by Nadia Heaton
If she hadn’t been so focused, Mirabelle would have yelped at the sudden sensation of an electric shock. Fleur poked her again, shocking her, her fingers converted to something like electric wires by a spell. Clearly, she was hoping to get Mirabelle’s attention and talk her out of casting the spell, but Mirabelle simply cast a shield.
Under any normal circumstances, she shouldn’t have the power to do this spell at the magnitude she was planning, let alone a shield powerful enough to repel Fleur on top of that, but rage and grief were morphing her powers. It happened sometimes, with intense emotions – they got involved in a witch’s magic, making the spells far more powerful than they could have been in any other circumstance.
Green light was now emanating from Mirabelle’s palms. The spell was ready. She lifted her hands, ready to cast it.
Fleur was crying and pleading with her. Mirabelle vaguely heard Savion’s name, but she was in no mood to feel sorry for Fleur’s vampire love. Fleur would be better off without him anyway.
She was so close. Mirabelle brought her hands back, ready to cast the spell forward. Before she could do it, something hit her hard in the back, knocking her sprawling. Mirabelle automatically used her hands to catch herself, loosening her concentration.
The spell slipped from her grasp, leaving her suddenly exhausted, and with a heavy weight on top of her. The person on top of her was panting, and when he spoke, Mirabelle recognized his voice instantly.
“What are you doing?”
17
“Get off me,” Mirabelle snarled. Even in her anger, she sounded drained. Rashid knew enough about witch magic to know that it was a powerful spell she’d been conjuring; too powerful. If he hadn’t stopped her from casting it… well, he didn’t want to think about that. It would have been catastrophic.
Even though she’d never released it, the spell seemed to have sucked all the energy out of Mirabelle. She struggled underneath him, but there was no power in her movements. “Leave me alone, Rashid! Get off!”
“I’m not going to let you destroy my home, or yourself.” A quick glance at Fleur told him that he was right. Her relief wasn’t just for Savion; it was for Mirabelle too. She could have killed herself trying to cast a spell that powerful on her own.
Mirabelle struggled, but was no match for his strength. She reached for her wand, but Rashid knocked it out of her hand. She shrieked in rage as she writhed beneath him, but apparently had no strength to call upon any more magic of her own. Rashid kept a tight grip on her, refusing to allow her to run away from him again.
“Stop it, Mirabelle! You’re not thinking. You know that Tristan is inside there, right? If you destroy the chateau, you’ll kill her, too.”
He could see the effect of his words at once. Mirabelle stopped struggling and her face drained of color. Clearly, she’d been caught up in her anger and pain, and hadn’t paused to think through the consequences of her actions.
“I… what have I done?” she whispered.
“Nothing, you didn’t do anything,” Rashid comforted her, still keeping a loose grip on her wrists.
“Only because you stopped me. I would have killed her… my own niece…the second one…”
“Lisette isn’t dead, and Tristan isn’t either. Snap out of it, Mirabelle, you didn’t do anything irreversible.”
Mirabelle blinked up at him, her eyes unfocused. Rashid understood why she was so upset. Though she hadn’t released the magic that would probably have killed Tristan, she had meant to, and she would have if Rashid hadn’t stopped her.
“Come on, help me get her inside.” Rashid could have lifted Mirabelle himself, but he hoped that Fleur’s familiar touch would help her. The two of them lifted her by her arms and helped her inside. Rashid led her into his private library and laid her down on a cushy chaise.
Someone dashed in, causing Mirabelle to flinch. Rashid put a soothing hand on her shoulder and turned to see Savion.
Fleur fell into his arms, hugging him tightly. Savion hugged her back just as tightly. Mirabelle was lying limply on the couch, staring up at the ceiling and mumbling something indistinguishable. She was fine for now; Rashid would attend to her in a moment.
He turned back to Savion and Fleur, to find them just breaking apart from a kiss.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” Fleur murmured, resting her head on his chest.
“I had my doubts there for a moment, too.” Savion chuckled. “I know you warned me about your family, but if you don’t start clamping down on the crazy I’ll be getting as in-laws, I’m asking for a refund.”
That got a smile from Fleur as she slapped him playfully on the arm. “Shut up, Sav, now isn’t the time for jokes.”
Savion’s eyes were sparkling; Rashid knew that there was no such time as a bad time for jokes, as far as he was concerned.
Fleur continued on a more serious note. “Where’s Tristan, Sav? Have you seen her?”
“Tristan? Why would she be here?”
“You’d know her as Victoria.”
“Victoria – the new vampire who came to stay with Rashid?” Savion’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What have you been up to?”
“We sent Tristan in disguised as a vampire – Victoria – to keep track of what Rashid was up to.”
Hurt and disappointment flickered across Savion’s face. “Fleur, you know me. You know I’d never let anyone harm you. You didn’t need to go behind my back about it.”
“I did it to protect all of us, not just myself.” Savion tried to step back, but Fleur kept a firm grip on his waist, and he didn’t pull away, even though he could have.
“Explain, please.”
“I know you’d never let anything happen to me, Sav, but this is about more than just me! I know that your loyalties are torn – mine are too. It’s a difficult line to walk, and I understand that part of you will always stand with the vampires. As much as I love you, part of me will always stand with the witches.
“If the volcano was destroyed, and all witches lost their powers, that would be an acceptable solution to you, as I’d still be alive and uninjured, but to me, it’s not. I’m sorry I went behind your back, but we haven’t exactly had a lot of time to talk lately, and I thought it best that I had all the information. You know I wouldn’t use it in a way that would harm you, just as you wouldn’t do that to me.”
Savion took a deep breath, nodding. “I understand, Fleur. I’m still not happy about it, but this is an impossible situation. We’ll need to talk about it some more, but for now, we have bigger worries. I think the others have managed to put out of most of the fires, but they could use some help in checking for structural damage and stabilizing anything that looks dodgy.”
“Of course, I’ll help, but you have to help me look for Tristan.”
Savion kissed her again. “Agreed. Once everyone is safe, you and I are going to have some well-deserved alone time.;”
Fleur glanced back at Mirabelle and Rashid. “I don’t know, Sav. I’d love that, but what are we going to do about the bigger situation? This conflict is escalating whether we want it to or not. We have to find some way to diffuse it or…”
Savion was looking at Rashid as he spoke. “I don’t think it’s in our hands anymore.” He glanced at Mirabelle, then gave Rashid another meaningful look. Rashid nodded, hoping that he could fulfill Savion’s expectations. He agreed that if they were going to find a way out of this, it would come from him and Mirabelle… but would she cooperate? She’d been all over the place recently, and Rashid had no way to know which direction she’d turn in next.
Fleur glanced doubtfully at Rashid. “I’m still not sure…”
“It’ll be fine.” Rashid tried to inject as much confidence as he could into his voice. In truth, he was less than confident, but he was sure that he’d be better off talking to Mirabelle alone.
Savion took Fleur’s hand and started drawing her away. She went reluctantly. The two of them disappeared around a corner, and Rashid wasted no
time slipping back into the library.
Mirabelle was still lying on the couch, gazing blankly at the ceiling. Recent events had been too much for her, and Rashid blamed himself. Mirabelle had always been so strong, but the shock of finding out about Ariana, on top of her war against vampires was enough to drive anyone over the edge.
Rashid locked the door and made sure the curtains were closed tightly before turning to Mirabelle. He knelt down by her side, speaking softly to her. “Mirabelle? Mirabelle, can you hear me?”
18
Mirabelle didn’t respond. Rashid leaned forward, kissing her forehead and her cheeks. “Come back to me. Everything is fine. Your family is safe. No one is hurt. Come on, Mirabelle.”
He could tell when she returned to the present. Her eyes focused on him, but she didn’t flinch back as Rashid had half expected. “Rashid.”
Rashid cupped her face with one hand. “This has to stop, Mirabelle. All this anger we have toward each other is going to bring us to ruin – and at the rate we’re going, we’ll take the rest of the world with us. It took me a while to realize it, but I see it now. Lisette was right all along. If this war continues, neither witches nor vampires will survive, let alone humans.”
He expected her to protest, but she didn’t. “I thought it would be different,” she mumbled.
That got a grin from him. “You’re not alone. Witches aren’t taught the histories in as much detail as vampires, or you may already know. I can tell you, every general leading an army into war thought that this time, it would be different. It never is. It’s always chaos, madness and death. That much never changes.”
Seeing the destruction of the chateau, as well as witnessing vampires and witches fight by the docks, finally seemed to have gotten through to Mirabelle in a way nothing else would. “I thought I was helping. I thought I was making things better.”
“I know.” Rashid climbed onto the couch, taking Mirabelle into his arms. It was a tight fit, but she molded easily against them. “There is only one way to make things better now, and I think we both know it. We have to end this. If the two of us tell those under our command to make peace, I think we at least have a chance.”
Mirabelle nodded, her lip trembling. “Why, Rashid? You have every reason to kill me on sight, yet here you are, comforting me. Why?”
“I love you. I’ve always loved you, Mirabelle.”
“You’ve worked against me for years.”
That much was true. While he’d never actively tried to kill her, Rashid had certainly caused trouble for witches. “I was sure you’d never stop your campaign against me. Was I to do nothing? If I didn’t attack back, witches would have wiped out vampires long before now. You’ll note that nothing I did ever truly put your life in danger. I may have wanted to taunt you, just as you tormented me, but this? This violence and destruction? I never wanted this.”
“We’ve both been fools.” Mirabelle’s voice was full of bitterness. “Even Tristan could see where this was going, but for all my supposed experience and superiority, I saw far less than she did.”
“We can’t change the past, but we can change the future. Beating ourselves up about what happened won’t help anything. We need to get out there and start telling our people to lay down their arms.”
Mirabelle nodded weakly, but made no move to get up. She was weak and exhausted. Rashid didn’t know how much magic she’d expended getting here, but it was clear she needed time to recover. He could use a little recovery time himself.
“Everything is calm for now. We have time before the fighting breaks out again.”
The relief on her face mirrored his own feelings.
“Rashid, where is Tristan?”
“She’s up in the tower room – or at least, that’s where I left her. I told the vampires who remained here to guard her and ensure she didn’t leave, but when the chateau started falling down around them, I’d guess they left their posts to help. She’s probably long gone by now.”
Mirabelle sighed in relief. “Good. I didn’t think you’d hurt her, but…”
“I’m sure she’s safe,” Rashid assured her. “She was smart enough and powerful enough to get in here undetected and spy right under my nose. I bet she teleported away as soon as the trouble started.”
For a while, the two of them were quiet. Rashid was surprised that Mirabelle hadn’t pushed him away by now, but she lay peacefully in his arms. He wished he could freeze this moment and live in it forever.
Mirabelle may have agreed to end the fighting, but that didn’t mean she’d ever forgive him for hiding Ariana from her. As much as Rashid wanted a future for them, that still seemed impossibly far out of reach.
“I’m still me, you know,” he told her quietly. “I may be different, but at my core, I’m still the same Rashid you used to know.”
“You’re not the first one I’ve heard that speech from in recent weeks, nor do I think you’ll be the last.” Despite her sharp words, Mirabelle’s tone was more speculative than annoyed. “I discounted it at first, but being with you… it’s like my nieces have always told me. Your personality and emotions seems the same, even if your body is a bit different.”
Rashid’s hopes rose. Maybe this wouldn’t be as impossible as he thought.
“… but you’re still a vampire. You’re not alive. How can I be with an undead creature? Witches are tied to life, not death.”
And they were back to the beginning. Rashid was starting to believe that words alone weren’t going to convince her. He didn’t know if he dared do what he was strongly tempted to do… and he also didn’t know how long he could resist it.
The last time, Mirabelle had accepted him. Maybe she would this time, too. Their faces were so close together, he barely had to lean in at all to brush his lips against hers.
Mirabelle stiffened at once in her arms. Rashid paused, waiting to see which way it would go. Either she would push him away, or she would kiss him back. He felt like his whole life teetered on this moment. Whatever they decided here and now, it would have far-reaching consequences.
Consequences Rashid wasn’t sure he knew how to live with if things didn’t go his way.
19
It was so subtle, he thought he might have imagined it. For a moment, Rashid was sure that Mirabelle’s body started to relax, that she started to lean into him… then their moment was shattered by a piercing scream.
He could tell at once that it came from outside the chateau, too close for comfort. No one hostile should have been able to get this close without Rashid being alerted, but with his chateau half destroyed, he could hardly expect his defenses to be running as usual.
“Stay here.” He extracted himself from Mirabelle’s arms, gently pushing her back down onto the couch as she automatically tried to rise. He only hoped she would stay there – she was still too weakened for Rashid’s liking, and the thought of something happening to her was enough to make him stumble as he ran straight for the source of the noise.
Rashid stepped out into a scene of nightmare. He should have guessed this would happen. Unable to come up to the shore, it seemed the vampires had swam around the coast and used his own tunnels to swim right up into the chateau. They were pouring from the shattered doorway, and they weren’t alone.
How the witches had tracked the vampires through the salt water, Rashid had no idea, but that wasn’t important now. All that mattered was that the grounds of his chateau were suddenly filled with witches, and his protective enchantments were doing nothing to hold them back.
Battle had already erupted, and now screams were everywhere. Rashid knew he had to stop this before it got any more out of hand. It didn’t look like anyone was dead yet, and if that happened, he knew it was over. Once one of their own was killed, both witches and vampires would fight to the death for vengeance.
Rashid opened his mouth to shout for them to stop, but before he could get a single word out, he was hit with a blast of magic. He didn’t know if it had been intended
for him, or if it had gone astray, but he was blasted off his feet and thrown several feet away, landing on his back.
He was up in a blink, staring at the fighting masses, trying to make some sense of it. There were more vampires than there should be. Rashid had many staying with him, but not this many, even including the group from the Antarctic, which he had called back.
Then he saw something that, had he been human, would have made his heart stop.
Ariana.
She was at the head of a compact force of vampires, leading them against the witches. Rashid was frozen for only a moment, and then he was moving. He frantically tried to get to Ariana, but the grounds were thick with battling witches and vampires, and made little headway.
“Ariana! Ariana!” She couldn’t hear him, even with vampire hearing. The noise was enough to hurt his ears, and Rashid was well used to dealing with noise from his parties. Everywhere, witches and vampires screamed. Spells howled and exploded. Bodies, both witches and vampires, were thrown everywhere.
The vampires were using their speed to their advantage, zipping around and trying to knock the witches out. They were at a disadvantage here, not near enough the ocean to use the water against the witches. The extra vampires Ariana had brought, however, seemed to be making up the difference.
Witches were throwing magic at any vampire they saw. Some of the spells were hitting, while others were dodged. Rashid’s eyes raked the ground. A number of people on both sides were down, but they were all breathing, so at least that meant they were injured rather than dead.
Rashid dodged and dived as he struggled to make his way to Ariana. She seemed to be leading this. If he could only convince her to stop, maybe the others would follow suit.
Before he managed to cover even half of the distance, his attention was caught by the roar of a motorbike. Teo screeched onto the lawn, with his brother Luca behind him. Rashid had no idea what Teo was doing here, and he couldn’t think of a worse time. This was no place for a human; they would both be killed in an instant.
