Bound (The Grandor Descendant Series Book 3) (41 page)

Thomas opened his mouth but closed it.

“The Ancients have wanted to take over for years, but they needed a way to ensure the rest of the vampires would support them. They found it with the invention of blood candy. It is addictive, beyond that of any drug, and vampires addicted to it are completely reliant on it. The effect of just a few days without the substance induces paralytic withdrawals.”

Sandra let out a little gasp, turned to face Thomas and said, “But how do you know this?”

Kiara laughed and said, “I have been selling it to vampires in Brisbane for almost twenty years. Every one of the vampires here now, they don’t support the Ancients out of fear or respect, they are doing it because the Ancients have threatened to cut off their supply if they don’t.”

“But, where is the blood candy coming from?” asked Ragon.

For answer Kiara’s head tilted backwards, her eyes locking on the ceiling and suddenly Ari understood; the humans that had been kidnapped, the ones who were upstairs locked in glass cages as their blood was drained from them, they were the source of the blood candy. And just like that it all made sense. The stamp that Ari had seen over Emily’s medical file… it had said BC programme… Blood Candy programme. That’s why all the vampires upstairs looked the way they did. Ari had thought that the hungry expression on their faces was familiar and she was right. They had looked the way Sandra had when she had been going through the first stages of withdrawals from the blood candy.

“The Forensic Agency and Research Morgue, the Farm as you call it, it is one of many that the Ancients have set up across the world. Each is filled with missing humans. They give them a drug and put them into a coma, then they add something to their system, I don’t know what, and collect the blood candy,” said Kiara. “They have had twenty years to ensure that enough vampires are addicted to it and now all they have to do is shorten the supply and watch as the desperate vamps flock to their sides, all willing and ready to do whatever they are told, just as long as the blood candy supply continues. Nothing can stop them.”

“Why are you here Kiara?” asked Ragon.

Kiara’s eyes raked the prison, then she spoke, her voice soft, as though trying to invoke a private conversation.

“I can get you out of here. We can be together. We will have to hide from the Ancients, be on the run… but we will have each other,” she said, and even though Kiara was trying to keep her voice quiet, Ari couldn’t help but hear the hopefulness as Kiara spoke.

Every face in the dungeon was watching Ragon’s. Slowly he nodded, and Kiara placed her hand, almost feverishly, once again through the cells bars. When she went to touch Ragon’s cheek, he intercepted her, holding onto her hand instead.  

“Kiara,” he said, and Ari felt her heart break at the sickly sweet and sympathetic tone to Ragon’s voice, “you still know nothing of love. You think you love me. You think that we can be together, but love is not possession… love is selfless.”

Kiara stood frozen, apparently unable to believe her ears. Ragon however had dropped her hand and resumed his seat in the cell, this time as far away from her as he could manage.

“You would rather stay here and die?” she asked incredulously.

“I would rather die with Ariana than live with you,” he said simply, no longer looking at Kiara, his eyes fixed instead behind, on Ari.  

Ari felt her heart swell in her chest, until Kiara tore her eyes away from Ragon to glare at her. Though she said nothing, the icy look in her eyes spoke volumes. Kiara remained there for a moment, glowering at Ari, then blurred to the door and disappeared through it.

“Well,” said Clyde, looking around at the shocked faces, “that was dramatic.”

“The least you could have done was to accept. That way you would have been able to get out of here and kill the bitch,” said Sandra.

Ragon laughed. It wasn’t a happy laugh, rather it was mirthless.

“Well, at least Chris will be alright,” said Lea, and Ari turned in her cell, peering down the dimly lit room to stare at her in confusion. “I just mean, if shit hits the fan, then he is on the other side of all this mess.”

“I hope he gets away from his father,” said Ari.

“He will,” said Lea, and there was a confidence to her tone. “He’s good… deep down. If I ever get out of this hell hole, remind me to tell him that.”

“Just that?” asked Ragon, and there was a smile at the corner of his mouth.

Lea looked at him curiously and said, “I could probably come up with something else to say.”

“Ragon,” said Ari, waiting for the conversation about Chris to die down before she spoke, “you should have gone with Kiara. You would have gotten to-”

“-don’t tell me you think that being on the run with Kiara would be living?” he asked, smiling at her.

“Well, compared to dying in a cell,” said Ari.

“Like I said, I’d rather die with you than live with her. Ariana,” he said, and Ari startled at how he had used her full name, “I don’t know if you know just how much you mean to me. I’ve told you that I love you, I’ve tried to show you how much better I am with you, but, if we don’t get out of this, I want you to know, you are my world.”

“Ragon,” Ari sighed, wishing desperately that they were alone, and that he was holding her, “how could I not know that? After everything you’ve done for me? You’ve risked everything to be with me.”

“I wouldn’t change a second of the time we’ve spent together,” said Ragon.

“I wouldn’t want you to,” Ari said.

“If we get out of this, remind me to ask you to ma-” Ragon started to say, but Ari shushed him.

“-we will get out of this,” she said determinedly. “We all will.” 

Chapter 20- Everyone has a Choice
              

For the rest of the night the coven sat in their cells in despair. They had gone through every possible plan of escape and had come to the conclusion that the only way to save their lives and Riley’s, was for Ari to join the Ancients and beg for Riley’s life and the covens in exchange. The threat Kiara had made, about the Ancients organising to have Ragon and the rest of the coven killed the moment that they agreed to their terms, kept playing in Ari’s mind. But what other choice did they have? The Ancients would kill them all if she refused. Foolishly, Ari had hoped that Chris would burst through the doors and rescue them, but he had not. No one had entered the dungeon after Kiara had left, and Ari feared that Chris was being kept somewhere, restrained by his father, as the wraith performed the dark magic that would locate all the waeres still alive today.

Ari wasn’t sure how many hours had passed since the Ancient’s trial. The room, still dark bar the ominous light of the hawthorn and silver prisons, gave no hint as to what time it was. It could quiet easily have been only a few minutes since they had been dragged back inside the dungeon or several hours, or perhaps many days. Time seemed to slip past them unchecked, as if it were no longer bound by the laws of nature.

Finally there was a clicking sound outside and everyone looked up expectantly at the door. It swung open, hitting the opposite side of the wall with a resounding clash, the noise dancing along the cold stone walls, dragging out the sound.

“Good morning,” said James, moving to Ari’s cell and smiling sweetly down at her as he produced a key. “Have you come to a decision?”

Slowly Ari nodded and watched as James unlocked her prison door and indicated for her to follow him. As Ari walked, she locked eyes with Ragon. He was still sitting slumped on the floor. The night in the hawthorn and silver cage seemed to have drained him of what little strength he had left, and he couldn’t even stand as she walked past.

“What about them?” Ari asked, indicating the coven and Lea.

“The Ancients wish to hear your decision,” said James, “the rest of the prisoners will stay here until you have decided their fate.”

“And they won’t be harmed?” she asked, just as the warning that Kiara had given them last night popped into her head.

“No,” said James, walking out of the dungeon. “Not if you agree to join the Ancients. There will however be guards posted on the doors, should you decide to… act out.”

Reluctantly Ari nodded and followed him outside.

This time when she walked with James, she did not speak with him. She had given up trying to understand why he had sided with the Ancients, and what it was about him that made him so different to other men. Though she was certain he was no vampire, there was something uncharacteristically human about him. But his humanity seemed to have gone sour, perhaps from a lifetime spent with in the company of evil. James had called the Ancients his family, and Ari was sure that living with the most powerful and evil creatures in the world, would have bleached the humanity out of him. Then again, perhaps it had never been there, she wasn’t sure. But she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that there was more to him.

Again he did not restrain her, simply allowed her to walk alongside him, as if she weren’t a threat at all. And unfortunately this was true. Even if she were able to freeze him, and she wasn’t entirely certain that she could, what good would it do? The Ancients had Riley, they had the coven and they had Emily and Chris… and they would kill them all without hesitation if Ari escaped. No, Ari’s only hope was to bargain with the Ancients. Bargain with them for Riley’s life, the coven’s life and Lea’s life, if she agreed to join them. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only plan that involved them getting out of this mess alive.

“In here,” said James, gesturing to a door on the opposite of the dark corridor they had been walking through.  

With a pang of realisation, Ari saw that she was standing before the same door that she had walked through last night; the door that would lead her to the enormous room with the stage. Holding her breath, Ari pushed the door open, brushing past James so lightly that she felt the warmth radiate from his person, just as her charm bracelet dangled against her wrist. The moment she was inside, her eyes strained to the stage below and she raced towards it.

Atop the stage were a gathering of people, all looking curiously at a metal examination table that had been placed in the centre. Riley was lying unconscious on top of it, her eyes closed and her wrists and ankles bound with thick ropes. Her skin was braceleted with bruises from where the thick binds had cut into her, but other than that she did not appear harmed. Next to her was Chris’s father. The wraith was hovering over Riley expectantly, glancing from her and back towards a large globe of the world that had been placed on a podium a few feet away. Slumped on the floor, his head against the carpet of the stage, was Chris. He had a large bruise across his cheek and his eyes were closed, though Ari saw with a pang of relief that he was still breathing. Off to the side, standing ominously near the edge of the stage, were the three Ancients.

“We trust the night in your cell has illuminated you to accepting our offer?” said Lace.

Lace was wearing a long Grecian green dress, which made her look like a Greek goddess. Next to her, in robes of black were Joseph and Virgil. Ari eyed the trio wearily. She did not fear them, rather despised them. They were evil and Ari couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to these vampires to make them so devoid of humanity? Surely they must have once been humans, just like Ragon and the rest of the vampires?