Bound (The Grandor Descendant Series Book 3) (18 page)

It looked as if Clyde was going to say something, but just then Sandra and Thomas arrived. This was fortunate. Ari had no time to impress on Chris and Lea the importance of making sure that no one, especially Clyde and Ragon, knew that they had gone into the forest to worn Natalie.

“Still no luck finding those waeres?” asked Ragon, smiling lightly as the pair pulled up chairs and sat down.    

“Nope,” said Sandra. “I heard Gwen mention that-”

“-oh you mean the evil overlord?” said Ragon, cutting Sandra off midsentence.

“Well, hopefully she will think that it was all just a red herring,” said Clyde, looking protectively at Riley as he spoke.

“I don’t think so,” said Sandra, “I was going to say that I heard Gwen mention that the Ancients were sending a new Elder to come and be Vice Chancellor.”

“What?” Clyde asked, his drink falling from his hand and shattering onto the ground, pieces of ice and broken glass speeding in all directions.

“Who?” Ragon asked quickly.

“No idea,” said Sandra. “Gwen didn’t seem too happy about it. I think she thought that she might be made Vice Chancellor, especially seeing as she basically saw to the construction of the Forensic Agency and Research Morgue.”

“Well, whoever the Ancients have sent couldn’t possibly be worse than the last Vice Chancellor,” said Ragon.

Tense silence followed this proclamation. When Sandra had mentioned that the Ancients had sent someone, Ari and Chris had exchanged knowing looks. They already knew that the Ancients were sending someone; Chris’s father had told them in the forest. For a moment it looked as if Chris was going to make mention of the warning his father had given them, but Ari kicked him hard under the table and he fell silent.

“Oh,” said Ragon, smiling at Ari, “I forgot to tell you. I booked a driving lesson for you tomorrow.”

“What?” Ari said, her heart racing in her chest, “But I have barely practiced and-”

“-that’s why I booked you a lesson and not an exam. You’ll be fine love,” he said, squeezing her hand. “It’s the same as driving in Australia, and you already have a license to do that.”

“Yea, except we drive on the right side of the road,” Chris supplied, just as Ragon glared at him.

“Where’s Ryder?” asked Ari, hoping to break the tension.

“Probably saying goodbye to Glenn,” Patrick said gruffly, looking once towards the bar and then back down at his feet.

Ari scanned the crowds around the bar. Her eyes traced the various people indifferently, until she double took at a girl standing in the shadows of the bar. Ari had only seen the silhouette of the black haired girl out of the corner of her eye, but there was something familiar about her, something which sent a shiver up and down Ari’s spine. By the time Ari pulled her head back to examine the girl more closely however, she was gone, and standing in her place, glaring at Ari was… Bridget? Ari locked eyes with the beautiful blonde vampire. Bridget’s eyes were narrowed and then a small smile swept across her face. Picking her drink up from the bar, Bridget moved outside to where Ari and the coven were sitting.

“Ragon,” said Bridget, sweeping over to him and kissing him once on the cheek, “have you had a chance to look over our reference list yet? Our presentation was amazing and I think we have a chance of being published.”

Though she didn’t say it aloud, probably because Lea and Chris were there, Ari knew Bridget was referring to the scientific journal called V.A.M.P.I.R.E. Clyde had told Ari about it when they had been traveling to the Pasteur Institute. It stood for Varied Applied Myths Practices In Recent Eras.

“Err, not yet,” said Ragon, looking knowingly at Chris and Lea. “What with the, err, you know, recent dramas, I’ve fallen a little behind. I haven’t really done anything since the seminar.”

Bridget pretended to look disappointed, flinging her hands dramatically onto her hips as she clucked her tongue.

“No problems,” she said finally, leaning down low so that her top hung loosely in front of her chest, revealing the top of a black lacy bra, “how about you come back to mine tonight? We could um, you know, catch up… for old time sake? Maybe get some of that reference list done too?”

Though it was clear that Bridget was trying to keep her voice low, Ari had heard every word, and she along with Sandra stared at Ragon incredulously.

“Not tonight,” said Ragon, quickly taking a loud gulp of his drink.

“Well,” said Bridget, now moving away from their table, “if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

The moment that Bridget had walked away, both Sandra and Ari rounded on Ragon.

“What the hell was she talking about?” asked Sandra.

“Yea,” said Ari, who had been about to ask the same question. “
Old time sake
… what does that mean?”

Ragon glared at Sandra and then looked at Ari, his eyebrows high on his forehead. He paused as he chewed on his words and then he spoke.

“A very, very long time ago,” he said slowly, “Bridget and I-”

“-what!” exclaimed Sandra, standing to her feet in exasperation and cutting Ragon off before he could continue.

“It was decades before you were even born,” said Ragon, ignoring Sandra as he turned to face Ari and reached for her hand, which she immediately withdrew.

“But… what about Kiara?” asked Sandra, trying desperately to be included in the conversation.

Ragon growled. He was looking at Sandra with such obvious hatred that Ari felt herself shiver.

“They were friends,” said Ragon, once again directing his conversation to Ari, plainly wishing that the two of them were alone. “Bridget and Kiara were friends and one night…”

“You had a threesome with Bridget and Kiara?” said Sandra, “Talk about no taste.”

Ari was thinking the exact same thing. Her mind was fuming with insult after insult, wanting desperately to know that what he was saying wasn’t true. The thought of Ragon being with Kiara was both disgusting and heart breaking, but the fact that he had been with Bridget too? Suddenly Ari felt claustrophobic; like she didn’t know Ragon at all. How could he have ever thought lustfully for what were arguably the two worst people in the world? The thought made her head swim and she felt sick, like the mere mention of either of their names would be enough to force her dinner right out of her stomach and onto the floor. 

“It wasn’t like that,” said Ragon, shaking his head slowly. “I love you,” he added, looking up at Ari.

Ari averted her eyes, too disgusted to look at him. Then two large boots approached their tablet and Ari looked up to see an older man.

Patrick sprung to his feet, saying, “Mark? Is it really you?”

“I thought that there must be a coven around here somewhere,” the man replied. “I just caught one of my officers and a vamp in the back room. They seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, but I had no idea
you
would be here.”

Unlike Bridget, this man seemed to assume that the humans sitting at the table knew about the existence of vampires. Ari wondered if it was because he hadn’t seen a stamp on hers, Lea’s, Riley’s and Chris’s hand, or if it was simply because the four of them were sitting with vampires, and assumed that they were sources.

“Everyone, this is Mark Green,” said Patrick. “I’m his fledgling!”

“That’s Cornel Green now,” Mark corrected, shooting a wink at Patrick.

Ari, who was still deep in thought, looked up at Mark Green, instantly recalling that she had seen him before. He had been glaring at her from across the room while she talked with Ryder and Glenn the last time they had gone to the campus club. But there was no trace of malice in Cornel Green’s face now; he was smiling ruefully at Patrick, his eyes almost greedy as he breathed in every part of his fledgling.   

“What brings you to the Pasteur Institute?” asked Mark, leaning in closer still to Patrick.

“My fledgling and I thought it might be nice to study with our friends,” Patrick explained, indicating the rest of the group.

“Fledgling?” Mark asked, touching his hand to his chin in consideration. “His name isn’t Ryder, is it?”

“That’s him. Why? He hasn’t been causing trouble, has he?” asked Patrick, laughing heartily.

“Oh no, quite the opposite; he’s been rather enjoying my crew. In fact, I caught Corporal Glenn sneaking out to see him on more than one occasion since we have been here. I would have reprimanded Glenn but I saw the bite marks and figured he had fallen in with a vamp,” said Mark.

“Well, thank you for your discretion,” said Patrick, turning with slitted eyes to focus on Ryder, who was walking out from the bar and towards them, a dopy eyed sailor trailing behind.

“Who wants another drink?” asked Ryder, grinning broadly at the group when he reached the table.

“I think you have had enough for the rest of us,” said Patrick, his expression looking hurt.

“Huh?” said Ryder, moving closer to Patrick, who took an equal distance away. “What’s wrong?”

“Why don’t we ask Glenn?” said Mark, moving over to the Corporal, who immediately saluted him.

“At ease,” said Mark. “Tell me Glenn, now you’re not going to get into trouble, but have you been carrying on with this young man in a manner unbecoming of an officer?”

Glenn gulped loudly and hung his head.

“What?” Ryder said, turning to face Glenn and shaking him slightly. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry Ryder,” said Glenn, reaching out to hold Ryder’s hand, “I don’t want to lie about us.”

“But there is no
us
,” Ryder exclaimed, looking down at Glenn’s hand in confusion, before his large blue eyes fixed on Patrick imploringly.

“How could you?” said Patrick, backing further away from Ryder and then turning around, racing for the exit.

“Patrick, wait!” Ryder yelled after him, but before he could race after Patrick, Mark put a hand on Ryder’s chest. “Maybe you should let him cool off for a bit.”

Ryder made to push Mark aside but Mark grabbed his hand and threw him into a chair at the table, whistling dully as he did so. Ryder was standing back on his feet a second later, but by the time he looked up, both Mark and Patrick were gone.

“What the hell just happened?” asked Ryder, looking around at the remaining stunned faces at the table.

That was a very good question. In the space of a few minutes, Ari had discovered that Bridget and Ragon had a past, and that Ryder was cheating on Patrick. Talk about a slap in the face. Not wanting to think about her first problem, Ari focused instead on Ryder.   

“What’s been going on with you and Glenn?” she whispered.