Lord Pembridge cried out in pain as the mallet missed its mark and hit him squarely on the breastbone. Unsurprisingly, the impact woke him and he rolled away from his assailant to the other side of the bed.

Mai dropped the mallet and chisel. She slapped her hand over mouth to cover her scream.

"Please don't hurt me!" she begged.

"Hurt you?" he gasped, clutching at his chest.

Loud footsteps could be heard down the hall. Lord Pembridge looked to where he knew the door to be and back to Mai, who cowered.

"Get under the bed and be quiet," he ordered.

Mai complied. From under the bed, she watched as Lord Pembridge's feet appeared on the side furthest from her. He walked over to where she knew a jug of water to be. A swish of fabric told her he had put a dressing gown on over his night things.

"Oliver? What's wrong?" Lin's voice and Lin's feet appeared at the doorway.

"A nightmare. That is all. I have woken and found myself quite parched."

"A nightmare?"

"Yes. Of… Of the accident. I… I tried to save him and…"

"You do not need to say any more. Can I do anything for you?"

"No, no, I will drink my water and be fine. You should get back to bed. No doubt tomorrow will be eventful."

"Are you quite sure?"

"Yes, sleep, Lin."

"Goodnight, Oliver."

The door shut.

Mai released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. But Lord Pembridge did not speak yet. He waited until Lin's footsteps were no longer in earshot, and then a little longer to be sure.

"I understand that you did not take kindly to my declaration, but I think hitting me with a mallet is a little far, don't you?"

Mai scrambled out from under the bed and held up the letter knife as a weapon as she walked around the bed to face Lord Pembridge.

"Do you want to tell me what you were attempting to do?"

"I saw what you truly are," Mai stammered. "I saw it. It was not a nightmare. I will not let you hurt anyone else."

"And what is it you think I am?"

"A vampire."

A sad smile broke over Lord Pembridge's face.

"Why don't you take a seat, Lady Astley? You can continue to wield that letter opener if it makes you feel safer. But I promise I will not hurt you."

He gestured to two chairs by the fireplace. Mai narrowed her eyes, but sat. Lord Pembridge dropped into the other seat and rubbed at his chest with a wince.

"You know of my brother, correct?"

Mai frowned.

"What does he…"

"My brother and I were always very close. I think I have admitted to you before that I sometimes resented him, but despite that, I love him. And I would do anything for him. Do you understand how that feels, Lady Astley?"

Mai nodded slowly.

"Over a year ago now, my brother was returning from London, stopped off for a meal, and upon leaving the establishment where he had dined, was run over by a carriage."

If this statement was supposed to shock Mai, she did not react to it. She was not sure she had any energy left in her to be shocked. Lord Pembridge continued.

"I was not there. But he was brought with haste back to Harker Hall, a doctor was called, but it was too late. He died of his injuries not a day later. My mother was distraught. I was inconsolable.

"We buried him on the estate, in the family graveyard. It was winter, so the grave was shallow. And Mr Brown was unable to make the initial burial due to the inclement weather. But we buried him. We had our own ceremony. And not two weeks after, my mother went to London.

"And then I started having dreams. Dreams that my brother was waking me in the middle of the night, covered in mud. Only they were not dreams. My brother returned to me. The grave was empty and he was walking around as healthy as ever. Or so it seemed at first.

"He killed a maid that night and drank her blood in front of me. He told me that he had to drink it, that it was the only thing that sustained him now that he was no longer living. That is when I closed the West Wing. No one could know of my brother's return but I, and later Lin. I needed his help with many things. Lin is a good man.

"It took a little while for his teeth to grow in as you saw them. And the sunlight began affecting him. He could not bear to be in the sun. So I became something like him, a nocturnal beast. I stayed up later and later so that I could be with him."

Lord Pembridge stood up and began pacing the room.

"But his thirst became worse. At first, a drink of blood was enough to sustain for a week. But it soon became days. That is when I called your husband to my side. I told him it was for the official funeral. The weather had improved and Mr Brown was quite insistent. So your husband arrived, we held the funeral over an empty grave and later that evening I told him the truth. I showed him the truth.

"He was angry at first, having lost a close friend only to have regained him. But we explained the circumstances. Yes, we… My brother retained his faculties through all this. At least, he does when he is sated. Your husband helped me. We were both donating blood of our own. And collecting it from places such as the asylum and the barbers."

"Your husband returned to you after we took too much. He was weak and I could not risk his life any further, not when I knew he had a wife. The guilt I have felt when I discovered his death…"

"It was not your fault, it was an accident—"

"I have discovered over this past year that taking a lot of blood from the body results in lightheadedness. As you discovered when you found me faint in the library. I believe that your husband, though feeling better, had a period of lightheadedness and that is the true cause of his death. I am at fault."

"I do not blame you."

"You should," Lord Pembridge stated as he retook his seat. "And so for the last year or so, I have been feeding my brother a mix of my blood, the blood of prisoners and of animal blood. Lin has helped me keep him contained in the West Wing. I know he longs to get out. But I have to keep him there. I have to keep him safe. I have to keep others safe from him."

"He killed Nora."

"Yes. I did not leave enough blood for him. He killed the curious maid in a blood frenzy. That is what happens when he has not drunk for some time. What you saw the other night was my brother, after he had drunk blood."

"Oh."

"I can see why you mistook him for myself. We are remarkably similar, except for the teeth. Which is why, I assume, you attempted to drive that chisel through my heart. A stake to the heart is the only way to kill a vampire, is it not? You are not the only person with books on the subject. Not that I appreciate Berkeley's assumption that I am a demon."

"Oh…"

Mai let the hand holding the letter opener fall into her lap.

"Will you feed me to him?"

Lord Pembridge let out a bark of laughter, then clutched his chest and winced again.

"No, Lady Astley, I will not feed you to my brother. Nor will I bring charges against you for your attempted murder of myself. Though I must ask you to swear silence on this matter."

"No one would believe me even if I did tell them," Mai said.

"Perhaps not, but you're a clever woman. I am sure you could cause trouble if you chose to do so."

"What is it you plan to do with him?"

"Do with him?" Lord Pembridge questioned.

"Yes. Do you plan to keep him locked in your spare wing for the rest of your life? What about after that? Vampires are immortal, you realise?"

"I have not thought that far ahead, but yes. I plan to keep him safe for as long as I can."

Mai put her head in her hands.

"You plan to keep a…" She faltered over her words. "You plan to keep a vampire, a creature who grows ever more hungry for human blood, in your spare wing… When at any moment he could escape and hurt people, innocent people…"

"He will not hurt anyone as long as he is sated," Lord Pembridge insisted.

"This will destroy your life."

"Losing my brother destroyed my life."

"How do you expect to participate in society? To marry and have a family? To even run this estate properly?"

"I do not wish to participate in society. Marriage and children are not my concern. And you'll find I'm running this estate just fine."

"Only because Mr Lin is here! Butlers can and do move on when other better prospects arise."

"Lin will not move on. He is rewarded most handsomely for his work."

Mai sighed.

"This is madness," she said. "And to think you were going to tell me you cared for me…"

"I do care for you."

"And how would I have fit into this life you have planned for yourself? Would you expect me to give up my blood? To help you hide him? And when you die, would I continue your work?"

"I did not plan to tell you," Lord Pembridge said. "You would have been safer that way."

"I see. Well I am glad I have escaped that fate at the very least. I think it is time I left."

Mai stood up and walked to the door.

"Lady Astley, can you honestly tell me that you would not do anything to bring back your husband? Or your mother?"

"Not for a life like this, no, I would not. I know my husband and my parents are where they are supposed to be now. And I would not drag them from that paradise to live as such a foul creature upon this earth, not even for a second."

"He is not foul," Lord Pembridge hissed. "He cannot help being the way he is now. He did not choose it."

"Perhaps not, but you chose to indulge him in his continued existence."

He faltered.

"I cannot let him die, Lady Astley. I cannot kill him."

"No matter how many other people he hurts?"

"No."

That was enough for Mai. She left the room and walked calmly back to her own bedchamber. She had left its sanctuary earlier with the expectation to return a murderer. And now that she knew all…

She was not sure her current situation was much better.


Author's note: Come on, surely you all know me well enough that I would not *really* kill off Oliver? How will I get my cute mairu ending if I kill him?!