Oxford Blood (8 page)

“What the hell? Since when were you all Mr Perfect let’s not
hurt anyone? I’m just minding my own business here. Pretty, willing girl.
Feeling hungry, feeling horny, what do you expect me to do?”

Tom responded by pushing George into a tree and pinning him
against it. “Seriously George, you don’t want to be doing this with Harriet. Go
and find one of your little fan club if you’re feeling the need.”

George lounged against the tree. “Tom. We both know you only
have me pinned because you caught me by surprise and if this comes to a fight
I’d totally take you. But you know, I’ve had a fun evening, I’m not really in
the mood for violence. So how about you just explain what your problem is and
we can move on. If you want to bite her or fuck her, I’m willing to be
reasonable. She’s at your college after all.”

Harriet sat listening in complete horror. The relief she had
felt at Tom’s surprise appearance was rapidly turning to panic. She knew she
should run back to her room and leave them to it, but felt weak from the loss
of blood and not entirely in control of her body.

“Well, of course you can usually take me in a fight. You’re
much older than I am. But I’m really quite angry right now, so who knows.” Tom
let go of George. “I’d rather not say too much in front of her, but have you
ever looked closely at her necklace?”

“What are you talking about?” George sounded genuinely
puzzled.

Tom turned to Harriet, who had been all but ignored for the
last few minutes. “Show him your locket!” he said, in an urgent but gentler
tone.

Harriet was barely able to speak at first, but finally
managed to get the words out. “It’s in my room. It didn’t go with my dress.”
Having explaining that, she entirely lost her composure. “Tom, what’s going on?
This is a nightmare. I want you to take me back to my room. Now.”

Instead of immediately responding to her, Tom turned to
George. “Oh. So she wasn’t wearing it tonight. That explains a lot.
Nonetheless, does the Piso Balla sound familiar to you?”

“But that belongs to...”

“Exactly.” Tom gave George a hard look. “It was given to
her. Now do you see where I’m coming from?”

George ignored him and turned back to Harriet. “My
apologies. You should have said something.” He gave an ironic bow.

“Wake her up properly,” Tom hissed at him. “I think she’s
still partly under and you know full well that one of us can’t break another’s
mind control.”

George nodded, touched her lightly on the forehead and
quickly disappeared from view. Tom sat down beside a confused and terrified
Harriet.

“You need to explain,” she whimpered.

Tom took her arm and helped her to her feet. “Later. First,
I must get you back to your room. Can you walk?”

“I’m not sure,” she answered. “He attacked me. He bit my
neck. He drank some of my blood. I’m not even sure how much I lost; I was so
out of it. What the hell was he playing at?”

Before Tom could respond, the events of the last few minutes
caught up with Harriet and she started shaking and sobbing hysterically.

Immediately, Tom picked her up. “It’s complicated,” he said.
“I’ll carry you back and then we can talk.” He began to run towards the
college.

“Be careful,” Harriet said through her tears. “You could
trip or fall in the river.”

“Trust me,” Tom said. “I won’t. Just relax. Close your eyes
and we’ll be at our staircase before you know what’s happening.”

Chapter Five

T
he
next thing Harriet knew, she was waking up, on top of her bed, fully clothed.
Her head ached and she felt entirely confused. Tom was sitting calmly at her
desk, watching her.

“Ah, you’re awake. Fantastic. How do you feel?”

“I feel like I drank a whole bottle of champagne and then
got viciously attacked by a lunatic. How do you think I feel? And how long have
I been asleep?”

“Okay,” Tom replied. “Maybe that was a stupid question.
You’ve only been out for a few minutes.”

Harriet nodded. “But I still don’t understand anything.”

Tom moved even closer to her, and gently turned her head to
look straight at him. “Well, what do you think happened? What do you think
George was doing?”

“He... we were...” she mumbled, not wanting to tell Tom what
they’d been doing. “We were talking. Then I was completely out of it, and when
I managed to pull myself together, he was biting my neck. Really biting. I was
bleeding and it was agony.” Explaining made the memories more vivid, and
Harriet found herself unable to speak.

Tom put one arm around her. “And why do you think he was
doing that?” he asked.

“I guess he’s crazy. I don’t even know how he got me so
dazed. Drugs or whatever. But who does something like that? I was hearing all
these horror stories about him and I just ignored them.”

Tom tightened his hold on her. Harriet was too upset and in
pain to properly appreciate it, but was grateful nonetheless. “If you don’t
know already, then I really don’t know how to tell you. I guess I’m just going
to have to come out with it. George is a vampire.”

Harriet began to laugh. “Are you crazy? George was dressed
as a vampire, because we came from a Halloween party. That’s rather different
to actually being one.”

“Yes, that was an interesting choice of costume. George
always has to show off. Listen, I know it’s difficult to believe, but it’s
true, I swear. George is a member of the Cavaliers. They’re all vampires.”

 Tom leaned over her, and opened his mouth to reveal sharp
fangs. His skin looked paler, his lips redder and his eyes a deeper blue than
was usual. “Including me.”

Harriet almost screamed, but quickly forced herself to get a
grip. There was no way she was going to fall for this.

“Are the two of you in on this together?” she asked angrily.
“Let’s team up and play a little trick on the northern girl. Well it was very
funny, and very clever. Apart from that bit where I actually lost a lot of
blood.”

Tom looked horrified. “George was out of order and I stepped
in to help. I know this is hard for you to believe, but you need to listen to
me.

“Lots of people around Oxford are vampires. Anyone who seems
more attractive or stronger or more intelligent than everyone else does –
there’s a good chance they’re one of us. Or if not, and their talents and charm
are just a quirk of nature, there’s a good chance we’re planning on making them
one.”

“I’ve heard enough,” Harriet said as firmly as she could
manage. “I think I liked you better when you were outright blanking me. Go back
to your stupid party and tell your posh friends your funny little story.”

“I suppose there’s no point in trying to argue with you
about this right now. You’ve lost blood and you’ve had a shock. You need to
sleep. Just promise me you’ll meet me in the bar tomorrow night and discuss
this with me calmly.”

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Harriet said flatly. “If I
happen to be in the bar, maybe we can have a quick chat. Maybe you’ll have
sobered up by then and be ready to apologise and talk some sense.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. After dark though. Sadly that
part of the legends is true.”

“You’re not going to let this drop are you? Shall I just
play along? Wear a crucifix and bring a stake?” Harriet snapped.

Tom laughed. “Forget the crucifix. Just never be stupid
enough to take your mother’s necklace off again. As far as I can tell, you have
some resistance to telepathy and mind control naturally, but wear that and
you’re completely protected. “

“This makes even less sense than the rest of your story. Why
on earth would my mother give me anti-vampire jewellery?”

Tom smiled. “I thought we agreed no more discussion tonight.
It’s also true that vampires can’t come in unless invited. In Oxford, that
seems to work on the level of colleges, staircases and individual rooms. So be
careful who you go letting in.”

“Well you’ve undermined your own argument there. You came
into my room uninvited just now,” Harriet said triumphantly. She was feeling
dizzy from shock and blood loss but she was sure of that at least.

“Because I’m a member of this college I can go anywhere
within its walls. But I promise you are absolutely safe from me. Now, I need to
get back to my party and you need to get some sleep.”

***

Harriet was woken by the sound of a brief knock followed by
her scout walking into her room.

“Oh, sorry to disturb you dear. Do you want your room
cleaning or are you going back to sleep?” the middle-aged woman asked.

Harriet still hadn’t quite got to grips with the idea of
having someone who cleaned her room or the invasion of privacy it entailed.
Trying to be polite however, she sat up.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Half twelve. Late night was it?”

Harriet realised that she should get out of bed, but felt
completely exhausted and a little dizzy. “Something like that,” she replied.
“You can leave the room for this week. Sorry about this, I’m feeling absolutely
awful.”

“In that case, I’ll just empty your bin and leave you to it.
I hope you’re feeling better soon. Make sure you go to the doctors if you’re
not.”

Harriet was grateful for the friendly advice, but as she
sank back into her pillow, and memories of the night before flashed through her
aching brain, she wondered what a doctor would have to say about her injury.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Her phone beeped. It was Caroline, suggesting they meet for
lunch in the bar. The thought of leaving her room and being exposed to the gaze
of the rest of the college made her feel dizzy all over again.

She texted back:
Too fragile for the bar. Loads to tell
you about last night. Bring some sandwiches from the shop. I’ll pay and give
you all the gossip. Don’t bring anyone else
.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Standing
to answer it reminded Harriet just how much the blood loss had affected her.
Before she reached the door, Caroline, never one for privacy, had let herself
in. She deposited the mouth-watering hot sandwiches on Harriet’s desk and sat
down on the bed.

“God you look terrible. Have you had any sleep? What the
hell happened after you left? Did you and George...” The expression on
Harriet’s face made her friend trail off. “I’ll make tea whilst you tell me,”
she said.

Whilst Caroline boiled the kettle, Harriet took a few bites
of the surprisingly revitalising bacon baguette and began to explain. “We went
onto Steele Walk, and well, things got a bit heavy. It was all moving so fast,
but if I’m honest I was totally up for it.”

Caroline’s eyes widened. “Good for you. He seems to be a bit
of a twat but he’s unbelievably hot. You needed to have some fun and stop
obsessing over Tom. So come on, how far did it go?”

Harriet didn’t speak for a few minutes, instead taking small
sips of her tea. Eventually she half covered her face with her hands. “Not
very. Because then he attacked me.”

Caroline gave a sharp intake of breath.

 The horror of it all crept up on Harriet once more, and she
started to cry.

 Immediately, her friend sat down on the bed and put her arm
round her. “Oh my God, what do you mean attacked you? What did he do?”

Harriet’s tears prevented her from being able to give a very
coherent account, which was lucky, as she still hadn’t worked one out. She
choked out something vague about being pinned down and George cutting her neck.
She remembered Tom’s explanation, but quickly dismissed it. In her hysterical
state it had felt a bit like he was biting her, but that was ridiculous. He’d
obviously had a knife she hadn’t noticed. She lifted her long hair to show
Caroline the bloody marks.

“I don’t think he meant to cut it so bad, I guess it was
some sort of kinky game but I struggled and it all got out of control. I
actually ended up losing quite a bit of blood. That’s why I feel like shit
today.”

Caroline was clearly struggling to find the right words.
“Have you spoken to the police?”

Harriet realised that she hadn’t considered that at all. Any
investigating officer would be able to tell the difference between a wound
inflicted with a knife and one caused by oddly sharp teeth. She couldn’t face
the possibility that they would tell her it was the latter. She quickly changed
the subject.

“Anyway, I haven’t told you the most exciting bit yet.”

“What, more exciting than being attacked by some psycho-rah?
Really?” Caroline leaned in, looking intrigued.

“Yup. Let’s just say I was rescued by the person I’d have
picked above anyone else to be my knight in shining armour.” Harriet wondered
whether she’d work it out.

“What, Tom?” Caroline replied. “Seriously? How on earth did
he find you out there? Did they fight? Did you go back with him?”

Harriet explained as best she could. She wished she was able
to share Caroline’s excitement and just revel in the fact that she actually had
been rescued by Tom, that the boy she’d adored for weeks whilst he blanked her
actually cared enough to save her. But she couldn’t forget how weird he’d been
afterwards and didn’t want to tell Caroline about their conversation.

“And then he put me to bed and left,” Harriet concluded.

Caroline looked satisfyingly enthralled. “Only you Harriet.
You spend time alone with not one but two of the absolute hottest guys in the
university and what happens? One stabs you; one tucks you in and wishes you
good night. I think you need to find a middle ground.”

The two of them talked it over for a while longer, analysing
every detail that Harriet was willing to provide.

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Caroline said.
“None of this quite makes sense.”