Jane and Edward: Zombie and Monster Hunters
Vampires in Verona
Chapter 3
NOTE: I don't own the characters to the fictitious works depicted in the fanfic.
Just before breakfast, Jane stood in the mirror, straightening the folds of her dress. It's been six months and the baby inside her belly was growing each week. She still wondered whether or not to continue the monster killing business while visibly pregnant. Jane put a hand to her stomach and ended up feeling a kick, which made her smile. She loved this child and would do anything possible to make sure it grew up healthy.
"Jane," called Mrs. Fairfax. "Edward is waiting downstairs for breakfast. He has a surprise for you!"
Her eyes widened, wondering what could this secret be. "Tell him that I'll be on my down in a moment." She walked downstairs to the dining room where her husband, Sir Edward Rochester, was waiting.
"Jane, I have a surprise for you," he said with a smile. "Would you like to enjoy a bit of a second honeymoon?"
"I would, Edward!"
"Good. An old college friend of mine, Gabriele Fiorello, from college offered us to stay at his villa in Verona, Italy for a week."
"That's wonderful!" Jane exclaimed. "You mean like in..."
"Romeo and Juliet, yes," interrupted Edward. "But without the suicide and the feuding, though."
"How did this all come about?"
"I haven't seen him in several years and I recently received a letter from him stating that his aging father has passed on and he had inherited the villa from him."
"When are we leaving, then?" asked Jane.
"In the next few days. That gives us time to pack our things and leave for Verona. Don't worry, our unborn child will be fine, if that concerns you."
"It does but I do feel somewhat reassured."
"Good, you'll love it there." He pulled Jane into a loving embrace. "We need a little break from the creature killing business. We'll drink some fine wine, see the sights, and spend a little more time in bed than we usually do," he said with a faint smile.
Jane smiled and kissed her husband. "Do you know if it's anything like Rome where we went to for our honeymoon?"
"I've never been there but I probably assume that it's very lovely and beautiful." Edward kissed her on the tip of her nose. "I'm sure you'll love it."
Jane and Edward made it to Gabriele Fiorello's villa in Verona. As they arrived, they were taken in awe at the beautiful artwork, the 15th century architecture, and the courtyard. The whole atmosphere seemed to be frozen in the Medieval period with nothing touched or out of place. It was about the same size as Thornfield but much more ornate. In the living room, they were greeted by a tall man about one and forty years of age with raven black hair and brown eyes. Jane knew that this was Edward's friend Gabriele.
"Ah, Sir Eduardo!" exclaimed Gabriele in perfect English. "Welcome! I see you have brought your wife, Jane. Pleased to meet you, Lady Giovanna!" He greeted everyone with a firm handshake; Jane blushed at the idea of being called Giovanna. "I'd like you to meet my wife, Alessandra Fiorello." He took her by the hand and introduced her to the Rochesters. "This is my friend, Signor Edward Rochester and his wife Jane."
"It is a pleasure to meet you all," said Alessandra, blushing. "You must be tired from your trip. Leave your things here; they will be taken to your room. Come with us and get acquainted."
Jane and Edward were led into a small parlor featuring two young girls and their governess reading together. Both of them were reading English and trying to make the pronunciations of various vowels.
"Ah, my darlings!" cried Gabriele in Italian, putting his arms around the two girls. "These are my daughters, Carlotta and Emilia. Carlotta is ten and Emilia is eight." He smiled at his girls. "They've been doing well in their English lessons. Let's see how well they know." He asked them in Italian to say hello to their new visitors in English.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Rochester," said Carlotta.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Rochester," said Emilia, repeating her older sister.
Jane smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," she said.
"Thank you for that fine welcome," said Edward with a faint smile on his face.
Just then, Emilia noticed that Edward was missing a hand. "What happened?" she asked, pointing to Edward's arm.
Alessandra chastised her daughter for being rude but Edward remained cool and collective. "It's quite all right, Alessandra. She's a child, she's curious." Then turning his attention to Emilia, he said, "well, Emilia, I had a bit of an accident and unfortunately, the doctor had to remove my hand as a result."
Emilia looked puzzled for a moment and after her governess translated for her, she smiled and curtsied.
"They're doing well but still struggling a little," said Alessandra. "They're also learning French and German, too."
Jane's eyes widened. "That's wonderful! I was only taught French outside of the English language. I wish I knew Italian."
"You'll learn some throughout your stay here," said Gabriele. He then turned to the governess and told her in Italian to take his daughters to their room to continue their reading lesson.
"Reminds me of my old governessing days with Adele," whispered Jane to Edward. "I even received a letter from her recently asking if she could stay at Thornfield for the Christmas holiday."
Edward's eyes widened like saucers. "Let's discuss this matter at a different time," he whispered back.
"I see you're expecting Jane," said Alessandra. "How far along are you?"
"Six months. We're so excited!"
"I wish you two the best of luck."
Gabriele turned his attention toward his guests after his daughters have left the room. "Please be seated," he said, gesturing toward a sofa. "I have something to tell you before you settle in for the week."
Jane and Edward said nothing but nodded.
"Well, when you do settle in, I must tell you that this villa is haunted."
"Haunted?" asked Edward.
"It has been haunted since the early 15th century," Gabriele continued. "It was first owned by the Capuleto family. They had a young daughter named Julieta who fell in love and eloped with a young man named Romeo Montague. According to both family folklore and Signor Guglielmo Shakespeare, they both committed suicide."
"Signor Gabriele, are you sure you're all right?" asked Edward. "You're talking about a fictional play."
"I'm fine, Edward; let me continue. They had committed suicide but because their sin of self-murder was considered unforgivable, they became restless in their graves and allegedly haunted the graveyard for years as vampires."
"Gabriele, you're a smart man," said Edward. "Surely you don't believe this."
"Guests that stayed in this villa claimed they have seen figures walking about the graveyard at night," Gabriele said. "I believe it and I advise you to stay inside late at night."
"I'll believe it when I see it, Gabriele."
That night as Edward slept, Jane kept her eye on the window of their room, which directly faced the graveyard and the family mausoleum. She got up and looked out of the window and saw nothing but rows of graves and a stone mausoleum in the center of it all. She shook her head and crawled back into bed, finding herself in Edward's arms and laid her head on his chest to try to get some sleep, which woke her husband.
"Jane," he said sleepily. "What's going on?"
"Um, nothing. Just getting comfortable." The thought of the Fiorello's villa being haunted nightly by vampires brought back memories of hearing Bertha Mason's eerie laughs from Edward's attic.
"Oh all right." He gave out a loud yawn and threw his arms around Jane. "Good night, love." He then fell back asleep, snoring loudly with a trail of saliva that started to emerge from his open mouth. Now Jane was wide awake not only from the commotion coming from her husband's snoring but from sheer fear and curiosity about vampires in the villa's graveyard. Still, what Gabriele had told them may have been something to scare them after all, thought Jane. She nuzzled her head under Edward's chin and shut her eyes, hoping to sleep through her thoughts but her husband's constant snoring made sleep impossible. Jane then gently slipped out of her husband's arms and went back to the window of their room. She stared at the graveyard and noticed something out of the ordinary. She could see two shadowy figures running and walking about the graveyard. In the darkness of night, it was difficult to see anything specific about them.
"Perhaps they're two lovers in a tryst of some sort; using the night to disguise their affair," Jane whispered to herself. To get a closer look, she took Edward's spyglass and pointed it at the two figures. Soon, the duo became three as they appeared to be dragging someone out of the mausoleum. They left the individual lie there in the dark, lifeless, motionless, and probably dead. Jane let a small gasp and covered her mouth. Someone had just been murdered in the mausoleum and she had seen part of it happen under the cover of night. Then she saw the two figures again, dragging the lifeless body of someone back into the mausoleum. Jane then went to wake Edward from his deep slumber.
"Edward!" she cried. "Wake up, wake up!" She shook her slumbering spouse until he finally opened his eyes.
"What, what's going on?" asked Edward. "Is it morning yet?"
"No! This is important! I saw two people dragging a dead person out of the mausoleum!"
"They were probably trying to bury the corpse, Jane," he said in a drowsy tone of voice. "Now let me go back to sleep."
"But, but, they probably have murdered the person, Edward! I saw them drag the body out and then they came back and they're currently dragging it back into the mausoleum. Look, look!" She thrust the spyglass into Edward's chest. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he got up to the window to look.
"I see nothing, Jane," he said sternly. "I will tell you that they were probably burying someone and not trying to hide evidence of a murder. Now, if you please, let me go back to bed and don't wake me up again unless you are in labor or if it's life threatening."
"But, but..."
"Good NIGHT, Jane!" He flopped on the far side of the bed and buried himself in the covers.
"Good night, Edward,"Jane sighed quietly. She took one more look from the spyglass and found that there was nothing. Perhaps Edward was right, Jane thought. Perhaps it was nothing more than someone being interned.
The next morning at breakfast, Gabriele Fiorello's face appeared sullen and gray. He didn't say much as well as his wife and children as they continued to eat. Edward immediately noticed that Gabriele seemed to be out of sorts.
"Are you all right?" he asked. "You don't seem to be all right this morning, Gabriele."
Gabriele sighed and put down his fork. "Well, if you must know, I shall tell you," he replied. "One of my grounds keepers was found dead this morning in the mausoleum. It looked as if he had died from blood loss but the only wound we could find on him were small bite marks on his neck.
Edward looked up from his food. "I'm sorry to hear that, Gabriele. I give you my condolences," he said with a somewhat authentic sympathy. After all, he still thought that the whole haunted villa idea was a silly tale to scare visitors.
"I'm sorry about your loss, Gabriele. I, too give you my condolences," said Jane who realized that what she had witnessed was proof of the home being haunted by vampires.
After breakfast, Gabriele and Alessandra offered to take the Rochesters on a tour of their private vineyard for the day. While Edward was enjoying himself and even sampling some of the fare, Jane's thoughts turned to the poor grounds keeper who had allegedly had been bitten by a vampire. In order for Edward to believe her, he would have to see the whole thing with his eyes, stunted vision and all. As they got back to the villa, Jane was feeling tired from not having any sleep from the night before so she went to lie down for a little bit while everyone went to eat dinner outside. Only did Edward notice Jane's lack of enthusiasm for enjoying the activities and he followed her up to their room.
"Jane," he said. "Are you all right?"
"No," she said, lying on the bed. "I'm just tired."
"And very pregnant, I might add," he said.
"Edward, I have to tell you something."
"What is it, Jane?"
"Remember when Gabriele said this morning about his grounds keeper?"
"Jane, I can assure you that there aren't any vampires around. They probably interred him last night and that's what you saw through the window," said Edward gently. He sat down on the bed and stroked her hair with his only hand. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll go down there this evening and check." He got up and got on the other side of the bed, pulled off his cravat and lay next to Jane with his arms around her. "I apologize for being so short with you last night and I don't mean to sound unbelievable or apathetic; I just think Gabriele is making up these silly stories about his house. He used to do that in college all the time." He then moved back part of Jane's hair and kissed her neck. Jane then finally smiled a little and shivered a bit.
"I've got goose bumps," she said looking at her arms. "Are you trying to seduce me, Edward Rochester?"
"Maybe," said Edward with a grin. He continued to kiss the back of his wife's neck. Jane then rolled over to face him and the two of them began to kiss passionately. "Finally, some time alone," he said, mid-kiss. Just as Jane was about to unbutton Edward's shirt, a knock came at the door.
Jane got up and answered the door to a servant who told them that they were waiting on them to come down for dinner. They immediately straightened up and on their way downstairs, Edward lamented the fact that their passion was interrupted while Jane told them that there would be plenty of other opportunities for that kind of activity later on.
"You all look refreshed and ready for dinner al fresco," said Gabriele with a glass of wine in his hand. "Come and enjoy the crisp, cool Italian night air." For the first time since she arrived, Jane felt much more relaxed. The Rochesters and the Fiorellos then had a fantastic Italian feast and when they thought they couldn't eat any more, the servants brought out scrumptious desserts. Both Jane and Edward were too full of food to move on to desserts but continued conversing with their hosts as they stuffed their faces with pastries and the like. Carlotta and Emilia both decided to practice their English (and impress the Rochesters) by reciting poetry by John Keats, much to the delight of Jane and Edward. After the evening festivities, the Fiorellos retired to bed but the Rochesters decided to explore the alleged vampire activity that was roaming the graveyard at night. Jane loaded their firearms with silver bullets just in case. Edward put on his trademark prosthetic hook onto the stump that once contained his hand. The creature killing duo then made their way to the graveyard and the mausoleum; their only light was a lantern held by Jane.
"Now, I'll show you that there aren't any vampires here, Jane," said Edward as he ventured toward the mausoleum and opened the door.
The mausoleum itself was dark, dusty, and filled with skeletons wearing clothing. One thing they found out of the ordinary was a niche that contained skeletal remains of someone named "Tybalto." Jane took the lantern and shone it over the remains.
"Tybalto, that name sounds familiar," said Jane. "According to the play, Juliet's cousin was named Tybalt. He was slain by Romeo in revenge for killing his best friend, Mercutio."
"Did they teach you Shakespeare at Lowood?" asked Edward, surprised at Jane's literary knowledge.
"No, I borrowed the book out of your library a while ago."
The two of them continued further into the mausoleum until they happened upon two caskets with engravings that clearly identified them as members of the Capuleta family; nearby, there was a slightly smaller casket labeled "Julieta Capuleta."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is the final resting place of Juliet and her parents," said Edward. "But I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Yes, the atmosphere is quite frightening but nothing to be concerned about."
They both agreed to remove the top portion of Juliet's casket. Placing their things on the floor, Jane and Edward managed to open the casket and found absolutely nothing. What was even stranger was that there was a casket next to Juliet's labeled "Romeo Montague." They both opened that casket to discover nothing in it as well. As soon as they covered up both caskets, they heard noises coming from the entrance of the mausoleum. They turned around to see a young couple and what looked like the grounds keeper from the previous night. The couple were dressed in traditional 15th century attire, their skin was a pale gray, and their eyes were piercing blue; they also bore fangs. The grounds keeper was dressed appropriately for the current time period but he too, bore fangs, piercing blue eyes, and pale gray skin.
"Now do you believe me?" said Jane sternly. "Those three vampires look like Romeo, Juliet, and the grounds keeper."
"Yes, I do," he sighed. "Now hand over my rifle."
Soon, the zombie couple began to speak to each other and to the grounds keeper. Since their conversation was in Italian, Jane couldn't make anything out of it but Edward was able to translate their words to a certain extent.
"What are they saying Edward?"
"They're wondering why we're here and they're wondering how good our blood would taste. That's what I think they're saying. My Italian is a bit rusty."
Jane cocked and loaded her rifle and shot one bullet that went straight through the arm of Romeo. He grabbed his arm and proceeded to run in Jane's general direction before Edward fired off a bullet into Romeo's side. He collapsed and Juliet and the grounds keeper both made their way toward Jane and Edward, their blue eyes locked directly onto the creature killers of Thornfield. Jane fired off one round after the other, bringing down both vampires. This gave her and Edward time to escape the mausoleum and shut the door. Just as our hero and heroine thought themselves to be safe, several vampires started to emerge from their graves, one by one. Both Jane and Edward were outnumbered and there wasn't enough silver bullets to slay them all. Then, Romeo, Juliet, and the grounds keeper emerged from the mausoleum, limping from their wounds. Jane and Edward could only run back inside the house away from the vampire horde. They tried to go back the same way they came out but found the door to be locked. They tried every door to the villa but all were locked shut.
"We need to find a good hiding place," said Jane, out of breath from running.
"We could disperse them with our silver bullets," said Edward. "Then we hide, wait until morning, and then tell Gabriele the whole thing."
"Those bullets are not inexpensive, Edward. We need to save some for emergencies."
"This is an emergency, Jane," said Edward. "Besides, we're not destitute and we can afford more silver bullets."
They unloaded round after round onto the oncoming vampire horde and eventually ran out of bullets. Then Jane and Edward suddenly found themselves cornered on the side of the villa with no way of a safe escape. They then threw their arms around each other.
"Jane, it was nice knowing you," Edward said. "I love you."
"I love you too, Edward," Jane said with a tear from her eye.
The two of them shared a kiss, prayed, and then huddled together. Just as they thought they were about to become vampires themselves, the sun started to rise. It peaked up over the mountains and eventually started to make its way into the sky. The vampires, in unison, stared at the yellowish orb rising into the sky. Their skin and their bodies began to erode and most of them screamed in pain as they died a quick and painful death due to sunshine. One by one, they all fell into the ground. Jane and Edward immediately thanked the Good Lord above for sparing them from a rather uneventful (but interesting) future.
The week at the Fiorello villa was almost over as Jane and Edward Rochester spent the morning at the Fiorello's private church where they observed Mass. Edward initially refused to go, claiming that he didn't believe in the Papist church but was eventually talked into going by Jane and Gabriele's wife, Alessandra. Since they had rid the villa of the vampires that haunted it, the Rochesters were treated to several outings by the Fiorellos, including a small side trip to Mantua during the course of their stay. Near the end of the week, Carlotta and Emilia wrote and acted in their own English language play which Jane and Edward enjoyed immensely. Instead of going directly back to England after their stay with the Fiorellos, the Rochesters took a small trip from Verona to Venice for a couple of days and even shared a kiss under the famous Bridge of Sighs while riding in a gondola. They eventually came back to Thornfield full of stories, good food, and even brought home some wine from the Fiorello's private vineyard.
One night as Jane and Edward were lying in bed, with Jane doing some needlework and Edward reading his Bible, Jane decided to tell Edward something - important.
"Edward dear," she said.
"Yes?"
"I have thought about this for some time and I feel that I should take a break from our creature killing business for the sake of our child." She put down her needlework and patted her pregnant abdomen. "I know it's asking too much of you but..."
"It's not too much," interrupted Edward with a smile. "Take as long as you need." He reached over with his only hand to pat her stomach and ended up feeling a kick. "Oh my!" he exclaimed. "That's something I've never felt before. Doesn't that keep you awake at night, Jane?"
"Yes it does and so does your snoring," she said with a laugh.
"Me? Snore?"
"Yes, Edward. When we were at the Fiorello's villa for the first night, you snored so much that you kept me awake."
"Well, I'll try not to snore tonight then," he said. "Good night, my darling." Both husband and wife shared a kiss and went promptly to sleep.