Chapter 13
Mary Bennet sat up slowly in bed, her grey eyes narrowed. She glanced around at her sleeping sisters, trying to see where the source of her unease was coming from. Once again, she wished that she had her sister's gift of seeing vampire auras. It would've made finding traces of the intruder a lot easier.
Mary sighed and walked quietly to Elizabeth's bed, being careful not to wake the members of her family that slept below. She reached out to her older sister and shook Elizabeth's shoulder gently.
"Lizzie," she hissed. "Lizzie, I need your help."
Elizabeth groaned and rolled over, her amber eyes opening blearily. Mary's body locked down in shock, her breath coming out in a low hiss.
Elizabeth frowned and straightened up. She gasped slightly as the room swam around her and reached out to steady herself on the bedpost.
"Mary?" she mumbled sleepily. "Is something wrong?"
Mary pointed wordlessly at the right side of Elizabeth's neck, her hand trembling with fear.
Elizabeth frowned again and touched her neck gently. Then she froze.
The entire right side of her neck was coated with thick blood, blood which seemed to ooze from two large punctures in her skin slightly below her chin line.
"Oh God," she gasped, her breath coming in shallow gasps.
Jane grumbled and rolled over, her eyes opening slightly as she looked at her sisters through tired eyes.
"Mary," she sighed. "Elizabeth, what's going on?"
Elizabeth turned wordlessly, revealing the blood that coated her neck in a thick layer. Jane covered her mouth with her hand, the blood draining from her pale face.
"Lord protect us," she whimpered.
Mary shook herself and tried to get herself together.
"No one will be able to protect us if we don't act quickly," she snapped brusquely. "Now then, from the looks of the blood, Lizzie's bite isn't more that a few hours old. The intruder probably came late at night, maybe after midnight or so, so we still have time. Jane, get the silver and the holy water."
Jane nodded and walked quickly to a small cabinet partially hidden behind the wardrobe in the corner of the room. She opened the door and pulled out several vials of water along with a few silver crosses on thin silver chains and a wooden crucifix. She gathered the items in her arms and crossed quickly to Elizabeth's side. Mary took one of the chains and draped the necklace over Elizabeth's head. Elizabeth winced as the silver burned her skin, but kept her mouth resolutely shut. Mary and Jane grimaced at their sister's pain.
"The vampire put some of his blood in her system," Mary said calmly. "Not enough to change her instantly, but…"
"It's a warning," Elizabeth sighed.
Mary raised her eyebrows but made no comment as she sprinkled the holy water over her sister's head. Jane grabbed the crucifix and gently pressed the cross to Elizabeth's head as the water was absorbed into her skin. Elizabeth held back a whimper and stayed still as Mary wrapped two other chains around her hands. Mary and Jane joined hands and quickly muttered the Lord's Prayer before eyeing their sister. Elizabeth looked back at them grimly.
"Well?" she asked wryly. "Am I going to stay dead if I die?"
Mary smiled tightly and drew the window curtain back, letting in the harsh morning sun. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes against the light but smiled.
"No pain," she sighed with relief. "The light has no effect."
Jane sighed with relief and pressed her sister's hand gently.
"Don't scare us like that again," she said faintly. "Weren't you wearing your cross?"
Elizabeth nodded and held up her wrist to reveal a silver bracelet with a tiny cross charm hanging on the chain.
"I never took it off," she sighed. "Fat lot of good it did me against-."
She broke off abruptly as an idea occurred to her.
"Wickham," she spit. "He's the one who bit me."
"Mr. Wickham?" Mary repeated. "Lydia and Kitty's new beau?"
"He's a vampire, and a very powerful one at that," Elizabeth explained. "He nearly had me until Darcy and Bingley interfered."
Jane frowned, uneasy at how close Bingley had come to a vampire powerful enough to bite Elizabeth.
"You said that the bite was a threat," she said slowly. "Why is he threatening you?"
"Not me," Elizabeth said shortly. "Darcy. I saw how those two looked at each other. They must have some history together. Wickham probably saw us talking when Darcy told me to stay away from vampires and assumed that we…" Elizabeth trailed off, her face red.
Mary snorted and walked away. She started pacing around the room, taking extra care not to be loud enough to wake the others in the household.
"You'll need to stay away from the ball," Mary said shortly.
"Not a chance," Elizabeth argued. "There is no way that I'm staying at home with an unknown vampire in Netherfield and several possible vampires waiting to prey on innocent people."
"At least wear one of the crosses," Jane insisted. "And maybe one my ring while you're at it."
"Jane and I will wear crosses too," Mary agreed, already planning an alternate strategy. "They'll think we're trying to match each other. If we stick together, the extra silver should protect us from the more powerful forms of mind control."
Elizabeth nodded and wondered how many stakes she could hide underneath the tight dress that Lydia and Kitty had chosen for her to wear at the ball.
At that moment, Mrs. Bennet's voice echoed up from the breakfast room.
"Lizzie! Come down here at once! Mr. Collins would like to speak with you."
"Oh, this should be fun," Elizabeth muttered.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. Also, thanks to all of the people who reviewed. Sorry about the wait!
