A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) (17 page)

“No, that’s not what I… Why me? You have probably saved a thousand women; you could have had them all! Why did you choose me?”

The alcohol in her system had mixed with the adrenaline, allowing her to portray a sense of invulnerability that would not normally have been there. She had to know. Ragon was gorgeous, he was different and amazing, and hers was not the first life that he had saved; so why had he chosen to keep her? Why not disassociate her after her attack?
Why would he risk breaking one of the Final Death Laws? The fear of not knowing fuelled her resolve to discover the truth, and she stared at Ragon, waiting for him to answer her.

“I… I don’t know,” he said, and Ari thought from the way his eyes darted around the alleyway, that he was lying.

“Well that makes two of us,” she said, trying to stand but failing.

When Ragon offered to help her thi
s time she did not flinch, but stared at him pointedly, waiting for an answer.

His
white shirt was now covered in blood, but still there were traces of the mystery man she had admired from afar in the library.

“I couldn’t leave you after I found; I couldn’t leave you,”
he said quietly.

Slowly
Ari’s face lightened. Reaching down to her dress, she tore at the soft fabric, and using the material like a face washer, began cleaning the speckles of blood off him. She had wiped most of it away when Ragon reached for her hand. He took it in his, gently intertwining their fingers together. He had seen her naked, watched her almost be raped, and yet now as he held her delicate hands within his, she felt closer to him than she had ever before.

“I had to,” he whispered, bringing their hands to his cheek. 

Ari looked up at him hopefully. Her eyes were filled with wonder at his touch, invoking an urge in her that was so strong she felt her head sway, as though the ground around her were rotating. Ragon leaned closer to her, as though an invisible force urged him and Ari responded, her own pull gravitating towards him. Instinctively her mouth parted, the soft pink of her lips easing open.

“There you two are,” a voice said loudly from behind them.

Ari felt Ragon pull away, unwinding her fingers from his so that she once again swayed on the spot, as she readjusted her centre of gravity without him. Looking around, she saw Clyde. He was holding the door to the cub open, flanked by Sandra, Thomas, Larissa and Cambridge.

Both girls looked horrified at what they had interrupted, but Clyde walked further into the alley, and looking at the girl on the ground said, “That’s not like you to
hunt a chick.”

Ragon’s eyes were full of daggers; it seemed that he had completely forgotten the girl on the floor next to him, and glancing from her to the corpse of the man at his feet
, said, “While you were feasting, Ari was almost killed… by a human!”

Both Larissa and Sandra exchanged worried looks,
and Sandra said, “She only left our sight for a minute-”

But Ragon cut her off, leaving the alleyway quickly and walking back into the club.

“Are you ok?” Clyde asked Ari, after Ragon had left.

Her heart was still pounding and there was an unrequited longing in her. Was she alright? No; no she wasn’t. For one fleeting moment she had thought… had hoped… but she was being stupid. How could Ragon possibly feel a connection with her
? Still she thought, as she allowed Clyde to direct her back into the club, the way Ragon had touched her... she felt whole, as if everything in her life had been leading up to that moment, but she had missed it. Looking back she was surprised to see Thomas standing over the body of the dark haired man, touching a hand to his forehead, sternum and then left and right arm, as he crossed himself.     

Before the rest of the coven could leave the alley, Ragon had returned, flanked by a muscular security guard.             

“Do you want to tell me why you are covered in blood,” said the security guard, until his eyes fell on the girl on the ground.

“I found her like this,” said Ragon. “I have already called an ambulance.”

He was pointing to the girl who was now slumped against the brick wall.
Now she was conscious and her hand was pressed gingerly around her throat, trying to soothe the large welts which had appeared there.

“And who’s this?” the security guard asked, kicking the body in the alley way over
, so that the face of the dark haired man was revealed. “I am guessing you are wearing his blood.”

Ari looked down at t
he body. His eyes were fixed and dilated, and the large cut around his throat was now dull and thick with congealed blood.

“Never seen him before,” Ragon lied, looking down at the man as though considering him.
“When I heard a scream I came out here, then I saw him bleeding and tried CPR, but-”

Just then
there was a loud wailing noise and bright flashes of blue light. Ari felt her hand jerk, as Sandra pulled her towards the street. The police had arrived at the entrance of the club, and the seven of them had to get away quickly.

“Hey
, where are you going?” the security guard asked the group’s retreating backs.

“Sorry we have a curfew
; our parents worry,” Clyde said back mischievously, increasing his pace.

As the coven slinked past
the club’s entrance, they watched as the police began storming past them. At the same time Patrick appeared, though Ari noticed that Ryder was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter
11- A Diary Entry

That night Ari’s dreams were fuelled with fear. Oddly the vampires, or that was what she guessed they must have been, were unknown to her. There were two men and a woman. All of them reeked of decay, as if the flesh that clung to their body had long since lost any trace of life, yet their features were perfect, even beautiful. They were sitting on large stone thrones discussing someone, someone that they feared. In the dream, Ari was only an observer, part of the walls and ceiling, and she watched as though from a distance, mesmerised. The room was large and formed of pale sandstone, with one very small window, allowing only the faintest streak of moonlight through. Ari had tried to get closer, desperate to know what the people before her discussed, but she could not. The faces of the three vampires were hidden from her, shadows danced across their bodies, while the moon occasionally threw into light ominous features.

On the damp floor an
elderly lady was crouched low, and it was to her that the three beings were addressing. Ari looked at the obviously human woman and gasped. Her eyes were white and looked as if they were rolling into the back of her head. The old woman was quivering slightly, her back bent unnaturally as she tried to avoid eye contact with the vampires seated at the thrones.

“I have told you all I know,” the
elderly lady begged, her white eyes wide with terror as she glanced nervously at the blade the female vampire held.

The vampires considered her. Both men seemed satisfied and nodded indifferently, but the woman shook her head in dis
belief. She glowered down at the cowering mortal and rushed over to her. As she ran, a puff of chilly snowflakes flew in through the window, forcing her hair shiny red hair away from her face, showing small freckles dotting her cheeks. Without warning she bent down low and two fangs were revealed which bit into the wrinkled skin of the cowering woman. But the elderly woman only managed a stifled scream before she relaxed.

“Now,” said the woman, who was again seated on her throne
, a dagger once again held in her hand threateningly. “Tell us what you saw. Tell us of the child.”

Slowly t
he elderly woman held out a hand, and pointed to where Ari was standing, as if suddenly realising she was there.

“H
ide,” the elderly woman said, locking eyes with Ari, while Ari stared back in confusion and disbelief.

“What did you say?” asked one of the men, his normally marble features creased in confusion as he looked around the room, trying to see what the elderly woman could.

“The child,” the female vampire pressed again, leaving her seat and rushing at the elderly woman.

The vampire was staring at the woman ferociously; her eyes boring into her victims. Finally the old woman seemed to bend to the vampires will and hung her head. She leaned in close to the vampire, her
mouth trembling and whispered something, something that made the vampires eyes open wide in concern.

Then, without warning, the elderly lady reached for the kn
ife that the vampire still held and used it to stab into her own chest. Thick red blood spilled from the wound; all three vampires watched its progression across the stone floor, mesmerised.

“You’ll get no more from me,” the elderly woman croaked. “You’re time is up.
The Gran-”

But her words were cut off and she
rolled over on the floor. There were grey wisps of hair partly covering her face and her eyes, which had in life been white, were now a vibrant blue in death.

Ari woke covered in sweat and her heart pounding. Almost as soon as she had opened her eyes, everything she had dreamed about was forgotten. Only the dank smell of rotten flesh remained, and she looked around her bedroom searching for the source of the putrid smell. Half-heartedly she tried closing her eyes and drifting back to sleep, but her heart was hammering too fast, and its constant pounding in her ears prevented any chance of a return to slumber. Sitting up in bed, a sudden dizzy spell caught her off guard and she gripped the sheets for support. Only when the light headedness had abated, did she remember she’d been drinking last night; she had a hangover- again. Her mouth was dry and tacky, and her memories clouded. For a little while longer she remained in bed, trying to recall the events of the previous night, but soon an overwhelming thirst urged her up.

It was just after midday; the bright sun streamed through the windows that she had opened and she relished in it, appreciating the way her skin responded to the warm rays.

These past few
months had seen her life change considerably, and yet now, as she sat on one of the chairs on the veranda drinking a cold glass of water, she fully appreciated everything she had left behind. Living in darkness it seemed had blinded her to the rest of the world, almost as if every day, was a dark night. With this in mind she gingerly got up from her chair but before she could reach the veranda door, there was a loud barking from somewhere below. Racing to the banister, Ari peered below; she knew that the next door neighbours must have a dog; she had heard it bark on more than one occasion, but never had it sounded this close before. A fast movement in the backyard made her smile and she raced from the veranda, through the house and into the back yard.

“Come here girl,” she said, crouching down low.

There was no reply and so Ari stood up and inched towards the fence line and whistled. Suddenly there was a rustling noise from a line of shrubs. A large black nose poked out between the bushes and so Ari whistled again and waited. The moment she saw the long white tail, large fluffy paws and dark brown eyes, her heart broke. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was sad or happy, or just hungover, but she thought that if she tried to, she could easily cry. She didn’t realise until now, but she missed animals. Everything in her life, up until a few weeks ago, had been preparing her to become a vet. Since she had met Ragon, all of that had gone out the window.

“What’s your name?” said Ari, leaning down and reading the name tag
attached to a leather collar, “Crystal.”

Crystal was like no dog Ari had eve
r seen before. Crystal was a puppy- that much was obvious from her baby teeth, which were currently chewing on Ari’s thongs. But she was a big puppy, at least twenty kilos. She looked somewhere between a golden retriever and a malamute, except she was entirely white.

“Crystal! Come here girl.”

Ari heard the next door neighbour call and immediately Crystal barrelled over Ari and towards the fence.

“She’s over here,” Ari called back.

“Crystal wystal you rat bag,” a short woman with honey brown hair said a few minutes later, after Ari had walked the puppy to the neighbour’s house. “I hope she was no trouble.”

“Oh no,” said Ari, now patting Crystal who was slobbering all over her, “she’s beautiful. What breed is she?”

“Pyrenean mountain dog,” the woman said.

Ari stayed and chatted with Crystal’s owner for a few minutes longer and then went back inside. Feeling a little deflated from Crystal’s absence, Ari switched the television on- still no one else was awake.   

“
In more recent news, a man has been killed in the Valley last night,”
the news reporter said, from outside the club that Ari and the rest of the group had visited last night.

“The owner of the popular nightclub,
‘The Bedroom’, where the gruesome murder took place, was unable to comment, however a security guard present said, ‘this wasn’t the first time the guy had been here; he was a regular.’”

Ari continued to watch the television set, mesmerised by the news report
.

“This incident signifies the tenth murder in Brisbane city this month
, and police are calling for anyone who may have information to come forth. Statisticians who have been trailing the recent spring in criminality have said that this month’s homicides represent a seventy year high.”

Ari loo
ked at the television in horror- ten murders! She knew that half of them Ragon was responsible for, but what had happened to the other five victims? Were they the result of vampire attacks or something else? Uneasy with this thought, she left the living room in search of a computer. As she paused by the staircase that would lead to the second level, her mind flashed once again to the room she had been warned not to enter. Throwing caution to the wind, she leaned against the door and listened hard, wanting to make sure that there was no one inside. After a few moments of silence she pushed the door open, her heart racing.

The room was an enormous library; there were huge canvases hanging from the walls- Ragon’s drawings. She stared at the sketch nearest her; it was a black and white drawing of many large buildings on the edge of a great river, whose reflection of the scene made the painting appear eerie. The only colour in the image was a vibrant orange, which represented flames that were licking the crumpling buildings. Peering closer, Ari read the title of the image, ‘London 1834.’ Her eyes darted to many other framed canvases, all hanging in the gaps left from the bookshelves. Except for where the pictures hung, large mahogany bookshelves covered every inch of the walls, where many volumes of thick books had been stacked neatly next to each other. There were a few blank areas with picture hooks, but no canvas and Ari’s glanced at them in confusion, before her eyes fell on a second level to the library, where a small study overlooked the room.

S
he’d had to transverse a small winding staircase to find Ragon’s desk, but as soon as she stood on the second floor landing, her eyes lit up when she located the flat metallic laptop sitting on top of it. Flipping it up, she waited eagerly for the wireless internet to connect, then opened a search browser and typed in the words: ‘
Murders in Brisbane.
’

She clicked on the
first website to appear and quickly read the first article:

‘
Brisbane City fought with Plague

In the past two weeks Brisbane City has played host to a wide variety of murders. The city, normally rated as a relatively crime free metropolitan, has been struck with unusually high corruption rates. Ten bodies remain in the
city’s morgue awaiting justice for their untimely deaths, and as of yet there has been no arrests. Despite the recent high in criminal activity, police insist that the murders are unrelated.

‘There is just too much variabilit
y in the killings to say that we have a mass murderer on our hands,’ said Constable Lee Ryans, a detective for the city police department. Though Brisbane’s justice department insists that these killings remain the Police’s number one priority, the murders remain unsolved, and no witnesses or suspects have been identified.

This reporter asked police what they
were doing to solve the crimes. ‘Everything we can,’ says Constable Ryans.

The
city coroner has told police that all of the victim’s deaths occurred during the early hours of the morning, and people are cautioned to keep this in mind when planning their daily routines. When at all possible, citizens are advised to avoid leaving their house unaccompanied, between the hours of 1am and 4am. This morning’s murder signifies the tenth victim to be killed in Brisbane this month, and with the killings showing no sign of slowing, the inhabitants of our normally peaceful city must be wondering- is it safe to come out at night?

Ari scrolled through the story quickly, her eyes wide in anticipation
.
There were seven vampires living in this house right now, perhaps these murders were attributed to their actions? For a while she continued to scroll through the stories indifferently, her thoughts preoccupied, until another story’s title caught her eye.

‘Five victims of University slayings memorial day

The University of Brisbane has today organised a remembrance service for the five victims who lost their lives two months ago. Twenty-four year old Lisa Kidd was found murdered at the campus, one week following the senseless deaths of the four football team members in late May. Chancellor Kennedy addressed the student body, during a special memorial service for the friends and family members of the victims.

The chancellor told students that additional security officers would be on the campus, especially during the night and early morning
, and that grief councillors had been appointed for any classmates who felt they needed additional support. Chancellor Kennedy assured the mourning students that, ‘security guards would be in full force during the busy study period.’ The end of semester usually sees the University of Brisbane campus alive with students studying for exams. Since this latest murder however, the normally busy 24hour libraries have been deserted. ‘Additional funds have been allocated to the security detail, which now includes offering students private trips to and from their cars, or to public transport, to make sure that students feel safe to study,’ Chancellor Kennedy proudly told the crowd…  

Ari blinked,
something didn’t make sense; why were there five victims? Desperately trying to recall the painful memories from the night when she had been attacked, she pictured the four men who had tried to rape her; four, there had definitely been four, not five. She read over the story again, this time slower and more careful.