A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) (5 page)

“But what about those boys,” Ari said.

Slowly Ragon turned to face her, “What about them?” he asked.

“Well, what’s going to happen? I mean, there dead,” she said, her lip q
uivering on the last word.

“There will be a funeral. People will cry. Everyone will say what perfect little angels they were and th
at the world has lost four potential heroes. But the truth is, the world is better off without four predators like that,” spat Ragon.

Ari’s mouth fell open; Ragon did not seem to be even slightly
remorseful for his actions.

“But what about the police; aren’t you worried that someone is going to find out that you… that you-”

“-that I killed the bastards?” Ragon finished for her.

Slowly Ari nodded, not looking up to meet his eyes.

“I covered my tracks. It’s not wise for vampires to get involved in human law; it never ends well. Look, it’s going to be light soon and you must be exhausted. I think we should call it a night,” he said, reaching for the veranda door, closing it, then producing a small key which fit snugly into the lock which he turned with a click.

Ari watched as he
moved over to the front door and did the same.

“You’re not se
riously locking me inside?” she asked, sauntering over to the front door.

“It’s for your protection.
”

“Against what- m
yself?” asked Ari, watching Ragon move away from her. “But wait, you can’t go to sleep. I have questions and-”

“Not tonight
. Besides, it will be day break soon. There is UV protection on the glass but vampires don’t do well during the day… that’s when we sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”

It seemed that the movies had gotten that part about vampire
mythology right. Whether or not vampires could walk in the sunlight had been one of the many questions that Ari had hoped to ask Ragon. But now as she watched him walk away from her and up the stairs to the second level, she realised that she would have to save these questions for later. As soon as she heard Ragon’s bedroom door close, she moved over to the veranda door and tried for a few minutes to jimmy the lock.

“You’ll need a key,” yelled Ragon
, calling out loudly from his bedroom, so that his voice carried down the hallway and over to her in the living room.

Ari frowned; she was trapped in a house with a vampire. Feeling defeated but nevertheless quite hungry, she went to the kitchen and fixed herself a sandwich, careful to avoid the foul smelling chicken in the pantry, which she tossed in the bin.

When she was finished
, she washed up and then made her way back to her bedroom. The last twenty-four hours were a nightmare, and the temptation of a soft mattress was too much to fight against. She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the existence of vampires, or what had happened to her at the campus. One thing she was certain of was that she would be leaving in the morning. If Ragon was unable to walk in the sun, then he wouldn’t be able to find her during the day. All she needed to do was to get to the main road, which she thought shouldn’t be too difficult, provided she was able to get out of the house first.    

Chapter 4
- Enter Kiara

Ari woke late in the afternoon and after checking that there was still sufficient sunlight, was ready to escape. Though she would normally have started her day with a nice warm shower, she didn’t want to risk Ragon hearing the sound of the water. If she were being honest with herself, right now Ari felt as if she was stuck in a fantasy, but it was tarnished. She tried to push away the feelings she still had for Ragon; shy longings which had been unrequited for so long. It was wrong to have these feelings. Ragon had killed people and… and he wasn’t even human. She should be disgusted by him; by his wanting to keep her hostage, by what he had done to those boys. But then her thoughts shifted; he had looked after her, had bought a house to keep her safe in. NO! She should not have these thoughts. Ragon was a vampire! What if he had tricked her, made her be attracted to him in order to catch her off guard? But then why was he keeping her alive? Why not just kill her? It was so utterly confusing.

Shaking her head, Ari crept
out of her room, tip toeing over to the front door as she supressed the image of Ragon rescuing her. For a few moments she strained to open the door, but again found it impossible. Still determined, she next moved to one of the windows, whose large dark curtains hid a prominent bolt and key hole, similar to the one on the front and veranda doors.

“Cra
p,” she whispered to herself, when she tried and failed to open it also.

Desperate now, s
he thought of breaking the glass but then decided against it. Ragon had told her that it had UV protection, which probably meant that there was some sort of thick film across it, preventing not only the light from getting in but also the breaking of the glass. And, even if she did somehow manage to get through without slicing herself to pieces, Ragon would most definitely hear her.

Feeling deflated, Ari glanced towards the staircase that Ragon had ascended last night. Moving very slowly
her eyes fell on the forbidden room. Temptation ate at her, but quickly shook her head; she had to get out of here. Moving over to a large spare bedroom on the second floor, Ari inspected the room for any signs of escape, but still there was nothing.

She had all but given up, when finally she came to the second last room of the house on the third storey. Gently opening the door, she moved past the empty queen bed, whose mattress was still covered in a thick layer of clear plastic, and into a small marble bathroom. Her eyes fell excitedly on a dormer window above the toilet that led out onto the roof; a tiny gap in the glass showed that it had been left open.

With new hope surging through her, Ari near bolted towards it and in her haste, she almost crashed into the porcelain toilet below, just managing to stop herself in time. Moving cautiously now, she positioned herself atop the toilet and opened the window fully, feeling
a warm summer breeze outside. Without hesitating, she reached up and began pulling her body through the escape route.

The sloping roof it led out onto was tiled and slippery
, and so Ari climbed onto it carefully, trying hard not to look at the long drop below. The perfect Australian weather was doing wonders to distract her from her present dilemma and though the sun was no longer high in the sky, Ari delighted in the feeling of the fragrant breeze on her face.

Looking around
she spotted a large Tipuana tree whose small bright golden flowers shone like a beacon; here was her way down. Inching along the roof, she tried to keep her balance as she neared the tree. The closest branch was only a few inches away when her shaking hand reached out towards it. When she finally made contact, she swung her legs so that she straddled the thick branch and started to work her way gingerly down.

Once on the ground, Ari glanced back
at the beautiful house. In the fading daylight it looked even more enchanting than it had at night. Pushing this thought to the back of her head, she spun around and began racing down the driveway to the main road, hearing the next door neighbour’s dog barking as she shimmied past their fence.

She had been walking for only a few minutes when she noticed a car pulling over to the side of the road just ahead of her. A girl, who couldn’t have been any more than eighteen years old, jumped out and moved to the front of the car. The large red
P
sign attached to the back of her car indicated that she had only just got her license. As Ari got closer, she realised that the girl was reading a map.

At first the girl seemed not to notice Ari, but
as she walked past her, the girl spun around and said, “You don’t know how to get to the city from here, do you?”

Ari still wasn’t exactly sure where
here
was. Noticing the map the girl was looking at, and a nearby street sign that read ‘Fig Tree St’, Ari thought that if she had a look at the map then she could probably give the girl some directions and at the same time, work out exactly where she was.

“Um, well,”
said Ari, moving closer to the map and finding the street name in the directory. “If you follow this –”

But Ari suddenly broke off when she saw something on
the side of the girl’s neck. Seeing the look of confusion on Ari’s face, the girl hurriedly tried to flip her collar up, but it was too late; Ari had already seen two puncture marks. Ari’s face drained of colour, and then the small girl reached for her bag and swung it so that it hit Ari hard in the head. 

Ari felt her head throb just as the world swam around her and then she fell unconscious.

Ari didn’t know how long it took for her to
come to, though from the numb feeling in her legs and arms, she guessed she had been lying in the same place for hours. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw the blurred face of a girl hovering over her and the outline of two people sitting on chairs in the background.

“So, you
’re Ragon’s new pet?” one of the people sitting at the chairs said, and Ari knew from the high and cold voice, that it was a woman who spoke.

Ar
i tried to focus on the people sitting on the chairs but couldn’t.

“Answer me,” the woman called again.

After a moment Ari nodded weakly.

“Well, well, well. He told
me he would never take a source,” said the woman. “And I have watched him for many years. You are the first.”

“What do you want?”
asked Ari, her voice thick and groggy. “Who are you?”

“I am K
iara and this is Matthew,” said the female voice, “Paige brought you to us. It is our pleasure to meet you.”

Suddenly a low snarl ripped through the quiet and a male voice said, “It seems a shame to kill her.”

The warning that Ragon had given Ari flashed in her mind. She thought that the woman who introduced herself as Kiara must be the ‘
her’
to which Ragon had referred. This thought had barely resonated before the young girl who had asked Ari for directions, Paige, came into sight. Ari squinted up at her, trying desperately to bring the girl’s face into focus. The girl was fumbling with something and then moved over to Ari, a large chain and collar in her hand.

“I’m sorry,”
whispered the girl, her large round eyes looking anywhere but at Ari.

“Wait, please,”
begged Ari, but the girl seemed not to hear, taking the chains and cuffing them around Ari’s wrists.

Ari tried
desperately to stop her but she was too weak, and soon felt a collar snap shut around her throat as the large chain attached to it fell to the floor with a loud clutter.

“No please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone about any of this,” said Ari.

Again cruel laughter reverberated around her and the woman called Kiara spoke.

“Of
course you won’t tell anyone you foolish girl. Ragon would have lulled you into keeping our existence a secret, but this isn’t about secrets… this is about revenge. You’re such a pretty little thing; I might not have minded, could have even forgiven Ragon’s decision to take a blood bag… but then I saw you. Not that there is a mark on you. Ragon must hide it well. Where does he feed from you?”

Ari looked up in horror; Ragon had not bitten her. Kiara continued to look down at Ari bemused, clearly waiting for an answer, but it did not come. 

“Surely h
e bit you?” said Kiara, but she didn’t wait for Ari to respond, rather clicked her fingers and said to Paige, “Search her for bite marks.”

Again Paige moved into sight, and Ari whimpered when the girl’s trembling fingers reached for her shirt.

“No,” said Ari, trying to turn away from the girl.

“Please sit still,” said Paige
, but Ari continued to struggle, until Paige pulled the chains to the choker.

Ari felt the metal around her neck bend tight,
suffocating her. Her hands grasped the collar, her nails scraping uselessly against the steel, but all too soon the air in her lungs began to thin, and finally she gave in and stopped struggling; immediately the collar loosened. Her eyes were closed when she felt Paige pull her shirt off her then undo her jeans, mercifully leaving her underwear on.

“
There are no bites,” Paige said after a moment. 

“
But,” said Kiara, still out of Ari’s sight, “why would Ragon risk breaking our laws…”

S
he didn’t finish her sentence, rather stormed away and out of sight.

Unable to walk, Ari had been dragged by Mathew down a flight of stairs and into another room, where she was thrown into a cell. With only her underwear on, the skin around her thighs was rubbed roar, but Matthew seemed not to notice as he yanked the end of her chain and locked it to a metal post.  

This close, she could see that Matthew
had short glossy blonde hair which was parted to the side. His face was hard, with a chiselled jaw and angular nose. Both his lips and eyes were small, and though he looked handsome, there was a coldness to him that curbed any true good looks. He smiled down at her, his eyes roaming her bare skin, only covered by the bra an underwear Paige had not removed. Straightening up, somewhat slowly, he then backed out of Ari’s cell, slamming the door shut and locking it before racing from the room.

From behind the bars of her prison
, Ari could make out a larger room which seemed to act as a central point for three other cells. Hesitantly her fingers moved to the collar around her neck, searching the cruel metal for a hinge or keyhole.

“Don’t bother,”
said a small voice.

Ari looked around and saw
Paige. The girl must have followed her. She was sitting on a bed in a cell opposite; her cage door was closed but there was no lock on it.

“It’s Paige right?”
asked Ari, trying to keep her face steady as she spoke with the girl who had undressed her.

The girl nodded dumbly, staring at Ari with her head on the side, as if Ari were the first person she had seen in years.

“Paige, why the hell are you just sitting there? You could escape,” said Ari, now pacing around her cell.

“Wh
y would I want to escape?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”
said Ari, shaking her head in confusion. 

Paige
seemed to consider her words but then looking down at the ground, said, “I can’t help you.”

Ari gaped at the girl. I
t was clear that she had been brain washed or was suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

“Please
don’t try to escape,” said Paige, watching Ari as she shook the bars of her cell.

“Why not, didn’t you
hear them; they want to kill me.”

“Becau
se I don’t want to be the one that has to put you back in that cell,” the girl said simply.

For the first time Ari paused
and really looked at the girl. She was thin, almost emaciated, and judging from the many scarred bite marks on her wrists and neck, had been a prisoner of these monsters for some time.

“Ho
w long have you been here?” Ari asked.

“Since before I can remember.
”

“What?”
Ari said.

The girl shrugged. No wond
er she wasn’t going to help her; these monsters were Paige’s family.

Despite Ari’s best efforts, the door to her prison remained firmly locked. Paige had watched her attempts to break out with a look of curiosity on her face, as if she couldn’t understand why anyone would want to leave. After a while Paige seemed to accept that Ari had neither the skills nor the tools to escape, and so she climbed onto the shabby bed in the corner of her cell, curled up and fell asleep.

Time seemed to pass by strangely in her windowless prison
, though it couldn’t have been more than an hour or so since Ari had been placed in the cell, it felt as if she’d been there for days. She had all but given up hope of escape, when a small clicking noise sounded nearby and she looked up at Paige hopefully, but it wasn’t Paige who had made the noise; someone was climbing through a vent in the ceiling.