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

  Mirabelle turned her back on him. The vampires rose with them, but didn’t stop the submarine’s progress. Mirabelle didn’t know what would happen once they reached the top, but she knew it would be dangerous.

  “I’ll go up there, alone. I’ll talk with them.”

  At once, everyone around her burst into progress, but Mirabelle raised her voice above theirs. “It’s me he wants to talk to. We’ve lost this one. If a conversation can get us out of this alive, then I’ll do it. You all will stay down here.”

  She didn’t blame them for staring at her in confusion. Talking to vampires was not something Mirabelle had led any of the witches to expect from her. She didn’t say anything else, hoping they’d assume that she had some plan to annihilate all of the vampires with magic once she got near them.

  In truth, Mirabelle was intending nothing of the sort. She didn’t have a spell powerful enough to kill all these vampires, and an attempt would be condemning all of the witches who were trusting themselves to her leadership to death.

  Mirabelle could see Rashid keeping level with the glass as they ascended, but she didn’t look at him, staring stubbornly in the opposite direction.

  14

  Mirabelle waited by the upper port as the submarine’s top broke the ocean surface. Ignoring the words of caution the other witches offered, she climbed up the ladder and opened the port. To her surprise, it was only Rashid on the surface of the sub. She’d expected to be surrounded by vampires from the moment she came up.

  Of course, it didn’t make much of a difference. Mirabelle could see them just under the surface, swimming as rays for now, but she knew they could transform and leap up to join Rashid in an instant.

  “What do you want, Rashid?” She put as much aggression into her voice as possible, trying to hide the fact that her insides were squirming in a surprisingly pleasant way at being so close to him.

  If she was expecting an embrace, or even a smile, she was disappointed. Mirabelle supposed that was her own fault. She was hardly acting tender herself.

  Rashid’s face was cold as he spoke in a level voice. “I have your niece, Tristan, held captive at my chateau.”

  Mirabelle’s mind immediately reeled inward. Had she missed an alarm, in the midst of the battle? Was Tristan in danger? She’d never forgive herself if another of her nieces was hurt and she failed to stop it.

  No, she hadn’t missed it. The alarms were calm. Tristan may be in Rashid’s chateau – though why, Mirabelle had no idea – but she wasn’t in danger. Clearly, Rashid meant her no harm, or the alarm would have gone off.

  Still, it probably wasn’t a good idea to let on that she knew he was bluffing. It wasn’t hard to act indignant. “What have you done to her? How dare you kidnap my niece!”

  “Kidnap? I caught her spying on my people, disguised as a vampire. She was the one who put herself in this situation.”

  Mirabelle was brought up short by this. Despite the circumstances, she found herself rather proud of Tristan. Her youngest niece had always been the least powerful of the three, and Mirabelle had often found herself almost dismissing Tristan in comparison to Lisette and especially Fleur. The fact that she managed to infiltrate Rashid’s home, even though it was probably with the help of her sisters, was impressive.

  “I don’t care why she was there, you’re to let her go at once!”

  “I have no desire to hurt her, but I will if I have to.”

  That was a lie, she could see it; Rashid wouldn’t hurt Tristan, but Mirabelle continued to play along. “If you touch so much as a hair on her head, I won’t rest until I’ve personally ripped you apart.”

  Rashid frowned. “There’s no need for that. I don’t want us to fight. Just take your witches away from here, and leave the vampires to guarding the volcano, as they have been doing for centuries. I will release Tristan once you’re away.”

  “Right – leave the volcano and give you enough time to take the eternal flame! What will stop your kind from destroying the volcano the moment you have control of your own power source?”

  Either Rashid was a brilliant actor, or he genuinely didn’t have any idea what she was talking about. “Take the eternal flame? Mirabelle, vampires can’t go that far up north, it’s too cold. You know that.”

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know!” Lie after lie had Mirabelle’s rage rising. You could never trust vampires, and she was foolish to ever have let her determination to wipe them out waver.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rashid seemed so sincere, it was difficult not to believe him. “Tell me what has happened.”

  Mirabelle still didn’t believe him, but a small grain of doubt prompted her to explain, just in case. “A force of vampires has created some kind of suit that allows them to withstand the cold and headed north. They plan to take the eternal flame from the witches by force.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “One of your vampires told Fleur.”

  “Tristan,” Rashid murmured, and Mirabelle realized he was right. The thought made her go cold. She’d been willing to do anything to get the information. If Fleur hadn’t intervened, she would have killed the vampire, the vampire who turned out to have been Tristan in disguise.

  She’d almost been responsible, yet again, for the death of one of her nieces. The realization had her weak at the knees. Mirabelle forcefully wrenched herself back to the present. She’d deal with her own guilt later. For now, they had bigger things to worry about.

  Rashid closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Ok. Ok, we can still fix this. Those vampires were originally gathering on my orders, but I guess when I disappeared, someone else took up leadership and came up with the plan to take the flame.”

  He stepped forward, reaching for her. Mirabelle flinched, more at herself than him. Her immediate desire was to step into Rashid’s arms, and she hated herself for that. “Stay away from me!” She raised her wand, letting a few sparks fly from the tip.

  Rashid wisely backed up. “Look, I can call off the vampires. They’ll still listen to me, even if they don’t like it – they need me and my resources. If you take your witches back to the mainland, I’ll get a message to the vampires in the north and call them back.”

  “And then what, Rashid? We’re at war! What do you expect, that we’ll all just hold hands and be friends?”

  “You think that’s a worse option than war? You’re smarter than that, Mirabelle. Don’t let your irrational hatred blind you.”

  Mirabelle knew that right now, she had to be smart. She was at the disadvantage. The best thing to do would be to retreat and regroup. She should just close the deal, but the need to be sure of something overwhelmed her. “Do you think Lisette was the one who sent the vampires to the eternal flame?”

  “No.” Rashid’s voice was firm and certain. “She’s been advocating for peace this whole time. Any vampires who aren’t ok with that have had to work around her, in secret.”

  That was something, at least. Maybe Barrett was right. Maybe the Lisette that Mirabelle had always known wasn’t completely gone. She filed this thought away for later examination.

  “Are we agreed, then? I will call off the vampires and release Tristan, and you will take your witches home.”

  It wasn’t like Mirabelle had much of a choice. If she didn’t agree, Rashid could give the order for the vampires to destroy the submarine right now. A small part of her wondered if he’d really do it with her onboard, but she couldn’t risk everything on a sentimental wish that was probably just her own foolishness talking.

  “We’re agreed.”

  Rashid smiled in relief, and once more made to move toward her. Even Mirabelle couldn’t fool herself into thinking that the action was aggressive. He looked like he was about to try to embrace her.

  Her own feelings scared her. Mirabelle knew that the witches below had probably cast sensor spells, which meant they were able to see everything that was happening up here. She couldn’t be seen to fal
l into a vampire’s arms, let alone do something like kiss him. Who would follow her in her war against vampires then?

  Mirabelle did the only thing she could think of to cover the emotions that had to be written all over her face – she attacked. Physical attack wasn’t an option, which left her with verbal attack.

  “You’d better warn those vampire abominations under your command,” she snarled. “The witches will not rest until you are all wiped from the Earth, as you should have been hundreds of years ago. Don’t think that this retreat is the end – we will come back, stronger than before, and end you.”

  Rashid flinched at the venom in her voice. The worst part was that Mirabelle knew it wasn’t fear for his species that upset him, but the fact that she wanted him dead.

  Did she want him dead, though? Mirabelle frantically repeated her own words in her head, searching for a ring of truth. Surely, she still wanted all vampires dead. They were unnatural beasts… but Rashid was one of them. As much as her beliefs told her otherwise, Mirabelle couldn’t quite think of him as evil.

  “Take the submarine away, or I’ll order the vampires to destroy the volcano. I will leave the orders with the guards here and return at once to my chateau to see to Tristan’s release and ending the attack on the eternal flame.”

  Rashid didn’t wait for her to reply, but dove into the water. Mirabelle watched as he morphed into a manta ray and swam deeper, out of sight. The other vampires followed him, leaving her standing alone, feeling more forlorn than victorious.

  Slowly, Mirabelle turned to the port. The danger had passed, for now. They were all alive, and safe to retreat and think of another plan. The vampires would soon be retreating from the eternal flame. Everything was fine.

  Then why did she feel like the world was crashing in on her?

  15

  Before she could make it back inside the protective confines of the submarine, Mirabelle caught sight of something moving very fast through the air, heading straight for her.

  She tensed, ready to cast a spell, but after a moment realized that it was one of her people – a witch on a broomstick.

  Fleur landed on the submarine’s top, staggering slightly with the speed of her landing. Mirabelle put a hand on her arm, steadying her while casting an anxious glance at the water below. She wouldn’t lose another niece that way.

  “Fleur, what’s wrong?” She knew that Fleur wouldn’t have abandoned her position in France without very good reason.

  “We need help – I tried to keep the peace, but it didn’t work. Witches and vampires are fighting back home. It’s chaos, I can barely tell what’s going on, but I know we need reinforcements. Is everyone here ok?”

  “We’re all fine. Come inside, where it’s safe. I’ll take the submarine back at once.”

  “No, I have to get back – see you soon.” Fleur leapt onto her broomstick and was off before Mirabelle could even try to stop her. She didn’t like to think of Fleur heading off across the ocean alone, but she had managed to get here. Fleur was a powerful and talented witch, and Mirabelle would just have to trust her.

  As she descended back into the submarine, the other witches crowded around her, all asking questions. It was apparent that they’d heard everything.

  “Get us headed back to France right away.” Mirabelle made sure that someone was following the order before addressing the many questions and concerns.

  “How do you know he’ll keep his word about calling off the attack on the eternal flame? Mirabelle, he’s a vampire, what would make you trust him?” René was wringing her hands, glancing out of the portholes, clearly expecting the vampires to return and attack at any moment.

  It was a good question, one Mirabelle would have asked herself a few days ago. “It’s in his own best interest to keep his word. They may outnumber us, but the submarine is still close enough to their volcano to be a threat. For all they know, we could get the weapons working again and return to attack when they’re least expecting it.

  “You can always trust vampires to do what’s best for vampires, and what’s best for them is getting us out of the area. I’m sure they plan to renew the attack on the eternal flame the moment they can be sure we aren’t coming back, but for now, this buys us time. We’re at the disadvantage here, and we were very lucky to get out alive.”

  “Why, though?” Amanda glanced around at the other witches, most of whom wore puzzled expressions similar to her. “Why would they leave us alive? They could have destroyed us if they wanted to.”

  That brought her up short. Mirabelle turned to look out of the portholes, trying to buy herself time. She was sure that the only reason they were still alive was that Rashid didn’t want her dead, but how could she explain that to the others? She was leading them in a war against vampires, how would it look to admit that a vampire had feelings for her?

  Even worse, what would happen if they found out what she and Rashid had done? When Bethany had started sleeping with a vampire, had Mirabelle had her way, she would have taken her niece away and forcibly reeducated her. She wouldn’t blame the other witches for wanting to do the same to her.

  If they got suspicious, they would investigate her, leader or not, and they would find out. With magic, there was always a way. Of course, Mirabelle could say that Rashid had raped her – the other witches would believe that without question – but she already knew she’d never do that.

  As guilty as she felt about it, that time with Rashid had been magical, and she wouldn’t pollute the memory with that kind of lie.

  Mirabelle could feel the witches’ eyes on her back, waiting for an answer. “Who can fathom the way a vampire’s mind works? They’ve got some kind of scheme, no doubt. We’ll just have to wipe them out before they have a chance to enact it.”

  The words sounded false even to her, but no one challenged them. Mirabelle turned back around to face the witches. “Come, let’s join our powers in a spell to speed travel. It sounds like Fleur and the others need help as soon as possible.”

  This, at least, was something they could all agree on. There was little talk as they all focused on getting the submarine back as quickly as possible.

  As they approached the dock, they found the water filled with vampires. The submarine was already imbued with powerful protection spells, and the vampires were more focused on the witches at the shoreline, so they didn’t take many attacks as they approached. However, Mirabelle knew that once they emerged, the vampires would strike.

  “Right. When we dock, I want everyone to do individual shield spells. I don’t want us combining our power this time. If one of us is knocked unconscious, I need everyone around them to be at full shielding capacity and act to protect them. Understood?”

  Everyone murmured that they did, some already focusing on conjuring their shields.

  When they finally docked, Mirabelle led the way out onto the pier, her shield glimmering slightly around her.

  She stepped into a scene of chaos. From the moment she came into view, vampires in the ocean started splashing salt water at her. It was an infuriatingly simple tactic that worked extremely well. One touch of salt water would diminish a witch’s powers greatly for several hours. More would burn her badly, and possibly knock her out.

  Mirabelle glanced back to see that everyone had their shields up. She ran along the submarine’s top, leaping into the pier, using magic to steady herself. Getting away from the water was paramount; there was too much risk of a vampire pulling her in, and even her most powerful shields would do nothing against total immersion in salt water.

  There were cries of relief from the frantically battling witches still on the land. Mirabelle headed straight for them, leading the witches from the submarine. All of them made it to land, but that was far from the end of their troubles.

  Vampires were swarming around them, but they were now outnumbered. Fleur was leading the other group, and the two met on the land, those witches with weakened shields being quickly ushered to the back.


  Mirabelle and Fleur stood shoulder to shoulder, facing off against a long line of vampires. Mirabelle didn’t need to tell Fleur what to do; Fleur was a good enough strategist that she would already know their best chance.

  They hadn’t had enough witches to do it before, but they did now. Together, they spoke a powerful incantation that derived from the shield spell, but it was so much more. A transparent, sparkling wall appeared in midair. The other witches saw what they were doing and immediately added their own power to the wall.

  It advanced on the vampires, slowly pushing them back into the ocean. They fought, but they were no match for a spell this powerful cast by so many witches. If there were more of them, they could have made the wall burn the vampires it touched, but for now, it was all they could do to push them away.

  The vampires didn’t go quietly. They shrieked, writhed and struggled, but they were pushed back. Mirabelle breathed a sigh of relief when they finally sank beneath the water. Witch magic couldn’t penetrate down there, but they could keep the shield up by the shore, and keep them in, at least for now.

  It was a spell that took a lot of energy, and couldn’t be kept up indefinitely, but the vampires wouldn’t wait forever either. They would surely want to retreat and regroup, just as Mirabelle and her followers were doing.

  Mirabelle glanced at the witches on either side of her and Fleur. Their faces were set in concentration, their hands held out steadily. They seemed to have it under control. Mirabelle gestured for Fleur to follow her, and the two of them retreated through the lines.

  She turned to Amanda. “Maintain the line for as long as necessary, and see to it that someone comes up with an excuse for the humans – last time we told them it was a LARP event, maybe that’ll work again. Fleur and I have something we need to do.”

  “I’m not sure that’s wise.” Fleur kept her voice low as she tagged along after Mirabelle, so that the other witches couldn’t hear. “They need our help; we shouldn’t leave.”