by Nadia Heaton
She hadn’t gotten one, but Ariana would bet that Rashid had made sure to get his hands on a few. She put the tray down and made her way to Rashid’s storage cupboard. She’d have to ask him permission to take something from his private chambers if the stone wasn’t here, but this was a guest storage cupboard, and anyone was allowed to take from it.
A few minutes later, Ariana made a small noise of triumph as she found the small stone, with Lisette’s name carefully carved onto the surface. Not wanting to wake Julio, she wandered off to an empty guest room before activating the stone.
It glowed blue, which meant it was working and waiting to connect. It stayed blue for a while. Ariana supposed that Lisette must be receiving a number of calls.
Eventually, the stone went green, but it wasn’t Lisette’s voice that came from it. “Hello, this is Nobu, answering for Lisette.”
“Oh… hi. I’m Ariana, I was at the meeting. I was hoping to talk to Lisette.”
“She’s busy at the moment, can I pass along a message?”
Ariana had been hoping to speak to Lisette personally, but she was the queen after all, and probably had a huge number of demands on her time. “I wanted to follow up about the spell for Julio, to get his voice back. Do you know if she’s made any progress there?”
“I don’t know. Hang on, I’ll ask her.”
The stone went blue again for several more minutes. Ariana wondered why Lisette couldn’t just speak to her, if she had time to pass on an answer for Nobu to give her. Of course, she didn’t know what structural protocols Lisette had put in around vampire court.
It had been a long time since they’d had a queen, but Ariana had studied the history. Some monarchs limited their contact to a few attendants, who passed information on to the masses. It was a bit of a paranoid system, usually done in times of feared assassination.
Now that she thought about it, that would probably make sense. Half of the witches on the planet probably wanted to assassinate Lisette. She hadn’t seemed to care about that when she’d met with the large group of them a few days ago, but perhaps something else had happened since then.
When the stone turned green again, Nobu’s voice returned. “She’s done some looking into it, but she’s very pressed for time right now. She promises that she’ll keep working on it, but I hope you understand that she has the interests of our entire species to look after. This is bigger than one individual.”
Ariana understood what Nobu was saying, even if she didn’t like it. Breaking the curse on Julio wouldn’t really help anyone except Julio. Lisette was trying to save all vampires, thousands of them.
“I understand. Please ask her to hurry, though. Julio is getting frustrated. Can you imagine what it would be like to have your voice cursed away?”
Nobu’s tone softened. “I understand. She was talking about getting her sisters to help with it if she can’t find more time in the next few days. I’ll remind her of that option again. I hope to have an answer for you soon.”
“Thank you.” Ariana disconnected the stone, trying not to let the disappointment get her down. Of course, she knew Lisette was busy, but it was difficult to remain patient while Julio was suffering. She wasn’t sure that she trusted Lisette’s witch sisters to help Julio, either.
They were witches; who knew what further harm they might decide to cause him?
But what if they made the process go faster, and got Julio a cure weeks before Lisette would have been able to?
Ariana still wasn’t sure what she thought about Lisette’s plan to cooperate with the witches. Ariana hated witches and wanted them dead, but she couldn’t deny that what Lisette said made sense.
Witches were just as powerful as vampires in their own right. If a war started, it would probably be difficult to stop. They would be in serious danger of wiping themselves out. Surely, a world with both witches and vampires was better than a scorched Earth with barely any life left?
Either way, it wasn’t up to her, but Ariana resolved to ensure that if Lisette’s sisters came up with the counter spell, Lisette should at least examine it first and confirm it wouldn’t harm Julio before they used it on him.
Ariana picked up the tray and walked swiftly back toward her and Julio’s room. The food still seemed hot, which she suspected had more to do with the tray it was on. Rashid had a lot of strange, useful spells lying around the house. She could easily see him spelling his plates and trays to keep food warm.
Vampires didn’t have the same command of magic as witches, but they weren’t without some magic of their own. Mostly, it was only used for important things, but Rashid’s view of what was important had always somewhat differed from the norm.
She just hoped that when all this was over, there would still be magic in this world.
11
Before she could make it up to her room, Ariana was intercepted by Vincenzo and Zan. They were friends with Savion and Jermaine, and she’d met them a couple of times.
“Hey.” Zan was smirking at her as he leaned against the wall. “Feeding your mortal plaything?”
Ariana rolled her eyes, but didn’t bother to correct him. He wouldn’t understand. “He would hardly be happy with blood bags, would he?”
“When are you going to share your toy?” Vincenzo asked with a glint in his eye. “Let him come down and play with the rest of us.”
Ariana knew that she shouldn’t respond to their teasing, but her protective instincts flared at Vincenzo’s words. “He’s not yours to play with. He makes his own decisions.” She knew that the vampires here wouldn’t dare hurt any mortal guest of Rashid’s, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t at least scare Julio. She wanted his experiences with vampires to be positive ones, and was just making some progress with him on that front.
“Oh really? So you haven’t got him under orders to stay in that tower room of yours?”
Vincenzo had a point. Ariana had told Julio to stay in his rooms. It was different, though, she insisted to herself. She cared about Julio. Besides, it wasn’t like she’d try to stop him if he wanted to leave. She’d likely want to accompany him to make sure he was safe, but she didn’t own him.
“You listen to me.” The tray shook slightly as Ariana’s hands clenched around it, and she quickly loosened her grip. “You are not going to go near Julio, ever, or you’ll answer to me. You understand?”
An angry vampire was not something to be trifled with, which both Zan and Vincenzo knew very well.
They didn’t respond, but Ariana saw worry in their faces as they realized how serious she was about protecting Julio. Without another word, she strode away. Outside the door of her room, she took a minute to calm herself, not wanting to storm inside in a rage and ruin Julio’s morning with her temper.
She opened the door, pulling on a smile. As her eyes fell on Julio, the smile became more natural. He stirred as she set the tray down on the desk, his eyes opening.
“Good morning.” Ariana moved the tray from the desk to his lap.
Julio blew a few butterflies at her in thanks, grinning. He looked so pleased with the tray of food that Ariana resolved to bring him breakfast every morning. Though he must be hungry, Julio ate slowly and carefully.
“Is it alright?” Ariana asked anxiously. “I haven’t had much practice in cooking human food.”
Julio gave her a thumbs up with one hand, the other spreading jam over his toast.
Ariana glanced again at the painting, suddenly feeling awkward and unsure. It was like a little piece of Julio’s soul painted onto the canvas. Julio was eating happily, apparently unaware that Ariana was uncomfortable.
As he ate, Ariana turned her thoughts to other matters. She’d long ago made it a habit not to try to decipher Rashid’s riddles, but this one was really tempting her curiosity. There was no way she could be as powerful as Lisette, so why would he make that suggestion?
She’d never been any good at riddles. The only thing she could think of was the possibility that he was talking
more about willpower and force of personality than physical or magical power. She didn’t know Lisette well enough to tell if that was true, but even if it was, she couldn’t figure out Rashid’s reason for saying it.
Rashid seldom did anything without a reason, and he almost never revealed those reasons. Shaking her head impatiently, Ariana forced herself to put the strange statement aside. It would just make her frustrated, and she didn’t want that for her time with Julio. She had no idea how much time they had left together.
A small part of Ariana was glad that Lisette hadn’t found the cure. As long as Julio’s voice was lost, he would stay with her. When he had it back, he would be free to leave. She tried to crush that selfish, selfish thought. Ariana cared about Julio, and she did want him to get his voice back… she just worried about her heart when he did.
Julio got up and handed her a note from a page in the notebook.
What’s wrong?
Ariana sighed. “It’s this whole situation. Rashid called us here urgently. I dropped everything and came, but now we’re just sitting around. We’re supposed to be fighting witches, but there’s nothing happening!”
You’re not very patient, are you?
Ariana threw the paper at him; Julio just laughed. “No, I’m not very patient. I never have been. A number of the families I’ve stayed with have tried to teach me patience, but so far, they’ve all failed. Rashid says it will come as the years pass. Patience is a skill you learn whether you like it or not when you’re immortal.”
Julio blew a butterfly at her. It landed on her arm, its wings moving slightly from side to side, but not enough to propel it into the air. This one was green and pink, a striking combination that Ariana would never have thought could work well, but this butterfly was beautiful.
She looked up at Julio to find him watching her. Ariana didn’t know why she trusted him, but she knew that the feeling was growing by the day. Maybe it was insane, but she felt like she could tell him her troubles and the knowledge would be safe with him – and not just because he couldn’t speak.
“Vampires and witches… well, they don’t like each other very much. I’m sure you’ve picked that much up, but there’s more to it. There’s a reason we’ve avoided war for as long as we have.”
Julio listened intently as Ariana told him all about the uneasy truce vampires and witches had. They had spoken in depth about their personal lives before, but Ariana had never really gone into detail about the troubles her species was facing.
She was sure Rashid wouldn’t like it if he knew that she was telling Julio all this stuff. For that matter, probably no vampire or witch would be happy if they found out. Mortals who knew everything about their world were generally kept to a bare minimum, and even then it was only those whose knowledge of their affairs couldn’t be avoided.
“You can’t show anyone that you know so much,” Ariana warned. “Around other vampires, you should pretend that you only have the bare essentials of knowledge. Of course, if things don’t go well, it may not matter. Both of our species could end up being wiped out.”
Julio let out a frantic stream of butterflies, these ones chaotic colors that spoke of distress. He quickly scribbled down another note for her. Don’t say that. You have to be okay. If things get bad, we can go away somewhere, to hide. You said witches are weak around salt water, right? We could live on an island, or even in an underwater ship like you said the queen does.
Those were all good suggestions, but they barely penetrated Ariana’s mind. She was stuck on the pronouns. We. Her and Julio. Would he really come with her? Throw away his whole life just to go into hiding?
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him, but Ariana knew that would be a bad idea. She was already in dangerous territory with Julio. Her emotions were spinning out of control, and questioning him about whether he wanted to stay with her in the future would only make things worse.
She reread the message, focusing on the other parts of it so that she could at least respond to those. “It may not be that simple. I’m not strong enough to put up warding on my own, and without it, witches would be able to track us. That wouldn’t have been a problem before, but now they’ve created special submarines that allow them to travel safely in the ocean.
“Even if I found a group of others who could help with the warding, a large surviving group of us would draw attention. There wouldn’t be any way to hide if the witches got the upper hand and decided to exterminate us. And believe it or not, that’s a better option than the humans discovering us.
“They’d have both of our species extinct in a matter of weeks. Their death toll would be catastrophic, but they might survive. Still, there are very few versions of this that have a happy ending. Maybe Lisette is right, maybe we need to do everything we can to keep the peace.”
Ariana shrugged helplessly. It wasn’t an easy feeling, knowing that there was an impending doom that would quite easily swallow all vampires whole. It would be better if they were at least doing something about it, but sitting around here just made her feel even more helpless and scared.
“It would help if Lisette would actually issue orders,” she continued. “She’s our leader in this, and I’m sure she’s working on a plan, but whatever she decides on, we need to act on it as soon as possible. The witches certainly won’t wait for us.”
She looked up to find Julio’s gaze full of sympathy and concern. Ariana knew that he was more worried for her safety than his own, and it warmed her heart. She fell silent, the quiet between them comfortable once more.
Ariana was lost in her thoughts, wondering if these days with Julio would be some of the last days of her life. It was a terrifying thought. She’d always been brought up knowing that she was immortal. Now, everything was in the balance, and she couldn’t even be guaranteed a normal human span of years, let alone an endless one.
12
Julio finished with his food, and he set the tray aside before getting out of bed. He stood in front of her and started stripping, wriggling his hips from side to side. It was both sexy and silly at the same time, and Ariana found herself laughing.
She didn’t know how he did it, but Julio had just managed to raise her spirits. He finished undressing and headed for the bathroom, presumably to shower. Ariana giggled as she watched him. Julio didn’t shut the door of the bathroom, which did all sorts of crazy things to her.
Ariana imagined following him in there, kissing him under the spray of the shower, which he had just started up. The very thought was making her hot and flustered.
Her hands clenched into fists as Ariana put all of her willpower into resisting the temptation. She recited every lesson she’d ever been given about the dangers of vampires falling for mortals. This was a bad idea. It wouldn’t end well for her.
That thought wasn’t enough motivation to stop her, so Ariana cast around for others.
It wouldn’t end well for Julio.
Yes, that was enough to give her pause. In her lessons, she’d read accounts of human-vampire love affairs. In many cases, the human had died of old age and the vampire had gone mad with longing and grief. In almost as many cases, however, the human died of some unnatural cause, often not long after meeting the vampire.
Their world just wasn’t built for humans. Humans weren’t strong enough, physically, to handle the same things vampires were. It was like bringing a delicate china vase into an enclosure full of elephants. It was investable that the vase would get smashed, no matter how hard an elephant tried to protect it.
She knew that she’d never be able to live with herself if Julio was hurt or killed because of her. Ariana got up abruptly and walked out to the balcony, looking out at the starry sky. Why did this have to happen to her? Her life had been so simple before. Now, on top of the possible annihilation of her species, she had her feelings for Julio to wrestle with.
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to regret meeting him. Even if it ended badly, Ariana knew that she would always treasure
whatever time she got to spend with him.
Who knew how long that would be? She tilted her head upward and opened her mouth, screaming silently to the heavens. Unlike Julio, no butterflies came out of her. She would never be as beautiful as he was, now or when his curse was lifted.
It was more than physical beauty. His physique made Ariana restless and aroused, but that was hardly the only thing that drew her to him. In the short time she’d gotten to know him, she could see that he had a beautiful, caring soul.
Ariana knew she wasn’t a bad person, but she’d never felt like she was good, either. Being a vampire was strange that way. On the one hand, she was an undead being who had to feed on blood to survive – hardly the makings of a hero.
On the other hand, she was a person with her own morals and values. It was sometimes confusing, separating where human stereotypes about vampires ended and fact began.
For the first time in many years, Ariana wished that she had known her parents. Rashid had always answered in riddles whenever she asked him, and she suspected that he’d given instructions to the various families she’d stayed with not to tell her, as her questions there had been similarly shut down.
For a long time, Ariana had been resentful about it. After all, she had a right to know, and she was certain that Rashid did know the truth, even if he didn’t want to give it to her. She’d learned to live with it over the years, though.
The only times she really wished she’d grown up in a more traditional family were times like these – when she found herself confused and in need of both advice and comfort. Rashid would advise her, of course, but she’d never lived with anyone long enough to form a daughter-parent bond with them, not even Rashid.
A noise from outside the door had Ariana spinning around. She strode over and pulled it open, ready to rebuff anyone who had come to ogle at Julio. Many vampires regarded humans as inferior beings, more like pets than actual people. Ariana had stayed with a family like that once. It hadn’t lasted for long. It had taken Rashid months to track her down after she ran away.
