Victor lie in his bed.
Awake.
And alone.
They had opted no to spend the night together, rather they decoupled almost immediately and Victor disappeared to his room. Elizabeth, well, he didn't know if she had stayed or left but he hadn't heard the door if she had decided it was all too much. He hadn't slept, he had played over what had happened in his mind, over and over and over and over. Pulling apart every minuscule mistake he had perceived he had made. So he had not slept, though tired, he had tried but images of her terrified face and Caliban's grin had plagued the corners of his sleep.
He debated killing her.
He knew he was capable of it, he would do anything to keep his secret safe. Though she had been the only woman in years to show him affection for free. She demanded nothing of him when she had kissed the palms of his steady hands while the rest of his body shook like a leaf attacked by Autumn wind. They had reached a deadlock, neither of them wanted their secrets to become public knowledge which either meant they were both safe, or both constantly in danger of one of them telling someone else.
In the morning, Victor took a while rolling out of bed, he prolonged having to see if she had left or not. The door creaked open a fraction and Victor peaked through the gap in the door before pushing it fully open. Elizabeth was sat at the wooden bench, her head resting in her arms on the table. She was asleep. Victor approached her slowly, his shoes soft enough not to make any noise on the floor and crouched by the bench. Tentatively, she reached out and let his fingers rest lightly on her hair, he traced the wave of it through to its ends.
Victor left her to sleep, knowing she probably just as tired as he had been. Instead, he went to his kitchen and grabbed two pieces of bread and impaled on pointed skewers which he rested into the open flames. As the bread began to toast, Victor watched Elizabeth sleep. He buttered the toast and set a plate down by her head for when she woke up, then went to check his post.
There was a letter from Sir Malcolm, asking for his presence.
Victor sighed loudly and then went to touch Elizabeth's shoulder gingerly.
"Elizabeth," He said softly.
"Hmm?" She asked as she woke up, smelling the warm smell of buttered toast.
"Sir Malcolm requires me," He said sardonically and Elizabeth beamed, "Would you like to accompany me?"
Victor slid the plate towards her encouragingly, and she picked up a slice of toast. "I'd love to,"
Everything seemed forgotten.
...
"Doctor Frankenstein, if you'd accompany me, Ethan and Miss. Ives upstairs?" It had been two minutes since Victor and Elizabeth had stepped through the door but Sir Malcolm was eager to get started. Vanessa, less so, given the large amount of bandaging still wrapped around her chest.
"Hello Miss. Hare," Vanessa smiled very slightly and Elizabeth shied away from her beautiful stare.
"Indeed, Miss. Hare. We would invite you to join us but I feel this is more of a private affair. Although you'll be delighted to know Vanessa's gentleman-"
"He's not my gentleman," Vanessa said, still looking at Elizabeth.
Malcolm rolled his eyes, "Anyhow, Mr. Dorian Grey has agreed to accompany on a walk through the gardens,"
Elizabeth's blood ran cold, she froze, her muscles seizing.
"How lovely to meet you, Miss. Hare," Came the same sultry voice she had heard before but Elizabeth would not turn to meet it, instead she fixed herself on Victor, imploring him to figure out what was wrong. Even when Dorian picked up her hand and pressed it to her lips, she did not look at him.
"Something wrong?" Victor said, hushed, lightly touching her arm.
"No..." She replied, "The pleasure is mine Mr. Grey,"
"Very good," Malcolm said gruffly before taking off to the upper rooms of the house, Vanessa followed languidly and Ethan, who had been silent since Victor's arrival, shrugged at the young Doctor before also following suit. Victor smiled at Elizabeth and kissed her hand, before taking off as well.
...
"I'm not going anywhere with you," She hissed, backing away from the suited gentleman.
"Relax, Elizabeth," He practically spat her name, "Now you've cropped up in our little inner circle I can hardly off you without suspicion. "
As if that made things okay, Dorian gestured to outside and Elizabeth followed, keeping her eyes on him at all times. As the cold air hit her, Elizabeth shivered, but that could have been because of the company if she was true to herself.
"The maze," He grinned at her, and both of them gazed at the meters of topiary that seemed to stretch of forever.
Elizabeth rose an eyebrow and folded her arms tightly across her chest, she shook her head and created more space between them.
"The chairs then,"
So they moved towards the black wrought iron table and chairs set out on a stone patio.
"Do you mind if I smoke?" He asked and she shook her head, her lips turning white from how tightly she was holding herself. Dorian tapped one cigarette on the table before producing a match book, lighting a match, and deftly twirling the cardboard through his fingers while grinning at her.
"I would never harm a young women like you, Elizabeth," He smiled, "It's you who should be the deadly one,"
Elizabeth did not smile, she poured over the glass doors where her three rescuers would emerge once they were done with whatever they were doing in the top room. She jumped when Dorian gripped her hand, her chair tipping back onto two legs, Dorian pulled her back sharply, still smiling.
Then she noticed.
"Your face!" She exclaimed, writhing away from his grip, "It hasn't scarred,"
Because the portrait absorbed it. She thought and now her chances of being killed were all the more likely.
"I would never tell," She said in an inhalation of air.
"No, you wouldn't," Dorian took a drag on his cigarette and let the smoke curl around his beautiful mouth, then his tongue licked out and moistened his pale pink lips, "Because if you did, I would not hesitate to kill poor young, Doctor Frankenstein,"
He sat back, pleased with himself.
...
"It's not working," Ethan said tiredly, sat in his armchair.
"No," Victor agreed, his cheeks flushing as he packed up his doctor's bag.
"Why not?!" Sir Malcolm demanded, throwing his fist down on the table.
Victor jumped.
"Well, I'm not...exactly...a...I'm not exactly a v-" Frankenstein muttered, "I've engaged in carnal relations since our last encounter."
"What?!" Sir Malcolm demanded while Ethan hollered in the background.
"Doctor F!" Ethan whooped.
"How could you be so selfish?!" Malcolm strode quickly towards the young man and hoisted him up by his waistcoat. Victor's back slammed against the wall and his hands flew to Malcolm's wrist. Ethan quickly followed, trying to ease the situation by placing a hand on Malcolm's shoulder
"I can guarantee I'm not the only one in this room who you would consider selfish, Sir Malcolm," Victor growled and the man dropped him, avoiding Vanessa's gaze with embarrassment.
But Vanessa looked sombre, melancholy almost.
"Vanessa, I have a solution,"
...
"You listen here you conniving bastard, I will not be your pawn!" Elizabeth hissed, angry tears sparking her eyes, "I won't be threatened by you! I'm not-I'm not scared of you..."
"You shouldn't be," Dorian laughed, "But Victor should,"
Elizabeth let out a half whine, half yell of frustration, and buried her face in her hands.
"No one can know about this, Elizabeth," He told her casually, "You cannot tell anyone about this conversation or the fact we were acquainted before this,"
Elizabeth cried angrily into her hands, her jaw locked.
"Do you understand me?" He asked and then, when she did not answer he leant across and pulled her closer to him, "I said, do you understand me?!"
"Elizabeth?" Dorian dropped her hand like it was a lump of burning coal and Elizabeth swiped the lines of wet from under her eyes.
"Yes," She said breathlessly.
Victor stood in the doorway, he stepped down and towards her. "Could you come upstairs with me, I believe you're needed,"
Narrowing his eyes when she didn't stand up, he came even closer towards her, "Is everything okay?"
"Of course," She said, standing, turning and smiling radiantly at him.
Victor gave a curt smile back and placed his hand on her lower back, guiding her inside to house. She nodded thanks at him and disappeared in doors. Victor followed with her, but not without sparing a look at Dorian Grey who had the most unusually smug grin on his smirking face.