Oxford Blood (31 page)

The complete absence of Harriet herself was slightly more
concerning. Caroline was sure she’d seen her get into a taxi, and yet hours on,
there was no sign of her. She attempted to text her, but to her irritation,
there was no signal to be had anywhere in the woods.

Pushing her vague worries to the back of her mind, she
grabbed the still apprehensive Ben and made him dance with her. Right on cue,
the members appeared, looking utterly unruffled. Caroline wondered idly where
they’d been hiding. All the new arrivals were quite clearly male. Harriet was
definitely not with them. Trying her best to look nonchalant, she wandered over
to Tom.

“Do you know where your girl is?” she asked.

Tom immediately looked alarmed. “Are you trying to tell me
that Harriet isn’t here? Did she disappear at some point or never arrive?”

“As far as I know she never turned up,” Caroline answered,
more worried now. “The odd thing was that a taxi came for her at the same time
as one came for me. They must have got lost en route.”

George quickly came over. “Where are you hiding her?” he
said angrily. “Augustine is going to hit the roof if his darling step-daughter
isn’t here for the festivities. Plus the word is he’s bringing the lovely
Adelaide along.”

“I haven’t seen her since last night,” Tom replied, glaring
at his rival.

“If you’re lying I’ll stab you through the heart again,”
George said. “Don’t think for one moment that you’ve actually managed to
convince me you’ve decided to be a team player.”

“I swear I have no idea. I can’t get a feel for her mind
either. How about you? I have to admit you’re the better telepath.”

George shook his head. “Nothing. If you honestly don’t know
where she is, we ought to look for her, but we can’t risk delaying the
ceremony.”

Tom nodded glumly. “We’ll just have to hope she gets here
soon. I’ll rush back to college once this is over.”

Caroline looked at them both. “Guys, what’s going on?
Telepaths? Stabbing people through the heart? Harriet’s family coming to the
party?”

George and Tom looked at each other, nodded and both touched
her head at the same time.

***

“I’ve got you some water. Drink it baby.”

Caroline opened her eyes to herself sat on the woodland
floor. Ben had his arms around her and was holding a glass to her lips.

“Wow, someone overdid the champagne,” he said laughing. “Can
you stand?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied, jumping to her feet. “What
happened? Was I totally passed out?”

“You were just lying on the grass for about ten minutes.” He
gave her a kiss. “Well as long as you’re alright. You look absolutely wonderful
by the way.”

Caroline, never able to resist a compliment, smiled. “You
too sweetheart. Are you ready for the selections? They must be starting soon.”

“I guess so. If I’ve convinced someone as lovely as you that
I’m worthwhile, the selection committee should be a breeze!”

At that moment, the flares turned themselves off, plunging
the clearing into darkness. When they relit a moment later, the members were in
a line on the stage. Caroline stared at George, stood commandingly at the front
of the scaffold. To her mind, his arrogant mask appeared to have slipped
slightly. She wondered if he too was worried about Harriet.

As George gave his speech, Caroline tried to focus on
whether or not Ben would be selected and where on earth Harriet had got to, but
somehow it was hard to think properly about anything at all. When an attractive
middle-aged man appeared, she stared at him but didn’t wonder who he was. Even
when Ben’s name was announced, she was barely able to register any surprise or
excitement. Shortly afterwards, each of the selected candidates called a girl
to them.

“Caroline Woodhouse,” Ben said cheerfully.

She went to him on autopilot, scarcely aware of who he was.

“I did it! I can’t believe it,” Ben said to her quietly.

Caroline nodded placidly. As the last few candidates picked
their partners out, Ben leaned across and kissed her. As he held her in his
arms, she was suddenly startlingly aware of what was going on around her,
seized with a combination of overwhelming love for Ben and chilling concern
that something wasn’t quite right. Then he let go and all conscious awareness
left her.

***

Stood at the back of the scaffold stage, Tom watched the
proceedings impassively. George hadn’t trusted him with taking any active part,
but had wanted him present and visible, presenting a unified front for
Augustine. For the hundredth time that night, he wondered what had happened to
Harriet. Was she still trying to stop the ceremony? He hoped not. For all the
promises he’d given her, he’d known there was nothing they could really do
against a highly organised group of immortal beings who had the police, the
government and the university authorities under their control.

When the vampires leaned forward and bit the inductees, he
was at least glad that Harriet wasn’t there to see it. The plan had been to
keep her awake and have her watch, to really induct her into the ways of their
world. Remembering her reaction to just hearing about what happened, he
couldn’t imagine how traumatised she would have been.

As the vampires raised their heads and slashed open their
wrists to feed the inductees, the flares once more flashed off. It didn’t make
any practical difference, considering they could all see perfectly in the dark,
but everyone was surprised. Only powerful vampires could light and extinguish
flames with their mind, and all of the ones with enough strength were engaged
in the transformation process.

As they flashed back on again, Archie walked slowly out of
the woods. All eyes were on him as she headed towards the scaffold. When he
reached it, he jumped neatly onto the platform, dropping the large sack he’d
been carrying with a thump.

“What is the meaning of this young man?” asked Augustine.
“This is our most sacred and crucial ceremony. It is bad enough that you didn’t
attend on time, but to blatantly disrupt proceedings at the most delicate point
is unthinkable.”

Still holding onto the semi-conscious Ben, George turned to
Augustine. “I’m sorry sir. We turned Archie the year before last and he has
refused to cooperate ever since. I’ll have him removed for the moment and
decide what to do with him later.”

“You’re not going to be deciding anything,” said Archie,
calmly and firmly.

“Why not?” hissed George.

Archie didn’t answer. Instead, moving slowly and
purposefully, he unzipped the bag. “Stand up,” he commanded.

Tom watched in horror as Harriet scrambled awkwardly out of
the bag. She had the pallor of someone who’d lost a lot of blood and was cut
and bruised as though she’d been in a struggle. Her dress was ripped and
ragged. He wondered whether, despite the usual prohibition on murdering their
own kind, it would be considered acceptable for him to kill Archie right there
on the stage.

Harriet’s expression was blank as Archie made her turn to
face the members, all of whom were standing silently, watching in horrid
fascination.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” George shouted.

“Getting my revenge,” Archie replied calmly. He drew an
obviously sharp dagger from his pocket and placed it in Harriet’s right hand.
“Hold that to you neck,” he commanded. “But be careful. Don’t cut yourself –
yet.”

“Stop it,” Tom found himself yelling. “If you want to attack
us then do it, but don’t take it out on Harriet. She hasn’t done anything
wrong.”

“Oh I know. It’s unfortunate. I hate to hurt her really. But
I don’t see any other way,” Archie said.

For the first time in decades, Tom felt cold. He looked to
Rupert, to George, to all the senior members for reassurance, but they all
appeared almost as lost as he felt.

Archie walked away from Harriet, and began to pace the stage
as he rattled off his demands. “I want taxis ordered and all the human guests
sent home. There’s to be no more of this bloodshed. I suppose you realise now
that it was me who’s been killing you all off, but it’s George I really want
dead. Every day’s been a torture since you made me kill Steph.”

“I can’t believe it. Is this really all about that silly
vapid creature?” George asked with an exaggerated sigh.

“George please don’t antagonise him,” Tom begged, walking
over to his rival. “Can’t you see he’ll kill her?”

“I could kill him so easily. I don’t care how many of us
he’s drained and how much he’s worked on his powers. He’ll never take me.
Wouldn’t you agree Tom? After all, you have firsthand experience of my
prowess.”

“If anyone tries to kill me before I’ve had what I want, I
swear I’ll have Daddy’s Girl cut her own throat out,” Archie snarled. “Of
course, there’s always a slim chance that one of you will kill me before I
manage to get the words out, but maybe that’s worse. I won’t be alive to break
the mind control, and she’ll be a walking zombie for the rest of her life.”

Tom knew that what he was saying was true, but couldn’t
resist trying. “Harriet, come here sweetheart,” he called. “Put the knife
down.”

She didn’t even look at him. Feeling utterly sick, he walked
towards her.

“Don’t come any closer Flyte,” Archie screamed.

Terrified of escalating the situation, he froze. “George,
you try. Please. I hate to say this, but you’re much better at this sort of
thing than I am.”

“It won’t work,” George said. He sounded almost sad.
“Everyone knows that one vampire can’t reverse another’s mind control.” He
turned to Archie. “Alright, we can do this your way. Let’s send the guests away
and then we can fight one on one.”

Archie smoothly agreed.

“Augustine, would that be acceptable?” George asked, turning
to their leader.

Tom glanced across at Augustine, who had so far been
entirely silent. Unlike the others, he looked utterly calm. He looked at George
and gave a barely perceptible nod. Tom wondered whether or not he really cared
about what was happening to his stepdaughter.

Whilst George readied himself, Rupert took over proceedings.
“Crispin, get the guests out of the way. Mark, take the stakes out of the
losers and give them to the duellers. For God’s sake give George his first; we
can’t trust Archie an inch.”

“Don’t provoke me Rupes,” Archie said, pacing around the
stage. “You don’t know what I might do.”

Once Crispin had taken the guests into the woods, George and
Archie climbed off the stage and stood facing each other in the clearing. For
what felt like hours to Tom, they just stared at each other, and then suddenly
they both moved at once. The onlookers were all utterly enthralled, lost in the
energy and excitement of the battle, barely remembering what was at stake.

“Look at him go,” Rupert whispered to him. “Can you believe
he was only turned a year or two ago? I bet you wish you’d had the foresight to
drain half the society before fighting George now, don’t you?”

The fight seemed evenly matched, with no end in sight.
Harriet was still rooted to the spot, knife held lightly to her throat. To
judge by her pallor, Archie must have taken a lot of blood. It seemed to be
only his mind control that kept her on her feet at all.

“I think that’s quite enough,” said a husky female voice.
Before anyone, least of all the two duellers, had worked out what was
happening, Adelaide appeared in the centre of the clearing and put Archie in a
headlock, with the business end of a stake pointed at his neck.

“Let me go,” he screamed. “I’ll make your precious daughter
kill herself.”

“No,” Adelaide said firmly. “No you won’t. And you’re a fool
if you think you’re leaving her like a zombie either.” With that, she made a
small cut in his neck, so that the blood began to drip slowly out.

Archie made sounds as though he was gasping for air.
“Harriet, slit your throat!” he choked out.

Tom screamed. He was surprised to see that Adelaide didn’t
so much as blink. Hardly daring to look, he turned to face Harriet. To his
amazement, her arms had dropped to her side. Gus was standing behind her, hands
lightly touching her head.

“Did you really think that you could drain a few sorry
excuses for vampires and then manage to outsmart me?” he said, sounding almost
emotionless. “I could have stopped this at any moment, killed you with a glance
as you walked into the clearing, but a life of 2000 years tends to lack
surprises. I wanted to see what you were going to do.”

As Archie stared at him in dull surprise, his blood dripping
down over Adelaide’s perfectly manicured hands, Gus looked down at Harriet.

“Go to Tom,” he said reassuringly. Still clearly unaware of
her surroundings, she did just that.

Tom grabbed his girlfriend, took the dagger from her shaking
hands and helped her to the ground. Close to, she looked even worse than he’d
thought. She lay her head in his lap and passed out. Tom stroked her hair,
wanting to give her more practical help, but not daring to move until all this
was over.

“You played your little game well,” Gus continued. “Playing
on my emotions and using the fact that no vampire can break another’s spell.
You just made one tiny mistake – assuming that I’m the same as all the other
vampires. I’m more powerful than you can imagine. I can break your mind control
as easily as you can break a human’s neck.

“It’s not just that I have centuries on any of you – I was
made by the first vampire, who was more demon than human. And in the end I
killed and drained him, and all of the others he’d made.”

Archie had been fading fast, but at this last comment, he
managed to find his voice.

“That’s not strictly true, is it?” he croaked. “I happen to
know that...”

Adelaide stabbed him again and his words turned into a
scream.