Page 77 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
But Elizabeth knew it wasn’t only that.
There was truth to it.
Shewasmissing it.
That deathbed, Jane surrounded by her children and grandchildren, (Colonel Fitzwilliam had passed on four years earlier) a whole clan of descendants, all of them speaking of Jane and how she had been there for them, of her pain and her triumphs, of her love and her presence, of how deeply they adored her, how much she had meant to them…
Elizabeth would never have that.
But Jane was correct.
She would have more time.
Would it be a compensation?
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
HE WASN’T CALLINGhimself Bingley anymore, and she wasn’t calling herself Louisa.
Elizabeth was going by Liz these days and her husband was Tad, and they were staying at a house in the country. They didn’t own a lot of property these days, and they had sold Pemberley a very, very long time ago. This house, this country house, it wasn’t theirs. They were renting it. They had booked it on a website and paid for it with a credit card. They had cell phones and they used them to keep in touch with other vampire friends.
Bingley was Benedict these days. Louisa was Maisey.
Surprisingly, she had gotten used to shedding names like a snake sheds its skin.
Benedict and Maisey had another vampire with them, a man who was currently called Harrison. He was younger than Liz, maybe by eighty years. The three of them were delighted when popular culture started coming up with words like “polyamorous triad.”
“Oh, look, we’re normal now, there’s a word for us,” Maisey would say, laughing. Had she ever considered turning Mr. Hurst? Liz would never know and she never asked.
Liz let their three guests in. It was afternoon, but the invention of sunblock had proved rather wondrous for vampires. Liz couldn’t stay out in the sun for hours or anything, but shecould put on a high SPF and go out and run errands with a big-brimmed hat and long sleeves. It felt miraculous, really. Even now, after decades of it, she was astonished at how much she appreciated being able to go out in daylight. It made travel ever so much easier also.
“This is lovely,” said Maisey, looking around the rented house. “It’s so airy.”
“Yes, lots of windows,” said Liz. “But we’ll be able to see the fireworks through the skylights, I think. In the meantime, there’s a finished basement just down there.”
“I looked at the pictures online,” said Benedict, pulling her into a hug. “Is that where your husband is?”
“Yes, he’s rewatchingThe Maltese Falcondownstairs,” said Liz. “On the big screen.”
“Oh, truly? Never gets tired of that, does he?” Benedict laughed. “Then again, look at the two of you. I don’t know another vampire couple who’s been exclusive to each other for anywhere near as long as you two.”
Liz shrugged. “We are what we are.”
Her husband was fiercely loyal. He was still as attracted to her today as he had been two hundred years ago, and she found him just as alluring. She still liked it when she straddled him and bent down to nick at his chin with her sharp teeth. He still picked her up and held her against the wall and pressed the long, thick length of himself inside her. She did not entirely understand how it was that other vampires grew bored with each other.
But then, of course, other vampires were not her husband.
She adored him.
They all trooped down the stairs and Tad barely looked up from the television, though he called out his hellos.
They all sat down on the couch, and Tad ignored them, and the others joked about how many times he had watched this movie, and how he was a creature of habit.
Tad put his arm around Liz. “I like what I like.”
“Is there blood?” spoke up Harrison.
“Oh, let me fetch it from the refrigerator,” said Liz. Modern freezing and refrigeration meant that they were less likely to need to actually feed from humans. And they took the blood from hospitals and donation sites. Being a vampire these days was easier and more comfortable than it had ever been.
