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

We arrived at the school gates at ten minutes to nine, and I was hanging about just outside them, apprehensive about going inside and facing the day. Then out of nowhere a white van drove up, and three guys in balaclavas sprang out. I turned to face them, surprised at the screeching brakes and sudden activity behind me. I should have run, but I didn’t. I guess I wasn’t expecting them to grab my arms and twist them behind my back, and lift me bodily into the yawning cavity of the van. The door slid slamming into place behind us and the van took off, all revving engine and squealing tyres. I didn’t even have time to scream.

The men worked fast, cuffing my hands behind my back and wrapping cable ties around my ankles. They draped a pillowcase over my head, and then they shoved me in a corner of the van and left me to my growing terror.

Mark

They came out of nowhere. I was standing about ten yards away from her, talking to Harry, when that van slammed on brakes, and those three men in balaclavas snatched my sister off the pavement, while we all stood watching in open-mouthed astonishment. Then they were gone, the tyres of the van swirling in a cloud of smoke. I tried to make out the number plate, but there was none. Make of van? I wasn’t sure. Maybe a Ford Courier, or something like that. They all looked the same to me. I tried to remember its general shape so I could maybe try and identify it later if the police asked me. Police! I hauled out my mobile phone and dialled 999, and waited for seven long rings before I was put through to a bored operator who promised to send a couple of officers around to talk to us. Talk! I felt the panic rising in my throat. I had to do something. I glanced frantically around me at all the shocked blank faces, seeing no help there. Who could I call? Mum? No. She would lose her mind there and then. I couldn’t do that to her. Let the police do that. And that’s when I thought of Angus.

I took one last look at the other students milling about, and then I started running.

Angus

I’d been awake since three in the morning. I woke up feeling refreshed, but there was something bothering me, though I couldn’t quite pinpoint it. I had breakfast and fed the cat, and then settled down to read. I read a lot of books. It helped to pass the time. Reading books had also taught the three us how to behave more or less normally. About as normally as we could behave, I suppose.

It had just gone nine when somebody started hammering on my door. When I opened the door and saw Mark’s white face and touched the fear in his mind, I was stunned.

“You’d better come in,” I said.

Mark

It was almost as if he knew what I was about to tell him before I actually told him. His jaw was clenched, his mouth drawn in an angry line, and his eyes burned black.

“Rebecca’s been kidnapped. Three guys in balaclavas jumped out of a white van just outside the school gates and grabbed her. They stuck her in the van, and off they went. No number plate. Generic looking white van, no markings. I called the police and they said they’d send someone to investigate, but I didn’t wait for them. They’d take too long. And then I thought of telling you.” I was babbling, my voice rising in alarm. I looked up at Angus’expression, at the rage that had settled there as if it belonged, and wondered if I’d done the right thing. He stood frozen for a few more seconds and then suddenly he was moving, snatching his mobile off a cabinet and punching numbers like the phone itself annoyed him.

“Fergus,” he barked into the phone. “Somebody’s taken Rebecca. White unmarked van, three guys in balaclavas, really smooth pick up, they’ve probably done it before. I’m going after them. I’ll contact you if I need anything.” He smiled grimly at whatever his brother said to him, and then he hung up.

“Let’s go,” he said to me. “You need to show me where she was when they took her.” He shoved his arms into the sleeves of an expensive looking leather jacket, and dropped his phone into one of the pockets. Then he unlocked the top drawer of the wooden cabinet and started filling his pockets with objects that I couldn’t quite identify, but which mostly looked dangerous and highly illegal. He locked the cabinet drawer again, pocketed the key, and took a small tub of tablets from the second drawer, which he opened, revealing brown tablets. He counted fifteen out into his hand and swallowed them all in one go. He put the tub in one of his pockets too. I stood motionless, watching this frenetic activity, and then suddenly he was stalking towards the door, car keys in hand.

“Come!” he barked. I jumped at the sound, and followed him obediently out of the house. He was in his car and firing up that colossal engine before I’d even opened the door. I yanked the passenger door open and dived in just as the car started moving off.

We got to the school before the police did, of course. I had just managed to click my seatbelt into place, when I had to unclick the damn thing again. There was nobody around; the bell had sounded and everyone had disappeared into their classrooms, business as usual. I felt a sudden surge of anger at their apparent lack of concern.

“Where?” asked Angus as he slid out of his seat in one easy movement. I scrambled out, and pointed out where Rebecca had been standing when they had taken her. Angus didn’t bother looking around. He just stood there, his face white and composed now, and he closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose. Five seconds. Then he was moving again, sliding back into the driver’s seat, and gunning the engine. I managed to get my backside on the seat as the car pulled off, the door closing automatically behind me with the sudden lurching motion.

Angus looked at me with blank eyes as if he’d never seen me before. Then he braked suddenly. “You can’t come with me,” he said harshly.

I don’t know where I got the courage from, but I huddled down in my seat, clutching the seatbelt around me, and muttered, “I’m not getting out.” I must have been mad.

Angus’ eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched again, and I thought for a second that he was actually going to physically throw me out, but then he nodded. “Right.” And then we were moving again, weaving briskly in and out of the rapidly clearing traffic. There was a pause in our progress as we waited at a red traffic light. Angus punched in a number on the iphone, turned it to speaker mode, and thrust it into my hands. “Hold this.”

It rang twice, and then a brisk voice answered. “What’s happening?”

“She was taken by a vampire and two human males. Vampire’s pretty old, probably one hundred and fifty or more. He lives on blood only, not human, probably animal. So he’s strong for a human, but in pretty poor shape for one of us. The human males are in their thirties and in very good shape. They’re armed. Heavily. This looks like it was an organised kidnapping, and the coincidence is too great. One vampire kidnapping another? They must know what she is. How did they find her, Fergus?”

“I’ll find out. What else do you need?”

“I’m heading north. I need you locate their base. This looks like it’s one of those groups of old style vampires that we didn’t think existed anymore.” I heard another voice swearing in the background. Angus smiled tightly. “You can’t always be right, Marcus.” More swearing.

“There will be things you can start looking for, Fergus. They will have a fairly large base, in an isolated area. It’ll be colder than the rest of the country.”

He paused. “I’m going to need to use our estate in Aberdeenshire.”

“It’s yours. I’ll notify the housekeeper.”

Another pause. We were moving again by this stage. Angus drove effortlessly, as if he didn’t need to think about it at all.

“Fergus. Look for patterns. Increased percentage of missing persons, not recent, but spanning the last century and a half. Recent disappearances would be in the indigent population, beggars, prostitutes, homeless people. Vampires are not always stupid, especially if they’ve survived this long.”

“Got it. Anything else?”

“There will be an abbatoir nearby. Medium to large size. That’s probably where he’s getting the blood. He drinks a lot of it.” He paused, looked sideways at me, and continued. “I’m going to need some equipment.”

“Shoot.”

Another grim smile. “Indeed. Two Glock 17’s, two hundred rounds - hollow point preferably. Ballistic vest. And a Heckler and Koch PSG1 with two hundred rounds and a couple of spare magazines. I’ll be arriving in Aberdeenshire in, say, five and a half hours. Can you arrange for all that to be delivered to the estate by then?”

“Could be a bit complicated. The UK is not the best place for firearm purchases. Especially the rifle.”

“Can you do it?” Angus sounded impatient.

“Yes. Probably.”

“You flying now?”

“We’re in the air at the moment, but I’ll try and redirect us to a more northerly airport. If you think you could use the help.”

“Absolutely.”

“Yeah.” Click and they were gone.

Rebecca

Of course I was scared. At first. The van rocked and swayed, and I bumped my head a few times against its raw metal insides. My head hurt for a few moments, but then the pain subsided and I learned to sway with the motion of the vehicle instead of trying to brace myself against it. It was a minor accomplishment, but to me, sitting there with my hands and feet tied and a mouldy smelling pillowcase over my head, it felt like a lot more than that.

There was something hypnotic about the sheer concentration required to move with a rocking van, especially if your other senses are muffled. I stopped being afraid after a while. Nobody seemed to be trying to hurt me; I was being ignored with a capital I.

Then someone spoke. Male voice, older adult, gruff, like maybe he smoked a lot.

“Pull over. We need to reattach the number plate.”

“There’s a lay by up ahead.” Another male voice. Maybe younger than the first. “Watch the girl.” The van slowed, and stopped. One of the front doors opened, and a sudden tilt in the floor I sat on signalled that someone had climbed out. A few minutes later the floor tilted again, and a front door closed. The van started moving again. It took a few moments for the implications of what had happened to hit me. No number plate. I had been kidnapped in a generic white van with no distinguishing markings and no number plate. How was anybody going to be able to find me?

I was suddenly and paralysingly scared again.

Angus

I know I should have insisted that Mark get out at the school. I didn’t, though. I’m not sure exactly why I let him tag along. It could have had something to do with the images that flashed across my mind as he sat cowering defiantly in that seat. Images of me having to drive for hours with my rage my only companion, trying not to imagine what they were doing to Rebecca with every passing minute. I knew I would have to keep a level head, or as level as was possible for me. Mark could help me do that. He would have to help me do that.

Mark

About half an hour into the journey or trip or pursuit or whatever you wanted to call it, I started worrying. About