"I will kill you both!" Matthew shoved Evelyn out the bedroom as Mary shrieked in rage and rattled the chains he had tricked her into. "Matthew, you're a son of a bitch! I hate you! I wish you had died in the war! No, I wish you had died in that damn car! What kind of fucking idiot crashes their car!" He slammed the door and barricaded it, even as Mary screamed more abuse at them. "Evelyn, you're a limp dicked queer and that's why no one wants you! When I get out of these chains, I will rip off your dick and make you eat it! And Matthew, I will rip out your fucking heart with my bare hands and make your bitch mother eat it!"
Matthew shook his head tiredly as he took in Evelyn's horrified expression and badly torn clothes. "Are you all right? I appreciate your willingness to be… bait." He also hoped it would impress upon Evelyn that he could be trusted despite being a vampire. Luring Mary into the bedroom and convincing her to let him chain her up so that the two of them could both dine on Evelyn's blood without her going into a frenzy required Evelyn being within arm's reach of a newly made vampire filled with blood lust. "You'll need to change out of those trousers before we go." Evelyn's trousers were ripped to shreds.
"That… creature, is not Lady Mary," Evelyn said, his voice shaking with shock. He seemed to catch his breath and recover. "It's worse when you know who they were before. I'd forgotten that."
Matthew wondered suddenly if Evelyn had been required to witness his brother's death. "She's not herself and women are more… affected."
"I can hear you, you fucking bastard!" Mary shouted through the thick, barred door. "I wish I'd killed you the way I killed Kemal!"
"And if you think I didn't twinge a bit in fear our wedding night, you would be wrong," Matthew called back easily and pleasantly, "but I assure you that you'll feel much better in just a little while." That was met with an almost unholy shriek of rage. He checked the door again and then went up the stairs, Evelyn following.
His mother handed Evelyn a stack of clothes, keeping her eyes down, until Evelyn took himself to the small bedroom to change. She then looked at Matthew, her expression worried. "Are you all right, Matthew? It must be very difficult to see Mary like this."
"I admit, I had no idea Mary even knew words like that, let alone would ever say them out loud," Matthew admitted.
For a wonder, his mother chuckled. "Oh Matthew, we all know the words. They're just usually reserved for child birth." More seriously, she added, "Are you all right?"
"No," he admitted, "But this long, terrible afternoon has convinced me beyond a doubt that no matter what it takes, William Mason must be destroyed and the sooner the better. Evelyn and I will leave for York as soon as he is ready." It was fortunately a rainy afternoon, and the day of William's invitation. It would be over soon. "Mother, I know you know more about this than I but I must say this. It may occur to Mary that if she presents herself calmly that you might unchain or let her out. Don't believe a word she says. When she's having moments of clarity, she does recall the plan to kill William and free her from the curse. I tested the chains and I don't think I could get out but don't open that door until Evelyn returns. If… that doesn't happen by tomorrow, you must assume the worst. Evelyn told me that he gave you the names of some other active hunters. Don't attempt it on your own, you must promise me that."
She nodded. "I do promise that, Matthew." Evelyn stepped back into the main living room, in a fresh suit of clothes. Much to Matthew's surprise, Evelyn gave Isobel a stern look as well.
"Matthew is right," Evelyn said quietly. "Do not engage her, Isobel. If the worst happens, contact Sir Malcolm Wycliffe. He's skilled. And merciful. I've left a letter for him, and for my family."
"I've left letters as well, Mother. They are on the mantle. There's one for you, for Mary and for George." He held up his hand to stop her protests. "Mother, you must be realistic. I should have died three years ago. As insane as William now is, he was right. He saved me that night, he allowed me to have more time than I had any right to. Evelyn and I are doing this to save Mary and to put William at rest. If only one of us can return, it has to be Evelyn."
"Then please take care to see to it that you both return." Her eyes and voice were firm, if filled with emotion. "And you will allow me to hug you."
Because it was likely the last time, he thought. "We can afford the risk, I think." He held her firmly in his arms, and tried not to think of how tempting it was to let Mary have her way. Control, he reminded himself as his mother hugged him fiercely. Then she let go of him, as if sensing she was pushing the edges of his ability to restrain himself. Then she surprised him by hugging Evelyn Napier as well.
"Be careful, Evelyn, and remember what I told you, that you have earned the right to step back from the darkness." She let go of Evelyn and wiped her eyes. "Thank you for helping us. Please don't forget the promise you made to me."
"I won't, Mrs. Crawley," Evelyn said, a trace of a smile crossing his face. Matthew considered asking but realized he probably didn't want to know.
0o0o0o0
Evelyn pondered the risk as he drove through the dark streets of York. He wasn't surprised that there was no one about. The death of the child seven days earlier put the city on notice that there was a killer on the loose. The only piece of luck was that he was the only hunter on the island. Wycliffe was with Blancfort in Paris, and the news might pry him away from the catacombs but Blancfort had called him for an infestation. The next closest was Von Bulow in Berlin and the rest were scattered in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. It was unlikely that he would be seen by anyone that mattered. Cavorting openly with a vampire was frowned on at best. He snorted with laughter, despite it all, the absurdity of what he was doing.
"What's so funny," Matthew asked. "Considering it's likely my last night alive… or undead, however you want to term it, I wouldn't mind a joke."
"It's not a joke," Evelyn said easily, "it's just that I was thinking how much trouble I'd be in if anyone found out that I aided a vampire. It's against the rules." He sighed. "We have so many rules. Did you know that?"
After a moment, Matthew nodded. "Mother allowed me to read Father's journals. Not all of them, she didn't want to break the rules either, but once I knew where she kept them, it was just a matter of waiting for her to go out." He was quiet for a long moment. "I'm glad they chose to leave me out of it, to not raise me as a hunter."
Evelyn rolled his eyes. "They used the rules to protect you. You're the eldest son, your father's heir. Hunter families are expected to have many children. With just you, the only way you would have been tapped is if you really wanted the life. But, you wouldn't have been told until you turned thirteen, that's a rule too, and your father died when you were ten. And forgive me, Matthew, but you, even now, don't strike me as the type to clamor for the hunt." He sighed. "Some people don't know when they are lucky."
"Like your brother, the heir who died?" Matthew asked.
Evelyn gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. It wasn't a conversation he wanted to have with a blood drinker, but there was literally no one left in his life that could comprehend it. "I loved Jacob, because he was my brother and because until I turned thirteen, he loved me with no qualifiers. Then my father began to pay more attention to me, because while Jacob would have the estate and the title, I would be the hunter. My own father inherited unexpectedly, and he loved the hunt far for than the estate. Worse, he loved me far more than he loved Jacob, who favored my mother and Jacob in response… clamored for the hunt. And he destroyed himself and my mother and that destroyed my father." He spared Matthew a glance. "I see this twisted situation, and I find it very difficult to trust you, because my mother trusted my brother the way your mother trusts you and my family died as a result."
"Be assured," Matthew said carefully, "the very last thing I want is for my family to die." He pointed through the windshield. "We're coming up on Clifford's Tower. Stop here. We should talk out our plan before we get within his hearing."
Evelyn parked the car. "I assume he'll know that I'm with you."
"I can smell him, so yes he can do likewise." Matthew was clearly taking care to speak carefully. "He'll know Mary isn't here. That's easily denied on our part, William himself took a month to turn. Do you mind being bait again?"
"Yes." There was no reason to lie. "I mind a great deal but it's the obvious way in. I have stakes, and tools. I've done this before but I usually use some stealth."
"I don't know that I'd call sneaking up on a vampire while it's in a feeding frenzy stealthy." Matthew offered.
"It works. Be glad it does because we'd be overrun if it didn't." Evelyn waited. "What idea do you have?"
"He thinks I only just escaped the grave, that I'm fresh to the world. He thinks he was saving me." Matthew paused. "I have to kill him, we have to kill him to save Mary but… It just has to be said. He saved my life more than once during the war. We were mates, friends, despite the class differences." He hesitated. "He didn't ask for this, Evelyn. Neither did I, or Mary for that matter."
"Then understand that this is mercy, Matthew." Mercy for both of you, Evelyn added in his head. "If he was a good fellow in life then when and if he has moments of clarity, he must hate what he has become. Would the man you knew so much as speak crossly to a little girl? Let alone murder her? If you think I am without feeling on this, then be assured no I am not." He hesitated, unsure how much he wanted to say to someone, something, he didn't quite trust. "You are so unhappy, so sad, I don't see how your mother or your wife don't see it. If this fails for you, and I think it will, I will consider killing you a mercy to you."
"How kind you are," Matthew said dryly. "Perhaps you should consider getting down from that cross you've put yourself on?"
"I'm helping you!" Evelyn knew his voice was rising and for once he didn't care. "I don't pretend that we were close friends, but I liked you. I was happy for Mary, that she found whatever it was that she was looking for. You suited her, as much as I didn't, and if I was jealous, it was only a little… because she loved you and because I was never much more than an afterthought to her. And then you died, and she grieved terribly, and I was still an afterthought. Now, you're back and her very soul has been put at risk, because of you. You're different than William and Mary both, you know that, don't you?"
"Because I've maintain control over myself," Matthew said quietly. Then he shrugged, as if putting the thought away. "It doesn't matter, does it? Either I am cured tonight, or you will kill me."
"Or William will kill you," Evelyn said. "Even though he's mad as a hatter, vampires have a finely tuned sense of personal survival. Even if you were the stronger one in life, you must assume he can take you. Frankly, even though you've got your wits about you, once he realizes you're against him, he'll turn on you as easily as Mary did." He considered his next piece of advice carefully. "You need to think of this like the war. It's fine to feel sympathy for his situation but the second he realizes that you're there to kill him, he will make it his mission to rip you limb from limb."
Matthew gave him a surprisingly icy glare. "Evelyn, don't you understand? If I fail tonight, my son grows up without his mother. He's already fatherless. William was my friend, and I will kill him a thousand times over to save Mary." Matthew's cold expression didn't falter. "If you don't realize it, then understand now just grateful I am to you. One thing I wrote to Mary, in the letter I left for her, is that she should damn well open her eyes and consider you." He sniffed derisively. "I mean really, Tony Gillingham? I've only overheard their conversations and the man is a twit." He seemed to shake off his irritation. "Regardless, you offered to help her and my mother with the best of intentions, and you've continued to help when your every instinct is telling you not to. I am grateful, Evelyn. I have no right to expect any mercy from you, you have every reason in this world to hate vampires and to destroy me. I would offer to shake your hand but I think it's unwise considering what we're about to do."
"Agreed. And you're welcome." Evelyn smiled suddenly. "If nothing else, you've been an education, Matthew. I wish we'd been better friends in life."
"Who knows?" Matthew said agreeably. "Perhaps my mother wasn't wrong to hope."
0o0o0o0
He had never been fond of hunting. As a man, it always seemed wasteful and unfair to shoot at harmless birds or chase a poor terrified fox to ground with horses and dogs. As a vampire, he hated the necessity, that some poor woodland creature or farm animal had to die to sate his need for blood. And he hated the idea of what he was about to. Evelyn could go on about it being mercy and Matthew had no intention of disagreeing, but William was a victim, just as he was. The poor man deserved a better hand than what he'd been given.
The plan was childishly simple. They were going to walk into Clifford's Tower. Evelyn was going to pretend to be mesmerized, and Matthew was going to offer him as a gift. It would play to William's vampire ego, to be thanked with a gift. If they were lucky, William would never realize they were there to kill him until the moment the stake went through his heart.
He could smell William long before they entered the tower. Evelyn winced and then covered it with a smooth, fearless mask. Matthew marveled again at how Evelyn Napier managed to be both a charming and mousy nobleman and also as cool a killer as Matthew had ever met. Some of that came from the war, Matthew knew it had changed him as much, but it was still surprising. Underneath the mousy exterior, Evelyn Napier wasn't the lapdog people thought, he was a vicious wolfhound with the scent of prey filling his nostrils.
"William," he called softly. "I know you're here. I brought you a present. To thank you."
"Where is Mary?" Matthew looked up and saw William up on one of the tower's interior stair landings, looking down on him. He didn't seem to have changed his clothes, which explained the ever-worsening smell and he seemed perturbed.
"Mary hasn't turned yet," Matthew lied. "Sometimes it takes a while. It will be a few more days and I didn't want to miss our appointment and have you think me rude."
William nodded. "You were always good to me, Matthew. You and Lady Mary both. You both were so kind to me…You understand I was honoring you with the gift? You were angry before."
He's had time to think about my reaction and is worried, Matthew realized. William was clever in life. It was the curse of the class system that William, who had been as smart as a whip, had been shunted off into a job as a servant and denied any opportunity to be more than a servant. The man had been bright enough to handle university. Had he survived the war, Matthew had planned to sponsor him for studies. But instead, Matthew mused, we're here and I have to kill him even as he thanks me for my kindness. "I was angry," he admitted, "because I thought you were taking me from my life, away from Mary who I love so dearly. Plus, I was in the grave for so long, all I could think about was my anger. I was too… fresh to the new life, to understand the gift you gave me. You were fair, I see that now. If you hadn't come along, I would have died that night. I needed to think about it because I was angry at first but with Mary joining us, we can… have fun."
"Where is Mary?" William asked again. He seemed oddly suspicious.
"My mother is tending her. Mother knows, and accepts what we are." He managed a laugh. "She much prefers it to the idea that I am dead and gone."
"You'll need to send her away," William warned. "I like Mrs. Crawley and I understand why you resisted taking her. I couldn't touch my father no matter how hungry I was, but if you don't want her turned or killed then you need to send her away. The blood lust can be difficult to control."
"Of course," Matthew agreed. "You have much to teach me, I can see that." He gestured to Evelyn, who was doing a very good job of staring blankly, his mouth open and slack as through he was barely conscious. "I found Mr. Napier sniffing around one of your meals… I thought I'd bring him to you. As a gift."
William smiled. "Bring him up to the parapet. We can share him, I think." He chuckled. "You need to show a little more finesse with the mesmerizing. He looks like you blew his brains out, like he's got the shellshock. Like Peterson, remember how he lost it?"
"Stupid fool, Peterson," Matthew agreed. He looked at Evelyn. "Go on then. Up the stairs to William." He was impressed that Evelyn didn't flinch.
0o0o0o0
It was bold beyond belief, which made Evelyn nervous. He had agreed with Matthew's plan but he wondered as he shambled up the stone stairs to the parapet if he wasn't being a complete fool. Vampire lords were charmers and he was quite certain Matthew Crawley fit the description. No, he told himself as the stench from William's disgusting clothes filled his nostrils, Matthew was devastated by Mary's condition. Too devastated and there had been too many opportunities in the last few days for Matthew to feed on him. There was no need for a convoluted set up. He put his dark thoughts aside and considered the kill. He had stakes hidden in his jacket and so did Matthew. If the plan went perfectly, Matthew would stake William as William moved to bite him. And so far, the plan was working brilliantly. William seemed to fall for all of Matthew's blandishments to his ego and Matthew was being friendly, reminiscing about the war and talking about how grateful he was. It was almost happening too perfectly, and then Matthew broke the spell as William turned towards Evelyn.
"I am sorry, William," Matthew said quietly. He withdrew the stake from his jacket and raised it.
William stopped. Evelyn could see the sly look of vampire cunning cross William's face. "Why… why are you sorry, Matthew?"
Matthew realized his mistake at once. "I… "
William spun around, suddenly enraged. "You bastard! This is a trick, isn't it? You're still mad!" He kicked Matthew squarely in the chest, slamming him into the tower wall. Then he dove at the man's throat, trying to strangle him as if he could still choke the life out of him.
Evelyn saw his chance. It was harder to stake a vampire from behind, but he'd done it before. He took out one, and then a second. Then he slammed the first stake into William's back. The creature shrieked in rage and spun around to face him, it's face screwed into a demonic countenance that only vaguely resembled the gentle boy it had once been.
"You!" it shrieked. "You're not under a spell!"
"No," Evelyn stabbed William in the ribs with a practiced skill. He saw the creature's eyes dull as the stake hit its mark. "I give you peace, William."
It snarled at him even as it began to disintegrate. In one swift move, it grabbed Matthew and tossed him off the parapet edge to the tower floor twenty feet below. Then it shrieked one last time and crumbled into a heap of dust and bones. Evelyn let out the breath he'd been holding and picked the stakes. I pray this works for Mary, he thought, and now is the difficult task. He looked down at the tower floor. Matthew's body was face down. "Matthew?"
There was no reaction. He could be shamming, Evelyn warned himself as he trotted down the stone stairs, but one of the few things that could rattle a vampire was a hard knock to the head. All the better if Matthew had been knocked unconscious, he thought, an added piece of luck to an already good hunt. He cautiously approached Matthew's prone form. "Matthew?"
There was no response but a slow groan. Genuine luck, Evelyn thought again, he's knocked himself senseless. He gripped the stake in one hand as he rolled Matthew over with the other. There was blood trickling down his face and his arm hung at an odd angle. Matthew was beginning to blink and groan more so Evelyn held the stake firmly and prepared to make the final thrust.
And then stopped himself. He had promised Isobel Crawley that he would give Matthew a chance and it had been a long time since anyone had truly known his soul the way she had done. Worse, something was bothering him. It wasn't unheard of for vampires to knock each other out but William just tossed Matthew off the parapet at the moment of his death. It wasn't a hard fall for a vampire yet Matthew was unconscious, with a broken arm and blood pooling on the ground from the gash on his forehead. As he watched the blood oozed down Matthew's face, Matthew began to cough.
Vampires don't bleed, Evelyn thought wildly. They don't bleed and they don't breathe, and they certainly don't cough from breathing in all the dust. When Matthew fell, he was already back among the living. "Oh dear god, this insane plan worked! Matthew, you're alive!"
Matthew opened his eyes and groaned loudly. "I hurt everywhere…. "
"Yes, living hurts." Evelyn laughed and even Matthew managed a chuckle. He helped Matthew up, careful to keep a firm hold on the man. "I can't take you to the hospital here, you're still a dead man. Your mother was a nurse, it's only a few miles back… You can't be found here, Matthew."
And how do we explain this, Evelyn wondered as he dragged Matthew out of the tower and back to the car. Then he chuckled again. Why should I care, he thought cheerfully, I've done my part. Now I can sit back and watch the fireworks.