by Jenny Doe
CHAPTER 1
Thursday 17 January
Rebecca
I was back at school the next day. It would have been nice to have been able to add as if nothing had happened, but this was clearly not the case.
Firstly, Angus took me to school. In his car. I knew next to nothing about cars, but apparently the male population of the school knew quite a lot about them, and they stared. I hopped out of the car and turned to wave goodbye to Angus, but he had already climbed out of the driver’s seat and was striding around the back of the car, and next thing I knew he had kissed me. In front of everyone. He grinned wickedly, got back in the car, and drove off. I stood there, blushing helplessly and watched him drive away. I contemplated revenge for a few heady seconds, but dismissed the idea pretty quickly. Revenge against any vampire was an absurd ambition. Revenge against a vampire like Angus - an outrageous aspiration of improbable proportions. Oh well.
When I turned around I started blushing all over again. Every single set of eyes was watching me, fascinated, as if I was about to flip out and start screaming, or something. It was an option. I hated being the centre of attention before I found out that I was a vampire a couple of days ago. Now that I had several excellent and very real reasons to shy away from attention of any sort, I hated it even more. I ducked my head and started walking in the direction of the headmaster’s office. Along the way it occurred to me that these people had seen me being abducted two days ago, and they knew next to nothing of what had happened to me since then. Their minds were probably conjuring up all sorts of improbable scenarios. I chuckled. I bet they would really freak out if they knew that I was actually a vampire, and I had been abducted by another vampire, and rescued by my vampire boyfriend. Sorry, fiancé. Yeah, that would really blow their minds. I grinned to myself.
"What’s so funny, Miss Harding?" The headmaster, Mr Parker, stood in front of me, as if he’d appeared out of nowhere, looking stern and concerned at the same time. He pulled it off quite well, actually.
"Nothing, Mr Parker. I am just very happy to be back at school." And I was, in a way. I had always bewailed the boredom of my existence, but right now I was ready to embrace the tedium of high school like an old and very dear friend. It would be a nice break from the madness of the past week.
"Glad to see you back, although I must say, it seems to be a bit soon after what happened…" His voice tailed off, but he watched me carefully for signs of impending tears, or failing that, hysteria. I smiled at him.
"I’m fine, really. I need the distraction."
He nodded as if this made sense. "Fair enough," he said. "Just remember, you can go home any time you need to."
"Thanks, but I’m fine." I was too. It was amazing how quickly my mind had adjusted to everything. Four days ago I had almost died. Angus had rescued me by making me drink his blood, and then he’d told me that I was an iron metaboliser, someone whose body was able to use iron in a way that rendered them almost supernaturally strong and fast. In other words, a vampire. It was a bit of a surprise, to be fair.
Then two days ago a creepy blood drinking vampire and two human idiots had abducted me from in front of the school gates, and Angus had rescued me. Then his brothers had told us that we were getting married in ten day's time, in the hope that this would help deter Jack from coming after me.
Jack. Well, we knew next to nothing about him. He was a vampire, most probably, and he wanted me for some reason, and it was likely that he was a bit of a big cheese in his own vampire community up in Scotland, but other than that, nothing.
My mind turned again to the whole wedding business, and I smiled. Not about the ceremony and party, because that kind of stuff didn’t interest me much. But I was going to be married to the most beautiful, kindest and strongest man that I had ever met. I thought about all the ramifications of that and grinned again.
The only downside to this that I could see was that I was going to have to tell my mother about being engaged and getting married in ten days' time tonight . That was something that I was most definitely dreading. I could only imagine the horror inherent in that situation - I shuddered just thinking about it. Angus would be there with me, and Mark would be there too, but I didn't see that it would make it any easier. It was like having root canal work done. They could be there for support, but I was the one in the hot seat. And root canal was root canal, dammit.
I thought about my fourteen year old brother, and how close we’d become over the past couple of days, and how accepting he’d been about the whole situation, and I smiled again. He was the only person who knew about the whole iron metaboliser business, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Angus had offered him a lift this morning, but he had refused, only because he had wanted to show off his new iPhone to his friend Harry on the walk to school. Boys and their toys.
I made my way to my first class of the day, and eventually became engrossed in the intricacies of biochemistry. I'm not going to lie, I've always liked the academic part of school. I guess you could call me a bit of a nerd. I wasn't too keen on my peers, though. They inspired either disgust or indifference in me. I had wondered if I had some peculiar personality disorder, but then I realised that it was because I was a different species to my classmates. Yeah, that would explain quite a lot, actually.
The day seemed to pass fairly rapidly after biochem, with people staring less and less at me. Nevertheless, I was still enormously relieved when the final bell rang, and I was able to escape the stifling curiosity. Angus was parked right outside the school gates, and he stood leaning his long, powerful body against the car. If he noticed the gaping stares, mine included, he gave no indication of it. Instead, he smiled at me, and opened the passenger door, shutting it again once I was firmly ensconced in the comfortable leather seat. A few seconds later, he was sitting next to me.
"Where to?" he asked, as we pulled away from the kerb. I looked at him in surprise.
"Ring, remember?" he smiled wryly at me. I blushed, of course. I had forgotten about the ring.
"Right, then," I grinned at him. "Let's go and get a ring. Ooh, I wonder if they'll have a pink diamond in the shape of a heart..." I let my voice drift off, and glanced up at Angus, who was looking a bit startled. I couldn't help it - I started laughing. He looked down at me, sighed, and shook his head in mock disapproval.
"There's a family run jeweller in town. Mum says he's the best," I told him and he nodded.
"I await your direction, my lady," he intoned, looking down at me, his dark eyes glinting mischievously.
A few missed turns later, and we pulled into a parking lot opposite a row of small old fashioned shops with creaking signs hung from old stone walls, and weathered window panes covered in dust. The second from the right looked particularly dilapidated, but when we opened the door and walked inside, it was surprisingly neat, and smelled like lavender and old furniture. Angus was trying to explain to me about indicating where to turn before we reached the junction, and that saying "turn here" as we drove past the road was simply not helpful at all, and I was pretending to listen.
"May I help you?" An elderly man with a woolly cap appeared from behind a dark green curtain as if by magic, and went to stand behind the glass counter beneath which dozens of rings lay nestled in blue velvet, glittering beguilingly.
"We're looking for an engagement ring," Angus told him. He nodded, glanced at me briefly, and removed a tray from beneath the thick glass. The rings were smaller than some of the others, and not as flashy, but they appeared to be beautifully designed - to my uninitiated eye, anyway.
There were two that I particularly liked, and I finally decided on one with an oval diamond embedded in a simple platinum band. Elegant and unfussy.
“This one.” I held it out to Angus.
“Let’s see if it fits.” He slid it over the knuckles of my left ring finger. It was a perfect fit. I held my hand out, admiring the way the ring just seemed to belong there. The man with the woolly cap nodded, and replaced the tray with the
remaining rings. Angus gave him a black plastic card, signed a slip of paper and thanked the old man, who nodded graciously. We walked outside together into the weak wintry sunshine, and it dawned on me once again that I was engaged to be married. I wondered if I'd ever get used to the idea. I didn't have much time to become accustomed to it, either. Because in ten days I'd have to get used to the idea of being married. Good grief.
The drive home was conducted in a comfortable silence. Angus didn't need directions to get back - he seemed to have an unerring sense of direction and a spectacular memory. By the time we got back to his place I had begun to feel exhausted.
“You’re tired.” It wasn't a question.
“Yes,” I sighed, and suddenly the frenetic madness of the past week seemed to catch up with me. I felt drained.
I dragged myself out of the car and inside. The white kitten that he had recently given to Mark appeared as if out of nowhere, and mewled at me. I picked it up and it purred.
Angus followed me inside. “Upstairs. You can sleep in my bed.”
I nodded and climbed the stairs, cradling the kitten in my arms. I glanced at the spare room. It now contained a desk, complete with computer and stationery, and an antique-looking wardrobe, which I knew was actually a cunningly disguised gun safe. I smiled. Those were both new; they would have arrived this morning. Fergus worked fast.
I carried the kitten to the main bedroom, removed my jacket and jumper, and climbed into the massive wooden sleigh bed, pulling the bedding up around my chin. The kitten snuggled up next to me, still purring, and I fell asleep, cocooned in the delicious male smell of the man I loved.
~~~~~
The Vampire Gene is available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Gene-Iron-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00E5CKVL2
