Free Blood Hunter (The Grandor Descendant Series) by Bell Stoires Page B

go.
     
    For a long time Ari remained outside, even when Ryder had left. She was watching the barge’s progression through the sea. It felt oddly calming looking at the grey ocean; it gave her a sense of peace despite the anticipation that had been with her since discovering that none of her relatives were alive. More than being curious about the fact that she was the last living descendant of Mary Grandor, Ari felt sad. It was yet another reminder that she was alone.  
     
    “We’ll be there soon. What were you and Ryder chatting about?” asked Ragon, startling Ari as he made his way towards her.
     
    “Just stuff,” said Ari.
     
    “Are you ok?” asked Ragon, his hand finding hers as he grasper her cold fingers.
     
    “Yea, fine.”
     
    “You know,” he said, turning to look out at the water, “it’s ok if you’re not.”
     
    “Not what?”
     
    “Not ok,” he replied.
     
    Ari’s head dropped at these words. Was she ok? No, no she wasn’t. Larissa was dead, the Ancients were after her, and she had discovered that she was related to a witch who had been burnt at the stake almost four hundred years ago. It defiantly wasn’t normal dramas she had on her hands. But she didn’t want to think about any of that right now.
     
    “Have you been there before?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.
     
    “To the Pasteur Institute; yes many years ago.”
     
    “What’s it like?” she asked.
     
    “Just like any university, except for all the vampires.”
     
    “Yea, a vampire student body would tend to make it fairly unique,” she said sarcastically. “I wonder what type of clubs they have, probably not the usual football and volleyball teams. So, why is it called the Pasteur Institute?”
     
    Their conversation felt oddly formal. Ari knew, deep down, that she was distancing her true feelings from Ragon, afraid that he would overreact if he knew how she really felt about everything they had discovered. It felt wrong hiding her emotions from him, especially after everything they had been though together, but she didn’t want him to think that she couldn’t handle going to the Pasteur Institute. It might be the only place for them to the find answers.
     
    “It’s named after its founder, Louie Pasteur,” replied Ragon. “Perhaps you have heard of him?”
     
    Ari cocked her head to one side; who hadn’t heard of Louie Pasteur.
     
    “He was a vampire,” Ragon admitted.
     
    “What?”
     
    “Actually, had it not been for him, the entire vampire race might have been extinguished a couple of hundred years ago,” he explained.
     
    “Go on,” said Ari, appreciating the change in topic.
     
    “A few centuries ago, there was a huge vampire hunt. With the growing human population, many fledglings were made, and their inability to hide our existence forced us into the open. The humans could hardly ignore all the attacks on mortals and so we were hunted like dogs. It is from that time that many of the vampire legends were born. Louie Pasteur, who was a vampire, created the rabies virus from an extract of the vampire toxin. It mimicked many of our traits, making humans nocturnal, behave aggressively… even bite others. He then formulated the rabies vaccine and suddenly the hysteria was silenced, being blamed on a disease of the nervous system transmitted by animals rather than vampires. He went on to create the Pasteur Institute, where he made both the virus and the vaccine in mass quantities. It’s because of him that vampires are a thing of legends, seen mainly in Hollywood or romance novels.”
     
    Ari blinked a few times. She had learnt about Louie Pasteur in her biology classes during high school, although her lessons obviously had not included such an outrageous version of the truth. She smiled picturing her 11 th grade science teacher, Mr Hall, whose devote Christian beliefs had prevented him from teaching them about evolution; if he only knew the truth about Louie