“Provided that Mr Sunshine here didn’t rub a vampire the wrong way,” Chris whispered, so that only Ari could hear.
Ari elbowed Chris hard in the ribs, causing him to double over and gasp for air.
“Hmm, what was that dear?” asked Dr Helen, pushing her spectacles up onto her nose with her elbows, as she resumed her examination of the bird.
“Oh, nothing,” said Chris, smiling sweetly back at her.
Suddenly Ari felt a vibrating noise; it was her phone. Her heart was beating very fast… was it Ragon? Being as conspicuous as possible, she reached down to her overalls, grabbing her phone. She frowned in disappointment when she realised it was a message from Ryder:
‘Really need to have a chat with you. Can you call me when you get a chance?’
“No phones in the lab,” Dr Helen said strictly, and Ari jumped, quickly racing to her bag and placing her phone in there.
“Sorry, won’t happen again,” Ari muttered, but she was now distracted, thinking of Ryder; what was happening with him and Patrick? Were they fighting still like her and Ragon? Was that why he wanted to speak with her?
“Right, well, gloves and dissection tools are over here, and the microscopes and lab instruments are just here,” said Dr Helen, recalling Ari’s attention as she showed them a few tables, each laden with equipment. “I don’t expect you to get everything right. I will be performing my own necropsy on everything you do. The idea is just to get a feel for it.”
“Can’t wait,” Chris said softly, when Dr Helen was out of ear shot.
Ari waited for Dr Helen to leave before rounding on Chris and thumping him hard in the arm.
“What was that for?” he asked, rubbing his shoulder and looking at Ari in confusion.
Ari shook her head but did not answer, instead another thought had crossed her mind and she raced after Dr Helen.
“Um, Dr Helen… I was just wondering about the building behind the lab,” she said, panting slightly.
“Wondering what my dear?”
“Um, what is it?” she asked.
“The Forensic Agency and Research Morgue,” said Dr Helen, her eyes oddly glassy.
Chapter 9- Favourite Scary Movie
For the rest of the week, Chris and Ari spent their time rummaging through the freezer at the pathology lab and discerning the various ways the animals in there had died. Ari felt awkward and guilty spending her time with Chris, when what she really wanted was to be with Ragon. Still, Chris’s presence was reassuring; at least Ragon hadn’t retaliated by attacking him. Ragon was still not speaking to her, though she had caught a glimpse of him while she was eating breakfast on Tuesday morning. Sandra had suggested that Ari give him space, which she had begrudgingly agreed to, only sending him half six or so apologies each day, rather than the full round dozen she would have liked to.
On the whole, the death’s surrounding the majority of the Isle of Man’s wildlife and domestic animals was not particularly exciting. Most of the dogs and cats stored in the freezer had come to pass from old age, while almost all of the wildlife had met their end running into cars. The most exciting animal they had got to necropsy was a juvenile basking shark. The shark had not been stored in the freezer with the rest of the animals, but had been delivered by a large forklift, which had dropped the beast off at the entrance to the lab.
As instructed by Dr Helen, Chris and Ari had been asked to necropsy the shark when it had arrived.
“What is that god awful stench?” asked Chris, moving towards the shark and grasping at his nose.
“Seriously?” asked Ari, looking from Chris to the shark and then back again. “You can’t imagine what would be making that smell?”
The vibe between Chris and Ari hadn’t exactly gotten better as the week progressed, though Chris had been tactful enough not to mention their drunken kiss since Monday, something Ari was grateful about. She still felt incredibly guilty, not to mention confused about their kiss. She knew, if she were being truthful with herself, that part of what Chris had said was true, that there were feelings behind it. But she knew these feelings weren’t anything to how she felt about Ragon. She loved Ragon. Perhaps if she had of met Chris before she’d found Ragon, things might be different, but that wasn’t the case.
Chris smiled at her grimly as the pair began circling the shark. Ari thought it looked more like a giant lump of grey flesh than anything else. Ari knew next to nothing about the species. The wildlife conservation group, who’d haled the beached beast off the coastline, had commissioned the Pasteur Institute to discern the shark’s cause of death.
“Take tissue samples from all the vital organs,” Dr Helen said, handing Chris and Ari a pair of plastic aprons and some crude looking knives. “We will fix them and process them and then we can do some histology, and see if the mystery as to why this animal met its end can’t be found.”
It had taken Ari a good hour before she had reached the animal’s abdominal cavity, and a further 45 minutes until she had filled all of the containers with tissue samples. Chris, who had been consigned the task of obtaining brain matter, was barely into the cranium when Ari had finished. He looked at her glumly when she had told him that she was done.
“Can you grab me some slides when you come back?” he asked, when Ari began walking away, her hands full to the brim with yellow containers. “And maybe a peg for my nose or a bag for my head; no wait… just some bleach.”
Ari nodded sombrely, ignoring his last request as she struggled to hold the many labelled vials while proceeding back into the laboratory.
Though she had been there for three days, it still shocked her every time she walked into the freezing lab. Hanging her apron on a hook, Ari zipped her jumper up and threw the door of the freezer open. She was just placing the last container onto the shelf, when she heard the freezer door close behind her.
“Hello?” she said into the mist, watching as her words pushed the freezing cold air away from her mouth, lingering in front of her.
There was no reply.
Ari shrugged, trying in the darkness to avoid the many hanging animal bodies as she moved back towards the freezer entrance. She pushed hard on the heavy metallic door but it did not budge. Instantly her heart began to race; being confined in a cold room full of dead animals was eerie at best, and at worst, downright terrifying. Glancing around the foggy room, an odd unnerving sensation crept up her arms. She tried not to look at the dead animals that were displayed around her, their hanging corpses giving a macabre feeling that sent her into further panic.
“You have been a thorn in my side since you came here,” a high pitched female voice said, and Ari spun around, trying to see who was speaking.
“Bridget?” she asked, brushing past a hanging horse, as she moved cautiously around the freezer. “Bridget, is that you? What are you doing here?”
“An old friend came to see me recently; she told me that you were special,” said Bridget.
Suddenly something large, black and shiny came flinging through the air, heading straight for Ari. The icy body bag crashed into her, forcing Ari to the floor. Looking across, Ari saw the bag had broken, its heavy contents sprawled over her. Ari screamed when she looked into the frozen, sunken eyes of a dog.
“Why are you doing this? What friend?” Ari asked, pushing the dead dog off of her.
What did Bridget know? Why did she say that Ari was special? Was it possible that she knew Ari was the Grandor Descendant?
“I don’t normally like to drink cold blood, but I think in your case I will make an exception.”
Ari stood slowly. She still couldn’t see Bridget, but hoped that if she could just lure her closer she might be able to freeze her.
“Well, if you know what I can do, then you know that attacking me isn’t a good idea,” Ari warned, holding her hands up, ready to freeze Bridget the moment she came into range.
A cruel high laugh reverberated around the room, and Ari saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Instant
ly she flung her hands up, and a heavy black bag was frozen in mid-air.
“My, my, you are a powerful little human. Or perhaps you aren’t a mortal at all.”
There was a loud thud and Ari jumped, seeing that the bag which had been suspended in mid-air, had un-frozen and fallen to the floor.
“It isn’t a good idea to threaten me,” said Ari, trying to hide the shake in her voice; if she could just get Bridget to come a little closer.
“So you feel threatened do you?” asked Bridget, and Ari spun around to feel cool air press against her neck, as if Bridget had been standing there a moment ago. “How about jealous; did Ragon tell you that we were lovers?”
“Were?”
“So he didn’t tell you?” asked Bridget. “I’m not surprised. I mean, after all, you are just a warm bag of blood to him, even if he does let you delude yourself into thinking you’re his girlfriend.”
Ari moved cautiously through the freezer, ducking and weaving between the frozen bodies so as not to disturb them and give away her position.
“You know,” Bridget’s cold voice said, “I hadn’t dreamed of taking revenge on you while you were still Ragon’s source, but I haven’t seen you two together lately; have you fallen out with him?”
“No.”
“Liar,” hissed Bridget.
Looking up in surprise, Ari neared the back of the freezer. There was something swinging from one of the hooks and Ari tip toed towards it, her mouth falling open in horror when she realised that it wasn’t an animal… it was a person. With all thoughts of self-preservation lost, Ari raced to the woman and screamed; it was Dr Helen.
“No!” Ari cried, trying desperately to pull her professor off the hook before laying her onto the floor of the freezer.
Hurriedly Ari felt for a heartbeat, slipping her trembling fingers under the woman’s scarf and pressing hard against her neck. Dr Helen’s flesh was icy to the touch and though Ari tried, she could not feel a pulse. As Ari withdrew her hand, she saw a thick layer of icy blood smeared across it. Looking away in realisation, all colour drained from her face and she laid Dr Helen’s body back to the ground, reaching to close her eyelids so that she could no longer see the lifeless glare that stared off into space.
“That was almost too easy,” said Bridget, sneaking up on Ari and hitting her hard across the back of the head, before Ari had any chance to react.
Her head throbbing, Ari crumpled to the floor and then everything went dark.
“Ari,” someone said, and Ari blinked slowly a few times, her head still foggy.
Suddenly she felt icy hands clasping onto her and she screamed, thinking of Bridget, until she saw that it was Ragon. What had happened? How had he found her? In an instant he had lifted her up and placed her gently into his hands. In his arms, Ari’s neck lolled to one side, and distantly her eyes focused on a body; Bridget’s was lying face down, a few feet away from Dr Helen. She was dead.
“But?” said Ari, looking up into Ragon’s furious eyes. “How did you know?”
“April told me,” he said, forcing the freezer door open until it was pushed clean off its hinges.
April, as in Bridget’s friend? The vampire who had a crush on Rick and who Ari had stopped Bridget and Gwen playing a joke on? But why would April warn Ragon that Bridget was going to attack her? She snuggled next to Ragon’s chest, her teeth chattering noisily as he carried her outside.
“I’m so sorry. Ragon I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she kept saying, over and over again, almost feverishly.
Chris, who was standing next to the head of the basking shark with a saw in his hand, gaped when he saw the pair emerge from the laboratory.
“What the hell?” he asked, throwing the saw down and racing to Ragon.
“Take her back to Omega,” said Ragon, glancing back towards the lab. “There is something I need to take care of.”
Ari knew from his grim expression that Ragon was referring to the two bodies that were inside the freezer. A wave of disbelief and sympathy swept over her, and she tried to burn the image of Dr Helen’s body hanging from the freezer like an animal, out of her mind.
“No wait,” cried Ari, seeing Ragon’s retreating back, “I’m sorry.”
Ragon looked grimly at her but did not reply.
“What the hell happened?” Chris asked, reaching for Ari’s hand as he sought to steady her, but she moved away from him.
Ari tried to answer but the effort of thinking made her dizzy. Reaching up surreptitiously, she touched her frozen hand to her forehead, pressing hard where a small lump had formed. Without realising it, she began swaying, slowly leaning to one side as gravity tried to pull her closer to the ground. Before she could fall however, Chris caught her in his arms, hoisting her up so that he carried her.
“Jesus Ari, you’re freezing,” he said, brushing his hand against her cheek and pulling her closer.
In a flash he removed his jumper, and with one hand draped it over her.
Ari smiled, her teeth chattering as she mumbled, “Yep, fourteen degrees…” and then her eyes rolled and everything went dark.
It was sometime later when Ari finally woke to the gentle hum of the heater in her room, warm air jostling around her face. Night had fallen and when she craned her neck to glance out of the window, she could see that tiny stars were beginning to dot the sky. Ragon was nowhere to be seen and Chris sat next to her on the bed, watching helplessly as she shivered.
“Thank God you’re awake. Are you going to tell me what happened?” he asked, inching closer to her and pressing his hand against her face, so as to cup it in his hands. “You still feel pretty cold.”
Ari’s eyes widened. She had been surprised by this intimate action and struggled to sit up, fighting with the many pillows Chris had placed underneath her head. When she was finally upright, she couldn’t help but stare at Chris. For a moment she wondered why he had no shirt on, then recalled how he had draped his clothes over her after… her mind trailed off, as image after image raped her memory, all culminating in Dr Helen’s corpse, hanging from a hook in the freezer.
“That bitch… she killed Dr Helen,” Ari said, as a violent shiver overtook her.
“What?” What bitch?”
“Bridget,” Ari whispered.
“What? Why?”
Ari couldn’t bring herself to say the truth; Bridget had killed Dr Helen as a way of getting back at her after she had spoiled her trick on April. But it was more than that. It wasn’t just about April and some stupid prank. Ari couldn’t help but give in to the nagging feeling that Bridget’s actions had been fuelled from her desires to be with Ragon. Her face mirrored this realisation, just as a wave of sadness washed over her. Bridget had said that Ari and Ragon had had a falling out. Had Ragon spoken to Bridget since their fight? Tears stung her eyes suddenly but she blinked them back. She and Ragon were in love… weren’t they?
Seeing this change in Ari, Chris reached closer to her again, this time resting his hand near hers and tracing a small purple scar that was thrown into view by her sub-normal temperature.
“Chris, don’t,” Ari said, trying to move away from him.
“Why do these things always happen to you? Why are you always getting hurt? What you said the other night…”
“Chris, I don’t think we should talk about that now,” Ari said.
“When will we talk about it? I can’t forget that night.”
“Chris-” Ari started to say, but Chris cut her off.
“-I know what you think. That it was a mistake. But, but you don’t make mistakes like that. That was something deep down inside of you, telling you that you shouldn’t be with Ragon.”
“No, it wasn’t. That was too much alcohol and my being jealous about Ragon and Bridget,” Ari argued.
“You’re just telling yourself that because you are feeling guilty. But you shouldn’t. You don’t have to feel guilty about wanting to be with me. I want to be with-”
“-Chris stop! Please, ple
ase don’t say that, because, because I can’t tell you the same thing. I want to be with Ragon,” said Ari, too afraid to look up at Chris. “I always will. Even if he never forgives me for what I did. I love him.”
“Look at what just happened. How can you still want to be with him after all of this? I could look after you. I could take you away from all of this.”
Chris reached down and took Ari’s hand in his, at the exact moment that her bedroom door flung open and Ragon appeared. His face was drawn and calculating, and as he moved over to Ari, he looked down and saw the pair still holding hands. Quickly Ari jerked away from Chris.
Bound (The Grandor Descendant Series Book 3) Page 16
