Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) (46 page)

“That’s me,” said Chiara, pointing to a girl no more than twenty years old. “And this,” she added, pointing to a girl in the front row, “is Maureen. She is the only witch I know with enough power to communicate through a premonition.”

Ari looked at the young woman Chiara had indicated, squinting so as to make out any obvious features. The woman Ari had seen in her dream was elderly and frail looking, while the girls in this picture were young and vivacious.

“She went missing almost thirty years ago,” Chiara added, taking the photograph off Ari and staring at it for a while. “If the Ancients have her that might explain how they knew that a Grandor descendant was alive. The girls in that photo are the living relatives of the original witches who placed the protection spell on the Grandor line. Few else know of your existence. But, but it is troubling to think that the Ancients have access to such a powerful witch; perhaps it is time we stopped living under the shadows and became part of the solution.”

Just then there was a sudden thud and both Chiara and Ari turned to see Lea and Chris bounding down the stairs, their hands piled high with many worn and aged books.

“I need to lie down,” said Chiara, standing and walking over to her granddaughter. “The premonition I had… it has drained me. But I am grateful that you bought the girl to see me. She is the Grandor descendent and you must protect her,” she said, before beginning the long climb up the stairs, suddenly looking very fragile, as if she had aged ten years in the course of a few minutes.

“Premonition?” asked Lea, but Chiara did not reply. “But the blood hunter curse, how do I know what I’m looking for?”

“When you find it, you will know,” Chiara called back in a croaky voice, before muttering under her breath, “blood candy and part-wraiths; maybe it’s time we fought back. Too much has happened in our absence, we must control the shadows… before they control us-”

“-sorry, grans a little, um, well… crazy,” said Lea, when they could no longer hear the creaking of the wooden stairs or her ranting’s. “What did she mean about a premonition?”

Ari recalled the whites of Chiara’s eyes when she had been trapped in her vision. She had no idea what Chiara had meant.
Kin but not friend;
that sounded like someone who was related to Ari… and what else had she said,
that she would know them soon
? 

“I don’t know?” said Ari. “It was weird.”

“Anyway,” said Lea, reaching for her tea and taking a sip of the now cold liquid. “This is everything we could find.”

Ari reached for the nearest book and flipped it open, and Chris and Lea followed suit. Soon each of them had their heads bent low, their eyes roaming the large volumes, scanning the pages for any mention of the blood hunter curse.

Ari had been scanning the pages of a book entitled ‘Known Immortals’, when she flipped to an image she recognised- the sun and stars that she had seen glowing only moments ago in the palm of her hand. Having forgotten all about the black symbol following Chiara’s strange prediction, Ari now looked down but frowned. The symbol which had only moments ago been etched there had now vanished.

“What’s wrong?” asked Chris, leaning across her shoulder and scanning the page she had been reading. “Have you found something?”

“No,” said Ari, still frowning at her hand, “it’s just… when I was speaking with Lea’s gran she had a sort of vision. Her eyes went white and she said something like ‘I would know a kin but not friend, soon’ and then… then a symbol appeared on my palm.”

Lea, who had stopped reading the book she held, moved over to Ari and lifted her hand.

“It’s gone,” said Ari, pulling her hand back.

“Strange,” said Lea.

“Yea, but the symbol on my hand looks exactly like-” Ari started to say, but her words were cut off when Chris whooped loudly and said, “I think I have found something!”

Both Ari and Lea turned to him and Chris held out the book he had been reading. Ari looked down at the worm and ratty page, squinting slightly as she tried to make out the cursive handwriting. 

“That’s it,” said Lea, snatching the book from Chris and placing it on the coffee table; all three pressed their heads close together and read.

The Blood Hunter Curse

Deep of darkest, darkest of deep,

In the pages the curse doth sleep.

The Clergy binds with hammer and ink,

Burning shan’t break the Crown link

And from the ashes the words shall rise,

Thus the curse, broke or bound, might be revised

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Chris, looking up at Lea and Ari in confusion.

Ari shrugged.

“It’s a riddle,” said Lea, now flipping back a few pages. “It says here that the original witch who placed the curse made a safety clause, one that ensured the curse could be removed if a blood hunter ever became too powerful,” said Lea.

“Great! What?” Ari asked.

Lea flipped the page over, reading and re-reading the riddle.

“The suspense is killing me,” said Chris, craning his neck so as to try and see snippets of the text.

Lea frowned, looking up from the riddle and saying, “Well, we need to work out what this riddle means. Let’s just think about it logically.”

“How obvious,” said Chris, shaking his head, “and to think, I was being so illogical- what was I thinking?”

Lea ignored him and said, “Well the riddle mentions pages, so the curse must be written down somewhere.”

“This is you being logical?” asked Chris, laughing at his own joke. “Where else would it be written down? On toilet paper… though I suppose, that would still count as pages, or leaflets. Ari, what do you think?”

“Oh shut-up,” said Lea.

“
The Clergy binds with hammer and ink
?” said Ari, reading a line of the book. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know; lets come back to it,” said Lea. “
Burning shan’t break the Crown link
.”

“As in burning the book won’t destroy it?” Ari questioned.

“Yea maybe,” said Lea, her face screwed up in concentration.

“What about in reference to the witch trials,” suggested Chris, and both Lea and Ari turned to face him. “You know, like the Crown witches were at threat of being burnt at the stake, so they put the curse somewhere that it would be safe. Unless, of course, they are referring to un-burnable toilet paper-”

“-I was just starting to think how clever you are-” but Lea’s words suddenly broke off. She was staring at Chris, her mouth slightly open. Suddenly she leapt to her feet and yelled, “Chris you are a genius!”

“I knew it, the old un-burnable toilet paper,” he replied. “Those cunning witches!”

“
The Clergy binds with hammer and ink
!” said Lea, clapping a hand to her forehead, “I am such an idiot!”

“I think I missed a step,” said Chris, looking at Ari who was nodding in confusion. “I thought we were talking about toilet paper?”

“Ok,” said Lea, now pacing around the room excitedly. “The first Crown witch passed the curse down through her line, but when the witch trials happened, the Crown witches knew that they might all be killed, so they put the curse somewhere safe, so that it would survive even if they did not,” Lea explained.  

“So where did they put it?” asked Ari.

“Where else do you put a spell that needs to be able to survive throughout the ages, when there are witch trials everywhere and no witch or her book of light is safe?” Lea asked.

“I’m guessing it’s not n toilet paper,” Chris snickered.

“No stupid.
The Clergy binds with hammer and ink
… Malleus Maleficarum… It quite literally translates into ‘The witches hammer’ and it was created by the clergy,” Lea explained. 

Chris said, “Bless you,” at the same time that Ari asked, “What?”

“Malleus Maleficarum; it was written in the late 1400’s by the clergy; it was a book that detailed exactly how to hunt and kill a witch,” said Lea.

“So you think the Crown witches used that book to protect the blood hunter curse?” asked Ari.

“Exactly,” Lea said. “It makes perfect sense and the riddle fits.”

“But how does that help us?” said Chris.

“Because the details of the curse were kept safe inside it,” Lea explained. “Just like the riddle says,
in the pages the curse doth sleep
. They must have known that the book would be preserved in time, even if all the witches were killed and their possessions burned. So if the spell was needed in the future, a witch could use it.”

“But how did they put a spell in this Marvelous Malesfig… whatever it’s called, if it is full of descriptions on how to kill witches?” said Ari. “Surely a witches’ spell would stand out.”

“Malleus Maleficarum,” Lea corrected. “They must have written the spell in magic, so that the humans couldn’t read it; that way all copies of the book would hold the details of the curse. It would be just like my book of light, on the outside it looks just like a regular biology textbook. It’s only when you activate the spell that you can see what it really contains.”

Finally Ari understood and said, “Because the witches were afraid that all their own books would be burnt by the witch hunters, so they wrote it on a book that they knew would not be destroyed.”

“Exactly,” Lea said smiling. “This means that all we need to do is to get our hands on an original copy and we should be able to find a way to read the curse… then we can reverse it!”

Ari’s face fell and she said, “How the hell are we going to find a five hundred year old book?”

“That’s where we’re in luck,” said Lea. “I saw a copy in the reference section of the library at the Pasteur Institute. But we will have to break in; I did an assignment on the witch trials last year, and even with a note from my professor, I wasn’t allowed to examine the book without a librarian holding my hand. It’s kept on the top level of the Art and History library, in a large glass cabinet.”

Chapter 26 – The Three W’s

The trip back to the Pasteur Institute via
Air-Chris
went smoothly enough. Ari had managed to hold onto Chris’s hand the entire time. When the three appeared in Chris’s room, she immediately stood up, staggering a little from the effort of the journey, but all in all, felt nowhere near as disorientated as their from their first trip.  

“Ok, so we need to go to the library,” said Ari, glancing across the room at a small clock, which told her the time was just after midnight.

“Ari,” Lea said slowly, “don’t you want to talk about what gran said?”

Ari had moved towards the door excitedly, but at Lea’s words had glanced back curiously and said, “Of course I do! That’s why we need to get to the library.”

“I think Lea is referring to her grandmother’s declaration that you are a modern day
Buffy the vampire slayer
,” said Chris, his voice sounding tired.

Lea nodded and added, “I mean, are you sure you want to go up against this blood hunter? What if… what if something happens to you?”

“How can you ask that?” said Ari. “Learning what I am doesn’t change the fact that my friend is being tortured. Your gran said it herself; I am supposed to kill vampires. I might as well start with the blood hunter who wants to kill Thomas and Sandra.”

“I know it’s just…” said Lea, chewing on her bottom lip, “you have a higher purpose. It’s your destiny to protect the innocent from vampires; not save vampires from other vampires.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Ari. “Sandra is innocent. What, you think that because of what I can do, I can’t love vampires? That they aren’t worth loving?”

Ari wasn’t just thinking of Sandra; she was thinking of Ragon. If her destiny meant that she couldn’t be with him, then she didn’t want anything to do with it.

“That’s just my point,” said Lea. “Sandra was innocent, but she was turned into a vampire. If she had of never been made, then she wouldn’t be suffering right now. She might have led a full and happy life. Don’t you see? If you can get rid of all the vampires, then no one else has to suffer again? You were given these gifts for a reason; this isn’t just about you. There are so many hundreds of thousands of people that have been killed by vampires.”

“You don’t know what you are talking about! Sandra was dying when she met Thomas. The only way he could save her life was by turning her into a vampire. And she wouldn’t have lived a full and happy life. Her husband was a sadist. She said she would have preferred death, than to live a single day as his wife. And Ragon… he saved my life. If he wasn’t a vampire, there wouldn’t be a Grandor descendant. It’s not as black and white as you think it is.”

Ari sighed and turned to look at Chris. She was surprised that Chris wasn’t arguing with her also. It was no secret that he hated vampires as much as Lea did… and none more so than Ragon.

“Chris are you alright?” asked Ari; Chris had sat down heavily onto the chair next to his desk. He was definitely paler than normal and his face had a drawn out look to it.

“Fine,” said Chris, not looking at either of them.

“You’re not fine,” said Lea, moving to him and brushing her hand against his cheek.

“Easy tiger,” said Chris, only managing a half-hearted smile, “after that secret-binding spell, I don’t know how many more advances from you I can take.”

Lea smiled weakly then turned to look at Ari, worry plain on her face.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ari.

“Fatigue,” said Lea, steering Chris over to his bed and plumping him down. “It can happen when the magic within is stretched. You accomplished a lot today, moving all of us so far; you need to rest.”

“He’ll be alright though?” asked Ari, looking at Chris.

“I lent him power,” said Lea, “but that spell will be diminishing now, so he might be feeling the weight of the ferrying. He’ll be fine; he just needs to rest.”

Chris looked as if he was going to argue, but then Ari moved over to Lea and said, “Ok, well Chris can stay here and rest while we go to the library, and,” said Ari, seeing the look on Lea’s face, “please don’t fight me on this. I have made up my mind. I don’t care what my destiny is… nothing is going to stop me from helping Sandra. Your gran said that it was my decision, choosing between good and evil. I know that helping Sandra is the right thing to do.”

Lea was still looking worried when she and Ari raced from Chris’s room and towards the Pasteur art library. Ari had never been in it before, having only ever used the biological science library to study in. The library was on the opposite side of the campus, close to the administration services building and near where the school’s vet clinic was. It was an enormous triple level building, old and worn looking, yet with the same magnificent columns that supported the vampire library. When they reached the library, Ari frowned.

“It’s shut,” said Ari, glaring at the hours of operation; the library closed at midnight, two hours ago.

Lea too looked irritated at their timing and began to inch around the building, finally shaking her head as she said, “Not even a window left open.”

“So, what now? We can’t wait until it reopens tomorrow. That will be too late.”

“Now we have a serious problem,” said Lea. “We can’t ferry inside; Chris is far too weak, and we can’t break the door down because that will alert security. What we need is to do a pulling spell.”

“So do the damn spell.”

“It’s not that simple. Pulling is like a special skill; not every witch can do it. You have to be born able to do it… it’s kind of like being double jointed.”

“So what do we do?” asked Ari.

“Fortunately I know someone who can pull. Unfortunately it’s Emily’s best friend, Belinda. You remember Emily… as in Emily that you attacked and who thinks I am shacked up with vamps and so isn’t talking to me anymore,” said Lea.

“Crap. Couldn’t you just call her and get her to come here; then we could explain that-”

“-that, what? We need her help to pull an ancient witch hunting text so that we can reverse the blood hunter curse and save a vampire that has been kidnapped? Don’t you get it; witches don’t help vampires. And even if she didn’t know that we needed her help for that, I already told you. No one in the circle is talking to me.”

“You have to try,” said Ari, reaching for Lea.

Lea shook her head but reached for her phone, sighing loudly as she scrolled through her contacts list and finally sent a message.

It was fifteen minutes before there was any form of a response from Belinda. Finally from the shadows a girl emerged. She was short and plump, with a round face and high cheek bones, and an almost non-existent chin.

“What’s the big emergency? Do you have any idea how busy the circle is right now? Two more humans went missing this week from campus. We’ve tried scribing… hell, everything, but we can’t find them anywhere. If anyone in the circle knew I was…” the girl started to say, though she stopped talking abruptly when she realised that Ari was there. “Who’s that?”

“Ari is a friend,” said Lea. “Look… I need your help Belinda. There’s a book inside, ‘Malleus Maleficarum’; have you heard of it?”

Belinda nodded dumbly saying, “Of course I have heard of it. Half my ancestors were killed because of that book.”

“It’s kept on the third level, in the reference section in a locked glass cabinet,” explained Lea.

Belinda looked at Ari, fanning silliness as she said, “So, what do you want me to do about it?”

“I need you to pull it,” said Lea, just as Belinda hissed and glared at Ari. “It’s ok,” Lea added, “Ari knows about us; she is one of us.”

At this Ari’s jaw dropped and she moved hesitantly on the spot; how could Lea tell Belinda that? This thought barely left Ari, when she realised that Belinda must be feeling exactly the same. It seemed that now was not the time to keep secrets.

Apparently Belinda hadn’t come to this conclusion yet; she was still looking sceptically at Ari. Clearly Belinda didn’t trust her at all and wasn’t going to help them, not without proof. Ari needed to demonstrate to the girl that she wasn’t just anybody… that she had powers too. Without bothering to consider the consequences, Ari threw her hands up and stopped time. She then moved behind Belinda and, waiting until her freeze wore off, tapped the girl on the shoulder.

“Believe me now?” Lea asked, smiling at the shocked look on Belinda’s face.

“Ok,” said Belinda, “but why do you need it? I am not supposed to help you. Emily says that you are under vampire control.”

“Belinda,” Lea said sternly, “when you told me that you needed to find that certain person, did I ask why?”

Ari looked confused, but Belinda seemed to know what Lea was talking about and sighed audibly, finally shaking her head.

“Look,” said Lea, beginning to unbutton her jacket, “do you want me to remove all of my clothing so that you can strip search me for bite marks? I am not under vampire control. Emily doesn’t understand what she walked in on the other night. The vamps were helping me to save a girl. If it weren’t for them that girl would be dead right now. One of the vampires there gave up his own blood for a leeching spell. It almost killed him, but he did it.”

Belinda frowned but finally shook her head and said, “Well, after this we’re even.”

Belinda moved to the pebble walk way and sat down, cross legged. She then retrieved a small purple purse from her pocket and spilled the contents on the ground in front of her. At first Ari had thought that the purse contained non-descript items, typical of what a young woman would carry; lip gloss, a packet of chewing gum, nail file and the likes. It wasn’t until she noticed the haze surrounding the objects, that she understood they were something entirely different. Blinking so as to bring the curious items into focus, Ari saw that they had changed. Now there was a small pointed purple crystal, a compass, mirror and silver dagger.

“What the?” said Ari, but Belinda didn’t stop to explain; she was whispering furiously under her breath, mumbling something that Ari couldn’t understand.

Belinda then took the dagger and sliced the inside of her palm, then, taking the purple purse, which had now morphed into a pouch, used it to wipe the blood away.

“Malleus Maleficarum,” Belinda said clearly, before placing the purple crystal inside the pouch and then the compass on top of it. “Point me,” she added, spinning the needle on the compass.

For an entire minute the compass continued to spin, changing direction, this way and that. When it finally began to slow, Belinda looked down into the small mirror. There was a book in the reflection. Smiling grimly, Belinda took the mirror and smashed it, causing Ari to jump in fright. At the same time the small purple pouch was expanding, until it was large enough for Belinda to fit her hand into it, which she did. For a moment she seemed to struggle with the contents, as if she were trying to pull something heavy out of the pouch. Sweat beads were forming on her brow and she bit her bottom lip, clearly struggling to retrieve the contents. Finally she breathed a sigh of relief, and pulled from the pouch a small rectangular book.  

“Thanks,” said Lea, squatting down next to Belinda.

“This means we’re even,” said Belinda, catching Lea’s hand as she reached for the book.

“Even,” said Lea, “and thanks. Maybe I even owe you one.”

Belinda smiled, reached down for the remaining items, which had now morphed back into the harmless objects they had first appeared as, and stood.

“See you around,” she said, placing the purse back into her pocket and then striding away; halfway along the path she spun around. “You know, the circle would forgive you if you just explained what happened. We need your help.”   

Lea looked as if she wanted to reply but simply waved goodbye, watching as Belinda disappeared into the darkness. At the same time, Ari couldn’t help but wonder what Belinda was talking about; humans disappearing? Lea’s gran had mentioned it as well. Ari shook her head determinedly; she didn’t have time to worry about that now.  

Ari moved eagerly over to Lea and stared down at the book Belinda had pulled. It had black loopy writing on the front cover, as well as a strange four sided symbol surrounding a star.

“
Malleus Maleficarum- The hammer of the witches. Seventh Cologne edition 1520,”
read Lea, holding the book out for Ari to inspect.