A Shade of Vampire 31: A Twist of Fates Read Online Free PDF

the man had placed at my feet. My jaw slackened. It wasn’t a bottle of water, as I had hoped and expected.
    It was… a bouquet of flowers. Crisp white lilies adorned with black ribbon. This was some kind of sick joke.
    Flowers? Why would my father send me flowers?
    What is going on?

Bastien
    A fter I managed to escape Yuraya’s advances on the deck and put her to sleep with the special plant I’d gathered from The Woodlands, I spent the journey standing at the bow of the ship with Cecil.
    He knew far more about navigating ships than I did, of course—especially those drawn by dolphins—and he also had knowledge of how to reach The Dunes.
    As the hours passed, day turning into night, I headed down to the lower decks several times to check that Yuraya was still under the influence. When I sensed that she might be drawing too close to consciousness, I would chew up some more of the plant and drop its juice into her mouth, which soon knocked her out again.
    We could probably keep her for days in this state. And that might be exactly what we had to do, if things didn’t go according to plan.
    I needed to reach the realm of the jinn—The Dunes—and beg a favor of them. Based on what Victoria had told me, jinn were stronger and more powerful than witches. I needed the jinn to turn me, permanently alter me somehow, into something that even my parents would reject. Something that would cause shame and embarrassment to their fine lineage, a being they would want to forget even existed.
    They were so wrapped up in their traditions. Now I had to attempt to use that to my full advantage.
    I thought of Rona, still hiding in that old boat by The Woodlands’ shore. Hopefully she would survive while I was gone. Hopefully the Mortclaws would not find her. Even though I had discovered that she was not related to me by blood, I still felt a responsibility for her. She had no one now that her family had been slaughtered by mine.
    I was both relieved and anxious when Cecil finally announced that we were drawing close to our destination. He pointed to the distant outline of low, flat, blackish land.
    “That is the shore of The Dunes,” Cecil said wearily. “It’s nothing but dry desert… I really, really hope you know what you’re doing, Bastien.”
    I wished that I could assure my old friend that I did, but of course, that would’ve been a lie.
    All I knew was that this was what I had to do. Things had spiraled so out of control with my family—with my mother —that these were the lengths I was having to resort to.
    I still didn’t even have an inkling as to how exactly I would request to be transformed—I needed to speak to a jinni, explain my situation and ask for their advice. I also had to hope that they weren’t too hostile toward strangers. Would they help a stranger—an intruder at that—on their land? Would they give him the time of day, even if he begged?
    Only time would tell.
    My transformation had to be drastic… though I hoped not too drastic that Victoria would stop loving me.
    We seemed to cross the last stretch of ocean disproportionately fast, as though the universe sensed my nerves and sped me faster toward my fate.
    As we arrived in shallow water, I expected a sweltering heat to hit me, even with the ocean breeze. But it was actually rather chilly, I supposed because it was night time, and I shivered involuntarily.
    “The desert is a place of extremes,” Cecil explained, noting my reaction to the sudden change in temperature.
    I informed Cecil that I would return as soon as I could. I also warned him in no uncertain terms that he must keep an eye on the Mortclaw downstairs—keep feeding her the mashed-up plant, even if he thought he might be overdoing it. If there was one thing I’d learned over the past week, it was that there was no underestimating the Mortclaws.
    Leaping from the ship, I landed on the shore and hurried onto the black sand. I cast one final glance backward, waving at Cecil—who