Ryder and Patrick exchanged worried looks, but it was Clyde who spoke.
“There at the Three Prong Trek,” he said simply.
“That’s perfect,” said Ragon, but Ari wasn’t listening to him; there was something strange about the glances that the other coven members shared; what was going on with Sandra and Thomas?
“I don’t know if going to the Three Prong Trek is such a good idea,” said Clyde, glancing once at Ari, “Thomas is trying to bleed the blood candy out of Sandra’s system. She’s volatile right now.”
“What!” Ari exclaimed. “But I have to see her. It’s my fault that…”
But she had been spared finishing this sentence when Clyde walked over to her.
“It’s not your fault,” he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened to Larissa. It was Kiara who killed her, not you. Sandra knows that; she’s just… sad.”
Ari stopped to stare at him, her mouth open incredulously. Who was he to lecture her on blame? Hadn’t he confessed to her that he blamed himself for the death of Rebecca, the mortal he had loved who had killed herself. Perhaps sensing her thoughts, Clyde removed his hand from her shoulder and looked away, his eyes darting off to the ocean.
“Please,” she pleaded. “Please just let me see her. I want to help. And… and we have to tell Thomas what happened in Latvia as well.”
“Latvia?” asked Ryder, looking at her sideways.
“Not here,” said Ragon. “Well, I suppose its ok; I mean there are 5 of us to protect you.”
When the group arrived back at the campus, they parked the car near Delta halls and immediately made their way towards the Three Prong Trek. It was slow moving down the steep cliff. Ari still wasn’t fully recovered, but she didn’t dare admit this to Ragon. She knew that he would blame himself, and so she kept quiet, occasionally pretending to stop so as to tie up her shoelaces, or blame an imaginary pebble in her shoe, all the while using the break to catch her breath.
When they reached the start of the forest, Clyde took the lead. They had walked for about half an hour when they reached an enormous boulder, easily the size of a bus, and Clyde veered off the path. Clyde pushed past the thick shrubs that formed the edge of the path, holding out a particularly determined branch that almost swung back to hit Ari in the chest. She had smiled thankfully up at him following this gesture, until a loud snapping sound signified Clyde’s release of branch, which had hit Ragon square in the face.
Snickering, Clyde said, “My bad.”
Ragon laughed sarcastically, waiting until Clyde’s back was turned before reaching to an overhanging tree and picking a few of the small red berries that clutched tight to the bush. With deadly force he aimed them at Clyde’s back and Clyde yelped with surprise, spinning around to glare at Ragon, who threw three final berries straight at his stomach.
“This was a new shirt,” said Clyde, rubbing hard at the red stains that had formed on his white shirt.
Ari laughed loudly but Patrick looked horrified.
“Ari,” said Patrick, moving over consolingly to Clyde, his eyes wide, “how can you be so callous.”
Clyde smiled up at Patrick, clapping him on the back and saying, “Finally, someone with compassion.”
“It’s Armani,” said Patrick, removing the hand that was still on Clyde’s shoulder, as his eyes narrowed sadly on the ruined shirt.
Everyone laughed, though Patrick continued to look mournfully at the stained shirt.
Ten minutes later and the group came to a small clearing, where large thick conifers formed a sort of semi-circle. There was a man pacing there and Ari startled when she realised it was Thomas. He looked nothing like the clean shaven, well-dressed vampire he normally was. His hair was wiry and tattered with cobwebs and bits of leaves and sticks, while his clothes were torn and ratty. This, combined with the absence of shoes, gave him a deranged look, as if he had been living in the forest for many years, not days.
“Thomas,” said Ari, racing to him and hugging him hard.
“I am glad you are alright… both of you,” he said, releasing Ari as he shook hands with Ragon. “I got Clyde’s message that you were back. What the hell happened? Where did you go?”
“Where’s Sandra,” asked Ari, before Ragon could answer him.
In a flash Thomas’s face changed, his smile fading into a frown and then a grimace. It happened so fast that Ari wasn’t even sure if he had even smiled in the first place.
“It’s taking longer to-” Thomas began to say, but Ari cut him off.
“-can I see her?” she said quickly, now moving around the fence of trees, searching.
“Ari wait,” said Ragon.
Ragon had grabbed her by the hand but she shook him off and continued to search the woods, until her eyes locked on a crumpled figure, lying flat on the forest floor. As Ari approached her mouth dropped. Though she was sure that it was Sandra, the emaciated figure bore almost no resemblance to her. Sandra did not stir, nor look up at Ari’s approach. For a moment Ari wondered why; surely Sandra must have heard them arrive. Then Ari saw that Sandra’s hands and feet were bound by heavy metal chains, chains which cut so deep into her skin that thick congealed blood had formed, though in its age, had begun to turn a blackish brown colour.
“Why are you binding her?” Ari whispered.
Ari couldn’t help it, she whimpered, and watched in horror as Sandra reacted; he hands stuck out to her side at an odd angle, her fingernails digging into the earth. Sandra’s head flipped up, her dirty red hair frizzed and out of control and she glared at Ari. Before Ari could say or do anything, Sandra had sprung to her feet and charged at straight for Ari. She screamed and watched as the binds holding Sandra pulled tight, keeping her just out of reach.
“What’s happened to her,” Ari sobbed.
Ragon and Thomas had reached her. They both looked worried, and each stood protectively near their partner, though Thomas maintained a safe distance away from Sandra.
“But, I thought… why is it taking so long?” said Ari.
Thomas’s fists clenched involuntarily at his side.
“It’s the blood candy. She’s refusing to drink anything other than that,” said Thomas, his face hollow. “I have been trying to wean her down… but she’s starving herself to death.”
“Do we know how she got it in the first place,” asked Ragon.
Nobody answered, but a memory flashed in Ari’s mind; Sandra picking up a vial at Kiara’s residence, and then a few hours later, Sandra bursting in on her and Ragon in the bathroom of his private jet, the small vial pressed to her lips.
“I think she found some at Kiara’s place a few months ago and… and Bridget has been supplying the bartender,” said Ari, her voice oddly deflated.
“Bridget?” asked Ragon.
“The stuffs been getting more and more popular,” said Patrick, “I remember years ago when I first heard about. Everyone wanted to try it. I would have thought that the Ancients would have done something by now to stop it.”
“No one seems to know where it is coming from, but it is certainly popular on campus,” said Thomas. “Quite a few vamps on campus sell it. I have been buying it in small quantities and mixing it with regular blood, trying to get Sandra to drink.”
“But didn’t Gwen say that she had been called in for a hearing because some students had been using it?” said Ari. “That doesn’t sound like the Vice Chancellor wants it on campus.”
“I don’t think anyone really cared that the vamps who were called to the hearing were using blood candy, just that they had caused such a public display,” said Ragon. “I heard Gwen and Bridget talking about it later. It didn’t sound like the punishment they dealt out had anything to do with using blood candy, more so getting caught.”
“Enough about all of that,” said Clyde, now turning to Ari, “where the hell have you two been? After Ari’s birthday party, you both just vanished. We hadn’t heard from either of you and no on
e seemed to know where you went.”
“I was worried that something might have happened to you, like Victoria,” said Thomas, his eyes straining sadly from Sandra and over to Ragon.
After that Ragon delved into a long and detailed description of their fight against the Ancients; beginning with Lea being tricked by the Triad to capture Ragon, and ending with Ari bursting into sunshine and killing all the vampires around her. No one spoke during his tail, and when he was finished, every one of the coven members had a look a sheer horror and exasperation on their faces, as if they couldn’t quite believe what they had just heard.
“So the Ancients are dead?” Clyde asked, whistling low and looking at Ari, his expression set half way between fear and admiration.
“We don’t know,” said Ragon.
“I definitely killed the Triad and a heap of other vampires that came running at me, but I didn’t see the Ancients,” Ari admitted.
“And Lea’s a witch,” said Thomas. “Perhaps she might know about Ari’s um, unusual talents, or if there is any connection between Mary Grandor and the Grandor constellation?”
“Wait a minute,” said Ari; the moment she’d heard the word Grandor, she flashed back to when she had been locked in that cold dark cell by the Ancients. “When we were with the Ancients, I spoke to some guy; he wanted to know about the Grandor legend. He said that he had heard the Ancients say the name and that they feared it.”
“What?” Ragon said, staring at Ari in disbelief, “and you just decided to mention that now?”
“I just remembered, but I think that Thomas is right. Lea might know about Mary Grandor, or whether or not there is a link between what I can do and the Grandor constellation. It’s not like we have found anything at the library.”
“But do we even need to worry about why Ari can do the things she can anymore?” said Ryder, “I mean, think about it; if the Ancients are dead then the threat to Ari is gone.”
“Yea, but we don’t know if they are dead,” said Patrick, “and speaking of Lea, she and some boy called Chris came looking for you a few times.”
Clyde snorted indignantly at this, and both Ari and Ragon turned to stare at him. Ari felt her stomach drop; she had entirely forgotten about the argument that she’d had with Clyde the night of her birthday party. But judging by the way that Clyde had reacted to hearing Chris’s name, Clyde had not.
“What did you tell them?” asked Ari, avoiding Clyde’s gaze.
“What could we tell them? We had no idea what had happened to you,” said Patrick. “We told them that you eloped and that you were on your honeymoon.”
“What!” Ari said, unable to hide the shock from her voice.
“Yea, but Lea didn’t seem to believe us; guess we know why now,” Patrick added. “And I think Chris mentioned something about a parasite exam… or was it that the lecturer was a parasite? Anyway, he said something like it wasn’t like you to miss an exam.”
“Oh, yea, right, I forgot about that,” said Ari.
“But how do we know the witch will help us?” Thomas asked.
“Because she didn’t want to hurt Ari; she thought that what she was doing would keep her safe from us,” Ragon explained.
“So what are we going to do?” asked Clyde.
“What do you mean?” said Ari.
“I mean, you quite possible just killed the oldest and most powerful vampires of all time. There is something inside of you that allows you to burst into sunshine. How do we know that you won’t just erupt now? And,” he went on, ignoring Ragon’s glaring expression, “what the hell do we do if you didn’t kill the Ancients?”
“We could run,” Ryder suggested. “Go back into hiding for a few years and wait to hear if the Ancients survived?”
Tense silence followed this. Ari stared around at the coven. She was sick of running and sick of hiding. Besides, she didn’t want to waste a few years living like a criminal, on the run. Slowly she shook her head.
“I don’t want to hide from anyone. Whatever it is I can do, it should be enough to protect us all. Even if the Ancients are alive, and that’s a big if, why would they risk coming after me again? They don’t know I have no control over my powers. Besides, I want to get to do some normal things. I want to stay here and finish vet.”
“But what if you can’t control your powers?” asked Thomas, looking past her to stare at Ragon. “It sounds like you burst into sunshine because you were upset; what happens the next time your emotions change?”
“You said it yourself; Lea is a witch, and if Mary Grandor was supposed to be a witch then maybe Lea will know about my heritage,” said Ari. “Besides, I would never do anything to hurt any of you. The moment I was with Ragon I stopped glowing; it was like I knew deep down how I could switch it off.”
“I don’t know if you’re switching it off is the problem; I’m more worried about what will cause you to switch on your little sunshine power,” Thomas argued.
“Let me deal with that,” said Ari, hoping and praying that Chris might be able to help her control that power, the way he had helped her with her freezing power.
“So we’re staying here? We’re all staying here?” asked Ryder.
The rest of the coven nodded and Ari beamed at them all.
“Well, if we are staying, that means I need to organise re-sitting my parasitology exam,” said Ari; vet wasn’t like other courses; if you failed even one item then you failed the course for the semester and would have to repeat.
“You will have to go to Jack Phillips,” said Patrick. “He’s the new Vice Chancellor; just explain that you’re a source and your master needed you, so you had to miss it.”
“Is that ok with you master?” Ari asked sarcastically, but Ragon wasn’t looking at her, instead his eyes were fixed on Thomas.
“Jack Philips?” asked Ragon, looking at Ryder before glancing once and Thomas and adding, “Have you heard from Victoria at all?”
Thomas shook his head slowly.
That night when Ari returned to her dorm room she was desperate to see two people- Chris and Lea. She had waited until after Ragon had dropped her off to go and find Chris first. She still hadn’t told Ragon that Chris was a Wraith, and the secret was beginning to eat at her. Ari didn’t know how many more snide remarks from Clyde she could stand before the truth would burst from her. She had made up her mind to tell Chris everything that had happened after the Triad had taken her and Ragon; at the same time she was resolved to explain to Chris that she could no longer keep his secret… Ragon needed to know. When she was staring at Chris’s door, Ari sighed and took in a deep breath.
She banged on his door until someone finally yelled, “Alright, alright, I’m coming.”
Chris’s eyes widened when he saw her, before he glared down at her left hand.
“What?” Ari asked, looking down in confusion.
“That cheap bastard didn’t even buy you a ring? Guess that’s what you get for getting hitched to a blood sucker.”
Ari remained confused until she remembered that the coven had spread the rumour that she and Ragon had eloped. She was just about to explain this when she frowned. Was Chris seriously starting with all that vampire rubbish already?
“Oh, I didn’t realise that wraiths had such moral high grounds to stand on?” she said.
“That’s a low blow Ari.”
“Well you shouldn’t say stuff like that,” said Ari. “You know that he’s my boyfriend, and yes he is a vampire. But he wasn’t born one; he was made what he is.”
“So what you’re saying is that because I was born a wraith, I’m evil, but because he was turned, he’s not?” said Chris.
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. You were the one baiting me.”
Chris walked across the room and pulled Ari’s hand up. Instantly she tried to pull away.
“I wasn’t baiting you; I was pointing out the obvious. You and Ragon eloped and he didn’t buy you a ring,” said Chris, pointing down to Ari’s rin
g finger, “hence the cheap bastard statement.”
“We’re not married. The coven just said that because no one knew where we were and didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that we were missing.”
“Well then, I guess he isn’t a cheap bastard,” Chris said reluctantly.
“Thankyou.”
“He’s still a blood sucker though,” he added under his breath.
Ignoring the snipe, Ari dived into the story of why she and Ragon had disappeared after her birthday. Two hours later, Chris’s face resembled the colour of sour milk.
“Jesus Ari!” he said, “That is insane! I can’t believe you went up against the Ancients and lived to tell the story. So does that mean that you and Ragon broke up?”
Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) Page 26