The Vampire Gene

Rebecca

Fergus and Marcus left that evening to fetch their equipment, and to run a few tests on Simon's DNA. Julia and Oliver had also donated some blood, and Marcus had promised to run their samples through his machines as soon as the current crisis had blown over. Julia and I sat in comfortable silence in the sitting room in front of a roaring fire, while Angus and Oliver discussed tactics and weapons. Julia would occasionally add to their conversation, but I was hypnotised by the flames in the grate, and had nothing to say. Instead I wondered how long it would take me to learn to control that jolt of electricity that had flattened James. I was also finding it hard to reconcile what had happened earlier in the day with how I felt about it all. On the one hand I was relieved and grateful that I had been able to get myself out of that situation, but I was also afraid of how destructive I had been. Seriously, I had scared myself. And now, despite Julia's earlier words, I wondered which of these views I had of myself were the real one. Was I the nice nerdy girl who loved her family and her gorgeous fiancé? Or was I the vicious vampire who had nearly killed two people today, and had derived so much satisfaction in all that hurting?

Angus must have sensed my disquiet, because he stood suddenly and came over to where I sat curled up on the sofa.

"Tired, my beautiful girl?" he asked softly.

I smiled up at him, my eyes brimming with tears at his gentleness and obvious sympathy, and nodded. He winked at me and turned to Julia and Oliver again, and excused the two of us. Julia nodded, and even Oliver smiled at me. Angus took my hand and led me up some stairs to a large airy suite, with two bedrooms leading off a small sitting room, and a large bathroom with marble and big fluffy towels. I stood, feeling slightly numb, in the middle of the sitting room while Angus ran a hot bath.

"I had a shower earlier," I objected half-heartedly when he tugged me in the direction of the bath.

"It will help you relax. I'll give you five minutes, then I'm coming to wash your back." He closed the bathroom door behind him as he left.

I undressed mechanically, and slid into the bubbles, and lay back, letting the hot water and steam soothe aching muscles. I closed my eyes, and watched the day's events play again across my mind like a horror film, with me in the starring role.