A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) (30 page)

For a moment neither of them moved, and then Ragon let out a low growl and Clyde smiled. Before Ari knew what was happening the two were brawling
, while Crystal barked loudly, occasionally nipping at Clyde’s heels. Avoiding Crystal, Clyde moved over to Ragon and shoved him in the chest. Ragon fell hard, hitting the coffee table in the living room, whose wooden frame broke under his weight instantly. Recovering quickly, Ragon jumped to his feet and charged at Clyde, forcing him out onto the veranda.

“Stop this,” screamed
Ari, following the pair out onto the balcony and grabbing Crystal.

For a few moments they continued to wrestle, each throwing fast hits at the other, blurring so quickly that Ari couldn’t tell whose fists was whose.

“My moneys
on Clyde,” said Cambridge, walking out towards Ari, a large smile on his face.

He was followed by Thomas and Sameth.

“Can’t you stop them?” Ari pleaded, her face stuck halfway between a pained and exasperated expression.

Cambridge frowned, but gestured to Sameth and Thomas, then moved quickly over to Ragon and Clyde
, who were now grappling on the veranda floor.

“Aren’t you boys a little old to be fighting?”
said Sandra, when she had joined them on the veranda also.

Ragon was growling, but one look at Ari had him gaining control of himself, and he stopped struggling with Sameth
, who was fighting hard to restrain him. A moment later and Thomas and Cambridge released Clyde also.

“What in god’s name are you fighting about
this time?” asked Larissa.

Neither responded, but Ragon looked once at Ari
.

“Maybe it’s time that you left?” Ragon sai
d to Clyde.

Instantly Clyde’s eyes widened.

“I came for you,” he said to Ragon, brushing the creases out of his shirt, “but I’m staying for Ari.” At these words Ari’s eyes widened. Slowly Clyde reached down to Crystal, holding out his hand for her to sniff as he looked up at Ari and added, “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I killed Crystal’s owners because they saw us.”

Crystal barked loudly and Ari patted her consolingly while
Ragon growled, slowly advancing, until Sameth’s hands pulled him back.

“Maybe Ragon is right,”
said Sameth.

“You’ve been hell bent on getting me to leave since I got here,”
said Clyde, snarling at Sameth.

At that point Sameth released Ragon, and both vampires glared at Clyde.

“Wait,” said Ari, moving to stand between them. “You’re being stupid- all of you.”

“Ari’s right,” said Larissa, moving to stand next to Ari, “the more of us protecting Ari, the better.
Besides, Ragon knew what he was getting when he asked Clyde here. Clyde had never pretended to care for humans.”

For a moment it looked as if Sameth was going to retaliate, but before he could speak, Ragon’s face had softened and he nodded slowly.

“Ok,” Ragon said slowly.

Clyde shrugged and moved inside, pouring two large glasses of bourbon and handing one to Ragon
, in obvious acceptance of peace, while purposefully ignoring Sameth. Ari watched the change in mood in disbelief, and moved back into the house.

“Boys,” Sandra muttered.

Clyde had been flirtatious with Ari since the moment he’d arrived, but when it mattered most, he had told her what Ragon had done after she had been attacked by Matthew. Had it not been for Clyde’s words, Ari might never have understood exactly how much it hurt Ragon not to be there when she needed him. She thought of what Sandra had said, and then remembered Ragon saying something similar. What was it that made Clyde act the way he did? Ari looked across the room at Clyde, and watched him pour another drink for himself. Not for the first time, she wondered if anyone really knew Clyde.

“What’s all the commotion about?” asked Patrick, walking down the hallway, flanked by Ryder.

As soon as Ryder entered the living room, their previous c
onversation flashed back to Ari.

“Looks’ like I’ll be the only human he
re soon,” she said, before she could stop herself.

Ragon stared at
Ari in confusion, but then Patrick asked, “Do you disapprove?”

Ryder was glaring at Ari and she
wished that she could not only stop time, but reverse it. For a moment she tried hard to, hoping that somehow her powers would have advanced, but they did not. She had no idea how to respond, but mercifully was spared having to when Ragon spoke. 

“Disapprove of what?”
he asked curiously.

“Of my
making Ryder a fledgling,” said Patrick.

“What?”
said Sandra, her eyes now fixed on Ryder, who had stopped glaring at Ari to look down at his feet.

“This isn’t really the best time to have a fledgling to worry about,”
said Sameth.

“He will be my responsibility,”
said Patrick.

Though Ari wanted to say
more, she did not. She felt guilty enough about bringing Ryder’s and Patrick’s personal life into the spotlight, and did not wish to add insult to injury. A few times she tried catching Ryder’s eyes, hoping to convey that she was sorry, but he did not look up at her. Instead Patrick moved over to Ryder protectively and the pair moved out onto the balcony together.

“Well that’s just about enough excitement for one day,” Clyde said dramatically.

Ari couldn’t help but nod her head in agreement. She didn’t want Ryder to become a vampire; at the e
nd of the day, she just didn’t! From what Ryder had told her, it wasn’t just about being with Patrick; Ryder wanted to be a vampire. She considered this for a moment. Sure there were things about being a vampire that were appealing, like not aging, being impervious to most injuries and getting to live forever. But all of that came at a price. Had Ryder considered that he would have to watch his parents die, along with everyone else he had ever cared about? Not only that, he would have to drink blood. Maybe he would be able to control himself like the others in the coven, but Ari knew that not all vampires had that luxury. Instantly her mind flashed back to Paige, the young girl who had been in the cell opposite hers when she had been taken by Kiara. Matthew had killed Paige in a heartbeat and without remorse. Becoming a vampire didn’t just mean you had fangs; after a while humanity faded, making it easier and easier to take not just blood, but life.

“How long have you known about this?” Ragon asked Ari in a whisper,
his eyes glancing out to the veranda where Patrick and Ryder were sitting together.

“About half an hour before you,” she replied.

Ragon’s eyes remained glued to the veranda, and he continued to stare off into space, apparently deep in thought.

For most of the night there was tension between Ari and Ryder. Almost all of the other vampires had left to go hunting. Only Ryder, Ari, Patrick and Thomas remained. 

A few times she approached Ryder
to apologise, but it was only on her third attempt that he spoke to her.

“Look Ari, I know what you’re going to sa
y, but it won’t change anything,” he said gruffly.

Ari blinked.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Her apology had caught
Ryder off guard and he opened his mouth dumbly to speak, but no words came out.

“It’s your decision to make, and even though I don’t necessarily think it needs to be made so quickly, I respect
whatever you decide to do,” she said.

“Well, err…
thanks,” said Ryder, scratching his head, slightly confused.

Ari thought that he
wanted to say more, but just then Thomas appeared, looking irritated as he began to pace around the room.

“God I’m starving,”
he said.

Ari watched
him blur around the house, and instantly felt motion sick.

“Why don’t you go out;
I can watch the kids,” Patrick said teasingly, looking up from his book and dog tagging the page of ‘Withering heights’ that he was reading.

Ryder threw
Patrick a dirty stare, but he smiled sweetly back at him.

“Are you kidding me? Ragon told me that I was not to let Ari out of my sight
… for even a second,” Thomas replied.    

“Um, I think I can handle babysitting two mortals,”
said Patrick. “Go eat!”

Thomas seemed to consider his words for a second, his hunger overtaking his better judgement, but shook his head firmly
, saying, “No, I can’t!”

The guilt from having reprimanded Ryder earlier seemed to weigh on Ari’s conscious.
When Thomas looked out the window hopefully, she suddenly realised what a burden she was.

“I could go with you,”
suggested Ari, and at this Thomas shook his head even harder. “I will wait in the car and lock the doors; you won’t even know I am there.”

“She has a point,”
said Patrick. “If you leave now you could get back before the others return. Besides, if you take her with you, then you won’t be letting her out of your sight… exactly. Better a fed vampire watching mortals, than a hungry one.”

At these words Thomas stopped shaking his head
. He took one long look at Ari and the moved over to the front door.

Re
trieving a pair of keys, he said, “Ok, but you don’t leave the car.”

It was ten minutes into their drive when Ari realised that she had just left Ryder and Patrick alone in the house together. Her heart quickened at the thought of her previous conversation with Ryder, and she prayed silently that he would not do anything rash while she was gone.

“Ok,”
said Thomas, pulling the car over to the curb, and bringing Ari back to her surroundings.

“Wh… What?”
she asked in confusion.

Looking around, Ari realised that Thomas had taken them to the Valley- the west side of the Valley.
Thomas was pointing to a man standing near the side of a deserted alleyway. It was raining now; large thick drops of water splattered against the windshield, distorting Ari’s view. Looking past the fogged car window, she saw a burnt building, relic of the orphanage that she had grown up in. Now as she beheld the derelict building which had once been her home, she couldn’t help but feel a little sad. What had happened to all the children who had been in the Grace Valley Orphanage, waiting to find a new home?

“Wait here,”
said Thomas, flicking the headlights off while leaving the keys in the ignition. “Make sure you lock the doors after I leave.”

Ari nodded and as soon as Thomas slammed the door shut, moved over to the central locking button and hit it. A small clicking noise followed this, as all the doors locked. Looking through the
foggy window again, Ari watched Thomas flick his coat collar up to shield him from the rain, and move over to the man, who was smoking a rollie. Large thick puffs of smoke came out of the man’s mouth; the tobacco mingled smog curled around his face and disintegrated into the air with each new puff. The car was not close enough for Ari to hear what Thomas said to the stranger, and the rain continued to pound on the car, making it more and more difficult to see anything.

After a moment Thomas followed his prey further down the alley.
Ari watched as Thomas turned quickly to glance at her and then suddenly grabbed the man, holding him up by his jacket. Unable to supress a shiver, Ari duck down low in her seat and watched as the pair began to struggle. She saw the stranger retrieve his hand from his spare coat and produce a small switch blade. Thomas, who was drinking hungrily from the man’s wrist, had not noticed the blade that was now being pointed at him from behind. Ari screamed in response, fumbling for the door before she realised it was still locked. Quickly she flicked the central locking and raced from the car. When she was in the street, she saw that both men were gone. Without thinking, she sprinted towards the alleyway, slipping slightly on the wet shiny foot path.    

“What the hell happened?” she asked, seeing Thomas standing over the man he had been drinking from.

Thomas was looking down at the corpse below him and to Ari’s surprise, began crossing himself. She watched as he touched two fingers to his
forehead, then sternum, and finally to either side of his shoulders.

The man was sprawled on the
wet brick, lying quite still; his arms and legs were stuck out at strange angles. The rain was soaking his clothes, so that a trickle of blood was washed from his neck, joining a large puddle beside him. Thomas had not responded, but with a sombre look on his face, reached down to the man he had killed and retrieved something from his victim’s pocket. Moving quickly now, he put the small black wallet he had taken into his own pocket and grabbed Ari by the elbow and ran.

“I told you to lock the doors,” Thomas said angrily, when they were back inside the car, sopping wet and speeding away.