Free Oxford Blood by Georgiana Derwent

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