Chapter 2

Elizabeth stood among a crowd of giggling girls and tried very hard not to scream.

She hadn't meant to overhear the conversation between Bingley and Darcy, yet she had heard it all the same. She had felt the sting when Darcy slighted her looks firsthand, had felt the anger well up inside of her at his words. How dare he insult her like that? He barely even knew her! But he was handsome, and handsome men did tend to know beautiful women when they saw them. Could it be that Elizabeth wasn't as handsome as she thought she was?

Elizabeth clenched her teeth against a fresh scream of frustration and tried not to watch the frustrating man as he danced with Bingley's red headed sister. She failed half of the time, but she still tried. It didn't help any when she felt Darcy's piercing eyes gaze at her when he thought she wasn't looking. Each time she sensed his gaze, she felt a new thrill of emotion go through her that made it even harder to resist turning around to meet his ice blue eyes head on.

As if on cue, Darcy turned his head once again, his eyes coming to rest on Elizabeth, half-hidden among the twittering blobs of silk that called themselves girls. Elizabeth felt her face flush and she turned away.

Perhaps he wishes to find more faults to prove me less tolerable than I already am, she thought sourly.

"Lizzie!"

Elizabeth turned around at the sound of Mary's voice, her senses instantly alert.

Mary waved to her from a secluded corner of the room, her brown eyes wide with alarm.

Elizabeth frowned and pushed her way roughly through the chattering girls, paying no heed to their cries of outrage as she trod on the delicate silk of their gowns. She reached the corner where Mary stood within seconds, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"What happened?" she demanded.

Mary nodded discreetly towards the shadowy walls behind her. Jane huddled against the walls; her eyes squeezed shut against an unknown terror. Elizabeth felt herself go pale and she moved quickly to her sister's side.

"Jane," she whispered, her voice trembling.

Jane looked up at her, her lips trembling; her doe-like brown eyes were wide and unfocused, her expression pained.

"Lizzie," she breathed, slightly relieved. Then she tensed and looked around, her eyes narrowed. "Is anyone else around?"

Mary shook her head. She surreptitiously moved to hide her sisters from view, her dark head bent as if she was checking the lace at the edge of her skirt. Her eyes flickered across the room, checking the faces of the surrounding party-goers to make sure no one was watching.

Jane sighed in relief and moved closer to Elizabeth, careful to keep herself hidden behind Mary.

"Elizabeth," she started. She stopped suddenly, seeming to hesitate.

"Tell me what you saw, Jane," Elizabeth said grimly.

Jane nodded and took a deep, steadying breath.

"I saw some," she said quietly. "Vampires. They're coming here soon."

Elizabeth felt the breath fly out of her. Darn, she had been enjoying her vacation.

"When?" she asked resignedly.

Jane frowned, trying to concentrate.

"Soon," she said finally. "One of them may be here already."

"How many of them are there?" Mary whispered, turning her head to the side so that no one noticed there conversation.

Jane frowned again and closed her eyes. She was silent for a long time as she concentrated. Finally, she gave up with a sigh of frustration.

"I can't see," she muttered, annoyed. "They have a different aura than the others. It's darker… harder to pinpoint."

Elizabeth frowned. She didn't like not knowing what she was up against.

"Can you see if any of them are here yet?" Mary asked, her voice calm despite the faint trembling that had taken hold of her.

Jane nodded and grabbed Elizabeth's arm as she struggled to stand up. She cast her eyes over the mixed dancers in the ballroom, skipping automatically over the familiar gold and blue auras of her family. Her brow furrowed when she cast eyes on Mr. Darcy and Caroline Bingley.

"There," she whispered, gesturing towards the couple. "One of them is the vampire."

"Which one?" Elizabeth demanded, an unknown alarm coursing through her at the sight of Darcy.

Jane frowned and looked between the two intensely. She nodded after a few moments and sighed.

"I can't tell," she admitted quietly. "One of them has some vampire blood in them, which makes it hard to tell which is which."

"Vampire blood?" Mary repeated, her eyes creasing into a confused frown. "How can that be? Are they descended from vampires or have they had an exchange?"

"Whatever the reason, we need to watch them closely," Elizabeth said her voice hard. She straightened up and took her place beside Mary, her eyes flashing with determination. "Jane, you and Mary can watch over Caroline and Mr. Bingley. I'll cover Darcy."

Mary raised her eyebrows at Elizabeth's choice of target but said nothing. Jane, however, was a different matter.

"Mr. Bingley?" she repeated with alarm. "Why do we need to watch him?"

"If his sister is a vampire, Bingley's either a vampire also or he's a target," Elizabeth explained. "If he's a vampire, we need to eliminate him. If he's a target, we need to protect him at all costs."

Mary nodded, slightly amused.

"I'll take Caroline," she said quietly. "I'm sure that Jane can handle Bingley."

Jane hesitated for a moment longer before nodding. She stood up carefully and smoothed the wrinkles in her gown.

"I think I'll go ask Bingley for another dance," she murmured before walking away.

Mary nudged Elizabeth's arm as the dance ended and Darcy walked away from Caroline.

"There's your cue," she whispered. "Will you take the direct approach or will you simply stalk him like dear Caroline?"

Elizabeth ignored her sister and strode purposefully towards the man in the corner. Darcy's eyebrows shot up when he saw her approaching. He watched her warily through ice blue eyes that somehow managed to be warm.

Elizabeth forced herself to smile cheerfully at him and brushed some strands of hair away from her eyes.

"Do you like to dance, Mr. Darcy?" she asked coyly.

Darcy frowned. Everything in him was urging him to say yes and accept a dance with the lovely Elizabeth. After all, he had endured a dance with Caroline Bingley, he deserved some relief. Darcy shook these treacherous thoughts out of his head and steeled his resolve. No, he would not hurt anyone else by allowing himself to like them. He wouldn't ruin someone's life again…

"I'm afraid I'm not a big fan of dancing, Eliz- Miss Bennet," he said slowly, wincing as he almost said her name.

Elizabeth frowned, not missing his slip, and feigned shock.

"Don't you ever dance?" she asked.

"Not if I can help it," he said firmly.

"You seemed to enjoy dancing with Miss Bingley," Elizabeth blurted out before she could stop herself. She blushed and dropped her gaze, annoyed at herself.

Darcy chuckled darkly.

"I wouldn't call dancing with Caroline enjoyable," he said dryly. "More like a convenient way to get her to stop talking."

"Can you not talk when you dance?" Elizabeth asked, trying to hide her relief.

Darcy grinned.

"Not Caroline," he said ruefully. "I'm afraid she is too busy enjoying my "chiseled features up close" as she puts it."

Elizabeth smiled slightly and tried to hide back a laugh at the image of Caroline Bingley drooling over Darcy's clear blue eyes. She caught Mary's questioning gaze over Darcy's shoulder and tensed as the reality of her situation with Darcy crashed down on her.

Elizabeth Bennet wasn't here to flirt with the handsomest man in the room, although she appeared to be doing a good job. Elizabeth was a vampire hunter, and right now, Mr. Darcy of Derbyshire was her target.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story… *sigh* Mr. Darcy is still beyond reach…..

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