well-armed." He paused. "You should try and find James Colborne today, see what he knows."
"And kill this one," said Marcus flatly. "He delivered another innocent girl to Jack." Marcus was an academic, but I was reminded more and more frequently nowadays that he was also a vampire, and he could be as brutal as the rest of us.
"Right," I said. "Be gentle with Rebecca today, Marcus."
"I will," he smiled at me. "She's my little sister now, Angus. I would never hurt her."
I wasn't sure I believed him - I was his brother and I remembered enduring a fair amount of pain at his hands. I hesitated.
"I promise, Angus. She will be fine. Julia will be here to make sure she's fine."
Ah, yes. I had forgotten about Julia. My fears allayed, I left to find James Colborne. He had some explaining to do.
A couple of hours later I had James neatly trussed up in the back of the van, and I was heading towards Aberdeenshire. About twenty years ago Fergus had bought a derelict little farm a few miles from the family estate. It was isolated, and had an elderly tenant who was both very hard of hearing and a persistent recluse. It also had a few outbuildings that were sublet to an imaginary company, and which I used occasionally when I was in the area and wanted to keep certain of my activities undetected. I had no specific plans for James Colborne, apart from extracting information from him and then disposing of him as unobtrusively as possible. It was essential that we found out where Jack was holed up in the next twenty four hours, before Rebecca's family returned from the relative safety of Barbados. They would become potential targets then, and that would make this entire project far riskier. Not to mention the awkward questions the situation could generate from Rebecca's mother and older brother Joe. Mark would take it all in his stride, of course, but those two - probably not so much.
I pulled into the driveway of the farm, and got out to open the rusty gated that hung precariously from an ancient post. I looked around me in satisfaction at the overgrown hedges and rutted driveway. It looked completely abandoned.
I dragged the gate shut behind me, and turned off the driveway onto an even more rutted double track that led toward the outbuildings a few hundred metres away. Colborne must have sensed that our destination was nearby, and he started to kick against the panels of the van. I braked sharply, and the kicking stopped. I started the van forward again, and pulled up outside the double doors of a massive stone barn. I climbed out, and dragged protesting doors open.
Once I had driven into the barn and shut the doors behind me, I flicked a switch on one of the walls, and four strip lights illuminated the cavernous space. It was almost empty apart from a few wooden worktables on the far end from the door. The dirt floor was dry and littered with old leaves. I counted a few steps from the wall opposite the van, and started sweeping the dirt aside with an old broom that had been propped against the door next to the light. An old ring handle was soon revealed, and I tugged at it, lifting the large wooden trapdoor that lay beneath. The space below was very different to the one above. I turned on the lights to reveal gleaming metal workbenches and a large chair in the centre, complete with leather straps. Various implements, surgical and otherwise, were neatly laid out on the work surfaces. I never had, and probable never would use any of it. Usually just the sight of this room scared the er, faeces, and thus the information, out of whomever I had brought here before. With any luck, James would crumble in a similar fashion, but I was prepared to torture him if necessary.
Yes, it was a sacrifice I was most definitely willing to make.
Rebecca
I stayed at the breakfast table until Marcus came to find me. He smiled reassuringly and led me away to the room he and Fergus had commandeered earlier. I tried not to feel terrified, but I can't
"And kill this one," said Marcus flatly. "He delivered another innocent girl to Jack." Marcus was an academic, but I was reminded more and more frequently nowadays that he was also a vampire, and he could be as brutal as the rest of us.
"Right," I said. "Be gentle with Rebecca today, Marcus."
"I will," he smiled at me. "She's my little sister now, Angus. I would never hurt her."
I wasn't sure I believed him - I was his brother and I remembered enduring a fair amount of pain at his hands. I hesitated.
"I promise, Angus. She will be fine. Julia will be here to make sure she's fine."
Ah, yes. I had forgotten about Julia. My fears allayed, I left to find James Colborne. He had some explaining to do.
A couple of hours later I had James neatly trussed up in the back of the van, and I was heading towards Aberdeenshire. About twenty years ago Fergus had bought a derelict little farm a few miles from the family estate. It was isolated, and had an elderly tenant who was both very hard of hearing and a persistent recluse. It also had a few outbuildings that were sublet to an imaginary company, and which I used occasionally when I was in the area and wanted to keep certain of my activities undetected. I had no specific plans for James Colborne, apart from extracting information from him and then disposing of him as unobtrusively as possible. It was essential that we found out where Jack was holed up in the next twenty four hours, before Rebecca's family returned from the relative safety of Barbados. They would become potential targets then, and that would make this entire project far riskier. Not to mention the awkward questions the situation could generate from Rebecca's mother and older brother Joe. Mark would take it all in his stride, of course, but those two - probably not so much.
I pulled into the driveway of the farm, and got out to open the rusty gated that hung precariously from an ancient post. I looked around me in satisfaction at the overgrown hedges and rutted driveway. It looked completely abandoned.
I dragged the gate shut behind me, and turned off the driveway onto an even more rutted double track that led toward the outbuildings a few hundred metres away. Colborne must have sensed that our destination was nearby, and he started to kick against the panels of the van. I braked sharply, and the kicking stopped. I started the van forward again, and pulled up outside the double doors of a massive stone barn. I climbed out, and dragged protesting doors open.
Once I had driven into the barn and shut the doors behind me, I flicked a switch on one of the walls, and four strip lights illuminated the cavernous space. It was almost empty apart from a few wooden worktables on the far end from the door. The dirt floor was dry and littered with old leaves. I counted a few steps from the wall opposite the van, and started sweeping the dirt aside with an old broom that had been propped against the door next to the light. An old ring handle was soon revealed, and I tugged at it, lifting the large wooden trapdoor that lay beneath. The space below was very different to the one above. I turned on the lights to reveal gleaming metal workbenches and a large chair in the centre, complete with leather straps. Various implements, surgical and otherwise, were neatly laid out on the work surfaces. I never had, and probable never would use any of it. Usually just the sight of this room scared the er, faeces, and thus the information, out of whomever I had brought here before. With any luck, James would crumble in a similar fashion, but I was prepared to torture him if necessary.
Yes, it was a sacrifice I was most definitely willing to make.
Rebecca
I stayed at the breakfast table until Marcus came to find me. He smiled reassuringly and led me away to the room he and Fergus had commandeered earlier. I tried not to feel terrified, but I can't
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