Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (16 page)

“
Lateral and long digital extensor
,” Chris coughed under his breath.

Lisa, who had been laughing at Ari’s incompetence, suddenly frowned.

“Err… lateral digital extensor and long digital extensor?” Ari said casually.

The tutor nodded, looking at Chris with narrowed eyes before turning to Rick and asking him a question.  As soon as class finished that afternoon, Ari was running towards Cruor Halls. Her mind was exhausted and her body starving, but the prospect of seeing Ragon and hearing if he had found anything in the vampire chronicles, spurred her on.

“Wow, see you have been redecorating,” she said, the moment she entered his room.   

The large four poster bed was now covered in elaborate sheets and a very flush looking quilt with matching pillows. Opposite this was a mahogany desk, which looked to be the twin to the one in Ari’s room, and was also equipped with an apple laptop and printer. As Ari made her way across the room, she walked over a fluffy rug.

“You like?” Ragon asked.    

Ari nodded enthusiastically, lying back against the soft sheets of his bed and resting her head on one of the many pillows. Ragon moved over and intertwined their fingers together, pulling her closer to him. As soon as she was close enough, he leant in and kissed her. 

“I had the worst day,” she said, breaking away from his kiss a little earlier than normal.

“It’s going to take time for you to adjust,” said Ragon, sitting behind her and massaging her shoulders. “But I know you; you won’t give up until you have the whole class begging you for help.”

Ari snorted, thinking of Lisa and knowing that the only way she would ask Ari for help, would be to
help
Ari out of her prac group. She was just about to suggest sarcastically that Ragon lull Lisa out of the Pasteur Institute, when there was a knock on Ragon’s door.

“Hello; knock, knock.”

Ari jumped to her feet, thinking from the feminine tone that it was Sandra, and flung the door open. There was a huge smile on her face which faltered the moment she stared back at the beautiful stranger. The girl standing in the door frame was tall and beautiful, with long blonde hair that swept down to her waist and small brown eyes that were covered in a thick layer of eye liner.

“Um… hi,” Ari stuttered in surprise, her face falling.

“Oh, sorry,” the girl said, pushing past Ari so as to speak to Ragon, “I didn’t realise you were eating.”

Ari turned to face Ragon, her eyebrows raised.

“Or did I get the time wrong? I thought we were going to go over the journals you found?” she said.  

“Ari, this is Bridget; we were partnered together for a research project this year,” said Ragon, quickly jumping off the bed and looking extremely awkward.

“And I am Ariana,” said Ari, then in her best sarcastic voice added, “the meal ticket. Well, sorry to disturb you master. I’ll come back later shall I… when you’re hungry?”

After that Ari walked purposefully through the door, past Bridget and towards the grand staircase that serviced all the levels. Ari was fuming. So that was why Ragon had accidently on purpose not mentioned who his thesis partner was; she was a vampire super model. 

She hadn’t quite made it to the landing when she felt someone grip her elbow and spun around to see Ragon.

“Wait, where are you going?” he asked. 

“I don’t want to get in the way of your research; besides aren’t you full?”

Her words had the desired effect; immediately Ragon slacked his grip and Ari’s elbow fell to her side.

“How can you think that?” he whispered, his eyes portraying a look of deepest betrayal.

It was amazing how one look from those gorgeous green eyes had Ari believing that she was the bad guy.

“Well Bridget does,” she replied coolly.

“I told you that
my kind
don’t date humans; offcourse she would think you were my source.”

“Well I didn’t hear you correcting her,” she jeered.

“Because I don’t want…” he began to say but quickly broke off, shaking his head as he added in a whisper, “we have discussed this. You know my reasons for-”

“-yea, well, you’re doing a really good job of convincing them and me that you don’t care,” she said quickly, already moving down the stairs.

Ragon did not call after her, nor did he follow her. She knew that this was his way of protecting her but she didn’t care, not after the day she’d had with Lisa. There was just something entirely infuriating about Bridget and her stupid perfect blonde hair that made Ari incredibly jealous.

Throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, Ari decided to go to the cafeteria, thinking perhaps that she could drown her misery in saturated fats.

As she walked through the double doors that led to the cafeteria, Ari realised that she hadn’t even remembered to ask Ragon if they had found anything out about the Grandor Legend.  

“Alright if I grab something quickly?” asked Ari, waving her student card in the air, to a lady who was beginning to clear up the self service area.

“We shut in half an hour,” the woman replied, not stopping in her removal of the empty dishes from the hot plates.

Choosing the first things she saw, Ari served up a heaped plate of some sort of noodle dish and a few end pieces of garlic bread, then moved to one of the empty tables. She was still fuming about Bridget and Lisa and didn’t notice at first when a girl moved over to her, sitting down in the opposite chair.  

“You’re new around here, aren’t you?” the girl said, pulling her long wavy red hair up into a high pony. “I’m Lea.”

Lea was tall and thin, with high set cheek bones and small brown eyes. Her red wavy hair stood out against her pale skin, and there were a few spots on her face that looked like the reminiscence of acne.

“Um yea, my name is Ariana, but everyone calls me Ari.

“Where you from?” asked Lea.

“Australia. You?”

Though Ari had only been in England a short time, she was certain from Lea’s accent that she was not from around here.

“Massachusetts; can’t you tell from my accent? Most of the girls around here notice it straight away,” said Lea, giving Ari the feeling that there was some sort of unspoken rivalry between the American and UK students. “My parents weren’t too happy when I told them I wanted to study in the Isle of Man, but what can you do? There is a pretty killer Ancient Civilisation course here. So what do you think of the food? It isn’t too bad, though there isn’t much vego selection.”

“You’re vegetarian?”

“Yep” Lea replied. “So what are you here for?”

Ari looked up, startled by the question; did Lea know something about why the coven had travelled here?

“I’m doing a bachelor of arts, majoring in ancient civilisations,” Lea added, her mouth half full of roast pumpkin. 

“Oh… vet science. So where in Massachusetts are you from?”

Before Lea sat down, Ari had been toying with her noodle dish and mulling over her fight with Ragon, but now that she had someone to talk to, she was eating enthusiastically. Lea was so entirely opposite to Lisa and Bridget, and she revealed in the girl’s company. Lea was a nice normal girl; the first she’d met in a while. In fact, in a way she reminded Ari of Sandra, or at least what Sandra use to be like- conversational.

“Marblehead,” said Lea, then recognising the blank look on Ari’s face, added, “it’s a coastal area, not very big, mostly fishing families.”

The two girls continued to talk like this for nearly twenty minutes, until the kitchen hand came to bustle them out of the cafeteria. Ari was surprised how well she got on with Lea. Even at the university back home, where she was not considered an outsider, she had problems making friends. A lot of girls found her natural beauty threatening, while many of the guys were either intimidated by her or else just plain jerks. The fact that Ari had grown up as an orphan did not help her abandonment issues, and so she never went out of her way to form connections with people, just in case they disappointed her.

The pair walked back to Omega halls, chatting animatedly, until Lea waved goodbye, pointing to the second door on the first level and saying, “Well if you ever need anything, or want to hang out, just come say hi.”  

Ari smiled and began her accent up the stairs, pleased to have made a new friend that Ragon couldn’t possible feel jealous of.

When she got back to her room, Ari wasn’t surprised to find Ragon waiting for her. He was sitting cross legged on her bed, his eyes closed as he hummed tunelessly to himself. The second Ari saw him she couldn’t help but smile. It was damn near impossible for her to stay mad at him for long; something which infuriated her.

“Oh hey,” she said, swinging her bag onto the desk and plopping down into a chair.

She was trying hard to keep up the rouse of anger; all she really wanted to do was jump into his arms.  

“I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to you,” he said, moving from the bed and sitting on the edge of her desk as he traced a hand adoringly along Ari’s face. “About Bridget-”

“-oh you mean your thesis partner. Why didn’t you just tell me you had been placed with a blonde bombshell?”

Ragon sighed, then smiling moved to reach for Ari’s dark hair as he said, “I’ve never really liked blondes. Just didn’t seem important to mention her hair colour.”

Ari scoffed; Ragon could be so charming. Still she thought, trying to reassure herself, it wasn’t like Ragon had chosen Bridget as a partner. At least now he couldn’t be angry with her for being in a lab group with Chris.

“I’m sorry,” she admitted, her resolve quaking.

“You don’t have to apologise. Just try to remember that everything I do or say around other vampires is not how I feel. I have to act like you are my source. If I stuff up, if I let them think that I care…”

“I know,” said Ari, leaving her chair as she reached up to kiss him. “It’s just…
you
have to remember also that I’m human and, and that sometimes I act like a stupid human. I don’t mean to, but something my emotions just get the better of me.”

“Those emotions are why I love you.”

“Really, even when I storm off or escape through windows and stuff?” asked Ari, laughing lightly.

“Especially when you storm off! The windows… not so much!”

“Right, so yes to storming off and no to window escapes,” said Ari. “Oh, and I forgot to ask, did you find anything out about the Grandor constellation?”

“No; at this stage google knows more about it than we do. But there are literally a tonne of books to go through, maybe more; apparently vamps have been keeping records for ages. Odd, you’d think they would have something better to do with all their time.”

“And what about what happened with Sandra and…” Ari’s voice trailed off; she couldn’t bring herself to say Greg’s name, somehow that would make it all real.

“Thomas has taken care of it.”

Ari sighed and moved over to her wardrobe, retrieving a pair of cuddly pyjamas. She had just removed her clothes from the day when she felt Ragon behind her.

“You know,” he said, reaching for her pyjamas and placing them back into her cupboard, “I bought the electric blanket for a reason.”

Ari smiled, moved over to the bed and touched it frowning.

“But it’s turned off?” she said, thinking that she hadn’t switched it off.

“I thought we might find another way to keep you warm tonight,” said Ragon, a broad grin creeping across his face.

Chapter 8 – A Canine Friend

The first week the Coven spent at the Pasteur Institution passed by quickly, and though Sandra had killed someone and Ari was finding it difficult to come to grips with this, the remainder of the week’s events had been relatively benign in comparison. Ari had spent a lot of her time catching up with the first 3 weeks of class she had missed. Fortunately she had Chris to help her with that. At first she had been surprised at how well she had gotten on with him, but their friendship had grown so quickly that Ari no longer saw him as a new acquaintance; rather it felt as if they were old friends. And it wasn’t just Chris that she had grown close to but Lea also. In a way, Lea had replaced the void that Sandra had left. The pair studied together in the library, ate at the mess hall and would often watch cheesy television series late at night in the Omega common room.

Unfortunately, Ari could not say that she had found the same comforting friendship with Bridget and Lisa. Lisa spent the majority of her time reminding Ari that she had started the semester late and was behind. Whenever questions were asked in class, Lisa made a point of answering them, or else whispering the answer under her breath, always just loud enough for Ari to hear and feel inferior. Ariana had never been the sort of student who had to always be right, in fact, as long as she passed her exams she didn’t really care what grade she got, but having Lisa constantly show off her knowledge was beginning to become a real pain in the ass. This was made even more frustrating by the fact that it was now the 5
^th
week in the semester, meaning that mid-semester exams were right around the corner, something which Ari was feeling severely underprepared for.

Though Ari would have liked to have spent her free time with Ragon, this was not always possible. He was so busy with his thesis that Ari often had to contend with sitting in the shadows while he and Bridget discussed their research. In the end the spiteful remarks from Bridget about Ragon’s choice in sources was enough to drive Ari crazy and she often left the two alone. Whenever this happened, a wave of jealously would swamp Ari, and she was usually so distracted by her thoughts of the pair cozing up to each other, that she found it impossible to concentrate on anything else.     

Then there was always her other problem; the coven had unearthed no information what so ever about the Grandor constellation, Mary Grandor, or any mention of a human capable of resisting a vampires lull. What with Ragon spending so much time with Bridget, and Thomas trying to keep Sandra under control, Clyde, Patrick and Ryder had taken it on themselves to search the vampire chronicles.   

It was a Tuesday and Lisa had just shoved her previous week’s quiz results in Ari’s face, but not before snatching Ari’s results and making sure that they were lower than her own.

“Maybe you should get some of the lectures to help you,” Lisa suggested sympathetically. “You obviously aren’t keeping up.”

Ari rolled her eyes and reached valiantly for her exam paper.

Lisa, who had been ready for this, pulled the paper away and added, “Or do you have a problem with you know… reading and writing? Maybe you’re dyslexic?”

AT that point a vision of freezing Lisa and chopping off her stupid fringe popped into Ari’s head, but she shook her head and held her hand out expectantly. 

“Don’t worry about Lisa,” Chris whispered, retrieving Ari’s paper and returning it. “You got better than me anyway. Besides, you can’t be upset on a day like today. It’s sunny, like sunshine is actually glowing down from the heavens. God I love days like this. It’s almost always overcast here.”   

Ari smiled in reply but didn’t answer, rather stepped outside from their lecture theatre and basked in the warm glow that met her face. The tall conifers that lined the campus seemed to wilt in the unusual weather, while the student body were revitalised by it. Most of her classmates had shed their usual coats and scarfs and were flaunting shorts and loose tops. Uncharacteristically for the Isle of Man, it was a sunny day; though this had the effect of lightening Ari’s mood considerably, it also meant that Ragon and the rest of the vampires in Cruor halls had to stay indoors today; a fact which Chris had not failed to notice.

“Didn’t see your boyfriend with you at breakfast this morning,” he said, as the pair walked from their last class for the day.

“Yea… no, he isn’t feeling well,” said Ari.

This was the first time that Chris had mentioned Ragon since the night of the traffic light dance. Remembering that night, Ari looked down and was pleased to see that the band-aid which had adorned Chris’s wrist for most of the week had been removed. Two small pinprick scars shone back at her, and she was happy that Chris had not only recovered but also could no longer be controlled by Ragon. Ragon had told Ari ages ago that the ability of a vampire to lull their victims only lasted a certain amount of time, depending on how strong the vampire was. He had gone on to explain that for him this control lasted about a week. 

“You heading up to dinner soon?” Chris asked.

Ari didn’t feel hungry. She was still thinking of the night of the traffic light dance, or more specifically, about Sandra. 

“I think I will try catch up with a friend. Might see you there later,” she said, waving goodbye as she pulled out her phone, intent on speaking with Sandra.

“Alright,” said Chris, moving towards the cafeteria, “I might see if I can persuade the lunch lady to let me have some afternoon tea; I’m starving. All these exam results are making me hungry.”

Ari smiled and waved him goodbye, retrieving her phone as she did so. She hadn’t seen Sandra at all since their first night on campus. Thomas had said that she wasn’t feeling up to talking to anyone. Walking absentmindedly through the campus, Ari tried calling Sandra. After several rings however it became apparent that she wasn’t going to answer and so Ari sent her a text instead:

‘Hey, want to watch a movie?’

There was nothing sinister about watching a movie; how could Sandra say no? Almost as soon as this thought crossed her Ari’s however, she received a text back:

‘Sorry can’t- just about to go hunting. It should be dark soon. Been stuck inside all day :(’

Ari sighed. Looking up from her phone, she realised that her doldrums had taken her to a part of the campus she had not been before. Her eyes raked the sky, the warm sun spilling across her face and spurring on her sense of adventure. She’d really only explored the campus with the coven on their first day there. Walking past the main lecture theatre, Ari headed to Delta halls, the only other on-site accommodation for students at the Pasteur Institute, keen to check it out.

She circled the large hall once, instantly becoming delighted in a manmade canal surrounding the southern side. Moving closer she marvelled at the spectacular water lilies balanced atop it; they looked like enormous emerald plates floating above the icy water. These were eclipsed by a few ducks which waddled towards the edge and launched into the watery depths, gliding along the water and casting many ripples into the water’s previously still surface.

Moving to follow the raft of ducks which had disappeared underneath a bridge, she found a hidden stone path that wound down a valley. The path seemed to go on for ages, as far as the eye could see, finally swallowed up by an enormous forest which formed at the base of the sloping cliff. Recalling the forest the coven had driven through on their way to the university, Ari realised that this must be where it met the school’s border. The path was not overtly steep and so she began trailing down it, the warm air hitting her face and sending her dark long hair flying in all directions.

The trek down the winding path took longer than Ari had thought. When finally she made it to the bottom, a large shadow was casting its way halfway down the path, borne from the giant forest that grew at the base. From the top of the path, the forest below had looked inviting, but now as she stood before it, a cool breeze pushed past the tall gnarled trees, causing a shiver to run down her arms. There was a large sign at the beginning of the woods that read ‘Three Prong Trek’.

As Ari moved closer to the post, she realised that leading away from it, were three trails. She had almost missed the bare earth that signified these paths; there were thick brambles hanging low and intertwining across them, partly hiding them from view. At first she was tempted to pick a trail and find out where it lead, but it was getting too dark and she wasn’t stupid enough to go wandering around a strange woods on a campus full of vampires. Ari had just turned around so as to make her way back up the path, when she heard a snapping sound from behind. Instantly she whirled around and peered into the dark forest. There was nothing there. Turning back around again, this time a little unnerved, she took in a deep breath and sighed. Hanging out with vampires had made her jumpy. She was laughing at this thought when yet again there was another noise. Turning again, Ari peered into the forest and instantly her heart skipped a beat; staring back at her were two bright hazel coloured eyes. 

The shock of seeing someone or something staring at her was unhinging. Ari didn’t know whether to scream, run, or pretend not to have noticed the eyes that glared back at her. All three options crossed her mind before she finally decided to flee. She had just turned around when something grabbed her from behind, pulling her into the dark forest. Crying out, she spun around to face her attacker. It was a girl who had grabbed her; a short girl with spiky black hair, whose strength was far too great for her to just be a human. Ari wriggled in her attacker’s hands, thinking hopefully of the burning sunshine that was only metres away at the entrance of the forest. Then the girl snarled, exposing two white fangs that dripped with saliva.

In a second Ari’s hand was wrenched from her side so that her wrist was inches away from the vampire’s fangs. Panicked, Ari flung her spare arm up in the air and drew breath into her lungs, preparing to scream. Just as she was about to yell, the vampire became completely still. Bewildered, Ari realised that she had stopped time. Turning around she saw the starved, almost rabid expression frozen on the girl’s face

“Shit,” said Ari, reaching down to try and unwind the frozen fingers that tightly held her hand.

It was no good. Though she scraped and bit at the impervious skin with all her might, it was utterly impossible to move any of the vampire’s fingers. She was just about to scream for help, when she remembered that she still had her phone on her. With her spare hand she reached for it and instantly called Ragon. He answered on the first ring.

“Hello lover,” he said in a sweet voice.

“Ragon… thank God. I went for a walk down near Delta and The Three Prong…” Ari started to say, but before she could say anymore, she felt the vampire’s grip tighten around her wrist, just as her phone was thrown out of her hand; time had restarted again.

For a moment the vampire stared at Ari, her head cocked to one side, a mixture of confusion and contemplation plane on her face. The monster seemed to be considering something, but then beared her fangs again and threw her head towards Ari. A sudden loud bark reverberated through the forest and both girls looked around, temporarily distracted. A second later an enormous dog jumped through the air, its massive paws landing hard against the vampire’s hard chest. The instant the dog made contact with the vampire Ari was released, falling backwards to land heavily onto the forest floor. Scrambling to their feet, both Ari and the vampire stood again, looking around wildly. The dog had moved protectively in front of Ari and was growling at the vampire, his canines beared defensively.

Ari spared a moment to look down at the dog and saw that it was a husky. It had a thick, silver coat that had black tips at the end of each hair. Most striking of all were its piercing light blue eyes, which stood out against its dark fur like a full moon on a starless night. The vampire hissed at the dog, blurring towards it and hitting it hard across the muzzle. Ari watched the hound fling through the air and hit one of the trees lining the forest entrance. A soft yelping noise rose up from where the dog lay and without thinking, Ari raced towards it, her heart hammering in her chest.

Before she had made it to him however, the vampire had blurred over to her and hit her hard in the back of the head. Ari crumpled to the ground, falling next to the dog, her head rested on its back, whose soft fur acted like a pillow. Small bursts of light blurred her vision, until the dark silhouette of the vampire stood above her, casting a large shadow across where Ari and the dog lay.

“Filthy mutt,” hissed the vampire, bending down low with her hand curled, ready to strike.

Ari didn’t hesitate, quickly she stood and began punching and kicking the vampire anywhere she could. Though her fighting did not injure, it had the desired effect; the vampire turned away from the dog and refocused its attention on Air.