A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) (22 page)

“I feel sorry for you,”
said Ari, turning to stare up at him, her eyes locked resolutely on his. “I thought being an immortal would mean that vampires would be capable of great wisdom, but if that were the case, you would know that Kiara was just using-”

But her words
were cut off when Matthew struck her again, this time harder. In a flash he was on top of her, his fangs raised; immediately all thoughts of self-preservation and hope left her, and she screamed.

“Kiara doesn’t love you,”
cried Ari, trying to fend Matthew off.

“Liar,”
shouted Matthew, reaching his powerful hands down so that they wrapped around Ari’s throat.

As soon as the darkness began to capture her, she smiled. She ha
d done it; she would not suffer but die quickly. There was one shred of regret. She would not get to tell Ragon how she truly felt. Now, as Matthew stole her life, she knew that he meant more to her than anyone else ever had.

This thought swam in her head until she saw someone behind Matthew. For a moment her eyes stared in disbelief, and then Cambridge charged, forcing both Ari and Matthew off the couch and onto the hard wooden floors. Instantly she felt cold hands around her and she struggled, until she looked up and saw Thomas.

“It’s ok,”
said Thomas, looking quickly around.

In one fast motion he picked Ari up
, and blurred through the house until he reached Ragon’s library. Racing up the winding staircase, he finally released her into a chair in Ragon’s office.

“Wait here,” he sa
id, before jumping off the second landing and racing back through the door.

Ari swayed on the spot. Her head was screaming at her, making her thoughts drawn out and unfocused. Fumbling for the banister, she began to make her way back down the stairs. On the last few steps she fell, and landed heavily to the hard wooden floor below. Struggling upright, she continued to stumble towards the door. Her hands traced the walls as she made her way through the hallway, until finally she reached the living room. A large smashing noise told her that Cambridge and Thomas were still fighting Matthew, and Ari stumbled towards them.

“What are
you doing here?” yelled Thomas, when his eyes fell on Ari.

Again Ari tried to speak
but found that she could not. She simply stood there and watched, as Thomas restrained Matthew, while Cambridge moved over to the kitchen and grabbed something from the top shelf of the pantry. Ari recognised the small purple bottle; it was the EDTA that Ragon had bought weeks ago, in case Kiara attacked them. It felt like such a long time ago that Ragon had stopped Ari from using the contents in her cooking, and joked with her that he would have to hide it. Now she watched with horror as Cambridge raced back to where Thomas was struggling with Matthew. In an instant he had torn the lid off before quickly pouring the contents of the bottle into Matthew’s open mouth.

“No,” Matthew gurgled
, but Thomas reached down and covered his mouth, forcing him to swallow the substance that was toxic to vampires.

For a few moments
Matthew struggled, but soon he began to lose his resolve, and fell back clutching his chest. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head, just as black blood poured from his ears, nose and mouth.

The three of them stared down at the dead vampire for a long time. When the shock had worn off, Ari fell down to the floor and broke into small silent sobs, while Cambridge and Thomas began to drag Matthew’s body away.          

Before they could reach the veranda
however, a noise outside made all three turn and face the front door. A car had skidded into the driveway, followed by four very fast doors slamming. Patrick was singing loudly to himself, and the rest of the group were clearly trying to shut him up.

“Aren’t you the one who tried to hurt me with your lies, you think I’ll crumble…”
sung Patrick.

“Enough,”
Sameth said. 

“Now where did you get that?”
asked Sandra.

“You never know when
gaffe tape will come in handy,” Sameth replied.

Though Ari heard the front door open, she did not look up, but remained sopping in the corner
, her knees drawn up to her chest as she clutched at her throat.

“What the hell
happened?” asked Clyde, frozen at the entrance as he looked across to where Ari sat cowering.

Ari did not reply, but turned to face Cambridge and Thomas
, who were still holding Matthew’s corpse.

Instantly Sandra and Larissa blurred over to their mates, inspecting them from head to toe, wanting to make quite certain that they had not been injured.

“Matthew attacked Ari,” said Cambridge, looking down at the bloodied body.

Ari had nodded dumbly at these words, until she felt a soft swoosh of air across her face
, and Clyde’s face blurred into focus. Touching a cold hand to each of her cheeks, he swore low under his breath, as he surveyed her injuries. Her face was swollen, and her eyes were bloodshot and bruised. He reached up and pulled Ari into an embrace. Gingerly Ari rested her cheeks against Clyde’s shoulders; his cold hard skin was the perfect substitute for an ice pack. Ari felt as all her fear from the last half hour crashed down on her, and once again tears poured from her eyes, soaking into Clyde’s shirt. She let her whole weight fall into Clyde’s hands, and did not fight when she felt him sit down on the couch, still holding her tight in his arms.   

“Where
’s Ragon?” growled Larissa. “He’s not hurt?” 

It was Ari’s turn to talk and explain what had happened, but she couldn’t find the words. She was spared having to however
, when Cambridge suddenly spoke.

“
I was hunting with Thomas when Ragon called me; he told me that he had lost control and couldn’t be around Ari until he had fed,” said Cambridge. “He asked me to go home and watch her.”

“Oh,”
said Sandra and Larissa together.

Ari let out a small cry, quickly hiding her face from the others by burying her head behind Clyde’s shoulder.

“Well that’s just perfect; Ragon is out getting his rock of with someone else, while Ari is getting attacked,” Clyde said angrily.

Sandra hissed loudly, then quickly moved over to Ari and lent down on one knee as she reached out a hand to touch
her on the shoulder.

“
It’s hard… with mortals. Trying to control our emotions is difficult,” said Larissa.

Ari cried a little louder but didn’t respond.
She just wanted to stay where she was without speaking to anyone. She felt Clyde reach out and touch her shoulder in the same spot Sandra’s hand previously had been, and was surprised at how comforted it made her feel. From behind him she watched as Patrick begun unwinding the gaffe tape that was around his mouth, pulling it away from his skin so that it left a sticky residue.

“He couldn’t have known this would happen,” said Patrick.

Next to him, Sameth was staring wide eyed at Matthew’s body.

For a long while Ari stayed on the couch in Clyde’s arms; shivering slightly or else wincing from the pain. She had heard partial conversations from the rest of the coven, but hardly took any notice to what they were saying. At one point she had listened as Cambridge and Thomas discussed how best to dispose of Matthew’s body, and her whole body had tense in response. Shortly after that she had heard Larissa telling Sandra that she had been unable to contact Ragon, and she listened as Sandra left a short voice message for him to come home right away.

Throughout the night Clyde did not move, or speak to her, but continued to sit with her. His rigi
d body and cool skin, made Ari think of him as a rock that she was clutching onto, as if she were lost at sea. When all the noise around her stopped, she let her eyes close heavily. It did take long for Ari to feel herself begin to drift off. Her head was still buried underneath Clyde’s shoulder, so that she couldn’t tell if anyone else from the coven remained. As the moments of silence stretched out, she let herself fall into a deep sleep.  

Ari didn’t know what time it was when she startled from the front door opening.

“Where is she?”
said Ragon, scanning the room until his eyes fell on the couch where Ari and Clyde sat.

In a heartbeat he had rush
ed to her side. His horrified eyes glanced up to Clyde, and for a moment there was malice and hatred burning from them. Ari watched him through tiny slits in her eyes, pretending to be asleep; she didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to talk to him. Gently she felt him reach out and touch her hair.

“Thank you,” Ragon muttered
.

Clyde did not speak but inclined his head forward.

“Is she ok?”

“He hit her pretty badly
but she’ll live,” Clyde whispered. 

Ragon let out a low growl and clenched his fists into tight balls. 

“And Matthew is dead?” whispered Ragon, shaking his head as he continued to brush his hand through her hair.

At the mention of M
atthew’s name, Ari stirred, but kept her eyes firmly shut. Both Ragon and Clyde looked down at her in concern. Clyde nodded his head and made to move off the couch.

“No, wait,”
said Ragon, suddenly standing. “Would you stay with her tonight? I don’t want her to be alone.”

“But you’re here now,”
said Clyde, making to move again.

This time when Clyde moved, Ari’s head rolled around, and her face was revealed to Ragon. In a flash he was back down
on his knees, breathing deeply as he fought the tears that threatened to overcome him. Ari’s face was purple and swollen. There were large welts at either side of her cheeks, and her eyes were black and bruised. Around her throat were large red marks that were shaped like handprints.

“Please,”
whispered Ragon, “just stay with her. I don’t deserve-”

But whatever Ragon didn’t deserve, Ari never found out.
Clyde nodded and settled himself back into the couch. Reaching out a shaking hand, Ragon tilted Ari’s head so that it was back against Clyde’s shoulder, and quickly blurred from the room. When he returned her threw a large soft blanket over her, and bent down low to kiss her on the forehead.

“I’m so sorry,” he said in a barely audible whisper.
“This is my fault.”

Still Ari pretended to be asleep.
After that Ragon did not go to his room, but out onto the veranda. Ari had heard the door slide opened and wondered for a moment, what he was doing, until she heard a piercing scream and her eyes opened wide in fear.

Chapter 13- Rejection

When Ari woke the next evening, she startled to find herself asleep in Clyde’s arm. Sitting up quickly, she swayed and clutched her hand to her head, winching.

“Careful,”
said Clyde, managing a half-hearted smile down at her. “Are you alright?” he added, helping her to sit upright while he stood and stretched.

“Fin-”
croaked Ari, but she was cut off speaking as her hand reached for her neck.

Her t
hroat felt bruised and swollen, and Ari remembered how Matthew had tried to strangle her. Instantly she stood but feeling her head spin, sat back down quickly. Seeing this, Clyde moved over to her and gently took her by the elbow and guided her to her room.

“Thanks,” she muttered
, when Clyde had helped her to the bed, pulling back the sheets and gently placing her under them.

Clyde smiled back gingerly. It was not his usual cheeky grin, but macabre and sad.

“Wait,” she said, seeing Clyde’s retreating back. “Where’s Ragon?”

Clyde was just about to answer when there was a soft knock at the door.

“How you feeling honey,” said Sandra, moving into Ari’s room and sitting next to her on the bed.

Instantly Ari
tried to smile, but found that it hurt too much.

“
Her throat is sore,” said Clyde, seeing Ari rub again at her neck.

“That bastard,”
said Sandra, reaching out to Ari and handing her two white tablets and a large glass of water.

Ari took the pills
, recognising the small plus sign on them to be ibuprofen plus- just what she needed.

“Do you err
… mind if I have a word,” said Sandra, turning to look from Ari and over at Clyde.

Clyde shrugged and made to leave. As Ari watched him go, she fought with the desire to ask him to stay. She had been comforted by his presence.

“Oh honey,” said Sandra, after Clyde closed the door. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,”
croaked Ari.

Instantly Sandra threw up a hand to shush her.

“How about I do the talking and you lie under the covers and rest?” she said. “You know with Ragon, well any vampire really, it’s hard for us to control ourselves around mortals. At the end of the day we are predators; when you put a predator in a room with a blood source, no matter how much they care for them… sometimes emotions just take over. He wouldn’t hurt you in his normal frame of mind, but when a vampire is… excited, it’s a little more difficult to control ourselves, especially when we are already hungry,” Sandra explained. “Ragon would never have left you if he had of known that any harm would have come to you, but if he didn’t go… he couldn’t risk attacking you. He called Cambridge and Thomas the moment he was out of the house, and told them to get back and watch you.”

“I get it,”
said Ari, failing to hide her disappointment and frustration at being a human.

“But I don’t think you do,”
said Larissa, pushing Ari’s door open and joining Sandra on the bed. In her hands were two large ice packs. “I googled it, and apparently humans put ice on swellings and bruises.”

Ari smiled appreciatively up at Larissa
, placing the icepacks on either side of her pillow so they rested against her face.

“Maybe
everyone is right; vampires and humans shouldn’t be together?” asked Ari.

Larissa and Sandra exchanged
worried looks.

“Well, I don’t know. I have never dated a mortal,”
said Sandra, directing a long glance at Larissa and prodding her in the arm.

“But I have,”
said Larissa.

“What?”
asked Ari, sitting up before feeling her injuries pull her back down so that her head was once again rested on the pillow. “But I thought you and Cambridge had been together for ages?

“We have, but he wasn’t always a vampire, not until I decided I couldn’t live without him and turned him,”
said Larissa.

“Tell me everything,”
said Ari, hoping like hell that the codeine would kick in soon and take away some of the pain.

Larissa smiled warmly and said, “Well it was the late 1780’s, and my father was the owner of a large tobacco farm in Minnesota. I was only six years old when the first black slaves came to work the fields. Black labour was cheaper than any other sort and I had been forbidden to converse with the Negro men and women. I still had my governess, her name was Mary, but her thoughts were the exact opposite to that of my fathers. She spoke of black and white equality; she was what you might say, a forward thinker. In hind sight, had I told anyone back then how she thought, she probably would have been hung.”

Ari gaped at this
and then slowly closed her mouth, while Larissa continued. 

“
So it wasn’t until my eighth birthday, when I was playing hide and seek in the grounds with friends from neighbouring estates, that I had my first conversation with a black person. He was about my age, although he was much taller and larger, having been bred for hard labour. I had been hiding behind one of the less used barns when he found me; I can still remember his disjointed English. I had ignored him at first, my father’s warnings swimming in my head. But looking closer at the boy, I couldn’t see anything dangerous about him. For over two hours we spoke, until finally a large search party, headed by my father, found me. The boy had managed to get away without being seen, and I had lied and told them that I had fallen asleep in the sun. It was two full weeks before I saw him again. This time when we met, we talked for almost half of the day and I found out his name- Cambridge. For the next few years we continued meeting in secret and going on adventures. I would spend the day with him, and the night talking to Mary about him. He was the closest thing to a friend I’d ever had. He told me about Africa, and the animals there and the arid landscape. It wasn’t long before I dreamed of his home land often, seeing what I imagined to be lions, giraffes and elephants,” explained Larissa.

“Cambridge was a slave?” interrupted Ari.

“You just can’t wait for the good parts, can you?” said Sandra.

Ari smiled back and Larissa continued.

“By the age of fifteen I stopped seeing him as a friend, and began dreaming about the two of us someday living in Africa. My mother had died the previous year, and almost as soon as my father was re-married, his new wife wanted to send me to the city for boarding school. I screamed and cried, but my father was deaf to my requests and spoke only of how it was the premier school for young ladies. On the eve of my departure I decided to meet with Cambridge one last time. I knew that I might be followed, that it was stupid to go out at night, but I had to risk it. I can still remember trailing through the black people’s camps, calling his name. His people didn’t want us together either, and I could tell by the way they looked at me, that they despised me. But I didn’t care if they saw me that night; I had to say goodbye. For a few blissful hours we talked; I promised that as soon as I could, I would return to him. He laughed at me, and called me a silly white girl, but I didn’t care. I think even then that I loved him. Maybe an hour or so later one of Cambridge’s friends found us. He told us that my father was looking for me. I moved robotically over to Cambridge, desperation overpowering my innocence, and did the one thing I had wanted to for years- I kissed him. For the first time in my life I felt free. Moments later and I heard a man scream, and felt myself being ripped from Cambridge’s arms.”

“Was it your dad?” asked Ari.

Larissa nodded and said, “I was packaged up and sent away that night. Very few females were privy to education in those times, not that you could really call what we learnt education, but back then it was the elite. The school in the city was full of snobby girls. Each competed with the others for the latest fashions, the tightest curls, largest estate, whatever was coveted at the time. For four horrible years I was stuck there, with only the memory of Cambridge’s lips on mine to keep me company. My father, who had by now had two sons with his new wife and had not forgotten of my betrayal, probably saw me as a mistake. He did not ask me to return home for the summers, and every holiday I remained at the school. Still, my father did not entirely abandon me. He had left me a tidy sum of money, which I promptly invested, eager to run away at the first chance. I was eighteen years old when Mary, my old governess, came to visit me one night. She was still just as lovely as before, and asked me about Cambridge and if I still thought of him. When I told her that I was in love with him, she said that she knew a way we could be together- forever. At the time her promise had sounded like the best thing in the world, and I agreed instantly. She told me the cost would be great, that we would not be able to live among normal men and women, and that we would need to be creatures of the night. These terms seemed acceptable; after all, it was illegal for mixing of black and white people in those days. Of course we would have to keep our lives together a secret.”

“Mary was a vampire?” asked Ari
, connecting the dots.

“Yep,” said Larissa. “She had been turned a year
earlier. That night she made me her fledgling. As soon as I woke I felt a hunger within me, and commenced feeding on anything in my path. Desperate to leave my old life behind me, we lit my room on fire, and left the corpse of a girl I had drained in there, so that my father would think I had died in the fire. I was completely different, not just in my abilities, but in my thoughts too. I still craved Cambridge, but not as much as I craved blood. Perhaps my upbringing had left me resentful and bitter? Anyway, Mary described my appetite as insatiable. It took her months to get me to calm down and kill with style, and even then, I couldn’t drink from a mortal without killing them. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to be able to see Cambridge in that state. Three years after my transformation I decided I could wait no longer. I was gradually getting better and better, and had even managed drinking from sources without ending their lives. I had also learnt how to disassociate them afterwards, which made life a hell of allot easier. Mary had spoken to me about the risks of creating a fledgling, and how they could betray you, but I was determined to be with Cambridge. That night Mary and I commissioned a carriage, and fashioned it so that no light could get in. The trip from town into the country took two days hard riding. Mary had the foresight to bring a donor with us, some young man from one of the villages we passed through, who directed the carriage during the day, and we feed off during the night. It was late one night when we rode into my father’s farm. I was tense with anticipation. I prayed that my father had kept Cambridge on, but even still, I had no idea what now looked like, or how he would respond to seeing me.”

“This is the good part,” said Sandra.

Larissa laughed lightly and said, “You can’t imagine how happy I was when I saw him. He was still young and handsome, with full lips and long black dreadlocks that were slightly golden at the edges from all his hours of work under the sun. I asked him to leave with me and he agreed. It was as if no time had passed, and we picked up things right where we left off. That night we said goodbye to Mary and boarded a boat to South America. There were very few options for a black and white couple back then, let alone a black man and a white vampire. For a while I hide what I was from him. It wasn’t easy, not being able to go out into the sunlight. I pretended to have caught some mysterious illness on the voyage over. But eventually he worked it out. I thought for sure that he was going to leave me, but he didn’t. He just told me that he needed time to think. You can imagine the late night conversations and screaming matches. He wanted to be with me but not as a monster; he had to die to be with me; he was too young to die; he would keep aging while I stayed the same; we could be together forever. There were so many points, for and against, his becoming a vampire to be with me.”

“So,”
said Ari eagerly; the ibuprofen had started working and she could already feel the codeine starting to take away most of her pain, “what happened?”

As she had listened to Larissa’s story, she had leaned closer and closer towards her. It was absolutely insane to conceive that for a time
, Cambridge had contemplated not being with Larissa, vampirism or not; they were such a perfect couple.

“You know what happened,” Sandra said smiling, “can you, or can you not see two vampires, madly in love in front of you today?”

“Yea, No I know, I mean-” Ari began to say.

“It’s ok,”
said Larissa, “I know what you mean. Well for about six months we continued like this. We were living in a small fishing village off the coast of Columbia. Cambridge had commissioned a job on the docks. From only being there for those few months my activities had drawn much attention, and there was talk of something biting people and draining their blood. I disassociated all my victims afterwards, and only took what I needed to survive, but in a small village full of superstitious natives, my hunting did not go unnoticed. Finally one night the villages had had enough, and set a trap for the blood drinker. They cut the wrists of a sacrificial lamb and left the girl outside. When I smelt her blood I was consumed with hunger. I ran straight for her without thinking. As soon as I heard the first scream, I knew I had been discovered. The villages surrounded me, holding large flaming torches and yelling in their native tongue. They were spitting at me, and calling me a ‘demon’ and ‘witch’. Cambridge, who had heard the commotion, came over to see what was happening. There was blood all down my dress, and my lips were stained red from where I had tasted the girl. Without thinking I leapt over the torches, running as fast as I could into the night. I dared not return to our house, but went to ground for the night. The next evening I left a note for Cambridge, explaining that I was leaving for Latvia. I had heard from Mary that there were colonies of vampires there, and that the weather made it possible for us to come out during the day. I had enough wealth from my investments to buy two tickets for the voyage. I left one ticket for Cambridge and wrote for him to come with me. Two days later the boat left. I spent the entire first night looking everywhere for Cambridge. Just when I had convinced myself that he had decided to let me go, I found him! He was sitting at the edge of the boat, his shoes were off and his eyes were closed. ‘I’m ready’ was all he said to me. And the rest is history.”