Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (49 page)

As soon as everyone had clambered inside, Ryder looked down the dark tunnel and said, “It usually takes about half an hour to get there.”

“What?” Ragon growled. “We don’t have half an hour.”

Clyde smiled, turning his lips up at the corner as he said, “I think this is where we come in,” and he quickly reached over to Riley, threw her onto his back and began racing down the pitch black tunnel.

Patrick moved over to Lea, bowed once and held his hand out before Lea gingerly accepted. In one quick motion he swung her into a fireman’s carry and raced after Clyde.

“There is no way that I’m getting on your back,” Chris said, when Ryder had moved over to him. “Race you there!”

Chris smiled but this was almost instantly replaced with a grimace as he fell to the floor, writhing in pain. The sound of cracking bones and skin tearing filled the small passageway as Chris transformed. A second later a long low howl ripped through the tunnel, bouncing off the dense brick walls and reverberating around them.  

“Subtle,” Ragon muttered, lifting Ari into a warm embrace as he too began running.

Ari smiled as she saw Ryder trying to keep up with Chris; his hands were scratching against the brickwork, clearly desperate to win the race. Ryder always was competitive.

When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, there was a winding staircase that led to a landing, which Ari knew would reveal a small, one man trap door, that would take them to the second level of the library. Ryder was bent over clasping at his knees, while Chris panted heavily besides him, still in his husky form.

“You seriously got beaten by a mutt?” said Clyde, clasping a heavy hand against Ryder’s back. “That’s embarrassing.”

There was a low growl from Chris, until Riley moved over and leant down to pat him on the head.

“Let’s all try to play nice,” she said. “Besides, you didn’t seem to mind me when I was in
mutt
form.”

Clyde nodded dumbly and Ryder gaped at him in disbelief, muttering things like, “whipped,” and “under the thumb,” under his breath.

It was then, as Riley and Clyde joked together, that Ari wondered whether or not Riley knew that Chris was not a waere but a wraith. Ari stared at Riley’s expression as she patted the giant husky, trying to detect any hint of resentment or animosity, but there was nothing. Perhaps Riley was not as anti-wraith as the rest of the waeres in her pack? She had certainly taken a shining to Clyde, and waeres were supposed to hate vampires. Then again, perhaps Riley didn’t know about Chris? Well, now certainly wasn’t the time for that conversation. They needed everyone; one person might be the difference between victory and defeat.

“It’s this way,” said Ryder, climbing up the staircase and waiting for the rest of the group to join him on the landing. “The library is right through here,” he added in a whisper, pointing to the man hole above him.

“Right,” Ragon replied, also keeping his voice low, “everyone be quiet and stick together.”

Ragon was the first to climb up, helping the others as they thrust their arms into the air, until all eight of them were standing on the second level of the library. A strange noise caught Ari’s attention and she glanced back down through the man hole, thinking for a moment that she had seen movement below. The overwhelming sense that they were being followed settled in her mind, and she recalled how she had heard something strange in the forest when they had been waiting for the blood hunter’s call. She was just about to make mention of this, when a sudden scream captured everyone’s attentions and without thinking twice, Ari moved to the edge of the dark wooden banisters, peering down at the lower level of the library.

Large wooden bookshelves were lined up like dominos, each filled with many volumes of different sized books. There were 3 people on the first level; Sandra lay on the floor, bound by thick ropes that twisted around her hands and ankles. Thomas was a few metres away from her, knelt down on his knees as he stared at her unblinkingly, one hand stretched out, seemingly unable to reach her. And a tall man stood with his back to the group, a long dagger placed against Sandra’s heart.

“Thomas. NO!” Sandra yelled, her voice drained and pathetic, but desperate at the same time.

In response a loud cackle met everyone’s ears.

“I see you bought friends,” said the man who laughed. “This party is invitation only.”

Ari gasped; the man holding the blade had turned around to face them. She knew exactly who the blood hunter was; Professor Jack Phillips, the vice chancellor of the Pasteur Institute.

“What the hell?” Ragon said, glaring down at Jack in disbelief.

“Well, seeing that you’re all here I might as well explain the rules; one move and she dies,” said Jack, inching the dagger closer to Sandra’s chest.  

“Take it easy,” said Patrick, just as Thomas’s clenched fist smashed into the ground next to him, while his other hand stretched out even further for Sandra.

“I said don’t move,” yelled Jack, glaring at Thomas; at the same time he dipped the blade lovingly into Sandra’s skin, so that beads of red blood blossomed around the tip.  

“What do you want?” Ragon asked from atop the banister, and once again cool manic laughter rebounded around them.

Everyone was still, not daring to move as they waited for the laughter to die down.

“You know what I want; don’t play games with me,” said Jack, looking up at Ragon before his hungry eyes fell on Thomas. “Sacrifice yourself and this all ends now. Sandra and your friends can still walk away.”

“You think you can take us all on?” asked Clyde.

Judging by the look of indifferent curiosity on Jack’s face, the fact that there were reinforcements did not seem to bother him in the slightest. Ari watched as Jack smiled up at Clyde with evil eyes, glancing first at him and then at Riley, who he was standing protectively in front of.

Ari knew it was now or never and she inched towards Lea, winking as she neared the staircase that would lead to the first floor. At the same time Lea moved purposefully towards the opposite stairway also, careful to put as much distance between them, so that Ari’s freeze would not be able to work on her.

“Seriously?” said Jack, looking from Lea and over to Ari in disbelief, “you bought mortals to fight a vampire’s battle? I am a blood hunter; if you can’t beat me what chance do humans have? Though I must admit your source did come in handy. After I found out from Victoria that Thomas was her maker, I knew the best way to get to him, was through his fledgling. I lulled Ari’s professor so that he would let her do the re-sit in my office. It was the easiest thing in the world, confiscating her phone during the exam so that I could find out where Sandra was. I was worried you see; I had been expecting to take Sandra during the meeting I called, but she never showed up. When I found her bound near the farm… it was almost too easy.”

And just like that it all made sense; how could Ari have been so stupid? The band-aid on Dr Boringer’s neck; it had been to cover up a bite. Jack had bitten him and then lulled him.

“You killed Victoria?” said Thomas, his eyes wide.

Jack nodded and laughed.

“But, she must have made you,” said Thomas. “How could you?”

“How could I?” Jack asked sarcastically. “Victoria gave me immortality… but I want more. Times are changing; only the strong vampires will rein in the new world. I will not be a mindless slave to the Ancients. They thought by sending me here I would be a pawn in their plan, but I had plans of my own. They never dreamed that I was the blood hunter they sought.”

Mindless slave… a new world; what was he talking about. Ari had barely enough time to think about this before she saw Lea begin to descend the stairs. Lea was shaking, her hand slowly reaching behind her, feeling for the hilt of the knife that Thomas had given her. Moving in sync with Lea, Ari descended the opposite staircase.  

“What are you hoping?” asked Jack, looking at Lea with his head tilted. “That I will get distracted and eat her?”

“I am not a sacrificial lamb,” said Lea, holding her chin up high as she glanced across the room at Ari.

Ari was hopeful. So far the plan was working; Jack clearly did not consider Lea or Ari a threat. When Ari was at the last step she positioned herself, ready to freeze time. She was just about to throw her hands up when a sudden wind rushed near her and she looked wildly around to see Lea, glaring at Jack. Lea’s hair was wild, wiping across her face as if a whirlwind surrounded her. There was a crackle of electricity, not unlike the same one that had surrounded Lea’s grandmother. At the same time the blade in Jack’s hand wavered, as if there was an external force trying to pull it away.

Jack struggled with the blade in his hand but then high cruel laughter filled the room, just as the electricity fizzed and died.

“You bought a witch and a weak one at that!” said Jack, regaining his composure as he glared at Lea.

“Be careful,” said Ari, looking at Lea with cautious eyes; clearly Lea’s magic was no match for the blood hunter.

“You should listen to the source,” said Jack, staring at Ari for the first time.

Ari was furious; she advanced on Jack, moving towards him in an instant and throwing her hands up to stop time. She felt the force of her power echo around her, like sonar bouncing off objects. When she looked around and saw that everyone was frozen, fear immediately gripped her. Her eyes fell desperately at Lea, frozen still with her hands behind her back. Ari’s face fell; why had Lea frozen? She was standing further away than anything Ari had frozen before; it didn’t make sense, not unless her powers were growing? Thinking of Riley, Ari stared up at the second floor landing where the girl stood behind Clyde and saw, with a pang of horror that she had frozen also.

“Riley,” Ari yelled, hoping to get the girls attention, but Riley did not move, rather she stared off into the distance with a glassy expression on her face.

What did this mean? Did her freeze work on waeres if they were in their human form but not their animal one? Looking around at the rest of the rescue party on the second floor, Ari thought they looked odd, like statues in a cemetery; all of their eyes were empty and staring blankly. She was on her own.

Not pausing to reconsider, Ari stormed towards Jack, knelt down and tried desperately to move Sandra out from underneath the blade that was hovered above her heart. She was pushing with all her might but it was no good, Sandra would not budge. Setting her sights a little lower, Ari stared at the blade in Jack’s outstretched hand. Wincing slightly at the thought of touching him, she reached out and began trying to pull the blade so that it was no longer in contact with Sandra. She was finally making progress, having managed to move the blade a few inches, when a noise stopped her dead in her tracks and she screamed.

“What - are - you?” Jack said sluggishly, his unfocused eyes moving very slowly so as to look at her.

“How are you fighting it?” asked Ari, looking up at him in horror; he was not entirely unfrozen, but slowed down, as if he was in slow motion.

From the lack of movement behind her, Ari knew that everyone else was still frozen; so how was Jack fighting against her power? As the seconds dragged on, his strength began to return, and Ari clambered away desperately. Before she could reach the start of the stairs however, she felt something slow but powerful hit her and she glided through the room, landing heavily against the wall of the building before slumping down on the floor.

Almost at the same time her freeze wore off, and a loud howl tore through the library, just as Chris jumped from the banister, bearing his fangs menacingly at Jack. 

“No,” Ari cried, but it was too late.

Already the dog was fighting with the blood hunter and before Ragon and the rest of the coven could join in, Ari watched as Chris was thrown through the room also, landing in a crumpled heap next to her. Quickly the rest of the coven leapt from the banister, each flinging their bodies from the landing, ready for battle. But Ari couldn’t spare them her thoughts; her sole attention lay with Chris.

She knew from the way Chris had fallen that he was badly injured. His paws had not jolted out to protect his head, and he had fallen heavily against a bookshelf as many pages serenaded him, falling silently around his motionless form.

“Chris,” she yelled, using all her strength to inch towards him.

She could see a large puddle of dark blood forming around his head and staining his silver fur. When she reached him, she lifted his muzzle so that she could cradle his head in her lap. Warm sticky blood seeped through the thick weave of her denim jeans. For a moment Chris’s light blue eyes focused on hers, but then his pupils widened and he stared at her unblinking. A familiar snapping noise resonated from his body, and Ari watched as the dog began to transform back into a man. Where every other time she had heard him scream or howl when he shifted, this time there was only silence, bar the crunching noise of bone and sinew remodelling.