True to her word, half an hour after speaking with Ragon, she was reaching out to bang on his door in Cruor halls. Before she could knock even once however, the door was flung open and Ragon greeted her, pulling her inside.
“It’s freezing isn’t it,” she said innocently, before realising that her efforts to get here so quickly had left her ragged and sweating.
“Yea, I suppose so,” Ragon replied, smiling as he squeezed her hand and drew her closer.
“Have you spoken to Sandra yet?” Ari asked sheepishly, hoping that Ragon couldn’t feel how fast her heart was racing from jogging there.
At these words Ragon looked around nervously.
“Not really; she’s still acting strange… Thomas is worried. The Chancellor doesn’t suspect her for what happened with Greg, but it isn’t like her to do something so reckless. Thomas and Sandra don’t keep sources, and it’s not like her to kill. Killing a student is grounds for a hearing.”
Ari gulped, unable to think of anything but the last time that someone from their coven had been called to a hearing by the Elders. Her breathing faltered as she recalled Ryder and Patrick handing from the Elder’s basement when they had been charged with killing all the girls in Brisbane. What would happen to Sandra if someone found out that she had killed Greg?
“Speaking of the cool weather,” said Ragon, moving over to the bed and pulling the sheets back, “I got you something and it’s all turned on, ready to go.”
Ari’s eyes were wide and lustful, until she realised that Ragon was tapping an electric blanket.
“For a moment, I thought you were talking about something entirely different,” she said, while a huge smile broke over her face. “But it’s probably best that you were talking about the electric blanket because I have to study tonight.”
“Study, schmudy.”
Ari took a deep breath, trying to resist the delicious smell of his deodorant, which assaulted her nostrils and overpowered her self-control, in a similar manner she imagined vampire toxin would, if it worked on her.
“No I can’t.,” she said, “If I don’t go now then I won’t leave ever.”
“That suits me just fine.”
It took Ari another half an hour or so before she was able to drag herself out of Ragon’s room. She decided to go up to the cafeteria and grab something to eat before starting her assignment from the day’s prac class. At the same time she hoped that the lunch ladies wouldn’t notice her smuggle out a sandwich for Chris. She thought he might appreciate the snack before she dropped the bombshell about the assignment on him.
When she got to the cafeteria she was pleased to see that Lea had just sat down also. Lea looked tired; there were large bags underneath her eyes and she ate with minimal enthusiasm, clearly not impressed by the bowl of wedges and sour-cream in front of her.
“Yum,” Ari said, as she began shovelling huge mouthfuls of beef lasagne into her mouth.
“Have you been fasting or something,” asked Lea, watching her with a slightly distasteful look on her face.
“I’m rot rarving,” Ari said incoherently; a huge mouthful distorting her speech.
“What? I’m sorry; I couldn’t understand you with your mouth so packed with food.”
Ari laughed, but then soon began coughing as a portion of food forced its way down her wind pipe.
“Are you ok?” Lea asked, standing dramatically and whacking Ari hard on the back.
Ari held her finger out to indicate that she needed a moment, and Lea stood with her folk in one hand and her mouth open in anticipation.
“I’m fine,” Ari said eventually, and Lea resumed her seat, looking a little flustered.
“God, I thought I was going to have to do the hymnlike manoeuvre.”
The pair sat and talked for a god twenty minutes before Lea said that she was going to the library to study for a mid-semester exam on the Aztec civilisation. Ari made to leave also but then looking back at the hot plates, remembered that she wanted to grab Chris a snack. The lunch lady glared at Ari as she made her take-away sandwich, but did not reprimand her. Ari had not been game enough to take one of the plates out of the cafeteria, but made do by placing the sandwich on some alfoil that had been covering the lasagne, and left hurriedly before anyone could yell at her for taking food out of the cafeteria.
“Chris?” Ari yelled, holding his sandwich in one hand as she banged on his door with the other.
There was no response and so Ari knocked again, hoping like hell that Lisa wasn’t in there with him.
“Come on Chris? It’s Ari; we have an assignment due on Monday.” Still there was no response. “And I have a sandwich for you,” she added. “It’s delicious, with amazing sweet chilli mayonnaise.”
Another few moments passed and Ari hung her head.
Giving up she turned around and began walking back down the dark hallway before a soft, “Hey,” caught her attention and she spun around to see Chris.
“Jesus,” Ari said, racing back to him and looking at his bruised and swollen face, “what the hell happened to you?”
Chris was wearing no shirt and there were two large yellowing bruises above his ribs.
Chris managed a weak smile and said, “You said something about a sandwich and sweet chili mayonnaise?”
Moving hesitantly over to the door, Ari walked into Chris’s room. It was the first time she had been inside and she peered around curiously. Instantly she recognised the similar décor to that of her own room. He had the same style bed and the standard wardrobe and desk, which was covered with notebooks and a half closed laptop. It looked as if his bed had not been made in days, and when Chris moved back inside, he began to straighten the knotted sheets before sighing in frustration and crumpling on top of them.
“What happened? You look like you’ve done twelve rounds with Mike Tyson,” said Ari, unable to stop looking at his battered body.
“Yea, something like that.”
There was a horrible roughness in Chris’s voice that wasn’t normally there; it lent a catch to his throat, which made him sound like a rusty old gate.
“Have you seen a doctor?” asked Ari.
“I will heal; just need bed rest.”
“Hmm, well I bought you this,” she said, moving to hand him the sandwich, “I had to sneak it out of the cafeteria. The lunch Nazi was eyeing me, but I managed to get out of there ok. Just make sure you lock your doors and windows; there’s no knowing what she’s capable of when it comes to misappropriated food. I’m pretty sure my face will be on a wanted post tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry… I’ll get rid of the evidence; I’ll burn the wrappings when I’m done.”
Ari smiled and added, “And I thought I would drop by our prac notes, seeing as you haven’t been to class since Tuesday. We have an assignment on the prac you missed today.”
Chris accepted the sandwich, tearing the tin foil away and devouring it in a few minutes.
“Lisa beat you with the prac notes,” he said, pointing to his desk, where a large pile of typed notes lay, untouched.
“Oh, ok, well hope you look less like a punching bag when I see you next.”
At the mention of Lisa, Ari had suddenly felt uncomfortable and decided it was best to leave. Chris stood also, throwing the crumpled alfoil into the bin and moving over to hold the door open for her.
“Thanks for the sandwich,” he said, his light blue eyes twinkling kindly at her.
As he turned around, Ari was once again reminded of the small intricate tattoo between his shoulder blades. It was entirely different to the colourful montage of images that wrapped around his arm. As she stared at the dark ring, her eyes narrowed. There was something familiar about the mark; she was certain that she had seen it before… but where? Suddenly Ari gasped. Her eyes traced the impression of an animal head inside the ring; she knew exactly where she had seen it before; it was the same mark that had been drawn in the book she had read about the Waere Truce.
“Wraith,” Ari
whispered before she could stop herself; her eyes had grown fearful and she clapped a hand to her mouth, but it was too late to undo what had been said.
She paused dumbly after that, staring open-mouthed at Chris, who had flung around to face her. His eyes were large and scared, and when he spoke, his voice was fearful.
“But how did you know?” he said slowly.
That was all the confirmation Ari needed; without waiting she raced through the door, and was instantly sprinting through the dark hallway and down the stairs.
“Wait,” Chris yelled from behind her.
Ari didn’t stop or turn around but kept running. She could hear the clamber of footsteps racing after her, and knew that Chris was right on her tail. In her tight jeans and bulky jumper she wasn’t particularly fast, but Chris was badly injured and so she was out the door and half way to Cruor Halls before he caught up to her.
“Stop,” he said, reaching to grab Ari’s shoulder; she fumbled to the ground and Chris lent down to help her up. “I’m sorry; are you alright?”
Ari stared up at him wildly and swung a well-aimed slap which hit him hard in the face. For a moment she was horrified at her own actions, but then Chris’s response surprised her even more. He slumped down onto his knees, a pained look creasing his normally gorgeous face. Jumping to her feet, Ari began to race away; she hadn’t gotten ten feet before she turned around, surprised to see Chris still on the ground, his head in his hands.
What was he doing? This was his chance to strike. Why was he just sitting there as though… as though he were hurt?
Hesitantly she inched back towards him. He was lying in an area that was shrouded in shadows. Two large conifers stood on either side of him, partly hiding his face from view. The small moon in the sky provided just enough light to cast down gnarled shadows from the nearby trees. Even as she moved closer to Chris, her mind was ready to force her to run or stop time. Since her encounter with the female vampire in the Three Prong Trek, Ari felt slightly more confident in her ability to freeze time. Still, she didn’t think now was the best time to test her abilities.
“Please,” Chris said, seeing that Ari had turned around. “I won’t hurt you.”
“But you’re… you’re a… a wraith.”
“I know,” he replied, his eyes saddened.
“Then why shouldn’t I run? Why would I trust you?”
Chris laughed. It was a sad, self-loathing laugh; the kind of noise a mouse might make after it has been corned by a cat and had nowhere left to hide.
“If you only knew how stupid that question was,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” he said, looking around once and then shrugging, “I don’t have anything to lose. I know what Ragon is; I know that you’re his source. You have been lulled by him… so I guess you talking about trust, when you are forced to let a blood sucker drink from you, it just seems rather ironic.”
Ari was so surprised by this comment that all she could do was to stare at him, her mouth open wide in surprised confusion.
“What are you talking about?” she said finally. “I am not Ragon’s source.”
She had corrected him without meaning to, without even thinking about it. What she should have said, was that she didn’t know about vampires, that they didn’t exist, and that Ragon was most assuredly not one. But Chris’s comment about her being a source had left her frazzled, not unlike the way that Bridget or Gwen made her feel following one of their snide remarks involving pets.
Chris rolled his eyes and said, “That’s exactly what a source would say… well maybe not exactly; most of the time they just deny the existence of vampires, but I hardly expected you to tell me all about your vampire boyfriend. Leeches steal their sources blood but they also steal your free will. You think you’re his girlfriend, but you’re just a meal ticket.”
Why was Chris telling her all of this as if she were the victim? As if he felt sorry for her? She knew what vampires did… but that didn’t matter. Chris was a wraith!
“Wait a minute,” said Ari, pointing a finger at Chris, “how did this get turned around? You have a brand on your back that says you are a wraith. I’ve read about them and everyone has told me that wraiths are necromancers-”
“-so that’s how you knew,” Chris said quickly, glancing across his shoulder, as though straining to see the tattoo on his back.
“Who cares about how I knew. How can you have a go at Ragon? You know nothing about him… about us.”
“Look Ari,” he said, his voice sounding defeated, “I would love to um, stay here and chat about who is more evil, wraiths or vampires, but I have to get out of here. The moment you see your blood sucker, you are going to tell him about me. I plan on being far away at that stage.”
“But, why would you let me run back and tell Ragon anything. You could stop me; you could…”
Ari forced herself to stop talking. Why was she suggesting to a wraith that if he chose to, he could kill her? But she hadn’t been talking to a wraith; she had been talking to Chris. The fact that they were one and the same seemed so absolutely insane; the idea was entirely alien. This was Chris; the sweet, funny, gorgeous guy, who had gone out of his way to help her adjust to a new school. If he was supposed to be so evil, then why would he come across as being so… kind?
“It’s a long story,” said Chris, “and if I want to beat the blood suckers to the barge, I had better get going. Look,” he added, his light blue eyes searching her almost desperately. “I know you have been lulled to stay here; I know that if you had a choice you wouldn’t. But… but you don’t have to. You could come with me; I could get you away from him.”
It was all too much; Ari flung her arms into the air exasperated. Chris, the wraith, was offering to help her, not kill her before she could tell Ragon what he was. If he were truly evil, why would he do that?
“I don’t want to get away from Ragon,” she said, trying hard to rationalise her feelings. “And… and I am not telling him that you are a wraith because I have been lulled; I’m telling him because I want to. It’s not like I run around and tell on people. But… but you’re a wraith! What else am I supposed to do?”
Chris looked at her sideways.
“What?” she asked. “What are you looking at?”
“It’s just odd. I have never met a source who seemed to genuinely believe they haven’t been lulled.”
“I don’t genuinely believe it,” said Ari. “I know it!”
“And how do you know it? If you know that vampires can control humans, then how can you be so certain that you haven’t been lulled?”
She wasn’t sure why, perhaps it was because she was so sick of everyone assuming that she must be a source in order for Ragon to be around her, but she felt she needed to prove that they were together, simply because they were in love. Slowly she removed her bulky jacket and pulled up the sleeves of her shirt.
“See,” she said, thrusting her wrist out.
Chris stared down at the small pin prick scar that was on her arm, his eyes screwed up in confusion.
“Um, Ari,” he said, speaking slowly and carefully, as if explaining to someone that one plus one equals two, “vampires bite people… that’s how they lull them. Those scars on your wrist, that means that Ragon has bit-”
“-no, well yes, vampires do bite people, but it’s not that simple. This is an old bite. Vampires need to constantly feed from a source in order to maintain control over them. This is an old injury; you can barely see it. Ragon’s venom would only last a week in my system. I don’t have any other bites; so he can’t be controlling me.”
Chris eyes widened; immediately he began scanning every inch of her, paying careful attention to her neck. Seeing this Ari pulled off her shirt and shivered. She was still wearing her jeans and a loose singlet top, which she pulled up to reveal her flat stomach.
“See,” she said again, craning her neck to one side, sure to make sure that Chris could see her jugular veins, �
��nothing.”
“But?”
“I’m not taking anything else off,” she said resiliently. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”
Chris put his hand on his hips. He seemed to be thinking hard, unsure of what to do next.
“Let’s say I do believe you,” he said finally. “Let’s say that for some unknown reason you aren’t Ragon’s source… you aren’t anyone’s source. Why they hell are you hanging out with a bunch of blood-”
“-those vampires are my friends! And Ragon, he’s my boyfriend.”
“So you can trust them but not a wraith?” he said. “Bias much?”
“That’s different!”
Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) Page 17