Free i f2cd308009a8236d by Guinevere

fangs?” Mark wanted to know.
    “No fangs.”
    “So how did you puncture peoples’ jugulars?”
    “Bite through them. And it’s not the jugular we went for, but the carotid. The jugular is
    a vein, and carries slow blood to the heart, but the carotid is the large artery that you can
    feel pulsating in your neck, here,” he pointed to his own throat, “and that’s much faster, and the blood tastes better too.” I didn’t want to know how he knew something like that.
    “I don’t need to drink blood now, do I?” I heard the edge of panic in my own voice.
    “No. That’s what the iron tablets are for. But we need to be careful how much we give
    you. Marcus reckons we should start at five a day, and work up slowly from there. Too little,
    and you could start to feel weak again, but too much can make you a bit mad. Too much
    power, too much sensory input, it can all become very overwhelming very quickly. Reality
    becomes a distant memory.”
    “Oh goody,” I muttered. This was getting better and better. Not only was I some sort of
    metabolic oddity, but there was a good chance I could become insane too.
    Angus smiled at me again. “It’s OK, we’ll help you through it all. I’ll protect you,” he
    added in a softer voice. There was that dizziness again. I closed my eyes and nodded,
    remembering the feel of his body against mine.
    “Are you immortal too?” Mark was on a roll now, his eyes wide with excitement.
    “No, we just live a bit longer than normal humans.”
    “How long?”
    “Two hundred and fifty years, give or take a few.”
    “How old are you?”
    Angus hesitated and glanced sideways at me. “I was born in 1951.”
    “But you look so young!”
    “We all do. It’s got something to do with our ability to regenerate cells. I will look like
    this until I die.”
    “What about garlic and crosses and wooden stakes?”
    “All myth.” Angus was laughing now. “The only way to kill us - and this is not something
    we’ve ever tried to prove, obviously - is probably to decapitate us. And maybe if our hearts
    stop beating, that could do it too. Other than that we’re pretty tough.”
    I sat quietly, trying to drink my coffee and take it all in. The coffee was strong; the
    caffeine rush hit, and I felt better suddenly. This potential change in my life was really not all that frightening. Nobody except Angus and Mark would know about it, and I could carry on
    as normal, living a normal life. I glanced over at Angus again, and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe I didn’t want to live a normal life. I had a choice, now, one that I would never even have contemplated 24 hours ago. I wondered idly which life I would end up choosing.
    What I didn’t know was that the choice had already been made, and not by me either.

    Angus
    The knee brace arrived within fifty minutes of my call to Fergus. Mark was sitting
    against the wall again, and the kitten was once again draped over his lap. I had pointed out
    to him that he was welcome to sit on the furniture, and that I wouldn’t bite him, but he said
    he preferred the floor, and so did the cat. Rebecca sat curled in the far corner of the big
    three seater. I gave the brace to her, and suggested she try it on. It was a bit big, but it
    would do.
    “What should I say to Mum tonight?” she asked, fastening Velcro straps. “She’ll never
    believe me if I tell her I fell in the bath. And how did I get the cast off? What if she asks me?”
    “I think you should let me do the talking,” Mark interjected.
    “I agree with your brother,” I said. “Whenever you need to withhold information, or
    even give false information, like in this case, you should always say as little as possible. Keep things simple. That way it doesn’t feel so much like a lie as just keeping quiet.”
    “We’d better go now,” Mark reluctantly put the kitten on the floor. It stumbled a few
    steps, but gained its balance, and limped across to Rebecca, who leaned down to stroke