“Just going to check on a friend,” she said. “Any luck with Gran… I mean you know what?”
“Actually, I had an idea about that,” said Ryder, smiling in a wicked way, that reminded Ari way too much of Clyde. “Feel like being adventurous pumpkin?”
Ari was about to ask what he meant, when Ryder grabbed her by the hand and began pulling her towards a large building that she instantly recognised as being the vampire library. When the pair reached the front door however, Ryder veered around it, leading Ari to the back of the building.
“What the hell?” she asked, rubbing her hand from where Ryder had gripped it so tightly.
It was clear from the un-manicured garden covering many rusty pipes that lead to and from the building, that this part of the university was normally hidden from the public.
“What are we doing?” she asked again, watching as Ryder began rummaging through the unkempt hedges, disappearing almost entirely from sight.
“I have a surprise for you!”
“But I thought you hadn’t found anything,” Ari called over the thick mass of hedges.
A few moments later and Ryder’s head was poking through the dark green shrubs. He curled a finger at Ari, indicating that she should follow him.
“Found something… no, but I bet like hell your dying to look for yourself,” he said smiling. “Come on; I found a back way in. No one will know.”
Ari frowned. Less than an hour ago Ragon had been berating her about the risks that she took and how they always seemed to land her into trouble; now she was considering trying to break into a vampire library. But how could she throw away an opportunity to find out about why she had the powers she did; besides, it wasn’t really like she would be alone… Ryder would be there.
Breaking into a top secret vampire library wasn’t nearly as hard as Ari had thought it might have been. Ryder had managed to find a small trap door at the rear of the building, which looked as if it had been there for God knows how long. The ancient entrance was almost entirely overgrown by thick roots from neighbouring trees; fortunately Ryder’s super strength made tearing past these roots relatively easy, and after about half an hour or so, they were walking through a dark paved tunnel underneath the Library.
Ari did not ask Ryder how he had managed to find this secret entry point, but continued to follow behind him, constantly having to remind him that she was mortal and unable to keep up with the break neck speed at which he was setting.
“It’s harder than you think you know,” Ryder had said in response to this, after they had been walking through the damp tunnel for almost ten minutes. “Being able to do almost anything and having constantly to restrain yourself so that the mortals don’t get suspicious.”
“Yes I can imagine… poor you,” she replied, trying to navigate through the dank puddles that dotted the tunnel.
“Oh muffin, I knew you’d understand!”
Finally the pair reached a small spiral staircase, whose rustic metallic framework looked decayed from age. Before Ari could begin to climb up it however, Ryder held out a hand to stop her.
“What?” she whispered.
“Shh. We need to make sure that there is no one up there; if anyone sees you we’re in serious shit.”
“But I thought you said-” Ari began, but Ryder held up a hand for silence.
Straining his neck, Ryder stretched his head to listen. Ari, who stood behind him watching, could not hear a thing, bar the continual dripping of water from a weak point in the tunnel, a few metres back from where they stood.
After a short while, Ryder finally said, “Ok,” and they made their way up the staircase, Ryder holding tightly onto Ari’s arm in case the ancient lattice crumpled under foot.
The next obstacle presented itself in the form of an impervious trap door, not unlike the first one they had climbed though outside the rear of the building. For a moment Ryder seemed to hesitate, but then pushed the heavy iron barrier all the way open, before hoisting Ari up through it. As soon as she had scrambled to her feet, her mouth fell open. They were standing on the second level of what looked like a castle. From the outside the vampire library had appeared relatively modern, with one-way glass windows and newly painted sails, but now as she glanced at the ancient tapestries hanging from the walls, next to various oil paintings and sculptures, it was clear that the vampire library was not all that it seemed.
Craning her neck up to the ceiling, she saw many intricate paintings of cherubs; these angels looked somewhat grotesque, the paint having begun to curl away and distort their former glory. The library itself looked to be about four or five stories high and as the pair explored, Ari saw that on every level there were large stretched out bookshelves, laden with many old texts.
Ryder directed her to the third level, where he steered her to a large gathering of bookshelves. The books here looked much older than those she had seen on the lower level; their leather bindings and thick pages made her think that they must be decades old, if not centuries. She was just about to reach for one when a soft humming temporarily caught her attention, and she moved over to what appeared to be a vending machine. She laughed lightly to herself, wondering why there would be a vending machine in a vampire library, but as she inched closer, her stomach dropped. It was a vending machine, but instead of being full of chips and lollies, it was jam packed with small 50ml blood bags. The bags hung from various sections, segregated into the different blood types. Underneath each section there were prices which ranged from forty-five pounds for a bag of A-positive, to one-hundred and sixty pounds for AB-negative. It was clear from the almost empty slot of O negative, that it was the preferred blood type of the Pasteur Institute vampires.
“Ok,” said Ari, eyeing the machine distastefully, “that’s disgusting.”
“Hey!” Ryder said indignantly, “Everyone needs snacks while they are studying, and we can hardly grab a source and bring them in here.”
“Why not?”
“The second a human walks through the front doors, the Vice Chancellor is notified,” Ryder explained. “The doors have built in heat and heart-rate monitors. They’re pretty strict on security here.”
“Right,” said Ari, “but they won’t be able to tell that I’m here?”
“Not as long as you don’t go through the front entrance. Ok, so where do you want to start munchkin? This is the area where we have started.”
“Well, I guess seeing as you haven’t found anything at all,” she whispered, dragging herself away from the blood vending machine, and towards the bookshelf that Ryder had indicated, “it doesn’t really matter where we start.”
“Excuse me?” Ryder said, a touch of irritation tainting his normally sickly sweet voice.
“Oh, I’m sorry; does that mean that you have found something?”
“Found is such a relative word,” said Ryder, waving his hands flamboyantly in front of himself.
“Ryder?”
“Yep; nothing, not a thing, less than nothing, zip, nadir, nilch…” he said, his voice trailing off.
“Ok, I get the point,” she said, watching as Ryder reached for a book and began flipping through the pages at random. “We’re going to look at them by hand? But isn’t there a computer system or something; can’t we do a mass search or something? That will take forever!”
“The lights and the ID swipe door are just about the only technology in here,” Ryder replied. “Pat said that the vamps don’t want any trace of their existence, hence the limited access and originals only.”
Frowning, Ari reached for the nearest book, sitting down cross legged on the floor to read it.
It was less than an hour into their search when Ari felt a buzzing coming from her bag. At first she didn’t entirely register the significance of the noise, too engrossed in the book she had been reading, ‘American witches- a genealogy’. Soon the noise faded and she returned to her search, until a second vibration startled her and she reached for her phone.
“Shit
,” she said; there were ten missed calls from Ragon and half a dozen texts.
“What?” Ryder asked, moving to sit down next to her and craning his neck so as to read her messages.
“Privacy doesn’t exist anymore, does it?” she muttered to herself. “I left my phone on silent and Ragon’s been trying to call me.”
“You had better make up something quick or he is going to tear down the campus looking for you. Especially after your recent afternoon stroll through vampire forest.”
“He told you about that?” she asked, her cheeks taking on a deep shade of burgundy. “Tear down the campus? Dramatic much; I don’t need the guilt trip. Where did you tell Patrick you were going anyway?”
“Hunting,” he replied, smiling as he surreptitiously licked his lips, much to Ari’s annoyance.
Looking down at her phone, she read some of the texts and instantly felt guilty. It was 7pm and Ragon knew that her prac had finished at 5pm. She began typing a reply text into her phone but after re-reading it, deleted it.
“We’re the only ones in here, aren’t we?” she asked, glancing around nervously.
“Why; thinking of trying to get me to change sides? You’re cute but-”
“-very funny,” Ari said quickly, punching Ragon’s number into her phone.
The second she placed the phone to her ear, Ragon had already answered.
“Hey,” she said, trying to ignore Ryder as he pretended to make out with his own phone.
“Ari are you alright? Where are you?” Ragon said, his voice sounding worried.
“What? Yea of course; I’m fine!” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and casual.
“Where are you?” he asked again.
“I just ran into Ryder and we have been chatting,” she said, trying hard not to lie, while purposefully avoiding the truth. “I am heading back now though; want me to meet you at mine or yours? Actually I will come to you. Bye; I love you,” she said, ending their conversation before he could interrogate her further.
“Liar, liar pants on fire,” someone from behind one of the book shelf’s said.
Ari, who had dropped the book she had been holding, instantly stood up, turning to see Clyde holding Ryder by the scruff of his neck, his feet dangling an inch or so above the floor.
Clyde was shaking his head, and when he released Ryder, said, “Such a newbie fledgling; you need to learn to listen better.”
“What are you doing here?” Ari hissed, moving over to Ryder and standing protectively in front of him.
“I think a more appropriate question would be what are you doing here?” he retorted. “Last I checked you were still human and thus, unable to gain access.”
“You know why I am here,” she said.
At these words Clyde smiled and said, “I know why… I just don’t know how.”
“I found a tunnel leading from the second level and out of the back of the building,” Ryder explained, straightening his clothes after Clyde’s assault.
“Interesting,” said Clyde. “I didn’t realise there were any hidden passages but I suppose it is an old building. Well, I guess if you can get in undetected then there is no harm.”
“Seriously?” asked Ari, staring up at Clyde in confusion. “You aren’t going to rat me out to Ragon?”
“What would be the fun in that? Besides, we have been looking for a few weeks and haven’t found one measly mention of the word Grandor, and there is nothing at all I have read so far that references the ability to freeze time, see into the future and resist a vampires lull. I mean, some witches have premonitions and wraiths can fight vampire control… but nothing should be able to stop time. But I think next time you decide to do your own homework, there should be someone inside that can make sure there is no one lurking around. This place is quietest at dusk and dawn; most vamps are out hunting at those times.”
“I don’t think that Ragon is going to volunteer his services,” Ari said sardonically.
“You’re probably right, but why would you ask him when you could have me?” said Clyde.
“But… but you’re going to help me?” she said slowly.
Right on cue, Clyde’s wicked grin extended his face and he winked at Ari.
“Wow,” said Ryder, capturing the attentions of both Clyde and Ari.
“What?” they both asked at the same time, turning to look at him.
Ryder, who had resumed his seat on the floor and was now reading a dusty leather book, looked up, apparently surprised to see that Ari and Clyde were staring down at him.
“What? Oh no, sorry, nothing on Grandor; just found a book about wraiths,” he explained.
“And why would you be interested in those things?” Clyde spat, as though the mere mention of the word left a nasty taste in his mouth.
“I don’t know,” said Ryder, just as Ari leaned over his shoulder to see what he was reading, “it’s just fascinating.”
Ari read the first few lines and thought Ryder had a point; it definitely was fascinating.
The Were Truce
Wraiths and vampires as a species have united on many occasions, though none is more famous than their efforts to extinguish the waeres. Wraiths are the natural opposite to witches, for where there is light they bring only darkness, and where there is good they bring evil. These beings are granted immortality by gaining energy from the departed spirits, of whom they have dominion over. The young of wraiths are born, not made, and as such are impossible to distinguish from mortals, though early reports suggest they bear a mark, only seen by other certain immortals. This mark is said to be distinguishable for the different blood lines; below is a list of the current known marks…
Ari glanced down at the intricate marks that had been sketched underneath this paragraph. They varied greatly; some looked like star constellations, others were knotted circles with strange symbols that Ari had never seen before. She stared at one in particular that caught her attention; it was a small black ring inside which there appeared to be the head of an animal of some sort, perhaps a wolf. There was something familiar about it that Ari couldn’t quite put her finger on. She was just about to remark on this when Ryder flipped the page and she continued to read:
Wraiths are unable to be commanded by vampires, so for the truce to hold, the wraiths required incentive to be involved in the removal of a magical species. This was found in the ancient power of the waeres and their ability to morph into different Animalia. In agreeing to assist the vampires, the Ancients granted the wraiths their wish and those wraiths directly involved in the waere persecutions performed rituals that stole some of the waeres powers, giving them the ability to transform into a given animal. This stolen magic was dilute, with those wraiths which were involved only able to morph into a single animal, not many as was the case with waeres.
“Didn’t you tell Ragon that you were meeting him?” Ryder asked, momentarily distracting Ari from her reading.
Ari, whose face had been plastered to the book, suddenly looked up in surprise.
“Shit,” she said, beginning to race from the library and back towards the second level.
“Time to go then?” said Clyde, moving away from the bookshelf and holding a hand out for Ryder to lead the way.
“This is going to take ages; Ragon is going to kill me,” she said, moving as fast as she cold down the spiral staircase, while the other two immortals leapt from the trapdoor and landed at the base of the stairs, waiting.
“I can think of a way to get you back faster,” said Clyde, the familiar mischievous grin spreading across his face. “No guarantees that you will like it.” In an instant he had reached up to Ari and pulled her onto his back. “Race you back,” he said to Ryder.
Unable to help himself, Ryder smiled and immediately belted down the tunnel. Clyde followed close behind, still gripping tightly onto Ari as he ran. Ari, who had been taken by surprise, did not have enough time to protest, and only just managed to hold on as Clyde jolted forwards.
In a
few minutes Clyde came to a stop when the tunnel ended; panting behind him was Ryder.
“Not bad kid,” Clyde said to Ryder, as Ryder reached for the trap door that would take them back up to the rear of the building.
Ari, whose hair was wind swept and mercifully covering her exhilarated face, moved to get down from Clyde. The three then climbed through the trap door, out past the hedges and large pines that surrounded the rear entrance, and then walked as casually as possible towards Cruor Halls.
“So, we’re not telling anyone about Ari being able to get into the, err, library?” Ryder asked innocently.
Ari nodded in agreement and the pair stopped to stare at Clyde.
“Hey, I can keep a secret. What vampire library? Ari who?” he said, chuckling lightly to himself.
Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) Page 16
