A Dark Night (Book One of The Grandor Descendant series) Read Free

she thought of asking him for help but before she could voice this, he had moved to another of her attackers, placed his hand on either side of the boy’s head and twisted. A sudden snapping noise sounded and the boy fell to the ground, like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw fast movement; one of the boys was trying to flee. The stranger had seen him also, his head cocked to one side as if in contemplation. But the boy with that terribly crooked smiled didn’t get away; the stranger had raced after him, moving through the forest so fast that he became a blur. Ari gaped at his speed.
     
    A few moments later and the stranger returned alone, taking his time as he advanced on the last boy who was cowering near Ari, praying or whispering something that she couldn’t hear.
    “Pathetic,” said the stranger, his voice cold.
    The night was so dark that Ari had not been able to see anything of the stranger who had rescued her, just a tall, dark frame.
    “Please no,” the boy mumbled.
    The stranger looked across at the last boy, though still the night was too dark for Ari to make out his face. Then a long ray of moonlight broke through the canopy of the bamboo forest, shinning down to reveal the stranger smiling. Still in shock, Ari heard a low growl and looked around wildly. When she had looked back at the stranger, she saw two white fangs protruding past his lips, so as to stick out of the edge of his mouth. A silent scream filled Ari’s head but she was paralysed, completely frozen by fear, as was the boy next to her.
    The boy never screamed, not even after the stranger dragged him to his fee t and then glared at him with such furious hatred. Ari watched in horror as the boy’s head was forced to one side, exposing his neck. He dangled in mid-air but then the stranger struck at him, and the large white fangs smashed into the boy’s flesh with horrific force. Still holding onto his prey, the stranger did not release him right away but continued to tear at his throat viciously, almost hungrily. Then, after a few moments, the stranger let the body of the last boy drop to the ground.
    Ari looked across at the boy’s frozen face; his eyes were still wide open, although his pupils were fixed and dilated, as if his last thoughts in life had been those of utter disbelief and sheer dread, which Ari didn’t doubt for an instant.
     
    It took a few moments for reality to catch up with Ari. As it did, she stared at the bodies scattered around her. Mirroring Ari, the stranger also surveyed the scene. He seemed to search the area with all his senses, making Ari think that he was checking to make sure they were alone.
    “Are you alright?” he asked, not turning to face her.
    There was something about that question, something about the tone of the voice that spoke, it was almost familiar to Ari, but she still cowered away from the stranger.  
    “Please don’t hurt me?” she said, her mind scrambled as she avoided looking up at him.
    “Hurt you? Why would I … why would I hurt you?” he said, “I just saved you.”
    W hen Ari didn’t answer right away, the stranger turned to face her. Ari was breathing very fast, panting as she sat frozen on the wet grass. Slowly two feet appeared in front of her, and the man who had rescued her knelt down on one knee. Ari blinked up at him, and devastatingly green eyes stared down at her.
    “Yo… you,” she said.
    Her head began to spin and despite desperately trying to hold onto something, anything that would bring some semblance of normality to this bizarre reality, everything became too much and Ari fainted.

Chapter 2- Green Eyed Monster
                                                                                                     
    It was several hours before Ari aw oke. At first she stirred, as if waking from a bad dream, but then sat bolt