Blood Song

The drive up to Aberdeenshire was tense but uneventful. I stared blindly out of the car as the countryside and cities and more countryside flew by. Angus said very little, probably was because there was very little to say. Now was the time for doing, not saying.

We arrived at in Aberdeenshire in the early hours of the morning. Fergus and Oliver were already there, and were unpacking equipment. Angus joined them, and I went to look for something to eat. I found a couple of tins of baked beans with tiny sausages and went to ask the guys if they wanted some. They didn't so I ate the contents of both tins.

I eventually got bored watching them unpack stuff and adjust things and load magazines with sleek and shiny bullets, so I wandered off, found a bed, and fell asleep.

Mark

I got tired of pulling faces at the man with the snake eyes. I was sure he'd almost reacted once, but that could have been a random muscle twitching in his face. I should have been unnerved by his unblinking gaze, but I was too worried about what kind of weird procedures I was going to have to endure to speed up my transformation into a vampire. I almost wished it was like the TV programs, where you just had to get bitten or drink vampire blood or both or something. I had a very bad feeling about the next few days.

We stopped after a couple of hours for a toilet break and something to eat. Anne told me that she would let me use the facilities if I didn't try and escape or make a fuss of any kind. She pointed out that her two goons would be escorting me, and that she had hired them because they liked to hurt people and did so efficiently and discreetly. Snake Eyes winked at me. She also explained that I wasn't the only person at the rest stop that they would hurt if I caused a scene. I looked around at the little kids and their families, and knew I would behave myself.

So I did, and was rewarded with an empty bladder and a full belly, and then we set off again. Snake Eyes drove, and his colleague occupied the front passenger seat. Anne had decided to sit in the back with me, which unnerved me far more than the goon had. She leaned back in her seat and watched me until I started fidgeting under the intensity of her gaze.

"I still don't understand why you picked me," I told her eventually, leaning backwards against my door, trying to put distance between us.