And then, as if in slow motion, the scene exploded into frantic action. Julia grabbed Lucy and pushed her towards the house, and the knives came out, flashing.
Lucy stumbled and it looked as if she was going to fall, but Fergus was suddenly there with her, holding her up as she regained her footing, and began running in earnest. Bill was slower, but he made it to his feet and had gone a few steps before one of the bloodsuckers leapt at him. Fergus shot it in the head, but it was too late for Bill, who collapsed in a fountain of bright red arterial blood that sprayed over several feet. Marcus started firing the crossbow with deadly accuracy, each bolt hitting its target with an audible thud, and then exploding as some hidden mechanism was triggered.
Lucy reached the building and stumbled into the room, her hands still tied behind her back. I dragged my eyes away from the frenzied battle outside and used my knife to slice through the cable ties that bound her. She thanked me and immediately went to stand at the window, her eyes fixed on her mother and brother as they swirled, ducking and weaving, and then darting forward to deliver a deadly strike. Fergus had abandoned his shotguns and was using the knives he'd had concealed in his jacket. I watched his face as he fought, concentration and elation etched into his features, intent on death, and celebrating each fallen enemy with a loud and joyous laugh. It seemed as if the blood drinking vampires had never learned to use any form of weapon apart from their inherent strength and speed, and now that they were up against other, armed vampires, they were hopelessly outmatched. But they had numbers on their side, and even with Marcus and his exploding crossbow bolts and infallible aim, the outcome was by no means certain.
"I'm sorry," Lucy spoke eventually. It took me a while to realise she was speaking to me, so focused was she on the struggle outside. "I didn't know Uncle James was going to abduct you. He said he knew you and wanted to apologise for some deal he'd made that had gone wrong, and that he just wanted to make amends. He told me to lock the door behind me because you would recognise him and refuse to listen to his apology. It never occurred to me that he'd do anything so awful in his own brother's house. It makes me feel sick to know that I just handed you over to him," she finished in a rush and looked up at me, tears running down her cheeks, clearly distressed by what her uncle had done, and her role in it.