A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) (14 page)

“But what if Kiara has contacted them?
You have broken a Final Death Law by not lulling her. And Kiara would have good grounds for such a case, and we would all be implicated if you were found guilty,” said Sameth.

“But we cou
ld argue that Kiara stole his source, that’s punishable also,” suggested Sandra.

“The punishment is far less severe, besides it is
more of a courtesy than anything else,” said Thomas. “And Ari isn’t Ragon’s source; he has not commanded her.”

“What do you want to do?”
Sameth asked plainly.

“What do you mean?”
replied Ragon.

“
I mean, do you mean to turn Ari?” asked Sameth.

At these words Ari pressed her ear, if it was
possible, even harder against the door.

“No
but-” Ragon began to say.

“Then why suffer her to Kiara’s tyranny? You must know that Kiara
will kill her. Would it not be better to release her and let her resume a normal life?” asked Sameth. “I can’t understand why you are keeping her here?”

Silence greeted this question; Ari found herself holding her breath, desperate not to miss Ragon’s response.

“I have to keep her safe,” Ragon whispered.

“But-” said Sameth, though his words were cut off when Sandra spoke. 

“-Ragon rescued Ari,” Sandra said abruptly, “why isn’t important. The fact is that Kiara is not going to let that go; the second that Ari is out of Ragon’s protection, Kiara would kill her without blinking.”

“B
ut why not at least let her pick up a semblance of her old life? You would begrudge her some form of living?” asked Sameth.

“Yo
u think I don’t want to?” said Ragon, and Ari could tell that he was angry. “I know I can’t give her what she deserves, but surely the risks are too great. What if Sandra is right; what if Kiara captured her again? I do not think she would take so long a second time to kill her.”

“Better living one day happy
than a lifetime hiding,” said Sameth. “You are not a cruel man. Surely you want to let her out a bit; let her smell the roses. I do not pretend to understand why you keeping her, but I would volunteer my services. I could… watch over her. I believe before all this happened she was studying?”

“What are you talking about?”
snapped Clyde. “We can’t let her out of our sight; to do so would be like throwing her into a pit with hungry wolves. And Kiara is worse than a pack of wolves; she a jealous ex.”

From the silence came a growl, possibly from Sameth, though Ari couldn’t be sure.
Ari looked down the corridor, wanting to make certain that B1 and B2 had not realised that she was not with them.

“Well,
you don’t intend to bring her to the Elder’s party?” asked Sameth. “I could stay-”

“
-but we have to,” said Clyde, interrupting Sameth. “If we don’t, it’s like leaving the lamb to slaughter.”

“It
’s a small risk, but wouldn’t it would be better to leave her here; Kiara would have surely been invited,” said Sameth. 

“Yes, I have no doubt of
her invitation,” growled Ragon.

“You can’t leave her here
alone,” said Clyde. “We have all been invited; to refuse them would be dangerous.”

“Clyde’s right,” said Thomas, “
there is a chance that Kiara’s fledgling, Matthew, may attack-” 

“
Matthew?” Sameth said suddenly, cutting Thomas off midsentence.

“
When Ari was taken by Kiara, Matthew was there also. He was kind enough to send Ari a bunch of dead flowers,” said Sandra, “along with a threatening note.”

“He does her bidding?”
Sameth asked, a disgusted edge to his voice.

“
You have been a dear friend Sam,” said Ragon.

“And wha
t am I?” asked Clyde. “Chopped liver?”

“We have been through much together,” Sameth replie
d, ignoring Clyde. “There was nothing more I wanted than to free Kiara from you.”

Suddenly Ari
realised the voices inside the hidden room were getting louder, and she heard the clip clop sound of shoes and raced from the door, speeding down the corridor and into the kitchen, where B1 and B2 were sipping on some sort of exotic blue cocktail.

The pair looked up at Ari, who had moved over to a jug full of the slushy blue drink, and poured herself a glass, slopping half of it across the bench. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed when she saw the rest of the coven emerge, and she pretended to ignore them, apparently interested in something that B1 was saying. When her eyes finally glanced up, she couldn’t help but notice that Clyde was staring at Sameth with a mixture of disbelief and confusion.

“Ari honey, I’m so sorry,”
said Sandra, walking over to Ari purposefully, followed shortly by Larissa. “Please tell me that you aren’t mad at us.”

“It’s ok,”
she said, her cheeks turning a slightly deeper shade of rouge.

Both girls beamed at her, and Ari was suddenly reminded of their proclamation to remain to keep her safe, despite the invitation to the Elder
’s Halloween party and the danger that it apparently posed.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want anything to happen to anyone because of me
,” Ari said.

“Oh sugar, come here,” said Sandra,
embracing Ari warmly.

As soon as Sandra’s arms wrapped around her, Ari wanted to cry. How could she have spent a lifetime looking for friends in other humans, only to find friendship in such unlikely places? Her face must have shown her gratitude, because Larissa moved over quickly too, joining the h
ug. Clyde smiled wickedly, moving to the threesome with his hands outstretched, but Ragon reached out and stopped him.

“Ari,” said Ragon, reaching for her shoulder as soon as Sandra and Larissa had moved away.

Ari looked at him incredulously. It was easy for her to forgive Sandra and Larissa; they hadn’t been the ones to exclude her- Ragon had. 

“Is something wrong?”
asked Ragon, clearly not missing the look in Ari’s eyes.

Ari laughed once
.

“Y
ou mean asides from holding secret meetings and your ex wanting to kill me? Nope nothing… everything is just peachy,” she said sarcastically.

“That’s our cue to leave,” said Larissa, shooing B1 and B2 out of the kitchen
, while Larissa grabbed onto Clyde’s ear and pulled, so that the girls and the rest of the coven moved outside onto the veranda.

As soon as they were alone, Ragon inched closer to Ari and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Look
. I get that you aren’t human anymore. I get that you don’t have the same emotions as us. But that doesn’t mean that you get to treat me like a child. And it also doesn’t mean that when you do something wrong, all you have to do is say sorry and expect me to forgive you.”

Instantly Ari regretted her words.
As she stood panting, red faced before Ragon, she knew that her selective use of the phase,
you aren’t human anymore
, had hurt him.

“This Halloween party isn’t just a party,” he said, “I needed to talk to everyone; I needed to know if they would stand with us. It is one thing to ask them to fight against Kiara; she is just one vampire. But the Elders represent the full might
of the Ancients. If Kiara tells the Elders about my rescuing you… about my not lulling you, it will be the end of both of us. But it isn’t fair for me to expect my friends to stand by us,” he explained.

“But… but why couldn’t you let me inside when you were talking to everyone else? Why keep me in the dark? Why push me away?”

“I am trying to keep you safe; if that means that you have to be pushed away… then so be it,” Ragon growled, throwing his hands up in the air and storming away.

Ari felt Ragon’s absence press down heavily on her.
She wanted to ask him why; why was keeping her safe so important? She knew he was a nice guy, or rather a nice vampire, but there must be a thousand girls around here that were, at this very moment, in trouble. Each one of them needed a saviour just as much as she had, maybe even more so. So why had he chosen her?

“My, my,” said Clyde, sneaking up behind her as he too stared after
Ragon. “You have made for a rather difficult house guest.”

Chapter
9- A Unexpected Guest

The next month was filled with warm summer days and even warmer nights. Before Ari knew it, it was half way through October. The abnormally dry winter had left the few remaining patches of grass dry and wilted, while the forest that formed the edge of Ragon’s property now looked yellowed, with large brown leaves littering it. The long days impacted on the vampires also, drastically reducing the hours they could safely hunt.

Periodically the coven
would vacate the house to go hunting, often leaving in pairs and retuning home very early in the morning, just before daybreak. It had been almost seven weeks since Kiara had attacked Ari and they had received the threatening letter and flowers from Matthew, but that didn’t stop the group from being uneasy. And while Kiara posed an immediate and constant threat, the invitation from the Elders felt like a slowly creping storm. Right now the Halloween party was on the horizon, but each day that passed took them a little bit closer to it.

The entire tense situation was made even worse by the fact that Ari and Ragon were now not talking to each other.
Ever since he had excluded her from the coven’s meeting, she had turned a cold shoulder towards him, one which Ragon seemed little to care about. Fortunately Ari had Sandra and Larissa. Their shoulders were happy to be leant on, cried on, or whatever else Ari needed from them. Seeing as Ari still didn’t understand why Ragon had acted the way he had, she hoped this could be one of the many things they could help her with. The girls had explained again who the Elders were; that they were basically second in command to the Ancients and that there were heaps of them, all around the world. Their ultimate goal was to ensure vampirism remained a thing of myth and legend, but there were also laws which they enforced, the most notable of which were referred to as the Final Death Laws-

1. Mortals shalt
   not know of the vampire existence
   
2. Thou shalt not kill another vampire
   
3. Thou shall not suffer a waere to live
   

“So you see,” said Larissa, leaning in so as to whisper. “
Ragon has broken the first rule by letting you know that we exist and not lulling you. Kiara knows this. During the Halloween party she could tell the Elders and-”

“-w
hat does it mean by
final death
?” asked Ari interrupting Sandra, recalling how Kiara and indeed the entire coven had been shocked that Ragon had broken the Final Death Laws.

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. If
the Elders find out that you haven’t been lulled and that you know about us, then Ragon, and all of us… we die,” she said flatly.

“What!” Ari exclaimed. “But Ragon never… he never… I didn’t understand.”

Ari had let these words resonate with her. It made her angry that no one had sat down and explained exactly what the stakes were with this stupid Halloween party. But soon the anger faded; now she just felt that her fight with Ragon had been plain childish. There he was, trying to keep her and the coven safe from Kiara and the Elders, and all Ari could do was complain that she hadn’t been invited to Ragon’s secret room so that she could see his mystery sketches.    

After that Ari had hunted Ragon down, desperate to tell him how stupid she had been. She found him on the veranda with most of the coven, partaking in an early drink.

“Well, I was thinking
, as we have a party to go to we should probably go out and get our costumes?” Clyde said eagerly, his eyes lighting up when Ari walked towards the table.

Ragon’s eyes locked with hers. It was one of the first times t
hey had looked at each other since their argument.

“And,” Clyde went on
, taking advantage of the pair’s silence, “seeing as the event is in two weeks, I thought perhaps tonight was as good as any to get them.”

Ragon made to speak
but Ari answered first, saying, “Should I go too?”

She hoped her question would make Ragon realise that she was leaving the decision of her attendance entirely up to him.
She guessed by the way he eyed her curiously that he had gotten the message. When he spoke his voice was less severe than it had been in ages.

“I guess we will have to get them at some point, but I
’m still not sure it’s a good idea for Ari to go to the Halloween party,” he said.

“I think that Ariana should stay here,”
said Sameth, moving over to join the conversation from where he had been sitting inside on the couch. “There is very little chance that Kiara would not be attending the party; she will be safer away from the Elders and Kiara.”

“No way,”
said Clyde. “This party might be the exact opportunity that Kiara wants to send Matthew after her.”

Sameth growled
, while Ari looked around at the group.

“Um hello?”
she said, waving at the three men so as to get their attention. “You don’t have to talk about me like I am not here.”

“Don’t you think I have considered this all carefully
,” said Ragon, glaring at Ari. “I have been having this internal argument for weeks. Lamb to slaughter versus sitting duck… and then there is always the chance that the Elders know about my betrayal. Maybe were walking into a trap.”

“I know… I know how hard it is,” said Ari, and Ragon’s mouth dropped open. “I’m sorry.”

“Well, I agree with Clyde,” said Larissa, and Clyde turned to face her in surprise. “We will have no way of knowing if Kiara decides to send someone after Ari and if she does, there will be no one here to protect her. At least the invitation said BYO, which means that Ari could at least pretend to be a source and accompany us, without anyone being suspicious.”

“Perhaps we could take her someplace else for the night?”
suggested Sameth.

“
Kiara is probably watching us all the time,” said Sandra. “She could just send someone to kidnap Ari like she did the last time.”

Instantly Ari was reminded of Paige, and she felt her heart leap painfully in her chest.

“Exactly,” said Clyde. “Better in our sights and able to keep an eye on her, than someplace else, where anyone could get to her.”

“Well we can all go to the costume shop, including Ari,”
Ragon said slowly, and Ari beamed at him; clearly her attempted apology had gotten through to him. “But we aren’t making any decisions tonight.”    

“But why can’t we go?” B1 asked in an annoyingly high pitched
voice, thirty minutes later as the coven and Ari made to leave for the costume shop. 

“Because
you are not on the invite,” Clyde said for the third time, clearly beginning to lose patience with his lovely blood bags.

“But it said sources were allowed,” interjecte
d B2.

“
If you go you would likely be served up as the main course,” said Cambridge.

“But Ari isn’t on the invite
wither,” said B1.

“Yes, but we like her,”
Larissa said under her breath.

Both girls pouted
, causing their large full lips to quiver, giving them the appearance of spoilt teenagers. When they stormed off, no one looked disappointed to see the back of them.

“Where did you find them?”
Sandra asked incredulously, glaring at Clyde.

“At a fashion shoot in Rio,”
Clyde replied, his ever wicked grin adorning his face. “I saw them and thought I just had to have them.”

Despite Sameth telling the group that he would rather go hunting, they had needed to take two cars on their trip to the costume shop. Ragon took his car with Thomas as a passenger, while Ari, Sandra, Larissa and Cambridge went with Clyde in his flashy convertible.

“Do you think Sameth would be opposed to going as a mermaid?” Clyde asked
, pressing a button so that the roof of the convertible retracted, and the cold night air swept over them.

Cambridge’s large booming laugh filled the car.

“So we’re actually doing this? We’re going, and we’re taking Ari with us?” asked Larissa, when finally they had all stopped laughing.

Ari looked back at Larissa from where she was sitting in the front seat.

“You know we cannot refuse the invite,” Cambridge said soothingly to his mate. “It is up to Ari and Ragon to decide.”

“Yes, but surely if Ragon and Ari left to go somewhere else, the
Elders would be none the wiser,” protested Larissa.

“They would know,”
Clyde said darkly, “and they would not be happy about it. Ragon has no choice; he must attend. Refusing an Elder’s invitation is not wise; that would make them suspicious, if they aren’t already.”

The costume shop was empty, bar the single assistant who welcomed them as the group entered.

The woman was older, with grey short hair and
a small mouth, which broke into a smile when the bell on the front door chimed as it opened.

“Halloween party?” she asked.

Ragon nodded grimly and allowed the assistant to direct them to the back of the shop, where themed Halloween costumes hung. On display mannequins was a grim reaper, next to which were several scream masks, all lined up in rows.

“If you need any help
just holler,” she said smiling, before returning to the counter.

Clyde was the first to try on an outfit. He reached for the costume and in a second had blurred into it; not bothering to enter the change rooms.

“You’re going as a vampire?” asked Ari, staring at the high collar of a black and red cape.

“What
? Too much of a cliché?” he said, admiring himself in the full length mirror. “At least I won’t have to worry about prosthetic fangs.”

“I thought Halloween was about dressing up
, and you’re just going to go as yourself?” she retorted.

Clyde winked at her saying, “Why go as someone else, when-”

But he was cut off speaking when Ari raised her pointed finger at his reflection in the mirror, and said, “but… but I can see you!”

“You can see? It’s a miracle!”
Clyde said dramatically, his reflection waving at her sarcastically.

“No, I mean
… I just thought-”

“
-you just thought that because the movies say vampires don’t have a reflection then the real ones wouldn’t either?” said Clyde.

Ari nodded sheepishly.

“Well you can stop sleeping with that garlic bulb under your bed; the real vampires are much more difficult to kill,” said Clyde.

Ari stare
d at him, leaning ever so slightly closer, desperate for him to tell her more.

“Ragon hasn’t told you much, has he?”
asked Clyde. Ari made to correct him, but Clyde cut her off saying, “Holy water makes us wet; churches are fine if you’re into that sort of thing, and silver,” he added, revealing a small locket from beneath his Dracula cape, “doesn’t really pack much of a punch.”

Ari laughed but was intrigued by his item of jewellery, watching carefully as he replaced it safely beneath his
Dracula cape.

Just then Ragon exited a change room and Ari found herself gravitating towards him. He looked magnificent. He had changed into a pair of dark pants, which looked to be from the 18
th
century, and a white shirt with a button up vest that fitted snugly. He carried a large sword that reminded Ari instantly of prince charming. Her jaw had dropped when she had seen him, and she quickly closed her mouth when he looked at her expectantly.

“Oh Ragon honey, don’t you look dashing; just like the old days,”
Sandra said, winking at him.

Sandra too had her costume on; she was wearing a medieval skirt, which showed off a pair of torn stockings and a tightly fitting red bodice
that accentuated her curves. Ari thought she looked like a call girl from the 1900’s.

“I see you’re not dressing up either?”
said Clyde, staring at her breasts which were pressed up by the corset.

Thomas moved over to his mate protectively
and bowed. He was wearing a pirate’s costume, which consisted of tight black leather pants, a torn and ratty vest, and a patch over his left eye. His shoulder length dark blonde hair and clean shaven face, made him appear too unsoiled for his outfit.

Taking Sandra’s hand,
he kissed it before saying, “I would pay every cent in the world for one night with you me lady.”

Sandra accepted his kiss
cordially, but then pulled her mate towards her. Ari watched as Sandra fastened a section of his costume which had come undone back together. Ari’s eyes widened when, for a moment, she saw what looked like a tattoo going down the left side of his chest; she couldn’t quite make it out, but it looked like a list of names. When Sandra began kissing her mate passionately, Ari quickly averted her eyes, her eyes falling instead on Cambridge who was wearing a mummy’s outfit. Next to him was Larissa; she was wearing a golden ball gown with a large yellow ribbon around her waist.