Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) Read online

  Ari reached for her phone and retrieved the photo she had taken of her timetable.

  “5pm,” she replied.

  After that Ari watched as Ragon jogged, in a very humanly manner, to catch up with Clyde and the rest of the coven who were waiting outside for him. For a moment she was mesmerised, but then remembering that she still had no idea where she was going, turned around and begun heading towards where she hoped her first lecture was.

  After ten minutes of walking in what was essentially a large loop, Ari decided to consult a map. Reaching for her phone, she pulled up the Ap of the uni that she had downloaded and waited for it to load.

  “Not lost are you?”

  Ari spun around to see Chris.

  “How can you tell?” she asked, frowning. “I thought I was doing a really good job of walking around in circles inconspicuously.”

  “This is your second loop of this building,” he replied. “We’re this way,” he added, turning Ari so that she faced the opposite direction.

  Unable to stop herself, Ari glanced down at Chris’s wrist and saw that there was a small band-aid there. Instantly she felt Chris’s eyes on her and she looked away, but not before he had noticed.

  Thinking it would be unkind not to comment, she said, “So you have been in the wars too?”

  “Oh yea… err, a wasp or something,” he replied indifferently, pulling his rolled up sleeves down so that it covered his wrists.

  Being friends with Chris defiantly made Ari’s second day much more enjoyable than her first. After a few hours of lectures, the pair made their way to the vet school laboratory for Ari’s first prac class. Outside the lab, she watched as her classmates began retrieving lab coats and looked nervously around; her lab coat, dissection kit and gum boots, were all in her locker, many thousands of miles away in Australia.

  Seeing the panicked look on Ari’s face, Chris moved over to her, handing her the lab coat in his hand as he said, “I have a spare one.”

  Ari took the coat and pulled it on. It was two sizes too big but she was grateful. If the lab attendants were anything like the ones back in Australia, she didn’t want to get on their wrong side for not having the proper attire on her first day.

  The moment she walked into the lab, she realised quickly that everyone was seated in groups of three. She looked around desperately, hoping to see a spare spot, when for the third time that day Chris came to the rescue.

  “Everyone this is Ari,” he said, pulling her over to a table and introducing her to his group.

  Seated at the table were the only two people that Ari had met so far; Rick, the senior resident of Omega halls, and Lisa, the girl who had spoken to Chris last night.

  “Hey,” Ari said, moving to sit down at the empty seat next to Lisa.

  “But we already have three,” said Lisa, stretching her hand so as to block Ari from pulling out the empty chair.

  “Oh, cat fight!” said Rick, smiling toothily as his gaze flashed backwards and forwards from Ari and Lisa hopefully.

  “I might just see if there is a spare group-” Ari began to say, glancing around at the other tables, where students in groups of three had already started working.

  “-Ari sit down,” Chris said quickly, glaring at Lisa. “No one is going to care if we have a group of four. Besides, there aren’t any other spare groups.”

  After that Lisa removed her hand away from the chair, albeit somewhat reluctantly, and Ari sat down. Ari was certain that at least one person did care that they had a group of four; Lisa’s eyes were thin slits as she contemplated Ari. Ari had no idea what she had done to this girl to deserve this sort of rudeness, but was determined to ignore her.

  Despite hoping that Lisa might warm up to her, for the entire prac class Lisa went out of her way to point out just how far behind Ari was, not that she needed reminding. She hadn’t studied at all since the night that Ragon had rescued her and this was becoming increasingly obvious. The group had been instructed to dissect a dog that had been euthanized at the animal hospital on campus, so as to reacquaint themselves with its anatomy. They had just finished revising the arterial supply and were going over the major muscle groups for an upcoming exam, when a tutor joined their table and began quizzing them on the various structures. The tutor didn’t look old, perhaps late twenties, and judging by his name badge, which read Dr Joseph Reid, Ari guessed that he must be a recent graduate.

  “Ok,” Dr Reid said, “who can tell me which muscle attaches the underneath of the scapula to the thorax?”

  Immediately Lisa leaned forwards, indicating a thin muscle which resembled a fan as she said, “Subscapularis.”

  Behind her Chris rolled his eyes while Ari laughed, until she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Trying to retrieve her phone inconspicuously, she saw that Ragon had sent her a text:

  ‘How’s your first day going? I am up to by elbows in journal articles for my thesis. Meet me at my room when you’re done? I love you.’

  Ari smiled, quickly checked to make sure that Lisa was still engaging Dr Reid’s attention, and then began writing a reply to Ragon:

  ‘Yea first day is alright. Feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I am so far behind. It feels like everything I learnt in the first three years of vet has slipped out of my ears. Anyway, so who’s your thesis partner? Any news from Clyde about ‘you know what’????????’

  For the next few minutes Ari tried to focus on Dr Reid, until a second vibration from her lab coat pocket had her jumping slightly; it was another message from Ragon:

  ‘Oh baby that’s no good. I am sure you will bounce back into vet soon. You have had a lot on your plate for the last year. It will probably take you a little bit to get back into the swing of study. Haven’t heard anything from Clyde yet. Hopefully he is focusing on the task at hand, rather than harassing student who are still wearing green.’

  “And what muscle is this?” Dr Reid said.

  Though Ari had heard Dr Reid’s question, she didn’t look up. She was still re-reading the message from Ragon; why hadn’t he said who his thesis partner was? She was just about to write a reply message, asking this question again, when someone kicked her underneath the table.

  “Ouch,” she said, looking across the table to where Chris was hurriedly pointing to the tutor.

  “Did you hear me miss…” the tutor said, waiting for Ari to supply her name.

  “What?” said Ari, frowning, “Oh, I mean… my name is Ariana.”

  “Well then Ariana,” said Dr Reid, “can you please inform the group of which muscles are responsible for extension of the forelimb in the dog?”

  Ari’s heart was hammering so hard in her chest that she barely heard the tutor’s question. She thought of asking him to repeat himself, but all she could do was stare blankly at the smug smile on Lisa’s face, wishing like hell that she’d been paying attention. Quickly she tried to recall the muscles in the forelimb which attached to the digits.

  “Lateral and long digital extensor,” Chris coughed under his breath.

  Lisa, who had been laughing at Ari’s incompetence, suddenly frowned.

  “Err… lateral digital extensor and long digital extensor?” Ari said casually.

  The tutor nodded, looking at Chris with narrowed eyes before turning to Rick and asking him a question. As soon as class finished that afternoon, Ari was running towards Cruor Halls. Her mind was exhausted and her body starving, but the prospect of seeing Ragon and hearing if he had found anything in the vampire chronicles, spurred her on.

  “Wow, see you have been redecorating,” she said, the moment she entered his room.

  The large four poster bed was now covered in elaborate sheets and a very flush looking quilt with matching pillows. Opposite this was a mahogany desk, which looked to be the twin to the one in Ari’s room, and was also equipped with an apple laptop and printer. As Ari made her way across the room, she walked over a fluffy rug.

  “You like?” Ragon asked.

  Ari nodded
enthusiastically, lying back against the soft sheets of his bed and resting her head on one of the many pillows. Ragon moved over and intertwined their fingers together, pulling her closer to him. As soon as she was close enough, he leant in and kissed her.

  “I had the worst day,” she said, breaking away from his kiss a little earlier than normal.

  “It’s going to take time for you to adjust,” said Ragon, sitting behind her and massaging her shoulders. “But I know you; you won’t give up until you have the whole class begging you for help.”

  Ari snorted, thinking of Lisa and knowing that the only way she would ask Ari for help, would be to help Ari out of her prac group. She was just about to suggest sarcastically that Ragon lull Lisa out of the Pasteur Institute, when there was a knock on Ragon’s door.

  “Hello; knock, knock.”

  Ari jumped to her feet, thinking from the feminine tone that it was Sandra, and flung the door open. There was a huge smile on her face which faltered the moment she stared back at the beautiful stranger. The girl standing in the door frame was tall and beautiful, with long blonde hair that swept down to her waist and small brown eyes that were covered in a thick layer of eye liner.

  “Um… hi,” Ari stuttered in surprise, her face falling.

  “Oh, sorry,” the girl said, pushing past Ari so as to speak to Ragon, “I didn’t realise you were eating.”

  Ari turned to face Ragon, her eyebrows raised.

  “Or did I get the time wrong? I thought we were going to go over the journals you found?” she said.

  “Ari, this is Bridget; we were partnered together for a research project this year,” said Ragon, quickly jumping off the bed and looking extremely awkward.

  “And I am Ariana,” said Ari, then in her best sarcastic voice added, “the meal ticket. Well, sorry to disturb you master. I’ll come back later shall I… when you’re hungry?”

  After that Ari walked purposefully through the door, past Bridget and towards the grand staircase that serviced all the levels. Ari was fuming. So that was why Ragon had accidently on purpose not mentioned who his thesis partner was; she was a vampire super model.

  She hadn’t quite made it to the landing when she felt someone grip her elbow and spun around to see Ragon.

  “Wait, where are you going?” he asked.

  “I don’t want to get in the way of your research; besides aren’t you full?”

  Her words had the desired effect; immediately Ragon slacked his grip and Ari’s elbow fell to her side.

  “How can you think that?” he whispered, his eyes portraying a look of deepest betrayal.

  It was amazing how one look from those gorgeous green eyes had Ari believing that she was the bad guy.

  “Well Bridget does,” she replied coolly.

  “I told you that my kind don’t date humans; offcourse she would think you were my source.”

  “Well I didn’t hear you correcting her,” she jeered.

  “Because I don’t want…” he began to say but quickly broke off, shaking his head as he added in a whisper, “we have discussed this. You know my reasons for-”

  “-yea, well, you’re doing a really good job of convincing them and me that you don’t care,” she said quickly, already moving down the stairs.

  Ragon did not call after her, nor did he follow her. She knew that this was his way of protecting her but she didn’t care, not after the day she’d had with Lisa. There was just something entirely infuriating about Bridget and her stupid perfect blonde hair that made Ari incredibly jealous.

  Throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, Ari decided to go to the cafeteria, thinking perhaps that she could drown her misery in saturated fats.

  As she walked through the double doors that led to the cafeteria, Ari realised that she hadn’t even remembered to ask Ragon if they had found anything out about the Grandor Legend.

  “Alright if I grab something quickly?” asked Ari, waving her student card in the air, to a lady who was beginning to clear up the self service area.

  “We shut in half an hour,” the woman replied, not stopping in her removal of the empty dishes from the hot plates.

  Choosing the first things she saw, Ari served up a heaped plate of some sort of noodle dish and a few end pieces of garlic bread, then moved to one of the empty tables. She was still fuming about Bridget and Lisa and didn’t notice at first when a girl moved over to her, sitting down in the opposite chair.

  “You’re new around here, aren’t you?” the girl said, pulling her long wavy red hair up into a high pony. “I’m Lea.”

  Lea was tall and thin, with high set cheek bones and small brown eyes. Her red wavy hair stood out against her pale skin, and there were a few spots on her face that looked like the reminiscence of acne.

  “Um yea, my name is Ariana, but everyone calls me Ari.

  “Where you from?” asked Lea.

  “Australia. You?”

  Though Ari had only been in England a short time, she was certain from Lea’s accent that she was not from around here.

  “Massachusetts; can’t you tell from my accent? Most of the girls around here notice it straight away,” said Lea, giving Ari the feeling that there was some sort of unspoken rivalry between the American and UK students. “My parents weren’t too happy when I told them I wanted to study in the Isle of Man, but what can you do? There is a pretty killer Ancient Civilisation course here. So what do you think of the food? It isn’t too bad, though there isn’t much vego selection.”

  “You’re vegetarian?”

  “Yep” Lea replied. “So what are you here for?”

  Ari looked up, startled by the question; did Lea know something about why the coven had travelled here?

  “I’m doing a bachelor of arts, majoring in ancient civilisations,” Lea added, her mouth half full of roast pumpkin.

  “Oh… vet science. So where in Massachusetts are you from?”

  Before Lea sat down, Ari had been toying with her noodle dish and mulling over her fight with Ragon, but now that she had someone to talk to, she was eating enthusiastically. Lea was so entirely opposite to Lisa and Bridget, and she revealed in the girl’s company. Lea was a nice normal girl; the first she’d met in a while. In fact, in a way she reminded Ari of Sandra, or at least what Sandra use to be like- conversational.

  “Marblehead,” said Lea, then recognising the blank look on Ari’s face, added, “it’s a coastal area, not very big, mostly fishing families.”

  The two girls continued to talk like this for nearly twenty minutes, until the kitchen hand came to bustle them out of the cafeteria. Ari was surprised how well she got on with Lea. Even at the university back home, where she was not considered an outsider, she had problems making friends. A lot of girls found her natural beauty threatening, while many of the guys were either intimidated by her or else just plain jerks. The fact that Ari had grown up as an orphan did not help her abandonment issues, and so she never went out of her way to form connections with people, just in case they disappointed her.

  The pair walked back to Omega halls, chatting animatedly, until Lea waved goodbye, pointing to the second door on the first level and saying, “Well if you ever need anything, or want to hang out, just come say hi.”

  Ari smiled and began her accent up the stairs, pleased to have made a new friend that Ragon couldn’t possible feel jealous of.

  When she got back to her room, Ari wasn’t surprised to find Ragon waiting for her. He was sitting cross legged on her bed, his eyes closed as he hummed tunelessly to himself. The second Ari saw him she couldn’t help but smile. It was damn near impossible for her to stay mad at him for long; something which infuriated her.

  “Oh hey,” she said, swinging her bag onto the desk and plopping down into a chair.

  She was trying hard to keep up the rouse of anger; all she really wanted to do was jump into his arms.

  “I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to you,” he said, moving from the bed and sit
ting on the edge of her desk as he traced a hand adoringly along Ari’s face. “About Bridget-”

  “-oh you mean your thesis partner. Why didn’t you just tell me you had been placed with a blonde bombshell?”

  Ragon sighed, then smiling moved to reach for Ari’s dark hair as he said, “I’ve never really liked blondes. Just didn’t seem important to mention her hair colour.”

  Ari scoffed; Ragon could be so charming. Still she thought, trying to reassure herself, it wasn’t like Ragon had chosen Bridget as a partner. At least now he couldn’t be angry with her for being in a lab group with Chris.

  “I’m sorry,” she admitted, her resolve quaking.