He stopped speaking then, and screwed his eyes shut.
"He hurt her so much. And then he left her lying next to me, barely conscious, broken and bleeding. She hadn't changed yet, so there was no way she could heal the wounds Jack had inflicted on her. She died there in the dark, with my hollow promises of revenge whispered in her ears."
"Jesus," said Oliver.
"I survived. Within a few hours my physical injuries had healed. I buried Amelie, and I left, tail between my legs, so to speak. Eight decades later I finally stopped running, and I started collecting information. I never tried to confront Jack again, but instead kept to the sidelines, slowly infiltrating his army. A surprising number of my brothers hated what had been done to them, deeply resented their blood addiction and the slow decay of their minds and bodies that had been inflicted on them by Jack. There was nothing I could do to help them - their dependence on blood consumed them. But they gave me the information I needed as best they could. I believe that somewhere deep inside, they knew that it was the right thing to do. Incidentally, that's also how I found out about you people. Although my brothers' description of you may have been somewhat exaggerated with regards to your viciousness, I decided that if you were going up against them, you might be willing to help me. One of them even knew about this place."
"I never thought I could be more pleased that Jack was dead than I was two days ago," Oliver said, ignoring the fact that at least one of the blood feeders had known where to find us. "Seems I was wrong. I hope you don't feel bad about not killing him before now. He was bloody difficult to defeat, even on his own. The only reason we managed to destroy him is because he went after your daughter. Biggest mistake ever. Angus here got her back the first time, and the second time she somehow electrocuted the crap out of him, and Angus disabled him and brought him back to our place. My mother hacked at him with an axe a couple of times, then she whipped his head off. It was a thing of great beauty." Oliver grinned evilly.
"Rebecca electrocuted him, you say? She's a vampire then?" Hugo looked astounded, and more than a little pleased.
"She is indeed. And so will Mark be," I interjected at this point. "My brother is a geneticist, and he has isolated the recessive genes that, when combined, cause that individual to metabolise iron. Mark has both sets. He hasn't changed yet, but he will."