Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (21 page)

Ari stared down at the dog in surprise. She knew instantly by the light blue eyes and silver coat, that it was the same dog which had protected her when she had been attacked by the vampire in the forest. How could she not have realised that the light blue eyes that belonged to the husky who had saved her, were the exact same shape and colour as Chris’s? Suddenly it all made sense; the bruises all over his body were from their fight with the vampire in the forest. But why had he protected her; weren’t wraiths supposed to be evil? 

“Chris?” Ari said hesitantly, edging towards him.

The dog howled in response. It was a low deep howl, reminding Ari of mourners at a funeral. Gingerly the dog got to his feet and limped away. Ari didn’t need to be a vet student to know that Chris was much more injured than he had let on earlier. Ari stood rooted to the spot, considering her options, but then cursing herself, she followed, clutching her jumper and shirt as she ran after him, the cold air whipping her exposed skin.

Chris did not go far, but even in his bruised and battered condition, he was much faster than Ari, who had to jog to keep up. He led her behind one of the lecture theatres, taking a small footpath that seemed to disappear into a well-manicured garden clearing. Ari thought that from his pricked ears and how he constantly turned to look around, that he was worried about being seen. When finally they reached a particularly secluded area, Chris finally sat with one ear still raised, his light blue eyes falling on Ari.

Still trying to gather her thoughts, Ari did not speak at first, but after a moment she sat down on the slightly damp grass, crossing her legs. Chris moved gingerly towards her and sat down protectively in front of her. Unable to help herself, Ari reached a shaking hand out to pat the great beast in front of her.

“Chris?” she said again, running her nails through his coat, the same way she would any other dog.

She felt stupid talking to a dog, temporarily picturing what any of her class mates would think if they saw her, but at her words Chris had raised his head, as if he could understand her. It was so dark that she could only just make out his silver and black fur. 

Ari had so many questions; how was it possible for Chris to transform into a dog? Weren’t waeres the only immortals capable of transforming into animals, and weren’t they all extinct? Didn’t the mark on his back mean that he was wraith? How had she been able to see the mark on his back? And, most importantly of all, why, if Chris was supposed to be evil, did he save her?

“You know… it would be a lot easier to talk to you, if you could talk back,” she said finally.

The husky let out a small huff but then slinked away. Ari watched as Chris crouched low on the dark grass and then let out a small yelp, just as he began writhing. Despite Chris’s obvious intentions to keep his distance, Ari moved over and reached out a hand, hoping to reassure him. The dog was shaking all over, until the familiar sound of breaking bones had him howling in pain. Soon he lay crumpled and twisted, but before he could finish the transformation, one of his ears pricked up and he let out a long growl, as if he had heard something.

Ari looked around nervously. She hadn’t heard anything, but it was too dark to make out much; yet the continued howls coming from Chris made her certain that there must be something or someone nearby.

“Hello?” she asked, raising her voice slightly as she continued to peer around.

At first there was no answer, and then someone appeared from the side of the building. Ari couldn’t tell who it was, but as they moved closer she recognised the dark blonde hair and dimpled face almost immediately.  

“Clyde?” she said, looking at him dumbfounded.

“Ari?” said Clyde, still moving closer; he stared at Ari in confusion, until his eyes locked on the shadowy area where Chris had slunk to. “Chris! What the hell?”

Clyde had said Chris’s name with such utter disgust, and when Ari turned around, she understood why; Chris was naked. Looking down, Ari’s eyes raked the singlet shirt she wore; what would Clyde think? Hastily she pulled her shirt back on, but by the time she had looked up, ready to explain herself, Clyde was gone. Instantly Ari began chasing after him.

“Wait,” Chris yelled, flinging out a hand to grasp her shoulder; Ari turned around, trying desperately to look anywhere but at Chris’s naked body. “You can’t tell him about me,” said Chris, his voice unusually high and nervous. “He’s a vampire!”

“And you’re a wraith or waere, or whatever the hell you are. I have to tell him; otherwise he will think that we were…”

Her voice trailed off as for the first time she looked Chris directly in the eyes.

“You said you haven’t been lulled… you told me that if you trusted me you wouldn’t tell them,” he said hurriedly.

“But… but.”

“Please,” he begged. “Ari, if the vampires know about me they will hunt me down and kill me, or even worse, ask me to join them.”

Ari shook her head in indecision, finally pulling out of Chris’s hold so as to race after Clyde. She knew she had no chance of catching him and even if she could, what would she say? Clearly Chris didn’t want anyone knowing about what he was; hell, she didn’t even know what he was.

She had thought that the first place that Clyde would go, would be to tell Ragon what he had seen, but when she knocked on Ragon’s door less than ten minutes later, Clyde was not there.

“Are you ok?” asked Ragon, looking at her flushed cheeks and wide eyes. “Dear God… tell me you haven’t been attacked again. I don’t think you realise there isn’t any prizes for most number of survive vampire attacks. I thought you had to write a prac report?”

Ari tried to laugh but failed; her heart was racing too fast and her face was stuck in dazed bemusement. She had been so sure that Clyde would be telling Ragon about finding her half-clothed and hidden in the middle of the campus with a boy who was naked; she hadn’t planned what she would say if it was just Ragon.  

“Say something,” said Ragon, moving closer to her, “you’re starting to scare me.”

“I… I…” Ari began, still catching her breath, but no formed sentence came out.

She had no idea what to say. Chris had saved her from being killed by a vampire; she owed it to him to keep his secret. But what if Clyde told Ragon what he had seen? These thoughts flung through her head, and as she panicked more and more, she noticed something odd; Ragon wasn’t moving. Inching towards him, she waved a hand in front of his face and then realised that she had stopped time.

“This freezing thing is coming pretty in handy,” she said to herself, reaching quickly for her phone and dialling Clyde’s number.

“Yes?” Clyde said, a few seconds later when he answered.

“Why did you run off like that?”

“Just looked like you wanted to be alone,” said Clyde, an obvious edge to his voice.

“I was trying to explain that-”  

“-no explanations necessary,” Clyde said hurriedly, “what you do in your spare time is your business. I don’t need to know; I won’t mention anything to Ragon. That’s for you to deal with… Look Ari I have to go; I am having dinner and it’s rude to talk with your mouth full.”

Loud beeping followed this, signifying that Clyde had hung up on her.

“Such a jerk,” Ari muttered to herself, thrusting her phone into her pocket.

What the hell was she supposed to do? Staring at Ragon’s frozen body, Ari thought about this question for a long time. Suddenly she felt a vibrating in her pocket and reaching for her phone, saw there was a text message from Chris:

‘We need to talk.’

“No shit,” said Ari, glaring at the text message.

“No shit what?” Ragon asked, having just un-frozen.

Instantly Ari looked up; her phone was still in her hand, but she casually placed it into her pocket and said, “Oh nothing.”

“Ari are you ok? You’re kind of talking like a crazy person.”

“Huh? What, no, I’m fine,” she said defensively, slipping her hand out of Ragon’s. “Just a bit stressed about this stupid prac assignment.” 

This was not true; something was wrong… something was very wrong. Though she wanted desperately to go to Chris and find out what he was and why he had saved her, she knew that if she ran off now, Ragon would definitely think that something was up. The smartest thing she could do was pretend that nothing had happened, and wait until tomorrow to speak to Chris. He had saved her life; the least she could do was keep his secret… for now anyway.

Chapter 10 –
The Wraith

Ari had slept badly that night. Though she was curled up with Ragon, she couldn’t help but dream about Chris. In her dreams a giant husky with piercing blue eyes was running with a pack of wolves, and being chased by a mob of vampires and strange tall cloaked figures. Several times that night she had woken in hysterics, having watched the wolves and the dog change from man to beast and vice versa, as they clawed and fought against the vampires and wraiths. She kept picturing Chris transforming, the way his body writhed before the flesh tore away from his bones, and fur began to grow in its place. Each time she woke screaming, and Ragon would comfort her, asking what her nightmare had been about. When Ragon questioned her she told him that she couldn’t remember.

She didn’t like lying to Ragon and she wasn’t entirely sure why she was keeping Chris’s secret. Part of it was because she knew that Ragon would overreact. If he knew Chris was a waere or a wraith, or whatever the hell he was, then Ragon would stop at nothing to make sure that Chris was not a threat to Ari. This was after all, exactly what Chris feared, and the worst part was that Ari knew it was true. But Chris wasn’t a threat; at least Ari didn’t think so. He had saved her life… not to mention that he was her friend. And then there was Clyde; what was she supposed to say to him… how could she explain what had happened? All Clyde had seen was her and Chris, half-naked together. Of course he would think that she was cheating on Ragon. But the only way to convince him otherwise would be to tell him what Chris really was, that he had only been naked because his clothes had been ripped from his body after he had transformed into a dog.

Each and every one of these thoughts circled in Ari’s head, so that when she woke at 7am next morning, she felt thoroughly unrested. She had given up on trying to fall back to sleep. Ragon lay next to her, his eyes closed and his face peaceful. She hadn’t noticed it until now, but he didn’t breathe when he slept, rather he lay completely still, almost, she thought with a shudder, as if he were dead. This was hardly surprising; vampires didn’t need oxygen to survive, only blood, but Ari no longer thought of Ragon as a vampire.

Moving silently from the sheets, Ari found her clothes at the end of the bed and slipped them on. Only one thing would make her feel better; she had to go and talk to Chris.

Walking up the grand staircase back at Omega Halls, Ari moved purposefully down the hallway, past her room and towards Chris’s door. She knocked softly at first, then after a moment of silence, knocked again harder.

“Keep your pants on,” Chris said from behind the door, his voice thick with sleep. “Who is it?”

“Ari.”

She knew it was early, knew that she’d probably just woke him up, but she didn’t care; if she couldn’t sleep then neither could he.  

“Coming,” he replied.

A moment later and Chris pulled the door open. Once again he was shirtless, and Ari saw the fading bruises that highlighted his skin, now a pale gold against his muscled chest.

“I thought I’d be hearing from you,” he said, stepping aside so that she could enter. “I didn’t think it would be at the crack of dawn though.”

“Sorry, but I couldn’t sleep. In case you forgot, last night I saw a brand on your back that says you’re a wraith, and then you turned into a dog; you have some explaining to do.”

Chris smiled gingerly and moved back to his bed. There was a strange look on his face, one that Ari attributed to a kind of submission. Somehow it made her want to trust him even more.

“Does that mean that you didn’t tell your blood suckers what I am?” he asked.

“Tell them what you are? I don’t know what you are?”

Chris sighed, as if a great weight was about to be lifted off his shoulders, and then said, “Well mum is normal but my father was a wraith… and I’m sort of like a watered down version of one.”

Ari’s eyes widened. She moved over to his desk and sat down on the chair, pulling her legs up so that they were crossed underneath her.

“But how can you turn into a dog? I thought that was what waeres did? And they’re extinct. Right?”

“I don’t know the full story, but when the wraiths and vamps got together to take out the waeres, the wraiths stole some of their magic. It was part of the deal. The direct descendants of the wraiths involved were able to transition into an animal.”

“So you can turn into any animal you want?” she asked, recalling the section in the book she had read that detailed the waere persecutions.

“Not any animal; I can only turn into a dog, or more precisely a husky. Only waeres could change which ever animal they chose.”

“But, but doesn’t that mean that you were involved in killing all the waeres?” asked Ari, her resolve on thinking that Chris was not evil, suddenly evaporating.

“My dad was part of the persecutions. Any descendants of the wraiths involved are able to transform as well.”

“So what animal can your dad turn into?” Ari asked curiously, wondering if he too turned into a husky.

At these words Chris’s eyes went dark but then he shrugged, trying to appear indifferent.

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

“But why did you save me from the vampire?” Ari asked.

At this Chris’s face had fallen.

“What do you mean, why? Wouldn’t you try to help, if you saw me getting attacked by someone?” he said.

Ari thought about this for a moment.

“Oh burn, you wouldn’t help me? Last time I risk my neck for you then,” Chris said laughing, though looking at her sideways.

“No, I just mean what were you doing there?” she asked.

Chris looked at her sheepishly.

“After the traffic light dance, when I saw all those cuts on you and after I realised that you were hanging out with a bunch of Cruor vamps, I just… felt sorry for you. I don’t like what vamps do. I thought you were being lulled and I didn’t want to see you get hurt, so I sort of kept an eye on you. That was before I saw what you could do.”

Instantly Ari stopped smiling. Chris was part wraith; he had also protected her from a vampire. Could she trust him with her secret?

“You saw that? Well I have no idea how I do it,” she said, settling on taking the middle road.

“Of course I saw that. I was the battered dog on the ground that you were trying to pull up the cliff after you froze the bitch, remember? I still have a massive swelling on my neck from where you pulled my scruff so hard.”

Ari nodded but didn’t answer.

“So, what exactly are you? A witch?” asked Chris. “Is that how come you could see my mark? I thought that’s why that vamp had lulled you; so he could have access to your power.”

Ari shook her head before she could stop herself; so Ragon was
that vamp
now. Again the words she had read about wraiths being evil flashed into her mind. But Chris couldn’t be evil; he had protected her. Was it fair to trust him with her life but not her secrets?

“I don’t know what I am,” she blurted out. “I don’t have any control over what I can do. I mean, Ragon found out that I was descended from-”

But she was cut off when Chris jumped out of bed.

“-what; you trust that blood sucker? Last night, after you told me that you hadn’t been lulled… I just thought you must be cozing up to him to try and take him down. How can you actually trust him? For God sake, haven’t you seen what they do? They kill people Ari!”

“That blood sucker has saved me from… a lot. We’re together because we want to be.”

“Did you ever stop and wonder whether you would need saving if you weren’t with him?” Chris asked coolly.

“I met him after he saved me from almost being raped,” she said, trying hard not to shiver as she admitted this. “It was regular humans who attacked me, not vampires and not Ragon. Just because someone is made a vampire… it doesn’t make them evil. I would have thought you would understand that, seeing as you expect me to believe that you are a
good
wraith.”

“Oh God, I didn’t realise, I mean, that’s horrible,” said Chris, his face a shade lighter. “But, well, maybe if he hadn’t of saved you, you would have been able to save yourself. I mean for God sake Ari, you can stop time!”

“I can now, but I don’t know if I could back then; what if I couldn’t? What if Ragon hadn’t of been there?”

Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of Ragon not being a part of her life. Chris, who hadn’t missed the look of sadness on Ari’s face, instantly relaxed his pose.

“I’m sorry; I just don’t trust vampires, and I’ve never heard of a vampire and a… whatever you are… dating. I thought that vamps only kept humans around to be sources. When that filthy leech bit me and tried to lull me, it took all my self-control not to turn around and kill him,” Chris said behind clenched teeth. “But I knew that, as bad as it was to sit there and pretend he was able to control me, it would be nothing to what would happen if he found out that I was a wraith.”

At this Ari’s mouth fell open. She had forgotten the part in the book she had read which explained that wraiths could not be commanded by vampires. She had been wondering why Chris was so hostile about her relationship with Ragon, but this definitely explained that. She thought back to the way that Chris’s eyes had changed when Ragon had bit him, as if he were going to fight back.   

“What were you going to do, lick him to death?” she asked cruelly. “Maybe chase your tail and hope Ragon got unbalanced?”

Chris frowned; he looked like a puppy dog that had just been beaten.

“Don’t look at me like that,” said Ari, trying to remind herself that Chris had been insulting Ragon, repeatedly. “What did you expect? You think I am just going to let you abuse Ragon in front of me? I haven’t been lulled Chris. I am his girlfriend because I love him. How would you feel if I bad mouthed someone you were with?”

“How bout we make a truce? I could help you learn to control your powers and in exchange, you could keep my secret from your vampire boyfriend? It’s not that I don’t want him to know… well, ok, it is that I don’t want him to know, but it’s not just him; I don’t want anyone to know. When I told you last night that I was going to leave, I wasn’t being dramatic.”

“So you were prepared to run and leave everything behind, rather than risk someone finding out what you are… the last four years of vet science, all your friends,” said Ari, sceptically.

“That’s right. Look Ari, look at me. Do you honestly think that I will attack you? That I’m evil?”

“Say I don’t tell Ragon; do you really think you would be able to help me get control over my powers?” she asked.

“I’ll do whatever I can.”

“How?” she asked.    

“When I first found out what I could do, it took me ages to learn how to control it. It was hard; I didn’t have any one to help me. I had to learn it all on my own. I could help you the same way I helped myself.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ari said flatly.

“Why would you be sorry? I didn’t mind teaching myself.”

“No… I meant because of your father. You said he was a wraith and, I just thought, that he would be the one to teach you about that sort of stuff. But I guess, I mean I thought something must have happened to him, for you to have to teach yourself,” she admitted.

“I don’t know anything about my father, and that’s the way I want it.”

Ari made a mental note to avoid at all costs Chris’s wraith heritage; it was clearly something he didn’t want to talk about.

“Come on,” said Chris, smiling up at her. “What I said last night about not wanting to hurt you… it was true. Besides,” he added, looking at her sideways, “it’s kind of nice… being able to talk to someone about all of this stuff. I have had to deal with it all by myself for so long.”

There was a long pause as Ari considered him. It would be nice for her to learn to control her powers, and Chris had saved her life; she defiantly owed it to him to keep his secret. She could even understand why he didn’t want vampires knowing about him. Still, thought Ari, she didn’t like the thought of hiding anything from Ragon. Perhaps if Chris got to know Ragon and the coven better, he would learn to trust them.