A Dark Night

Chapter 6- A Time for Answers

Chapter 6- A time for answers

Ragon had sat next to Ari on the edge of her bed that night. He knew that she if she woke up and saw him she would freak out, but had been unable to help himself. He had tried to justify this by telling himself that he was worried she might choke on her own vomit, but truth be told he just wanted to be close to her.

Up until tonight he had thought that he could keep her safe and keep his distance. As he sat and watched Ari breathe little shallow breaths, he recalled the first time he had seen her; or rather the first time she had seen him. He had been at the university, reading in the library when she’d walked past him. He hadn’t looked up when she passed by, but continued to read his much worn copy of ‘Dantes Inferno’.

From the second she had left the library, all he could hear was her heartbeat. The purposeful lub dub of her heart was distinct and like music to his ears. It was a delicious and soothing song that only he could hear, reminding him that she was alive. The moment her heart rate had changed he knew something was wrong. It had gotten too fast, too quickly, and there was something strange about the rhythm that reminded him of Karl Husa’a, ‘Quarto movemiento’. He had wanted to race to her, to blur through the library in an instant, but he knew he could not: such actions would not go unnoticed. Instead he had raced in the most controlled manner he could manage, trying to mimic a human pace as best he could.

To those who had seen him, he might have been any mortal chasing a bus or else being late for an appointment. However, as soon as he felt the absence of heartbeats around him and thought it was safe, he accelerated and blurred through the campus. For one desperate moment, he wished that Ari was bound to him and that he could sense exactly where she was, rather than having to rely on listening for her heart. But this would mean that she was either his source or his fledgling. A fledgling was what a vampire called any mortal they turned into a vampire. A bond existed between the two and afforded the maker certain privileges, like being able to locate their fledgling if they were nearby. In the case of blood sources vampires were able to control them, which may not have helped with finding Ari, but would have made it much easier for him to protect her without her becoming suspicious. As it was, neither of these options were acceptable  so Ragon had had to contend with only being able to hear her heart, and all the limitations that came with it.   

The moments it had taken him to reach Ariana had felt like some of the longest in his considerably protracted life. He had seen the beasts that had attacked her first, reacting in an instant to end their existence. So preoccupied with their prey, they hadn’t even noticed him. Moving over to the two boys who dared to restrain her, he had broken their necks quickly.

Ari had then fallen hard onto the ground, and he wanted desperately to check that she was ok, but vengeance distracted him. He had enjoyed racing after the man who’d foolishly tried to run from him. But Ragon was impossibly fast and had taken the insignificant worm in his hands and crushed his spine against his knee. Last but not least: the instigator.

Ragon had smiled as he’d watched the monster pray on his knees; thinking that no amount of penance would help him. A monster killing another monster, Ragon had thought to himself, before reaching down and tearing his prey’s throat out. He had been unable to stop himself and had drunk the man’s blood. This more than anything else he regretted; he had not wanted Ari to see him that way.

Had Ari not been there, he would have preferred to take his time with them and really ensured that they suffered for trying to rape her. He imagined biting them and controlling them, then getting them to live out their worst nightmares while under his command. But he couldn’t indulge in such pleasures; he had had to get Ari away from there and make sure she was safe and, above all else, make quite sure that nothing like this could ever happen again. He remembered reaching down to pick Ari up after she had fainted. He couldn’t bring himself to lock eyes with her, but had taken her gingerly in his arms and raced into the night. He had run the entire way with her in his arms. She did not speak and Ragon knew by the quiet hum of her heart, that she remained unconscious for the entire journey.