Oxford Blood (16 page)

As always, the beauty of the city soothed her. She brought
herself a ham and brie baguette and a coffee, and ate them strolling around the
town. Inevitably, she bumped into a few people she knew and had hurried
conversations with them, but generally managed to maintain the necessary degree
of solitude. It was a crisp and clear day. After a while, the weak winter sun
began to hurt her eyes and she hurried back to college, wondering whether this was
a side effect of the blood.

She went to her tutorial at two. After a few weeks at
Oxford, her original terror of the tutorials had mostly worn off, but they were
still intensely nerve-wracking affairs. Her tute partner for the term was
Callum, Olamide’s boyfriend, a boy who seemed to know everything about
everything and appeared to never leave the library. The grumpy old tutor loved
him and half the time the tutorials turned into a passionate debate between
them, leaving her on the sidelines. She still hadn’t decided whether to be
relieved that this took the pressure off her, or upset that they clearly
regarded her as their intellectual inferior.

On this occasion however, the vampire blood seemed to have
stimulated her mind as well as her body. She found herself remembering every
detail of the books she’d read on the Civil War and quickly turning the facts
into coherent arguments. Callum and the tutor stared at her, clearly impressed.

“Of course, Edgehill was just so very frustrating,” she said
suddenly. “That sense of a clear victory slipping out of our hands. The idiot
Cavalry commanders pushing their luck and chasing the fleeing enemy. Why
couldn’t they just have held their ground and stuck with the infantry?” She was
aware that her voice was becoming increasingly hysterical and that Callum and
the tutor were looking at her oddly.

“It could so easily have been a decisive battle. Fucking
Rupert had to go and ruin everything. The next thing I know, there’s Essex.
Then James is dead beside me and I’m the heir and it’s everything I ever
wanted, but not like this.”

“Are you quite all right Miss French?” the usually stern
tutor asked kindly. “Your knowledge of everyone’s position at Edgehill is
certainly impressive, but perhaps you should get a little air. That’s enough
for today. Here are your essays. Mr Lucas, would you be so kind as to take Miss
French back to her room?”

“Are you okay Harriet?” Callum said, bringing her back to
the moment. “I think I should take you to Ola, she’ll know what to do.”

“I’m fine, I obviously spent far too much time working on
this essay,” she said, managing a weak laugh.

“Well, it paid off until the last moment. I’ve never heard
anyone swear in a tutorial before,” Callum said with a grin. Her odd behaviour
had invigorated the usually quiet boy. “Just one thing though, who on earth is
James?”

“James? What do you mean?”

“You said something along the lines of: ‘James was dead and
I was the heir.’ It wasn’t clear who you were talking about or why it was so
terrible.”

“Oh I’m not sure,” Harriet replied, trying to sound breezy.
“I probably meant something else.”

Harriet was worried that Callum was going to make her
explain everything to Olamide, but when they got to her room, an over-excited
Caroline greeted her.

“Harriet! Just the person I’ve been looking for! Guess what
happened last night?”

Harriet had no idea. She wondered if Caroline’s evening had
been as eventful as hers.

“I was asleep, and there was a knock at my door. As it was
the middle of the night I was just wishing they’d go away, but I got up to open
it, and there’s Ben, dressed in white tie, slightly drunk and very wide-eyed. I
was puzzled, but I asked him in. He didn’t say anything at first, just kissed
me.”

“Wow,” said Harriet, forgetting her own problems. “About
time.”

“Exactly. Then within minutes, we were in bed. It was
amazing. All that tension we’ve been building up all term just exploded.” She
smiled beatifically at the memory. “He went to the Cavaliers. Did you see him?
I think they must have shaken some sense into him.”

“So do you think this was a one off or are the two of you
going to spend next term all loved up?” Harriet asked.

“Well, last night there was no time for discussion,”
Caroline said, grinning. “But he stayed the night and this morning over breakfast
we talked and that’s it – we’re official.”

Everyone offered their congratulations to the overjoyed
girl.

“Actually, I’ve got similar news,” Harriet said eventually.
“There really must be something in the water at those Cavalier dinners, because
I got together with Tom.”

“You and Tom?” Olamide queried. “Didn’t you go with this
George guy? And didn’t you decide you hated Tom after your argument in the
bar?”

“Yes you sneaky thing, I think you’d better tell all,” said
Caroline cheerfully, all her concerns of the night before having evaporated in
the blur of new love.

“It’s a bit of a long story, but basically Tom walked me
back from the party, explained a few things and it all went from there.”

“Well that’s just perfect. Tom and Ben get on well, so what
do you say to the four of us going for a meal then onto Harry’s house party?
Oh, Ola and Cal, you too of course if you’d fancy it.”

Olamide and Callum agreed to the meal if not the party, and
Harriet thought it would be a great idea. With the exception of Callum, who
quickly went back to the library, everyone was too overexcited for work or
anything else productive, so the rest of the afternoon passed in a haze of tea,
snacks and amusing YouTube videos, followed by a trip to G and D’s, a fantastic
ice cream parlour in the town.

At six, Harriet judged that it was probably dark enough for
Tom to have woken up and nervously went to his room. As she knocked, she half
expected him to have had one of his odd mood changes and refuse to speak to
her, but when he opened the door he appeared delighted to see her and pulled
her into his embrace.

Once he’d stopped kissing her, she raised Caroline’s
suggestion of a meal and then the party. “I didn’t think vampires eat food, but
judging by last night it doesn’t seem to be a problem.”

“We get no sustenance from normal food, but we can still
enjoy the taste and we generally like to live extravagantly,” Tom explained.
“The meal sounds good. Ben’s a great guy and I’d love to get to meet some of
your friends properly. I don’t think Harry’s party is a very sensible idea
though. A candidate’s party is going to be swarming with Cavaliers out to judge
him and it’s best they don’t see us together.”

Between her dislike of Harry and all the excitement of the
evening before, Harriet hadn’t actually been that keen on the idea of the
party, but at Tom’s words, she became determined that they were going to go.

“If we’re going to be together I won’t have us hiding it.
You say all the major Cavaliers are going to be there. I say fantastic; let’s
let the whole vampire world know that we’re not afraid.”

Tom looked dubious but agreed. They embraced once more and
then set out to meet the other couples at the porter’s lodge.

“Tom! Great to see you,” Caroline said. She was holding
Ben’s hand, both of them looking as happy as it was possible to be.

“Thanks for the invite to the Cavaliers mate,” Ben added. “I
guess it must have been you anyway. I had an amazing time. Just got to make
sure I get selected now.”

“Lovely to see you too Caroline. Ben, you’re welcome, and
don’t worry about the next steps, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Olamide and Callum were silent. They tended to get nervous
enough around Ben. Tom seemed to have entirely overawed them.

They ate a cheap and cheerful supper in a pizza restaurant. Red
wine and new love made everyone happy and talkative. Ben told a funny story
about a teacher he and Tom had had at Eton.

“Why does he think the two of you were at school together?”
Harriet whispered. “You must have gone decades ago.”

“Oh, we all pretend we’ve just graduated from one of the top
schools, ideally the one we actually went to back in the day, and mesmerise the
recent alumni we meet into remembering spending time with us there. Otherwise
all the University’s smart set would wonder where on earth we’d appeared from.”

Once they’d finished their coffees, Callum and Olamide made
their excuses and headed home.

“Party time,” said Caroline. “I can’t stand Harry, but with
all the vote hunting I bet he’s going to make it a great night.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tom asked Harriet.

“Mate, I’ve never known you turn down a party before,” Ben
said laughing. “Don’t get all loved up and boring on me. I certainly don’t
intend to, not even for my lovely Caroline.”

Caroline giggled. Tom looked uncertain.

“Come on everyone,” Harriet said in her most decisive voice.
Before there could be any further discussion, she strode towards Broad Street
purposefully. The others shrugged and followed.

 Harry was at Hertford, only a short walk from the centre of
town. He had a large room and in addition, had taken over most of the rest of
his staircase. They could hear the noise from the street.

“This is going to get broken up by the porters within the
hour,” Caroline said scathingly. “Harry really does have more money than sense.
Why he couldn’t have hired a room if he was so keen to do this I don’t know. I
suppose he must want us all to see his lovely things.” With that, she dialled
his number on her phone, and the host came out to let them into the college.

The four of them had to fight their way through people to
get into Harry’s room. Music was playing loudly and there was a huge amount of
food and drink laid out. People were sprawled on cushions and all over the bed.
As she helped herself to a vodka and coke, Harriet noticed George standing in
the corner watching her. A feeling of dread began to creep over her and she
regretted her confident words to Tom.

“Turning up at the party with Tom I see,” he said coldly. “I
hope this doesn’t mean what I think it does.”

“George, I’m sorry. After Tom took me back last night we had
a talk and things have just escalated from there.”

George’s face was paler than ever, frozen and betraying no
emotions. Knowing her necklace could keep her safe from hypnosis, Harriet
looked into his bright green eyes and remembered just how terrifying he could
be.

“I don’t think you quite understand the situation you find
yourself in,” he said. “Do you think that we give our blood to anyone, that it
means nothing? You can’t toy with us the way you might with human men.”

“Don’t give me that hypocritical rubbish. I’ve heard the
stories about you, and even if they’re only half true, the number of women you
must have slept with and fed off this term alone means you have no right to
take the moral high ground.”

George laughed bitterly at this. “Fucking and biting yes,
that’s one thing. But not giving them my blood. Not opening myself up and
taking them into my protection. I haven’t done that in centuries. And you
expect me to accept that an hour later you were in a lesser vampire’s bed? You
expect me to shrug that off without complaint?”

“Look, I really am sorry. Last night was a weird night. I
suppose I acted like a bit of a slut, but with all the shocks I had can you
really blame me? As for the blood thing, I didn’t really know the significance
of it and you made no effort to really tell me.”

“I would have thought someone as intelligent as you would
have been able to work that one out without help. Did you see any of the other
members donating to their guests?”

Harriet tried to reply calmly. “All I can say is that you’re
charming and beautiful and even if you scare me a little I enjoy spending time
with you. But it’s Tom that I want. I can’t change that and neither can you.”

“Oh we’ll see about that,” he replied, narrowing his bright
eyes. “I’m going to speak to Augustine, speak to your mother and speak to the
council. In the meantime I’m going to do everything I can to charm you back and
to get Tom out of the way.”

Tom walked over and put a possessive arm around her. “And
how are you proposing to do that?” he asked, assuming his most confrontational
manner.

“Just watch your back Flyte,” George hissed. “You might have
taken leave of your senses and decided that rank no longer matters and our
leaders can be ignored and anyone can get the girl, but that certainly doesn’t
mean everyone else has.”

“George, George, George,” said Rupert appearing behind him
from nowhere and putting a hand patronisingly on his shoulder. “Go to the
council and start your blood feud. If you want a war, I think you’ll find
plenty of people willing to be on the other side. I’m certainly happy to lead
them.”

George seemed slightly chastened at his rival’s words, but
quickly recovered. “I’m sure you’re right Rupes. I’m not naive enough to think
I don’t have my enemies. However, there’s one thing I know for certain. Get
every other Cavalier against me if you will. In this matter, it won’t sway
Augustine and Adelaide. He’s as set on finding an appropriate match for his
step-daughter as he’s ever been on any issue.”

George paused to allow this to sink it. Rupert’s confident
expression faltered. “And of course, for all your faults, I know you’re not a
traitor and you don’t defy authority. I’d almost say it’s your defining
feature.”

He gave Harriet one last long look as he strode away to talk
to some other guests.

“Are you alright?” Tom asked, tightening his hold on her,
whilst Rupert looked on with a wry smile.

“I’m fine. I knew something like that was probably going to
happen and it’s better to have got it over with. What about you? Are you
worried by his threats?”

“I wouldn’t say worried, no. I’m taking them entirely
seriously, but that’s a different issue. I can take care of myself.”