Chapter 22
"Lizzie, you must come and see this!"
Elizabeth looked up automatically from the trail that she had been investigating, her green eyes narrowing at the sound of Charlotte's voice.
"If it's another man, Char, I am not coming," she called wearily.
Charlotte Lucas's face moved out from behind one of the large oak trees that dotted the landscape of Kent, her plain face crinkling into a not-so-plain smile. Elizabeth wondered for what was perhaps the thousandth time how people could be so blind as to call her closest friend plain.
"But Lizzie, theses ones are very handsome," Charlotte whined cheerfully, trying very hard not to laugh at the disgusted expression on her friend's face. "And they are in uniform."
"Trust me, I have had enough experience with men in uniform," Elizabeth replied, thinking of Wickham with a grimace. Besides, there is only one man who I want to see right now, and he's not in uniform, a sly voice inside of her head added. Elizabeth pushed the voice away as she straightened up, looking with disappointment at the dead trail. She had so hoped… but it was a dead end. He had not been there.
She had left the vicinity of Hertfordshire no more than a few days ago in the company of Charlotte. The excuse that she had given her mother was that she was going to visit Charlotte's cousin in Kent. The excuse she had given to Jane, Mary, and Mr. Bingley was that she had a lead on the location of the person behind Bingley's transformation. Both of those excuses had been lies.
Charlotte walked over to Elizabeth's side, sensing her friend's distress. She stooped over the trail that Elizabeth had abandoned, her black eyes narrowing slightly in concentration.
"Find anything?" she asked, slightly uneasy.
Elizabeth shook her head, mentally wondering if bringing Charlotte along had been the right decision. Granted, she had needed Charlotte's presence to make the excuse believable to her mother and younger sisters, but she could easily have just left Charlotte at the first inn that they passed with all of the money that Elizabeth had brought with her. And yet, for reasons that Elizabeth was trying to justify to herself, she had not only brought her friend with her, but had also told her about the actual cause behind their trip and the existence of vampires. Charlotte had taken things pretty well, considering that she had always led a basically normal life before this moment. Elizabeth wondered if the fact that Charlotte had always enjoyed watching romances play out was helping her deal with the mission itself. Regardless, Elizabeth just hoped that Charlotte would follow her part of the plan and make it back to Jane and Mary. Three vampire hunters were always better than two, after all.
Elizabeth shook her head and turned away from the path that they had been following through the woods for the better part of the day. She frowned at nothing in particular and avoided Charlotte's probing gaze. She was usually so good at tracking… what had she done wrong this time? She had thought that the scent had led…. Wait.
Elizabeth sucked in a sharp breath as she realized her mistake. Of course, the scents would be mixed, wouldn't they? She pulled out the small silver dagger that she had been carrying around with her for months now and closed her eyes with concentration, focusing on the aura that was still coming off of the metal in waves, even though the last time it had been touched had been… well, she wasn't going to dwell on that night.
Elizabeth opened her eyes once again, seeing the trail once more. Yes, just as she had thought, it was leading the other way. Her fist tightened around the dagger, feeling a slight pain in her palm as the blade cut through the skin. She almost smiled in satisfaction as a trickle of blood ran down her arm from the cut, although Charlotte winced at the sight and turned away. This was just a sample, she supposed. It would be much worse by the time the day had ended. Elizabeth glanced over at her friend for a moment before turning away. Her hands slipped into the sleeve of her dress to pull out a small flask. She uncorked the flask and took a quick swig of the liquid inside of it, grimacing with distaste as the silver-tinted holy water trickled down her throat. Silently, she thanked Mary for making the discovery a fortnight before she had left. The sisters had originally been planning on trying to find a way to use it to reverse Bingley's transformation, but the mixture used as it was would certainly enable Elizabeth to see her plan through. She just hoped the effects would give him enough time…
Elizabeth turned back to Charlotte, wiping the remnants of the mixture off of her mouth hastily as she did. Better for Charlotte to think that she was too fond of wine than to have her know Elizabeth's actual plan.
"Charlotte, do you remember what I told you?" Elizabeth asked quietly.
Charlotte glanced sharply at her friend, suddenly nervous.
"Yes," she said warily.
"I need you to do that now," Elizabeth said carefully.
Charlotte's lips trembled slightly as she nodded. Suddenly, she ran to Elizabeth's side, pulling her friend into a tight hug as she did. Elizabeth stiffened slightly at the contact before hugging Charlotte back tightly.
"Make sure my sisters are okay," she whispered before turning away.
With a barely audible sigh of resignation, Elizabeth turned away from her friend and darted back onto the trail, her red-brown hair swirling behind her as she disappeared.
Mary was the first to hear the door open, which was odd since she was in the library. She usually got completely absorbed in her books in the library, so absorbed that a war could take place right out side of her window and she would never notice. Perhaps there was something to be said about having the library so close to the door?
Whatever the reason, Mary quietly shut the book she had been reading and walked warily to the entry hall to open the door. Bingley had dismissed all of the servants on paid vacations soon after he had been changed, so most of the house's needs were taken care of by the three current inhabitants. So it was that Mary happened to open the door when the creature attacked.
Mary heard a loud crack as she slammed into the wall, realizing a moment later that the crack had come from her head. Stars erupted in front of her eyes and she fought for consciousness as she fumbled for the stake in her sleeve. The vampire snarled as the stake cut its way into his shoulder and snapped at her throat. Mary pulled back weakly, her head still dizzy from the impact between her head and Bingley's wooden walls and attempted to strike again, only to be blocked by the vampire's snapping fangs. Dimly, she could hear Jane's screams and Bingley's shouts, along with the sounds of more scuffling from behind her. Was there more than one vampire?
The vampire pushed its way past Mary's defenses, its teeth finally making contact with her skin. Mary screamed as the sharp fangs pierced her neck….
"Oh, no you don't," a familiar voice snarled just before the vampire howled in pain and went limp.
Mary slipped limply to the floor of Netherfield, her eyesight fuzzy, only to be held up by strong arms.
"Mary," someone whispered frantically into her ear. "Miss Mary, are you alright?"
Mary's eyes fluttered- she hadn't known that she had closed them- and she struggled to open them. The pain in her head was dimming…
"Mary, please," the person begged, his voice cracking slightly. "Please, answer me. Wake up. Please." His voice broke on the last word. Mary felt the arms tighten around her.
Mary moaned suddenly as the pain came back to her in a wave, her eyes flying open in shock at the feeling. James Fitzwilliam's face swam into focus, his sea-blue eyes swimming with some strong emotion. A raw sigh broke past his tightly closed lips, the color returning slightly to his pale skin.
"Miss Mary," he sighed relief, returning abruptly to a more formal tone. "I- you- we- that is-." His sentence broke off abruptly as he frowned with frustration.
"Where are my sister and Mr. Bingley?" Mary asked past the pounding in her head.
"They are fine," Darcy's voice said calmly from across the hall. "Bingley did a good job of protecting Miss Jane. Between him and James, I didn't have a chance to do anything." He seemed to be in an unusually good mood. Mary wondered if he knew that Elizabeth was gone.
"Miss Mary," James cried with alarm when she tried to sit up. "You shouldn't-."
"I think that I preferred it when you called me Mary," Mary said softly. Then she looked over at Mr. Darcy. "What are you two doing here?"
"We came looking for Miss Elizabeth," he answered quickly. "Well, I did. I thought that it would be a good idea to start here. Do you know where she is?"
Mary looked over at Jane, whose new muslin gown was probably permanently soiled from the fight with the vampires. Bingley crouched beside her on the ground, his eyes still blazing from the fight. Jane met her sister's gaze, her eyes still frightened from her experience.
Jane opened her mouth to answer Darcy just as the door burst open and Charlotte Lucas burst in, her thin face flushed and frantic.
"We have a problem," she gasped.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters! All of the credit goes to the amazing Jane Austen! Thanks again to all of the people who reviewed! You guys rock!
