The Iron in Blood

"Goodnight, my Rebecca." I held her chin and kissed her all too briefly on the lips. Then I released that little hand, and turned and walked across the road.

Jack

The vampire called Jack surveyed the burnt out ruins of his home. One of his homes, he corrected himself, smiling grimly. His face was angular, with a cruel set to his features, and his smile did nothing to ameliorate the effect. He had arrived the night before, summoned by that idiot Oscar. The fact that Oscar was his son did nothing to change his disapproval of him. Most of the vampires here were his sons, one way or another.

He had found the bodies last night, lying scattered throughout the house, headless and lifeless. It was as if someone had known that this would be the only reliable way to kill vampires. And when he'd found Oscar's headless corpse, and smelled the scent of the male vampire who had knelt there and ambushed his coven, he had a pretty good idea of what had happened. He had tracked the sole survivor of the massacre to another of his bases two hundred miles to the west, and had extracted the story from him. The pathetic creature had been remarkably reluctant to reveal what had happened, especially his own cowardly actions, so he'd had to torture him for a while, something which he always enjoyed doing. He smiled again at the thought, this time revealing sharp, yellowed teeth. Who knows, he might even survive. Unfortunately, when he'd finally got back, someone had set fire to the complex, destroying most of the evidence. But he already knew what had happened.

Oscar had brought this catastrophe upon them when he had kidnapped the girl. She had not been alone and helpless as so many others before her; she had even drank the blood of that idiot Mercer and carried her vampire rescuer to the car, and to safety. Jack was impressed. Furious and enraged, but impressed nonetheless. He would have to proceed cautiously now, but proceed he would. He wanted that girl. She would breed strong minded, powerful vampires, and he would enjoy taming her. And if he managed to destroy the male vampire who had so decimated his personal army, then so much the better.

Jack glanced again at the photograph that Oscar had sent to his mobile phone. The girl was scowling at the camera, her hair dishevelled, but she was still very attractive. He smiled hungrily.

He would need to gather some resources before he tried again to take her. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He was looking forward to it.