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a serious talk with Dad about referring her to a psychologist.
    The expression on my face must have said it all, for Aunt Judy laughed and shook her head. ‘Laura, dear, when I was first told, I had the same difficulty accepting it as you. Now, I think nothing of it.’
    I couldn’t help asking—sceptically— ‘How long has this been going on?’
    ‘Over one thousand, eight hundred years,’ she said without hesitation.
    I felt my eyes widen. No nutter could possibly be that precise. ‘Anyone else in the family know about this?’ I asked somewhat tentatively.
    ‘Only your… parents.’
    This time my jaw dropped . My parents? I then recalled the way mum had kept glancing at Aunt Judy during my birthday dinner; the anxious look on her face; almost, fearful.
    An awful sense of apprehension stole over me. If all this was true, then why hadn’t they prepared me? Neither had dropped a single hint. ‘Why haven’t they told me all this? Why you?’
    ‘It could only come from me, dear. The person who has first hand experience of these things. There’s a lot they don’t know.’ Her tone was sympathetic.
    I shook my head . ‘I’m sorry, Aunt Judy. I just can’t accept this. It’s ridiculous!’ As I turned to walk back to the house, she grabbed hold of my arm.
    ‘Laura, please! I’m not crazy. John and Eilene know all about this and they also know why we’re out here tonight.’
    I stopped and stared at her.
    ‘Please, hear me out. Give me that at least before dismissing me outright.’
    ‘It ’s not you I’m dismissing, but this… vampire rubbish!’ I didn’t want to listen, any more than I wanted to believe my aunt was going senile.
    ‘Let me show you something and then tell me if you still think I’m out of my mind.’
    The night crickets chirped as she waited for my answer. I exhaled and said resignedly, ‘All right.’
    She carefully removed the magnificent gold bangle that covered most of her right wrist and held it out for me to examine. In the dim light of the streetlamp, one of several along this walk, I could make out two distinct puncture marks larger than any mosquito could inflict. Satisfied she had shown me enough, the bangle was slipped strategically back into place. Yet I continued to stare at the spot as if my eyes could see straight through the metal to those distinctive marks.
    ‘That’s not possible! ’ I exclaimed as my brain sought to find a rational explanation.
    ‘There’s no such thing. The world’s full of impossibilities.’
    I shook my head.
    ‘Don’t be afraid to say it, Laura. They’re bite marks and they weren’t made by an animal.’ She then did the same with the pearl choker around her throat. ‘Have a good look. Go on, touch them, I don’t mind.’
    I swallowed hard and gingerly let my fingers rest on the two slightly raised dark bumps on her n eck. They seemed so real; felt real. Why on earth would she go to such lengths to convince me to believe in something so absurd? Either that, or—and my skin crawled at the thought—she was involved in some weird cult. Heaven’s knows there were plenty around. But I was surprised an intelligent woman like my aunt would get herself caught up in such nonsense. And at her age!
    I really needed to talk to Dad; perhaps he could get her some psychiatric help.
    ‘Aunt Judy, let’s go back to the house.’
    She sighed. ‘ I see you need more proof. Give me your hand, dear.’
    ‘Why?’ Oh, now what?
    S he held out her own hand and waited, so I obliged and placed my right hand in hers. As I watched, my aunt entwined our fingers and the gold snake-ring she always wore came to life before my eyes. It unwound itself from her finger, slithered toward my hand and wound itself three times around my middle finger.
    I yelped and drew my hand away, but by then it was too late. No matter how hard I tugged, it wouldn’t budge. The thing seemed glued in place.
    ‘Take it off! Take it off!’ 
    ‘It won’t hurt you, Laura.