by Nadia Heaton
“Deep breath!” It was all she had time to shout before she had to grab Julio around the waist and pull them underwater.
The light passed harmlessly above them, but it didn’t stop. It kept coming, and Ariana knew that it would be a race to see what happened first – Julio running out of breath, or the witches running out of power for the spell.
She had a nasty feeling she knew which one. The spell went on and on, and Julio started fidgeting. He gave Ariana a panicked look, though she wasn’t even sure if he could see her through the sandy ocean water. She could see him all too well.
There was nothing for it. Whatever the witches were sending at them, Ariana wouldn’t leave Julio to face it alone. She nodded and started pulling him upward. Together, they broke above the water’s surface.
Immediately, the light hit them, even as Julio gasped in a breath. Instead of the pain she’d expected, Ariana found herself suddenly frozen. The waves around them kept moving, and Ariana feared that she and Julio would be pushed over, leaving Julio to drown.
She wasn’t sure whether what actually happened was better or worse. The spell started dragging them forward, toward the witches. Ariana struggled with everything she had, but her strength was useless against this kind of magic.
They were pulled out of the water and over the sand, toward the witches. In front stood Mirabelle, flanked by three members of her coven. Halfway up the beach, the witches met them on the sand. Mirabelle spoke a few words, and the spell changed, releasing Ariana’s head and throat, allowing her to talk, but keeping the rest of her body immobile. She didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. She was captured by witches. Her only hope now lay in her people coming to rescue her, at least until she found a good opportunity to escape. Getting out of here would be difficult with Julio in tow, but there was no way Ariana would leave him.
Mirabelle took Ariana’s chin between her fingers, looking into her face. “Who are you?”
Ariana didn’t answer. Not only was she determined not to cooperate with witches, but truthfully, she didn’t really know the answer to the question. As she looked at Mirabelle, she found herself more uncertain than ever. Ariana had never really known who she was, and finding a deadly enemy who felt like her kin left her confused and frustrated.
“I said, who are you?”
Ariana pressed her lips together. Mirabelle wouldn’t believe her if she said she didn’t know. There was no point in answering.
“You want to play it like that?” Mirabelle’s eyes flicked from Ariana to Julio. She didn’t say anything, but Julio suddenly doubled over, crying out in pain, the paralysis spell apparently lifted in favor of a new one – one that, by the looks of it, was causing him unbearable agony.
“Stop it! Leave him alone!”
Julio sank to the ground, panting, the pain lifted, for now.
“Who are you?” Mirabelle asked again. Ariana knew she had no choice. She wouldn’t allow Julio to be tortured.
“My name is Ariana Palmer.”
“And where are you from, Ariana Palmer?”
“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “I’ve been raised by different vampires all over the world. I never knew my parents.”
Mirabelle was staring at her as though unable to believe what she was seeing. “You’re lying. Surely, you have to know. You can’t have gone your whole life not knowing where you come from.”
Ariana had the distinct impression that Mirabelle was no longer talking about her parents, but she answered anyway, desperate to keep the witch’s attention off Julio. “I’ve asked, of course, and done some investigation of my own, but I never managed to get any answers. I don’t like it, but I’ve come to accept it over they years. I’ve had many families growing up, and most of them have been good to me.”
Mirabelle was shaking her head slowly, staring at Ariana and not looking like she was taking in a word.
“Come.” Mirabelle turned to the other witches. “Take them to the hut.”
One of the witches grabbed Julio and hauled him up. He wisely complied, which meant he wasn’t hit with any more magic. One of the witches released the magic on Ariana’s legs, allowing her to walk, but gave her a warning look. “Try to run, and I’ll lace the paralysis spell on the inside with a burning spell. You won’t like that, believe me.”
Ariana did believe her, but she knew she couldn’t allow herself and Julio to be taken. Savion, Jermaine and Lisette would be returning to this beach. If she wanted to be rescued, remaining here would be her and Julio’s best chance at surviving.
The problem was that the witches would never believe she’d sprained her ankle or something – she was a vampire, and stuff like that simply didn’t happen to her. She needed Julio to do it, but there was no way to communicate with him without the witches hearing.
Ariana turned to look at him, her gaze flicking urgently from the ocean to them, praying that he’d understand. They couldn’t leave. She and Julio were used to communicating without words – an occupational hazard of having no voice – but she still couldn’t be sure that he’d manage to read her intent from her eyes.
Julio watched her intently, his brow furrowed.
Then, it seemed, he understood.
He cried out, falling to the ground and clutching his ankle. A stream of butterflies flew from his mouth. The witch pulling him along tried to get him up, but Julio, displaying a brilliance in acting that Ariana would never have guessed he had in him, grabbed his ankle tighter and rolled on the ground, in every appearance of agony.
“Heal him,” Mirabelle snapped impatiently. “We need to get moving. It’s not safe this close to the ocean.”
Ariana knew she couldn’t allow that to happen. “Don’t touch him!” she yelled, throwing herself between Julio and the witches.
“Step aside, you stupid girl, we’re healing him,” the witch in charge of Julio snarled.
“Yeah, right! The last time you got your hands on him, you took away his voice. I won’t let you touch him!”
Mirabelle lost her patience, waving her hands over Julio and speaking a short incantation. He was yanked into a standing position, like he was a puppet and Mirabelle was the one holding his strings.
“You don’t want us to heal him? Fine, I’ll drag him, then. Either way, you’re both coming with us.”
The group was moving again, which left Ariana frantically trying to come up with another method of stalling them. She glanced desperately at the ocean, and did a double take. Ariana quickly turned her gaze to the sand in front of her feet, not wanting to tip any of the witches off.
She’d seen shadows moving under the water, shadows she recognized immediately as manta rays. The rescue party was here. They were probably just awaiting an opportunity.
There was no point in waiting for them to get even further from the water. Ariana grabbed Julio, wrenching him away from whatever spell Mirabelle had them under, and bolted for the water.
19
They didn’t get far before Mirabelle shot another spell at them. Ariana’s legs snapped together, and she and Julio went toppling down onto the sand. She didn’t even try to get up, knowing that where they were was safer for the moment.
The ocean seemed to explode. Lisette rose from beneath the waves, spraying water everywhere. The witches screamed as their skin sizzled wherever the drops of water made contact. Ariana looked from Lisette to Mirabelle. Lisette was magnificent, and a little scary. She exuded waves of power as she glared at Mirabelle.
For her part, Mirabelle stared at Lisette as though she was seeing a ghost. “No,” she whispered. “You’re dead.”
“I’m not dead, Mirabelle, and you always knew that. You almost killed me, but Nobu turned me just in time.”
“I didn’t mean to…”
“Nevertheless, you did. Now, let the others go.”
Mirabelle’s face hardened. “No.”
In answer, Lisette raised her arms. Two manta rays burst from the water. In mid-air, they transforme
d into Jermaine and Savion. At the same time, someone approached Mirabelle from behind. Ariana recognized Nobu. He grabbed Mirabelle’s arms, pinning them behind her back.
Mirabelle shrieked words in a language Ariana recognized as the one witches used to cast spells. Before she could finish the incantation, someone rammed into her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.
Ariana gasped as she recognized Rashid.
Mirabelle seemed just as surprised. “You! No, you’re locked up!”
“You used standard entrapment spells. Did you really think those would hold me? I had a basic cypher sewn into my liver over a decade ago. All I needed was a moment alone and a rusty nail to dig it out, and the warding fell.” Rashid looked pleased with himself, and Ariana didn’t blame him. It sounded like a truly brilliant escape.
More movement from further up on the beach had everyone spinning around. It was Tristan, Fleur and Bethany. Ariana recognized them from the research she’d done into their new queen’s family. The three of them advanced on Mirabelle. The other witches seemed to be unconscious after being sprayed with salt water, but Mirabelle was still struggling, though it was clear she was weakened.
Nobu leaned forward and poured a small amount of salt water down Mirabelle’s arm. She screamed as the flesh singed, but stopped trying to conjure any more magic.
“You,” Mirabelle hissed as her nieces advanced on her.
Rashid shrugged. “I did try,” he muttered.
Bethany winked at him before going over to Jermaine’s side. The two of them kissed. A few feet away, Fleur and Savion did the same. Ariana watched, fascinated. She’d been brought up her whole life to hate witches, as almost all vampires did, but it seemed that these witches were on their side.
The youngest one, Tristan, had her hands spread and her eyes were fixed on Mirabelle, clearly poised for any sign of magic. Ariana didn’t doubt that should Mirabelle try anything, Tristan would be ready to neutralize it.
What interested her most, though, was Savion and Fleur. A vampire and a witch, who should by nature despise each other, were now staring sappily into each other’s eyes like any other couple. It defied reason, but Ariana couldn’t deny what she was seeing with her own eyes.
Next to that, it seemed silly to try to keep herself from falling for Julio. A human and a vampire was downright reasonable compared to a relationship between a vampire and a witch.
She looked curiously at Bethany and Jermaine. Ariana wondered what Jermaine would do when Bethany aged and died. Did he plan to turn her, or to stay with her until she died? What would he do after that?
These were all questions that she’d ask later. For now, they all had bigger things to worry about.
Lisette advanced on Mirabelle, whirling her arms in a circle. Salt water rose from the ocean and encircled Mirabelle, who shrieked in frustration, glaring at Lisette.
Her anger, though, was nothing compared to the queen’s. Lisette brought the water in closer, so that it was mere inches from Mirabelle’s skin. “Now you listen to me, and you listen very closely. If you harm another vampire, I will kill you. If you further your plans to start a war against us, I will kill you. If I get so much as a whiff of any plans to do anything other than leave us well alone, I will kill you. Do you understand?”
“You’re not my niece, you undead monster!”
Lisette didn’t flinch, but her face hardened slightly. “I don’t care whether or not you still consider me as family. I certainly don’t consider you as family anymore.” She sighed, sadness leaking into her expression. “What happened to you, Mirabelle? You weren’t always like this. How have you become consumed by hate?”
“What happened to me? What happened? YOU happened, you and your cursed sisters! You allowed yourselves to be taken in by their lies, and now, you are barely better than the monsters you consort with. My eldest niece is dead, two of them are entrapped by vampire love spells, and you have even managed to corrupt Tristan into believing that this is right or normal.”
“Shall I gag her?” Tristan asked calmly.
Lisette shook her head. “Her words can’t hurt us, and she can’t cast any magic through the salt water.
Mirabelle was no longer paying attention to Lisette. She glared back and forth between Fleur and Tristan. “Why did you release the vampire from my entrapment spells?”
Rashid rolled his eyes. “I did tell you I’d cover for you.”
Fleur gave him a fleeting smile, and Ariana realized that he’d only made up that story about the nail and the cypher. It was disappointing, but not nearly as much as to realize that Rashid had willingly worked with witches. He’d always hated them, just as Ariana had. What was happening?
She helped Julio up, figuring it was finally safe, now that there was no longer errant magic flying through the air. He stuck close beside her, watching the scene play out.
“Why?” Mirabelle insisted. “Why have you turned against your own coven?”
“We were looking for you, and instead, we found this poor man trapped. We decided to release him.” Fleur shrugged, as though the matter was of little concern.
“Haven’t I taught you anything?” Mirabelle snarled. “You just decided to release him? You had no idea why I confined him in the first place!”
“Actually, we did,” Fleur said coldly. “You see, unlike you, we spoke with him before hobbling him and leaving him tied up. Rashid doesn’t mean us any harm. You, on the other hand – well, you can see why the vampires would be aggressive toward someone fighting to wipe them out.”
Mirabelle twisted around to look at Rashid through the thin sheen of water. Ariana didn’t understand her expression. She was no longer furious – she looked confused and almost afraid. Then to Ariana’s surprise, Mirabelle’s eyes met hers. The two of them stared at each other, and Ariana felt once again like she was staring into her own eyes.
No.
Enough was enough.
“Stop this!” She realized she was shouting, but couldn’t seem to lower her voice. “I’ve gone my whole life swallowing your explanations, but I’ve had it! I want to know what you’re all making eyes at each other about, and I want to know right now. Who am I? And why are you all looking at me like I’m some kind of ghost?”
Mirabelle flinched at the words, and to Ariana’s disbelief, tears started splashing down her cheeks. “Why?” Mirabelle asked Rashid. “Why did you tell me my baby was a stillborn?”
Rashid didn’t answer, which wasn’t going to work for Ariana. “What are you talking about?”
For a few moments, there was no sound but Mirabelle’s sobs. Everyone was staring at her in frank astonishment. From what Ariana had seen of her so far, Mirabelle was always so stern and strong. To see her crying like this was jarring. She doubled over, almost knocking into the wall of water surrounding her.
Lisette quickly dropped the spell, letting Mirabelle fall to her knees. “She’s your child,” Lisette told Mirabelle, pointing to Ariana. “Though I suppose you already knew that.”
The words seemed to echo in Ariana’s head. Your child, your child. No, it couldn’t be. She was a vampire. She couldn’t be the child of a witch. It wasn’t possible. She hated witches.
“No,” Ariana whispered. She turned automatically to Rashid, but he wouldn’t look at her. It was as good as an admission.
Ariana was torn between clobbering Rashid for keeping this secret from her and running to Mirabelle. As much as she hated witches, the woman on her knees in the sand was Ariana’s mother. She’d wondered her whole life who her parents were, and now one of them was right in front of her.
She stepped hesitantly closer to Mirabelle, her hand stretched out, wanting to touch her mother for the first time.
Ariana never made it close enough. Mirabelle leapt up, her features set in rage. Colorful blasts of magic exploded all around her, making Ariana and everyone else in the vicinity dive for cover.
There was a puff of purple smoke, making Ariana cough. When the smoke cleared, Mirabe
lle was gone.
20
There was no sound but the crashing of the waves on the beach. Mirabelle had teleported the other unconscious witches away too, which meant the vampires and humans were alone on the beach.
Fleur and Tristan looked a little uncomfortable to be surrounded by vampires. Savion put an arm around Fleur, whispering something in her ear that made her giggle.
It was Lisette who finally broke the silence. She walked over to Ariana, stopping a few feet short of her. “I thought there was something familiar about you when I first met you,” she explained. “It took a while for me to work it out, but seeing you and Mirabelle together… you look just like her. You have her eyes. What I don’t understand is how.”
As one, everyone in the group turned to Rashid. He had sunk to the ground, his face buried in his hands.
“Rashid?” Ariana prompted. He looked up at her, then around at everyone else staring at him.
“I guess I owe you an explanation.” Rashid took a deep breath, and began. “When I was a teenager, before I was turned into a vampire, I was a very close friend of Mirabelle. I was aware for a while that my feelings for her were edging toward something stronger than friendship, but I didn’t act. I was worried that if she didn’t feel the same way and I told her, I would lose even her friendship, and I didn’t want to risk that. If I had, maybe this all would have turned out differently…”
It was strange, watching Rashid speak in a voice so heavy with sadness and regret. Ariana had seldom known him to be this serious. He usually devoted his energy to partying or playing tricks on people. This was a side of him she’d never seen before.
“Before I could gather up the courage to act, Mirabelle started seeing Jacob. He was a mutual friend – older than her, devilishly handsome. It was a whirlwind romance from the start. Mirabelle was utterly infatuated with him.
“Jacob was a vampire hunter. Since Mirabelle was a witch, he could confide this to her without breaking any of the rules. Mirabelle had long ago revealed her identity to me, even though she wasn’t supposed to, so she and Jacob judged it safe to tell me about him too.
