Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (24 page)

The man looked as if he was trying to reach for his phone, and Sandra leant down to help him get it.

“Tell her to come here and bring it with her,” said Sandra, placing the phone against the bar tender’s ear and waiting. “Say anything else and I’ll kill you.”

Ari was pacing outside when finally Thomas emerged in the dark hallway.

“Over here,” she whispered, and Thomas’s eyes shot up at her.

“Where is-” asked Thomas, but before he could finish his sentence, he had looked through the window and seen Sandra.

Not bothering to open the door, Thomas pushed through it, sending splinters of wood in every directed as the door broke away from its hinges.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he yelled, his eyes falling on the bartender, who was half naked and bound, the wooden spike still stuck in his chest.

“She wanted more of something,” said Ari, racing inside and indicating the smashed vial which was lying abandoned a few feet away from Sandra.

Thomas blurred over to it, picked up a few remnants of glass and smelt it.

“You’re doing blood candy?” said Thomas.

Sandra said nothing, but her eyes darted up to the empty vial, then across to Ari in anger.

“Answer me,” said Thomas, dropping the vial and moving over to Sandra.

Sandra’s eyes welled with tears but her face remained hard and expressionless.

“Answer me,” he cried again, “how long?”

“The bartender’s been giving it to her. I saw her get some the first night we were here,” said Ari, hating herself for betraying Sandra but knowing that she had to. “I thought… I thought it was just blood.”

Thomas turned to stare at the bartender, anger radiating from his eyes. In an instant he blurred over to the bound vampire, taking the stake that Sandra had forced into his chest and pulling it out. The bartender looked relieved, but then Thomas’s face became dark and he swung his hand down hard, straight across the man’s head, so that it was severed from his body. Ari trembled, watching the decapitated head of the bartended roll across the floor, stopping a few inches from where she stood.

“So that’s why you killed that boy on our first night here?” Thomas said angrily. “And Victoria; did you kill her as well?”

Sandra looked shocked, shaking her head as she said, “No.”

“But why?” asked Thomas. “Why did you start using?”

“All I can think about is Larissa,” screamed Sandra; her face was red and scrunched up and her deep southern accent gave her voice a drawn out tone, so that she sounded like a sad jazz song.

“And you think Larissa would have wanted you getting messed up on this shit?” asked Thomas.

“You wouldn’t understand?” hissed Sandra. “You have been a monster for too long; you don’t have any humanity left.”

Her words, which had meant to sting, had done their job.

“I have been dead for more than a thousand years, but no man, living nor dead, has loved someone as I have love you,” he said, kicking the body of the bartender away so that he could crouch down next to Sandra.

After that he hugged her hard and she broke down and began crying on his shoulder.  

“It’s ok,” said Thomas, rubbing her arms, “we’ll get through this, together.”

When Ari had gotten to Ragon’s room that night, she told him everything that had happened.

“What’s going to happen to Sandra?” Ari asked; Ragon’s face had been grim throughout her story, thin lines appearing around his mouth.

“It’s nasty shit- completely addictive and difficult to get out of your system.”

“You say that like you’ve had a previous experience,” said Ari, her mouth twitching.

“Not me, but it has been getting more and more popular over the years. I’m surprised the Ancients haven’t put a stop to it. Blood Candy makes vampires volatile.”

Ari nodded slowly, recalling how crazy Sandra had been last night. Though she had been desperate to talk to Sandra afterwards, Ragon had forbidden it, and Thomas had messaged them early in the morning to say that Sandra needed to be alone while she went through withdrawals

Chapter 12–
Charmed

The next morning Ari woke early. She hadn’t been able to sleep much at all; her dreams had been hazed with visions of Sandra attacking people. She was annoyed at herself for not realising that Sandra hadn’t just been acting up because of Larissa, it had been the blood candy which had fuelled her anger. If only Ari had of realised this, maybe the coven could have helped her sooner.

“Can’t sleep?” asked Ragon, rolling over in bed. “You were tossing and turning all night.”

“Yea, just thinking about Sandra still.”

“Thomas will get the blood candy out of her system. Then she will be back to normal,” said Ragon, rubbing his eyes.

“We should have noticed… I should have noticed.”

“Thomas has been her mate for centuries and he didn’t even realise that she was using; you can’t blame yourself,” said Ragon.

“I know, I just feel bad, that’s all,” said Ari, sitting up and preparing herself to leave the warm blankets of Ragon’s bed.

“That’s because you are one of the most caring people that I know,” said Ragon, reaching for Ari’s hand and pulling her back into bed.

“You’re just saying that because you’re trying to make me feel better.”

“Is it working?” asked Ragon, winking at her.

“Not really, but I can’t sit here moping about it all day; I have to go and study.”

“But it’s a Sunday and you’re on holidays,” he said.

“I know but I have a parasitology exam on Thursday. Apparently vet students don’t actually get real holidays. They just like to pretend we do so we don’t go crazy.”

“Well, I have a small surprise for you,” he said, jumping out of bed and reaching for his jacket. “Happy birthday.”

For a few moments Ari was stunned. At first she ignored the small, immaculately wrapped box that was poised in Ragon’s outreached arms, but then she moved closer to him and reached out to take it. How could she have forgotten that it was her birthday? Was it really the 20
^th
of February already? It was strange how time had a way of flying by, especially when the company you kept were immortals. For a moment the fact that she was now 25 hit her like a ton of bricks- a quarter of a century! She had never really felt her age as being something bad; in fact up until that exact moment, she thought that getting older was a good thing. But that was before she had fallen in love with an immortal.

“How old were you when you became a vampire?” Ari blurted out.

How had she never asked this before? She remembered asking how he had been changed; remembered the story of how he had been a soldier when Kiara had found him dying and turned him, but not once in all the time that they had been together, had she asked how old he was when he had stopped aging. Suddenly her birthday was a reminder that their relationship was a ticking time bomb, one that she hadn’t realised had already begun to count down.

“When I died I was 28,” he said, kissing her on the hand and smiling broadly.

Ari scoffed. It was just like him to try and make becoming a beautiful immortal, out to be a bad thing. He could have just as easily said, ‘when I became immortal, or ‘when I stopped aging,’ but no.

“Do you want to wait until tonight to open it?” he asked, looking down at the small gift still in Ari’s hand.

“Why, what’s happening tonight?”

“Ops,” said Ragon, moving away from Ari, as though he thought just being close to her might prompt her to read his mind. “Well, I supposed the vamps out of the coffin now. I thought it would be nice for you to have a party.”

“What? You’re throwing me a birthday party?”

It was the first time in her life that someone had ever thrown her a birthday party, and her eyes watered at this thought. She had celebrated her birth many times at the orphanage. Whenever there was a birthday at the Grace Valley Orphanage, the nuns would go out and buy a cake from one of the supermarkets and all the children would be allowed a slice of the treat. Still, no one had ever thrown her a party before.  

“How did you know who to invite?” she asked curiously. “Or is it only people from Cruor Halls who are coming?”

“I spoke to one of your friends, Lisa; that girl I met in your parasitology prac when I was tutoring.”

Great, Ari thought, her eyes rolling as she recalled how Lisa had been all over Ragon during their tute together. Instantly Ari clenched her teeth. As she did so her fists tightened, and the forgotten present in her hand fell to the floor.

“Sorry,” she said, clambering to her knees and reaching under the bed, where the small parcel had rolled.

Ari’s curiosity was peaked when she emerged from under the bed with her birthday present; she looked up excitedly at Ragon and said, “Should I open it now?”

Ragon nodded and Ari tore off the elegant wrapping paper to find a small velvet box. Instantly her heart raced. Was it a ring? Her expression had changed from indifferent amusement to intense concentration. Without meaning to, she threw up her hands and stopped time. At first she was surprised, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, she couldn’t help herself. Quickly she opened the jewellery box and sighed- it was a bracelet. Closing the lid, she waited impatiently for Ragon to unfreeze.

“Open it,” he said a few minutes later, moving closer to her.

Gently she opened the lid for a second time, this time taking the charm bracelet out of the box to admire it. Ari let the little silver bracelet fall into her outstretched hand. Though she had already seen it, she took her time to admire each charm now. Most prominent was a small locket, no bigger than a five cent piece. It was oval shaped and covered in swirls of marquisette. Gently she prised it open and large tears began to well in her eyes. Looking back at her were her parents. She recognised their faces instantly. She had the same shaped eyes as her father and her mother’s high cheek bones.

Next her fingers brushed against a silver letter
J
, dotted with tiny diamonds. She held the little letter in her hand for a while, knowing what it must stand for- Jamie, the brother she had never known. Finally her eyes rested on a miniature flower; each polished silver petal was highlighted by a splash of gold at the centre. The tiny flower reminded her of Larissa and the frangipanis that had fallen by her grave. Touching this last charm, Ari smiled when she looked up at Ragon.

“It’s lovely,” she said, holding out her wrist so that he could place the charm bracelet on it.

“I will come find you in a few hours; I’m supposed to be meeting with Bridget and the replacement Vice Chancellor to go over our thesis proposal.”  

“Replacement Vice Chancellor?” asked Ari. “But we only just found out that Victoria was missing.”

“Yea, apparently they already found someone; Bridget told me.”

“Do you know who?” Ari asked curiously.

“Nope.” 

“But,” Ari said, choosing her words carefully, “does this mean that we will have to leave? Go on the run again? It’s just that, I thought the only reason we were able to stay here was because Victoria was keeping our attendance a secret.”

Ragon paused to consider her.

“I think if we left abruptly, that would give the new Vice Chancellor a reason to be suspicious. The Ancients will not suspect that we are here, and I can’t see any reason why the new Elder would alert them that we are; it’s not like the vampire students here are of much concern to the Ancients. They just see us as an academic vampire-student body. I’m hoping that the Elder’s haven’t been told by the Ancients that you are a threat to them. I mean, they sent Shok and Kiara to try and kill you, and William and Nikolas didn’t seem to realise that you were important.”

“So were not leaving?” asked Ari, a smile spreading across her face.

“Not just yet. When I meet with the new Vice Chancellor I will suss it out. As long as he doesn’t seem suspicious about our being here, or you, I can’t see how our leaving abruptly would be beneficial. That would just draw unnecessary attention. Like Patrick said, us being here is kind of like hiding in plain sight.”   

“So,” said Ari, breathing out a deep sigh of relief, “what did you decide to do your honours project on?”

“The vampires anatomical reaction to direct sunlight; we’re comparing the way fledglings react to the sun compared to older vamps, and then seeing what makes us different from humans.”

“Fun times,” said Ari.

All the way back to Omega Halls, Ari admired the gift Ragon had given her. A few times she had prised the locket open, becoming lost in the image of her parents; she was so distracted that it wasn’t until she felt a soft tap on her shoulder, that she realised Lea was standing right in front of her at the entrance to Omega halls.

“Oh hey, how’s it going?” Ari asked, slightly startled. “You’re up early for the holidays.”

“Yea not bad,” Lea replied, pointing to a walking trail that she had just come from near Delta house. “I just went for a walk.”

As Lea pointed, Ari had been surprised to see a man and woman standing near a car parked outside Delta halls. Their hands were piled with various books and a suitcase, but it was not this that had caught Ari’s attention; even from this distance, Ari could see their red blotchy faces and thought that they looked as if they had been crying. She thought, judging by how old they looked, that they must be the parents of one of the students.

“What’s going on over there?” Ari asked.

“Oh that’s Mr and Mrs Stone,” said Lea, and when Ari looked confused she explained further. “Greg Stone got attacked by a bear; apparently he was in the hospital on life support, but thy pulled the plug this morning. I think they have just come to get his stuff from his room.”

Ari felt the blood rush to her head; Greg had been the boy that Sandra had attacked during the traffic light dance. Thinking of this, Ari looked up to see Greg’s mum; she was gripping a navy blue sports jumper close to her face, while the man next to her, Greg’s father, tightly held a bundle of books. In that moment Ari wanted to walk up to them and tell them everything, but she couldn’t. Until then, she had not realised that Greg had survived Sandra’s attack. She supposed that Thomas must have taken him to the Pasteur hospital after Sandra had attacked him, but why had no one told her any of this?

“You alright?” asked Lea, looking at Ari strangely.   

“What, oh yea, fine, it’s just sad… I mean weird; I didn’t realise that there were bears around.”

“Yea,” said Lea, his eyes narrowing. “Apparently bear attacks are relatively common here.”

“Right, well, I have to fly; I’ll see you later?” Ari said quickly, desperate to leave. Lea looked at her in confusion and Ari added, “Ragon, my boyfriend, he’s throwing a birthday party for me tonight; it’s at his place in Cruor Halls. Did you want to come?”

Lea’s eyes lit up and she scanned Ari up and down, until her gaze finally rested on Ari’s wrist.

“You like it?” asked Ari, displaying the charm bracelet that Ragon had just given her, “It was my birthday present from Ragon.”

Lea smiled absently and said, “Yea that sounds great.”   

Despite trying hard to remain focused on her parasitology exam, Ari spent the rest of the day thinking about Sandra and Greg. When the sun finally went down, she moved mechanically towards the communal bathroom and took a long shower. It was a little before 7pm when she finally made her way to Cruor halls, not entirely feeling all that interested in celebrating. 

“The birthday girl arrives,” said Clyde, as soon as Ari walked through the front doors.

Ari smiled gingerly up at him, following close behind as he directed her past the grand staircase and into the back of the halls, where loud music became more and more prominent. She tried to push away the mental image of Clyde’s astonished face when he had found her with Chris all those weeks ago. She had given up entirely trying to convince him that what he had seen had been nothing, deciding that ignoring the awkward glances would lead to him forgetting about it. Still, there was something about the tense mannerisms that he continued portrayed around her, which made Ari certain he had not forgotten.