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

We drove the rest of the way in silence, and arrived back at where the satnav had started out in just over an hour. As we drew up outside the house, the front door opened and light spilled out onto the pebbled drive. Mark stood silhouetted in the doorway, his face tired and drawn. I turned off the engine, and got out.

“Rebecca!” He sounded disbelieving, and then ecstatic.

I burst into tears of relief. He ran down the steps towards me. “Are you alright? Where’s Angus?” He looked suddenly worried.

“I’m fine, Mark, but Angus has been shot. We need to get him inside.”

Together we helped Angus hobble through the front door, and into one of the armchairs. His leg had already lost that rubbery look, but it obviously hurt him to put any weight on it. He subsided gratefully into one of the cracked leather armchairs by the fire.

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” Mark was looking at me, horrified.

I glanced down at myself, seeing the blood caked all over my school uniform for the first time. “It’s not my blood,” I said. I didn’t think he needed to know exactly how it got there, so I didn’t elaborate. Angus was leaning back in the chair again, eyes closed, smirking slightly.

All at once I felt drained, exhausted, and I stumbled to the other chair and almost fell into it. Angus opened his eyes, and looked over at me. The fire blazing in the grate lit his eyes eerily. “Go sleep,” he told me. “This tiredness is normal for what you’ve been through tonight. There are showers and beds upstairs.” That sounded like a hint to me.

He looked at Mark. “You too, my friend.”

“What about you, Angus?” Mark wanted to know. I yawned.

“My brothers will be here shortly. I need to speak to them. They can carry me up to bed afterwards. Go!” It was an order. We went.

I showered quickly, jerking awake a couple of times under the hot darts of water, not even aware that I had been falling asleep. I stumbled into the closest room and dug an oversized t-shirt and some boxer shorts out of a chest of drawers. I pulled them on and fell into the bed, asleep before my head touched the pillow.

Angus

Marcus and Fergus arrived at eleven thirty that night. I heard the purring of the great engine pulling up outside and I smiled. Those two liked to travel in style.

They strolled casually through the front door, Fergus first as dictated by his fidgety nature. They stood just inside the threshold and sniffed the air cautiously. Fergus spotted me in the armchair and crossed the room to where I sat, taking in the hole in my jeans and the makeshift splint.

“You’ve been busy tonight.” It was a statement, not a question.

“One got away. You’ll be pleased to know that decapitation seems to do the trick, Marcus. I set fire to the heads as an added precaution, though.” Marcus shuddered slightly.

“Rebecca’s OK.” Another statement, this time from Marcus.

“She had her first taste of human blood tonight.” Two sets of raised eyebrows. “I was shot in the femur, and she knew she would have to carry me out of there. She drank a dying man’s blood to save me.”

They exchanged a speaking glance and nodded. “Bath first, then bed,” said Fergus. They carried me carefully upstairs, helped undress me, ran a hot bath, and gently lowered me into it. They left me while I sponged the vampire stink from my skin, and soaped away the blood. My thigh was already straight, and felt firm enough, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to put any weight on it for at least eight hours. I had broken bones before.

My brothers returned within minutes and extricated me from my tub. They propped me upright as I towelled myself dry, and then carried me to one of the spare bedrooms and lay me on the bed, covering me with cool sheets.

“Goodnight, brother,” Fergus grinned at me, then turned to Marcus. “Let’s go clean up.” Marcus rubbed his hands.

“Yes, let’s,” he agreed, and then they were gone.

CHAPTER 8

Mark

I woke up worrying about the kitten. And then about Mum and Joe, and how worried they must be. I should have phoned them last night as soon as Rebecca and I had got Angus in the house. I thought about Angus and Rebecca and how they had looked last night, all covered in blood and shot up, and then I started worrying about them too. After a while I got fed up with all the worrying and decided to go downstairs and find two things; something to eat, and someone to explain exactly what had happened last night. And a phone so I could tell Mum we were all OK. Three things, then.

I was rooting around in the kitchen cupboards and the fridge, and had located bacon and eggs and bread, and was just about to start frying it all up in a monstrous black skillet type thing I’d found, when someone said, “You must be Mark.” I seriously have no idea how I managed not to drop that thing on my foot.

I turned and said in a quivering voice, “You gave me a fright.” I hadn’t heard any sounds of someone approaching at all. Creepy.

“My apologies,” said a tall man with silvery blonde hair and blue eyes. I recognised the resemblance immediately. He had the same features as Angus, but his colouring was different, obviously, and so was his expression. This man looked like curiosity would look if it had a human face.

“No problem. You must be Angus’ brother.”

“Yes. My name is Marcus.”

“Aah, the clever one.” Marcus smiled with his eyes, same as his brother. He seemed pleased that I knew who he was.

“Better not let Fergus hear you say that,” he warned, his lips twitching.

I grinned back. “I was just about to make breakfast,” I said, lifting the skillet onto the stove.

“Go ahead. Fergus and I have already eaten.”

“D’you think I should make something for…” I pointed upstairs as I spoke. Marcus shook his head. “They are going to need a few more hours sleep. I actually wanted to tell you that Fergus and I spoke to your mother late last night, and we told her that we had happened upon a white van that had been ditched by the side of the road, and had rescued your sister. She had been in too much shock to give us any details until very late last night, so we hadn’t been able to contact her family until then.

“You, in the meanwhile had gone off with Angus to look for her, and you will be arriving here in about twenty minutes. We phoned you a bit earlier than your mother because Rebecca remembered that you were there when they took her, and wanted you to know that she was OK first.”

My eyebrows climbed up my forehead.

“I know. It’s the best we could come up with now. Rebecca doesn’t want the police involved at all, and she’s not saying why. She wasn’t hurt, by the way, she’s just a bit shaken up. You wanted to get here to verify our story and see your sister before you phoned your mother.”

“OK. D’you think she’ll buy it?”

“She has to.”

“Yeah. Is Angus OK?”

“He is. He should be up and about in a few hours.”

“Thanks.”

Marcus nodded, and turned and left as silently as he had arrived. I fried bacon and eggs, and made a fat sandwich while I waited for the twenty minutes to elapse until I could phone my mother. I dialled her number a few minutes early, anyway. I was still licking bacon fat from my fingers. I would have to talk to her about the vegetarian thing. Eventually.

“Hello?” anxiety laced her voice, but there was hope also.

“Hi Mum, it’s Mark.”

“Mark!” the word gushed from her. “Are you with Rebecca?”

“Yes. She’s fine, just shaken up and exhausted.” All truth so far.

She said nothing for a second or two, and then,”Oh, thank God!” and she started sobbing uncontrollably. I said nothing, and let her cry for a minute or so.

“Mark, is it true that she doesn’t want the police involved?”

“Yes.” Truth. “The guys who took her had the wrong girl, so they let her go, but said if she described them to the police, or told them anything about them, they’d come back for her.” All lies. Oh, well.

“Oh Mark! Poor baby. She must be terrified. But that’s not right. The police are involved already. They were the ones who informed me what had happened.” I heard the reproach in her voice, and felt guilty.

“I know Mum, but she starts crying if we even mention the police. I think it would be best to leave it. She can answer some of their questions when she gets back, but I can tell you now that she won’t tell them much

Mum appeared to accept this. I was pleased. I made that one up myself. Slick.

“Where are you?” She sounded more composed now.

“Aberdeenshire. As soon as Rebecca is awake we will get Angus to drive her back.”

“Angus. How did he get involved?”

“He was the only person I could think of to help. I couldn’t stand about waiting for the police when so many other people saw what happened and could answer their questions as well as I could. Probably better. I couldn’t even identify the make of the damn van.”

“Well, he seems like a very nice man.”

“He is.” For a vampire.

“OK, baby. I’ll see you later. Get Rebecca to give me a call when she wakes up.”

“I will, Mum.”

“Love you.”

“I love you too.”

As I hung up, I was profoundly grateful that she had taken it so well. Then I remembered the kitten, and I phoned her back, and asked her to go across to Angus’ place and check that it was OK, and give it some food and fresh water. She laughed, a lot more cheerful now, and promised to go across right away. I tried to remember if Angus had locked his house; I didn’t think so. Why would he. He probably wished someone would try to break in.

Rebecca

I woke up with sunlight streaming through the windows. Bleak wintry sunlight, sure, but it was definitely sunlight. The events of the previous day came flooding into my mind. Angus! I needed to see him, to make sure that he was OK. I stood up and stumbled on uncertain legs through the doorway of my bedroom, and into the passage beyond. Everything looked strangely unfamiliar in the daylight. I felt disorientated, and dizzy. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply until the giddiness subsided. I turned to my right and made my way along the passage. There were two more bedrooms and a bathroom, and then another bedroom. And there was Angus.

He was lying on his back, his eyes closed, his face relaxed and peaceful. My breath caught in my throat as I stood and watched him. He was so beautiful. I suddenly felt an almost visceral need to touch him. I crossed the room and stood next to his bed, leaning over his sleeping form. And then he was awake, smiling up at me, his eyes watching my face hungrily. I smiled back. He groaned and his arm snaked out and wrapped around me and pulled me down on top of him. I giggled, and stretched out next to him, my head on his chest, my eyes closed, inhaling his delicious scent.

“You’re in deep trouble, you know,” his voice was husky.

“Why?” I lifted my head to look at his face.

“Your brother’s on his way up. And you’re half naked in bed with some man.”

“I’ve got clothes on!”

“Not enough,” he growled.

Just then Mark burst through the door.

“Aargh! Get a room!” He didn’t look disgusted, though. He was laughing. “Come on you two, get up already. We’re waiting for you downstairs. There are a few things we need to discuss urgently, plus Bex has to