Oliver waited a few beats, as if he were considering Jack's proposal.
"Give me five minutes and I'll bring her out. I have your word." It was almost a question.
"Absolutely." A click, then silence.
Julia looked at her son thoughtfully. Oliver raised his eyebrows and glanced at me.
"Think it will work?" he asked his mother.
"Even if they figure it out, it will buy us some time. And we will both be nice and close by then. Lucy should be able to run back here while you and I distract that lot," Julia indicated the group of vampires with a brief inclination of her head. I finally understood that Julia was going to impersonate me out there, and my whole being seemed to sigh with relief.
"And Bill?"
Julia shrugged. "If he gets away, he gets away . We will give him every chance. But I'm not risking my life for him, and neither are you."
"We'll help," said Fergus. "As soon as Lucy's back here, I'll join you. Marcus can hang back here. He's a superb shot, and he'll be able to decimate those bastards from a distance." Marcus nodded, and hefted the deadly crossbow as if it weighed nothing.
"What can I do?" I asked, almost dreading the reply.
"Stay here and watch Lucy when she gets here. And swap jumpers with my mother. Yours has a hoodie, which will be useful. It also smells of you."
I nodded and removed my hoodie, and handed it to Julia. Oliver hauled the cool box from under the table and removed the lid. He removed a couple of ice trays filled with a dark red gelatinous looking substance, and carefully replaced the lid.
"Blood shots," he said by way of explanation to the rest of us. "Help yourself." The tiger grin was back, and he looked at Julia from under his brows, his eyes glinting, wild and fierce. "Ready, mother?"
She said nothing, just smiled grimly and nodded. Together they threw back the shots, easily a dozen between them. The change was instantaneous. The air around them seemed electrified - it hummed with the power flowing through them. Their eyes glittered, the pupils completely dilated. Oliver reached to pick up his double bladed sword, and the blades retracted with a click. He tucked the now innocuous looking handle under the back of his tunic. They moved together to the door leading outside, and disappeared through it.
We all stood and watched as they walked across the gravel to where Lucy and Bill knelt, and the blood drinking vampires waited. Oliver's' hand gripped Julia's arm at the elbow, as he dragged her along and she tried to pull away, feigning fear. After an age they stood in front of the gathered vampires, and there appeared to be some sort of debate.