Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (17 page)

“Come on, please work,” Ari prayed, trying desperately to stop time again as she flung up her hands, concentrating hard.          

Again the vampire cocked her head, watching Ari’s strange hand movements, apparently unsure of what to make of them. After a moment, during which time Ari cursed her uncontrollable powers, the vampire laughed and then lunged into the air. This time when Ari flung up her arms, time stopped, so that when the vampire froze she was stuck in mid-air, like a flying marble statue, suspended by invisible strings. Ari didn’t hesitate but moved over to the dog, grabbing it by the scruff as she began dragging it back up the cliff path towards Delta halls. Broken yelps and howls followed this, but the dog did not bite her, rather it seemed to understand her actions and its feet scrambled under the loose earth as the pair climbed up the cliff hurriedly.    

Ari was barely a few meters out of the forest when she realised with a twang of horror that the sun had set. No longer was the path bathed by a gentle warm glow, but shadowy and ominous. Spurred on from the lack of the suns protection, Ari increased her pace, practically dragging the animal up the cliff. Before long Ari’s hands were numb from the effort of gripping onto the dog’s mane; he was heavy and it cost her every ounce of effort to keep dragging him with her.

When she was only a few metres away from the top of the path, she turned around and peered back down to the valley below; there was no one there. Her eyes narrowed as she searched the clearing below. For the smallest moment she allowed herself hope, and then she felt a cold hand on her shoulder and her heart screamed in her chest, just as she cried out in surprise.

“Ahhhhh!”

“It’s me. Its ok; I’ve got you,” said Ragon, pulling her up the last part of the path before cuddling her tightly.

Ari felt tears swell in her eyes and then she started crying uncontrollably.

“Hush love; its ok,” said Ragon, stroking her hair lovingly. 

“It… it was a vampire.”

“What was a vampire?” asked Ragon, taking in a sharp intake of breath.

“She attacked me… and the dog,” Ari stuttered, but at the mention of the hound, Ari was suddenly looking around, but it had vanished.

“What dog?” Ragon asked, looking around in confusion. “What vampire? What’s going on?”

“But… but where did he go?”   

“Ari,” said Ragon, looking at her in concern. “You’re not making any sense. Look at me.”

“No we have to find him; he’s hurt,” she sobbed.

“What the hell happened?” said Ragon. “What were you doing out here?”

“I… I asked Sandra if she wanted to watch a movie but she said she was going hunting, so I… I just went for a walk.”

“You thought it was a good idea to go for a walk around sunset, on the one day that vampires have been locked up inside and were probably desperate to feed?” he asked angrily.

“I didn’t think.”

“Ari,” said Ragon, clearly trying to keep his voice calm, “you need to be more careful. We’re not in Brisbane anymore. There are a heap of vampires here; they won’t think twice about attacking a human who is wandering round by themselves. What did the vampire look like?”

“I don’t know,” said Ari, wiping away the tears that clung to her eyelashes, “it was a girl; she had spiky black hair… and… and I can’t remember anything else.”

Still gripping her hand, Ragon leaned over the cliff edge, his eyes tracing the small path that led down to the forest below.

“But how did you get away?” he asked finally, as he began herding Ari back towards Delta halls.

“That’s what I am trying to tell you! There was this dog, a husky, it… it saved me. After I froze her-”

“-what?” said Ragon, cutting her off midsentence. “You froze her? Did she realise?”

“I don’t know, I mean, maybe, I’m not sure. After I froze her and phoned you, she looked at me weird, like she thought something strange had happened. But what about the dog? It’s got to be around here somewhere and it’s hurt. The vampire, she hit him.”

Why was Ragon so worried about the stupid vampire? They needed to find the dog; it was injured.

“Ari, you can’t let anyone know what you can do!”

“I know,” she said, just as another wave of tears poured from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I just thought, I just thought it would be nice to go for a walk.”

“Shh, it’s ok love. You’re safe now. Look Ari I’m sorry. You know I don’t want to yell at you but, I just don’t know if you realise just how much I love you, just how much my happiness hinges on your safety. If you get hurt then I get hurt. And I don’t mean to be unreasonable. I know it isn’t your fault that every vampire in the world seems to have it in for you; I just need you to promise me that you won’t go out looking for trouble. I want you to get a chance to study, I want you to get a chance to live, I just, just don’t want to lose you. I know sometimes I act like a cranky old man, I just, just can’t let anything happen to you.”

Part of Ari wanted to argue with him; to tell him that he was being ridiculous, that she could take care of herself and to remind him that she had just gotten away from a vampire. The other part of her, the more rational side, knew that he was right. Slowly she nodded, wiping away the reminding tears that were resting near her chin. 

“Just promise me that you will stay away from dark forests, deserted alleyways, and bathroom windows for a little while,” he added, forcing a weak smile across his face, a smile which did not mask the ashen colour in his cheeks.

Chapter 9 – Out of Bounds

For the rest of the week Ragon did not let Ari out of his sight. On Wednesday Ari had found this amusing; she had only one lecture in the afternoon and Ragon had sat next to her in the back, all the while making little jokes about their subject matter: faecal examination of the dog. On Thursday his presence was less humorous; she’d had a mini quiz in the morning, during which Ragon hid in an alcove in the ceiling of the lecture theatre. It was very distracting looking up, only to see him staring down at her from his perch. She had spent the majority of her exam looking around to make sure that no one had noticed him. As she scanned the attendants, she realised that Chris was nowhere to be seen. For a moment she allowed his absence to preoccupy her, recalling that he had not been at class the previous day either, but then the teacher announced that there were only thirty minutes remaining. Ari stared down at her nearly blank paper and, trying hard not to think of Chris or look up and see Ragon, started writing again.     

Come Friday and Ragon’s presence had become downright frustrating. After a morning of particularly mind numbing neurology lectures, during which time she was handed back her dismal exam result from the previous day’s quiz, Ari was looking forward to her evening lab class- Ragon free. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate what Ragon was doing for her, but his presence was far too distracting and she was already so far behind in her studies.

To top off it all off, she still hadn’t seen Chris and was starting to get worried about him. Ari loitered around the entrance of the lab that afternoon, hoping to see him but Chris did not show, and so hanging her head she threw her lab coat on and walked to where a tutor was waiting to sign off her name; the moment her eyes fell on him, she gasped.

“Seriously?” she said, staring at the gorgeous tutor who smiled back at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry; do you know me?” Ragon asked, looking down at his lab coat momentarily before searching for her name on the list that he held, “Is that Ariana with one A or two?”

“I think that I will be safe during a prac,” she hissed, while many of the other students flashed their ID cards as they passed, and Ragon ticked them off his list causally.

“Yea, because vampires can’t control humans and get access to prac classes,” Ragon whispered, before adding, “how do you think I got in here?”

At that moment another tutor, Dr Reid, approached Ragon and handed over his marked roll.  

“All mine are here, and thanks for filling in today,” said Dr Reid, flipping the collar of his lab coat up, but not before Ari had seen two pin prick bites on his neck as he walked away.

“You lulled him?” she asked, staring at Ragon in disbelief.

Ragon did not answer but stared down at the list dumbly before crossing Ari’s name off.

As his eyes roamed down the list, Ragon’s lip curled slightly and he said, “I don’t see Christopher Bolt here?”

“Yea he is sick. He’s been shut up in his dorm room since Tuesday.”

Ari and Ragon spun around to see who had spoken; it was Lisa. She had a pair of forceps in her hand and was swooning obviously at Ragon as she pointed to her name on the list and added, “But I’m here.”

Ari rolled her eyes when she noticed that the top two buttons of Lisa’s lab coat were undone; not exactly OH&S standards, she thought.

“Right, thank you Miss Livingstone,” Ragon said professionally, ticking Lisa’s name off, before putting a large and obvious cross next to Chris’s name, which he then highlighted with a yellow marker.

Ari gaped at him, waited for Lisa to leave and said, “Can’t you tick Chris off?”

Ragon’s left eyebrow rose.

“I don’t think I could be dishonest in my tutorial duties. I take this position very seriously.”

Ari scoffed and said, “Oh right; because you are such a model tutor,” before storming off.

Chris’s absence as well as Ragon’s presence had a profound effect on Ari’s enjoyment of her prac class that afternoon. In particular, she’d had to endure Lisa’s spiteful comments about her exam results, not to mention that Lisa called Ragon over to their table at every chance she got, not only show off her superior knowledge but also to flirt with him shamelessly.

“Do you know what this is?” Lisa asked Ragon, for what Ari thought might have been the tenth or eleventh time that afternoon.

Lisa was indicating the microscope, her long finger pointing to a slide that was positioned on the stage. When Ragon made to look through the eye pieces, Lisa did not surrender her chair to him, rather forced him to lean over her, trying her best to brush up against him as he adjusted the fine focus on the microscope.

“That is a
Trichuris
egg,” he said, looking up to beam at Ari, “note the operculum at either end.”

Ari shook her head in dismay at Lisa, watching as the girl leaned forward and looked down the microscope, her hand brushing against Ragon’s lap before he had time to move.

“Oh right, the whipworm,” said Lisa. “So we’d be looking for haemorrhagic diarrhoea in an animal over twelve weeks, owing to the long incubation period.”

It wasn’t a question; it was a statement, but Lisa smiled up at Ragon, waiting for his nod of approval, which he gave to her, much to Ari’s annoyance. 

“I heard Chris was doing the walk of shame from Delta on Tuesday night,” said Rick, as soon as Ragon’s back was to them.

“Walk of shame?” asked Ari, staring unblinkingly at Rick.

“Yea you know; walking back from a
lover’s
room naked,” Rick explained, unable to keep a grin from spreading across his face.

“You’re in Delta,” Rick said to Lisa, “did you see him?”

For a moment Lisa hesitated but then turning to face Ari, said, “Not after he left my room.”

“What?” Ari said, unable to hide her surprise.

From across the room, Ragon turned to look at her. Too late she realised that he would have been able to hear everything that they were saying.

“I mean… really?” said Ari, trying to keep her voice sounding unperturbed as she glanced sheepishly away from Ragon.

It wasn’t like Ari was jealous, just surprised. She knew from the way that Lisa had been throwing herself at Chris, that she liked him; then again, Lisa threw herself at just about any good looking guy, so this wasn’t really a surprise. What was more shocking was that Chris had apparently slept with Lisa. Ari had been sure by the way he acted around her that he found her more annoying than anything else.

“Yea sorry,” said Lisa, smiling sarcastically at Ari, “Chris said you had a little crush on him. Hope you don’t mind?”

Rick’s gaze faltered between Ari and Lisa, and then, pretending to be a cat, he hissed loudly and did a swiping motion. Ari however ignored Lisa and looked around in search of Ragon, hoping and praying that he had not heard Lisa’s lie. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when she felt someone brush past her. It was Ragon.  

“Can I help you with anything else Miss Livingstone?” said Ragon, mot meeting Ari’s eye.

Almost instantly Lisa began batting her eyelashes, as if they were hummingbird wings and said, “Actually, could you explain the histological changes that are happening on this slide? It just looks like a mess of axons to me.”

Ragon let a light hearted chuckle escape his lips, then leaned in close and glanced down the microscope. At the same time Ari felt her face flush; was he trying to make her jealous?

“You see the intra-cytoplasmic changes here; we call these nigri bodies. They are particularly indicative of distemper virus in canines,” he explained.

Ari’s mouth opened in disbelief; how the hell did Ragon suddenly know so much about all this stuff? One of her particular loves was pathology; the fact that Ragon was a walking, talking brains trust on the subject, was a complete and utter shock to her.

“Excuse me Mr Young,” said Ari, as she pretending to read his name badge. “Where exactly did you study veterinary pathology?

Ragon did not smile when he replied, “I have a PhD in pathology from Princetown.”

“Wow,” Lisa said dreamily, looking adoringly into his eyes before hurriedly searching for another slide that Ragon might be able to help her with.

Before Lisa could ask another question however, Ragon had left, walking purposefully to another table where a student had their hand in the air.

“Um… yum!” said Lisa.

“I thought that you and Chris-” Rick began to say.

“-Chris who?” Lisa said quickly, still looking back at Ragon. “Did you see his eyes? And he has a PhD. God he’s cute. I wonder what the code of conduct says about tutors dating students. I mean, it’s not like he is marking us on anything, just our attendance.”

Ari was shaking her head when she left the table. She tapped Ragon once on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow her into an empty storage room.

“This is comfy,” he said, looking interestedly at the rows of paper towel and cleaning supplies surrounding them.

“Since when were you the foremost authority on histology and cytology?”

“Since when did you have a crush on a boy called Chris?” he countered.

“What… that’s just… you can’t seriously believe what that stupid, brainless…”

“She can’t be too brainless to be studying vet,” said Ragon.

Ari scoffed. It looked as if Ragon was about to say something else but just then a vibrating in his pocket caught him off guard, and he hurried to check his phone.

“Look I have to go; we can talk about this later,” he said, reading the message. “Are you sure you will be alright?”

“Why do you have to go?”

“Oh, so now you want me to stay?” he asked. “I can’t seem to do anything right.”

“I meant, who just messaged you?”

“Oh… that was Bridget-” he started to explain.

“-well then, run along; I’m sure you don’t want to keep Bridget waiting. It’s not like she has forever to wait anyhow.”

“Actually,” said Ragon, pausing for dramatic effect, “I asked her to meet me.”

“You what? Are you trying to start a fight? You know there is nothing going on with me and Chris. Lisa was just saying that because she is a bitch. I told you about her. She’s the one whose always going out of her way to make out I am some sort of retard. It would be nice for you to be on my side, not flirt with her.”

Ragon smiled and said, “I’m sorry. Would you like me to eat her?”

“No, but I would like you to explain why you asked to meet with Bridget. Or are you just trying to make me jealous?”

He rolled his eyes and added, “I told her I wanted to go over our literature review for our thesis, but what I really want is to talk to her about you.”

“Excuse me?”

“I thought if I told her that you were my source, she might spread the word,” he said.

“And that would be a good thing?”

“It’s offensive for another vampire to attack sources without their owner’s permission,” he explained.

“So if they think that I am your source, then they won’t attack me? But I thought that they already thought that? So why did that black haired vamp attack me?”   

“We told Victoria that you were my source. All the vamps at Cruor halls think is that you spend a lot of time with me and the coven. They probably think that we share you. I’m hoping if they know that your mine, they will keep their fangs away from you. I don’t know if it will work but it can’t hurt. You do seem to attract trouble,” he said. “And after what happened in the forest the other day… I just don’t want you getting attacked again.”

“But why tell Bridget?”

“She’s popular and a gossip queen, besides, she is best friends with Gwen,” he explained.

“Ah yes, Gwen… the other blonde bombshell you’re friends with.” 

“Gwen is the senior resident of Cruor halls. If anyone can spread the word that you’re off limits, it’s those two,” said Ragon, kissing her once on the lips and then making to leave the store cupboard.