“What took so long?” Chris asked, tapping his watch furiously when Ari finally rounded the corner near Omega halls.
“Sorry, the meeting with the new Vice Chancellor ran over,” she said.
“Vamps in power,” Chris said, shaking his head, “they think that they can mess with any ones schedule.”
Ari scoffed but said, “Shall we.”
The pair began the walk down to Delta Halls, continuing past it until they reached the Three Prong Trek.
“Ine, meni, mini mo,” said Chris, finally pointing to the first of the three paths.
Though Ari didn’t say it, she was glad that Chris had chosen this path and not the middle one, which would lead them to Sandra. She doubted she would be able to find Sandra again even if she had wanted to, but she didn’t want to run into her or Thomas, because they would be sure to tell Ragon.
“So sunshine, what did you tell your blood sucker-” Chris began, until Ari shot him a dirty look, at which point he smiled up at her and added, “-sorry, I mean Ragon.”
Ari looked down at her feet. She had told Ragon about her meeting with the Vice Chancellor, but not that she would be hanging out with Chris afterwards.
Ari dug her foot into the loose ground and said, “Let’s just focus on what were supposed to be doing. Which by the way is what exactly?”
“Right, well, I thought we’d do a little exercise.”
“Excuse me?” asked Ari, her hands on her hips; she didn’t think push ups would help somehow.
“I’ll chase and you hide.”
“What, like a game?” she asked.
“More like a survival tactic,” he explained, already beginning to take off his shoes. “I’m going to be a dog when I attack you.”
“Seriously; I tell you that I can burst into sunshine and I have no idea why or what else I can do… and you think the best way to practice is for you to come after me; do you have a death wish?”
“In case you haven’t noticed Ariana,” said Chris, pulling his shirt off, “but I’m not a vampire and sunlight doesn’t do anything to me. And as for your other powers… well, I think you might be getting a little carried away. Unless you plan on freezing me to death, I am sure I will be fine. Modesty is the best policy after all.” Chris grinned toothily and then pulled his belt free. “You err, might want to turn around for this next part.”
Instantly Ari spun on the spot; she had just realised what Chris was doing.
“But how will your turning into a dog help me?” she called out, now waiting behind a tree with her hands over her eyes.
“I’m going to attack you.”
“I don’t know if that will work; I only tend to use my powers when I’m scared,” she said, half sarcastic, half serious.
“You’re telling me that I’m not a terrifying beast when I transform! I’m hurt.”
Suddenly she felt something soft hit her in the back of the head and Chris yelled out, “Can you shove them in my backpack.”
Reaching down, Ariana picked up the clothes and made to grab his shoes also. She was just considering asking him if there wasn’t a different way that she could learn to control her powers, when she heard Chris yell to her from behind the tree.
“Ready or not here I come,” he said, before letting out a long scream.
The tearing noise coming from behind the bushes, in combination with Chris’s blood curdling scream, told Ariana that he was beginning the transformation into a dog.
“Shit,” she whispered to herself, glancing around the forest.
Moving back to the path, she began running down it; if she were going to at least try to practice her powers, she might as well act the part. At first she glanced behind her, certain she could hear someone or something following close by, but soon the only noise that she could hear was the sound of crushing twigs underneath her own feet as she walked.
She continued like this for a little over half an hour, so that the suspense of Chris attacking her had all but worn off. If she were being honest with herself, she had never really thought that Chris’s idea was a good way for her to learn how to use her powers, or to potentially discover any other ones she may have. At the end of the day, she just didn’t find Chris scary, dog or not. It was one thing for him to attack a vampire, but she knew that he would never actually hurt her. Best case scenario he would come at her and she would freeze him; worst case she would laugh as he tackled her to the ground.
She was just considering yelling out to him and saying that she’d had enough, when she heard a faint squelching noise behind her. Though it was still early in the day, the dense canopy of the forest masked the light of the day well. Occasional trickles of snowflakes still showered down, but this deep into the forest, these burst were less and less frequent. The path that she had been following was also becoming increasingly difficult to discern. At the beginning there had been a large, two man path, that was reasonably well maintained, but this far into the Three Prong Trek, there were large trees splattered throughout the path, making it twist and turn unpredictably.
“I know you’re there,” she called out, when a sudden snapping sound caught her attention, and she spun around to face a particularly old and knotted tree. “Come out, come out, where ever you are,” she added, hearing rustling leaves nearby.
A large smile broke across her face when two eyes suddenly appeared from behind the tree she had been staring at. She moved towards it, relieved that Chris had finally shown up, but stopped suddenly. The eyes staring back at her were distinctively feline, not canine. Standing entirely still, Ari watched in horror as a large cat emerged from the darkness.
Its eyes were elliptical and yellow, not at all like Chris’s light blue eyes. The cat inched further and further towards her, until it was close enough for her to realise that it was no mere cat- it was a lynx. A second louder snapping noise made her spin around, and she saw a second large cat stalking towards her. She watched in horror as the spotted animals moved closer, slinking low so that their bellies brushed against the forest floor. Suddenly there was more rustling and then from all around her, several more cats emerged, adopting the same predatory stance as they began to encircle her.
Without thinking, Ari threw her hands up in the air, as she had done dozens of times, and waited for her attackers to freeze- but they did not. Her breathing was very fast now. She had frozen animals before; why were her powers suddenly not working? Throwing her hands up again, this time with more confidence, she willed herself to stop time, but still nothing happened. She continued to watch the beast’s advance, as a fearful dread sank into the bottom of her stomach.
It happened very quickly. There was a low growl from the first lynx she had seen, just as two large fangs were revealed, dripping with saliva. Then the beast crouched down low, preparing to pounce. Ari couldn’t help herself, she let out a small cry and moved to throw her hands up in the air again, desperate for her powers to work. Still time did not stop and so she did the only other thing she could think of- she ran.
She had only made it a few paces however when her path was blocked. Looking up she saw three ferocious cats, all snarling at her. Then a long howl ripped through the forest, and all the cats around her turned to search for the source of the noise. A silver coated husky emerged. For just a second, two vivid light blue eyes stared at her, but then he was leaping through the air, so that when he landed, he stood protectively in front of her, intermittently roaring and howling as he turned to face the other animals.
Nervously Ari glanced down, glaring at her useless hands; she was desperate to communicate to Chris that her powers did not work on whatever the hell these things were. But Chris was not looking at Ari; his eyes had become glassy and his face vacant. When his mouth opened it was wide, and a blood curdling scream poured out past his teeth, sending shivers down Ari’s arms. The husky had fallen to the ground, writhing in pain. His ears and teeth were shortening, becoming more human-like, while his legs elongated, the hair covering them, falling awa
y, to be replaced with smooth skin. One last whimper left the shrinking snout, and then Chris turned back into a man. He stood quickly, keeping his back to Ari as his human eyes scanned the chain of lynxes.
“Where the hell did they come from?” asked Chris. “There’s too many of them. Here, take my hand; I’ll transport us.”
Ari was just about to grab Chris’s hand when something very odd happened. A slashing noise, like the sound of many sheets of paper being torn into pieces, resonated through the forest. Ari wasn’t sure where the sound was coming from, until one of the lynxes in front of her began to change. Its eyes had become less feline, its pupils no longer vertical, and then Ari saw it transform. With her mouth open in surprise, she watched as the best began twisting and turning, until suddenly it lay before her, no longer a lynx… but a man.
What the hell was going on?
“What are you doing?” asked the naked stranger, and several of the lynxes hissed after he spoke.
Until then, Ari had been trying purposefully not to stare at the man’s naked body, when he spoke she couldn’t help but look at his lower body. Instantly she blushed. Trying now to look only at his face, Ari considered him. He was hard looking, like a rock that had been left out in the weather for too long. Though he couldn’t have been any older than thirty, his watery eyes and tough leathery skin gave him an aged appearance. No longer were his eyes a funny yellow colour but now were a dull brown, which matched his shaggy hair and beard. In some bizarre way, he reminded her of an axe man, albeit a naked one without an axe.
“What business is it of yours?” said Chris, and Ari thought that he was being remarkably bold, considering they were facing a chain of lynxes, lynxes that were apparently capable of turning into humans.
As if they could hear Chris’s words, several of the lynxes behind the man spat, while one lynx stepped forward and yowled, its almond eyes fixed on Chris and Ari.
“Riley hush,” said the man, glancing past his shoulder as he glared at the lynx who had spoken out of turn. “You, waere, I asked you a question. What were you doing chasing this girl? You have been stalking her; is she a vampire?”
Ari looked at Chris in confusion; did this man just call him a waere?
“I… we were just playing,” Chris said, seeming to have cottoned on. “Ari, she’s a friend. She isn’t a vampire.”
“She isn’t a vampire?” said the man, still looking at Ari sideways.
“Do you see any fangs?” asked Chris, clearly trying to remain in control. “Besides, why would I be protecting a vampire?”
“Why would you be playing hide and seek with a girl then?” asked the man.
“That’s none of your business,” said Chris.
“Be careful little waere. Just because you are one of us, does not mean you can talk to me like that; I’m Paul and I’m in charge of this pack.”
Ari still couldn’t quite believe what she had just heard. Paul was the leader of a pack of waeres? But… they couldn’t be waeres; waeres had been extinct for centuries.
“Look,” said Chris, “we have somewhere we have to be.”
“Well little waere, you would do well not to play in these woods” said Paul, his eyes narrowing as they darted around the forest. “Surely you know this place is infected with blood suckers.”
Chris nodded; he did not take his eyes off the lynxes, but reached behind him and grabbed Ari’s hand. She let her fingers intertwine in his. He had just started pulling Ari away, when Paul spoke again.
“Stay away from the woods for the next little while; we have plans for the leeches here.”
Paul did not wait for a reply. Instead he turned to face the many golden eyes of the cats surrounding him. Once again there was a strange snapping noise, and Ari watched as the man morphed into a hawk. The process appeared much more complicated than when he had changed from the lynx. Now it seemed that parts of his body were sliding and condensing, as if trying to compact into a much smaller form. For the slightest of instances the bird hovered, watching Chris intently, but then it flew off, its bright yellow eyes watching as the rest of the cats transformed also into birds, which flew into the sky to join him.
For a minute or two Ari and Chris stared up into the sky, watching the birds disappear; then Chris spoke and Ari was bought back to reality. With a pang she realised that they were still holding hands. Ari released Chris and looked away, her eyes fixing on a large tree, rather than his still naked body.
“Jesus, Ari are you ok?” asked Chris.
“You’re naked,” she said, removing the backpack and handing it to him, careful to keep her eyes on the ground.
“We were almost killed by a bunch of waeres and all you can say is you’re naked?”
“I’m sorry,” said Ari, as once again Chris slunk behind a tree and began to re-dress. “It’s just; can anything else crazy happen to me? We go for a walk and run into waeres, which I thought were supposed to be extinct by the way.”
“They are,” said Chris, remerging from behind the tree and sitting down on the slightly damp earth to put his shoes back on. “Supposed to be anyway; clearly that is not exactly the case.”
“But, then how? And why did they think that you were one too? How come they didn’t suspect you of being a wraith instead?”
“It’s only a few wraiths who can transform into animals, probably less than a handful,” said Chris.
“But I still don’t understand?”
“I don’t either. I guess when I turned back into a man they just assumed I was the same as them. Or maybe I don’t seem evil enough to be a wraith, or they don’t know that some wraiths can morph? It’s not like I sign up to a weekly newsletter. But what I want to know is how there are waeres? They’re supposed to have been killed centuries ago!”
“Maybe they were wraiths?” said Ari.
“Can’t be. Didn’t you see; they changed from lynxes into hawks. If they were wraiths, they would only be able to transition into a single animal. Only waeres could morph into more than one animal.”
Ari too began nodding her head, as this crucial piece of information came back to her.
“Well, we’re lucky they thought you were a waere. If you hadn’t of shifted when you did, they would have killed me.”
“I don’t know,” said Chris, as the pair began the walk back to Omega hall. “Waeres weren’t supposed to be evil. I think they only went to attack you because they assumed that I was hunting you, because you were a vampire. I’m pretty sure that when they realised that you were just human, they would have probably let you go.”
“Before or after they tore my head off?”
“But how come you didn’t you freeze them?” asked Chris. “That would have saved us a hell of a lot of trouble.”
“I tried. But I couldn’t.”
“Maybe you just need more practice-” Chris began, but stopped quickly when Ari spun around to confront him.
“It wasn’t me; it was them! I have gotten pretty good at freezing stuff.”
“It’s ok,” he said, reaching out a condescending hand to pat her on the head. “You don’t have to be good at-”
But before Chris could finish his sentence, Ari had thrown her hands into the air and Chris stopped moving and talking. Ari smiled at his frozen face and couldn’t help but let out a small self-satisfied laugh. She was being childish she knew, but it was infuriating for Chris to tell her that she hadn’t been able to do something. Thinking of how best to stand when Chris unfroze, Ari moved over to a large dark boulder near the edge of the path.
“-everything,” said Chris, unfreezing and looking around for Ari.
“Over here,” she said out loud, now sitting atop the bolder.
“Hmm, I don’t know if you have noticed it,” he said, moving over to help her down from the rock, “but you’re getting pretty damn good at freezing things!”
Ari smiled back, fighting the urge to say I told you so, and instead said, “I need help controlling the breaking into sunshine part
of my powers, not the freezing.”
“So waeres don’t freeze?” said Chris, as he and Ari resumed their walk.
“Guess not.”
“But vamps and wraiths do,” he said.
“And humans,” Ari added, suddenly deep in thought. “Also when I was in Latvia, I discovered that distance matters. I can freeze things that are close to me, but the moment they are more than a few meters away, it doesn’t work.”
For the next half an hour as the pair walked back, they continued to discuss Ari’s powers and the apparent existence of waeres. Though Ari had not voiced her concern, the biggest thing worrying her was not that her powers did not work on waeres, or that her and Chris had almost been killed by a pack of them. No, the thing that concerned her was what Paul had said about having plans for the leeches here. Trying hard not to broach the subject, Ari purposefully steered the conversation away from the threat they had heard. This was largely because she had decided that just as soon as she got back to Uni, she was going to tell Ragon everything; she wasn’t about to let him, or any of the other vampires that she cared about, get hurt because she failed to tell them about what had happened today. It was fairly obvious to her that Paul and his pack of waeres had something planned for the vampires at the Pasture Institute, and she would do everything in her power to stop them from hurting Ragon, or anyone in the coven.
Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) Page 28