Immortal Vengeance (Flames 0f The Sea Book 3)

by Nadia Heaton

  They ended up talking late into the night. Lisette wasn’t sure who drifted off first. She was only aware of waking up to bright sunlight. Nobu was already up, and the two of them got dressed quickly, eager to be off. They’d agreed last night to do the tourist thing and see the sights.

  As they left the bed and breakfast, Nobu took Lisette’s hand. They didn’t let go all morning.

  She bought a camera and walked around while snapping photos. A couple of times, she had passing people take pictures of her and Nobu. Lisette couldn’t stop smiling. Nobu never let go of her hand.

  At lunch, they sat side by side, their thighs pressed together, even though the booth wasn’t that small. Lisette tried to focus on her food, but she was more interested in leaning her head on Nobu’s shoulder. God, she had it bad.

  She peeked up at him through her eyelashes. Nobu was staring at her, and when he caught her gaze, he gently ran a hand across her cheek. It sent a warm wave through her, starting at the point of contact and moving through her whole body.

  Lisette remembered her cautionary thoughts about being too hasty again, but those thoughts were being thoroughly shoved aside. Nobu was here, and it was clear he returned her feelings. He didn’t feel like the others. He was different, Lisette was sure of it.

  The day passed by quickly, and as evening came, they found themselves wandering through the darkening streets. “You want to go out?” Nobu asked.

  “We’ve spent the whole day out. I say we go back to the bed and breakfast, get an early night. I think that restaurant attached to the main building does deliveries.”

  “You forget that I have a number of snacks in case of emergencies.”

  Lisette laughed lightly. “I did forget about that. Is there a story behind why you do that?”

  “A job I did a few years ago, I was sure I’d get back to my hotel by nightfall. Things went wrong, and I ended up hiding in the forest for three days waiting for the search parties to go home. I nearly starved. Since then I’ve made it my business always to carry something to eat in my emergency bags. I’d be fine without snacks now, in any case… I also spent months learning how to tell which plants and roots are edible.”

  “Couldn’t you just have hunted animals?”

  “Not that time. My silencer was lost as I ran, and gunshots would have brought the pursuers right to me. I tried hunting with my knife, but apparently, I can’t outrun a deer on foot.”

  “No, I’d imagine not,” Lisette chuckled. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Lisette wanted to clean up after their day of wandering around. She got undressed and headed to the bathroom, but before she could go inside, the door between her and Nobu’s adjoining rooms opened.

  “Lisette, have you seen my – oh, sorry.” He averted his eyes, and Lisette fought the urge to hide herself. There was no reason to by shy with Nobu. Besides, she liked the way he was blushing. He was naked except for a towel wrapped around his waist. Apparently, he’d also been about to wash up.

  She walked over to him, swaying her hips seductively. All thoughts of being careful and taking things slow were far away from her mind.

  “Have I seen your what?”

  “My… um… never mind.” Nobu looked into her eyes, and something seemed to spark between them. They both stepped forward at once into each other’s arms. Their lips met, hot and wet and urgent.

  Somehow, they made it to Nobu’s bed. Lisette lost her footing and the two of them tumbled down onto the mattress, their lips never parting. He started stripping her clothes, and Lisette couldn’t get them off fast enough. She did the same for him, reveling in the feeling of their bare skin touching.

  “Lisette?” Nobu hesitated, and she bucked her hips impatiently, but he didn’t take the obvious cue. “Are you sure?”

  “Do I look like I’m unsure?” Lisette smiled wildly, Nobu’s eyes wide and excited. He came back in to kiss her, taking her breath away.

  Her thinking brain made one last appearance and she tore her lips away from his. “What about you?” She was breathless, and had to struggle to get the words out. “Are you ok with this? I’m a witch, and you’re human.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “Not for me.”

  “Not for me either. Shall I continue?”

  She nodded eagerly, tugging Nobu in for another kiss. The feeling was addictive.

  Much later, after they’d thoroughly tired themselves out, Lisette lay in Nobu’s arms. The lights were out and they’d already cleaned up. They were both still naked, cuddled together under the blankets. She sighed happily, resting her head on his outstretched arm.

  Lisette had been right. This with Nobu; it wasn’t like all the other times. This time, something was different. He was the one for her. Lisette had always hoped that she’d meet her one true love, but some part of her had never believed such a thing existed.

  She believed it now.

  9

  Teo stormed away, fuming. They were hiding something, he knew it! Lisette was so close with her sisters, there was no way she’d just disappear without telling them where she was.

  It had been almost two weeks since the wedding. Well, what should have been the wedding. Teo burned with anger and humiliation every time he thought about it. He’d been a fool in love, and he should have seen it sooner. He’d known that Lisette had been avoiding him as the wedding approached, but he had convinced himself that she was simply nervous.

  When he saw her there in her wedding dress, ready to walk down the aisle, Teo’s heart had swelled with happiness and relief. She was there. It was really happening.

  Then everything went wrong. Lisette had turned and ran. For a moment, Teo had been frozen, sure that it couldn’t be happening to him. Lisette wouldn’t do that to him.

  His first instinct had been to go after her, to take her in his arms and quiet her fears. He tried, but found himself blocked by Fleur, Bethany and Tristan. Teo had tried to dodge past them, but somehow he’d ended up on his backside in the aisle. He still didn’t know how they’d done it.

  By the time he’d managed to get past them – a difficult task, given how determined they were and because he didn’t want to hurt them – Lisette was long gone.

  Teo had walked back into the church just in time to hear Bethany announce that the wedding was cancelled and invite everyone to stay for dinner, since it had already been paid for.

  Lisette’s family didn’t seem all that shocked. Teo’s family was scandalized. He didn’t speak up to defend Lisette against their accusations, but he didn’t join in either. Teo was stunned. He couldn’t believe Lisette would do that to him. Calling off the wedding if she was having doubts was one thing, but leaving him at the altar like that? He never would have thought her capable of something so cruel.

  His parents had ushered him away, and Teo had let them. He’d spent three days in bed, mulling it over, trying to sort out his confused feelings and called Lisette repeatedly. Unsurprisingly, there was no answer.

  He eventually got himself together to go to her house, but she wasn’t there, and her family didn’t know where she was. They advised Teo to give her time, telling him she’d come back when she was ready.

  Teo ground his teeth as he slammed the door to his car. Instead of heading home, he drove to a nearby bar. Lisette’s sisters were lying to him, and her parents just stood back and didn’t get involved. They knew very well where she was and how to contact her. They just didn’t want to tell him.

  For days, Teo vacillated between anger and sadness. Finally, he’d settled on anger. How dare Lisette do that to him? No one messed with Teo Abbadelli. He would make her rue the day she’d ever thought to break his heart and humiliate him in front of everyone he knew.

  He hadn’t decided how yet, but when he did, Lisette wouldn’t know what had hit her. Teo was still held back by his traitorous feelings, and that just made him even angrier. He wanted Lisette to suffer for what she’d done to him… but he had loved her. Love didn’t just go away tha
t quickly. As much as part of him hated her now, part of him still cared and didn’t want to see her hurt.

  Trying to reconcile the conflicting feelings was enough to drive anyone mad. He needed a drink.

  Five beers and two shots of vodka later, Teo was feeling a lot better. The room was slightly fuzzy, and the sting of rejection wasn’t as strong anymore.

  Someone sat down beside him, and it took Teo a minute to recognize who it was. “Rashid.” His voice slurred slightly as he peered at the vampire. Yes, vampire. Teo and Rashid had long had an uneasy understanding.

  Teo had been at the dock smuggling diamonds into the country via boat when he’d found Rashid feasting on fish. But he wasn’t feasting on the actual fish – he was just drinking their blood. It didn’t take much to force Rashid to confess his secret; after all, Teo had caught him in the act.

  Rashid had agreed to keep quiet about the diamonds if Teo didn’t say anything about him being a vampire. It was an easy deal to make. Telling people that he knew a vampire would only get Teo locked up in a mental ward. He wouldn’t have been stupid enough to say anything regardless, but he pretended otherwise for Rashid.

  At first, they didn’t speak often, but as time went on, they had developed a rather precarious but dependent friendship. Both of them were involved in some rather shady business dealings, and they had come to mutually beneficial agreements on a number of issues.

  Teo never said anything to Lisette about Rashid. He didn’t tell anyone; it was too dangerous. Now, he blinked at his vampire friend, smiling bemusedly.

  “Teo, my friend, you look terrible.”

  “Just drunk,” Teo slurred.

  “I heard what happened. I’m very sorry.”

  “No you’re not,” Teo scoffed. “You never liked Lis.”

  “True, but I always wanted happiness for you. Come how, I think you have been lost in alcohol for long enough.”

  Teo didn’t see what Rashid did, but his head was suddenly clear. It was like he hadn’t had a drink all night. This strange ability had come in useful before when they wanted to go out before working a job together, but in his current state, Teo wasn’t at all appreciative.

  “What the fuck, Rashid? I didn’t want to be sober, damnit!”

  “I think you’ll change your mind when you hear what I have to say. You’ll want to be sober for this.”

  “What is it, then?” Teo snapped.

  Rashid grinned, not put off by Teo’s rudeness. “I know you, Teo. You have a dark side, like me. You don’t show it to anyone else, but I know. After what she did to you, you want revenge.”

  Teo couldn’t deny that much. “I don’t want her killed.”

  “You still care for her?”

  “Not all of us can be as detached as you. Believe me, the last thing I want is to continue to care, but I can’t exactly help it.”

  “But you still want revenge.”

  “Like you said, you know me.”

  Rashid smiled. “Your requirements aren’t unreasonable. We can cause plenty of trouble without killing her – or even seriously hurting her, for that matter.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “You just let me handle it. I know how Lisette LeBlanc operates. Right now, she will be far, far away from here. She won’t come back until this has all blown over.”

  Rashid was right – Teo did want to be sober for this. His blood boiled at Rashid’s words, because the vampire wasn’t wrong. How could he have misjudged Lisette so badly? “She has no right,” he growled. “She should be groveling before me, begging for my forgiveness.”

  “So, she should grovel. You and I are both men who do not like to be crossed. You let me deal with Lisette.”

  As appealing as that sounded, some vestiges of caution remained. Teo knew Rashid was more of a troublemaker than anything else, but he could be brutal when the situation called for it. “What will you do?”

  “I won’t kill her, you have my word on that. First, I’ll track her down. From there… I’ll have to see what opportunities arise. I must admit, it’ll be a good excuse to bring some trouble down on a witch.”

  “A witch? I’d hardly call her that. She’s into that new age Wicca nonsense, but that hardly makes it real.”

  Rashid gave him a piercing look that Teo didn’t like at all. “You’re right, of course. These new age Wicca people all call themselves witches, but as you say, it’s silly.”

  Why did he get the feeling Rashid was lying to him? Teo mentally shrugged it off. They both certainly had their secrets. Their friendship never would have worked if they didn’t accept secrecy. Teo had never pushed Rashid to reveal anything more, and Rashid had offered Teo the same consideration in return.

  “What would you want in return?”

  “For this? You won’t owe me anything, my friend. It truly is my pleasure.” Rashid smiled rather nastily, but Teo wasn’t put off. He trusted Rashid’s word that Lisette wouldn’t be killed, which was enough to soothe his lingering feelings for her. The promise of some sort of consequence for her actions against him spoke to his need for revenge. Teo had made the right decision come here tonight.

  “You have yourself a deal.” Teo stuck out his hand, and Rashid shook on it.

  “I’ll have to think on how best to do this. I’m not sure exactly what kind of timeline we’re looking at, but I’ll update you when I can.”

  “Thanks, Rashid. I owe you one.”

  Rashid simply shrugged. “I’ll get to it, then.” He started walking away, then disappeared into the crowd as though he’d never been there. Teo was used to this particular trick of Rashid’s. It was something he’d asked his friend to teach him, but apparently, it was specific to vampires and couldn’t be learned by a human.

  “Bartender! Another.” Content that his revenge would go through, Teo settled down to getting himself properly drunk once more.

  10

  Rashid loved mutually beneficial agreements. His friendship with Teo was certainly unusual and more than a little risky, but it had paid off a number of times. This time, though, was by far the best. He was free to get back at the coven who had attacked him through Lisette, and he wouldn’t even get any of the blame for it.

  After all, it was Teo who was driving this, or at least, that’s what Rashid would say if he got caught and needed to talk his way out. The witches would hesitate to start a war with vampires by killing him, but they would have no such reservations with Teo, and it wouldn’t be hard to redirect their rage to him, rather Rashid, the mere instrument of Teo’s revenge.

  Rashid hoped it didn’t come to that. Teo was useful, and he had a genuine affection for the human. He hoped they could continue making trouble together for many years… but if not… well, Rashid had other friends.

  Before any of this could come to pass, though, he had to find Lisette. Finding a witch who didn’t want to be found was easier said than done, but in this case, he had a lead that he thought would pan out nicely.

  When he’d helped Savion in his attack on Lisette – before Savion had gone soft and decided he’d rather marry the witch than hurt her – her aunt had revealed that she had a spell on her four nieces.

  Whenever one of them was in danger, Mirabelle got some kind of magical alarm warning. Rashid wasn’t sure entirely how it worked, but he knew that it did work. Not only did it work, but it somehow provided her with their location.

  If Rashid wanted to find Lisette, Mirabelle was the key. If she could track her niece when Lisette was in trouble, she could likely do it when she wasn’t. Lisette was probably perfectly safe right now, riding out the waves of the chaos she’d caused. Rashid aimed to change that.

  First, he needed to find Mirabelle – not only find her, but find her in a time and place where she was vulnerable. Digging up her address would be easy, but with the full protection of her coven behind her, attacking Mirabelle would be suicidal.

  No, he’d have to get her alone, but luring her to a location of his choice wouldn’t work eith
er. Rashid was out of his element on land, and witches stayed far away from the sea for their own protection. His best bet was to find a place that was known to Mirabelle, then set up a trap to capture her before luring her there. Hopefully he could make up for the disadvantage of being away from water with proper preparation.

  Rashid returned home, where his latest guests were just staggering to their rooms. He smiled to himself. Clearly, his latest brew was a good one. He’d have to save the recipe. For now, he refrained from indulging himself. He had work to do, and he had to do it carefully.

  If this went wrong, Rashid’s skull would likely end up as the centerpiece of Mirabelle’s table.

  A combination of research, threats and bribes worked wonders when you wanted something. Within a few hours, Rashid had discovered the location of a small house deep in the woods under Mirabelle’s name. Armed with his map, he hastened to the location.

  Rashid was good at reading maps, which was why he didn’t understand when he followed the instructions directly and came up with a great expanse of nothing. He was standing exactly where the map said, but all he could see in any direction was trees.

  Of course, the place was probably covered in spells. This may take longer than he’d thought. Rashid went home to fetch a tent with thick light blocking panels so that he could safely sleep there during the day while he searched the forest for Mirabelle’s house.

  Fortunately, Rashid was a vampire, and if it was one thing vampires knew, it was patience. You didn’t live for centuries and not learn the fine art of patience. Perhaps just as valuable, he’d been living in relatively close proximity to witches for the last couple of hundred years. He knew all of their tricks.

  Rashid had always been careful not to get too much direct interaction with witches, but he studied what he could of them from afar. Their magic was powerful, but not omniscient. Even the most powerful witch only had so much energy to expend.

  Mirabelle wouldn’t be able to keep up a major illusion here permanently, not without sacrificing a large part of her power. That meant Rashid was either looking for a charmed object, imbued with the power to hide her house, or for the telltale signs of minor illusion magic.