by Bell Stoires
Tiptoeing around the house, Ari searched for the kitchen. She was just about to move up to the second level, when she realised that there was a door underneath the stairs; something Ragon had not mentioned during her tour of the house. Moving purposefully towards it, she stretched out her hand, ready to push it open. The moment her fingertips touched the handle however, the door swung open and Ragon emerged. Instantly Ari cowered backwards but not before Ragon had grabbed her roughly by the arm, pushing her away from the door so that she fell backwards.
“Don’t ever go in there,” he yelled, slamming the door shut.
“I… I was just…” Ari stuttered. “I didn’t mean to; I was just looking for something to eat.”
Ragon growled but said no more. Instead he moved along the hallway and towards the living room. With her curiosity peaked, Ari couldn’t help but turn to look back at the hidden room. For an instant she dared to wonder what was beyond the door, but then she raced after him, her rumbling stomach urging her on.
When Ari walked into the living room she found that Ragon was not there. He was standing on the veranda with his back to her, both hands gripping tightly onto the railings as he looked out at the view of the city.
“Thanks for the clothes,” she said casually, moving onto the veranda to join him, as though the past few minutes had not occurred.
Demanding to be released had had little effect so far, so she decided trying another tactic.
This high up, Brisbane city in its entirety was discernible. Ari’s eyes fell on a circle of brightly glowing lights, still twinkling majestically in the distance- the South Bank Ferris-wheel. Though she had never ridden it herself, as a child she’d often watched it rotating from her window in the Grace Valley Orphanage. Opposite this was a large blue beacon, which honed around the city, mimicking a light house. The neon lights of the buildings traced their way throughout the city, with only the Brisbane River punctuating their glow. Still, the river was not black entirely; the reflection of the city lights spilled onto the still water’s surface, giving the usually dirty brown river, an almost rainbow appearance.
“It’s so beautiful up here,” said Ari, mirroring Ragon by placing her hands on the railing as she looked out at the view.
Ragon turned to face her.
“Yeah it is,” he said.
“How long have you owned this place?” she asked, feeling her face blush.
“A little over a day.”
“What?” she asked.
Ragon smiled but did not reply, rather he moved back inside.
The moment she was alone, Ari glanced down from the railings. The ground looked to be at least five metres below, although she couldn’t be sure as it was so dark. She defiantly wasn’t getting out that way.
Moving into the kitchen, she watched Ragon open the fridge, showing her the food he had bought. The moment she looked inside she couldn’t help but smile, and when she looked even closer she burst out laughing. Haphazardly placed items had been piled into the fridge, including many things that clearly shouldn’t have been there; a handful of bagels were in the crisper, a large bag of lettuce in the freezer, while a few loose mushrooms sat in the pantry next to a roast chicken, which was giving off a rancid odour. Clearly Ragon knew as much about humans as she knew about vampires- nothing. Did that mean that he did not eat normal food, only blood?
Fighting the urge to make a joke about this, Ari placed one hand gently over the freezer door and the other hand against her hip.
“Look, it’s really um… thoughtful what you’ve done for me. I am really grateful that you saved me from those guys, but I’m not a pet that you have to look after. I have a life, I have exams-” she began to say, before Ragon interrupted.
“Yes,” he said simply, staring intently back at her. “You have a life, and if you want to keep it, you will stay here.”
Ari blinked a few times, taken aback by his comment.
“What’s going to happen to me if I leave?” she asked.
“I’d rather we didn’t find out,” he replied.
Shaking her head and pacing around the kitchen, Ari said, “Yesterday you said she would find me.”
Ragon looked uneasily, his eyebrows raised. His green eyes darted around the house nervously and then back towards the veranda, as if he were worried he might be overheard.
“You caught that?” he asked.
Ari tapped her foot expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
“Let’s just say that I am not the only vampire in town, and the others that are here have been waiting for me to show a weakness to take advantage of,” he said.
He thought of her as a weakness? Ari couldn’t help but feel confused by his overprotective nature towards her. A few days ago she’d had a crush on him, had watched him as he read silently in library while girls all around him swooned. And yet in the two years that she had been studying vet, Ragon had never so much as talked to her. Sure they had shared a few awkward glances, but he was gorgeous, coveted by almost every girl who set eyes on him; so why was he putting all his efforts on keeping her prisoner? He could have any woman he chose. Why did he want to keep her safe… and from what?
“Why would they care if I am here with you?” she queried.
Ragon eyed her apprehensively, and Ari wondered if she would be reprimanded with beginning her questions with the word why again.
“Many years ago I made a powerful enemy, and they will stop at nothing to get back at me for what I had done. I don’t know exactly how closely they watch me, but I wouldn’t put it past them to have someone keeping an eye on my comings and goings,” he said.
At these words Ari’s eyes widened slightly but then narrowed. Ragon was a vampire; why would he or any other vampire care about her? She was just a girl… just a human girl.
Apparently satisfied that he had warned her sufficiently, Ragon moved out of the kitchen.
“But what about those boys,” Ari said.
Slowly Ragon turned to face her, “What about them?” he asked.
“Well, what’s going to happen? I mean, there dead,” she said, her lip quivering on the last word.
“There will be a funeral. People will cry. Everyone will say what perfect little angels they were and that the world has lost four potential heroes. But the truth is, the world is better off without four predators like that,” spat Ragon.
Ari’s mouth fell open; Ragon did not seem to be even slightly remorseful for his actions.
“But what about the police; aren’t you worried that someone is going to find out that you… that you-”
“-that I killed the bastards?” Ragon finished for her.
Slowly Ari nodded, not looking up to meet his eyes.
“I covered my tracks. It’s not wise for vampires to get involved in human law; it never ends well. Look, it’s going to be light soon and you must be exhausted. I think we should call it a night,” he said, reaching for the veranda door, closing it, then producing a small key which fit snugly into the lock which he turned with a click.
Ari watched as he moved over to the front door and did the same.
“You’re not seriously locking me inside?” she asked, sauntering over to the front door.
“It’s for your protection.”
“Against what- myself?” asked Ari, watching Ragon move away from her. “But wait, you can’t go to sleep. I have questions and-”
“Not tonight. Besides, it will be day break soon. There is UV protection on the glass but vampires don’t do well during the day… that’s when we sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”
It seemed that the movies had gotten that part about vampire mythology right. Whether or not vampires could walk in the sunlight had been one of the many questions that Ari had hoped to ask Ragon. But now as she watched him walk away from her and up the stairs to the second level, she realised that she would have to save these questions for later. As soon as she heard Ragon’s bedroom door close, she moved over to the veranda door and tried for a few m
inutes to jimmy the lock.
“You’ll need a key,” yelled Ragon, calling out loudly from his bedroom, so that his voice carried down the hallway and over to her in the living room.
Ari frowned; she was trapped in a house with a vampire. Feeling defeated but nevertheless quite hungry, she went to the kitchen and fixed herself a sandwich, careful to avoid the foul smelling chicken in the pantry, which she tossed in the bin.
When she was finished, she washed up and then made her way back to her bedroom. The last twenty-four hours were a nightmare, and the temptation of a soft mattress was too much to fight against. She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the existence of vampires, or what had happened to her at the campus. One thing she was certain of was that she would be leaving in the morning. If Ragon was unable to walk in the sun, then he wouldn’t be able to find her during the day. All she needed to do was to get to the main road, which she thought shouldn’t be too difficult, provided she was able to get out of the house first.
Chapter 4- Enter Kiara
Ari woke late in the afternoon and after checking that there was still sufficient sunlight, was ready to escape. Though she would normally have started her day with a nice warm shower, she didn’t want to risk Ragon hearing the sound of the water. If she were being honest with herself, right now Ari felt as if she was stuck in a fantasy, but it was tarnished. She tried to push away the feelings she still had for Ragon; shy longings which had been unrequited for so long. It was wrong to have these feelings. Ragon had killed people and… and he wasn’t even human. She should be disgusted by him; by his wanting to keep her hostage, by what he had done to those boys. But then her thoughts shifted; he had looked after her, had bought a house to keep her safe in. NO! She should not have these thoughts. Ragon was a vampire! What if he had tricked her, made her be attracted to him in order to catch her off guard? But then why was he keeping her alive? Why not just kill her? It was so utterly confusing.
Shaking her head, Ari crept out of her room, tip toeing over to the front door as she supressed the image of Ragon rescuing her. For a few moments she strained to open the door, but again found it impossible. Still determined, she next moved to one of the windows, whose large dark curtains hid a prominent bolt and key hole, similar to the one on the front and veranda doors.
“Crap,” she whispered to herself, when she tried and failed to open it also.
Desperate now, she thought of breaking the glass but then decided against it. Ragon had told her that it had UV protection, which probably meant that there was some sort of thick film across it, preventing not only the light from getting in but also the breaking of the glass. And, even if she did somehow manage to get through without slicing herself to pieces, Ragon would most definitely hear her.
Feeling deflated, Ari glanced towards the staircase that Ragon had ascended last night. Moving very slowly her eyes fell on the forbidden room. Temptation ate at her, but quickly shook her head; she had to get out of here. Moving over to a large spare bedroom on the second floor, Ari inspected the room for any signs of escape, but still there was nothing.
She had all but given up, when finally she came to the second last room of the house on the third storey. Gently opening the door, she moved past the empty queen bed, whose mattress was still covered in a thick layer of clear plastic, and into a small marble bathroom. Her eyes fell excitedly on a dormer window above the toilet that led out onto the roof; a tiny gap in the glass showed that it had been left open.
With new hope surging through her, Ari near bolted towards it and in her haste, she almost crashed into the porcelain toilet below, just managing to stop herself in time. Moving cautiously now, she positioned herself atop the toilet and opened the window fully, feeling a warm summer breeze outside. Without hesitating, she reached up and began pulling her body through the escape route.
The sloping roof it led out onto was tiled and slippery, and so Ari climbed onto it carefully, trying hard not to look at the long drop below. The perfect Australian weather was doing wonders to distract her from her present dilemma and though the sun was no longer high in the sky, Ari delighted in the feeling of the fragrant breeze on her face.
Looking around she spotted a large Tipuana tree whose small bright golden flowers shone like a beacon; here was her way down. Inching along the roof, she tried to keep her balance as she neared the tree. The closest branch was only a few inches away when her shaking hand reached out towards it. When she finally made contact, she swung her legs so that she straddled the thick branch and started to work her way gingerly down.
Once on the ground, Ari glanced back at the beautiful house. In the fading daylight it looked even more enchanting than it had at night. Pushing this thought to the back of her head, she spun around and began racing down the driveway to the main road, hearing the next door neighbour’s dog barking as she shimmied past their fence.
She had been walking for only a few minutes when she noticed a car pulling over to the side of the road just ahead of her. A girl, who couldn’t have been any more than eighteen years old, jumped out and moved to the front of the car. The large red P sign attached to the back of her car indicated that she had only just got her license. As Ari got closer, she realised that the girl was reading a map.
At first the girl seemed not to notice Ari, but as she walked past her, the girl spun around and said, “You don’t know how to get to the city from here, do you?”
Ari still wasn’t exactly sure where here was. Noticing the map the girl was looking at, and a nearby street sign that read ‘Fig Tree St’, Ari thought that if she had a look at the map then she could probably give the girl some directions and at the same time, work out exactly where she was.
“Um, well,” said Ari, moving closer to the map and finding the street name in the directory. “If you follow this –”
But Ari suddenly broke off when she saw something on the side of the girl’s neck. Seeing the look of confusion on Ari’s face, the girl hurriedly tried to flip her collar up, but it was too late; Ari had already seen two puncture marks. Ari’s face drained of colour, and then the small girl reached for her bag and swung it so that it hit Ari hard in the head.
Ari felt her head throb just as the world swam around her and then she fell unconscious.
Ari didn’t know how long it took for her to come to, though from the numb feeling in her legs and arms, she guessed she had been lying in the same place for hours. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw the blurred face of a girl hovering over her and the outline of two people sitting on chairs in the background.
“So, you’re Ragon’s new pet?” one of the people sitting at the chairs said, and Ari knew from the high and cold voice, that it was a woman who spoke.
Ari tried to focus on the people sitting on the chairs but couldn’t.
“Answer me,” the woman called again.
After a moment Ari nodded weakly.
“Well, well, well. He told me he would never take a source,” said the woman. “And I have watched him for many years. You are the first.”
“What do you want?” asked Ari, her voice thick and groggy. “Who are you?”
“I am Kiara and this is Matthew,” said the female voice, “Paige brought you to us. It is our pleasure to meet you.”
Suddenly a low snarl ripped through the quiet and a male voice said, “It seems a shame to kill her.”
The warning that Ragon had given Ari flashed in her mind. She thought that the woman who introduced herself as Kiara must be the ‘her’ to which Ragon had referred. This thought had barely resonated before the young girl who had asked Ari for directions, Paige, came into sight. Ari squinted up at her, trying desperately to bring the girl’s face into focus. The girl was fumbling with something and then moved over to Ari, a large chain and collar in her hand.
“I’m sorry,” whispered the girl, her large round eyes looking anywhere but at Ari.
“Wait, please,” begged Ari, but the girl seemed not to hear, taking the c
hains and cuffing them around Ari’s wrists.
Ari tried desperately to stop her but she was too weak, and soon felt a collar snap shut around her throat as the large chain attached to it fell to the floor with a loud clutter.
“No please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone about any of this,” said Ari.
Again cruel laughter reverberated around her and the woman called Kiara spoke.
“Of course you won’t tell anyone you foolish girl. Ragon would have lulled you into keeping our existence a secret, but this isn’t about secrets… this is about revenge. You’re such a pretty little thing; I might not have minded, could have even forgiven Ragon’s decision to take a blood bag… but then I saw you. Not that there is a mark on you. Ragon must hide it well. Where does he feed from you?”
Ari looked up in horror; Ragon had not bitten her. Kiara continued to look down at Ari bemused, clearly waiting for an answer, but it did not come.
“Surely he bit you?” said Kiara, but she didn’t wait for Ari to respond, rather clicked her fingers and said to Paige, “Search her for bite marks.”
Again Paige moved into sight, and Ari whimpered when the girl’s trembling fingers reached for her shirt.
“No,” said Ari, trying to turn away from the girl.
“Please sit still,” said Paige, but Ari continued to struggle, until Paige pulled the chains to the choker.
Ari felt the metal around her neck bend tight, suffocating her. Her hands grasped the collar, her nails scraping uselessly against the steel, but all too soon the air in her lungs began to thin, and finally she gave in and stopped struggling; immediately the collar loosened. Her eyes were closed when she felt Paige pull her shirt off her then undo her jeans, mercifully leaving her underwear on.
“There are no bites,” Paige said after a moment.
“But,” said Kiara, still out of Ari’s sight, “why would Ragon risk breaking our laws…”