Harriet laughed. “Go ahead. I’m all for cheesy romance. When it’s coming from the right person at least.”
“The right people being arrogant, entitled toffs, clearly.” With that, he drew her even closer and kissed her.
Harriet closed her eyes and kissed him back. It was perfect. A feeling of warmth began to spread all through her body despite the evening’s coldness.
After a few glorious minutes of this, George pushed her back onto the rug. She briefly considered resisting before giving up and deciding to go with the flow. His kisses became harder and more urgent, as he pressed down on her, pushing her into the woodland floor. One hand cradled her head whilst the other ran up and down her body. She shivered slightly as a hand slipped under her dress and began to lightly stroke her thighs. One tiny, conscious part of Harriet’s brain was shocked that she was allowing someone she’d met only a few hours previously to do this, but the rest of her mind was a blur of excitement and arousal. She made no attempt to protest, instead running one hand under his shirt to feel the muscles in his back, and twisting his pale hair around the fingers of the other. She wondered dimly how far she was going to let this go but couldn’t see herself making a move to stop things anytime soon.
Harriet quickly began to feel that she was nothing but a pile of nerve endings, and was desperately hoping that George would stop toying with her and move his delicate fingers a little higher up her leg. Instead, George lifted himself onto his elbows and looked down at her. Keeping himself propped on one arm, he stroked her face with his free hand and stared into her eyes. Harriet began to feel that the wood was spinning, and briefly remembered Katie’s warning about girls with no memories. Quickly however, all her worries stopped. She wasn’t sure quite where she was, but felt entirely safe and calm. Her only conscious thought was wanting George.
Without breaking eye contact, he tilted her head back and began to stroke her neck. Harriet felt completely detached from what was going on as George felt for a pulse and ran his fingers up and down the vein. The movement was incredibly relaxing and Harriet let her eyes close.
A second later, she felt a sharp pain on her neck where his fingers had been. The pain quickly faded, to be replaced with a slight feeling of pressure in the same place, and an enormous feeling of pleasure spreading through her whole body. For a few moments, she didn’t dare open her eyes, and wasn’t sure she’d be able to if she tried, but eventually she forced herself to confirm what she’d thought but hadn’t believed could be real.
George’s head was bent over her neck. He was sucking hard – drinking her blood. At first, the absolute terror fought with the incredible sensations she was feeling. Quickly however, common sense prevailed over enchantment and she began to scream.
“Get off me. Stop it. What the hell are you doing?” she shouted, trying to push George away. As soon as she did so, the enchantment broke and she felt the pain she’d expect from someone biting down on her hard. Trying to move him physically was impossible, but as she continued to shout, he sat up in shock.
“You’re awake? How?”
“What do you mean how? What kind of psycho are you? Let me go George!”
George still straddled her and kept his arms either side of her body so that she couldn’t move, but his drawling voice was gentle. “Calm down Harriet. I don’t want to hurt you. I just need to feed. Now I’ve started, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to stop.”
Harriet fell quiet, and he went back to stroking her face.
“Now, either you continue to struggle and it hurts worse than anything, or you can relax and let me work my magic and it’ll be better than the best sex you’ve ever had. After which, we can actually have the best sex you’ve ever had, or you can wander back to your room. You’ll be a bit dazed and confused, feel a bit weak for a few days, but it won’t do you any real harm. Now what do you say?”
Harriet couldn’t think of a rational answer. She wished desperately that things could go back to how they’d been ten minutes previously.
Before she could speak, George was dragged off her. “What the fuck are you doing?” shouted his assailant.
Harriet tried to take advantage of the moment to get up and run, but her legs felt too weak. She realised that she must have lost more blood than she’d thought.
She turned instead to watch the confrontation. To her amazement, her rescuer was Tom.
Gripping George, he screamed at him, “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
In the semi-darkness it was difficult to see exactly what was going on, but George appeared shocked, as though Tom had been entirely unreasonable in stopping his attack.
“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.”
&nb
sp; “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
The 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 luck
y, 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.”
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