by Nadia Heaton
Silent Fate
Flames of the Sea - Book 4
Nadia Heaton
Copyright © 2019 by Nadia Heaton and Southern Heat Publishing
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Nadia Heaton
Silent Fate
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Nadia Heaton
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Chapter 1
About the Flames of the Sea Series
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Silent Fate
Flames of the Sea - Book 4
Nadia Heaton
1
Ariana dashed between the trees, dodging trunks and leaping over bushes. She was used to moving quickly in the ocean, but vampires were much more adept at traveling through water than on land. She could use the practice.
She had enjoyed her last few years in Russia, but she was ready to be somewhere warmer. Vampires struggled with the cold, and this meeting in France would at least be warmer. Maybe once this was done she’d spend some time in the Caribbean. That was where most vampires congregated, and for good reason.
Of course, there was no telling how long she’d be here. Rashid hadn’t told her all the details when he’d called her, but Ariana had picked up enough murmurings to know it was something big. A new queen of their kind had been crowned, something that wouldn’t have been done unless the circumstances were truly dire.
Ariana wondered if this trouble was witch or human related. Probably witches – it was always witches. Her mouth twisted in distaste as she vaulted over a small pond. Though she had been raised by many vampires over the years, all with their different likes and dislikes, every one of her kind was certain of one fact: they hated witches.
The ground before her dropped sharply, and Ariana grabbed onto a tree branch, swinging herself up and around. Though she moved at lightning speed, her vision didn’t blur, and the split second was all she needed to make a decision.
The drop was small enough for her to jump safely. Had she been human, it would have broken her legs, but for a vampire, it was nothing. On the completion of her swing, she let go and landed easily, bending her legs for a moment to absorb the impact before tearing off.
To amuse herself, Ariana imagined she had a coven of angry witches chasing her. Of course, her instincts told her to turn around and tear them apart, which was one of the reasons this was a good exercise. Sometimes, you had to run rather than fight, no matter how much you might wish otherwise.
A nearby log provided cover, and she dove over it, pretending to be dodging spells. Ariana had no idea what was coming, and she felt better putting in at least some practice. Witches avoided the sea, so any conflict between their kinds was likely to take place on land.
As she ran, Ariana thought back to the family she’d been staying with. For the last twenty years, she’d moved to a different vampire family every half decade or so. She was approaching the age where she would be considered an adult by vampire standards, but for now, she went where Rashid told her to go.
No one had ever explained how Rashid got custody of her. He’d never given her any information about her parents, though Ariana hadn’t been able to figure out if this was simply because he didn’t know, or if he didn’t want to tell her.
It had been an interesting life, learning about the culture and customs of vampires in different parts of the world. Ariana had never really had a family of her own, and even though sometimes she wished it was otherwise, she was mostly content.
She knew from her history lessons that the fragile peace between vampires and witches went through upheavals every couple of generations before re-establishing itself. Reading between the lines of what little Rashid had revealed, Ariana suspected that this might be more than the an a simple re-establishment of old accords.
Vampires from all over the world were coming to this meet. The family she’d been staying with in Russia had been tied up with commitments at home, but a number of her friends in the area were going to meet her there.
Individual covens seldom came together to hold large scale meetings, and when something like this was initiated, it was a cause for concern for all of them.
Ariana was so immersed in her thoughts that she completely forgot to pay attention to what was right in front of her.
The next thing she knew, she was hitting something warm and solid. She went tumbling through the grass, but quickly gained her feet, coming into a fighting crouch, ready to defend herself.
The person she’d run into took longer to find his feet. A few seconds of appraisal was all Ariana needed to know that he wasn’t a threat. He was human – no danger to a vampire. She stood up straighter, smiling at him. Had he seen how fast she was running? No human could go at the speeds she’d been keeping up, and it was standard policy for vampires to keep their existence hidden from the mortal population.
“I’m so sorry, I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Her eyes flicked down his body. Gosh, he was attractive. Ariana had never had much time for humans, but this one was positively mouth-watering, and not in the ‘I want to suck his blood’ kind of way. More like the ‘I want to suck something else’ way.
She felt herself blushing, and quickly moved into action. She came closer to him, lifting his arms and walking around him, efficiently checking him for any kind of injury. He seemed unhurt, but stunned. He gaped at her, as though unsure of what to make of this strange woman who had bowled him over.
“Are you alright?”
He opened his mouth, but instead of words, a line of beautiful pink and red butterflies burst out of his mouth. Ariana stared at him in amazement. The man clapped his hands over his mouth, but she was still staring at the butterflies. They flapped up through the trees and out of sight.
Once more, he tried to speak, but only succeeded in emitting some truly spectacular blue and purple butterflies. Wow, this wasn’t something she’d seen before, and Ariana had seen a lot in her time. The beauty of the butterflies quickly faded to unimportance in her mind as she realized what was going on. Clearly, this was an enchantment of some kind.
“Did witches do this to you?”
Relief broke out over the man’s face, and he nodded. Pity for him and anger at the ones who attacked him warred inside her. Ariana knew that a human was no more of a threat to witches than to vampires. No one would have had any reason to curse him like this – no reason other than simple cruelty.
Without thinking, she reached forward and took his hand. “Don’t be afraid. I will help you.”
He tried to speak again, once more only creating more butterflies. His beautiful face was filled with frustration, and Ariana ached to help him. She tried her best to read his expression.
“Show me what you mean,” she urged. “You can’t talk right now, but that’s not the only way to communicate.”
&n
bsp; The man seemed to think about this for a moment before turning her hand palm up. He started tracing letters onto her skin, his touch sending tingles through her. Ariana became distracted, and he had to do it twice before she got what he was saying.
“Julio. That’s your name?”
Julio nodded, smiling.
“Alright, Julio. If you come with me, I can help you. You can trust me.”
Julio shrugged, showing her an exaggerated confused expression.
“You’re not sure how I can help you?” Ariana guessed, and he nodded again. Keeping her secret was no longer an issue. If he knew about witches, he was allowed to know about vampires. “I’m not a witch, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m a vampire.”
As she’d expected, Julio backed up a step. She let him, dropping his hand and trying to appear unthreatening.
“It’s not like you think,” Ariana explained. “We don’t attack humans – at least, most vampires don’t. Our kind has its criminals, but then, so does yours. For the most part, we feed off animal blood or donated human blood. We’re allowed to feed off a human if they give their permission, but as so few humans know about us, that doesn’t happen often. You’re safe with me, I promise.”
Julio nodded hesitantly, and took up her hand again, squeezing it. He tilted his head slightly to the side, still questioning.
“Right. Well, I’m currently on my way to a meeting. A bunch of vampires are coming. A new queen of our kind has been crowned, probably in response to something we’ll find out more about at the meeting. The important part – at least, for you – is that she’s not just a vampire. She’s also a witch. If we petition to her to give you your voice back, I can’t see her turning you down.”
Julio’s eyes lit up; he seemed torn between hope and disbelief.
“She may not be able to do it,” Ariana admitted, “but if she can’t, I’m sure she will know how we go about fixing this.”
At the word ‘we’, Julio’s brow scrunched in confusion. He shrugged again, gesturing between them. his question was clear – why was she helping him?
“Vampires and witches don’t like each other very much,” Ariana explained. “Most of us will be happy to undo a witch’s work, especially something like this. They aren’t supposed to attack humans, and I doubt you attacked them first.”
Julio shook his head frantically.
“These are troubled times, but that’s no excuse to overreact. I’m sure we’ll be able to sort this out.”
It took a few minutes for Ariana to understand what Julio was asking next. He managed to mime out a crown on his head, then shrugged, his expression confused again.
“The queen? Oh, I haven’t met her, but she wouldn’t be crowned unless she had our interests at heart.”
Ariana had to keep back a giggle as Julio mimed blasting a spell at something. She knew it wasn’t funny, but she couldn’t help grinning at the bizarre conversation they were having. “She’s both a witch and a vampire, but by allowing herself to be crowned, she’s clearly chosen our kind over witches. We can trust her. You’ll see.”
They were still holding hands, and Ariana took an experimental step in the direction she’d been headed in. Julio followed her willingly enough, so she started walking. His human pace was infuriatingly slow, and eventually she came to a stop.
“How do you feel about riding on my back? Vampires are strong, so your weight won’t bother me.”
Julio nodded enthusiastically, grinning. Maybe he already knew about vampire speed. Ariana would barely be slowed down by carrying him. She crouched down, waiting for him to get secure, then set off running into the woods.
2
Waves crashed against the boulders at the base of the rocky cliff. They formed a kind of natural stage, if one didn’t mind clambering over multiple rocks to get to the top of the rise. It was an easy task for any vampire.
Lisette, their new queen, was standing on a large flat rock, flanked by two vampires Ariana knew as Jermaine and Savion. She recognized a number of the vampires in the crowd facing the stage, but there were many others she didn’t know. Apparently, the word had gone out far and wide for them to gather.
She watched as an unfamiliar vampire leapt up to the stage to speak briefly to Lisette. She smiled and kissed him lightly before sending him back into the crowd. By the way his eyes flicked from person to person, Ariana surmised that he was acting at security. She hadn’t realized their queen had a mate, but she supposed it was to be expected. There had to be any number of men who’d want to get close to someone with that kind of power.
Ariana spotted Rashid, which was no easy task, given that he was in a disguise. It was only because she knew him so well that she managed to pick him out. Still holding Julio’s hand, she made her way over.
“Rashid.” The two of them embraced briefly. “Why are you in disguise?”
“I had a bit of a… disagreement with Lisette recently. Let’s just say she’s not my biggest fan right now. This meeting is important, though. I had to be here, despite the risk.”
Ariana was about to ask him to elaborate, but Rashid’s attention was diverted to Julio. “I didn’t realize you were bringing a guest, much less a human one.”
“This is Julio. I ran into him on the way. He’s been cursed by witches. I’m hoping that Lisette will be able to help him.”
Julio held out his hand to shake Rashid’s, and apparently tried to introduce himself, as a stream of yellow and orange butterflies came out of his mouth. A couple of nearby vampires turned to look, and a few muttered ‘witches’, scowling. Julio pressed his hands over his mouth, giving Ariana an apologetic look.
“It’s okay,” she assured him. “This hasn’t been happening for long, has it?”
He shook his head, frustration evident on his face. Ariana expected that he’d been running from the witches who cursed him when the two of them met in the forest. Being that close to witches rankled, but it wouldn’t have been smart to take on a whole coven by herself, so it was probably a good thing she and Julio had kept moving.
“Hopefully you won’t need to get used to it. I’ll talk to Lisette after the meeting.”
They didn’t have time to communicate further, because Jermaine and Savion started getting the crowd’s attention, calling for quiet. Lisette stepped forward, gazing out at the vampires around her.
“Thank you all for being here. I know big meetings like this aren’t held often, but we’re living through a dangerous time, and I wanted to get everyone up to speed. As most of you know, I was a witch before I was a vampire. My sisters are witches, and I still love them.”
This caused some sullen muttering, but Lisette ignored it, holding her head high as she spoke.
“I have chosen to lead the vampires because the witches are going in a direction that I do not condone, nor do I want any association with. If there’s a chance of salvaging this mess, it’ll be from our side, not theirs. Witches in powerful covens have managed to convince a number of others that their way is the best.”
Ariana didn’t know what way this was, but she was sure that it couldn’t be anything good.
Lisette didn’t leave them wondering for long. “A number of witches – my aunt Mirabelle included – think that it is high time to take back the underwater volcano that is the source of their power. With vampires no longer guarding it for them, they would be free to exterminate us, as many of them have wanted to do for some time.”
She fell silent, letting the angry shouts die out before she continued. “This situation is untenable. We cannot have war with the witches. Not only would a war on that scale likely destroy both of our species, it would probably take the rest of the world and humanity down with it. I am calling on all vampires to follow me to a new way. We cannot have war. Together, we will forge a new path, and find a way to live in peace with the witches, as we should have done generations ago. I see a day when the uneasy truce that has lasted over the years will be replaced with true trust and cooperatio
n.”
If Lisette had expected the vampires to be happy about this plan, she was dead wrong. Ariana joined the general outcry.
“We’ll never live with witches! It is them who must die!” Her voice was lost amidst the general uproar, but the meaning was all too clear.
“Silence!” Lisette threw her hands out, and an unnatural hush fell over the crowd. Ariana opened her mouth, but found that no words would come out. It was an incredibly frustrating feeling, and she suddenly hated the witch who had cursed Julio even more.
“You’re not listening to me. You crowned me as your queen. That meant something. You did it because you recognized that vampires need leadership in this time. You didn’t crown a pureblooded vampire – you crowned a witch-vampire hybrid, and I have to believe that was for a reason. I have been on both sides of this, which gives me a unique view into the issue.
The spell seemed to lift, and there was a lot of grumbling, but no one else spoke up. Ariana bit her tongue to keep herself quiet. She would hear what Lisette had to say, but that didn’t mean she was going to agree to make peace with witches.
“My sister, Fleur, is a witch. She is in love with Savion here, a vampire.”
Ariana wasn’t the only one to gasp at this.
“They are living proof that peace between our species is possible. I know you’re not going to like hearing this, but I need you to believe me. Witches aren’t fundamentally bad, not any more than vampires are. There are good and bad witches, just as there are good and bad vampires, and good and bad mortals. This prejudice has to end before it causes any more strife.”
