Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series)
Blood Hunter
By Bell Stoires
© Bell Stoires 2014
Book 2 of the Grandor Descendent Series
Even in the shadows there is light and where there is light, there is love.
Everything has changed for Ariana Sol; she has gone from living in sunny Australia to freezing England; she has fallen in love with a boy, quite different to any she has ever known and, she has discovered that there are things which she can do… things that ordinary girls shouldn’t be able to do.
Ari can stop time, resist a vampires lull and see into the future. Is this why the Ancients, the most powerful vampires in the world, want her dead? In this second instalment of the Grandor Descendant Series, Ari and Ragon find themselves questioning everything they have ever known, in their quest for the truth.
Text copyright © 2012 by Bell Stoires
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Bellstoires@gmail.com
www.Bellstoires.com
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address above.
The Characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author would like to thank Edge Concept Photography facebook.com/edgeconceptphotography for front cover photography; Illuminated Imagery facebook.com/IlluminatedImagery for front cover graphic design; Begitta Design www.begitta.com for styling and provision of gowns for use in cover art.
Contents
Prologue. 4
Chapter 1- Mile High Club. 7
Chapter 2- New Year’s Eve. 19
Chapter 3- What’s in a Name?. 23
Chapter 4- The Pasteur Institute. 33
Chapter 5- Cruor Halls. 44
Chapter 6- Single and Good to Go. 52
Chapter 7 – Vet School 65
Chapter 8 – A Canine Friend. 73
Chapter 9 – Out of Bounds. 79
Chapter 10 – The Wraith. 98
Chapter 11 – Blood Candy. 102
Chapter 12– Charmed. 112
Chapter 13 – The Ancients. 124
Chapter 14 – Death at Sunrise. 132
Chapter 15 – The Monster is Gone. 136
Chapter 16 – Sorry. 139
Chapter 17 – There’s a Were in There. 150
Chapter 18 – The Wraith of Ragon. 157
Chapter 19 – Campus club for Sups. 161
Chapter 20 – Self Sacrifice. 165
Chapter 21- Were Patrol 170
Chapter 22 – Resurrection. 185
Chapter 23 – Waere there’s a Clyde there’s a Way. 193
Chapter 24 – An Exchange. 203
Chapter 25 – The Curse. 210
Chapter 26 – The Three W’s. 233
Chapter 27 – Some Things Worth Dying For 242
Chapter 28 – Like Father Like Son. 252
Chapter 29- Time Heals Some Wounds. 259
Prologue
Behind high stone walls, three beings sat. They were seated atop a stage in the centre of an enormous room, each comfortably placed in magnificent thrones, looking down onto a vast empty space. Bare walls and high ceilings were prominent, giving the place an air of disuse and emptiness. The three beings were so still that at first glance, they appeared to be statues. They were pale, perfect and motionless, similar to marble renderings of once great leaders. Only the vibrant red hair of two of them hinted of any trace of life, but these three beings were not alive. Collectively they were known as the Ancients, the oldest family of vampires and the rulers of the vampire world. Lace and Joseph were twins; both were thin, sharing the same long red hair and light coloured eyes, amidst a pale face dotted with tiny brown freckles. Virgil, the oldest of the siblings, was quite unlike his brother and sister; he had short thin hair and honey coloured eyes, and was built twice as large.
Four brisk knocks sounded against a stone door. A silence followed this and then Lace spoke in a cold high voice.
“Enter,” she said, and a second later the door was thrown open and three figures appeared.
The cloaked figures swept into the room and bowed low, their knees immediately dropping to the stone floor, as their noses touched the ground in a gesture of humble respect.
“We have news,” said one of the bowing figures, not daring to look up as she spoke.
“News?” said Joseph, leaning slightly forwards as he gestured for the bowing female to stand.
She did so immediately, sweeping back the hood of her cloak so as to reveal a deathly pale face, contrasted radically by spiky black hair and nearly pitch black eyes.
“Yes master,” the female went on, while her two comrades remained bent low on the floor, “news of a blood hunter, and… and we have brought you Shok, just as you commanded.”
At the mention of the word ‘blood hunter’, all three of the Ancients hissed their disapproval.
Sensing their displeasure, the spiky haired female vampire cowered and added, “We know not where the blood hunter is, or indeed who it is, only the rumour that it has begun the quest to bring about an end to its line. Naturally we thought it imperative that you know.”
“I see,” said Lace, frowning.
For a moment Lace looked around the room indifferently, but then her neck snapped to the side and she locked eyes with her twin brother, Joseph. Though neither spoke, it was impossible to miss the way the pair’s eyes lighted up and their expressions changed, almost as if they were having a private conversation. Next to them, Virgil tensed in his chair. It was not unusual for Lace and Joseph to engage in such peculiar communication; being twins the pair shared a connection, one that had been amplified by vampirism. Though Virgil was used to it, he did not like being isolated from his sibling’s thoughts.
“Bring Shok to me,” said Virgil, his eyes thin slits as he tried to ignore his brother and sister, who were nodding in agreement at each other, though still neither had spoken.
Immediately the two cowering males at the feet of the Ancients, blurred from the room.
A long silence followed this. The spiky haired female remained where she stood, not daring to move unless instructed. Lace and Joseph, who were still looking intensely at each other, seemed not to notice the irked expression on Virgil’s face.
Finally the door to the grand room opened again and the two cloaked men dragged in their prisoner. Though the bound man’s head was hung and he looked weak, if not at the point of death, there was still a toughened roughness about him. His shoulders were broad, even wider than Virgil’s and his arms and legs were heavily muscled. His attire of thick leather pants and a battered shirt, though not currently fitted with weapons, suggested that he was ready for combat. The two men carrying the third, threw him into the centre of the room, and quickly shackled his binds to crude pegs that were fastened to the stone floor.
“You were sent from here with a mission; is the child dead?” asked Virgil, steeping down from his throne so as to inch closer to man shackled on the floor.
Shok did not look up as he shook his head.
“You have failed me
Shok,” said Virgil, “I entrusted you, my own personal assassin with a task… and you have failed me.”
“I… I…” Shok stammered; it looked rather bizarre seeing a man of Shok’s size and calibre cowering. “I… tried.”
“Enough,” said Virgil, holding up his hand for silence, a silence which came immediately, pressing down heavily against the high stone walls, despite the still distant echo of Virgil’s voice. “You know what must happen. Kiara failed and you were sent to kill her were you not?”
“But,” Shok started, his small beady eyes darting across the room.
“Please,” said Virgil, and there was a sympathetic, almost understanding tone to his voice, as if he were a father comforting a small child. “There is no need for fear. You have served me well these many years.”
Shok’s dark eyes looked up hopefully at Virgil. For one shining moment his face broke into a mangled smile, but then Virgil blurred towards him, moving with such speed that Shok had no time to scream, let alone respond to defend himself. There was a sharp tearing noise, the sound of a metal scraping against stone, and then Shok’s head rolled on the floor, a few feet away from his crumpling body, the hopeful smile still stuck on his lifeless, decapitated face.
“Take the body away,” said Joseph, his nose curled in disgust; he had broken away from his conversation with Lace so as to watch the spectacle.
The two cloaked men who’d dragged Shok in now carried him away, both men holding the body, while the spiky haired female reached down and grasped the head. Just before they could leave the room, Virgil called out after them.
“Triad, ensure he is buried on the estate,” he said, watching the trio disappear down the hallway, just as the large stone door swung shut in their absence. “He was, after all, a dear friend.”
“So,” said Virgil, looking across as his siblings, “what now? We still have the child to deal with… and now a blood hunter.”
“But we have no idea where either are,” said Lace.
“Let the Elder’s deal with the blood hunter,” said Joseph, “they will be best equipped to hear when the Final Death Laws have been broken and to act accordingly. The blood hunter will not be able to hide for long; when it kills more of its line the Elders will have to act. When they do it can be killed, or imprisoned here in the dungeon. One mere blood hunter is hardly worth our troubles.”
“But what if it has already killed? What if it has already taken its sire’s life? The more power it accumulates, the more difficult it will be to kill,” said Virgil.
“The blood hunter is of no concern. Our attention must be directed towards the child,” said Lace, her eyebrows arched as she flicked her long red hair out to one side.
“We should have ensured this was finished years ago!” said Virgil, shaking his head in anger while he cracked his knuckles menacingly. “We should have never sent assassins to deal with it. Not after everything we have found out about the Gran-”
“-assassins?” said Lace, glaring at Virgil. “I assume you are referring to Kiara.”
“She was your assassin was she not?” asked Virgil, “Twenty-four years ago, when we heard prophecy of the continuation of the blood line, you assured us that Kiara would be able to handle this task.”
“And yet your assassin did not fare so well either,” said Lace, glaring back at him. “You did after all just kill him for failing. At least Kiara provided us with a powerful-”
“-Shok did not fail us entirely either. He killed Kiara,” said Virgil.
“Yes,” said Lace, her voice high and outraged, “but now the child is on the run, aware that we or at least someone is after her, and we have no idea where.”
“Perhaps if you had not killed the witch, then she would have been able to assist us further-” Virgil screamed back.
“-enough both of you,” Joseph said quickly, cutting through the shrill yells.
It looked as if Lace was going to argue but she merely sulked and slumped in her chair, not meeting Virgil’s eye.
“It was our mistake to send assassins after the child; we should have entrusted this to the Triad in the first place. That the child lives is more to our failure than to its power,” said Joseph. “But we must not fight against ourselves. Our plans are so close to completion… but if it lives… if the legend of the descendant is true… everything we have worked for will be for naught.”
After that Joseph’s eyes settled on his twins and he inclined his head. Slowly Lace nodded, all the while keeping her gaze locked to her brother’s. Next to them, Virgil scowled at his siblings, annoyed by their private means of communication.
“Perhaps there is a way,” said Lace, nodding her head at Joseph.
“But only as a last resort,” agreed Joseph.
“It will be worth it if our plans are not delayed,” Lace added. “The next shipment will be ready half way through the year, and then it will not take long after that.”
“Who knows,” said Joseph, “this may even work in our favour; if the child could be swayed we might gain a powerful ally. We have seen the magic of her line. They are valuable allies. It would make our plans that much simpler to fulfil.”
The twins were nodding at each other, small smiles creeping across their perfect marbled faces, while Virgil frowned. Apparently they had decided on a course of action, though as to what it was, Virgil did not yet know.
Chapter 1- Mile High Club
“Good evening everyone; my name is Bert Rastus and I will be your pilot for the duration of our flight to England,” came the lazy, almost indifferent voice of the pilot, his voice blasting though the speakers on either side of the aisles. There was a high pitched sound, as if the microphone had malfunctioned, then Bert spoke again, choosing a few choice swear words before realising the speakers were working again and adding, “If I could ask you to grace our lovely hostess, Chantelle, with your attention; she will begin the inflight safety demonstration of our Bombardier Global 5000 aircraft… Go on Chantelle.”
Right on cue an extremely tall woman, dressed in a navy skirt and white blouse, made her way to the front of the plane, carrying an assortment of things in her hands. For a moment she stood there, smiling merrily, then glanced nervously at the speakers, apparently waiting. A few tense moments of silence followed this, then all of a sudden the pre-recorded safety instructions begun and the hostess pulled out the relic of a seatbelt, just as she demonstrated how to do it up.
“To fasten your seatbelt, place the metal tip into the…”
Sitting a few seats back, Ari sighed and shifted in the plush chair to get comfortable; the in-flight safety demonstration was doing little to capture her attention, although she had smiled when Bert had demonstrated his use of colourful language when the speakers had malfunctioned. Ari hadn’t found out until a few hours ago, when the coven had decided to leave Australia and go to England, that Ragon actually owned the small private jet they were currently on. Ari, who had never been on a plane before, startled when a sudden roar sounded, and looked around quickly to gauge the other passenger’s expressions. The rest of the coven however seemed not to be concerned with the strange noises the plane was making. You couldn’t tell just by looking at them but everyone on the plane, with the exception of Ari, the pilot and the hostess, were vampires.
Opposite her Ragon was reading a magazine, flipping hurriedly through the pages and occasionally shaking his head, so that his dark hair jostled around his face. As always, his startling green eyes caught her attention; he really was gorgeous. Behind him was Sandra and Thomas; they were staring off blankly in opposite directions. Sandra’s red hair was not pulled into a tight bun as she usual wore it, but free floating around her face. It wasn’t just her lack of hair style that surprised Ari, but also the absence of makeup; normally Sandra wore extravagant blue eye-shadow, thick blush and dark mascara. Now however her face looked pale, almost ghostly; Ari didn’t think she had ever seen Sandra looking so frumpy. Thomas, her mate, seemed just as perfect as always; his blo
nde shoulder length hair sat neatly, now tied in a pony-tail, though there was something in his eyes and the concerned way they watched Sandra that made Ari feel worried.
A few chairs down, Patrick and Ryder were having a hurried and whispered conversation. Considering that the pair had only been together for such a short time, they had managed to mesh into almost a single person. They dressed similar, wore their hair the same way, and had the same flamboyant mannerisms. Currently the pair was wearing identical patchwork vests, and their brown hair was parted off to one side. Lastly, sitting in front of them, was Clyde. He was tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair, his head moving from side to side as he scanned the isles. For once his face was devoid of the cheeky smile that was normally there, making Ari certain that he must be inpatient about something.