The Vampire Gene

"I'd be very surprised if you did," she told me. "Oliver and I have done this several times in the past hundred or so years. We've picked up a few tips."

One hundred years - my head reeled with this information alone. Oliver was over a hundred years old. Gosh.

"Most important tip - decapitate them or stop the heart. There is no other way to kill an iron metaboliser. And stopping the heart is not so easy. If there is even a small weak heartbeat, healing can occur, so it's always best to just remove the head. That's why we prefer the blades. Another thing," she continued, "if you lop off an arm or a leg, it does grow back but it takes about ten days, so that's a good way to incapacitate a vamp in the short term."

I wanted to ask how they knew that, but I also really didn't want to know. Some things can't be unthought.

"We tend to use carbon fibre based weapons and projectiles - hence the crossbows. For some reason, iron metabolisers can absorb metal bullets and can often become much, much stronger as a result. It's like giving them a massive dose of iron. So whatever you do, Fergus, remove their heads after you've shot them, otherwise..."

I looked at the shotgun on my lap and grimaced. Julia leaned across, and wordlessly handed me a spare knife in a sheath. I strapped it to my thigh, and wondered if I'd have the guts to use it to decapitate a vampire. Gross. Seriously, some things really can't be unthought.

We sat in silence for a while. Simon's disembodied voice interrupted the relative peace, and I could see from the reactions around the room that he was broadcasting to all of us at once.

"The monitors outside have picked up some activity, guys."

And so it began.