her foot. He stared at her, his eyes seeming to beseech something of her, though what, she didn’t know. She could see in his eyes that he feared her, and that made her slightly more cheerful.

  With an irritable jerk of her hand, Mirabelle got him on his feet and removed the spell from his head, so that he could speak.

  Before he could say anything, Mirabelle pulled out the wand, pointing it directly at his chest. She could see that Rashid understood the threat in this action, and made her demand. “Where is Tristan?”

  Rashid looked genuinely confused. “Tristan, your niece? I have no idea.”

  She’d get back to that, but for now, Mirabelle had another burning question, and Rashid had the answer. “Where is Ariana, then?” She spat on Rashid, fury about Ariana rising in her anew.

  Rashid dropped her gaze, staring at the ground a few feet away from her. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to find her, but I haven’t had any luck so far. She’s been schooled in evasion, and tracking her down will be difficult.”

  Mirabelle knew that she should ask again about Tristan. She knew that she should want to attack Rashid, but her violent anger of a few moments ago was ebbing fast. She tried to hold onto it, because its replacement was far less desirable.

  Overwhelming sadness swamped her. Mirabelle struggled to hold back tears as she spoke to the man she had once loved. “Why, Rashid? Why would you tell me that my daughter was born dead, when she was alive in your arms?”

  “Not exactly,” Rashid sighed, his expression just as shattered as Mirabelle felt. “She was born a vampire. By your own beliefs, Mirabelle, she was an undead abomination. You would have killed her if you found out what she was.” Rashid’s face was tense, as though bracing for a torrent of anger from her.

  Mirabelle opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. She wanted with all her heart to say that she would never kill her own daughter… but she realized that Rashid may well have been right. Before meeting Ariana as an adult, as Mirabelle had now done, she would have seen a baby vampire as nothing more than a monster to be taken out before it could grow to be stronger.

  Would her maternal instincts have overridden the overwhelming hatred of vampires, so fresh after her boyfriend had just been murdered by them?

  Rashid was right. The realization staggered her. Mirabelle would have killed her own daughter. Rashid had been protecting Ariana, and he had been right.

  All of the energy seemed to drain out of Mirabelle as she stared at Rashid. The shock of finding out that Ariana was her daughter, the days of no sleep, all of the magic she had used, on top of this new realization… with her anger no longer fueling her, everything caught up with Mirabelle in one fell swoop.

  The spell around Rashid flickered and died. He could attack her now, but he didn’t. Mirabelle’s legs would no longer support her weight, and she saw the ground rushing up at her.

  6

  Rashid felt it when the spell dropped, and his vampire reflexes allowed him to move in time to catch Mirabelle before she hit the ground. She was limp in his arms, and he hastily sat down, laying her out over his lap.

  “Mirabelle?” He’d watched her get paler and paler throughout their short conversation, and now all life seemed to have left her. Her face was anguished, but it seemed she didn’t even have the energy to cry. Her eyes stared up vacantly. Rashid wasn’t even sure if she could still see him.

  He quickly checked her vitals, looking for any signs of physical damage. There were none, except that she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Rashid wasn’t surprised that she was falling apart. What he’d done to her had been awful. The alternative, he still held, had been worse, but that didn’t mean he didn’t regret the whole situation.

  Rashid didn’t regret Ariana, though. He hadn’t spent as much time with her as he would have liked, but she had grown into a wonderful young woman who he was privileged to know. He wished that it could have been any other way other than this – him having to hide Ariana for her own protection.

  Mirabelle was trembling in his arms. Rashid knew that if she’d been stronger, she would have been fighting him tooth and nail, but now it was all she could do to turn her gaze away from his. Rashid brushed some of her hair back, resisting the urge to kiss her forehead. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured. “I never wanted to hurt you. When Ariana was born, I didn’t know what to do. My only thought was to protect you both. I thought that growing up among vampires would be best for her. I didn’t see any other options. I’m so sorry, so, so sorry…”

  Rashid buried his head in Mirabelle’s hair, mumbling over and over about how sorry he was. He’d broken her, and probably broken himself along the way. He didn’t know what he could have done differently, but Rashid was sure that he should have done better. This whole mess was his fault…

  He realized he was rocking Mirabelle gently. Rashid lifted his head to check her expression. She was too weak and exhausted to escape him, and he didn’t want to hold her against her will. Rashid searched her face for some sign that she wanted him to let go of her, but Mirabelle seemed relaxed, or maybe she was just exhausted.

  As he looked at her, Mirabelle met his gaze. “I loved you,” Rashid told her softly. “I always loved you, even when you launched attacks at me and my kind. It never really went away.”

  Far from soothing her, at these words, a few tears escaped from Mirabelle’s eyes, running down her cheeks. “I want to believe you,” she whispered. “I really do, Rashid.”

  “Why don’t you?”

  “I… I loved you once, too, but you changed. You changed into an undead creature, something against nature.”

  “That wasn’t my choice.” Rashid didn’t try to hide the bitterness in his voice. “You think I wanted to die? I would have died, falling off that cliff. I would have drowned. It was the vampires in the water who saved me. There wasn’t time to ask – they had to make a split-second decision, and they decided to turn me, to save me.”

  “You speak like you regret it.”

  “I regret what happened – that I ever went over the edge of that cliff… but I don’t regret being turned. If I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be here today. You may not view what I have as life, but I do. If I hadn’t survived, Ariana wouldn’t even exist.”

  Some of the life seemed to kindle in Mirabelle’s eyes. “Rashid… maybe there’s a way we can save her. A spell or something, to un-turn her, to make her not a vampire anymore. Then she’d be a witch and she could join my coven. Maybe we could still fix this…”

  Rashid couldn’t help it. He laughed.

  “What?” Mirabelle frowned faintly, but she didn’t seem to have the energy to maintain her disapproval.

  “If witches had more contact with vampires, perhaps you’d know what you were saying. Cure vampirism? Mirabelle, do you have any idea how many people have tried that? For as long as they’ve been vampires, they have been people who want to cure it.”

  “But humans don’t know –”

  “Most of them don’t, but some do, just like some know about witches. Anyway, it’s usually vampires
who have led the movement. Most of us are happy as we are, but there are always some, usually those turned forcibly or against their will, who would do anything to be human.

  “Over the years, we’ve had humans, vampires, and even a couple of witches who’ve been sworn to secrecy, who’ve been working on it. The attempt was given up about a decade ago as impossible. Believe me, if there had been a way, I would have used it on Ariana when she was young. I never wanted to take her away from you. I would have done anything to let her have a life with her parents.”

  Despair flickered briefly over Mirabelle’s face, but she seemed to rally fast. “Just because no one has yet found a way doesn’t mean they will. Once I’ve found Ariana, I will start working on it…”

  Rashid smiled sadly at her. Mirabelle had always been fierce once she set her mind to something. “I’ll show you some of the documentation that’s been made over the years of the various attempts. It truly isn’t possible. Besides, even if it was, I wouldn’t allow it, not now.”

  “She’s my daughter too.”

  “Think, Mirabelle. Ariana isn’t a baby anymore. She’s an adult, and she’s lived her whole life as a vampire. It’s part of who she is. Taking that away from her would be a horrible thing to do. How would you feel if someone took away your abilities as a witch?”

  “It’s not the same thing. I’m not a monster –”

  “Neither is Ariana. Neither am I. I understand why you hate vampires after what they did to Jacob, I truly do, but we’re not all like that. There are good and bad vampires, just as there are good and bad witches and humans. You’re letting your prejudices get away from you.”

  Mirabelle hesitated, and Rashid pressed his advantage.

  “Even if you were right, so what? It’s not about what I think, or you. This is about Ariana and what’s best for her. Neither of us have any right to make this kind of decision for her. Look for a cure if you will, but I will fight you if you try to force her to take it. She gets a choice in this, even if it has to be over my dead body.”