The Iron in Blood by Jenny Doe (primary phonics .txt) 📕

“We’d better go now,” Mark reluctantly put the kitten on the floor. It stumbled a few steps, but gained its balance, and limped across to Rebecca, who leaned down to stroke it. “Mum will be home in about thirty minutes, and it’s my turn to make supper.”

Rebecca looked up suddenly, grinning widely. “Something to look forward to,” she teased.

“Just because you’ve now got a taste for the red stuff, doesn’t mean you should mock my broccoli cheese bake.” Mark pretended to be indignant. Rebecca chuckled, and stood up. I stayed where I was, watching their easy interaction.

“What about tomorrow?” Mark asked. “Should we come here after school?”

I nodded. “Both of you, please. We don’t want to give the neighbours cause for concern.”

Mark seemed to think that was hilarious and launched into a long loud baying laugh, clutching his abdomen, and tears streaming down his face. I wondered if all the excitement of the afternoon was catching up with him, and he was becoming hysterical. Then he spluttered, “If only they knew!” He was still giggling as he crossed the road with his sister. I smiled. Nice kids. Brave. But very vulnerable too. That worried me.

Rebecca

I knew Mark was going to make trouble for me as soon as we got in the house and he started making loud smacking noises with his lips.

“Smooching a vampire! Woohoo!” he ducked away from my attempted swipe, grinning.

“Mark! Someone might hear you!”

“There’s nobody home yet, Bex.” More kissing noises. Brothers!

“Seriously, Sis, it might be a good idea for you to go on the pill or something. Angus didn’t look like he was going to stop, and I seriously thought he was going to kill me when I interrupted you two.”

“I’m considering killing you myself, you irritating lttle…” My voice tapered off. Someone was turning a key in the front door. “If you’re not careful, I will bite you,” I hissed at him, showing my teeth. He giggled again, and ran up the stairs.

“Hello, baby! How are you feeling” Mum sounded slightly breathless.

“Much better, thanks.” She looked at me carefully and nodded.

“You look a lot better. You’ve got some colour in your cheeks now. Amazing what a morning in bed can do.” And half a pint of blood to drink, I thought, smiling inwardly. What a bizarre day. All I wanted to do was go upstairs and curl up in bed so I could think, but Mum wanted to talk about her day. She went into the kitchen, chattering away about some man that she’d met at work. I made encouraging noises, and asked questions at the right points in the conversation. She didn’t even notice that my cast had been replaced by a knee brace. Mark appeared in the doorway after a few minutes.

“Hey Mum,” he said. “Broccoli cheese tonight?” He grinned sideways at me. I pulled a face.

“Sounds lovely!” Mum wasn’t fussy.

Joe arrived shortly afterwards, and we ate our supper and drank tea and watched some crime drama on television. I excused myself just after nine, pleading exhaustion, and crawled into bed. I had anticipated this moment all evening, and was looking forward to thinking it all through, but I fell asleep within minutes of putting my head down, and the last thing on my mind as I drifted off was the feel of Angus’ body against mine.

Angus

Fergus phoned me at about nine. I was grateful for the interruption. My house was beginning to feel eerily empty without the Hardings. Even the kitten had disappeared.

“How did she take it?” That was Fergus. No preliminaries. Hello was a word that happened to other people. I grinned. I missed my brothers.

“Surprisingly well actually. Her brother was here, and I had to tell him too.” I explained how I had found Rebecca dying, and what I had had to do to bring her back. I described Mark’s levelheadedness, and his easy acceptance of a peculiar situation.

“Hmmm,” said Fergus.

“No.” I said it flatly, with finality. I knew what they would think – that Mark knew too much and would need to be eliminated. I liked and admired that boy, and I’d felt his determination to keep our secret. I wasn’t about to kill him, or allow him to be killed. “My cat likes him.”

“As long as you’re sure you know what you’re doing.” I smiled. I had been expecting them to put up more of a fight.

“So what is she like?” Marcus interrupted impatiently.

I hesitated for a few seconds, wondering how honest my reply should be. I decided to throw caution to the winds. My brothers would know eventually anyway.

I groaned slightly, wondering how to describe in words the fixation that was beginning to grip me. They understood anyway.

“Hah!” barked Fergus. “That bad, is it. She would be hard to resist, though, wouldn’t she. It’s like we’re a bunch of tigers running with wolves. We like their company to a degree…”

“And occasionally we’ll eat one…” Marcus and his tasteless jokes.

“But they’re just not the same as we are. And now Angus has met a female tiger. Yummy!”

“The hormones must be whipping through your system like a tornado. And maybe through hers too. I wonder if that’s what triggered her switch to iron metabolism? Hmmm…” Marcus sounded intrigued again. “I’m going to need a blood sample from you, brother. And one from your tigress, if you can manage it.” I had long ago become used to being a guinea pig for Marcus. He would get his blood, of course. I owed him that much, and more.

“I wonder if we should pay you guys a visit.” Fergus sounded thoughtful.

A twinge of jealousy shot through me, but I suppressed it. “I think you should. Marcus can do his blood tests, and Rebecca can meet the family, poor girl.”

Fergus sounded pleased. “I’ll start organising. We’ll stay in a hotel, obviously. Your house is too small for all of us.”

“I’ve got things I need to finish up here,” Marcus said gruffly. He didn’t like to be rushed.

Fergus sighed exaggeratedly. “Forty-eight hours, then, brother.” Click, and they were gone.

CHAPTER 5

Rebecca

It was still dark outside when the alarm went off in the morning, ripping me away from the ghostly memories of some strangely gratifying dream. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, struggling to wake up. I knew that if I lay my head down for just one more minute, I would wake up hours later, late for school and in loads of trouble. It had happened before. Often.

I blinked owlishly as light flooded my room. Mark stood in my doorway, grinning, his finger still on the switch. I lunged at him, and almost caught him, but he slipped away downstairs, laughing triumphantly. I sat back down on the bed as memories of yesterday unexpectedly poured into my head. I looked around at my bedroom, surprised at how normal everything felt. I was still worried about getting to school on time, for goodness sake. The ordinariness was comforting. I can do this, I thought.

I had a quick shower and dressed in a clean uniform, strapping the ungainly knee brace around my leg almost as an afterthought. It was all about keeping up appearances. I tied my still wet hair back in a rudimentary plait, brushed my teeth, and hobbled downstairs, crutch free. Much better.

Mum had left for work while I was showering, and Mark had finished his breakfast, and was sitting in the corner of the sitting room at the computer, clearly deeply immersed in what he was reading. Joe had left soon after Mum. He had never been an early riser before, but now he was seeing some girl, and he liked to be at her house early to walk with her to college. Love in action – changing the habits of a lifetime.

“Time to go, Sis. I’ll walk with you today.” Mark stood near the door suddenly, bag slung over his shoulder.

“You don’t need to do that, Mark. My knee is fine now. And what about Harry?”

“I’ll send him a text. I know your knee is fine. I’m more worried about you trying to rip people’s throats out and suchlike. What will the neighbours say?” He burst out laughing again. I glared balefully at him. “No, seriously, Rebecca, I think I’ll keep an eye on you until your iron levels have stabilised. I thought you were going to die yesterday.” He shrugged.

I was grateful for his uncharacteristic concern. “Thanks Mark. I’ll get my stuff.”

The walk to school was uneventful. Mark had stopped teasing me about blood and throats and things like that. Maybe he was worried that we would be overheard, and someone would take his ridiculous banter seriously. He was taking this secret keeping business seriously. Good. I wasn’t ready to be outed yet.

Mark left me at the gate and went to find Harry. I made my way to my first lesson of the day – maths – trying to remember to limp. The knee brace helped.

“Freakface!”

Oh crap. Shanice again. I sighed, irritated. I’d been thinking about this afternoon, and seeing Angus again. I’d also been trying to dismiss those intrusive thoughts and not think about him and how he looked and smelled and felt. It took a lot of concentration to think such conflicting things at the same time. Shanice interrupted that concentration, and I was suddenly angry with her. I turned abruptly.

“What!” I almost barked at her.

She smirked at me and took a few steps forward so that her face hovered near mine. “Ooh, Freakface here is getting cross with me. Ooh, what am I going to do?” I smelled her fetid breath as she leaned even closer, and heard the tittering of her friends and fellow bullies in the background. I should theoretically have been afraid of her, all two hundred pounds of malice and spite, but I wasn’t. Not anymore. When something really big happens in your life, I guess you forget to sweat the small stuff. I was tired of always trying to avoid this big reeking nemesis of mine.

“Back off,” I growled at her.

I saw the change in her eyes, the intention, and her face hardened. I was prepared for the blow, and swayed backwards as her hand shot out, glancing off my chin and shooting past my left ear. She was suddenly off balance, her face even closer, her nose a tempting target. I put my right hand out and hit her in the face with my palm, feeling the crunch of breaking bone as her nose was squashed against her cheeks, feeling the spattering of blood on my arm and face. She squealed and lurched backwards, tripping over her bag, and landing with a thud on her large backside. I stood and watched her, waiting for retaliation, but none came. She held her shattered nose and sobbed.

The first thing I noticed was the intensely alluring smell of blood. I lifted my right hand and looked at my palm. Shanice’s blood was smeared and splattered across it like some gory Rorschach test. I had an almost irresistible urge to lick that thick crimson liquid from my skin. But Mark was swiftly at my side, grabbing my wrist and turning my face to look at him, mouthing NO, and pulling me away. I looked at him through a red haze, and I realised what I had almost done. The haze faded slowly as I stood staring into my brother’s eyes, trying to anchor myself, to get back to being normal. Then I was back, and I was suddenly very frightened.

“It’s OK, it’s OK,” Mark repeated over and over, his eyes on mine, his hands clamped around my wrists. I gazed back at him, wishing that he could be right, and knowing that he wasn’t. I nodded, signalling the return of my control,