Bound (The Grandor Descendant Series Book 3) (37 page)

Checking to make certain she hadn’t been followed, Emily glanced behind her shoulder and then pushed the front door of the Forensic Agency and Research Morgue open. Again it was chilly; Ari thought it odd that the building was being kept so cold, especially seeing as most of the campus buildings had central heating. Emily walked blindly down the corridors, following the same path she had taken when she had come to get her flu vaccine, and stopped straight in front of a room that was marked ‘No Admission.’ She then knocked and waited. A few moments passed and then the heavy metal door clicked and swung open, and a tall man greeted her. Emily smiled up kindly at him, just as if they were old friends.

“This way,” said the male, and he showed her a procedure chair, in which he gestured for her to get comfortable in.

Emily laid down on it and waited. A moment later and the same tall woman who had bitten her yesterday appeared.

“Miss Emily Davenport,” said the woman, and Emily nodded. “Hold out your arm please.”

Emily did so and Ari watched in shocked confusion as the vampire retrieved a very large needle with a small white gun attached to the end of it and pressed it firmly against Emily’s wrist. When the vampire squeezed the gun, Emily let out a stifled cry. As the tall vampire pulled the gun away from Emily’s skin, there was a large pin prick of blood there. The vampire looked at the small bleeding wound hungrily, licking her lips before shaking her head and reaching for a clipboard.

Slowly the vampire began filling in a form, occasionally asking Emily questions about her health or else measuring her and ticking various boxes.

“Any history of blood diseases?” asked the vampire; Emily shook her head. “Blood parasites?” asked the vampire; again Emily shook her head.

Slowly the image of Emily faded and another scene was revealed to Ari. It was daytime now, though the thick cloud cover overhead masked any ability to truly tell what time of day it was. As Ari looked around, she realised that she was standing near the cafeteria, watching a large groups of people who were chatting animatedly. She stopped and stared at the crowd. Was this the same group of people she had seen earlier today? They were all apparently anxious, and Ari watched as many of them started moving over towards Delta halls. Ari followed suit, unsure what her vision was supposed to be showing her. Moving with the crowd, they walked past Delta halls, where many large bushes of lilac bell flowers were in bloom, and towards the Forensic Agency and Research Morgue.

The group made their way past the entrance and inside. Ari was just about to follow suit, when she noticed a young girl walking towards the Farm. Ari gasped. It was Riley. She was wearing the same floral jeans and large baggy shirt she had been wearing when Ari had been speaking with her in the library.

Riley looked around, checking her phone and then glancing nervously around the building, as if searching for someone. Then, without warning, large figures emerged from the building, swarming around Riley, covering her mouth as they dragged her into the Farm and out of sight. Ari screamed in protest but she was no more than a shadow in her vision.

“What is it? Ari?” Lea said next to her, “Ari, are you ok? Did you have a premonition? What did you see?”

Ari heard the voice calling to her, trying to get her attention, and she fought against it, certain that there was more to her vision that she needed to see. But she was trapped in darkness, not yet in the present, though unable to see the past. Then Lea spoke again, and this time her words completely pulled Ari from her premonition.

“Ari, are you ok?”    

“Shit,” said Ari, her mind slowly un-fogging as she tried to stand.  

“What is it?”

“Riley… someone took her. I saw them grab her while she was outside that Farm building,” said Ari, her voice trembling.

“Are you sure?”

Quickly Ari nodded, then remembering the vision she’d had of Emily, added, “And it’s not just Riley. I saw Emily. The vaccine program that the hospital is running through the campus… it’s a front for something. I don’t know what, but I saw Emily getting bitten by a vamp. They lulled her, told her to tell all her friends about the free flu vaccine. Remember when she came and saw us after the vaccination? She suggested that we should get one as well. I saw her going back to the Farm at night and the vampires were asking her all these weird questions, about her blood.”

“Jesus,” said Lea, and she swore loudly. “Do you know where Emily is now? If she’s still ok? If she is still… alive?”

Ari shook her head, then remembering the outfit that Riley had been wearing when she had been snatched, said, “But Riley must have just been taken! I was with her like an hour ago, and in my premonition she was wearing the same outfit as before. She told me that she was meeting up with Natalie and Clyde. I thought it was weird that Natalie would go to Clyde first. I should have known something was up.”

“But, but why would the vampires want to lure Riley there?”

Ari felt the colour drain from her face.

“Ari, what is it?” asked Lea. 

“Natalie! You said that your tracking spell had located her. You said that she was in Latvia. What if she’s told the Ancients that Riley is a waere? What if she has told the Ancients that Riley is pregnant? Oh god! What if they know that Clyde is the father? Natalie knew that the father of Riley’s baby was called Clyde. Maybe they worked out he was a vampire.”

Lea was shaking her head but her eyes were oddly glassy, as if she knew that Ari was right and was afraid of it.

“I have to go to her, now,” said Ari, making to race away, but before she could take two paces, Lea stopped her.

“Are you crazy?” asked Lea, “We have no idea what’s going on. Obviously that building is HQ for some sort of vampire scheme but we don’t know what. You can’t just go charging off there.”

“I have to! Don’t you get it? This must be what’s happening to all the missing students. The free flu vaccine is a front for something… something big. And, and if the Ancients have Natalie and they have organised taking Riley, then they must be at the heart of it. That must be why they’ve sent James Frater here, to oversee whatever they are planning. This has to be what my parents warned me about, and what Chris’s dad was talking about.”

“But-” Lea said.

“-listen to me Lea. I don’t have my phone. I need you to tell Ragon and the rest of the coven where I have gone. Make sure Clyde knows. I have to go Lea. I can’t let them hurt Riley. If they know she’s a waere they will kill her.”

Ari made to turn around again, but Lea grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her hard as she said, “You can’t; they’ll kill you. If the Ancients are behind all of this, then-”

“-Lea,” Ari said, slowly unwinding her friend’s fingertips from around her wrist, “you were the one who told me that it was my destiny to defend the innocent from vampires. Riley isn’t just an innocent, she’s also my friend. And besides, I can’t think of anything more innocent than an unborn baby.”

“But…” said Lea, looking around wildly before turning back to stare at Ari, her face determined. “Well, I’m coming with you then.”

“No you’re not! “I need you to tell the others where I have gone and what has happened. This isn’t just about Riley anyway… Emily might still be in there. Will the circle help?”  

“I’ll message them now and tell them but you can’t go in alone,” Lea said quickly, her eyes broken in concern. “You should call the coven… they can go with you. If there are vampires there already, then no one will look twice at them, but if they see you walking around, that’s going to draw attention.”

“Lea,” Ari said impatiently, “If I am going to have any chance of going up against these vamps, then I am going to have to become the sun. Ragon, Clyde… no one from the coven can be there or they might get hurt. I can’t do what I have to, not if there are people around that I love which I could hurt.”

“Well then, at least get Chris to go with you. He has power over vamps, whether he wants to use it not and the sunlight won’t hurt him.”

“Wants to use it?” asked Ari, “Lea, he almost killed Ragon the last time he tapped into his wraith-side.”

“Yea, well, it won’t matter if he goes all necromancy on the vamps there. In fact, that would be a good thing.”

Reluctantly Ari agreed and Lea called Chris. He came racing to the library a few minutes later, breathless and clutching his chest.

“Ok!” he said, panting hard, “This had better be epic. Does this have something to do with why the university seems to be a graveyard? Oh my god, I think I pulled something. I don’t think I’ve run that fast since-”

“-Riley has been taken by vampires. We think the Ancients,” Ari said quickly, not giving him a chance to recover. “Wait, what? What do you mean about the campus being a graveyard?”

“Riley has been taken?” Chris asked. “How do you know?”

“I had a premonition,” Ari explained, “but what did you mean about the graveyard?”

“Haven’t you noticed that no one seems to be around?” he asked, waving his hand to indicate the campus, which was utterly deserted, apart from the three of them.

“I thought that there was something going on at Delta,” said Ari, and then she realised that all the people she had seen earlier out the front of the cafeteria, had in fact been walking to the Farm.

“Never mind about that now,” said Lea.

“Right,” said Ari, “I’m going to go after Riley. I know where she is. Lea is going to tell the coven and ask the circle to help-” Ari started to explain.

“-shouldn’t you wait until-” Chris started to say, but Ari sighed loudly.

“-there’s no time. Whoever took Riley… it’s the same people who have been kidnapping all the students. I don’t know why they are doing it but I have to help Riley now,” said Ari.

“Ok, so where are we going?” Chris asked, and Ari couldn’t help but smile up at him.

Even after all the dramas between them, even after she had chosen Ragon over him, Chris was still going to help her.  

“To the Forensic Agency and Research Morgue,” said Ari, and she raced away, Chris hot on her trail.

Chapter 16- BC Programme
              

Ari didn’t stop but ran as fast as her legs would take her. She had to save Riley. She knew exactly what she needed to do and could already feel the burn of sunshine that slept inside her body, ready to awaken at her command. At the same time there was a horrid nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew that when she’d had her vision, Lea had interrupted it, and she couldn’t push asides the horrible feeling that there was more that she was suppose see… needed to see.

When finally she and Chris reached the Farm, there was a swarm of people near the front entrance.

“Shit,” said Ari, coming to a stop outside of the Veterinary Pathology Laboratory and pretending to read a notice pinned to the board.

None of the people seemed to notice Ari or Chris, rather their attention was locked firmly on the Farm, their eyes darting eagerly from the front door and beyond the solid glass, which was impossible to see through.   

“Do you think this is where everyone is?” said Chris, gesturing to the people.

“I don’t know. In my premonition, I didn’t just see Riley being taken by the vampires here. I saw Emily being taken as well. She was here, at the Farm, lining up for the free flu vaccine-”

“-oh yea, that,” said Chris, his face screwed up. “Peter, Pip and Perry were on my case all last night to get that stupid vaccine. I hate needles.”

Another dreadful pang struck Ari. She had seen the band-aid on Pip’s arm when they had been playing poker. She had been too drunk at the time to pay any attention to it.

“But that’s just it,” said Ari, “there is no free flu vaccine. The vampires have made it all up, the whole program. It’s bullshit.”

“What are you talking about?”

“In my premonition, I saw Emily going to get the flu vaccine and being attacked by a vampire. The next day she went missing. I think, I think that this, the flu vaccine and the Farm, I think it all has something to with whatever the Ancients are planning. Do you remember what your dad told us when he attacked Lea in the forest? He said that the Ancients had been planning something for ages, and that the Pasteur Institute wasn’t safe anymore. He said that the shadows were coming. What if this is what he was talking about and not just him, but my parents as well?”

“I don’t understand,” said Chris, looking confused.

“All the missing students, the Ancients are behind it. I know it, and, and…” Ari’s voice trailed off, just as he eyes widened.

Something Jack Frater had said at the end of the ice hockey match she had gone to watch, came flooding back to her;
the Pasteur Institute has welcomed a great deal of new vampires to Cruor Halls in the last week. Many of these vampires have instigated their studies at the Forensic and Research Morgue. Tonight we welcome them to our university
.

“The new Vice Chancellor told us that there were a heap of new vampires here and that they were studying at the Farm,” Ari said quickly, speaking almost feverishly as she sought to say everything she had just realised. “What if the Ancients sent them here?”

“But why?” said Chris, shaking his head in confusion. “It doesn’t make sense. Even if the Ancients were behind sending James Frater and these new students here, why would then want to kidnap or kill a heap of students? They can just lull people if they wanted blood.”

“I don’t know. When I was having my premonition, it was like there was something that I was meant to see but couldn’t. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Chris nodded dumbly, just as Ari moved towards the side of the two buildings, looking for a rear entrance to the Farm. On her right, the Veterinary Pathology Lab looked normal and boring, while on her left was the Farm; it looked shadowy and ominous. The thick trees blanketing the narrow gap between the two buildings seemed to curl towards the newly built building, almost unnaturally.

There were no doors on this side of the Farm, only windows. They were all heavily boarded up, thick wooden panels covering the glass. Finally, when they had reached the very back of the building, Chris called her attention, pointing excitedly to a window which had been left open.

“Here,” he said, reaching inside the building and prising the window open even further.

Frosty air spilled from the gap in the window and fell quickly to the ground before them. Ari dragged her eyes from this strange spectacle, watching to make sure that no one was around. When she turned back, Chris was pulling himself up through the window. A moment later his head poked through it and he held out his hand to help her. She grasped his hand firmly; her own hand was slippery but Chris held onto her tightly and pulled her inside. She muffled a cry when her stomach scrapped along the lower ledge of the window sill, and soon felt Chris’s hands supporting her waist, his fingertips wrapping gently around her hips as he guided her through.

When she was standing again, Ari looked up, trying to avoid the playful look in Chris’s eyes. They were in a store cupboard of sorts. There were brooms and mops all lined up next to each other and several shelves of cleaning products. Humming loudly and taking up the majority of the room, was what looked like an enormous generator. Intrigued, Ari inched towards it; it was essentially a giant green metal box, reaching from the floor and extending to the ceiling. What looked like a huge rotating fan connected to the motor and next to this, along the entire length of one of the walls and protected by an enormous glass panel, was a mass of switches.

“What are all these for?” asked Ari, indicating the switches.

Chris shook his head and moved over to the generator. On the side of it was a mud map of the building. Each room was described with a location on the key and had a glowing green light, indicating its power supply.

“And what’s with the back-up generator? Why does this building need so much power?” he asked.

“It’s freezing in here,” said Ari, shivering as she pulled the sleeves of her jumper down to cover her arms. “Maybe it’s for the air conditioning?”

“Yea maybe, but what the hell do they need the air-con on for? It’s cold enough here already.”

“I don’t know,” said Ari. “Come on; we have to find Riley.”

“Wait. Do we have a plan? Or are we just going to wandering around, shouting Riley’s name?”

“I think the shouting part might give us away,” said Ari, frowning at Chris.

“Ok, so just wandering around then?”

“If I see anyone coming, I’ll freeze them,” said Ari, and Chris nodded.

The pair tip toed towards the store room door and pressed their heads against it, straining to listen. There was no noise and so Ari inched the door open. They entered an enormous corridor, dark and freezing, with many closed doors lined up on either side of the hall way.  

“Where now?” hissed Chris.

Ari shook her head but moved to the nearest door and gently prised it open. It led to an area that looked vaguely like a doctor’s consult room. Seeing that it too was empty, she walked inside. The room was clean and sterile, with an examination table in the middle next to a wide desk and filing cabinet.  

“This is the same room I saw Emily in,” said Ari, immediately recognising the crude metal examination table.

Chris moved to the desk and began rummaging through the filing cabinet, choosing one of the files at random.

“What is it?” asked Ari, leaning over his shoulder.

“It looks like someone’s medical history,” said Chris, flicking through the paper in frustration.

Ari drew her focus to the remaining files in the draw, her eyes lighting up when she saw one entitled ‘Emily Davenport.’

“There’s a file here on Emily,” she said. “But why would they have-”

Her words broke off as she began to read. There was a photograph of Emily and underneath this a number, several digits long, next to the word ‘microchip.’ Below this were the details of Emily’s health, including smoker status, blood type, weight, height and many other intimate details. In green writing that faintly covered the entire first page, was a stamp which sloped diagonally to spell out, ‘Entered into BC program.’

“BC program?” asked Chris. “What do you think that means?”

“No idea. Come on, let’s get out of here… we need to find Riley.”

The pair left the room and walked the length of the hallway. When they had reached the end of the corridor, they found their path blocked by enormous black glass doors. There was a swipe card access point next to the door; Ari was just about to suggest they try breaking in, when the sound of heavy footsteps flooded the corridor.

“Quick,” hissed Chris, pulling Ari into the opposite room.

She raced in the room after him, and the pair waited with bated breath as they heard the footsteps get louder and louder, coming to stop right outside their door.

There was pause, then a strange beeping noise followed by an oddly robotic female voice which said, “Welcome Gerald Fulton.”

Ari didn’t hesitate; the second she heard the swish of the automatic doors opening outside, she raced from the room, slamming the door in Chris’s face as she held up her hands to stop time. Gerald Fulton, a young man with spiky blond hair and huge leather boots, froze where he stood. Ari stared at the man with the blond spiky hair, certain that she had seen him before. Then her eyes narrowed. He was one of the players on the Cruor hockey team. She had seen him when she’d gone to Ryder’s hockey match. He was a vampire.

Looking away from the man, Ari regarded the boy next to him, who was also frozen. The boy had a dull lifeless look about him, which was made even more obvious from his frozen stance. Pleased that her plan had worked so far, Ari raced back into the room to grab Chris.

“What the hell was that all about?” asked Chris, watching as Ari made her way to edge of the small room and opened the window. “What are you doing? Are we leaving?”

“That guy out there, Gerald… something, he’s a vampire, but I froze him. If you came with me when I stopped time, you would have frozen too, but this way we can sneak past him into that other room without him noticing.”

“Don’t you think he will wonder why this door opened?” asked Chris, making his way into the corridor, where the man and boy were still frozen like statues.

“That’s why I opened the window. Hopefully he will think that the wind blew it open,” she said, though her words weren’t as confident as she would have liked.

“You hope.”  

“Stop being such a-” Ari started to say, but her words had died in her throat when she looked up and saw the room that the swipe card doors had led to.

“Jesus Christ,” said Chris, his teeth chattering loudly as his mouth fell open in shock.

The pair was standing at the entrance of an enormous room, larger than any lecture theatre. Off to the side was a large desk with a computer monitor and beyond that, row after row of people. It wasn’t the shock of seeing the room full of people that had horrified Ari; it was the manner in which the people were being kept. It looked as if there were at least a hundred of them, maybe more. They were all suspended and unconscious in individual glass prisons, which ran from floor to ceiling. Some sort of thick liquid suspended the people inside their glass cells, while tubes coiled from their bodies, all connecting together and racing along the ceiling in a mass of cords and pipes. As Ari stretched her head up to the ceiling, she saw a large robotic arm swaying ominously near a huge air-conditioning vent.