Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (26 page)

She wasn’t sure how long she spent looking for him. She had all but given up when she suddenly felt herself begin to shake. Clutching her chest, Ari felt the ground move and doubled over, falling to crumple onto her knees. Looking around, she watched as ominous shadows danced in front of her, until, from the darkness, they formed an image… a premonition. In her vision she saw Ragon, running past the vampire library towards the rear entrance, taking the same path that she and Ryder had when they had broken in to read the vampire chronicles. He was staggering as he ran, clutching at his arm and fumbling over his feet, as if he was hurt. But how could he be? She had seen him only a few minutes ago. What was going on?  

Without sparing a moment’s thought about the meaning behind her premonition, Ari got gingerly to her feet and began racing towards the vampire library, desperate to find Ragon. She moved as fast as she could in the shadowed moonlight, navigating between the poorly pruned hedges along the side of the vampire library, until she finally reached the clearing from her vision. Just ahead of her she could hear harsh voices and tiptoed closer, trying to make out the image of a person standing near a large gnarled tree.

“I am doing this for her. Ari is my friend. You think I am an idiot? I saw the bite marks on her; you’re using her as your source. You think I am going to let her turn out like Greg, and all the other poor humans your kind have killed?”

There was a muffled reply that was too faint to make out, and so Ari inched closer still, hiding in the shadows of the library. It wasn’t until the moon moved from its cloud cover and the scene was brought into focus, that she saw who had spoken.

“You’re a vampire; how could I believe that you want to protect her?” said Lea.

Air’s mind was chaotic; how did Lea know about vampires? Peering past the bushes, she tried to see who Lea was talking to. Thick shadows cast from the vampire library, hid the stranger from sight. Throwing caution to the wind, Ari inched closer and her stomach coiled into a tight knot. Bound and semi-unconscious was Ragon.

“NO!” screamed Ari, racing over to the gnarled tree Ragon was chained to. “Lea, why are you doing this?”

“Ari you don’t understand,” Lea said, seemingly surprised to see her. “He’s a monster.”

Ari didn’t bother replying. Her trembling fingers had already reached for Ragon and she panted hard, trying frantically to release him. But it wasn’t chains that bound him; the twisted branches of the old tree had wound around his arms and legs, holding him firmly in place. How was that possible? How could the tree bend to hold him in place like this?

Before she could even begin pulling at the strange branches, Lea had raced over and grasped Ari’s hand, pulling her away. Ari fell to her knees and began crawling back towards Ragon again, this time battling against the contorted tree roots that had twisted up his legs. As she did so, Ari noticed that the bark of the tree was strangely coloured; thick silver lines ran up the length of it, making it almost appear jewelled. These long glittering trails glowed fiercely, like phosphorescent along a sandy beach at night.

No matter how hard Ari pulled, the branches did not give and Ragon remained hanging, his head bowed low as the tree wrapped tighter around his arms, which took the full weight of his body, while his feet remained fastened by the trees roots.

“Ariana,” Lea said, reaching for Ari again.

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, pushing Lea away again and re-doubling her efforts to break the strange, silver branches. “What are you? Why are you doing this? Ragon hasn’t hurt you!”

“Please, just listen to me. Ragon is a vampire; he has tricked you into letting him steal blood from you, but you mean nothing to him. You are just his source.”

“That’s a lie,” Ari spat.

“It’s not a lie; it’s what they do. The charm I gave you tonight wards off vampires and when he touched you…”

But Lea had stopped talking; Ari had looked up at her in astonishment. Without pausing, Ari ripped the tiny charm from her bracelet and threw it to the ground. Looking down at the retched gift, Ari realised that the strange silver and wooden globe mirrored the tree before her exactly, and suddenly she understood why Ragon had looked so sickly when he raced away from her earlier. His hand had brushed against the charm bracelet; somehow it had poisoned him. But how had Lea done this?

“I know Ragon is a vampire… but he is a good one,” said Ari. Lea’s eyebrows rose in disbelief and so she went on, “He saved me, more than once, and he doesn’t feed off me.”

Lea did not speak but reached for Ari’s hand, pointing to the scar on her wrist, just above where her bracelet sat.

“When you told me that your boyfriend lived in Cruor, I knew he must be a vampire. I saw the bite marks and-”

“-that was an accident from when we first met; he was dying. He didn’t know what he was doing,” Ari said, cutting Lea off.

“He’s just commanding you to think that. That’s what they do!”  

“He’s not. Vampire toxin doesn’t work on me the same way it does other people; vampires can’t control me,” Ari pleaded.

“What do you mean?” 

Ari rolled her eyes, looking from Ragon and back to Lea. She knew she had no hope in hell of releasing Ragon without Lea’s help. Her best chance was reasoning with Lea.  

“When a vampire bites me, it doesn’t do anything except hurt like hell.”  

At these words Ragon opened his blood shot eyes; slowly he raised his head.

“Run,” he whispered. “She’s a witch.”

As he spoke, one of Ari’s eyes turned green, just as she felt the rush of wind around her face. It was frosty and terribly strong, but just as soon as it had come, it stopped. Her horrified eyes looked up at Lea, who was frozen, and then she looked back at Ragon, who remained slumped but quit still; she had just stopped time.

Desperate now, Ari dug her fingernails into the bark that was wound against Ragon’s flesh, trying to pry it away, even grasping a rock and smashing at the roots, but it was to no avail. She glanced around for help, until she remembered that her phone was in her pocket and quickly grabbed it, dialling Thomas’s number. She waited anxiously but he did not pick up; the rings of the phone seemed to scream in the quiet forest, ticking down the time that she had before Lea would un-freeze. Clyde, she thought; it wasn’t until the fourth ring that he finally picked up.

“What’s up?” he asked casually. “Calling me to listen to another sappy sto-”

“-Clyde thank god. You have to help me. Ragon is trapped-” Ari began, but she was cut off when Lea suddenly unfroze and snatched the phone out of her hand.

“What are you?” Lea asked.

“What am I?” asked Ari, “What are you… I thought you were supposed to be my friend.”

“I am; that’s why I’m doing this.”

Ari shook her head angrily, redoubling her efforts to break Ragon free.

“Don’t bother; you’ll just hurt yourself,” said Lea, moving over to Ragon and running a finger along one of the branches that was wound around his wrist. “Do you know what type of tree this is? Its hawthorn, and when hawthorn is mixed with silver it becomes a powerful anti-vampiric agent. He is paralysed and naught but a witch can undo the binding.”

Ari stared at Lea; her red curly hair was wild around her face, giving her an almost demonic appearance.

“It is our job to protect innocents from vampires,” Lea added.  

Ari moved over to Lea, reaching a hand out to her imploringly.

“Please you have to trust me. I know all about all of this stuff; just because someone is a vampire or a wraith, it doesn’t make them evil. Ragon has done nothing but keep me safe.”

“I wish I could believe you,” said Lea, moving away from Ari. “But I have already made a deal to keep you safe from him.”

“What deal?”

From the shadows a group of people emerged. There were three of them: one girl and two men. They were heavily cloaked, with large hoods covering their faces. But even in the absence of light, Ari knew from their deathly pale faces, that they were vampires. 

“You have done well witch,” the girl said, and Ari watched as the woman lowered her hood, revealing a head of spiky black hair.

Dread coursed through Ari; the girl who spoke was the vampire who had attacked Chris and her at the Three Prong Trek.

“You,” said Ari, glaring at the vampire.

“We will take it from here,” the man standing in the middle of the group said, also lowering his hood, where two near pitched-black eyes seemed to bore into Ari, as if he could see straight through her.

“And we still have a deal?” Lea asked, trying to keep her voice authoritative, though she backed away from the group of vampires.

“About that,” the last man said, blurring over to Lea and standing less than an inch away from her. “The situation has changed.”

Lea stared at the man; his large crocked nose and pitter-pattered face, gave him the appearance of an old wind-swept rock.

“What do you mean?” said Lea, her voice trembling.

“We require the girl as well,” he said, and his face broke into a slow and painful smile, making his crocked nose appear lopsided.

“That wasn’t the deal; you promised she would not be involved,” said Lea, raising her hands into a strange position.

“You should have known better than to trust vampires; did you think the Ancients would call upon us, the Triad, to fetch one lowly vampire?” said the female vampire, laughing lightly to herself.

“You made a deal with the Ancients?” asked Ari, her face draining of all colour.

“What… no, I mean…” Lea scrambled in reply.

Ari could tell by the look of absolute horror on Lea’s face that she had not planned for this. Around her, Ari felt the temperature drop a few degrees, just as icy wind rushed past her, blowing her hair messily in front of her face. The vampire nearest Lea had moved even closer, but Lea had muttered something under her breath, and the vampire was stopped dead it its tracks, as if an invisible force field blocked his path. Encasing Lea was a glowing blue sphere; several unrecognisable symbols seemed to connect the ball of light, making it appear as if Lea were trapped in a viscid protective bubble.

“Ari, get over here now,” said Lea, beckoning for Ari to join her. “It’s a barrier spell.”   

Ari moved without thinking, racing to Lea’s side.

“Miserable witch,” said the vampire nearest Lea, reaching out a clawed hand so as to try puncture through Lea’s protective field, “you think we didn’t come prepared for this?”

Lea and Ari looked around wildly; from the shadows a fourth figure appeared. There was fog curling up his robes and though he did not remove his hood, the moon shone temporarily to highlight his face. He was tall and bald, with a long thin nose and light blue eyes; Ari thought that there was something strangely familiar about him.

“Wraith,” Lea hissed, while the vampire nearest them inched ever closer.

The wraith looked up at Lea, holding his palms out, just as thick black shadows shot at her.

The shadows ate away at the glowing symbols of the protective bubble, like acid tearing through metal. Slowly the glowing symbols faded, just as the blue sphere encasing Lea and Ari thinned. A moment later and the vampire broke through Lea’s protective charm, rushing at her with such speed and hitting her hard. Immediately Lea fell to the floor. A second later and a loud thud echoed through the still night; Ari turned around to see that Ragon had fallen to the ground, released from his binds. The silver branches and roots that had curled up his arms and legs were recoiling, their silvery sparkles fading, until the hawthorn tree appeared normal.

“Ragon,” Ari said, rushing to his side.

He did not speak but small droplets of blood trickled from his ears, nose and eyes.

“This is the one? But… but she is so weak,” said the vampire who had hit Lea.

“I assure you she is the one,” said the female, now moving over to Ari.

Ari reacted without thinking, throwing her hands up in front of her face and stopping time. Now that Ragon was unbound, she tried pulling him away; it was like trying to move a giant slab of marble, and she barely managed to drag him a few feet before she collapsed, panting. There was no way she would be able to pull him to safety. Time was running out; she needed to do something. Thinking of Lea, Ari raced over to the girl who was still unconscious and started shaking her violently, but she did not wake up.