Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (39 page)

“That wasn’t freezing; I know freezing, that was subzero,” said Ari.

“Not one word to the others,” Clyde said with a grim look on his face.

“So… how did it go?” asked Patrick, fighting back laughter, when the two appeared at their table in the outside smoking area.

It was clear to Ari that though the coven was sitting outside, they had heard every word of Clyde’s uncomfortable attempt at talking to Riley. 

Clyde looked down at his feet, clearly embarrassed and Ari moved to sit down, saying, “It could have gone better.”

“Oh I don’t know about that,” said Ragon, also laughing. “You definitely did a good job of letting the waeres know that we aren’t a threat, unless of course you count drowning them in drool.”

“Oh, I think you’re being a bit harsh,” said Ryder, just as Patrick let out a squeal of laughter. “He could also have bashed them to death with his fluttering eyelashes.”

“You know what, you’re right,” said Clyde, reaching over to Patrick’s half empty glass and draining the contents.

Ari watched as he brushed his shirt then stormed back towards the pool tables, a determined look on his face.

Clyde’s second attempt at talking to Riley was much more forceful. He did not speak but reached for her arm, pulling her towards a dimly lit area, off to the side of the pool room. Sensing a potential fight, Ari jumped to her feet and followed after him.

“How dare you!” spat Riley, glaring down at her elbow.

“How dare I? How dare I? Perhaps you have forgotten, but I saved your life the other night; the least you could do is talk to me.”

“You didn’t save me,” said Riley, pulling her hand free so as to throw her hair out of her face. “I didn’t need your help.”

“Sure, if you wanted to die, then you defiantly didn’t need my help. Geez, are you a bitch to everyone?”

“Just vampires,” said Riley.

“Well, considering it was you who attacked us, then I don’t really see why?”

“Excuse me?” asked Riley, her hands on her hips. “Didn’t you come into
our
woods and seek
us
out?”

“Yea but only after you killed two vampires!”

“Two of your leachy friends were hanging around the construction site on the far side of the forest. We were just passing by when they spotted us. They went for us and so we went for them… we won,” she said. “And then all of a sudden the woods are crawling with blood suckers.”

“You really expect me to believe that the vamps that were killed made the first move? Besides, they aren’t the only vamps to go missing; our Vice Chancellor, Victoria, vanished a month ago.”

“Believe what you want; it’s the truth,” replied Riley, looking over at the pool table, clearly wanting to leave. “And I have no idea about any Victoria. We just got here; we didn’t have anything to do with what ever happened to her.”

“Yea, well, all of that may be true, but if it weren’t for me you would be dead right now,” said Clyde, pulling his shirt dramatically so as to show off the 3 claw marks down his throat. “Not that you bothered to thank me.”

“Thank you? When I woke up you were leering over me and being a total creep. I had no idea what had happened. How was I supposed to know that you saved me? All I saw was a room full of vamps, a witch and some weird mortal chick, and so I got the hell out of there.”

“So what, you don’t remember Ari using her
weird
mortal hands to stop the bleeding, or when I raced you back so that a
weird
witch could heal you?” snapped Clyde.

“What I remember, is one of your blood suckers attacking me and me almost bleeding to death.”

“Wow, you really are a piece of work,” said Clyde. “I came over her, hoping to get through to you, but it’s clear that you are just-”

But what she was remained a mystery, for at that moment Riley threw her hands over Clyde’s shoulders and jumped into them, reaching down and pulling his hair as she kissed him hungrily on the lips. Clyde blinked in confusion a few times and then placed a hand against her back, while the other one clasped her long blonde hair, as his fingers traced the line of her jaw. Ari, who was hiding in the next room, felt her mouth fall open.

“You talk too much,” said Riley, in-between desperate kisses, as her tongue meshed with his.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a bitch,” said Clyde, as he continued to pull her closer, pressing their bodies hard together, before leaning Riley against the wall of the club.

Seeing that Clyde was in no apparent danger, Ari moved back outside.

“Leave it to Clyde to call a waere a bitch and then make out with her,” said Patrick. “I kind of admire that about him, well, maybe not the making out part.”

“Well, I don’t think he is going to get much out of her now,” said Thomas, “information wise.”

“But didn’t you hear her?” asked Patrick. “She said that the waeres only killed the two vampires in the woods because they attacked first, and that they had nothing to do with Victoria.”

“I think we need to consider that there might be a blood hunter nearby,” said Thomas. “If what the waere said was true, then they definitely weren’t responsible for Victoria going missing.

“She might have discovered who the blood hunter was, and been killed for it,” Patrick suggested.

“There is no proof that Victoria is dead,” Thomas said, a sad note to his voice.

“Well, if there is a blood hunter close by, then it must be here for a reason. Why else would they come to a populated place like this, other than to find someone in their line and kill them?” said Ragon.  

“Maybe the wraith was lying?” asked Ryder.

“They’re not exactly known for their honesty,” Patrick agreed.  

“Maybe, but why would he go to all of the trouble of bringing Larissa back from the dead, if they didn’t get something out of it?” asked Ragon. “It might have been a trap but, I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense. Surely if they wanted to trick Ari to kill her, they would have had their chance when Cambridge lured her to his place.”

Thomas sighed and said, “I am going to speak with Sandra. I want to tell her about Larissa.”

“Do you really think that is a good idea?” asked Ari.

“I don’t know,” Thomas admitted. “But she was Larissa’s best friend; she deserves to know.”

“Can I,” Ari began to say, choosing her words thoughtfully, “can I come with you?”

Everyone in the coven stopped to stare at Ari. She knew that Sandra was not in control of herself, would probably even try to attack her again, but she was desperate to see her. It had been ages since Thomas had started bleeding the blood candy out of her.  

“I miss her,” Ari admitted, and she watched as Thomas’s face softened.

“Is it safe?” Ragon asked Thomas.

Thomas nodded slowly and added, “I think so. She is much improved. In any case, she is still bound, so there will be no danger to Ari. It might actually do Sandra some good. I know she would want to see Ari.”

After that Ragon, Ari and Thomas left. The group walked to the edge of Delta halls but instead of going down the steep path that would lead them to the Three Prong Trek, veered right. Just behind Delta halls was another large building, with a small sign that read ‘Veterinary Pathology Laboratory.’ They walked past this building, entering a dimly lit narrow path that led into a thick forest. The path that led away from the pathology lab wasn’t brick or stone, as most of the campus footpaths were, but a poorly made dirt track, which twisted abruptly, making way for the enormous trees that reared up in its way.

“Where are we going?” she whispered.

She wasn’t sure why she was keeping her voice low; there was something odd and foreboding about where they were, as if this path was not generally taken by people.  

“I told you,” said Thomas, “I had to move Sandra from the Three Prong Trek. I didn’t want another vampire finding her during the patrols.”

“Oh,” said Ari, still unsure of where exactly they were. “So, where are we going?”

Thomas sighed and said, “There’s a construction site just ahead… it looked abandoned so I put Sandra there. We passed it on our way to the campus when we first came here.”

Ari, still following shortly behind Thomas, recalled the construction site that the coven had driven past on their first day at the Pasteur Institute. But the site had not been abandoned then; there had been workmen directing traffic away from the area. She had never actually been able to see the building, only the piles of stone and various pieces of machinery that would aid in its assembly. She remembered what Clyde had said when they had first driven past the site; that it was an odd place for an additional building, and Ari couldn’t help but agree with him. Who would want to walk this far for a lecture?

She let this thought preoccupy her for the next ten minutes, until finally they entered a large clearing. No longer were there straggly trees spindling around them, but what was unmistakeably a half built building. Despite the grandness of the construction, it did not seem to jut out grotesquely, but rather followed the natural contours of the surrounding woods, so that it almost appeared hidden.

There were no manicured garden beds or neatly tendered lawns here. Ari peered idly at the building. It was only a single level, rendered out of concrete and with large glass windows that were currently boarded up. The front door and handicap entrance had long strands of yellow plastic in front of them, with the phrase, ‘warning: construction site. DO NOT ENTER.’        

Thomas and Ragon passed the un-used building indifferently, but Ari couldn’t help but loiter around it. There was a familiar prickling sensation causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. She shivered and then shook her head; she was being silly.

It was less than five minutes past the construction site, when Thomas spoke again. He had suddenly become nervous and kept glancing around, as if expecting something to jump out at him.  

“Just remember, she is still getting the candy out of her system,” he warned, coming to a stop in front of a large group of trees.

The forest seemed to suck out what little moonlight the sky had to offer. The darkness pressed down on Ari and before she could stop herself, she gripped Ragon’s hand tightly.

“Ari,” Ragon whispered, “you don’t have to do this.” 

“I want to.”

“She is just up ahead here,” said Thomas, indicating a particularly enormous and ancient looking oak. “Sandra my love… how are you feeling?”

For reply there was a soft whimper, almost a cry, and Ari’s heart leapt in her chest as she inched forwards. Ari heard Sandra before she saw her; there was a clunking of chains and then Sandra appeared, her binds secured around the base of the tree, though they ate at her wrist and braceleted her skin with deep red cuts and bruises. 

“Sandra,” Ari cried.

Two honey coloured eyes looked back at Ari. They were not the same hungry eyes which had glared at her the last time she saw her; now they were small and sad.

“Ariana,” Sandra whispered, and Ari heard the familiar southern drawl in her friend’s voice.

“Are you alright?” asked Ari, racing to her side.

“Wait,” said Sandra, taking a few steps back as she considered Ari.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ari, looking around the clearing.

“It’s just… I don’t want to hurt you, and… and I am only just starting to be less like a monster,” she whispered.

“You aren’t a monster, you never were; you were just...” but Ari’s voice died away; from the shadows of the path she had thought she had heard something.

It wasn’t just Ari who had heard the snapping of twigs; both Ragon and Thomas looked around tensely, their heads cocked to one side as they contemplated the darkness.

“Stay with Ari,” said Thomas, his eyes thin slits as he scoped the forest. “I am going to have a look around.”

Despite Sandra’s warning, Ari inched closer, sweeping some damp leaves and broken twigs away with her hands and nestling herself on the forest floor.