Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (42 page)

Glancing down at the front cover, Ari was certain that Lea was playing a joke on her. Depicted on the front cover was a frog and the double helix of DNA; below this the words,
Biology through the ages
, was printed in bold writing.

“Um, Lea,” said Ari, choosing her words carefully, “this is a biology textbook.”

A small smile spread across Lea’s mouth, and Ari watched as she ran her fingers of the hand that was not pressed against Ari’s heart, down the spine of the book, as if tickling it. Ari gasped when the books title morphed in front of her eyes. Floating in mid-air was what appeared to be a very old and weathered leather book. On the front cover was an intricate symbol- a crescent moon next to a bird. Ari watched as Lea whispered something to the book; slowly the moon and bird unfurled and the book fell open.

“What the hell?” Ari asked.

“Neat huh?” said Lea, flipping through the pages of the book with her spare hand, until she found the one that she was looking for. “Read that.”

Ari looked down at the neat handwritten cursive writing and read. 

‘The Blood Hunter Curse-

Perhaps the strongest magic of the Crown line, the blood hunter curse has stood the test of time and ensured the continued survival of mortals, when vampires threatened to take over. Though most believe that the ability of vampires to become blood hunters is something that has always been, this is not so. The secret of the blood hunter curse has been concealed by the line of witches that imbued it with power. Since almost the dawn of the immortals, witches feared the inevitable extinction of humans, and so a Crown witch placed a curse on all vampires; the blood hunter curse. This curse meant that all vampires would form a blood line, starting with their maker and continuing down the line of fledglings. Should a fledgling choose to kill its maker, they would inherit its power, along with other more terrible and unimaginable powers cast from the original vampire.

This curse was the only way the Crown witches could ensure that vampires could not overtake the world. Without the magic of the blood hunter curse, there would be nothing stopping the vampires from turning all the mortals into their fledglings. This secret must be safeguarded above all others, to ensure the continued protection of mortals. Never must the vampires be allowed to know that it was witches who hold their greatest weakness, or else they will surely try to reverse the curse. Only the self-limiting nature of the blood Hunter curse will keep the innocent save. This, the Crown line must protect, at all costs.’

“But…” Ari said, staring at the words in disbelief, just as her hand slackened and dropped to her side. Immediately the rhythmic pounding in her ears was lost; no longer could she hear the combined efforts of hers and Lea’s heartbeat. “Does this mean that blood hunting hasn’t always existed?”

“That’s right,” said Lea. “This way there is a limiting factor to stop vampires from turning all the humans into fledglings. It means they have to consider the risks for themselves. Vampires are selfish monsters; most won’t risk creating an army of fledglings, especially if one could turn on them, so as to become more powerful.”

“How is it that no vampires know this?”

“I am descended from the Crown witches. My family has worked very hard to keep this secret,” said Lea.

“But this changes everything!” Ari said excitedly. “If it is a curse, then we can break it.”

“Ari,” Lea said, moving over and staring at her with concern, “my family created the blood hunter curse to keep humans safe, not to keep vampires safe from other blood hunters; that kind of defeats the purpose.”

“But maybe we could change it? Or make it so that the blood hunter curse is only removed from whoever has Sandra?”

“This curse was written centuries ago, hell, probably more than a few thousand years ago. I have no idea how to even find out if it was possible to remove the curse from just one vampire, let alone how to do it!”

“But you said that it was your relatives who created the curse, surely someone in your family might know,” pleaded Ari.

“Well…” said Lea, trailing off as she contemplated Ari’s words.

“Lea we have to try. If we can find a way to remove the curse from the blood hunter, than he will just be like any other vampire and we would be able to defeat him.”

“The only person who might know is in America, more specifically she is in Marblehead Massachusetts,” said Lea, matter-of-factly.

“Who?”

“My grandma, Chiara,” said Lea.

“So let’s call her,” Ari said enthusiastically, reaching for Lea’s phone and handing it to her.

Lea looked down at the phone sceptically, but then took it and quickly punched in several numbers. There was a short wait, during which time Ari bit furiously at her nails, waiting for Lea’s grandmother to answer.

“Gran its Lea,” said Lea, standing up so as to pace around the room. “I need a favour. I need you to tell me everything you know about the blood hunter curse… It’s not for me; it’s for a friend.”

Ari watched Lea sigh into the phone as she rolled her eyes. Ari couldn’t hear exactly what Lea’s grandmother was yelling, but she could tell from the angry tone, that she wasn’t happy.

“I can’t explain it Gran, but she is special. I know I need to help her,” said Lea, her voice slightly raised. “I’m not being stupid; Ari is one of us,” Lea added. “She can do things. I have seen her stop time and… and she is related to a witch called Mary Grandor-”

For a few minutes Lea was silent as she pressed the phone against her ear, nodding mutely. Ari was desperate to know what was being said, but fought the desire to inch closer and eavesdrop.  

“Ok, I love you too,” said Lea, hanging up the phone and turning to face Ari. “Gran will help, but only if we go to her; she said she needs to meet you first.”

Ari thought hard. The blood hunter had said that tomorrow at sunset, Thomas would have to exchange himself for Sandra. How were they possibly supposed to get from England to America and back again in less than sixteen hours?

“How long does it take to get to Massachusetts from here?” Ari asked, fearing the answer.

“It’s about an eleven hour flight, plus the transit time to the airport.”

“Eleven hours!” Ari exclaimed. She looked up as another thought crossed her mind; her eyes glazed and then a smile spread across her face. “I know how we can get there a hell of a lot faster, but I’m going to need for you to trust me this time.”

“Ari,” said Lea, looking sceptically at her, “I don’t know what preconceived ideas you have about witches, but we don’t have magic brooms, and I can’t fly.”

“We can do better than flying,” said Ari, grabbing Lea by the wrist and pulling her as she raced up the stairs. “How do you feel about teleporting?”

Lea’s face was puzzled when Ari reached Chris’s door and banged on it.

“Lea, promise me you won’t freak out,” said Ari, when Chris opened the door.

“Um, hi,” said Chris, looking from Ari and then to Lea, the confused look on his face mirroring that of Lea’s.

“Witch, wraith; wraith, witch,” said Ari, introducing the pair to each other and pointing at them in turn.

Chris continued to stare at Lea with a confused look on his face, but the moment that Ari had said
wraith
, Lea’s eyes had formed slits and she stepped back into the hallway cautiously.

“Wait,” Ari said, pulling Lea by the hand and forcing her into the room, “you trust me, right?”

Lea looked from Ari and over to Chris, saying, “Yes, but I don’t trust wraiths!”

Chris shook his head.

“Chris isn’t a wraith, well he is, but he’s only part wraith, and he saved my life a few months ago,” said Ari, “and he’s never put me in danger,” she added, looking at Lea with a warning smile. “Please, we need him.”

“Excuse me?” asked Chris.

“I need you to take us to Massachusetts,” said Ari.  

“Ari, I’m not a taxi,” said Chris.

“This is important,” said Ari, and she rushed into the story that she had just recanted to Lea, explaining all about the blood hunter that had Sandra, careful not to make mention of the blood hunter curse.

“Ok, so there is a blood hunter on campus; let’s just kill it. Why do we need to go to America?” asked Chris.

“We need to visit Lea’s grandmother; she has information that can help us stop it,” said Ari, while Lea shot her a warning look.

“What kind of information?” Chris asked.

“The kind of information that doesn’t concern you, wraith,” spat Lea.

“Ok, well good luck with all of this,” said Chris, shooing Ari and Lea out of his room, and trying to close the door on them.

“Lea!” exclaimed Ari. “Chris is not evil and Chris, I need your help!”

Chris’s mouth opened in surprise and Lea took advantage of his silence to speak.

“Wraiths are necromancers, they dabble in death,” said Lea, glaring at Chris. “How could you possible think that we could trust one?”

“Yea and all witches have warts on their nose and black cats,” Chris retorted. “Funny, I can’t see any warts on your face, guess they must be someplace else,” he added, looking her up and down.

“That’s it!” Ari screamed, pulling Lea back into Chris’s room and closing the door behind her, before leaning against it. “No one is going anywhere until you two put your difference aside. I am asking both of you for help; I need you both to trust me!”

“Well that could take a while,” said Chris, looking at Lea with raised eyebrows. When Ari shot him an angry look, Chris quickly put his hands up and added, “Hey, don’t look at me! I am more than happy to play nice! Though I can’t see why you don’t just freeze the blood hunter and then burst into sunshine.”

Ari was about to say that she didn’t have any control over her powers, when Lea spoke.

“You told him what you can do? You told him about the Ancients,” Lea began.

“Yea,” said Chris, looking smug. “And she also told me that it was
you
who handed her over to them.”

Lea looked stunned.

“Lea, Chris knows what I can do,” said Ari, “and he will help because he is my friend, and he trusts me and I trust him.”

For the first time since discovering that Chris was a wraith, Lea looked him in the eyes. She seemed to consider him, staring at him intensely as if searching for something.

“Is she kiboshing me?” asked Chris, a worried look on his face. “Am I about to be turned into a toad?”

Lea did not respond at first; when she stood back she was no longer glaring at Chris, but staring at him as if in disbelief.

A few tense moments later she said, “Ok.”

“Great, you two work on getting us to Marblehead; I’m going to go to Ragon and tell him what’s happening,” said Ari, rushing from the door before adding, “don’t worry; I won’t mention anything about…” but when she had been about to say the blood hunter curse, thick white smoke poured from her mouth.

“Don’t worry,” said Lea, watching as the smoke coiled back inside Ari. “I know you won’t.”  

After that Ari rushed from Chris’s room, across campus and into Cruor halls. She climbed the stairs two at a time, desperate to tell Ragon that she had found a way to help.  

“Ragon,” she said, bursting into his room, a manic expression on her face.

“What is it? Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m better than alright. I think I have found a way to help save Sandra without any of us getting hurt!”

“How?” asked Ragon, looking at her sceptically.

Ari thought about the blood hunter curse, just as a desire to tell Ragon everything swept over her.

“Have you been smoking?” asked Ragon, leaning in close to Ari and sniffing.

“What? No!” she said, though she knew what Ragon was getting at and so she considered her words carefully. “The way that I can help… well I can’t tell you exactly. Hell, I can’t tell you at all, but I need you to trust me and… and I need to go to Massachusetts. But I will be back before Thomas is supposed to meet with the blood hunter, hopefully with a… solution.”