A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) (24 page)

Ari, who had watched as the boy looked down to his arm, felt instantly nauseated, and for one horrifying moment thought that she might be sick
, again. Coming from the vein in the boy’s arm was a cannula, attached to a long extension set. Looking around, Ari saw another waiter sitting down, while an older woman, dressed as Cleopatra, sucked hungrily at the tube now coloured red, as if it were a straw.

Bringing Ari back to her surroundings, Clyde finally said, “1980’s if you have it?”

“1980’s?” she asked.

“It refers to the year the blood source was born,”
whispered Ragon. “As in, the person who
donated
the blood was born in the 1980’s. It’s different to wine. It doesn’t mean how long the blood has been kept for; blood doesn’t last long.”

Ari watched as the waiter bowed once and removed the glass nearest him and handed it to Clyde.

“Hmmm,” said Clyde, drinking deeply, “there is just something so appealing about this vintage,” he added, looking at Ari longingly as he drunk.

Next the waiter turned to face Ari.   

“Err… No thanks,” she said, eyeing the glass of red liquid in the waiters hands haphazardly.

“She’s my source,” Ragon huffed, pushing her away from the bartender.

“Perhaps some juice then?” a cool female voice asked.

Ari
turned on the spot and saw Kiara’s manicured hand creeping up Ragon’s shoulder. Instantly her mouth dropped but before Ari could say anything, Sandra had moved over and brushed Kiara’s hand away.

“Didn’t anyone tell you it was a costu
me party?” Sandra said pityingly, and Ari thought that she had a point.

Kiara was dressed as a witch. She wore a conical hat
that matched a tight black dress. For a moment Ari raked the two longs slits that exposed her thighs, until her eyes focused on the broomstick she held.

“Would you mind fetching some wine?” Sandra asked the waiter, her thick honey voice breaking the tension in the room.
“Red.”

The waiter nodded once and left to fill the drink order.

“So,” said Kiara, licking her lips, “what’s that doing here?”

As she pointed at Ari
Ragon growled, until a voice from behind stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Ah Ragon, so good of you to join us
,” said a man.

Ragon didn’t turn
but kept his eyes locked on Ari as he said, “William, thank you for inviting us.”

Slowly Ari’s eyes fell on Wi
lliam- the Elder. He looked to be in his forties and wore a medieval knight’s outfit, with a long red cape and sheathed sword. His skin was olive, and his dark hair reached just above his shoulder. Next to him another man stood, wearing a full length white cloak with a large black cross in the middle. Most of his hair was covered by the white hood of the cloak, but Ari could just make out that it was reddish-brown. His eyes were hazel and his skin was ghostly white, blending in almost perfectly with his robes, and contrasting against his thick moustache. Ari guessed that this must have been Nickolas, the other Elder.

“And you bought us a present?” Nikolas asked
, staring plainly at Ari, a frown on his face.

“Oh no, she’s just a source,”
said Ragon, waving his hand indifferently at Ari. “Besides, I didn’t realise we were bringing gifts, otherwise I would have gotten you something more suited to your tastes.”

At these words Ragon had taken one meaningful look at one of the waiters
, and Nikolas laughed loudly.

“A source of yours, really?”
asked Kiara, moving closer to look at Ari, “and yet I don’t see a mark on her.”

Both Nikolas and William turned to face Ari. As they stared at her she thought fast,
trying not to let her eyes mirror the horrified thoughts that were circling her mind.

“
Err,” she muttered, looking around until her eyes fell on her arm, “are you hungry master?” she asked, holding out her wrist for him to take.

As she did
this, Ari made sure to show the Elders the scar that had formed from where Ragon had attacked her, all those months ago.

Staring down at her outstretched arm,
Ragon’s jaw dropped, but then he recomposed himself and said, “Later,” in a firm voice.

Kiara gawked at the scar but did not say anything
, and both Nikolas and William turned to look at the rest of the coven, apparently satisfied.

“Thank-you for inviting us,”
said Sandra, moving over to the two Elders and kissing them each on the cheek in greeting.

“Ah Sandra, you look as lovely as ever, as do you Larissa,”
said Nikolas.

“And Ragon, Cambridge, Thomas, Clyde and Sameth, you are most welcome,” came William’s voice.

Ragon nodded once while Clyde smiled up at them, the blood from his drink staining his lips red.

“I see you have seen that the lovely Kiara has also decided to grace us with her presence,”
said William, indicating the witch behind them.

“Indeed,”
said Sameth.

Ignoring Sameth, Kiara smiled up warmly at the
Elders.

Just then a tall
elderly blonde woman waved at Kiara and she moved robotically away from the group, saying, “Excuse me,” to the Elders and bumping shoulders hard with Ari.

“Well, if you can pry yourself away from your lovely source, we have an excellent range here tonight,”
said Nikolas. “Oh Bernard,” he shouted, moving over to the waiter and reaching for his IV, “what would we do without you?”

Starve
? Ari though to herself but quickly hid her smile.

Nikolas
sucked on the Bernard’s IV, while the waiter looked back at him in awe. It was clear that Bernard loved him, and it was also clear that Nikolas loved the taste of Bernard.

“Now Ragon, this coven you have formed, I do hope that you are not responsible for the mortal deaths that have been reported in the news of late. You know we are charged with keeping our existence a secret
; I would hate to have to
punish
you,” said William, his eyes raking Ragon from head to toe, as if in admiration. 

Up until now
, Ari had not entirely been sure if William and Nikolas were partners, or lovers. Now as she watched William undress Ragon with his eyes, it was painfully obvious that they were both. She shuddered to think what William might constitute as an adequate
punishment,
if he knew that Ragon had killed five mortals. 

Ragon looked u
p and smiled, “No not me,” he said playfully. “Though I have heard some reports on the humans news; ten deaths isn’t it?”

“
Ten that they know about; we must have had to arrange cleaners to hide…” said William, looking at Nikolas for the answer.

Nikolas scoffed and said, “Thirteen,” under his breath
, before rolling his eyes.

Ari wasn’t too sure if Nikolas was a
ngry about the number of murders, or the fact that William had spent so long drooling over Ragon.

“Indeed, thirteen
… unheard of,” said William, while Ragon and Clyde exchanged a worried look.

Instantly Ari felt uneasy. Ragon had killed five
people but who had killed the other eight? Her mind flashed to Lisa Kidd, the girl from her university who had also been killed.

“Still, vampires will be vampires
; perhaps we just have an over jealous fledgling on our hands,” said William. “I trust that if your coven hears of any unusual activity, that you will permit us to investigate.”

Ragon nodded in affirmation.

“Well, please enjoy the festivities,” said Nikolas. “There are some blood dipped apples that are simply to die for.”

The Elders walked off after that; Bernard followed a little behind, as Nikolas continued to suck on the IV at his leisure.

Ari watched the Elders go over to
another of the many gatherings of vampires and welcome them also. There were many congregations of immortals, some standing around small tables, others draped at various points along the grand staircase or sitting outside and smoking. A tall blonde boy suddenly moved over to their group, and Ari realised that the waiters had started bringing out plates of canapés, if you could call them that. Peering more closely at a plate offered to Larissa, Ari went pale.

“We have a mouth-watering assortment of Halloween goodies. There are warm Blood shots with shaved blood ice, spicy blood sausage, blood mo
ose topped with a bloody crumple, candied blood-dipped apples, and for the vegetarians, one-hundred percent grain feed bovine blood pies,” the waiter said to Larissa.

“What is
moose made from?” asked Larissa, genuinely interested as she eyed the small morsels.

“
The blood has been frothed and is apple scented,” the waiter replied. “The mortal was feed apples exclusively for weeks prior to its donation.” 

“Hmm,”
said Larissa, reaching for the small, dark, red canapé.

Each of the coven members
followed suit, all except for Ragon, who stood staring at the look of horror on Ari’s face instead.

“I thought you said you didn’t like to eat food?” Ari asked conversationally, as soon as the waiter left. Larissa made to answer but before she could, Ari had cut across and added, “How my people have you killed?”

Clyde smiled wickedly and said,
“Today… or in general?”

“Since you got here,” Ari replied
coolly.

Perhaps se
nsing her concern, each replied quickly in turn saying, “None,” all except Ragon, who looked around nervously and whispered, “You know how many.”

If that were true th
en there were eight people out there who had been killed by vampires not in this coven. Realising this Ari shivered.

“It’s a big city
; there are bound to be some causalities,” Sameth replied indifferently.

“Perhaps it is because of the party?”
suggested Cambridge.

“No,”
Ragon said quickly. “I think Ari’s right; William and Nicholas would not invite so many guests if it alerted the human authorities.”

“Then why are so many people being killed?”
she asked.

Just then a large group of vampires walked past
; Ari watched them tentatively, before Sandra nudged her in the ribs and whispered, “Not here.”

After that half the group moved outside, while Cambridge, Larissa, Sandra and Thomas moved to the dance floor, dancing to what the orchestra had announced was ‘George Winston’s, New Orleans Slow Dance.’ Unable to stop herself, Ari looked over at Ragon. She had just made up her mind to go over and talk to him, when Clyde appeared in front of her.

“May I?”
he asked, bowing low and holding out his hand for her.

She hesitated for a mom
ent, her eyes still locked on Ragon, but accepted; Clyde took her right hand in his and placed his left hand on the small of her back, sweeping them to the centre of the dance floor, just as the music began. In his arms, Ari felt as if she were floating. The black feathers of her wings were gliding through the air as Clyde directed her. At each twirl Ari smiled, and soon the pair had traced a route all around the dance floor. Her black angel’s costume and diamond headpiece sparkled majestically, portraying her as the picture of innocence. In concert to the change of rhythm, Clyde began spinning her, holding his hand above her head as she turned on the spot, her black dress flowing out.

The momentum of being twirled so many times almost made Ari loose her balance,
until Clyde whispered, “Keep your eyes on something fixed.”

After that she was lost in Clyde’s honey coloured eyes. In that moment she didn’t see the sarcastic, bad ass vampire; she just saw a boy dancing with a girl, and for the first time she wondered why Clyde was so dark and twisty. All she knew for sure, as she allowed him to dip her low before recalling her into his arms, was that she didn’t know exactly how she felt about him.

“She is lovely,” William commented to Ragon, looking over at Ari and Clyde dancing.

Ari had heard the comment and been surprised. She had purposefully strained to hear Ragon’s response, but there had not been one. Looking around the crowd, she couldn’t help but notice how many of the vampires had stopped to watch the couples dance. But no, Ari thought, looking at their wide eyes and open mouths; the vampires were staring at her and Clyde. As Clyde glided her along the dance floor, their hungry eyes followed her every movement. Suddenly her heart raced, but then Clyde squeezed her hand and she allowed herself to breath. Looking closer at the vampires, she realised that they did not look blood thirsty; rather their faces had become peaceful, giving them an almost mortal appearance. They appeared momentarily hopeful, as if watching Ari reminded them of the frailty of being mortal; reminding them of thoughts they had long since forgotten- their first kiss or first love.