Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (41 page)

“Shit,” she said suddenly, “pull over.”

Thomas seemed to hesitate as the car jerked on the road, before swerving and pulling the car to a stop. Ari flung the door open and fell to her knees, taking deep breaths as her vision blurred. She knew from the tug on her stomach and the familiar tingling in her extremities, that she was having a vision, but this was much more powerful and entirely different to any other she had experienced before. She could hear Thomas next to her, hear him calling her name but she couldn’t respond. It was as if she were paralysed, the future holding her in place, unwilling to relinquish its grip, not until she had seen what she was meant to.

Only two people came to her in her vision, though she could only make out one of them. Ari didn’t need to see the strawberry coloured hair to know who it was; she could hear from the sobs and the girl’s deep southern accent that it was Sandra.

‘You’re a blood hunter?’ screamed Sandra, as tears rolled down her eyes and blanketed the floor beneath.

A sudden harsh scream followed this and Ari watched as something was forced through Sandra’s wrists. Trying desperately to see better, Ari narrowed her field of vision and suddenly felt sick. Small wooden stakes were penetrating Sandra’s hands. Hatred swarmed in Ari’s mind and she focused on the masculine hands that were pushing the stakes in deeper, cutting through flesh and sinew until they dug into the ground beneath, holding Sandra in place. But no matter how she tried, Ari couldn’t see the face of Sandra’s attacker.

“Ariana,” Thomas screamed, slapping her hard across the face and pulling her out of her vision.

When Ari looked up at Thomas, she was white as a ghost; only her eyes had any colour left. One had turned green while the other remained blue.

“What is it?” he asked, helping her to her feet and brushing away the debris that stuck to her clothes.

Ari tried to talk but her throat burned with bile and she bent over quickly, feeling the contents of her stomach rise to the surface as she vomited.

“Sandra!” she gasped, desperate to convey what she had seen.

“What? What did you see? Did you have a premonition? Do you know where Sandra is?”  

“The blood hunter has Sandra,” said Ari.

In one quick motion Thomas hoisted Ari up into his arms and threw her into the car. The next second loud screeching signified the fast turning of wheels as the car sped off. A sudden strange vibrating noise made Ari look around; Thomas reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone. Flipping it open, he scanned the text message he had received. His eyes widened and then they turned into slits; in one fluid motion he pressed his foot hard against the accelerator, jolting both him and Ari forwards.

When Thomas and Ari arrived back at the campus, Thomas didn’t wait or ask for permission, but picked Ari up and began racing away with her. Ari was still too shocked from her vision to protest, but was surprised when Thomas did not stop at Cruor halls but continued to race towards Delta. When the pair had reached the forest edge, Thomas reached for his phone and dialled a number.

“I need the coven to meet now,” Thomas growled into the phone. “No! Not in Cruor halls; somewhere we won’t be overheard… the Three Prong Trek.”

“What’s going on?” asked Ari, “Who was that text message from?”

“In your vision… what exactly did you see?” Thomas asked, ignoring Ari’s questions.

“Sandra, in a dark room and someone was…” Ari shuddered before looking down at her feet, just as another wave of nausea swept over her, “someone was torturing her.”

“Could you see where they were; who it was… anything?”

Ari couldn’t help but feel inadequate as she looked into Thomas’s desperate eyes, knowing that she had no answers for him. She began to mumble a response, but then sudden whooshing all around them had Thomas standing still with his eyes open wide, as he scanned the clearing. A moment later he relaxed as the coven arrived.

“What’s going on?” asked Ryder, appearing suddenly next to Thomas and looking down at Ari in concern, while he released Patrick’s hand.

“Yea?” said Clyde, also racing over to them, followed shortly by Ragon, who leaned down and picked Ari up.

“Ari are you ok?” asked Ragon, brushing the hair out of her face and holding her tightly in his arms.

For answer Thomas said, “Sandra has been taken.”

“What?” Ragon asked, looking at Ari for answers.

She was shaking too hard to respond and so Thomas spoke again, his voice a barely audible whisper.

“The blood hunter has her,” he said.

“What?” Clyde said, his eyes narrowing. “But, but how do you know?”

Thomas looked down at his phone and then showed the coven the text message he had received, saying, “The blood hunter isn’t after Sandra.”

Ari read the message and shivered:

‘Will you exchange yourself for Sandra? Meet at sunset tomorrow. Come alone- location to follow.’

“The blood hunter is after me,” Thomas said quietly, once everyone had read the message. “He wants me to exchange myself for Sandra. The blood hunter must have killed Victoria, and now they want to kill me.”

“Jesus Christ!” Clyde said angrily, glancing up at the fading daylight. “That’s in less than eighteen hours.”  

“How do you know that it’s the blood hunter that took her?” asked Ryder, looking at the text message carefully.

“Ari heard Sandra say it in a vision,” explained Thomas.

Everyone turned to Ari, their expressions mirroring thoughts of surprise. No one questioned her, but nodded in dumb acceptance of the situation.  

“So what are we going to do?” asked Ragon, looking up at Thomas.

“It is simple; I will exchange myself for Sandra,” said Thomas.

“But-” Ragon protested.

“-don’t you see? That’s why Victoria is missing; this bastard must have killed her and now he’s after me,” said Thomas. “I can’t believe how stupid I am. I have been so hell bent on blaming the waeres for Victoria going missing; I didn’t even consider that it might have been the blood hunter. Maybe if I weren’t so thoughtless, Sandra would still be alright.”  

“But how do we know that Sandra is even still alive; perhaps he needs to kill Sandra as well to complete his blood line?” said Patrick. Thomas glared at Patrick, and Patrick shrunk away from him. “I’m sorry,” he added quickly. “It’s just… that makes more sense. He might be after Sandra’s line, not yours.”     

“He can’t be; Sandra has never made a vampire. He must be a fledgling of Victoria’s,” Thomas explained.

“What?” Ari asked, entirely confused. “I don’t understand. If the blood hunters kill their line, then wouldn’t he need to kill you and Sandra?”

“Blood hunting is about direct lines. I made Victoria and I also made Sandra, but either of them could go and make vampires themselves. There would be no benefit for a blood hunter to kill Victoria if he were after Sandra’s blood line,” Thomas explained. “That’s why he wants to exchange me for Sandra. She is of no use to him; but he knows that I would sacrifice myself for her.”

“And he probably knows how old you are,” Patrick added. “Even being a blood hunter, it would have been difficult for him to kill you. By taking Sandra he must hope that you will come quietly.”

Finally Ari understood. Thomas had two fledglings- Sandra and Victoria. But Victoria must have had a fledgling of her own, and that fledgling had become the blood hunter. Killing Victoria gave him access to her power, and if he killed Thomas, then he would be even more powerful. She trailed her thoughts back to the first time the coven had spoken about blood hunters and how evil they were. They had said that a blood hunter could even become more powerful than the original vampires, the Ancients, if they killed enough of their line. Thomas was over a thousand years old; no wonder the Ancients wanted the blood hunter killed. If the blood hunter killed Thomas, he would be unstoppable.   

“Ari, you said
he
before,” said Ryder, looking at Ari.

“Yes!” Ari said suddenly, feeling stupid that she had forgotten such a crucial detail from her vision. “I saw masculine hands; it was defiantly a guy.”

“If he hurts her, I am going to kill him,” said Thomas, taking his time to enunciate each syllable.

“Not by yourself you’re not,” said Clyde.

“You’ll need us all,” Patrick added.

“I think we will need more than just the five of us, especially if this blood hunter is as powerful as the Ancients think he is,” said Ragon, turning to face Ari and then Clyde. “If it were a simple matter of getting a handful of vamps together, the Ancients could have organised that themselves. But maybe we can get others on our side. Surely the witches wouldn’t be happy about a blood hunter gaining power. And the waeres hate vampires all together. What do you think our chances are, of getting a wraith, waere and a witch to help us? Surely the blood hunter won’t see that coming.”

Chapter 25 – The Curse

“What do you mean
the five of us
?” Ari asked Ragon, as they raced back towards Omega Halls; Clyde had remained behind at the Three Prong Trek to meet with Riley.

“Let me see,” Ragon said sarcastically, “Thomas, Clyde, Ryder, Patrick and me… that makes five!”

“I think you are forgetting me?” said Ari, trying to keep up with Thomas’s fast pace.

“No, I think I would remember you if I wanted to,” Ragon shot back.

“Well just try and stop me,” said Ari. “And if you do I will stop you, time and time again, until you realise that there is no point in arguing with me.”

“Besides,” said Thomas, avoiding making eye contact with Ragon, “it would be a huge advantage to have Ari with us. The Ancients after all were prepared to elicit Ariana’s help in destroying the blood hunter; clearly they have confidence in her abilities.”

“An un-trained and out of control girl, who has no idea what her powers are or even how to use them,” said Ragon, looking at Thomas with slitted eyes. “They only asked for her help because they don’t realise that she has no control over her abilities.”

“Yes, an un-trained and out of control girl, who managed to take out the triad,” supplied Ari.

“And almost kill all of us whenever you get angry and decide to burst into sunshine,” said Ragon, glaring at Ari.

“Which thankfully I have not done,” said Ari.

“Yet,” Ragon added, clearly wanting to have the last word.

“You’re going to need my help to get Lea and Chris to join in on this rescue mission, and they won’t help unless I ask,” Ari said, stoping dead in her tracks with her hands on her hips. “So unless you want it to really just be the five of you, then I suggest you stop treating me like a child. The ancients asked me to take this monster down for a reason! Look, Ragon,” she added, reaching for his hand, “please just trust me. I know I can help. I love Sandra and Thomas as much as you. I don’t want to sit back and do nothing. I know you think of me as some sort of fragile doll, but I’m not. Please, please just trust me.”

Ari looked around at all the eyes that stared back at her, in a mixture of surprise and awe. Thomas it seemed had been particularly moved by her speech.

Ragon, who was still holding her hand, swept her closer to him and said in a whisper, apparently wishing they were alone, “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I do. I just can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you.”

“And how do you think I feel? You’ve always thought that your love is greater than mine. Like, because I’m human, I can’t love you the same amount.”

“Your humanity is what I love about you,” he whispered. “But you can’t deny that it makes you, more, fragile.”

“You need to stop seeing me like that. There are powers inside me, powers which mean that I can look after myself, especially against vampires. I don’t know why I have these gifts, but it feels like I am supposed to use them. And if I can’t use them to protect the people I love, then what good are they?”

“It’s funny…” said Ragon, squeezing her hand still tighter, “it’s funny that you believe I think I love you more. Being human, your capacity to love is so much greater than mine. It’s one of the things I have always feared, that no matter how much I care, it will never be enough.”

“Well then, maybe you shouldn’t compare your feelings to mine. Maybe you should just accept that they are the same. I would never tell you not to fight this battle, even though you are younger than Thomas, even though you are no match for the blood hunter. I know that it would kill you to stay behind, even though it would mean that you are safe. You aren’t the sort of person to do nothing, not when your friends need you. That’s why I love you. That’s why I know that vampires can love. But together, all of us, we stand a chance. Please don’t push me aside because you are afraid for me.”  

“God Ari,” said Ragon, kissing her once on the lips, “you make me so crazy.”

“I told you she was head strong,” said Thomas, smiling admiringly over at Ari.

“Head strong, completely irrational, forceful, absolutely unpredictable… and the girl of my dreams,” Ragon replied, just as Ari beamed up at him.

No more was said after that; there had been a silent agreement that Ari would join the group to fight, one that she was not going to argue with. The group rushed back to campus, hoping to get Lea and Chris’s help.

“Ok,” Ari said, ten minutes later; she was standing outside of Lea’s dorm room, while the rest of the vampire’s crowded around in the narrow hall, “seeing as Lea is a witch and you guys are kind of like natural enemies, why don’t you let me do the talking. It didn’t exactly end well last time we all got together.”

Ari glanced over at the large mirror that hung between Lea’s door on the first floor and the stairs; in it she could see Thomas’s reflection. He was ghostly looking, his face a mixture of deepest loathing and uncontainable anger.

“On second thoughts,” she added, “perhaps I should talk to her alone. I’ll meet you back in Cruor halls.”

After that Ari waited for the group to leave. When she was finally alone, she paced back and forth outside Lea’s door for a moment, trying to get her head straight. She had not spoken with Lea since the morning after Riley had been attacked by Bridget. She and Lea had fought on that occasion. As she remembered the tense conversation with Lea in the bathroom, Ari sighed. Lea was not happy with her and she knew it. The very last thing she wanted was to ask for help… especially when the help she needed involved vampires, and not just any vampire- a blood hunter. Hanging her head and knowing she had no other choice, Ari knocked on Lea’s door.

“Come in,” Lea replied, holding her door open until she realised who it was. “Oh… it’s you.”

“I need your help,” said Ari, standing awkwardly in the hallway.

“What?” Lea asked, folding her arms across her chest. “You need me to help resuscitate a baby vampire? Or perhaps you want me to lend you a rope so you can hang yourself with it? I’m not interes-”

“-Lea wait,” Ari cried, leaping forwards and jutting her foot out, so that it blocked the door before Lea could slam it shut on her, “this isn’t just about me. There’s a blood hunter on campus and… and it’s got Sandra.”

At the phase
blood hunter
, Lea’s grip on the door slackened. When she pulled the door open, her eyes were wide and her face was broken in a shadowy frown.

“A blood hunter; but if it already has Sandra, then it’s probably killed her.”

Only the slightest trace of remorse was audible in Lea’s words and Ari hung to this thought as she begged her for help.

“No,” said Ari, “they don’t want Sandra; they want to exchange her for Thomas.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Ari replied. “The blood hunter contacted Thomas and we think that he also killed Victoria, who was Thomas’s fledgling.”

“Oh God! Blood hunters are ruthless and if it has already killed off some of its line, there is no knowing how powerful they will be. I don’t know if ordinary vampires will be able to do anything to stop it.”

Ari looked down. This was what she had been afraid of. Why else would the Ancients have asked for her help?

“That’s why we thought if we had five vampires, some waeres, and a witch, we might stand a chance,” said Ari, looking sheepishly at Lea.

“You’re seriously are asking me to help you after last time?”

Ari nodded her head, fighting the urge to remind Lea that she had said she wanted to protect her.

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” said Ari. “And… and I know how you feel about vampires, and maybe your right about some of them. But Sandra is a friend. She came half way across the world to protect me and I have to help her. Besides, isn’t it a witches’ job to protect the innocent?”

“Sandra is hardly innocent.”

“No, but Thomas will do anything to save her. If it comes to it, he will sacrifice himself for her. Thomas is over a thousand years old; if the blood hunter kills him, there will be no stopping him. Then there will be a blood hunter loose on the campus.”

Lea took in a deep breath and exhaled. She seemed to be thinking hard, her nostrils flaring widely as she considered Ari.

“What do you want me to do?” Lea said finally. “I won’t be able to get any of the circle to help; they aren’t exactly talking to me.”  

Ari couldn’t help but be curious about this. Before, when Lea had mentioned a
circle
, she hadn’t really known what she was talking about. Clearly a circle referred to a group of witches, kind of like Ragon’s coven and the members who stood by him. If that were the case, it meant that the people who Lea trusted had shunned her. Ari felt a pang of guilt at this; it was after all, her fault that Emily and the other witches on campus had turned their backs on Lea. But she couldn’t worry about that right now; she needed Lea’s help.

“What do you know about blood hunters?” asked Ari.

Lea frowned.

“Lea,” Ari said, “we have to stop him.”

Lea was still frowning, though she stood and moved over to her book shelf and said, “I need you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone else- especially any vampires, what I am about to tell you.”

Immediately Ari thought of Ragon. She knew that it would be hard for her to keep secrets from him; hadn’t she just learnt that lesson with Chris? This thought wrestled with her conscious, until the image of Sandra being tortured flashed back to her and she nodded her head slowly.

“This is a huge family secret; I need more than your word,” said Lea, seeing Ari’s hesitation.

“Um ok?” said Ari, looking at Lea with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Do you want me to leave my spleen as a deposit?”

“I wouldn’t even tell you this, but… I don’t know how to explain it; it’s like I know I am supposed to help you,” she said, clearly wanting to impress the importance of this secret.

“How can I make you trust me? You defiantly can’t have my spleen.”

“There is a spell I can do, one that will bind you to keep this secret,” said Lea.

“Will it hurt?” asked Ari, thinking that a splenectomy might be the less painful option.

“I’m a witch, not a monster,” said Lea, smiling as she leaned over to Ari and placed her hand just above her heart.  

“That’s fairly close to sexual harassment,” said Ari, slightly surprised as she looked down at Lea’s hand which was placed just above her left breast.

“It’s not harassment if you do the same to me,” said Lea, taking Ari’s hand.

Under her fingertips, Ari could feel the rhythmic pounding of Lea’s heart, like the dull beating of a drum, which meshed with the fluttering sound of her own heart. Lea looked up at her and Ari let a small smile spread across her face, uncertain of what else to do. Lea closed her eyes and whispered something under her breath.

“
Celo
,” she said.

The moment Lea spoke, thick white smoke poured from her mouth, almost as if she was smoking a cigarette. Ari watched the smoke in confusion. It looked oddly solid, and when Ari breathed in, it rushed at her, jutting past her mouth so that it cascaded down into her chest. She coughed for a moment, fighting for breath against the urge to gag, and then everything felt normal.

Both girls sat facing each other and soon Ari noticed something odd. No longer were hers and Lea’s hearts beating at their own unique pace, but now they sounded together, as if they had become succinct. She could hear their heart beat loudly, much louder than normal, as if she were listening to it with a stethoscope.

“This spell will stop you from telling anyone else what I’m about to tell you,” said Lea.

Still with her hand pressed against Ari’s heart, Lea looked over to her large mahogany wardrobe. Ari followed her line of sight and watched as Lea squinted; slowly the rickety wooden door opened, and a thick book glided down to where they sat.

“This,” Lea said, indicating the book, “is my book of light.”

“Your… what?”

“My book of light,” said Lea. “It is kind of like a diary for witches; it contains all our spells and details of my family’s magical history.”