The Vampire Gene

The safety was implied in that statement, and I could see that it appealed to Julia. Lucy seemed less certain, but I sensed her fear of what would be coming after us. She and Simon were the most vulnerable. They were both still human, and we had no idea if that would be changing in the future. Oliver must have sensed the essence of my speculation, because he glanced across at my brother.

"Marcus. Did you ever finish running those samples you took from Simon?"

"They should be done by now. I can check the results if Fergus will lend me his precious laptop."

"Ask nicely, brother," Fergus said dryly.

"I thought I just did," said Marcus, grinning at him.

"You can use mine," suggested Simon.

"Thanks for the offer, Simon, but he'd better use mine. It's already been programmed to retrieve all his data. Trust me, there's a lot of it. You wouldn't want it cluttering up your system too." Fergus smirked.

"I'll fetch it, then," Simon offered.

"I have it right here, actually." Fergus reached under his seat and hauled out the laptop case.

"Hand it over, then."

Marcus took the laptop from his brother's slightly reluctant grasp, and started tapping away.

"Mum, is there any way I could stay here?" Lucy wanted to know.

"I don't think so, love," Julia told her. "We know that Jack knew about this place, and his progeny will eventually find it. We have no idea how long that will take." She paused, then continued. "If we went to Russia with Marcus and Fergus, we would be safe. We could stay there for a while and see what happens."

"The only way we can ever guarantee everyone's safety is to exterminate the blood feeders," I decided it was time to lay my cards on the table, so to speak. "We should spend a week or two regrouping and planning, and then we should return here to obliterate the lot of them. Fergus will be able to use Jack's mobile number to track their whereabouts. We could rescue those that want it. The rest will die."

Oliver was nodding. "I agree. We move to Russia for a couple of weeks. Fergus' arm needs to grow back, and we need to plan this thoroughly. It's not going to be easy."

"So we could maybe move back here when they're all dead?" Lucy looked hopeful.

"Absolutely."

"Let's go then," she said, looking a lot happier. "I've never been to Russia before."

Julia smiled. "Simon?"

"Oh, yes, I'm coming with you. I'm not missing out on all of this!"

Just then he reminded me of Mark. I remembered that the Hardings would be returning the following afternoon, and looked at Rebecca. "How do you feel about your family prolonging their holiday?"