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

“Let’s have them,” Angus smiled, and bit into his own slice.

“Well, let’s see.” Mark pulled a small notebook out of his bag, and flipped the pages until he found what he was looking for. “I have a list.”

Angus groaned slightly. “Not a list!” he said, his voice tinged with false dismay.

“Number one. Is it true that you react to sunshine?” Mark took another huge bite. I glanced at Angus.

“No. But we always look like we can’t go in the sun because we’re so pale. We don’t tan. Normal humans tan to defend their skin from the sun. We don’t need to do that.”

That explained my continuing colourlessness in the face of weeks of tanning. So there was a reason for it! I was strangely pleased.

“Number two.” Mark grinned at Angus. “Vampires on TV and in legends and books are usually kinda hideous. You both look normal. Good looking, even.” He pulled a face as he said the last three words, as if it cost him to do that. I was flattered.

Angus grinned widely. “Thanks, Mark.” Mark looked sour.

“My brother Marcus has done a lot of research on vampire legends, and he’s come up with a theory that, knowing him, is probably pretty accurate.” He took another bite, and chewed for a few seconds, and swallowed. “Marcus reckons that we look normal because we eat like normal people too, besides taking iron supplements. He compares it to people who are addicted to heroin. Some will give themselves over entirely to the drug. Their lives revolve around the drug, obtaining it, and then using it. They don’t eat normally, or look after themselves in other ways, like bathing for instance. They soon start to look pretty grim, but they don’t seem to care. Marcus thinks that older vampires used to be a bit like that. Their addiction hit them like a bus, and they were never able to recover. He also thinks that we manage to live relatively normal lives because we take iron tablets instead of blood. Iron is released fairly slowly into our systems, so we don’t have that massive rush that you get from sucking blood.” He grinned again.

Mark was nodding slowly, like it all made sense. “Cool.”

Angus said nothing.

“Number three. Are there any others out there?”

“Hmmm. Good question. I don’t know. The likelihood is, yes, there probably are more of us out there somewhere. We haven’t found them yet, but they could be camouflaging themselves as normal people, same as us. There are a few possibilities, really. Firstly, there could be a family or two of fairly civilised vampires, like us, who know what they are and how to control it. They would also know how to avoid detection, so it’s unlikely we’d ever find them. The second possibility is that there is a group of old style vampires, but that’s a long shot. They would have to be pretty organised, and live somewhere that was very isolated, because they’d look wrong. They’d also need some human go-betweens. That kind of group would have had to have existed for a long time. We haven’t bothered to look for groups like that. Marcus doesn’t think that they could exist, and there would be no point in finding them anyway. They’d be too freaky, even for us.” He grinned.

“The third possibility is that there are more like Rebecca out there, with two human parents. Both your parents carried different parts of the genes you needed to metabolise iron, and the combination of the two was like fitting two pieces of a puzzle together.”

“How did you find me?” It was my turn for a question.

“You had a blood test when you were hit by that car. Marcus isolated a specific blood subtype in the three of us that wasn’t present in the rest of the population. Fergus hacked into most of the blood banks in the world, including those in the NHS. Your name was flagged by one of Fergus’ systems. I was in the vicinity, so I was sent to check you out.”

He smiled at me. I felt that now familiar fluttering rush in my abdomen again.

“Marcus somehow got them to send him a sample of your blood. He confirmed the presence of those three genes in your DNA.”

“Have you found any others like me?”

“Not yet, no. We weren’t even expecting to find you. It was quite a surprise.” He was smiling with his eyes again. Flutter, flutter. It was becoming almost painful to be in the same room as him, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was starting to dread having to go home tonight. I tried diversionary tactics.

“So where do Marcus and Fergus live?”

“Russia. We were born in Aberdeenshire, but we moved to Russia shortly before the cold war ended. I haven’t lived there for years, though. Marcus and Fergus stayed behind when I left.”

“Why did you leave?” Mark asked through a mouthful of pizza.

“I’m not sure. There was nothing to keep me there, I suppose. Our family lands are pretty extensive, and we have a huge house out there. Marcus was able to set up a state of the art lab in a purpose built addition to the house, and Fergus snuck his computers in there one day and never left. They had all they needed. Marcus did loads of degrees, Fergus made loads of money.”

“Do they look like you?” Mark again. His curiosity knew no bounds.

“No. They have light greyish eyes and blonde hair. So when they get excited their pupils dilate and it looks like their eyes have changed colour from grey to black. Our eyes are different to yours. When our ‘fight or flight’ response kicks in, our pupils dilate completely, so you can’t see any of the coloured part of the eye at all. I blend in better because my eyes are dark anyway. The change is not so noticeable.”

“I’ve noticed it,” muttered Mark. Angus grinned wickedly at him.

“And yet, here you sit, still alive, and eating my pizza.”

Mark grinned back. “It’s ‘cause your cat likes me, isn’t it?”

“Why else?”

“She needs a name, you know.” I decided to interrupt. The kitten was still cuddled up on my lap. She was asleep now, and her paws twitched wildly as she stalked her prey in the throes of feline dreams.

We spent the rest of the afternoon debating about what to name the kitten. Mark and I did anyway, while Angus stretched out in his armchair and watched us with amused eyes. The debate got a bit heated when Mark suggested calling the cat Quark, because she was so tiny, and it rhymed with ‘Mark’. Angus eventually interrupted us to point out that our mother would be arriving home in about ten minutes. The idea of going home was unwelcome, but we both stood up reluctantly. The kitten had wandered off to find something to eat earlier, and hadn’t returned yet.

“I should be OK to go to school tomorrow?” It was a question, not a statement. I was worried about the whole prospect of attacking somebody and drinking their blood. It was not something I’d ever wanted to do before, but things were clearly changing. And people out there were unlikely to be as understanding as Mark and Angus.

“That depends. Now that you know how you react to the smell of blood, you will probably do your best to avoid spilling any again.” He grinned at me, teasing.

“Very funny. So you think it will be OK.”

“You should be fine,” he said as he walked us to the front door.

I shouldn’t have listened to him.

Angus

It was easier for me when Mark was around. The two of them arguing with each other reminded me of how young they both really were; they seemed older. And Mark’s presence distracted me from the enticing female smell that Rebecca exuded. I didn’t have to hold my breath so much when he was there. It should have been getting easier, but it wasn’t. And then when they were leaving, and she looked so unhappy and withdrawn, I suddenly needed to check that she was OK. I hadn’t tried to feel her thoughts the whole afternoon, but as she was leaving I caved in to intense curiosity. She looked so sad.

Big mistake. As I reached out I was immersed in a violent swirl of confusion and desire. I withdrew as soon as I could, but it was too late. I felt my eyes changing and my body stiffening, and I fought to control the hunger that blazed through me. I suddenly wanted her so much more than anything I have ever wanted before. Ever.

Instead, I somehow managed to suppress that crushing desire, and I let her leave with her brother. I couldn’t know then how much I would come to regret that decision.

Rebecca

I put off telling Mum about Shanice until after supper. Mark and Joe were sitting watching some allegedly riveting football match, and I was washing dishes while she tidied everything away. She looked tired after a long day at work and I felt guilty about having to lay this on her too, but I knew it had to be done. She would find out eventually, and then she’d be doubly upset that I hadn’t told her about it. As with most things nowadays, she took it unexpectedly well.

“Isn’t Shanice the one that used to bully you in primary school?”

I was surprised and touched that she remembered after so long. “Yeah, that’s her.”

“Well, I’m sure she deserved what she got. Did you get into trouble?”

“I have to go see Mr Parker tomorrow and explain.”

She winced. “Poor baby. It’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

I smiled at her thankfully. She was a mother in a million. She hardly ever criticised us, she never lost her temper, and she worked like a maniac to keep the family going. I felt fleetingly guilty for excluding her from my new secret life, but I dismissed that thought quickly. Just the thought of trying to explain to her that I was now a vampire made me break out in a sweat. Her life was difficult enough already without that kind of information.

I stayed up for a while with my family, trying to absorb the normal tone of my surroundings, but it was no use. I went to bed just before ten, remembering just as I was changing into my pyjamas to take my five iron tablets.

CHAPTER 6

Rebecca

I woke earlier than usual that day, and I felt a kind of whimsical satisfaction when I put the alarm off before it could start screeching at me. Mum was already up, of course, and I went downstairs to have breakfast with her. We sat at the table in companionable silence until it was time for her to go. She hugged me as she left, wishing me good luck for the encounter with Mr Parker. I thanked her and kissed her cheek, and then she was gone.

I had a leisurely shower, and stood ironing my school uniform in my terrycloth bathrobe, listening to Radio 1and humming a kind of off-tune accompaniment to a few songs. Mark eventually stuck his head around the corner and grimaced at me, so I shut up. No point torturing people at this time of morning. Not even brothers.

I dressed, tied up my hair and brushed my teeth, and stood waiting for Mark to get ready. I had to confess – I was nervous. School was going to be so much more of an ordeal than usual today, and I needed his comforting presence. Plus he could stop me if I decided to bite somebody’s neck. Ha ha.

We walked the mile or so to school with Harry, who had arrived a bit earlier than usual too, and had grunted a kind of greeting. Harry was a strange one sometimes. It was almost like he was evolving backwards. Speech, now grunting. I imagined him