A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) (36 page)

“-oh god! B
ut did you tell someone? Tell the police?”

“No,” she said, not looking him in the eyes. “I didn’t think they would be able to help. After I got away, I just wanted it to all be over.”

“But maybe whoever took you before, is the same person who tried to kill you? Do you know where you were taken?”

“No,” she said
, seeing both the stone bench she had been tied to in Ragon’s family mausoleum, as well as Kiara’s estate and the crude cell she had been forced into.

“Do you remem
ber anything at all?”

A loud
slamming noise pulled both Ari and Officer Ryans from their conversation, and they stared up as Ragon burst into the room, closely followed by Clyde. The second Ragon’s eyes fell on her she broke down again and felt Officer Ryans reach for her, trying to comfort her.

At first Ragon did nothing, his eyes darting to Officer Ryans and the intimate way he was holding Ari. Then moving over to her, Ragon held out his arms and Ari moved over to him, letting the sheets that she had been gripping onto tightly, fall away.

“What the…
” said Officer Ryans, seeing the blood on Ari’s arm from where the drip line had been pulled out. “What happened?”

At these words Ragon’s fangs unsheathed
. Seeing this, Officer Ryans reached for his belt where his gun was concealed. But his mortal speed was no match for Ragon, who bent over him in a second and struck hard at his neck, relishing in the taste of warm fresh blood.

“Smooth,” said Clyde.

“
Go away and forget about Ari and what you saw here today
,” said Ragon, staring down at the policeman.

Officer Ryan’s
stood quickly and made to leave.

“Wait,”
said Ari.

Ragon’s
eyes widened as she moved over to officer Ryans. Automatically her hands reached to trace the puncture marks on his neck. She couldn’t help but feel retched. He was a good man, and she felt for him… more than she would have admitted in front of Ragon.

“Thank you,” she said, reaching o
n her tippy toes to embrace him, as she wrapped both her arms around his broad shoulders, “thank you for everything Lee.”

When Officer Lee Ryans left, he didn’t turn back to look at her. If he had of, he would have seen that she was now sheading new tears for him, and the brief friendship they had shared. But that, along with all his memories about Ariana would be gone now; Ragon had commanded him to forget about her. Perhaps it was better that way. Being friends with Ari seemed to only put the people she loved in danger. At once Ari thought of Larissa- but she couldn’t be dead... she just couldn’t. This thought pressed down on her again, crushing her from the inside out. Then, cruelly, flashes of Larissa painting her toenails, teasing Clyde or embracing Cambridge, swept into Ari’s mind, until she forced herself to stop. The breaths she took, cost her deeply, and she pressed hard against her ribs, hoping to mask the pain.

Chapter 24- Frangipani Farwell

“I came as soon as Sandra phoned me,” said Ragon, reaching for Ari and pushing her sticky hair away from her forehead. “She told me what happened and-”

“Please tell me it’s not true,”
said Ari, looking imploring up at Ragon while Clyde shifted his weight uncomfortably.

“Are you ok?”
asked Ragon.

Ari nodded, saying “Yes,” but her v
oice had broken from the effort. “But… what about Larissa?”

“I am going to kill
Kiara,” hissed Ragon, pulling Ari so close that her head was cradled against his shoulder.

Ari cried again harder. Ragon’s avoidance of the t
opic confirmed her worst fears- Larissa was dead.

“
But… what about Cambridge and Sandra?” asked Ari, her voice muffled by tears.

“I have asked Cambridge to wait for me to get back before he does anything
,” said Ragon.

“They were together for centuries
,” said Clyde.

The moment Ari heard Clyde speak she broke away from Ragon and hugged him tightly.

“They had more time together than most,” said Clyde, his hands wrapping around Ari’s waist.

Reluctantly Ari pulled away, staring from Clyde and back at Ragon.

“We
’re checking out,” said Ragon, grabbing Ari’s hand and pulling her out of the room.

Leaving the hospital bought an overwhelming sense of foreboding. Her hands were shaking when she signed her
discharge forms, trying hard not to make eye contact with the surly nurse who glared at her, clearly disapproving of her decision to leave. Ari couldn’t entirely blame her. She still looked and felt like death. Kiara’s attack did nothing for her previous injuries, but Ari couldn’t think about pain now- not physical pain anyway.

As soon as they arrived at the house, she jumped out of the car and ran inside. Cambridge and Sandra were sitting on the floor and Thomas was pacing around the living room. A loud squeal followed by a flash of white fur, preceded Crystal bounding at Ari. Ari allowed Crystal to knock her to the ground and cuddled the dog hard. She didn’t care that it felt as if she might pass out from the pain; she needed a friendly face right now. In the few weeks she had been parted from Crystal, the puppy had grown exponentially. She was at least a full foot taller than Ari remembered her, and Ari thought that she was finally beginning to grow her large paws. Ari allowed Crystal to lick her face, and soon she was covered in slobber. 

“Where is Ryder?
” asked Ragon, glancing around the house nervously.

A second later,
Ryder and Patrick blurred into view, and Ryder raced over to Ari. But before he could reach her, Ragon and Clyde intercepted him.

“I was just going to hug her,” Ryder said casuall
y.

Both Ragon and Clyde looked at Patrick nervously
but then begrudgingly allowed Ryder access, and watched as he moved over to Ariana, purposefully trying to mimic mortality, as he walked slower than normal, apparently with great effort.

“Are you ok?”
asked Ryder, holding his breath when he was finally in front of Ari.

Ariana
shook her head; no, she wasn’t alright. Nothing was right about what had happened to Larissa. When Ryder hugged her, she startled at how cold he felt, like an icy breeze. Then her sad eyes drifted to Sandra, who was sitting cross legged, with her head in her hands. As soon as Ryder released her she raced over to Sandra, and reached a shaky hand for her.

“Oh God;
I am so sorry,” said Ari.

Cambridge looked up at her and said, “Now that you
’re back, we can bury Larissa, and then… I will be leaving.”

Ari’s stomach instantly dropped. B
ury Larissa? The thought was utter madness. She watched as Cambridge, followed shortly by Sandra, moved over to the veranda and jumped off the edge. Everyone else in the coven mimicked this except herself and Ragon.

“Here,”
said Ragon, helping her to her feet.

The pair walked out the front door and down the back of the house holding hands, with Crystal following shortly behind. It was pitch black outside; there was no moon and the clouds in the sky had masked all traces of any stars. Still, in true Brisbane tradition, it was a warm night, and the smells of honeysuckle, jasmine and frangipani, swelled in the air, permeating their path as they walked. Ari let Ragon guide her down the set of hidden steps that led to backyard. Sandra and Cambridge had two large shovels and were digging a hole next to an old frangipani tree. After a while, Sandra was no longer visible and only the top of Cambridge head could be seen from the giant gape in the earth.

Ari watched as Cambridge
jumped from the hole he had dug and moved over to a shadowed area. Slowly he bent down and picked something, returning a moment later with Larissa’s body cradled in his arms. Instantly Sandra began crying and Thomas moved over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder consolingly. Ari let silent tears stream down her face, not feeling that she deserved to share their misery. As Cambridge walked past her, Larissa’s frail body was thrown into view. No longer did Larissa have the air of an immortal; her hair, once blonde, was now whitish silver and her eyes, though closed, were lined with wrinkles. Cambridge didn’t look at the rest of the mourners but jumped into the grave he had dug, with Larissa still in his arms.

For a few moments he remained
the grave, whispering something that Ari couldn’t hear. A great wave of sadness mingled with anger washed over Ari, and she felt the wind swell around her as if in response to this, as one of her eyes turned green while the other remained blue. For a moment the warm night air blew only around her, like a whirl wind, but then the force was pushed outwards. In response, small frangipani flowers were forced from their maker, falling slowly down from the branches to land over Larissa’s body, serenading her in gold and white blossoms.

A
fter a while Sandra broke free of Thomas to join Cambridge in the grave. Nobody spoke, but after a moment the pair returned holding hands, but with puffy eyes that were lined with tears. Slowly Cambridge moved over to the shovel on the ground, a determined look on his face. In a second Ragon was there also, reaching for the spare shovel and then Clyde moved over to them also, relieving Cambridge of the shovel in his hands. Sandra fell to her knees as Clyde and Ragon began filling the grave just as Cambridge stood back, unable to watch his mate committed to the earth. It didn’t take long for the grave to be filled with fresh dirt and when they had finished, Clyde and Ragon stood back, so as to allow Cambridge to kneel by the edge of swelling in the earth.

“A few months ago, Larissa said that she wasn’t sure if she would have wanted to become a vampire if she had the choice again. But when she was dying,”
said Sandra, standing with shaky legs to move closer to Cambridge as she lent down and reached for a handful of dirt, “Larissa told me that if she had the choice again, she would have chosen you… every time.”

At these words Ar
i felt a deep pain in her heart, and the tears that she had fought hard to keep quiet suddenly burst from her, as the wind blew furiously again. This time the frangipani tree shook from the disturbance, just as hundreds of small golden flowers glided down over the grave to cover it. No one was perturbed by this small miracle; rather it felt fitting… as a symbol of their loss. Cambridge reached for one of the newly fallen flowers that neatly covered the grave, and took it in his hand lovingly. He spun the flower in his hand, watching the yellow and white blend until the different coloured petals were no longer discernible. Then he stood purposefully, bawling his fists into a ball but keeping the delicate flower safe from being crushed. He didn’t look at anyone, but moved away towards the house.

“I will go with you,”
said Ragon, immediately following Cambridge.

“And I,” Sandra, Clyde and Thomas
said.

Ari stared in confusion at everyone. Go where? It wasn’t until Cambridge
’s loud booming voice spoke that she finally understood.

“No,”
roared Cambridge, “Kiara is mine.”

“Cambridge and I will go
with you,” said Ragon, exerting his authority. “Everyone else can stay and watch Ari and Ryder.”

At this there was immediate uproar. Ariana too was arguing. She wanted to kill
Kiara as much as everyone else, and the very last thing she wanted was for her friends to feel trapped here, unable to seek revenge because they had to babysit her. She would not be a burden to them anymore.

“I am going,”
said Sandra, her normally cheerful disposition completely vanished.

“Well if Sandra is going so am I,”
said Thomas, moving closer to his mate.

“And so am I,”
said Ari.

Everyone turn
ed to look at Ari.

“No,”
said Sandra. “Kiara is dangerous and Larissa died protecting you; it seems a pretty poor way to repair her sacrifice, if you go out and get yourself killed.”

Had Sandra thought that these words would comfort Ari, she was horribly mistaken. It was true; Larissa had
died protecting Ari, and that was something that Ari would have to live with for the rest of her life, however long that might be. Ari’s mouth was open, ready to retort, when Patrick suddenly spoke.

“I know that this isn’t really the right time fo
r this,” he said, retrieving something from his pocket, “but Ryder and I have been summoned by the Elders.”

“What?” Cl
yde asked, blurring over and reaching for the envelope that Patrick held.

For a mom
ent Clyde read the cursive writing and then said, “They’ve summoned you and Ryder?”

Patrick nodded grimly. This was the very last thing that the coven needed.

“But, why?” growled Ragon.

Patrick shrugged
, but there was an alarmed look in his eyes, which gave him the appearance of an old and worried man.

“Ok
… well Ryder and Patrick will go to the Elders; Cambridge and I will go find Kiara; Sandra and Thomas can stay with Ari,” said Ragon.

“I am not staying behind,” said Sandra, her voice no longer kind with her
usual deep southern accent, but harsh and nasal.

“But-” Ragon began to say, until Thomas cut him off.

“If Sandra goes then so do I,” he said.

Ragon scoffed, his eyes darting from Sandra and Cambridge as he considered his options.

“Very well; Patrick and Ryder will go to the Elders, and the rest of us will go to Kiara’s,” he said finally.