by Nadia Heaton
Julio nodded agreeably, taking a sandwich from the plate she’d left on the desk. When will we leave?
“Hannah reckons we should wait for nightfall, and she’s probably right. These witches have already proven themselves to be powerful. If we’re going to stand against them, we need to make sure it’s at a time and place where we have the advantage. That means at night, when everyone is well rested and fed. Most of them don’t even know that Rashid has been taken.
Will they agree to the rescue attempt?
“Oh yes. They may not be loyal to Rashid, but they all know that he’s a dangerous enemy to have. No one wants to be on his bad side. Once I make the situation clear, they will pull through.”
There really wasn’t anything else to do but wait. Ariana paced for a while until Julio gestured her to the couch, eyeing his canvas hopefully. Modeling for Julio was at least something to do, even if all she had to do was lie still.
He quickly became immersed in his painting. Ariana watched him, fascinated by the way his brow furrowed when he was concentrating. As the light slowly faded, from behind the curtains, Ariana’s nerves began to mount. What would they find when they went to rescue Rashid? What were the chances that they would really find him alive?
Julio packed up his paints and washed his hands just as the sun set.
“I need to go and talk to the other vampires. You can stay here if you want.”
He shook his head, coming at once to her side. Ariana wasn’t entirely happy about taking Julio down among the other vampires, but he was going to have to be in their presence anyway if he participated in the rescue. Besides, she could use the help navigating.
Ariana had never gotten lost in her life, but she’d been a prisoner for half of the journey to the clearing with the hut in it. The witches had done their best to blindfold her. She’d known how important it was to be able to find her way back to their base, so Ariana had pretended to trip, allowing her to adjust the blindfold so that there was a small sliver at the bottom she could see out of.
That, combined with her heightened hearing and sense of smell, should provide her with enough information to let her lead the group back to the clearing, but she didn’t want to take any chances.
Hannah was waiting downstairs, along without about twenty other vampires – it seemed she’d already gathered everyone who was staying with Rashid. Some of them were talking quietly, and most looked up curiously when Julio followed Ariana into the room. Julio flinched, but stayed where he was.
Ariana got straight to the point. “Rashid has been taken. Witches from Mirabelle’s coven have him.”
The room broke out into worried murmurs, but Ariana spoke over them. “Julio and I will lead the rescue party. I suggest we all stay together, so that there’s less pf a chance for the witches to split us up and pick us off one by one.” She looked from one face to the next, daring them to say they wouldn’t try to rescue Rashid.
No one did, so Ariana continued. “Everyone should feed before we go – Rashid has enough blood stored in the guest fridges. I suggest you all get your favorite weapon and meet back here in five minutes.”
The crowd dispersed, though a couple stayed back, including Hannah and Savion.
“Hannah, do you know where their base is?” Ariana asked hopefully, but she was almost immediately disappointed.
“No, the witches came out to meet us when they heard us coming. I’ve got the general direction, but I didn’t see the place like you did.”
Julio put a hand on Ariana’s shoulder, squeezing gently. She took a steadying breath. “Right, then Julio and I will lead us there. Between the two of us, we should be able to find the place again without too much difficulty.”
“You’re bringing the human?” Hannah frowned at Julio, who stared defiantly back at her.
“Yes.” Ariana didn’t offer an explanation, and seeing her fierce expression, Hannah didn’t question further.
Savion was frowning between the three of them. “I should send a message to my brother before we do this. I was only supposed to be here for one night, to see what forces we have gathered, but obviously I can’t leave now, not with Rashid captured.”
He left without another word. Ariana hoped that Jermaine got the message quickly. He was close to the queen, and if their group couldn’t rescue Rashid, they would need help, help that Lisette could provide.
Julio and Ariana sat side by side as the vampires filtered back into the room. Ariana had a dagger from Rashid’s armory. Others had swords, bows or spears. A few carried modern weapons like guns, but most vampires avoided human technology as much as they could.
When everyone was assembled, Ariana got up, looking around at the rescue party. “Alright, everyone, let’s go. I don’t need to remind you to be careful. There’s a coven of angry witches out there, and I know firsthand how powerful they are. Our goal right now isn’t to fight them. We get Rashid and get out.”
“Though if we end up killing a few witches here and there, no one will be complaining,” Savion added, which got a few chuckles from the group.
“Alright, let’s go.” Ariana felt strange, leading a large group of vampires into what felt ominously like a battle. Having Julio half a step behind her went a long way to reassuring her. Having him with her felt good, though Ariana couldn’t help but worry about his safety.
“If things go badly, I want you to get down,” she told him quietly, though she knew that the vampires following them would be able to hear perfectly.
Julio started shaking his head, but Ariana cut him off.
“Listen to me. Your greatest strength here isn’t as a fighter – we already have plenty of those. Your advantage is that the witches will overlook you. They won’t see a human as a threat, though if you threaten them, they won’t hesitate to incinerate you.
“I want you to do what you did for me today, if it becomes necessary. Get as many injured people as you can out of there. The rest of us will keep fighting, at least to serve as a distraction.”
Julio considered this for a minute before nodding. He glanced questioningly back at the vampires behind them, who were following silently as Ariana led them to the edge of the forest.
She thought she understood what he was saying, and turned back to address the group. “You all heard that. If Julio judges you injured or incapacitated enough to try to get you out of there, you listen to him. He saved my life yesterday, and he’ll do the same for you. You just need to let him.”
A couple of the vampires gave Julio apologetic looks, and Ariana wondered what had transpired between them while she’d been a captive of the witches. Deciding it was a story for another time, she stepped into the trees.
It took them longer than it usually would have to make the distance, given that they were traveling at Julio’s human pace. Ariana could carry him, of course, but she figured it was better to approach slowly and quietly. If they could get Rashid out stealthily without having to fight at all, that would be the best possible outcome, as far as she was concerned.
Ariana was all for killing witches, but she wanted her people to be safe. Safety came first, for now.
A couple of times, Ariana turned to Julio, raising her eyebrows in question over a particular path or turning to take. The route through the forest wasn’t exactly straight, being dictated somewhat by natural obstacles.
When she wasn’t sure, Julio pointed her in the right direction. As they got closer, Ariana slowed down even more, and any whispered conversations that the other vampires may have been having petered away into silence.
Finally, they reached a place that Ariana knew wasn’t far from the clearing. She turned around and pressed a finger to her lips so that the others could all see her. She saw heads nodding, and turned back to the front, creeping forward.
The clearing came into sight… but the hut was gone.
No, that couldn’t be right. Ariana paused, frowning. The clearing not only looked exactly as she remembered – it smelled the same. It had
the same sounds of wind moving through the identical branches she’d heard when she was here before.
It was the same place… only, there was no hut. Ariana turned to Julio, who looked just as perplexed as she did.
Maybe the witches had somehow made the hut invisible? Ariana darted across the clearing, moving so fast that it would be difficult for a spell to hit her. She ran straight through the place where the hut should have been.
Ariana turned back to the group of vampires, who were staring around in confusion.
17
“Well?” Vincenzo hissed. “Why are we stopping?”
Ariana looked around again, searching for any sign of witches. When she found none, she straightened up, speaking in normal tones, since it was clear they were alone here. “This is the place. The witches had a hut here.”
Savion and Zan came over to where she was standing, examining the ground.
“As far as I can tell, there hasn’t been a hut or any kind of structure built on his ground in generations,” Zan said slowly. “Look at the grass – it’s completely undisturbed. Not so much as a broken twig.”
“So they left, and erased all traces.” Savion was scowling. “It’s possible, with a powerful coven, but why? They know that we know they were here.”
“We have to find him.” Ariana tried her best to keep a hold of the panic trying to rise up within her. “They must have taken Rashid with them.”
“We should search the forest,” Vincenzo suggested. “They can’t have erased all traces of their presence, it would take too much magic.”
Savion and Zan nodded. Ariana knew that the three of them were the most knowledgeable of the group about witches, so she had no reason to dispute the idea.
“We need more help, though.” Savion frowned as he stared at the patch of ground where the hut was supposed to be. “My message will have gotten through to Jermaine by now. The palace will be on alert. The rest of you search. I need to go and find Lisette. We can’t let the witches take one of our own and get away with it – that would set a dangerous precedent.”
Ariana’s heart leapt with excitement. “Julio and I will come with you. We can get an update from Lisette about the cure for his voice.”
Julio nodded eagerly, spitting out a few butterflies for emphasis.
“Fine, but we should go quickly. I want to get to Lisette as soon as possible.”
In answer, Ariana crouched down. Julio understood at once and climbed onto her back. “Where?” she asked Savion.
“We can head to the palace from the nearest beach – the same place where Lisette held the meeting.”
“Alright. Hold on, Julio.”
Ariana took off, a few feet behind Savion. She was slightly slowed by carrying Julio, but Savion kept pace with her. Wind whipped through her hair as she ran. Usually, Ariana loved running, but now, she was too full of worry to take much joy in it.
She knew that the other vampires would follow through on Savion’s suggestion to search the forest, but she wasn’t hopeful. If the witches had retreated to a more defendable base, it was likely they’d taken Rashid to their coven headquarters, which would be nearly impenetrable to all but an army.
Ariana was also all too aware that should they storm the coven base in an attempt to rescue Rashid, the witches would be capable of holding the attack long enough to kill Rashid, just out of spite.
It didn’t take long to get to the beach. The sky was clear, and moonlight cast a dim glow on the scene. Ariana could see perfectly well in the dark, but she was glad of the light for Julio’s sake. She took him over to the clump of boulders where Lisette had held court before and set him down.
“Listen, Julio, Savion and I need to go into the water. We’re going to morph into manta rays and swim to Lisette’s underwater palace. I need you to stay here. Hide. Don’t come out for anyone except me. I’ll bring Lisette back to you. Hopefully she’ll have a cure for your voice.”
Julio looked disappointed, but he nodded. He had to know that there was no way he could accompany Ariana on this particular journey. She went with him behind the rocks, out of Savion’s view.
As Julio settled down into a hidden position, Ariana pressed a brief kiss to his lips. “Be safe. It may take a few hours for us to come back. Don’t move for any reason.”
Julio nodded, blowing a thin stream of butterflies at her. Ariana wished she could stay with him, but she was determined to bring Lisette back. She wanted to deliver Julio’s voice back to him. Since she couldn’t do the spell herself, she at least wanted to bring the person who would cure him.
Savion cleared his throat, and Ariana zipped to his side. Julio didn’t even look shocked at what to him must be her sudden disappearance. Vampires moved too fast for the human eye to track, and it could be disorientating for them, but evidently, Julio had become used to it.
Ariana followed Savion into the water, shifting to her manta ray form. It felt good to be back in the ocean. She quickly swam downward, getting under the waves that tried to pull her from her course.
Savion led the way, his manta ray form glowing slightly as they got deeper underwater. Ariana followed him deeper and deeper, to the location that she knew of but had never visited.
It took them some time, but eventually, they reached the underwater palace. Savion led her to what must be a visitor’s entrance, because no one accosted them. The huge sunken shop looked creepy, but Ariana knew she had nothing to fear here, except the possible disappointment of finding that Lisette didn’t have a spell to help Julio yet.
They went through the initial chamber that filtered out sea water, and found Jermaine waiting for them in the next room.
“Did you find him, Sav?”
“No.” Savion sighed deeply. “The witches left without a trace. The other vampires are searching the forest, but it’s most likely that Rashid was taken back to a more secure base.”
“We need to speak to Lisette,” Ariana put in.
“She and Nobu have gone to check on the volcano. You can wait, but I’m not sure when they’ll be back.”
Ariana had never been to the volcano herself – she didn’t want to be anywhere near the source of what powered witches. “I can’t stay.” As much as she wanted to wait for Lisette and start demanding a voice cure the moment she set eyes on the queen, Ariana had already been gone for hours. “I have to get back to Julio – I left him on the beach.”
“You go. I’ll head toward the volcano and let Lisette and Nobu know the situation. Jermaine, you coming?”
“Yes. Just give me a few minutes, I need to send a message to Bethany.”
Ariana didn’t ask, but she wondered how on earth anyone was keeping information from crossing enemy lines with the way things were. Savion was in love with a witch in Mirabelle’s coven, and Jermaine and the witch’s stepsister were together.
Deciding that she had better keep her mouth shut, Ariana made her retreat. “You’ll bring Lisette to the beach as soon as you can, won’t you?”
“Sure thing.” Savion winked at her. “You go back to Julio, I’m sure he’s missing you.”
The swim back seemed much longer than the swim there. Ariana constantly worried that Julio had run into some sort of trouble. What if the witches found him? They could easily have ways of knowing when someone entered that clearing in the forest, even after they’d left. What if they wanted revenge on Julio for leading vampires to their lair?
She was breathing hard by the time she got back to the beach. Ariana swam in her ray form until the water was shallow enough for her to stand in, then shifted to human, striding through the waves that tried to buffet her. She couldn’t see Julio, but that was a good thing – she’d told him to hide, after all.
“Julio! I’m back.”
A head popped up from behind the rocks. Ariana sighed in relief to find Julio unharmed, and quickly made her way toward him.
18
Julio leapt up, butterflies streaming from his mouth in excitement. He was clearly ple
ased to see her. Ariana struck a sexy pose as she stepped out of the water, though ruined the effect somewhat by laughing.
She was so distracted by Julio’s smile that it took her a split second longer than it should have to notice. Shadows were coming up behind Julio. Ariana couldn’t see their owners because of the way the sand had them on a lower level than Julio, but she was sure that anyone creeping up on him was bad news.
“Julio, behind you!”
He spun around just as two women pounced on him. Julio opened his mouth to scream, but all that came out were butterflies. The butterflies flew in the women’s faces, causing them to recoil. Ariana used the precious few seconds of distraction to zip over to Julio’s side.
She grabbed his arm, about to pull him onto her back and flee, but before she could, a streak of light came down on her from above. Ariana glanced up just in time to see a witch standing on a ledge high above the rocks aiming for her and Julio.
Crying out wordlessly, Ariana pushed Julio aside. The magic blasted into the sand, sending it spraying everywhere. Ariana kept moving, pulling Julio along with her. They weren’t prepared for a witch ambush and needed to escape.
If it had just been her, she would have retreated into the ocean and turned into a manta ray, swimming where the witches couldn’t follow her. She had Julio to think about, though. He couldn’t turn into a ray… but he could stand in salt water, which was more than witches could handle.
Ariana was basically dragging him along, moving too fast for his human feet to catch up. She dodged every time she heard something coming for her, and sand exploded all around. They crashed into the water and kept running. Ariana only stopped once the water was up to her and Julio’s necks.
She peered over the top of the waves. The witches had approached the water as close as they dared. They couldn’t, or they would be risking burns and a reduction of their powers from an exposure to salt water.
Perhaps Ariana should have predicted what they’d do next. As it was, she only had a second to grasp that a huge sheet of green light was coming toward her and Julio, completely covering the top of the water.
