by Bell Stoires
“She must have; when I went to check on her, she was gone,” Sameth’s worried voice replied. “But how did Ari do it?”
Ari had just piled her mouth full of biscuits when Sameth, Ragon and the rest of the coven appeared from the hallway. Aberrantly she tried to cover her mouth, suddenly self-conscious in front of Ragon. Ragon looked a little surprised to see Ari sitting at the kitchen, but this was nothing to the narrowed eyes of Clyde, who was staring at Sameth unblinkingly.
“Was Kiara the only thing to freeze last night?” Sameth questioned.
Ari’s mouth was still half full of biscuits when she mumbled, “Revrething roun me storped.” Then seeing the perplexed look on Sameth’s face, she swallowed her mouthful and added, “Everything around me stopped; there was no wind, and some flowers that had been falling were frozen in mid-air.”
“So it’s not just vampires; she has this power over everything,” Sameth mused. “And you didn’t say anything before it happened? Didn’t perform a spell?”
“I just threw my hands into the air,” said Ari.
“But she can’t be a witch,” said Thomas, “at least I have never heard of one who can do magic simply by waving their hands. Normally they need tools, spell books, incantations. What Ari is doing… it’s instinctual.”
“Maybe it wasn’t Ari that stopped Kiara?” asked Larissa.
“Then who?” said Ragon.
“I don’t know, but I have an idea how to find out,” said Larissa, a mischievous grin that might have rivalled one of Clyde’s cheeky expressions, spreading across her face.
A large bang signified the slamming of a door, and two more people joined the conversation- Ryder and Patrick. Until then, Ari had entirely forgotten about seeing Ryder the previous night, but now this rushed back to her and she was furious. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Patrick; it was just that she didn’t like the thought of Ryder being a blood bag. Still, blood donor or not, it didn’t seem that Ryder was too upset. He was smiling at Ari, the large dimples on either side of his face beaming out at her.
“Maybe this isn’t the best time for you to be here?” she said to Ryder.
Her words felt strange and cold on her lips but she had to say them. She couldn’t let Ryder be dragged into her problems; what if something happened to him? What if he got hurt?
At her words Ryder’s face had fallen, but before he could speak Patrick had said, “He knows about us.”
“What?”
“It’s ok,” said Ryder. “I think it’s awesome!”
“It’s not awesome!” said Ari, turning to stare incredulously at Ragon. “Did you know about this?”
Ragon shook his head, but did not appear to be surprised.
“Can I have a word,” Ryder said to Ari, taking her by the elbow and directing her to the veranda.
As soon as they were outside, Ryder closed the door and rounded on her.
“What’s wrong? Why are you acting like this?” he asked.
“What’s wrong? Many, many things are wrong, the least of which is that you seem to be perfectly fine with all of this.”
“Yea I am fine with it,” he replied. “You’re dating one of them; why do you get to be fine with them and not me?”
“I didn’t choose this,” she said, pacing around the veranda, “and besides, I have known Ragon for a hell of a lot longer than you’ve known Patrick.” As Ari spoke, she saw a hopeless look settle in Ryder’s eyes and she looked away, suddenly ashamed. “I guess it would be a bit hypocritical for me to tell you not to sleep with a vampire.”
“What? Patrick is a vampire?” asked Ryder, his eyes wide with shock.
Ari looked back in horror, until Ryder burst into laughter.
“You use to be more difficult to trick,” he said, when he had finished laughing. “I know that this is all new and frankly bizarre, but I really like Patrick; it feels… right with him.”
Ari looked down at the ground and her eyes grew wide. What did Ryder mean ‘it just felt right’? Was he being lulled by Patrick? Had Patrick bound him to his will, the way that Ragon had told her that vampire’s who’d bitten their victims could?
“You don’t know what you’re saying!” said Ari, her eyes now raking all over Ryder. “Has Patrick bitten you? That’s how vampires control humans.”
Ryder couldn’t help but look down at his body, but quickly shot his eyes back up to Ari, thrusting his wrist out to Ari as he spoke.
“See; not a mark on me!” he said, showing Ari his exposed skin.
Ari nodded slowly but couldn’t help notice the way Ryder’s eyes shifted nervously.
“Would you like to do a strip search?” asked Ryder.
“I’m just worried about you,” she admitted.
“And that’s why I love you munchkin,” said Ryder, moving over to her and pinching her cheeks hard. “But unless you have a secret crush on Patrick, then I’m not backing down.”
Ari huffed loudly but moved over to Ryder and hugged him warmly, her eyes raking his neck for any bites as she snuggled against him.
“I don’t think Patrick would be that into you anyway,” he said laughing.
Half an hour later the coven had left the house and moved to the backyard. It was cold outside; the sky had long since turned black and become sprinkled with stars.
“What are we doing out here?” Ari asked, turning to face Ragon, her hands on her hips.
Ari had asked Ragon repeatedly what was going on. Everyone except for Patrick was gathered under an enormous frangipani tree, while Patrick remained on the veranda, allowing him a birds-eye view of the proceedings.
“I think that we need to test your… um… powers,” said Larissa. When Ari looked confused, Larissa went on, “If you froze Kiara, then you did it because you were scared.”
“Yea… so,” said Ari, not following Larissa’s train of thoughts.
“How scared would you be if you fell from this tree?” Larissa asked, indicating the giant gum nearby.
Ari’s eyes slowly traced the tree; her head bent all the way back as she looked up at least thirty metres into the air. “Pretty damn…” Ari’s voice trailed off as she understood just what Larissa was saying and then shook her head. “No, no, no.”
“I will catch you,” said Ragon, appearing suddenly behind her and squeezing her hand.
It took another twenty minutes or so before the coven had convinced Ari of their plan. Under the instructions of Larissa and with the help of Sandra, she could no longer put off facing her fear of heights and began to climb the old gum. Though Ari loved tree climbing, she was terrified of heights; the thought therefore, that at the end of her peaceful climb, she would have to jump, was absolutely horrifying. She couldn’t help but glance up at the thick, leafless branches and peer idly at the moon, where a small rim of blackness confirmed the passing of the previous night’s full moon. After a few minutes however, Ari was finally standing on one of the topmost branches, with Sandra next to her, for both moral and physical support. Sandra was poised like a leopard on the same branch as Ari, needing nothing to steady her, and reminding Ari of just how magnificent vampires were.
“This feels stupid,” Ari said loudly, trying not to look down.
“It’s alright honey; I‘ve got you,” Sandra replied next to her.
“Why am I doing this again?” she whispered.
From the ground Ragon shouted back, “Because this is the easiest way for us to see if you freeze yourself to slow down your fall.”
“And you’re sure you will catch me?” she yelled back, unable to keep the hysteria out of her voice. “You know, in case I don’t… or cant…”
“Always,” replied Ragon.
“Oh please,” Clyde whispered, “besides, if he doesn’t- I will.”
From up the top of the tree, Sandra laughed, causing the branch that she and Ari were standing on to shake violently.
“Clyde honey, we’re trying to make her scared, not freaking terrified.”
Clyde w
as about to respond, but before he could voice his retort, Ari said, “Please don’t move so much; I am not exactly a big fan of heights.”
Sandra stopped laughing quickly and reached over to steady Ari, a weak smile on her face as she said, “Sorry hun.”
“Ok, so I am going to go after three,” said Ari, suddenly talking faster and faster, “you know like one, two, three… and then I will jump,” she explained, moving over to the edge of the branch and looking down at the ground for the first time. A moment of hesitation saw her moving back towards the centre of the tree, and added, “I am not going to go on three; I am going to after three, so not one, two-”
But before she could finish her ramblings, Sandra had pushed her, and Ari relinquished her grip of the branch and fell, the wind wishing past her ears as her stomach dropped, and her arms and legs flailed in mid-air. Trying desperately to force herself to concentrate, she shot her eyes open, just long enough to see that down below Ragon was waiting with his arms held out. Her eyes widened in horror however, when Clyde blurred towards him, knocking Ragon hard in the chest, so that it was Clyde who waited below with outstretched hands. When Clyde caught her, she had been expecting the impact to hurt, but as his arms wrapped around her, his body seemed to mould to hers and support her.
“You’re such an arse,” she screamed, jumping from Clyde’s arms and moving to where Ragon had fallen.
“You’re welcome,” he called out, smiling politely after her.
Ragon was brushing off bark and dirt from his clothes, while scowling at Clyde.
“What?” Clyde asked, shrugging as the rest of the coven glared at him, “I told her if Ragon wasn’t there, that I would catch her.”
Before Ari could reach Ragon, he had stormed towards Clyde, wound his fist back, and struck Clyde hard in the jaw.
“What if you didn’t catch her,” screamed Ragon.
From above on the veranda, Patrick cocked his head over the side and yelled, “I don’t think she stopped herself. I kept my eyes on all of you the whole time, and it all looked normal to me-”
He broke off when he realised that no one was listening to him.
“Nice shot, too bad you hit like a girl,” snarled Clyde, pulling himself onto his feet, as he moved closer to Ragon.
“Well, then you must be a girl, because it knocked you off your feet,” said Sandra, jumping elegantly from the tree and landing lightly next to Ari.
When Ragon’s eyes darted over to Sandra, Clyde took advantage and charged. His fists wrapped around Ragon’s collar and he slammed him into the trunk of a Tipuana tree, causing the tree to sway under the combined weight of the immortals, before groaning and exposing many large roots. A moment later the tree fell to the ground, shaking the earth.
“Stop!” screamed Ari, and both Ragon and Clyde looked up, apparently surprised by her outburst, before continuing to pummel each other.
“Cambridge, Thomas, do something!” Larissa squealed.
Both boys grimaced and were just about to advance, when all the immortals froze, suddenly looking over to the large fence that boarded the edge of Ragon’s estate.
“Oi,” someone yelled, and Ari spun around to see two heads poking over the top of the fence. “We heard something crashing.”
Ari’s mouth fell open when she realised that it was the next door neighbours, craning their heads over the top of the fence. In an instant Clyde and Ragon dropped each other, but not before the neighbours had seen the exposed roots of the enormous Tipuana tree. The suspicious neighbours looked back and forth from Clyde and Ragon, and then over to the fallen tree.
“We just thought we’d check everything…” the woman began to say, but before she could finish, Clyde had raced over to the fence, jumped over it and pulled both neighbours with him into the opposite yard.
Ari watched them fall and heard their screams. She couldn’t see anything past the thick wooden fence that separated Ragon’s yard from theirs.
“No,” Ari screamed, but Ragon raced for her and hugged her hard.
Ari felt but didn’t entirely register, Ragon jumping up and landing with her on the veranda. He kept hold of her, even when she tried to turn around and see what had become of the neighbours.
“What’s he doing to them?” she trembled, but before Ragon could answer, Cambridge spoke.
“Well that didn’t go exactly as planned.”
“It was worth a shot,” said Larissa.
“Any other bright ideas?” asked Sameth.
“We could try going higher?” suggested Cambridge.
“What are you talking about?” said Ari, and her face was white. “What just happened? What happened to those people?”
Everyone in the room stopped to stare at her; Ragon gritted his teeth.
“They saw us,” he said finally.
“But… but Clyde just commanded them to forget right?” she asked, her voice trembling.
There was a knowing look that passed through the different coven members, and Ari raced to the front door. In an instant Ragon was in front of her, his hand pressed firmly against the door.
“Don’t,” he said, and Ari heard the authority in his voice but ignored it.
“Move,” she said, now trying to pull the door open.
“Let her go,” Sandra said, moving over to the entrance of the house. “She is going to find out about it sooner or later. It’s better that she knows what Clyde is, better that she sees with her own eyes.”
“But-” said Ragon, searching Sandra’s eyes.
The moment Ragon stepped aside, Ari was out the door. She raced down the driveway, vaguely aware that Ragon was following her and pushed past the neighbour’s fence. She had just heard a long howl when she skidded into the neighbour’s back yard; then her face went white.
“What did you do?” she screamed, staring at Clyde in horror.
He was standing in a crouched position, his ears pricked up when he had seen them arrive. Large splashes of blood soaked his shirt, and Ari winced when she saw two large puddles on the brick path.
“They saw us,” Clyde said dismissively.
“You bastard,” said Ari, thinking of the kind neighbours who she had met. Then her heart lurched in her chest; the howl, the howl that she had heard as she raced over here. “Crystal; what did you… if you…”
“Who is Crystal?” Ragon asked.
But Ari wasn’t listening, already she had started searching the backyard, calling out the puppies name as her eyes darted everywhere.
“What did you do to them?” she spat, “What did you do to Crystal?”
Clyde didn’t answer right away. He seemed to be thinking hard, his eyes darting to the large forest that lined both properties and back at Ari.
“Tell her,” said Ragon, now moving threateningly to Clyde.
“I killed them,” said Clyde, shrugging dismissively. “I’m not like the rest of these warm and fuzzy vamps. I don’t mind having sources, and-”
“And the dog?” asked Ari, cutting him off before he could go on.
She was desperate, even panicky; Crystal couldn’t be dead, she was just a puppy. For a moment she tried to whistle but found she couldn’t. Then she heard another howl and raced into the darkness, where the large fence met the forest.
“You shouldn’t have done it. I know what happened to you, I know that you… you think differently about humans,” said Ragon; Ari heard his voice distantly but ignored it. “Well, I hope you cleaned up after yourself properly? How do you think it will look if-”
“-I took care of it,” interjected Clyde. “No one will find them, and no one will know it was us.”
“Crystal!” said Ari, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw the puppy emerging from the edge of the forest.
Crystal bounded to Ari, and soon a bundle of white fur barrelled her over. Immediately Ari checked her for any damage, afraid that Clyde had injured her too, but she was fine. Without so much as looking at Clyde, Ari scooped Crystal into her arms and carried her
back to Ragon’s house.
When she was at the door she turned to face Clyde and said, “You’re a monster.”
As Ari carried Crystal back to the house, she relished in the comfort that the warm bundle of fur bought her. Inside she was a raging mess; she felt sick to her stomach at what Clyde had done. How could he kill those two people so easily, as if their lives meant nothing at all? When she walked through the house, no one made mention of the dog in her arms, but watched her carefully as she moved to the couch and sat down with Crystal in her lap. A moment later Ragon and Clyde walked through the door.
“Well?” said Thomas, when it appeared that no one was going to talk.
“Well what?” asked Clyde.
Ari glared at him.
“We had a problem and I took care of it,” said Clyde.
“We still have a problem,” said Sandra, and Ari looked up curiously at her. “Before yours and Ragon little tirade in the backyard, we were trying to see if Ari was able to stop time. We still don’t know if-”
Ari had been listening to Sandra and cut her off; she thought she knew why their plan hadn’t worked.
“It’s different,” said Ari, patting Crystal softly, “when I was with Kiara, I thought I was going to die. But when I was up in the tree, I knew that…” she paused, she had been going to say, ‘that Ragon would catch me,’ but instead said, “someone would catch me.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Patrick.
“Well I am not jumping off anything else,” Ari replied, her eyes now dark as they fixed on Clyde.
“Actually I have another idea,” said Clyde, before blurring over to Ragon.
In an instant Ragon stood his ground, turning to face Clyde with two raised fists, one held out defensively, the other ready to fight. Secretly Ari hoped Ragon would hit him, but he didn’t.
“Easy tiger,” said Clyde, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace as he inched closer and whispered something that Ari couldn’t hear.
Almost as soon as Clyde had finished whispering, Sandra grabbed Ari’s hand and said, “Come on, let’s have a drink. I am sure that you need one after that.”