Page 15 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
“A thousand?” Elizabeth felt cold all over. They really must go.
“At any rate, something happened to the Darcy boy, the real Fitzwilliam Darcy. He died in a fire, along with his mother and father, and the Darcy line, well, anyway, there’s money there, but the property isn’t entailed or anything of that nature. There was a girl left, a small girl, twelve years younger than the boy who had died. She was only eight or ten herself at the time her entire family died. She could not manage it all herself, so Darcy stepped in. He will be Darcy for some time, until the girl, Miss Darcy, is old enough to properly manage it all, and then he will fake his death and go back to being the Matlock enforcer. He is devoted to the family, you see? He is, as I say, noble. But the Bingleys, they are beholden to no one, just themselves. Louisa, she… well, I love her, and I couldn’t love someone who was nothing but cruelty. It’s only that her sister, Caroline…”
“What?” said Elizabeth.
“Well, I don’t know,” said Mr. Hurst, shrugging. “I never allow myself to be alone with her, let’s say that.”
Elizabeth got up from the table. “Jane, come now. We must go.”
“But I am ill, Lizzy,” said Jane, taking a sip of chocolate. “I am far too ill to travel.”
Elizabeth began to pace. “Caroline went to charm everyone in my household, she said.”
“Aye, they all think this same story that your sister thinks,” said Mr. Hurst.
“So, if I leave and go home and try to tell them that Jane is in danger?”
“They will likely laugh at you,” said Mr. Hurst. “She would have put some directive into it that they should pay no mind to outside worries.”
Elizabeth wrung out her hands. “It’s a nightmare.”
“You’re looking at it the wrong way, Miss Elizabeth,” said Mr. Hurst. “It’s an adventure. And I saw the way you look at him, and I know what it’s like to have a set of vampire fangs in one’s neck. You like it.”
She clenched her hands into fists. “So, I should simply stay here, let them have their way with us, do whatever they like to us, and then let them all charm me into forgetting it?”
“I’d beg them to let you remember,” said Hurst, chuckling softly. “But yes, you should stay. You know you wish to stay, anyway.”
CHAPTER FIVE
ONE MORE NIGHT, Mr. Darcy told himself.
He would only let it go on for one more night. After that, they must leave, because it was wrong to keep them here, and it was wrong to coerce Elizabeth to stay when she clearly didn’t wish it, not truly. He had used the sheer pleasure of the bite against her, and he mustn’t do that in the future.
But one more night.
He thought it was possible that he’d wake to find she’d left, anyway, but she was in the dining room when he appeared that night. The humans were all eating chicken and potatoes and green beans. They were drinking wine and they all smelled rather delectable, though Elizabeth smelled the best.
He excused himself before he simply pounced on her. He wished to savor this, after all. He would taste her again that night, but he would put it off as long as he could possibly stand it. He wanted her in his arms when he did it. Perhaps in his lap. He wanted to be touching her all over. He wanted—
Damnation.
After dinner, they all retired to the sitting room and there was talk of playing cards or reading or other amusements.
“Is this how you do this, then?” cried Elizabeth, very agitated. “You act as though you are simply going to pass thetime in this manner when we all know what you have in store for us?”
“Miss Elizabeth is a great reader,” said Caroline archly. “She prefers books to positively everything, it seems.”
“I am not a great reader,” said Elizabeth. “I am only pointing out the fact that you have us here for your amusement, and you can pretend all you like that we are simply guests, but we all know the truth of it.”
Caroline shrugged. “Well, perhaps you could be a good little guest, then, and join in the pretending, for you did agree to stay, did you not?”
“Miss Elizabeth,” said Mr. Darcy, coming over to sit down across from her. “You must not see it this way. You are, indeed, guests, and we are not only trying to… to prey upon you. We cannot help the fact we need to drink your blood to stay alive, you see. It is simply the way it is.”
“You weren’t always this way, I suppose?” said Elizabeth.
“No, we were all human once,” said Darcy. “A long time ago, though.”
“I think,” said Caroline, “that a very good guest should have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, and the modern languages. A good guest must be very pleasing to her hosts, and she must have something in her bearing, her manner, her walking and expression, a sense of, well, accomplishment.”
